The New ‘BHS Reader’s Edition’ by the German Bible Society

I’m thinking of assigning this as required for my Hebrew students in 2015. But what about the truly digital student? Should a paper Bible or biblical tools be required at all?

Zwinglius Redivivus

Bobby K. of Hendrickson has sent along one of the first copies of this new reader’s edition (which is to be discussed along with other primary texts by the German Bible Society at a session in San Diego).  And although CBD lists someone named ‘Vance George’ as one of the editors, it’s actually our own George Athas.

At any rate, here are some observations on the edition.

First, the volume contains a handy but brief Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon.  It also contains a series of Verbal Paradigms- for instance strong roots with prefixes and suffixes, etc. along with Paradigms for nouns.  Each page of the text of the Bible itself is printed in a really lovely Hebrew font which is quite easy to read, being neither large nor small.  A bit smaller are the notes at the bottom of each page where words are defined in a way far more…

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The Analytics Trap

One million hits on the blog, and #1000 in the Amazon sales ranking!!

That would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Actually, this little blog has had its 1000th view, and the sales ranking for my book just passed through #1 million, going the wrong way!

I remember a colleague at my teaching college, Melbourne School of Theology, saying that she had posted something on FaceBook, and then found herself checking back to see how many ‘likes’ she had received for it. Maybe you’ve done that too. Maybe I have, if I’m honest, checked the analytics for this blog more than once or twice, to see whether anyone reads what I’ve spent hours writing. Perhaps you have too, if you have a blog or other social media presence.

A Translation of Genesis 1-2 Considered

Over at his blog With Meagre Powers, some months ago, George Athas offered his own custom translation of Genesis 1-2. I thought I would offer it here with my own responses to some of the more interesting aspects of his translation. I like how he has done it, and agree nine out of ten times. If you are interested in the translation or exegesis of these pivotal Bible chapters, you may find the text and comments stimulating.

Please forgive the poor transliterations of the Hebrew; I haven’t worked out fancy characters in WordPress yet.

I trust my comments show up!

Thanks to George for his fresh rendering of these fantastic and profound chapters.

Choosing a Hebrew Teaching & Learning Grammar

Who knew that there were so many options?

There’s a new first-year college-level Biblical Hebrew grammar published about every six months. There are so many to choose from! What are the main choices involved? I’ve figured out these differences in approach: