Category Archives: Uncategorized

Footnote forays: Job 41.18

One of the most interesting new acquisitions for my bookshelf has been a copy of the New English Bible (NEB) Old Testament Library Edition (OTLE) to go along with my NT Library Edition and pending Apocrypha Library Edition (in transit). Yes, I have other copies of the NEB, but the Library Editions are something different. [...]

He was a peaceable sort of bloke…

HT: Peter Kirk
The last personality test meme I came out as a Mystic… what will it be this time?
Peter has passed along a link to a personality survey by the Enneagram Institute that scores us in nine different categories. Whereas Peter scored highest as an “Investigator”, my results show me to be a “Type Nine: [...]

Remnants of the KJV

TC’s comments on 1 Peter 3 prompted me to look up a few verses and I came across another example of the HCSB’s alliterative translation:
Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus [...]

Seerveld: Psalm 51

Voicing God’s Psalms
Calvin Seerveld
William Eerdmans Publishing Company (2005)
ISBN 0-8028-2806-X
There has been quite a bit of discussion of Psalm 51 lately, especially on Better Bibles by Suzanne, David et al., so I thought I would add one more late voice to the chorus. A few days ago, I received my copy of Seerveld’s translation of some [...]

Love and lust: Seerveld and the Song of Songs

The Greatest Song, in Critique of Solomon
Translated and arranged for oratorio performance by Calvin Seerveld
Published by Toronto Tuppence Press (1988, paperback)
ISBN 0919071023
* * * * *
I have mentioned Calvin Seerveld’s translation and study of The Song of Songs several times on this blog, as well as in the comments on many others. I was [...]

Weird worship meme

Subtitled: “ElShaddai, I’m crazy to do what you say and go somewhere if your Ghost is not there!”
David Ker tagged me and several others with a “weird worship” meme, which evidently focuses on bizarre worship song lyrics. In addition to David’s original post, there have been a number of great replies, including this from Peter [...]

Poetic bloodshed

Over at Better Bibles Blog, Suzanne continues to post on blood, sin and color in Psalm 51. Her most recent post concludes by looking at the choice of “bloodshed” versus the more abstract (and traditional) “bloodguiltiness” in verse 14. She approves of the NRSV for its use of the former; I mentioned the REB and [...]

The barren branch

John 15:1-6 (Revised English Bible):
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Any branch of mine that is barren he cuts away; and any fruiting branch he prunes clean, to make it more fruitful still. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Dwell in me, as [...]

A man divided

Caution: hyperbole ahead.
An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord - how he may please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the things of the world - how he may please his wife - and he is divided. (1 Corinthians 7:32-34a, HCSB)
I’ve recently found myself in the awkward position [...]

The 7th day: work and rest in Hebrews 4

Last week I was reading a bit in Hebrews and paused for a while over chapter 4, where the author describes our future prize in the context of God’s Sabbath rest:
[1] Therefore, while the promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear so that none of you should miss it. [2] For we also [...]