Here we will touch on some thoughts from Strauch’s video, where he suggests having as references good study Bible, with a more literal translation, and a concordance. First, let’s look at those specific ideas listed in the outline:
• A more literal translation
• A good study Bible
• A concordance
Strauch’s reasoning for using a more literal translation agrees with the teaching this writer has received. Reading two versions side-by-side may allow you to see the differences in meaning that can arise by changing just a small word like a preposition, or putting “the” where the text has “a” or viceversa. A good study Bible [and this writer suggests more than one] means from this writer’s perspective, above all, good cross-references. A study Bible may also include commentaries from authors such as what the Hebrew or Greek literally says, in addition to an explanation of how they have translated the words, especially in the case of idioms.
Throughout LogandSpeck there will be discussion on intertextuality and its critical importance in showing the interconnecting threads in Scripture that create the tapestry. Cross references can help give a head-start on intertextual connections that the authors of your Bible have discovered. These are generally the most obvious ones, though there are likely many more interconnections which you will be able to discover once learning techniques shared in this book. Rather than speak abstractly about a study Bible, let’s take a look at a passage in some different Bibles. Most study Bibles will have notes with small numbers or letters referring to footnotes or marginal notes.
• Isaiah 60:1-4 ESV Study Bible The Future Glory of Israel 1 b Arise, shine, for your light has come, and c the glory of YHWH has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but YHWH will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3 d And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 e Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; f your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
With the above passage in this study Bible are references to other verses that carry the same wording, or similar wording or theme. The one in brackets in this version suggests a similar theme, but not exact wording. 60:1 b [Eph. 5:14] c ch. 40:5; 58:8; Mal. 4:2 60:3 d ch. 42:6; 49:6; Rev. 21:24 60:4 e ch. 49:18 f ver. 9; ch. 66:20
To follow is the same passage from a different study Bible. Please note that there is no intent to endorse any particular version or brand, only demonstrating comparisons for your edification. First, notice that some references are duplicated between the two versions, and some are not. This is why the bracketed comment above from this writer suggesting more than one study Bible. Different author/groups of authors will have had different experiences and training and will focus on different connections. If you want to be more thorough in your understanding, you will want to have the benefit of more than one group [multiple witnesses!]. Just because in this particular example one version has more references than the other does not mean it will always be that way. In another passage, the other may have more.
• Isaiah 60:1-4 NASB Study Bible A Glorified Zion 1 “a Arise, shine; for your b light has come, And the c glory of YHWH has risen upon you. 2 “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep a darkness the peoples; But YHWH will rise upon you And His b glory will appear upon you. 3 “a Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 “a Lift up your eyes round about and see; They all gather together, they b come to you. Your sons will come from afar, And your c daughters will be 1 carried in the arms.
60:1 a Is 52:2 60:1 b Is 60:19, 20 60:1 c Is 24:23; 35:2; 58:8 60:2 a Is 58:10; Jer 13:16; Col 1:13 60:2 b Is 4:5 60:3 a Is 2:3; 45:14, 22-25; 49:23 60:4 1 Lit nursed upon the side 60:4 a Is 11:12; 49:18 60:4 b Is 49:20-22 60:4 c Is 43:6; 49:22
Notice in the latter example that there is a comment for verse 60:4 indicating the literal Hebrew wording, indicated with a number rather than a letter.
Another thing to take note of in the passages shared above is something referred to previously, a title or headline for the pericope [section]. These are not part of the original writing, but are added by the authors to provide some help in “organizing your thoughts.” The headlines were left in these examples for purposes of this discussion. However, passages quoted in this book will generally remove the added “headline” so as not to introduce any “assumptive reasoning.” This writer encourages approaching Scripture without someone else’s interpretation swaying you in one direction or another, again as in Benner’s עוֹלָם ‘ôlâm discussion. This writer’s encouragement is to get the reader as close to the original as possible.
That is why it was stated above that authors’ commentaries were less important than cross references. It is the same line of reasoning as Strauch saying in his video it is best not to begin with someone else’s thoughts. When you begin with another person or group’s assumptions, your opportunity to learn from the Spirit of God may be limited. It is like blinders on a horse. There is an exception to the statement about headings not being in the original text: some Psalms do have beginning notes that are a part of the original Hebrew. For example, in Psalm 90 used for Benner’s (2007) עוֹלָם ‘ôlâm discussion, the wording, “A Prayer of Moses, the man of God” is original. A headline may be added in Psalms as well. In this book added comments are removed. In keeping with Strauch’s philosophy of never beginning with commentaries, it is recommended here not to use study Bible commentaries until after you have done your own preliminary observation and meditation.
Because this writer spends most of his waking hours doing scriptural research, wanting time to be most efficiently spent, a good bit of this work is done on electronic versions of the Bible. This is a photo of one version of the same passage reviewed earlier. [writer’s highlights] There are several reasons for showing this photo. First, it is yet a third version. And note that the “added headline” is different in all three examples. They are authors’ opinions. You may find in early years of experience in reading Scripture they are helpful. At some point you will probably begin to gloss over them as unhelpful or even distracting. Note also in the last line “your” is italicized. Some versions do this to show words added by translators. The purpose is to make the sentence read more smoothly or clearly in modern English. However, it is good to know when words are added. Often it is good to write the passage without added words to see if it changes your thoughts. Sometimes the perspective really changes.
Also, note the small added numbers such as h1323, h0539, and h6654 in the bottom line. These are “Strong’s Numbers.” In this electronic version they can be left as invisible or visible, but if the reader touches the word on touchscreen, it brings up a reference to an Enhanced Strong’s Dictionary [ESD] showing the Hebrew [or Greek] word, a transliteration, the Strong’s number, and a definition. In this version there are also links to other references, such as the ones already quoted here, CWSBD, TWOT, and TDNT for examples. Electronic tools make referencing more efficient. To accomplish the same study with books in print, a stack of books and much more time are required. To follow are some of the other components, similar to those Strauch recommended.
Strong’s numbers. James Strong’s [lived 1822-1894]42 contributions to Biblical study have persisted for many years because they have made referencing much easier. It is not that some modifications have not been necessary, since the 1800’s. They have. However, of his contributions perhaps the most beneficial is his devising a numerical system of categorizing/cataloging words. This is very helpful, in particular in languages in which words “change shape” in different usage, adding prefixes, suffixes and infixes or dropping letters in some circumstances. Having a number to look to rather than having to have an exact spelling is critical. Hebrew words will be shown beginning with an “h,” and Greek with a “g.” Thus, above the reader saw h1323, h0539, and h6654 in Isaiah 60:4, the last line, referring to three Hebrew words.
Concordance. The other thing Mr. Strong did was to list every word in the Bible [“exhaustively”] by number, in every location where it occurred. His work was done on the King James Version [KJV] of the Bible, which is public domain and thus easily accessible online. One can look up the English word in Strong’s Concordance and see every Hebrew and Greek word translated to that English word in the KJV. There are concordances that have been converted for other versions as well. In the electronic source that this writer uses, the CWSBD has a concordance linked to the dictionary, thus an entry can be pulled up like this, which is the last word Strong’s-coded in Isaiah 60:4:
• H6654. צַד ṣaḏ: A masculine noun meaning side. It refers to the left or right half of a person, an animal, or a boundary area of something in any direction, north, south, east, west. It refers to the side of any object, e.g., a window (Gen. 6:16); a lampstand (Ex. 25:32); a person (Num. 33:55; 2 Sam. 2:16). At the side of or beside something may be expressed with min (H4480) plus ṣaḏ, miṣṣaḏ (1 Sam. 6:8; 20:20). It is used of Ezekiel lying on his side, side to side (Ezek. 4:4, 6, 9). On this side . . . from that side (1 Sam. 23:26). Concordance:
H6654. צַד ṣaḏ masc. noun (side) Gen. 6:16; Ex. 25:32; 26:13; 30:4; 37:18,27; Num. 33:55; Deut. 31:26; Josh. 3:16; 12:9; 23:13; Judg. 2:3; Ruth 2:14; 1 Sam. 6:8; 20:20,25; 23:26; 2 Sam. 2:16; 13:34; Ps. 91:7; Isa. 60:4; 66:12; Ezek. 4:4,6,8,9; 34:21.
CWSBD entries give the definitions of the word, different locations where their interpreters found some of the different meanings, and a Concordance with a simplified definition for the entries and each place where that Strong’s Hebrew number appears. Later there will be a discussion on word searches which are one of the most important tools the reader can use. Word searches are greatly facilitated by such tools.
Dictionaries. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance includes a dictionary. Since archaeological findings of Ugaritic writings, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, deeper study of Akkadian, and other significant findings have occurred since the death of Mr. Strong, there have been “enhanced” versions of the Strong’s Dictionary, such as the one quoted here. There are other good Bible Dictionaries as well; in keeping with the multiple witness focus, note that several dictionaries are quoted here. In the Bibliography is a listing of references, including Bible Versions and Dictionaries. A good, or several good, dictionaries are absolutely necessary in interpreting Scripture.
- some of the caves at Qumran (Pictorial Library of Biblical Lands BiblePlaces.com)
We have referred twice before to a discussion about gender. It is time now to dive into the subject of linguistic usage of gender. Because sex and gender can be and often are used interchangeably, to try to remove confusion on LogandSpeck, we will not speak of gender in males and females, be it humans or animals. Gender will be defined as related to linguistics, the classification of words. If we want to speak of the difference in characteristics of a male and a female, we will refer to this as sex. The reader will see that this is very important in the understanding and interpretation of Scripture. Speakers of languages that do not use gender forms in their words other than pronouns have a bit more trouble understanding the concepts. [Thus the example of male and female brains and the gender of the word רוּחַ rûaḥ in the last post was a little bit “tongue in cheek.” But one can see how the confusion could be an issue. Neither the Father nor His power, the רוּחַ rûaḥ have the characteristic of sex. God is spirit (John 4:24).
Two references are noted below speaking of the linguistic usage of gender. The Oxford reference is more technical, the Wikipedia reference is more readable. Both have very thorough bibliographies, for those who want to investigate more thoroughly. Almost half of the world’s current languages have masculine and feminine [gender] classification of words, especially nouns, but the general idea is that there will then be adjective and verbal forms that will be in agreement with the form of the noun. Languages that derived from the ancient prototype Indo-European language had, and most still have, gender associated with their words, including German and Latin-based languages, such as Spanish, French, and Italian. Some have three forms, masculine, feminine, and neuter. Some have only masculine and feminine. Many will be familiar with concepts that inanimate objects in Spanish, for example the word for table, will have a feminine [in the case of mesa] or masculine gender. Biblical Hebrew is a language that has only masculine and feminine. There is no neuter, thus no “it.” A table in Biblical Hebrew is h7979. שֻׁלְחָן šulḥān, which is a noun with masculine gender. If there is an adjective modifying שֻׁלְחָן šulḥān, it must be in a masculine form. If the table performed some purpose, as displaying showbread, the verb would have to be in a masculine form. All languages have some idiosyncrasies. Hebrew is no exception. With this writer’s attempt to remain true to the original language, which the reader will see throughout, there will be some concepts that may seem a little different from modern English. But we must accept what was written rather than change it. The list of scriptures about making no changes was shared in the first Post.
Let’s address some themes you will see as this book progresses, starting with this detail about linguistic gender. As noted in the last chapter, the most common word for God, h0430. אֱלֹהִים ’elôhîym, is masculine, so God usually ends up being called “he” or “him.” And we mentioned that God’s Spirit, h7307. רוּחַ rûaḥ is listed in some dictionaries [e.g. BDB] as being both masculine and feminine, and as you saw in the definition earlier, CWSBD lists רוּחַ as feminine. God has no sex. The word for God has a gender, which is masculine, which is why we call him “him” and Father. The name YHWH, which he first told to Moshe (Moses), is a proper noun and is not given a gender, but because of its common use in conjunction with אֱלֹהִים ’elôhîym, is is treated as if it has masculine gender. Lets look at three passages from Genesis.
• Genesis 1:26-27 NASB 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
• Genesis 5:2 NASB 2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.
• Genesis 2:7 NASB 7 Then YHWH God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
maryomalley.com 
The point here is that this is how the Hebrew language works. אֱלֹהִים ’elôhîym [masculine] created man [masculine singular] in his image [masculine singular] and likeness [feminine singular]. When he says “Let us,” and “our,” those are plural forms with no gender assigned. Male and female is clear, this relating to the sex of the people. And the people are in the image and likeness of אֱלֹהִים ’elôhîym. Later we will discuss plural forms. Just know for now that אֱלֹהִים ’elôhîym is a plural form, used so of the singular God, as well as of other ‘gods’… It could just as easily have said of אֱלֹהִים ’elôhîym let me make them in my image and likeness. Scholars have debated forever what this means. Some things must just be taken at face value.
From the second passage, Genesis 5:2, them and they are both masculine plural forms and man is masculine singular. The singular for man represents “male and female” and “them” [just as “make man”…” let them” in 1:26]. It is just the way the language is used. And from the third passage, just a comment. Both common words for earth, ground, land, h0127. אֲדָמָה ’ăḏâmâ and h0776. אֶרֶץ ’ereṣ are feminine. Here the word for “ground” is h0127. אֲדָמָה ’ăḏâmâ, obviously closely related to the word h0120. אָדָם ’âḏâm, which is man.
Curious is that man, אָדָם , is made from the dust of the ground. Dust is h6083. עָפָר ‘âp̱âr, a masculine noun, and h0127. אֲדָמָה ’ăḏâmâ we have already said is a feminine noun. Do not necessarily try to tie it to the sex of the male and the female. Just accept it as it is. If a couple, male and female together, are spoken of, they are “man.” If a crowd of many women plus one man are spoken of, they are “man.”
Two words, which will be mentioned later as thought by some to be present with h0430. אֱלֹהִים ’elôhîym before Creation are h2451. חָכְמָה ḥoḵmāh, Wisdom, and h8451. תּוֹרָה tôrâ, the Torah or instruction. (See Proverbs chapters 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 24 especially) These are both feminine nouns. Another concept to get used to is that an entire family or a tribe, even a nation, may be called simply by the name of the patriarch [this is called ‘metonymy,’ when an attribute or single feature is used to stand for the whole]. That Israel is called Israel is because they are all descendants of the man Jacob who had his name changed by God to Israel. There is a tribe of Dan, named for one of the sons of Jacob/Israel. That tribe might be called the tribe of Dan, or they might just be called Dan. Sometimes one has to look at context to see if the discussion is about one person or the family or tribe. We have to learn to recognize these usages in Scripture and accept them for what they are. Rather than change words to accommodate our attitudes, we need to change our attitude to accommodate the Word of God.
Another helpful thought: lineages were traced from father to son. [unless a father died with no sons, and there were ways to accommodate that, either with what was called a Levirate marriage, (Dt. 25:5-10; also see Gen. 38:8, 9; Ruth 1:12, 13; 3:9 as examples) or daughters could inherit (See the daughters of Zelophehad, Nm 27:1-11. 48 For example Dn 7:13 and 8:17.]. The point is that when you read the genealogies, mostly they will be men’s names. Look at this verse, for an important concept.
• Genesis 5:3 KJV 3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
The writer purposely used the KJV here so the reader could see the word “begat.” Other versions use “fathered” or “became the father of” or simply “had a son.” The word is h3205. ילַָד yâlaḏ, which means to bear young, used when a woman gives birth or an animal gives birth. That is just how the society was structured, not that the man actually gave birth, but the legal rights were passed from the father to the son. The real point of sharing this, however, will be seen later in the book. It helps give the reader a picture not just of the genealogy, but of the character or nature of a father that gets passed down to a son [positive or negative].
Reading a genealogy can give much historical information. Note that when Yeshua is called the Son of God and the Son of Man [there are specific cross-references which demonstrate an entirely different point (For example Dn 7:13 and 8:17)], one point is that he had a nature like God and he had a nature like man. [recall multiple levels] There is much more that could be said about grammar, but the point is not to take the reader through a course in Hebrew or Greek. The purpose will be to demonstrate how looking at certain points of grammar in word studies will make a big difference in your understanding. Therefore these points will be brought up in a “just-in-time” fashion, discussing them when needed. In the next Post we will cover repetition and methods of emphasis.
The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, James Strong, LLD, STD, 1990, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN.
http://linguistics.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/ acrefore-9780199384655-e-43?print
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender
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