Nothing True, Part 3

Posted on July 8, 2023 by admin

Eliphaz, the king of the Thaimanites¹ responded to Job’s lament:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Job 4:1, 2 (Tanakh/KJV)	Job 4:1, 2 (NET)	Job 4:1, 2 (NETS)	Job 4:1, 2 (English Elpenor)
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,	Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:	Now Eliphaz the Thaimanite continued and said,	Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
If we assay (הֲנִסָּ֬ה) to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?	“If someone should attempt (nāsâ, הנסה) a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can refrain from speaking?	“Have you often (μὴ πολλάκις) been addressed when in distress? But who can endure the force of your words?	Hast thou been often (μὴ πολλάκις) spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of thy words?

“If one ventures a word with you, will you become impatient?”² I thought Eliphaz was kind and very mindful of Job’s distress when I only read this English translation of the Masoretic text. Now I know that Eliphaz was a king who heard Job lament: I should have slept and been at rest, with kings [and] councillors of the earth, who gloried in [their] swords.³ So now I hear sarcasm in the words of Eliphaz.

The Hebrew word translated we assay (Tanakh, KJV) and someone should attempt (NET) was הֲנִסָּ֬ה (nāsâ). The first occurrence of a form of נָסָה (nāsâ) follows:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 22:1, 2 (Tanakh)	Genesis 22:1, 2 (NET)	Genesis 22:1, 2 (NETS)	Genesis 22:1, 2 (English Elpenor)
And it came to pass after these things, that G-d did prove (נִסָּ֖ה) Abraham, and said unto him: ‘Abraham’; and he said: ‘Here am I.’	Some time after these things God tested (nāsâ, נסה) Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham replied.	And it came about after these matters that God tested (ἐπείραζεν) Abraham and said to him, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”	AND it came to pass after these things that God tempted (ἐπείρασε) Abraam, and said to him, Abraam, Abraam; and he said, Lo! I [am here].
And He said: ‘Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.’	God said, “Take your son—your only son, whom you love, Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah! Offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will indicate to you.”	And he said, “Take your beloved son Isaak, whom you love, and go into the high land, and offer him as a whole burnt offering on one of the mountains, whichever I mention to you.”	And he said, Take thy son, the beloved one, whom thou hast loved– Isaac, and go into the high land, and offer him there for a whole-burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”⁴ We are told explicitly (Hebrews 11:17-19 NET):

By faith Abraham, when he was tested (πειραζόμενος, a form of πειράζω), offered up Isaac. He had received the promises, yet he was ready to offer up his only son. God had told him, “Through Isaac descendants will carry on your name,” and he reasoned that God could even raise him from the dead, and in a sense he received him back from there.

It’s not too difficult to say that God did prove (Tanakh), did tempt (KJV), tested (NET, NETS) or tempted (English Elpenor) Job. That is precisely what the translators of the Tanakh on chabad.org decided that Eliphaz said to him (Job 4:2 Chabad Tanakh):

“Because He tested you with [one] thing, should you weary? Who can withhold words?

But I wonder now if Eliphaz thought to continue that proving, tempting or testing by his own words. Or did he try (Tanakh), tempt (KJV, English Elpenor) or test (NET) God?

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Exodus 17:2 (Tanakh)	Exodus 17:2 (NET)	Exodus 17:2 (NETS)	Exodus 17:2 (English Elpenor)
Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said: ‘Give us water that we may drink.’ And Moses said unto them: ‘Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye try (תְּנַסּ֖וּן) HaShem?’	So the people contended with Moses, and they said, “Give us water to drink!” Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you test (nāsâ, תנסון) the Lord?”	And the people were railing against Moyses, saying, “Give us water so that we may drink!” And Moyses said to them, “Why are you railing at me, and why are you testing (πειράζετε) the Lord?”	And the people reviled Moses, saying, Give us water, that we may drink; and Moses said to them, Why do ye revile me, and why tempt ye (πειράζετε) the Lord?

Both of these examples of forms of נָסָה (nāsâ) were translated with forms of πειράζω in the Septuagint. In fact, most occurrences of forms of נָסָה (nāsâ) in the Masoretic text were translated with forms of πειράζω in the Septuagint (see table below). One (Deuteronomy 28:56) was translated with a form of πεῖρα, the noun form of the verb πειράζω. Four (twice in Deuteronomy 6:16, once each in Deuteronomy 8:2 and 8:16) were translated with forms of ἐκπειράζω, leaving only two outliers and an allied word to consider.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
1 Samuel 17:38, 39 (Tanakh)	1 Samuel 17:38, 39 (NET)	1 Reigns 17:38, 39 (NETS)	1 Kings 17:38, 39 (English Elpenor)
And Saul clad David with his apparel, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail.	Then Saul clothed David with his own fighting attire and put a bronze helmet on his head. He also put body armor on him.	And Saoul put a woolen cloak on Dauid, and a bronze helmet around his head,	And Saul clothed David with a military coat, and [put] his brazen helmet on his head.
And David girded his sword upon his apparel, and he essayed to go, but could not; for he had not tried it (נִסָּה֒). And David said unto Saul: ‘I cannot go with these; for I have not tried them (נִסִּ֑יתִי).’ And David put them off him.	David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire and tried to walk around, but he was not used to them (nāsâ, נסה). David said to Saul, “I can’t walk in these things, for I’m not used to them (nāsâ, נסיתי).” So David removed them.	and he girded Dauid with his sword over his woolen cloak, and he grew tired (ἐκοπίασεν) walking once and twice. And Dauid said to Saoul, “I shall definitely not be able to go in these, for I am not experienced (πεπείραμαι).” And they removed them from him.	And he girt David with his sword over his coat: and he made trial (ἐκοπίασε) walking [with them] once and again: and David said to Saul, I shall not be able to go with these, for I have not proved [them] (πεπείραμαι): so they remove them from him.

The Greek word ἐκοπίασε(ν), a form of κοπιάω (NETS: he grew tired), cuts right to the heart of the matter and highlights the humor of this boy laboring to move in a man’s battle gear. And πεπείραμαι a form of πειράω in the middle voice (e.g., “to be used to”) makes it clear that David did not disparage the king’s offer or the battle attire offered. I think the rabbis who translated the Septuagint were confronting forms of נָסָה (nāsâ) here, and grappled with nuances that the English translator of the Elpenor Septuagint ignored even in Greek.

This brings me full circle to μὴ πολλάκις, the apparent translation of הֲנִסָּ֬ה (nāsâ) in Job 4:2. Though the literal meaning is not often the English translators of both versions of the Septuagint treated this phrase as a rhetorical question: Have you often (NETS) or Hast thou been often (English Elpenor). This is a legitimate way to treat μὴ at the beginning of a clause:⁵

Introducing a rhetorical question which expects a negative answer:
μὴ φύλαξ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ μού εἰμι ἐγώ;
am I my brother’s keeper? (Gen 4:9)

Though I might otherwise have questioned whether הֲנִסָּ֬ה (nāsâ) was the original word the rabbis found to translate, this exercise has made me more willing to assume that they recognized nuance in the Hebrew that I might miss in a more direct Greek translation. The rabbis didn’t hear Eliphaz requesting permission to speak if it would not cause Job too much distress. They heard an assertion, if not an accusation, that Job was unaccustomed to such distress.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Job 4:3-5 (Tanakh/KJV)	Job 4:3-5 (NET)	Job 4:3-5 (NETS)	Job 4:3-5 (English Elpenor)
Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.	Look, you have instructed many; you have strengthened feeble hands.	So what, if you instructed many and encouraged the hands of the weak one,	For whereas thou hast instructed many, and hast strengthened the hands of the weak one,
Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.	Your words have supported those who stumbled, and you have strengthened the knees that gave way.	lifted up the weak with your words and wrapped feeble knees in courage—	and hast supported the failing with words, and hast imparted courage to feeble knees.
But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled (וַתִּבָּהֵֽל).	But now the same thing comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are terrified (bāhal, ותבהל).	but now distress has come upon you and touched you, and you acted in haste (ἐσπούδασας).	Yet now [that] pain has come upon thee, and touched thee, thou art troubled (ἐσπούδασας).

I looked back at the words when I first read the book of Job (Job 4:3-5 NASB):

Behold, you have taught many, And you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have helped the stumbling to stand, And you have strengthened feeble knees. But now it comes to you, and you are impatient; It touches you, and you are horrified.

I thought Eliphaz was reasoning calmly with Job, encouraging (if not praising him, but certainly encouraging) him to return again to the man he once was. This is embarrassing. Even beyond embarrassing, it is disconcerting because it is around this same time that I thought Jesus was a conceited know-it-all, rude, overly critical, laying word traps into which people would fall so He could berate them.

I was neither self-aware enough nor honest enough to acknowledge those beliefs at the time. I only became aware of them as I knew Him better and they were replaced by a better understanding of the Bible. (I certainly knew how I was supposed to feel about Jesus, and was as practiced as anyone, I suppose, in the fake it till you make it school of Christian teaching.) This time studying through the book of Job it seems fairly clear that Eliphaz accused Job of being an empty talker, a hypocrite, if you will, in the modern sense of the word.

The Hebrew word וַתִּבָּהֵֽל (bāhal), translated and thou art troubled (Tanakh/KJV), and you are terrified (NET), was ἐσπούδασας (a form of σπουδάζω), translated thou art troubled (English Elpenor) and you acted in haste (NETS). Being more familiar with forms of σπουδάζω in the New Testament, I thought this was an odd, even a questionable, choice. So I reviewed some of the verses containing forms of σπουδάζω:

[James, Cephas, and John] requested only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager (ἐσπούδασα, another form of σπουδάζω) to do.⁶ I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called…making every effort (σπουδάζοντες, another form of σπουδάζω) to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.⁷ Make every effort (σπούδασον, another form of σπουδάζω) to present yourself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately.⁸

Thus we must make every effort (Σπουδάσωμεν, another form of σπουδάζω) to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort (σπουδάσατε, another form of σπουδάζω) to be sure of your calling and election. For by doing this you will never stumble into sin (ου μη ¹⁰ πταισητε ποτε; literally, “never stumble once”).¹¹ Therefore, dear friends, since you are waiting for these things, strive (σπουδάσατε, another form of σπουδάζω) to be found at peace, without spot or blemish, when you come into his presence.¹²

When I tried to obey these commands in my own strength, seeking to have my own righteousness derived from¹³ these very commands received as rules, I caused myself a level of anxiety similar to that which Eliphaz accused Job of having. I was making myself like that proverbial branch that is thrown out…and dries up¹⁴ by not remaining or abiding in Jesus. I was like one of those foolish Galatians…trying to finish by human effort. But the Lord rescued me from my folly. The only reason I don’t respond immediately to that level of anxiety in forms of σπουδάζω currently, is that He has begun to teach me to walk by the Spirit.

A table comparing the definitions of וַתִּבָּהֵֽל (bāhal) and σπουδάζω follows:

וַתִּבָּהֵֽל (bāhal)	σπουδάζω
to disturb, alarm, terrify, hurry, be disturbed, be anxious, be afraid, be hurried, be nervous	to hasten, hurry, use speed, act with speed; to be zealous, eager, diligent; to be busy, be persistent; to become mentally unsettled

Taken at face value, these words are more alike than I was fully appreciating. I considered Paul’s usage of ἐσπουδάσαμεν: But when we were separated from you, brothers and sisters, for a short time (in presence, not in affection) we became all the more fervent (ἐσπουδάσαμεν, another form of σπουδάζω) in our great desire to see you in person.¹⁵ There was probably more anxiety in Paul’s more fervent…desire than I allowed before undertaking this exercise: So when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter (ὁ πειράζων) somehow¹⁶ tempted (ἐπείρασεν) you and our toil had proven useless.¹⁷

I’ll conclude this essay with the chabad.org translation of Job 4:3-5 (Chabad Tanakh):

Behold, you have chastised many, and you have strengthened weak hands. Your words would pick up the stumbler, and you would strengthen buckling knees. Now when it comes to you, you weary; it touches you and you are frightened.

According to a note (5) in the NET Paul quoted from Genesis 15:6. A table below compares the Greek of Romans 4:3b to that of the Septuagint.

Romans 4:3b (NET Parallel Greek)	Genesis 15:6 (Septuagint BLB) Table	Genesis 15:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐπίστευσεν δὲ Ἀβραὰμ τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην	καὶ ἐπίστευσεν Αβραμ τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην	καὶ ἐπίστευσεν ῞Αβραμ τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
Romans 4:3b (NET)	Genesis 15:6 (NETS)	Genesis 15:6 (English Elpenor)
Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.	And Abram believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.	And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.

According to a note (22) in the NET Hebrews 11:18b was a quotation from Genesis 21:12b. A table below compares the Greek of Hebrews 11:18b to that of the Septuagint.

Hebrews 11:18b (NET Parallel Greek)	Genesis 21:12b (Septuagint BLB) Table	Genesis 21:12b (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι ἐν Ἰσαὰκ κληθήσεται σοι σπέρμα	ὅτι ἐν Ισαακ κληθήσεταί σοι σπέρμα	ὅτι ἐν ᾿Ισαὰκ κληθήσεταί σοι σπέρμα
Hebrews 11:18b (NET)	Genesis 21:12b (NETS)	Genesis 21:12b (English Elpenor)
through Isaac descendants will carry on your name	for in Isaak offspring shall be named for you	for in Isaac shall thy seed be called

The table mentioned above follows:

Forms of נָסָה (nāsâ)
Reference	Hebrew	KJV / NET	Greek	NETS / English Elpenor
Genesis 22:1	נִסָּ֖ה	did tempt / tested	ἐπείραζεν / ἐπείρασε	tested / tempted
Exodus 15:25	נִסָּֽהוּ	he proved them / he tested them	ἐπείρασεν / ἐπείρασε	he tested / he proved
Exodus 16:4	אֲנַסֶּ֛נּוּ	I may prove them / I may test them	πειράσω	I might test / I may try
Exodus 17:2	תְּנַסּ֖וּן	do ye tempt / do you test	πειράζετε	are you testing / tempt ye
Exodus 17:7	נַסֹּתָ֤ם	they tempted / of their testing	τὸ πειράζειν	they tested / they tempted
Exodus 20:20	נַסּ֣וֹת	prove / test	τοῦ πειράσαι	to test / to try
Numbers 14:22	וַיְנַסּ֣וּ	and have tempted / and yet have tempted	καὶ ἐπείρασάν	and tested / and have tempted
Deuteronomy 4:34	הֲנִסָּ֣ה	hath…assayed / has…tried	ἐπείρασεν	ever attempted / has assayed
Deuteronomy 6:16	תְנַסּ֔וּ	Ye shall…tempt / You must…put…to the test	ἐκπειράσεις	You shall…tempt / Thou shalt…tempt
Deuteronomy 6:16	נִסִּיתֶ֖ם	ye tempted / you did	ἐξεπειράσασθε / ἐξεπειράσατε	you tempted / ye tempted him
Deuteronomy 8:2	לְנַסֹּֽתְךָ֗	to prove thee / he might…test you	ἐκπειράσῃ σε / πειράσῃ σε	test you / try thee
Deuteronomy 8:16	נַסֹּתֶ֔ךָ	he might prove thee / he might…test you	ἐκπειράσῃ σε	test you / thoroughly try thee
Deuteronomy 13:3	מְנַסֶּ֞ה	proveth / will be testing	πειράζει	is testing / tries
Deuteronomy 28:56	נִסְּתָ֤ה	would…adventure / would…think	πεῖραν	an attempt / has…assayed
Deuteronomy 33:8	נִסִּיתוֹ֙	thou didst prove / authority you challenged	ἐπείρασαν	they tempted
Judges 2:22	נַסּ֥וֹת	I may prove / test	τοῦ πειράσαι	to test / to prove
Judges 3:1	לְנַסּ֥וֹת	to prove / to test	πειράσαι	to test / to prove
Judges 3:4	לְנַסּ֥וֹת	to prove / to test	πειράσαι	to test / to prove
Judges 6:39	אֲנַסֶּ֚ה	let me prove / allow…test	πειράσω	I will make trial / I will…make…trial
1 Samuel 17:39	נִסָּה֒	he had…proved / he was…used to	ἐκοπίασεν / ἐκοπίασε	he grew tired / he made trial
1 Samuel 17:39	נִסִּ֑יתִי	I have…proved / I’m…used to	πεπείραμαι	I am…experienced / I have…proved [them]
1 Kings 10:1	לְנַסֹּת֖וֹ	to prove him / to challenge him	πειράσαι αὐτὸν	to test him / to try him
2 Chronicles 9:1	לְנַסּוֹת֩	to prove / to challenge	τοῦ πειράσαι	to test / to prove
2 Chronicles 32:31	לְנַ֨סּוֹת֔וֹ	to try him / to test him	τοῦ πειράσαι αὐτὸν	to test him / to try him
Job 4:2	הֲנִסָּ֬ה	we assay / someone should attempt	μὴ πολλάκις	Have you often / Hast thou been often
Psalm 26:2	וְנַסֵּ֑נִי	and prove me / and test me	καὶ πείρασόν με	and try me
Psalm 78:18	וַיְנַסּוּ	And they tempted / They willfully challenged	καὶ ἐξεπείρασαν	And they tested / And they tempted
Psalm 78:41	וַיְנַסּ֣וּ	and tempted / challenged	καὶ ἐπείρασαν	and tested / and tempted
Psalm 78:56	וַיְנַסּ֣וּ	Yet they tempted / Yet they challenged	καὶ ἐπείρασαν	And they tested / Yet they tempted
Psalm 95:9	נִ֖סּוּנִי	tempted me / challenged my authority	ἐπείρασαν	tried / tempted me
Psalm 106:14	וַיְנַסּוּ	and tempted / they challenged	καὶ ἐπείρασαν	and put…to the test / and tempted
Ecclesiastes 2:1	אֲנַסְּכָ֥ה	I will prove thee / I will try	πειράσω σε	let me test you / I will prove thee
Ecclesiastes 7:23	נִסִּ֣יתִי	have I proved / I have examined	ἐπείρασα	I tested / have I proved
Isaiah 7:12	אֲנַסֶּ֖ה	will I tempt / put…to a test	πειράσω	will I put…to the test / will I tempt
Daniel 1:12	נַס	Prove / test	πείρασον	Do test / Prove
Daniel 1:14	וַיְנַסֵּ֖ם	and proved them / and tested them	καὶ ἐπείρασεν αὐτοὺς	and tested them / and proved them

Tables comparing Job 4:1; 4:2; Genesis 22:1; 22:2; Exodus 17:2; 1 Samuel 17:38; 17:39; Job 4:3; 4:4 and 4:5 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Job 4:1; 4:2; Genesis 22:1; 22:2; Exodus 17:2; 1 Samuel (Reigns, Kings) 17:38; 17:39; Job 4:3; 4:4 and 4:5 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and a table comparing the Greek of 1 Thessalonians 3:5 in the NET and KJV follow.

Job 4:1 (Tanakh)	Job 4:1 (KJV)	Job 4:1 (NET)
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,	Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,	Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

Job 4:1 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 4:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Ελιφας ὁ Θαιμανίτης λέγει	ΥΠΟΛΑΒΩΝ δὲ ᾿Ελιφὰζ ὁ Θαιμανίτης λέγει
Job 4:1 (NETS)	Job 4:1 (English Elpenor)
Now Eliphaz the Thaimanite continued and said,	Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,

Job 4:2 (Tanakh)	Job 4:2 (KJV)	Job 4:2 (NET)
If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?	If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?	“If someone should attempt a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can refrain from speaking?

Job 4:2 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 4:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
μὴ πολλάκις σοι λελάληται ἐν κόπῳ ἰσχὺν δὲ ῥημάτων σου τίς ὑποίσει	μὴ πολλάκις σοι λελάληται ἐν κόπῳ; ἰσχὺν δὲ ῥημάτων σου τίς ὑποίσει
Job 4:2 (NETS)	Job 4:2 (English Elpenor)
“Have you often been addressed when in distress? But who can endure the force of your words?	Hast thou been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of thy words?

Genesis 22:1 (Tanakh)	Genesis 22:1 (KJV)	Genesis 22:1 (NET)
And it came to pass after these things, that G-d did prove Abraham, and said unto him: ‘Abraham’; and he said: ‘Here am I.’	And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.	Some time after these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham replied.

Genesis 22:1 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 22:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐγένετο μετὰ τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα ὁ θεὸς ἐπείραζεν τὸν Αβρααμ καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν Αβρααμ Αβρααμ ὁ δὲ εἶπεν ἰδοὺ ἐγώ	ΚΑΙ ἐγένετο μετὰ τὰ ρήματα ταῦτα ὁ Θεός ἐπείρασε τὸν ῾Αβραὰμ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ῾Αβραάμ, ῾Αβραάμ. ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· ἰδοὺ ἐγώ
Genesis 22:1 (NETS)	Genesis 22:1 (English Elpenor)
And it came about after these matters that God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”	AND it came to pass after these things that God tempted Abraam, and said to him, Abraam, Abraam; and he said, Lo! I [am here].

Genesis 22:2 (Tanakh)	Genesis 22:2 (KJV)	Genesis 22:2 (NET)
And He said: ‘Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.’	And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.	God said, “Take your son—your only son, whom you love, Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah! Offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will indicate to you.”

Genesis 22:2 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 22:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν λαβὲ τὸν υἱόν σου τὸν ἀγαπητόν ὃν ἠγάπησας τὸν Ισαακ καὶ πορεύθητι εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ὑψηλὴν καὶ ἀνένεγκον αὐτὸν ἐκεῖ εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν ἐφ᾽ ἓν τῶν ὀρέων ὧν ἄν σοι εἴπω	καὶ εἶπε· λαβὲ τὸν υἱόν σου τὸν ἀγαπητόν, ὃν ἠγάπησας, τὸν ᾿Ισαάκ, καὶ πορεύθητι εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ὑψηλὴν καὶ ἀνένεγκον αὐτὸν ἐκεῖ εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν ἐφ᾿ ἓν τῶν ὀρέων, ὧν ἄν σοι εἴπω
Genesis 22:2 (NETS)	Genesis 22:2 (English Elpenor)
And he said, “Take your beloved son Isaak, whom you love, and go into the high land, and offer him as a whole burnt offering on one of the mountains, whichever I mention to you.”	And he said, Take thy son, the beloved one, whom thou hast loved– Isaac, and go into the high land, and offer him there for a whole-burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Exodus 17:2 (Tanakh)	Exodus 17:2 (KJV)	Exodus 17:2 (NET)
Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said: ‘Give us water that we may drink.’ And Moses said unto them: ‘Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye try HaShem?’	Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?	So the people contended with Moses, and they said, “Give us water to drink!” Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?”

Exodus 17:2 (Septuagint BLB)	Exodus 17:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐλοιδορεῖτο ὁ λαὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγοντες δὸς ἡμῖν ὕδωρ ἵνα πίωμεν καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Μωυσῆς τί λοιδορεῖσθέ μοι καὶ τί πειράζετε κύριον	καὶ ἐλοιδορεῖτο ὁ λαὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγοντες· δὸς ἡμῖν ὕδωρ, ἵνα πίωμεν. καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Μωυσῆς· τί λοιδορεῖσθέ μοι, καὶ τί πειράζετε Κύριον
Exodus 17:2 (NETS)	Exodus 17:2 (English Elpenor)
And the people were railing against Moyses, saying, “Give us water so that we may drink!” And Moyses said to them, “Why are you railing at me, and why are you testing the Lord?”	And the people reviled Moses, saying, Give us water, that we may drink; and Moses said to them, Why do ye revile me, and why tempt ye the Lord?

1 Samuel 17:38 (Tanakh)	1 Samuel 17:38 (KJV)	1 Samuel 17:38 (NET)
And Saul clad David with his apparel, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail.	And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.	Then Saul clothed David with his own fighting attire and put a bronze helmet on his head. He also put body armor on him.

1 Samuel 17:38 (Septuagint BLB)	1 Kings 17:38 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐνέδυσεν Σαουλ τὸν Δαυιδ μανδύαν καὶ περικεφαλαίαν χαλκῆν περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ	καὶ ἐνέδυσε Σαοὺλ τὸν Δαυὶδ μανδύαν καὶ περικεφαλαίαν χαλκῆν περὶ τὴν κεφαλήν αὐτοῦ
1 Reigns 17:38 (NETS)	1 Kings 17:38 (English Elpenor)
And Saoul put a woolen cloak on Dauid, and a bronze helmet around his head,	And Saul clothed David with a military coat, and [put] his brazen helmet on his head.

1 Samuel 17:39 (Tanakh)	1 Samuel 17:39 (KJV)	1 Samuel 17:39 (NET)
And David girded his sword upon his apparel, and he essayed to go, but could not; for he had not tried it. And David said unto Saul: ‘I cannot go with these; for I have not tried them.’ And David put them off him.	And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.	David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire and tried to walk around, but he was not used to them. David said to Saul, “I can’t walk in these things, for I’m not used to them.” So David removed them.

1 Samuel 17:39 (Septuagint BLB)	1 Kings 17:39 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔζωσεν τὸν Δαυιδ τὴν ῥομφαίαν αὐτοῦ ἐπάνω τοῦ μανδύου αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκοπίασεν περιπατήσας ἅπαξ καὶ δίς καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ πρὸς Σαουλ οὐ μὴ δύνωμαι πορευθῆναι ἐν τούτοις ὅτι οὐ πεπείραμαι καὶ ἀφαιροῦσιν αὐτὰ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ	καὶ ἔζωσε τὸν Δαυὶδ τὴν ρομφαίαν αὐτοῦ ἐπάνω τοῦ μανδύου αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἐκοπίασε περιπατήσας ἅπαξ καὶ δίς· καὶ εἶπε Δαυὶδ πρὸς Σαούλ· οὐ μὴ δύνωμαι πορευθῆναι ἐν τούτοις, ὅτι οὐ πεπείραμαι. καὶ ἀφαιροῦσιν αὐτὰ ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ
1 Reigns 17:39 (NETS)	1 Kings 17:39 (English Elpenor)
and he girded Dauid with his sword over his woolen cloak, and he grew tired walking once and twice. And Dauid said to Saoul, “I shall definitely not be able to go in these, for I am not experienced.” And they removed them from him.	And he girt David with his sword over his coat: and he made trial walking [with them] once and again: and David said to Saul, I shall not be able to go with these, for I have not proved [them]: so they remove them from him.

Job 4:3 (Tanakh)	Job 4:3 (KJV)	Job 4:3 (NET)
Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.	Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.	Look, you have instructed many; you have strengthened feeble hands.

Job 4:3 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 4:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἰ γὰρ σὺ ἐνουθέτησας πολλοὺς καὶ χεῖρας ἀσθενοῦς παρεκάλεσας	εἰ γὰρ σὺ ἐνουθέτησας πολλοὺς καὶ χεῖρας ἀσθενοῦς παρεκάλεσας
Job 4:3 (NETS)	Job 4:3 (English Elpenor)
So what, if you instructed many and encouraged the hands of the weak one,	For whereas thou hast instructed many, and hast strengthened the hands of the weak one,

Job 4:4 (Tanakh)	Job 4:4 (KJV)	Job 4:4 (NET)
Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.	Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.	Your words have supported those who stumbled, and you have strengthened the knees that gave way.

Job 4:4 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 4:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀσθενοῦντάς τε ἐξανέστησας ῥήμασιν γόνασίν τε ἀδυνατοῦσιν θάρσος περιέθηκας	ἀσθενοῦντάς τε ἐξανέστησας ρήμασι, γόνασί τε ἀδυνατοῦσι θάρσος περιέθηκας
Job 4:4 (NETS)	Job 4:4 (English Elpenor)
lifted up the weak with your words and wrapped feeble knees in courage—	and hast supported the failing with words, and hast imparted courage to feeble knees.

Job 4:5 (Tanakh)	Job 4:5 (KJV)	Job 4:5 (NET)
But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.	But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.	But now the same thing comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are terrified.

Job 4:5 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 4:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
νῦν δὲ ἥκει ἐπὶ σὲ πόνος καὶ ἥψατό σου σὺ δὲ ἐσπούδασας	νῦν δὲ ἥκει ἐπὶ σὲ πόνος καὶ ἥψατό σου, σὺ ἐσπούδασας
Job 4:5 (NETS)	Job 4:5 (English Elpenor)
but now distress has come upon you and touched you, and you acted in haste.	Yet now [that] pain has come upon thee, and touched thee, thou art troubled.

1 Thessalonians 3:5 (NET)	1 Thessalonians 3:5 (KJV)
So when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless.	For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.

1 Thessalonians 3:5 (NET Parallel Greek)	1 Thessalonians 3:5 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	1 Thessalonians 3:5 (Byzantine Majority Text)
διὰ τοῦτο καγὼ μηκέτι στέγων ἔπεμψα εἰς τὸ γνῶναι τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν, μή πως ἐπείρασεν ὑμᾶς ὁ πειράζων καὶ εἰς κενὸν γένηται ὁ κόπος ἡμῶν	δια τουτο καγω μηκετι στεγων επεμψα εις το γνωναι την πιστιν υμων μηπως επειρασεν υμας ο πειραζων και εις κενον γενηται ο κοπος ημων	δια τουτο καγω μηκετι στεγων επεμψα εις το γνωναι την πιστιν υμων μηπως επειρασεν υμας ο πειραζων και εις κενον γενηται ο κοπος ημων

Nothing True, Part 4

¹ Job 2:11 (NETS) Table

² Job 4:2a (NASB)

³ Job 3:13b, 14 (English Elpenor)

⁴ Romans 4:3 (NET)

⁵ From the definition of μὴ in the Koine Greek Lexicon online.

⁶ Galatians 2:10 (NET)

⁷ Ephesians 4:1, 3 (NET)

⁸ 2 Timothy 2:15 (NET)

⁹ Hebrews 4:11 (NET)

¹⁰ “The Subjunctive of Emphatic Negation,” He Takes Away, Part 3

¹¹ 2 Peter 1:10 (NET)

¹² 2 Peter 3:14 (NET)

¹³ Philippians 3:9 (NET)

¹⁴ John 15:6b (NET) Table

¹⁵ 1 Thessalonians 2:17 (NET)

¹⁶ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had μή (NET: for fear that) πως (NET: somehow) here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μηπως (KJV: lest by some means).

¹⁷ 1 Thessalonians 3:5 (NET)

Antichrist, Part 5

Posted on July 3, 2013 by admin

“After premiering at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where Gainsbourg won the festival’s award for Best Actress, [“Antichrist”] immediately caused controversy, with critics generally praising the film’s artistic execution but strongly divided regarding its substantive merit…The ecumenical jury at the Cannes festival gave the film a special ‘anti-award’ and declared the film to be ‘the most misogynist movie from the self-proclaimed biggest director in the world’. Cannes festival director Thierry Frémaux responded that this was a ‘ridiculous decision that borders on a call for censorship’ and that it was ‘scandalous coming from an ecumenical jury’.”^[1]

“The Ecumenical Jury (French: Jury Œcuménique) is one of three juries at the Cannes Film Festival…The award was created by Christian film makers, film critics and other film professionals. The objective of the award is to ‘honour works of artistic quality which witnesses to the power of film to reveal the mysterious depths of human beings through what concerns them, their hurts and failings as well as their hopes.’”^[2] Given that objective I tend to agree in part with Thierry Frémaux that labeling Antichrist “the most misogynist movie” was a “ridiculous decision.” But I still asked myself, was it misogynist?

A blurb from “Gynocide: Hysterectomy, Capitalist Patriarchy, and the Medical Abuse Of Women” by Mariarosa Dalla Costa, read: “How much of contemporary medical practice still derives from a practice rooted in the witch-hunts that plagued Europe from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, and burned at the stake, after horrible torture, hundreds of thousands of midwives and healers along with other poor women — the greatest sexocide in recorded history? Women’s bodies and their medical knowledge were burned on those stakes to be replaced by a male “science” and a male gynecological profession controlled by the state and church.”^[3]

From that perspective perhaps her defection from her thesis on gynocide in a story written by a man could be viewed as misogynist. But she was far and away the more sympathetic character in my opinion. He was at best a tool of male dominated “science,” and at worst the perpetrator of the very violence Mariarosa Dalla Costa decried. I can reach no definitive conclusion, even in my own mind. What was important to me was what the film brought to my attention about me.

I already mentioned how I repressed my own feelings and realized that my wife at least should know them and my reasons for acting contrary to them. Another thing “Antichrist” brought to my attention (or perhaps I should say, the Lord brought to my attention through viewing and considering the film) was that despite the Scripture and my own experience I still harbor a romantic notion that there is some innate goodness in women that desires and pursues love (ἀγάπη)^[4] over power, property and prestige.

Except for organized sports (and disorganized sports where I was socialized by peers), I was socialized by women. They all believed themselves to be morally superior to men. “You’re just like your father,” was not the way my mother expressed her approval of me. But “Antichrist” compelled me to stare down my socialization and acknowledge the fact that a woman who rejects the grace of God in Jesus Christ and his credited righteousness is as lost as any man.

I was prepped for this by its inverse in the “Twilight” series. Talking with a female coworker I mentioned that I understood why young men didn’t like the movie. While female sexuality personified by Bella was all sweetness and light, male sexuality personified by Edward and Jacob was portrayed as dark and dangerous and evil. “That’s kind of hard on young men,” I said.

“Because it’s so true,” she replied.

I said, no, I didn’t think it was true, but it got me thinking about my upbringing. I learned that my only interest in females was to fuck them from women. That’s partly true because I shunned boys or men who felt or talked that way about girls or women. But my own feelings that she was pretty, or that I liked to hear her voice, or that we shared interests and liked to talk to one another were completely brushed aside for the occult truth that I wanted to fuck her. And this was at a time in my development before I knew what fucking was, or, later, before I had overcome my childish aversion to fucking as silly, embarrassing and mildly disgusting. But the only way I could be kept from fucking her was to have no friendships with girls when young, and no unchaperoned associations with young women when older.

God help the first woman who finds herself alone with a man socialized like this! And, no, I didn’t rape her. I did keep her out way too late—talking. I had a lot of lost time to make up for. But I didn’t have a clue that my desire to talk rather than fuck was the ἐγκράτεια ^[5] of the Holy Spirit. I don’t recall knowing anything about the fruit of the Spirit at sixteen, though it’s hard to imagine that I hadn’t heard of it at all in a fundamentalist church.

I certainly didn’t understand that ἐγκράτεια (and love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness^[6]) was formed in me by the Holy Spirit as mysteriously as a new human life is formed inside a woman. I wouldn’t have made that sexual connection at all. I thought self-control was something I did to prove my love for God, not something He did because He loves me (not to mention the women who crossed my path). Or if I telescope back in time something I know I learned later, I thought ἐγκράτεια was something I had to earn by doing other religious deeds to prove my love for God. Simply trusting Jesus’ Father for my daily bread of life was a long time coming.

There is another piece to all of this. In my mid-twenties grappling with faith intellectually for the first time as an adult, I was troubled by “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” Paul’s recounting in Romans 4:3 (NET) of Genesis 15:6, Abram believed the Lord… Why?

I was too immature in my thinking to regard “my faith” as “my share in Christ’s faithfulness.” I only thought of it as the new work I must do to inherit eternal life. What was wrong (or right) with Abram that after years of empirical proof (and one scientific experiment with Sarai’s maid) to the contrary he still believed God’s promise that he would have an heir by Sarai (Sarah)?

The sermon the next Sunday was on Genesis 17. God addressed Himself to Abram as El Shaddai. The pastor explained briefly that El meant power. Shaddai had at its root the word shad, the female breast. The pastor went on with his sermon. I was stuck right there—shocked! God called Himself “Power Tit!?” A “Mighty Boob!?” I suddenly had a whole new appreciation for Woody Allen armed with a crucifix luring a savage breast into a giant bra in “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex.” But it got my attention.

I was stuck there all afternoon, maybe for days. I don’t actually remember. Then, in a moment of weakness perhaps, when my religious guard was down, in my imagination I saw Abram, sweaty and spent, collapse on Sarai’s breast, resting there as if on a pillow, wondering, “could this be the time the promise of God would be fulfilled? Will my wife’s breasts flow with life-giving milk to nourish my son?”

Then with fresh ears I heard God address Himself to Abram again as El Shaddai. My hard heart was broken, tears flowed from my eyes, sobs and wailing erupted from my mouth as I understood that Abram believed God for the simplest reason of all. No one would call so intimate a friend a liar to his face.

I wrote all this (minus the “Power Tit” and “Mighty Boob” part) in a letter to the pastor, part confession, part thanksgiving. He answered my letter, writing that he used to teach the passage that way when he was younger, back East, but no longer, not in the conservative Midwest, not in a mixed congregation. And I realized that the women of the congregation thought they were holier than God.

I wasn’t socialized by whores and prostitutes, but by wives. And I’m old enough, from a blue collar religious background, that I think I’m safe to assume that most of their husbands were also virgins when they married, or married the woman they gave their virginity to. These wives either had no intention to submit to their husbands in everything…as the church submits to Christ,^[7] or no clue that submission would include fucking or carry any sexual overtones. They knew that their husbands wanted to fuck more than they did, and they knew that was evil, and they endeavored to purify their sons of that evil. And I never met a believing man who stood up to them.

Back to Cult Prostitutes

Back to My Reasons and My Reason, Part 4

Back to Who Am I? Part 4

^[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichrist_(film)

^[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_of_the_Ecumenical_Jury

^[3] http://www.amazon.com/Gynocide-Hysterectomy-Capitalist-Patriarchy-Medical/dp/1570271763

^[6] Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

^[7] Ephesians 5:24 (NET)

Antichrist, Part 1

Posted on April 11, 2013 by admin

I was introduced to Lars von Trier’s movies in a backhanded way. A friend wanted me to watch “Melancholia” because she thought it was a waste of two hours of her life. I suspected she was afraid I might like it and call her taste into question. I was afraid of that too as I watched the magical beginning of the film. Fortunately for our friendship I found the character Justine disagreeable enough to satisfy her. I enjoyed the film more when I skipped from the extreme slow motion photography of the opening to the chapter titled “Claire” and watched from there to the end. Less of Justine’s melancholia was definitely more for me. I was hooked however on Lars von Trier.

I cried at the end of “Breaking the Waves” when God credited Bess’s faith as righteousness: For what does the scripture say? Paul asked. “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[1] The plot turned on the confusion in the English language between eros and agapē. It seems to me that English speaking believers who care about making the Gospel plain would lead the curve to accept fuck and fucking as legitimate words for eros. We are the ones, after all, muscling in on love (since the Aunt Pollys^[2] and professional fundraisers of the world have made charity^[3] as odious to the receiver as to the giver).

Sexual intercourse is too clinical to substitute for eros. Making love is too nice-nice, too insincere, or too dishonest to suffice. The freshly fucked wife lying forlornly beside her husband, asking, “Do you love me?” knows full well that fucking doesn’t make any love. Her clueless husband turning from the television to stare incredulously at her, and saying defensively, “Didn’t I just show you how much I love you?” thinks love was the feeling he had while fucking her. Or worse, he might take offense thinking she has denigrated his performance as a fucker. If he has read any books about fucking he might take the time to cuddle and talk to her afterwards, before turning to the television. But a wife is close enough to see through that hypocrisy eventually. Only the love that flows from Christ’s Spirit is the ἀγάπη^[4] (agapē) she seeks when fucking just isn’t enough.

I was on my first movie set with nudity. We were ready to shoot. The male actor, speaking for himself and his female counterpart, asked the director, “Are we making love or fucking?” We all knew exactly what he meant. Making love is the tender prelude to the selfish self-abandon of fucking. Making love is the hope of which fucking is the substance. By comparison making love seems calculated, hypocritical, a mere going through the motions, or a practiced aloofness. “Give me a little of both,” the director replied.

Love (ἀγάπη) does no wrong to a neighbor, Paul wrote. Therefore love (ἀγάπη) is the fulfillment of the law.^[5] Few would be persuaded that, fucking does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore fucking (or the feeling I have while I am fucking, or wanting to fuck, her) is the fulfillment of the law. I wonder sometimes, however, if we don’t actually prefer the confusion. Loving enemies and praying for persecutors is decidedly unsexy and a hard sell. It isn’t natural. It only comes from the ἀγάπη of God flowing into one through his Holy Spirit and then out again as attitudes and actions that are incomprehensible to those born only of the flesh of Adam.

Having said all that, however, there was something about fucking, especially first fucking, that made me highly susceptible to the ἀγάπη of God. I have noticed a similar phenomenon in other men. It makes a sort of sense then that Satan and the religious mind would conspire to make first fucking as “immoral” as possible, to short circuit that natural progression from eros to agapē. In the past this was achieved by putting all women but prostitutes completely out of reach. In my day it was the misnomer premarital sex and the presumed punishment for premarital sex—pregnancy. In terms of God’s law it was about as difficult for a man to commit premarital sex as to commit a pre-homicidal murder, since even a man who raped a single woman had committed lifelong marriage (Deuteronomy 22:28, 29 NET):

Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes her and they are discovered [Table]. The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives [Table].

In “Breaking the Waves” Bess knew that Jan worked on an oil rig out at sea when she married him. But after their honeymoon, when he had to go back to work, she couldn’t bear their separation. (I should probably say that I will be spoiling “Breaking the Waves” for anyone who finds a movie “spoiled” by knowing its story.) Bess prayed that God would bring Jan home. Whenever Bess prayed, by the way, she spoke for herself and then lowered the pitch of her voice and spoke for God as well. Not surprisingly perhaps, Bess’s god sounded a bit like the elders of her church.

Early in the film we get a picture of her church. When Jan asked why they had no bells in their steeple, the religious leader scolded, “We do not need bells in our church to worship God.” “I like church bells,” Bess whispered to Jan. He attended a funeral presided over by the elders and heard the words, “You are a sinner and you deserve your place in hell,” spoken as a corpse was lowered into the ground. When he told Bess about it, she agreed, “He will go to hell; everyone knows that.”

Jan got hurt on the rig and came home paralyzed, probably for life, though even his life was not guaranteed. He encouraged Bess to take a lover, but not to divorce him. Bess was offended. Later he convinced her that his life depended on her taking a lover and telling him about it. She reluctantly and unsuccessfully attempted to seduce his doctor, someone for whom she had some affection. She tried to tell Jan a sexy story, but he knew she was lying. She began to have anonymous encounters with strangers. She even dressed like a prostitute. When she did, Jan seemed to get better. When she didn’t, he seemed to get worse.

Finally she went to the “big ship” dressed as a prostitute. Other prostitutes wouldn’t go there. The men were brutal and cruel. Bess barely escaped with her life. She was excommunicated from her church, locked out of her home and pelted with rocks by neighborhood children. Then she heard from her sister-in-law (who was also Jan’s nurse) that he was dying.

When his doctor asked, “What’s your talent, Bess?” she replied, “I can believe.” At the moment where all was darkest for Bess personally her sister-in-law asked, “Is there anything I can do for you, anything at all?” “Yes,” Bess answered, “I’d like you to go to Jan and pray for him to be cured, and rise from his bed and walk.” Bess then went back to the “big ship.”

Lars von Trier was uncharacteristically shy about showing what happened to Bess there. One can only assume that she was raped and beaten (and I call it rape despite her willingness to endure it). But not showing it was the right call. There was no need by that time in the story for anger at her attackers, and no call for overwhelming sorrow for Bess. As she died in the emergency room she realized and admitted how wrong she had been.

At the medical inquest Jan’s doctor was tongue-tied to describe her condition. He declared her good, but recanted when the medical examiners disputed describing her death as due to excessive goodness. But there, sitting at the inquest, was Jan, not only risen from his deathbed but walking again. While the religious leaders of Bess’s “church” were preoccupied with excommunicating sinners, teaching love for the law, and condemning corpses to hell, the body of Christ functioned within it (her sister-in-law was a member in good standing) and without it (Bess and Jan were not).

Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit, Paul wrote to the Corinthians. And there are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all. For one person is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, and another the message of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another performance of miracles…^[6]

Bess received the faith. Her sister-in-law prayed and received a miracle. Jan received a gift of healing.

Jan couldn’t face the prospect of self-righteous men condemning his beloved wife to hell, so he and his friends from the oil rig stole her body. “Bess McNeill,” the church leader intoned over a casket filled with sand, “you are a sinner, and for your sins you are consigned to hell.”

“Not one of you has the right to consign Bess to hell,” her sister-in-law rebuked them with a gift of wisdom. And they, for once, fell silent.

Bess was buried at sea on the oil rig. Later a friend roused Jan from his mourning to come out on deck. They stopped at the radar screen to assure themselves that nothing was on the ocean near them. Then they went outside and heard church bells ringing. And just in case we viewers were inclined to be incredulous, the scene cut to an extreme high angle, looking down on the oil rig in the ocean through the ringing bells of heaven.

There is another interesting aspect to this film. People like the leaders of Bess’ “church” are not likely to see a movie rated “R for strong graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some violence.” They self-select as unworthy of its message, and are “hardened,” so they may not repent and be forgiven,^[7] Jesus said of those who were outside (ἔξω).^[8] But “Antichrist,” another of Trier’s movies, is what I really want to write about here.

Antichrist, Part 2

Back to Antichrist, Part 3

Back to Romans, Part 44

Back to Antichrist, Part 4

Back to Antichrist, Part 5

Back to The Righteousness of God

Back to Torture, Part 2

Back to Romans, Part 50

Back to Torture, Part 4

Back to Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 12

^[1] Romans 4:3 (NET)

^[2] Aunt Polly was the bitter woman from Walt Disney’s “Pollyanna” whose noblesse-oblige-charity was contrasted to Pollyanna’s cheerful giving. Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7 NET).

^[3] Agapē was translated charity in the KJV in 1 Corinthians 13.

^[5] Romans 13:10 (NET)

^[6] 1 Corinthians 12:4-10a (NET)

^[7] Mark 4:12 (NET)

^[8] Mark 4:11 (NET)

Romans, Part 19

Posted on September 27, 2012 by admin

Is this blessedness then for the circumcision or also for the uncircumcision?¹ Paul asked. This blessedness was a three-part blessedness as follows:

1	*Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,*	Romans 4:7a (NET)
2	*and whose sins are covered;*	Romans 4:7b (NET)
3	*blessed is the one against whom the Lord will never count* sin.	Romans 4:8 (NET) [Table]

For we say, “faith² was credited to Abraham as righteousness (δικαιοσύνην),”³ Paul continued. In Romans 4:3 Paul quoted Genesis 15:6 from the Septuagint.

Paul

Blue Letter Bible (Septuagint)

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)

Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Romans 4:3 (NET)

ἐπίστευσεν Αβραμ τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην

Genesis 15:6

ἐπίστευσεν δὲ Ἀβραὰμ τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην

Romans 4:3

Paul added the connecting conjunction δε (and, but, moreover; often unexpressed in English translation), and used the name αβρααμ (Abraham) where the Septuagint had Αβραμ (Abram). God changed his name from Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (father of a multitude) in Genesis 17:5. The Greek word δικαιοσύνην (righteousness) found in Romans 4:3 and in the Greek translation of Genesis 15:6 made by Rabbis centuries before Jesus was born is also found in Romans 4:9. Since both the Lord Jesus and Paul’s teaching have been rejected by most Rabbis the best anyone can tease out of the original Hebrew [See Addendum below] is that Abraham’s belief was credited as faith: Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord considered his response of faith as proof of genuine loyalty.⁴

How then was [righteousness (according to the Rabbis who translated the Hebrew Scripture centuries before Jesus was born to be rejected)] credited to him? Paul continued. Was he circumcised at the time, or not?⁵ Now the Lord said to Abram (Genesis 12:1-3 NET):

Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you. Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing. I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name [See Table below for more current translation].

At age seventy-five Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all their possessions including slaves and left their home. When he arrived in Canaan, The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.”⁶ Abram had no children at the time. He was apparently incapable in the flesh so to speak to fulfill any promise concerning his descendants.

Abram and his retinue journeyed into Egypt during a famine. He became quite wealthy there passing off his beautiful wife as his sister. And apparently Lot benefited as well. When they returned to the land God promised Abraham’s descendants their slaves quarreled over pasture and water. Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”⁷

Lot chose to settle near Sodom, Abram settled in the land of Canaan. After Lot had departed, the Lord (y^ehôvâh, ויהוה) said to Abram, “Look from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted. Get up and walk throughout the land, for I will give it to you.”⁸

Lot apparently moved into the city of Sodom during a war. The war was lost. Lot, his family and all his possessions were carried off by the victorious kings. Abram and 318 of his trained men⁹ rescued them. After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and the one who will reward you in great abundance.”¹⁰

But Abram said, “O sovereign (ʼădônây, אדני) Lord (y^ehôvih, יהוה), what will you give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?” [Table] Abram added, “Since you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!”¹¹ Here Abram quoted a law to God, a law similar to that found on the Nuzi Tablets [See Addendum below].¹² But God replied (Genesis 15:4, 5 NET):

But look, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir.” The Lord took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars – if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”

Genesis 15:6 follows, Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord considered his response of faith as proof of genuine loyalty [See Addendum below], or prior to the Rabbis rejection of Christ and Paul’s teaching, And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.¹³ All of this transpired before there was any mention of the rite of circumcision, as Paul wrote the Romans, No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised!¹⁴

And just in case I might think Abram possessed some special faith in some superlative degree, the Lord continued: “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess [Table].” But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, by what can I know that I am to possess it [Table]?”¹⁵ It reminds me of the story of the man who brought his son to Jesus, a son possessed by a spirit that [made] him mute.¹⁶

When the spirit saw him, it immediately¹⁷ threw the boy into a convulsion.¹⁸ He fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you are able to do¹⁹ anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Then Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’²⁰ All things are possible for the one who believes.” Immediately²¹ the father of the boy cried out and said,²² “I believe;²³ help my unbelief!”²⁴

The Lord helped Abram’s unbelief [See Addendum below], first by giving him something to do [though all of this probably happened in a vision] (Genesis 15:9-11 NET).

The Lord said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” So Abram took all these for him and then cut them in two and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

Then the Lord gave Abram a prophetic vision of the future (Genesis 15:12-16 NET).

When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him. Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions. But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.”

And finally the Lord made a covenant with Abram and reiterated his promise to him (Genesis 15:17-21 NET).

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch [See Addendum below] passed between the animal parts. That day the Lord made a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River [Table]– the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites [See Addendum below].”

All of this was done for Abram before there was any mention of circumcision, certainly not any mention of circumcision as a work of righteousness that Abram had done. As Paul concluded (Romans 4:11, 12 NET):

And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, so that he would become the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, that they too could have righteousness credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith²⁵ that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised.²⁶

Addendum: July 2, 2021
A more current comparison of the NET with other translations follows:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 15:6 (Tanakh) Table	Genesis 15:6 (NET)	Genesis 15:6 (NETS)	Genesis 15:6 (English Elpenor)
And he believed in HaShem; and He counted it to him for righteousness (צְדָקָֽה).	Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it as righteousness (ṣᵊḏāqâ, צדקה) to him.	And Abram believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (δικαιοσύνην).	And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness (δικαιοσύνην).

A quote from THE PENTATEUCH PART I: GENESIS / LESSON 9: Genesis 15:1- 17:27 / The Story of Abraham Continues: The Divine Promises Embodied in a Divine Covenant from Agape Catholic Bible Study online follows:

The discovery of the ancient city of Nuzi, a mid 2nd millennium BC Hurrian provincial capital located near modern Kirkuk, Iraq, yielded an archive of over 3,500 cuneiform tablets. Recorded on the tablets, Bible scholars have found many subjects including sociologic/economic conditions and practices common to the 1st and 2nd millenniums BC that are revealed in the Bible, proving that the biblical text accurately reflects the social customs of the times. Some of the Nuzi tablets addressed the possibility of adopting one’s own slave if there was no heir to inherit a man’s estate. If an heir was subsequently born, the slave relinquished his rights as the heir (The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 4, “Nuzi,” pages 1156, 1160-61).

J. Alexander Rutherford in his paper, “A Consideration of the Meaning of the Righteousness of God in Romans 1:17” took Abram’s “unbelief” differently than I had considered it here:

If Paul’s Jewish background fails to yield an adequate precursor to his understanding of imputation, we can still look at the Old Testament as his source or the teachings of Jesus or the Spirit—that is, allow that God could have revealed something not yet seen.

Fortunately, we have already begun to see that there is a strong OT precedence for imputation. As noted above, God promises frequently that He will end sin (Gen. 3:15), that He will restore relationship with Him in a new land (Gen. 12:1-9, 17:8), but He expects obedience from His covenant partners: a great tension arises, how can God maintain a promise that depends on the obedience of those who are by nature disobedient? This is where Paul’s favorite Genesis quote is central; Abraham’s faith was reckoned as righteousness (Gen. 15:6). After the narrator tells us that Abraham’s belief that God would indeed be faithful to His promises was reckoned for righteousness, this vague statement is unpacked. God, in v. 7, reaffirms his promise, but Abraham in v. 8 responds with what almost appears to be doubt, “how am I to know that I shall possess it?” What happened to his faith; does he now doubt God’s ability to fulfill his promise?

Abraham is not looking for a sign that God can do this; he has already expressed faith that God can: if we are already told that Abraham is assured of God’s faithfulness (v. 6), the only room left for doubt is in Abraham’s ability to uphold his side of the bargain. This is exactly what the following verses address. God leads Abraham through the covenant making ceremony, one involving a self-maledictory oath (that covenant failure will result in the death of the one who fails) (9-11, cf. Jer. 34:18-19), yet when the time comes for both covenant makers to walk through and affirm their obligations, it is God alone who walks through in a fiery theophany (v. 17). In v. 18 God then affirms that He will indeed give the land to Abraham’s offspring. The answer to Abraham’s question has been given; what was it? Because only God walked through the line of severed animals, He is saying that He will take upon Himself not only the penalty of His hypothetical covenant failure but also the failure of His covenant partner. YHWH is also affirming that all obligations placed on Abraham will find their fulfillment by His hand. This leaves an unresolved tension through the OT: how can God Himself die for the covenant failure of men?⁴⁷ Both of these commitments then find their resolution in Jesus Christ who died for the sins of man and, as the new Adam, did what Adam and Abraham could not: He perfectly fulfilled God’s covenant obligations so that all those found in Him might receive the fullness of God’s covenant blessing. So, though Paul’s Jewish background gives no background for imputation, the Old Testament does. [pp. 20, 21]

Much as I like Mr. Rutherford’s interpretation above, a table of the relevant text follows:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 15:17 (Tanakh) Table	Genesis 15:17 (NET)	Genesis 15:17 (NETS)	Genesis 15:17 (English Elpenor)
And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.	When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts.	Now after the sun began to appear in the west, a flame appeared, and look, a smoking oven and torches of fire that passed through between these cut halves.	And when the sun was about to set, there was a flame, and behold a smoking furnace and lamps of fire, which passed between these divided pieces.

Only in the NET is the Hebrew of the Masoretic text translated as if a smoking firepot with a flaming torch is one thing. It is a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch in the Tanakh, a smoking oven (furnace) and torches (lamps) of fire in the Septuagint. I need something more, something more I lack at the moment, to recognize this collection of things as representative of “God alone who walks through in a fiery theophany.” In fact, a smoking oven/furnace seems like an apt description of Abram (or any son of Adam) to me: all the lusts of his flesh.

A table comparing Genesis 15:21 in the Masoretic text and the Septuagint follows:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 15:21 (Tanakh) Table	Genesis 15:21 (NET)	Genesis 15:21 (NETS)	Genesis 15:21 (English Elpenor)
and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.’	Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”	and the Amorites and the Chananites and the Heuites and the Gergesites and the Iebousites.”	and the Amorites, and the Chananites, and the Evites, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.

Tables comparing Genesis 12:1; 12:2; 12:3; 12:7; 13:8; 13:9; 13:14; 13:15; 13:16; 13:17; 14:14; 15:3; 15:4; 15:5; 15:9; 15:10; 15:11; 15:12; 15:13; 15:14; 15:15; 15:16; 15:17; 15:18; 15:19; 15:20 and 15:21 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Genesis 12:1; 12:2; 12:3; 12:7; 13:8; 13:9; 13:14; 13:15; 13:16; 13:17; 14:14; 15:3; 15:4; 15:5; 15:9; 15:10; 15:11; 15:12; 15:13; 15:14; 15:15; 15:16; 15:17; 15:18; 15:19; 15:20 and 15:21 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Romans 4:9; Mark 9:17; 9:20; 9:22-24 and Romans 4:12 in the NET and KJV follow.

Genesis 12:1 (Tanakh)	Genesis 12:1 (KJV)	Genesis 12:1 (NET)
Now HaShem said unto Abram: ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee.	Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:	Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you.

Genesis 12:1 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 12:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν κύριος τῷ Αβραμ ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς γῆς σου καὶ ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας σου καὶ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου εἰς τὴν γῆν ἣν ἄν σοι δείξω	ΚΑΙ εἶπε Κύριος τῷ ῞Αβραμ· ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς γῆς σου καὶ ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας σου καὶ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου καὶ δεῦρο εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἣν ἄν σοι δείξω
Genesis 12:1 (NETS)	Genesis 12:1 (English Elpenor)
And the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country and from your kindred and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.	AND the Lord said to Abram, Go forth out of thy land and out of thy kindred, and out of the house of thy father, and come into the land which I will shew thee.

Genesis 12:2 (Tanakh)	Genesis 12:2 (KJV)	Genesis 12:2 (NET)
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.	And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:	Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing.

Genesis 12:2 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 12:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ποιήσω σε εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καὶ εὐλογήσω σε καὶ μεγαλυνῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου καὶ ἔσῃ εὐλογητός	καὶ ποιήσω σε εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καὶ εὐλογήσω σε καὶ μεγαλυνῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου, καὶ ἔσῃ εὐλογημένος
Genesis 12:2 (NETS)	Genesis 12:2 (English Elpenor)
And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be one blessed.	And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed.

Genesis 12:3 (Tanakh)	Genesis 12:3 (KJV)	Genesis 12:3 (NET)
And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’	And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.	I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing through you.”

Genesis 12:3 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 12:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εὐλογήσω τοὺς εὐλογοῦντάς σε καὶ τοὺς καταρωμένους σε καταράσομαι καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς	καὶ εὐλογήσω τοὺς εὐλογοῦντάς σε καὶ τοὺς καταρωμένους σε καταράσομαι· καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς
Genesis 12:3 (NETS)	Genesis 12:3 (English Elpenor)
And I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse, and in you all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed.”	And I will bless those that bless thee, and curse those that curse thee, and in thee shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 12:7 (Tanakh)	Genesis 12:7 (KJV)	Genesis 12:7 (NET)
And HaShem appeared unto Abram, and said: ‘Unto thy seed will I give this land’; and he builded there an altar unto HaShem, who appeared unto him.	And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.	The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 12:7 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 12:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ὤφθη κύριος τῷ Αβραμ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ τῷ σπέρματί σου δώσω τὴν γῆν ταύτην καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐκεῗ Αβραμ θυσιαστήριον κυρίῳ τῷ ὀφθέντι αὐτῷ	καὶ ὤφθη Κύριος τῷ ῞Αβραμ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· τῷ σπέρματί σου δώσω τὴν γῆν ταύτην. καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐκεῖ ῞Αβραμ θυσιαστήριον Κυρίῳ τῷ ὀφθέντι αὐτῷ
Genesis 12:7 (NETS)	Genesis 12:7 (English Elpenor)
And the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “To your offspring I will give this land.” And Abram built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him.	And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, I will give this land to thy seed. And Abram built an altar there to the Lord who appeared to him.

Genesis 13:8 (Tanakh)	Genesis 13:8 (KJV)	Genesis 13:8 (NET)
And Abram said unto Lot: ‘Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we are brethren.	And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.	Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives.

Genesis 13:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 13:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἶπεν δὲ Αβραμ τῷ Λωτ μὴ ἔστω μάχη ἀνὰ μέσον ἐμοῦ καὶ σοῦ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ποιμένων μου καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ποιμένων σου ὅτι ἄνθρωποι ἀδελφοὶ ἡμεῗς ἐσμεν	εἶπε δὲ ῞Αβραμ τῷ Λώτ· μὴ ἔστω μάχη ἀνὰ μέσον ἐμοῦ καὶ σοῦ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ποιμένων μου καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ποιμένων σου, ὅτι ἄνθρωποι ἀδελφοί ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς
Genesis 13:8 (NETS)	Genesis 13:8 (English Elpenor)
So then Abram said to Lot, “Let there not be strife between you and me and between your herders and my herders, for we are kindred.	And Abram said to Lot, Let there not be a strife between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we are brethren.

Genesis 13:9 (Tanakh)	Genesis 13:9 (KJV)	Genesis 13:9 (NET)
Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me; if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left.’	Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.	Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”

Genesis 13:9 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 13:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
οὐκ ἰδοὺ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ ἐναντίον σού ἐστιν διαχωρίσθητι ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ εἰ σὺ εἰς ἀριστερά ἐγὼ εἰς δεξιά εἰ δὲ σὺ εἰς δεξιά ἐγὼ εἰς ἀριστερά	οὐκ ἰδοὺ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ ἐναντίον σου ἐστί; διαχωρίσθητι ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ· εἰ σὺ εἰς ἀριστερά, ἐγὼ εἰς δεξιά· εἰ δὲ σὺ εἰς δεξιά, ἐγὼ εἰς ἀριστερά
Genesis 13:9 (NETS)	Genesis 13:9 (English Elpenor)
See, is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right, but if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”	Lo! is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself from me; if thou [goest] to the left, I will go to the right, and if thou goest to the right, I will go to the left.

Genesis 13:14 (Tanakh)	Genesis 13:14 (KJV)	Genesis 13:14 (NET)
And HaShem said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him: ‘Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward;	And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:	After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, “Look from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west.

Genesis 13:14 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 13:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὁ δὲ θεὸς εἶπεν τῷ Αβραμ μετὰ τὸ διαχωρισθῆναι τὸν Λωτ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἀναβλέψας τοῗς ὀφθαλμοῗς σου ἰδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου οὗ νῦν σὺ εἶ πρὸς βορρᾶν καὶ λίβα καὶ ἀνατολὰς καὶ θάλασσαν	῾Ο δὲ Θεὸς εἶπε τῷ ῞Αβραμ μετὰ τὸ διαχωρισθῆναι τὸν Λὼτ ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ· ἀνάβλεψον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς σου καὶ ἴδε ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου, οὗ νῦν σύ εἶ, πρὸς βορρᾶν καὶ λίβα καὶ ἀνατολὰς καὶ θάλασσαν
Genesis 13:14 (NETS)	Genesis 13:14 (English Elpenor)
And God said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, “Look up with your eyes; look from the place where you are now, toward the north and southwest and east and sea.	And God said to Abram after Lot was separated from him, Look up with thine eyes, and behold from the place where thou now art northward and southward, and eastward and seaward;

Genesis 13:15 (Tanakh)	Genesis 13:15 (KJV)	Genesis 13:15 (NET)
for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.	For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.	I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants forever.

Genesis 13:15 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 13:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἣν σὺ ὁρᾷς σοὶ δώσω αὐτὴν καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος	ὅτι πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, ἣν σὺ ὁρᾷς, σοὶ δώσω αὐτὴν καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου ἕως αἰῶνος
Genesis 13:15 (NETS)	Genesis 13:15 (English Elpenor)
For all the land that you see, I will give it to you and to your offspring forever.	for all the land which thou seest, I will give it to thee and to thy seed for ever.

Genesis 13:16 (Tanakh)	Genesis 13:16 (KJV)	Genesis 13:16 (NET)
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.	And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.	And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted.

Genesis 13:16 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 13:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ποιήσω τὸ σπέρμα σου ὡς τὴν ἄμμον τῆς γῆς εἰ δύναταί τις ἐξαριθμῆσαι τὴν ἄμμον τῆς γῆς καὶ τὸ σπέρμα σου ἐξαριθμηθήσεται	καὶ ποιήσω τὸ σπέρμα σου ὡς τὴν ἄμμον τῆς γῆς· εἰ δύναταί τις ἐξαριθμῆσαι τὴν ἄμμον τῆς γῆς, καὶ τὸ σπέρμα σου ἐξαριθμηθήσεται
Genesis 13:16 (NETS)	Genesis 13:16 (English Elpenor)
And I will make your offspring like the sand of the earth; if anyone can count the sand of the earth, your offspring also shall be counted.	And I will make thy seed like the dust of the earth; if any one is able to number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed be numbered.

Genesis 13:17 (Tanakh)	Genesis 13:17 (KJV)	Genesis 13:17 (NET)
Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it.’	Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.	Get up and walk throughout the land, for I will give it to you.”

Genesis 13:17 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 13:17 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀναστὰς διόδευσον τὴν γῆν εἴς τε τὸ μῆκος αὐτῆς καὶ εἰς τὸ πλάτος ὅτι σοὶ δώσω αὐτήν	ἀναστὰς διόδευσον τὴν γῆν εἴς τε τὸ μῆκος αὐτῆς καὶ εἰς τὸ πλάτος, ὅτι σοὶ δώσω αὐτὴν καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
Genesis 13:17 (NETS)	Genesis 13:17 (English Elpenor)
Rise up, pass through the land, both in the length of it and in the breadth, for I will give it to you.	Arise and traverse the land, both in the length of it and in the breadth; for to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

Genesis 14:14 (Tanakh)	Genesis 14:14 (KJV)	Genesis 14:14 (NET)
And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.	And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.	When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he mobilized his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders as far as Dan.

Genesis 14:14 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 14:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀκούσας δὲ Αβραμ ὅτι ᾐχμαλώτευται Λωτ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ ἠρίθμησεν τοὺς ἰδίους οἰκογενεῗς αὐτοῦ τριακοσίους δέκα καὶ ὀκτώ καὶ κατεδίωξεν ὀπίσω αὐτῶν ἕως Δαν	ἀκούσας δὲ ῞Αβραμ ὅτι ᾐχμαλώτευται Λὼτ ὁ ἀδελφιδοῦς αὐτοῦ, ἠρίθμησε τοὺς ἰδίους οἰκογενεῖς αὐτοῦ, τριακοσίους δέκα καὶ ὀκτώ, καὶ κατεδίωξεν ὀπίσω αὐτῶν ἕως Δάν
Genesis 14:14 (NETS)	Genesis 14:14 (English Elpenor)
And when Abram heard that his kinsman Lot had been taken captive, he counted his homebreds, three hundred eighteen, and chased after them as far as Dan.	And Abram having heard that Lot his nephew had been taken captive, numbered his own home-born [servants] three hundred and eighteen, and pursued after them to Dan.

Genesis 15:3 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:3 (KJV)	Genesis 15:3 (NET)
And Abram said: ‘Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed, and, lo, one born in my house is to be mine heir.’	And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.	Abram added, “Since you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!”

Genesis 15:3 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν Αβραμ ἐπειδὴ ἐμοὶ οὐκ ἔδωκας σπέρμα ὁ δὲ οἰκογενής μου κληρονομήσει με	καὶ εἶπεν ῞Αβραμ· ἐπειδὴ ἐμοὶ οὐκ ἔδωκας σπέρμα, ὁ δὲ οἰκογενής μου κληρονομήσει μοι
Genesis 15:3 (NETS)	Genesis 15:3 (English Elpenor)
And Abram said, “Since you have given me no offspring, my male homebred will be my heir.”	And Abram said, [I am grieved] since thou hast given me no seed, but my home-born [servant] shall succeed me.

Genesis 15:4 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:4 (KJV)	Genesis 15:4 (NET)
And, behold, the word of HaShem came unto him, saying: ‘This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.’	And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.	But look, the Lord’s message came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir.”

Genesis 15:4 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εὐθὺς φωνὴ κυρίου ἐγένετο πρὸς αὐτὸν λέγων οὐ κληρονομήσει σε οὗτος ἀλλ᾽ ὃς ἐξελεύσεται ἐκ σοῦ οὗτος κληρονομήσει σε	καὶ εὐθὺς φωνὴ Κυρίου ἐγένετο πρὸς αὐτὸν λέγουσα· οὐ κληρονομήσει σε οὗτος, ἀλλ᾿ ὃς ἐξελεύσεται ἐκ σοῦ, οὗτος κληρονομήσει σε
Genesis 15:4 (NETS)	Genesis 15:4 (English Elpenor)
And immediately a divine voice came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who shall come out of you, he shall be your heir.”	And immediately there was a voice of the Lord to him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come out of thee shall be thine heir.

Genesis 15:5 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:5 (KJV)	Genesis 15:5 (NET)
And He brought him forth abroad, and said: ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if thou be able to count them’; and He said unto him: ‘So shall thy seed be.’	And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.	The Lord took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars—if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”

Genesis 15:5 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐξήγαγεν δὲ αὐτὸν ἔξω καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ἀνάβλεψον δὴ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἀρίθμησον τοὺς ἀστέρας εἰ δυνήσῃ ἐξαριθμῆσαι αὐτούς καὶ εἶπεν οὕτως ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου	ἐξήγαγε δὲ αὐτὸν ἔξω καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ἀνάβλεψον δὴ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἀρίθμησον τοὺς ἀστέρας, εἰ δυνήσῃ ἐξαριθμῆσαι αὐτούς. καὶ εἶπεν· οὕτως ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου
Genesis 15:5 (NETS)	Genesis 15:5 (English Elpenor)
Then he brought him outside and said to him, “Look up to the sky, and number the stars, if you will be able to count them.” And he said, “So shall your offspring be.”	And he brought him out and said to him, Look up now to heaven, and count the stars, if thou shalt be able to number them fully, and he said, Thus shall thy seed be.

Genesis 15:9 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:9 (KJV)	Genesis 15:9 (NET)
And He said unto him: ‘Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.’	And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.	The Lord said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

Genesis 15:9 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ λαβέ μοι δάμαλιν τριετίζουσαν καὶ αἶγα τριετίζουσαν καὶ κριὸν τριετίζοντα καὶ τρυγόνα καὶ περιστεράν	εἶπε δὲ αὐτῷ· λάβε μοι δάμαλιν τριετίζουσαν καὶ αἶγα τριετίζουσαν καὶ κριὸν τριετίζοντα καὶ τρυγόνα καὶ περιστεράν
Genesis 15:9 (NETS)	Genesis 15:9 (English Elpenor)
And he said to him, “Take for me a heifer three years old and a female goat three years old and a ram three years old and a turtledove and a dove.”	And he said to him, Take for me an heifer in her third year, and a she-goat in her third year, and a ram in his third year, and a dove and a pigeon.

Genesis 15:10 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:10 (KJV)	Genesis 15:10 (NET)
And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other; but the birds divided he not.	And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.	So Abram took all these for him and then cut them in two and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half.

Genesis 15:10 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἔλαβεν δὲ αὐτῷ πάντα ταῦτα καὶ διεῗλεν αὐτὰ μέσα καὶ ἔθηκεν αὐτὰ ἀντιπρόσωπα ἀλλήλοις τὰ δὲ ὄρνεα οὐ διεῗλεν	ἔλαβε δὲ αὐτῷ πάντα ταῦτα καὶ διεῖλεν αὐτὰ μέσα καὶ ἔθηκεν αὐτὰ ἀντιπρόσωπα ἀλλήλοις, τὰ δὲ ὄρνεα οὐ διεῖλε
Genesis 15:10 (NETS)	Genesis 15:10 (English Elpenor)
And he took for him all these and divided them in the middle and placed them facing one another, but he did not divide the birds.	So he took to him all these, and divided them in the midst, and set them opposite to each other, but the birds he did not divide.

Genesis 15:11 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:11 (KJV)	Genesis 15:11 (NET)
And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.	And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.	When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

Genesis 15:11 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
κατέβη δὲ ὄρνεα ἐπὶ τὰ σώματα τὰ διχοτομήματα αὐτῶν καὶ συνεκάθισεν αὐτοῗς Αβραμ	κατέβη δὲ ὄρνεα ἐπὶ τὰ σώματα, ἐπὶ τὰ διχοτομήματα αὐτῶν, καὶ συνεκάθησεν αὐτοῖς ῞Αβραμ
Genesis 15:11 (NETS)	Genesis 15:11 (English Elpenor)
And birds came down on the carcasses, their cut halves, and Abram sat together with them.	And birds came down upon the bodies, [even] upon the divided parts of them, and Abram sat down by them.

Genesis 15:12 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:12 (KJV)	Genesis 15:12 (NET)
And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a dread, even a great darkness, fell upon him.	And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.	When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him.

Genesis 15:12 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)
περὶ δὲ ἡλίου δυσμὰς ἔκστασις ἐπέπεσεν τῷ Αβραμ καὶ ἰδοὺ φόβος σκοτεινὸς μέγας ἐπιπίπτει αὐτῷ	περὶ δὲ ἡλίου δυσμὰς ἔκστασις ἐπέπεσε τῷ ῞Αβραμ, καὶ ἰδοὺ φόβος σκοτεινὸς μέγας ἐπιπίπτει αὐτῷ
Genesis 15:12 (NETS)	Genesis 15:12 (English Elpenor)
Then about sunset a trance fell upon Abram, and look, a great dark fear was falling upon him.	And about sunset a trance fell upon Abram, and lo! a great gloomy terror falls upon him.

Genesis 15:13 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:13 (KJV)	Genesis 15:13 (NET)
And He said unto Abram: ‘Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;	And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;	Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years.

Genesis 15:13 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐρρέθη πρὸς Αβραμ γινώσκων γνώσῃ ὅτι πάροικον ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου ἐν γῇ οὐκ ἰδίᾳ καὶ δουλώσουσιν αὐτοὺς καὶ κακώσουσιν αὐτοὺς καὶ ταπεινώσουσιν αὐτοὺς τετρακόσια ἔτη	καὶ ἐρρέθη πρὸς ῞Αβραμ· γινώσκων γνώσῃ ὅτι πάροικον ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου ἐν γῇ οὐκ ἰδίᾳ, καὶ δουλώσουσιν αὐτοὺς καὶ κακώσουσιν αὐτοὺς καὶ ταπεινώσουσιν αὐτοὺς τετρακόσια ἔτη
Genesis 15:13 (NETS)	Genesis 15:13 (English Elpenor)
And it was said to Abram, “Knowledgeably you shall know that your offspring shall be alien in a land not its own, and they shall enslave them and maltreat them and humble them for four hundred years.	And it was said to Abram, Thou shalt surely know that thy seed shall be a sojourner in a land not their own, and they shall enslave them, and afflict them, and humble them four hundred years.

Genesis 15:14 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:14 (KJV)	Genesis 15:14 (NET)
and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance.	And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.	But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions.

Genesis 15:14 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
τὸ δὲ ἔθνος ᾧ ἐὰν δουλεύσωσιν κρινῶ ἐγώ μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐξελεύσονται ὧδε μετὰ ἀποσκευῆς πολλῆς	τὸ δὲ ἔθνος, ᾧ ἐὰν δουλεύσωσι, κρινῶ ἐγώ· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐξελεύσονται ὧδε μετὰ ἀποσκευῆς πολλῆς
Genesis 15:14 (NETS)	Genesis 15:14 (English Elpenor)
But I will judge the nation that they are subject to; then aterward they shall come out here with much baggage.	And the nation whomsoever they shall serve I will judge; and after this, they shall come forth hither with much property.

Genesis 15:15 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:15 (KJV)	Genesis 15:15 (NET)
But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.	And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.	But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.

Genesis 15:15 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
σὺ δὲ ἀπελεύσῃ πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας σου μετ᾽ εἰρήνης ταφεὶς ἐν γήρει καλῷ	σὺ δὲ ἀπελεύσῃ πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας σου ἐν εἰρήνῃ, τραφεὶς ἐν γήρᾳ καλῷ
Genesis 15:15 (NETS)	Genesis 15:15 (English Elpenor)
Now as for yourself, you shall depart to your fathers in peace, buried in a good old age.	But thou shalt depart to thy fathers in peace, nourished in a good old age.

Genesis 15:16 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:16 (KJV)	Genesis 15:16 (NET)
And in the fourth generation they shall come back hither; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.’	But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.	In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.”

Genesis 15:16 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)
τετάρτη δὲ γενεὰ ἀποστραφήσονται ὧδε οὔπω γὰρ ἀναπεπλήρωνται αἱ ἁμαρτίαι τῶν Αμορραίων ἕως τοῦ νῦν	τετάρτῃ δὲ γενεᾷ ἀποστραφήσονται ὧδε· οὔπω γὰρ ἀναπεπλήρωνται αἱ ἁμαρτίαι τῶν ᾿Αμορραίων ἕως τοῦ νῦν
Genesis 15:16 (NETS)	Genesis 15:16 (English Elpenor)
Then in the fourth generation they shall brought back here, for the sins of the Amorites are not yet, to the present, filled up.	And in the fourth generation they shall return hither, for the sins of the Amorites are not yet filled up, even until now.

Genesis 15:17 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:17 (KJV)	Genesis 15:17 (NET)
And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.	And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.	When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts.

Genesis 15:17 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:17 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐγίνετο ὁ ἥλιος πρὸς δυσμαῗς φλὸξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἰδοὺ κλίβανος καπνιζόμενος καὶ λαμπάδες πυρός αἳ διῆλθον ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν διχοτομημάτων τούτων	ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ ἥλιος ἐγένετο πρὸς δυσμάς, φλὸξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἰδοὺ κλίβανος καπνιζόμενος καὶ λαμπάδες πυρός, αἳ διῆλθον ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν διχοτομημάτων τούτων
Genesis 15:17 (NETS)	Genesis 15:17 (English Elpenor)
Now after the sun began to appear in the west, a flame appeared, and look, a smoking oven and torches of fire that passed through between these cut halves.	And when the sun was about to set, there was a flame, and behold a smoking furnace and lamps of fire, which passed between these divided pieces.

Genesis 15:18 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:18 (KJV)	Genesis 15:18 (NET)
In that day HaShem made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates;	In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:	That day the Lord made a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River—

Genesis 15:18 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ διέθετο κύριος τῷ Αβραμ διαθήκην λέγων τῷ σπέρματί σου δώσω τὴν γῆν ταύτην ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ Αἰγύπτου ἕως τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου ποταμοῦ Εὐφράτου	ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ διέθετο Κύριος τῷ ῞Αβραμ διαθήκην λέγων· τῷ σπέρματί σου δώσω τὴν γῆν ταύτην, ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ Αἰγύπτου ἕως τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου, ποταμοῦ Εὐφράτου
Genesis 15:18 (NETS)	Genesis 15:18 (English Elpenor)
On that say the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I will give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:	In that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates.

Genesis 15:19 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:19 (KJV)	Genesis 15:19 (NET)
the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,	The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,	the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,

Genesis 15:19 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:19 (Septuagint Elpenor)
τοὺς Καιναίους καὶ τοὺς Κενεζαίους καὶ τοὺς Κεδμωναίους	τοὺς Κεναίους καὶ τοὺς Κενεζαίους καὶ τούς Κεδμωναίους
Genesis 15:19 (NETS)	Genesis 15:19 (English Elpenor)
the Kenites and the Kenezites and the Kedmonites	The Kenites, and the Kenezites, and the Kedmoneans,

Genesis 15:20 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:20 (KJV)	Genesis 15:20 (NET)
and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,	And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,	Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,

Genesis 15:20 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:20 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ τοὺς Χετταίους καὶ τοὺς Φερεζαίους καὶ τοὺς Ραφαϊν	καὶ τοὺς Χετταίους καὶ τοὺς Φερεζαίους καὶ Ραφαεὶν
Genesis 15:20 (NETS)	Genesis 15:20 (English Elpenor)
and the Chettites and the Pherezites and the Rhaphain	and the Chettites, and the Pherezites, and the Raphaim,

Genesis 15:21 (Tanakh)	Genesis 15:21 (KJV)	Genesis 15:21 (NET)
and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.’	And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.	Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

Genesis 15:21 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 15:21 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ τοὺς Αμορραίους καὶ τοὺς Χαναναίους καὶ τοὺς Ευαίους καὶ τοὺς Γεργεσαίους καὶ τοὺς Ιεβουσαίους	καὶ τοὺς Ἀμορραίους καὶ τοὺς Χαναναίους καὶ τοὺς Εὐαίους καὶ τοὺς Γεργεσαίους καὶ τοὺς Ἰεβουσαίους
Genesis 15:21 (NETS)	Genesis 15:21 (English Elpenor)
and the Amorites and the Chananites and the Heuites and the Gergesites and the Iebousites.”	and the Amorites, and the Chananites, and the Evites, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.

Romans 4:9 (NET)	Romans 4:9 (KJV)
Is this blessedness then for the circumcision or also for the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.”	Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Ὁ μακαρισμὸς οὖν οὗτος ἐπὶ τὴν περιτομὴν ἢ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν; λέγομεν γάρ· ἐλογίσθη τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ἡ πίστις εἰς δικαιοσύνην	ο μακαρισμος ουν ουτος επι την περιτομην η και επι την ακροβυστιαν λεγομεν γαρ οτι ελογισθη τω αβρααμ η πιστις εις δικαιοσυνην	ο μακαρισμος ουν ουτος επι την περιτομην η και επι την ακροβυστιαν λεγομεν γαρ οτι ελογισθη τω αβρααμ η πιστις εις δικαιοσυνην

Mark 9:17 (NET)	Mark 9:17 (KJV)
A member of the crowd said to him, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that makes him mute.	And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ εἷς ἐκ τοῦ ὄχλου· διδάσκαλε, ἤνεγκα τὸν υἱόν μου πρὸς σέ, ἔχοντα πνεῦμα ἄλαλον	και αποκριθεις εις εκ του οχλου ειπεν διδασκαλε ηνεγκα τον υιον μου προς σε εχοντα πνευμα αλαλον	και αποκριθεις εις εκ του οχλου ειπεν διδασκαλε ηνεγκα τον υιον μου προς σε εχοντα πνευμα αλαλον

Mark 9:20 (NET)	Mark 9:20 (KJV)
So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.	And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἤνεγκαν αὐτὸν πρὸς αὐτόν. καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν τὸ πνεῦμα εὐθὺς συνεσπάραξεν αὐτόν, καὶ πεσὼν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐκυλίετο ἀφρίζων	και ηνεγκαν αυτον προς αυτον και ιδων αυτον ευθεως το πνευμα εσπαραξεν αυτον και πεσων επι της γης εκυλιετο αφριζων	και ηνεγκαν αυτον προς αυτον και ιδων αυτον ευθεως το πνευμα εσπαραξεν αυτον και πεσων επι της γης εκυλιετο αφριζων

Mark 9:22-24 (NET)	Mark 9:22-24 (KJV)
It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”	And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ πολλάκις καὶ εἰς πῦρ αὐτὸν ἔβαλεν καὶ εἰς ὕδατα ἵνα ἀπολέσῃ αὐτόν· ἀλλ᾿ εἴ τι δύνῃ, βοήθησον ἡμῖν σπλαγχνισθεὶς ἐφ᾿ ἡμᾶς	και πολλακις αυτον και εις πυρ εβαλεν και εις υδατα ινα απολεση αυτον αλλ ει τι δυνασαι βοηθησον ημιν σπλαγχνισθεις εφ ημας	και πολλακις αυτον και εις το πυρ εβαλεν και εις υδατα ινα απολεση αυτον αλλ ει τι δυνασαι βοηθησον ημιν σπλαγχνισθεις εφ ημας

Then Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.”

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· τὸ εἰ δύνῃ, πάντα δυνατὰ τῷ πιστεύοντι	ο δε ιησους ειπεν αυτω το ει δυνασαι πιστευσαι παντα δυνατα τω πιστευοντι	ο δε ιησους ειπεν αυτω το ει δυνασαι πιστευσαι παντα δυνατα τω πιστευοντι

Immediately the father of the boy cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
εὐθὺς κράξας ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ παιδίου ἔλεγεν· πιστεύω· βοήθει μου τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ	και ευθεως κραξας ο πατηρ του παιδιου μετα δακρυων ελεγεν πιστευω κυριε βοηθει μου τη απιστια	και ευθεως κραξας ο πατηρ του παιδιου μετα δακρυων ελεγεν πιστευω κυριε βοηθει μου τη απιστια

Romans 4:12 (NET)	Romans 4:12 (KJV)
And he is also the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised.	And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ πατέρα περιτομῆς τοῖς οὐκ ἐκ περιτομῆς μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς στοιχοῦσιν τοῖς ἴχνεσιν τῆς ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ πίστεως τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἀβραάμ	και πατερα περιτομης τοις ουκ εκ περιτομης μονον αλλα και τοις στοιχουσιν τοις ιχνεσιν της εν τη ακροβυστια πιστεως του πατρος ημων αβρααμ	και πατερα περιτομης τοις ουκ εκ περιτομης μονον αλλα και τοις στοιχουσιν τοις ιχνεσιν της πιστεως της εν τη ακροβυστια του πατρος ημων αβρααμ

Romans, Part 20

Back to Romans, Part 21

Back to Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 2

Back to Romans, Part 84

Back to Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 8

Back to Fear – Numbers, Part 3

Back to Fear – Numbers, Part 4

Back to Psalm 22, Part 10

Back to The Children of Promise, Part 1

Back to The Children of Promise, Part 2

Back to Christ-Centered Preaching, Chapter 3

Back to Exploration, Part 2

¹ Romans 4:9a (NET)

² The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had οτι (KJV: that) preceding faith. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

³ Romans 4:9b (NET)

⁴ Genesis 15:6 (NET) Table
Addendum 6/27/2021: The NET translation no longer reads proof of genuine loyalty.

⁵ Romans 4:10a (NET)

⁶ Genesis 12:7 (NET)

⁷ Genesis 13:8, 9 (NET)

⁸ Genesis 13:14-17 (NET)

⁹ Genesis 14:14 (NET)

¹⁰ Genesis 15:1 (NET) Table

¹¹ Genesis 15:2, 3 (NET)

¹² THE PENTATEUCH PART I: GENESIS / LESSON 9: Genesis 15:1- 17:27 / The Story of Abraham Continues: The Divine Promises Embodied in a Divine Covenant

¹³ Genesis 15:6 (NKJV) Table
Addendum 6/28/2021: This would have made more sense if I had quoted And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness (English Elpenor). I may have been a bit catty here (Addendum to Footnote⁴ above).

¹⁴ Romans 4:10b (NET)

¹⁵ Genesis 15:7, 8 (NET)

¹⁶ Mark 9:17 (NET)

¹⁷ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had εὐθὺς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ευθεως (KJV: straightway).

¹⁸ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had συνεσπάραξεν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εσπαραξεν (KJV: tare).

¹⁹ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had δύνῃ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had δυνασαι (KJV: thou canst do).

²⁰ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had δύνῃ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had δυνασαι πιστευσαι (KJV: thou canst believe).

²¹ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had εὐθὺς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και ευθεως (KJV: And straightway).

²² The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μετα δακρυων (KJV: with tears) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

²³ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had κυριε (KJV: Lord) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

²⁴ Mark 9:20-24 (NET)

²⁵ The Byzantine Majority Text had the article της preceding faith. The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

²⁶ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article τη preceding uncircumcised. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

Romans, Part 18

Posted on September 26, 2012 by admin

What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor¹ according to the flesh, has discovered regarding this matter? Paul continued. For if Abraham was declared righteous (ἐδικαιώθη, a form of δικαιόω) by the works (ἔργων, a form of ἔργον) of the law,² he has something to boast about – but not before God.³ For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed (ἐπίστευσεν, a form of πιστεύω) God, and it was credited (ἐλογίσθη, a form of λογίζομαι) to him as righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, a form of δικαιοσύνη).”⁴ But James asked, Was not Abraham our father justified (ἐδικαιώθη, a form of δικαιόω) by works (ἔργων, a form of ἔργον) when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?⁵

Jesus said, the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life.⁶ The gateway between Paul and James here is certainly narrow, and I for one have had a difficult time finding my way. But there is a pathway between them. It is found in the letter to the Hebrews, By faith (Πίστει, a form of πίστις) Abraham, when he was tested (πειραζόμενος, a form of πειράζω), offered up Isaac.⁷ The writer of Hebrews explained, He had received the promises, yet he was ready to offer up his only son. God had told him, “Through Isaac descendants will carry on your name,” and he reasoned (λογισάμενος, another form of λογίζομαι) that God could even raise him from the dead.⁸ Abraham’s faith changed his thoughts and made him willing to sacrifice his son. An angel stopped him before he completed the deed, by the way.

So I have something like this:

…the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life…

Matthew 7:14a (NET)

Paul

Hebrews

James

For if Abraham was declared righteous by the works of the law, he has something to boast about – but not before God.

Romans 4:2 (NET)

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.

Hebrews 11:17a (NET)

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

James 2:21 (NET)

So I think the answer to James’ question is that Abraham was justified by a faith that produced the willingness to offer up Isaac on the altar. And this accords better with his point as he continued: You see that his faith (πίστις) was working together (συνήργει, a form of συνεργέω) with his works (ἔργοις, another form of ἔργον) and his faith (πίστις) was perfected (ἐτελειώθη, a form of τελειόω) by works (ἔργων, a form of ἔργον). And the scripture was fulfilled (ἐπληρώθη, a form of πληρόω) that says, “Now Abraham believed (ἐπίστευσεν, a form of πιστεύω) God and it was counted (ἐλογίσθη, a form of λογίζομαι) to him for righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, a form of δικαιοσύνη),” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified (δικαιοῦται, another form of δικαιόω) by works (ἔργων, a form of ἔργον) and not by faith (πίστεως, another form of πίστις) alone (μόνον, a form of μόνος) [Table].⁹ And by faith alone (εκ πιστεως μονον) James meant a faith that does not produce works, or acts of obedience. It is by James’ own definition a dead faith, faith (πίστις) without works¹⁰ (ἔργων, a form of ἔργον) is dead (νεκρά, a form of νεκρός).¹¹

James concern was for the poor. If¹² a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it?¹³ The Jerusalem church had a communal economy.¹⁴ The temptation to favor the rich was almost overwhelming.¹⁵ The poor brought more mouths to feed; the rich brought the wherewithal to feed them, potentially. It is not too hard to imagine that the work of faith James most longed for was that those with private wealth would turn it over to church control. It is unfortunate, or perhaps divinely appointed, that James chose Abraham as his illustration, since God restrained Abraham from bringing his faith to completion, or perfection, in this particular case.¹⁶

God was satisfied with the demonstration of Abraham’s willingness to obey Him. And I think that was Paul’s point, that Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.¹⁷ What Abraham did, the acts he performed, are written for any to read.¹⁸ Some would not measure up to righteousness by the works of the law as any Pharisee of Paul’s day would understand it. But credited righteousness is real righteousness, the righteousness of God, freely given and meant to be spent freely on the good works (ἔργοις, another form of ἔργον) that God prepared beforehand (προητοίμασεν, a form of προετοιμάζω) so we may do (περιπατήσωμεν, a form of περιπατέω) them,¹⁹ or walk in them, or live them.

And James wasn’t wrong. Giving money was the first symptom I recognized in me of faith and righteousness. Money can be counted. I could see that as I gave more money I never lacked for what I needed or for more to give. That kept me going when other things looked bleak, until I could see my way clear to trust God with more weighty things, like righteousness.

Paul continued, Now to the one who works (ἐργαζομένῳ, a form of ἐργάζομαι), his pay is not credited (λογίζεται, another form of λογίζομαι) due to grace (χάριν, a form of χάρις) but due to obligation²⁰ (ὀφείλημα). But to the one who does not work (ἐργαζομένῳ, a form of ἐργάζομαι), but believes (πιστεύοντι, another form of πιστεύω) in the one who declares the ungodly (ἀσεβῆ, a form of ἀσεβής) righteous (δικαιοῦντα, another form of δικαιόω), his faith (πίστις) is credited (λογίζεται, another form of λογίζομαι) as righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, a form of δικαιοσύνη).²¹

In the past the wrath of God [was] revealed from heaven against all ungodliness (ἀσέβειαν, a form of ἀσέβεια) and unrighteousness (ἀδικίαν, a form of ἀδικία) of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness (ἀδικίᾳ, another form of ἀδικία).²² In the Gospel through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe²³ God declares the ungodly (ἀσεβῆ, a form of ἀσεβής) righteous (δικαιοῦντα, another form of δικαιόω). And I believe that is what Paul thought happened to Abraham as well, that Abraham was declared righteous by God, received the righteousness of God, and was rendered willing to obey God. Otherwise, if Abraham obeyed God by his own work, by his own effort, he was fully entitled according to Paul to boast before God.

So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits (λογίζεται, another form of λογίζομαι) righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, a form of δικαιοσύνη) apart from works (ἔργων, a form of ἔργον) [Table], Paul continued: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds (ἀνομίαι, a form of ἀνομία) are forgiven (ἀφέθησαν, a form of ἀφίημι), and whose sins (ἁμαρτίαι, a form of ἁμαρτία) are covered; blessed is the one against whom the Lord will never count (λογίσηται, another form of λογίζομαι) sin (ἁμαρτίαν, another form of ἁμαρτία) [Table].”²⁴ When the truth of this finally sunk in I was simultaneously elated and crushed.

Later in Romans Paul wrote, each of us will give an account (λόγον, a form of λόγος) of himself to God.²⁵ If I believed nothing else in the Bible I believed this verse. And I took it for granted that I would give an account for my sins, why I committed them and what I had done to make amends for them, and what I had done to stop committing them. It wasn’t until I compared the Greek words λόγον (an account, as in give an account) and what is called its “middle voice” λογίσηται (count, as in the Lord will never count sin) that it dawned on me what Paul was saying: My sins were off the table, not open to discussion. Great! Now what do I do with myself?

It didn’t take too long after that to realize that my life was actually about knowing God from my perspective, and the absent-minded, insignificant kindnesses that overflowed from the righteousness of God that had been credited to me from God’s perspective, just like Jesus said (Matthew 25:31-46 NET).

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels²⁶ with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be assembled²⁷ before him, and he will separate²⁸ people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me [Table].” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you [Table]?” And the king will answer them, “I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.”

Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they too will answer,²⁹ “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?” Then he will answer them, “I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.” And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Addendum: June 7, 2021
According to a note (5) in the NET Romans 4:3b is a quotation from Genesis 15:6. A table comparing the Greek of Paul’s quote with the Septuagint follows.

Romans 4:3b (NET Parallel Greek)	Genesis 15:6 (Septuagint BLB) Table	Genesis 15:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐπίστευσεν δὲ Ἀβραὰμ τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην	καὶ ἐπίστευσεν Αβραμ τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην	καὶ ἐπίστευσεν ῞Αβραμ τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
Romans 4:3b (NET)	Genesis 15:6 (NETS)	Genesis 15:6 (English Elpenor)
Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.	And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.	And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.

According to a note (22) in the NET Hebrews 11:18b is a quotation from Genesis 21:12. A table comparing the Greek of Paul’s quote with the Septuagint follows.

Hebrews 11:18b (NET Parallel Greek)	Genesis 21:12b (Septuagint BLB) Table	Genesis 21:12b (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι ἐν Ἰσαὰκ κληθήσεται σοι σπέρμα	ὅτι ἐν Ισαακ κληθήσεταί σοι σπέρμα	ὅτι ἐν ᾿Ισαὰκ κληθήσεταί σοι σπέρμα
Hebrews 11:18b (NET)	Genesis 21:12b (NETS)	Genesis 21:12b (English Elpenor)
Through Isaac descendants will carry on your name	for in Isaak offspring shall be named for you	for in Isaac shall thy seed be called

According to a note (36) in the NET James 2:23b is a quotation from Genesis 15:6. A table comparing the Greek of Paul’s quote with the Septuagint follows.

James 2:23b (NET Parallel Greek)	Genesis 15:6 (Septuagint BLB) Table	Genesis 15:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐπίστευσεν δὲ Ἀβραὰμ τῷ θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην	καὶ ἐπίστευσεν Αβραμ τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην	καὶ ἐπίστευσεν ῞Αβραμ τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
James 2:23b (NET)	Genesis 15:6 (NETS)	Genesis 15:6 (English Elpenor)
Now Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness	And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.	And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.

Tables comparing Romans 4:1, 2; James 2:26; 2:15; Romans 4:4; 14:12; Matthew 25:31, 32 and 25:44 in the NET and KJV follow.

Romans 4:1, 2 (NET)	Romans 4:1, 2 (KJV)
What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has discovered regarding this matter?	What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν \|εὑρηκέναι\| Ἀβραὰμ τὸν προπάτορα ἡμῶν κατὰ σάρκα	τι ουν ερουμεν αβρααμ τον πατερα ημων ευρηκεναι κατα σαρκα	τι ουν ερουμεν αβρααμ τον πατερα ημων ευρηκεναι κατα σαρκα

For if Abraham was declared righteous by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God.

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
εἰ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ ἐξ ἔργων ἐδικαιώθη, ἔχει καύχημα (ἀλλ᾿ οὐ πρὸς θεόν)	ει γαρ αβρααμ εξ εργων εδικαιωθη εχει καυχημα αλλ ου προς τον θεον	ει γαρ αβρααμ εξ εργων εδικαιωθη εχει καυχημα αλλ ου προς τον θεον

James 2:26 (NET)	James 2:26 (KJV)
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.	For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ὥσπερ \|γὰρ\| τὸ σῶμα χωρὶς πνεύματος νεκρόν ἐστιν, οὕτως καὶ ἡ πίστις χωρὶς ἔργων νεκρά ἐστιν	ωσπερ γαρ το σωμα χωρις πνευματος νεκρον εστιν ουτως και η πιστις χωρις των εργων νεκρα εστιν	ωσπερ γαρ το σωμα χωρις πνευματος νεκρον εστιν ουτως και η πιστις χωρις των εργων νεκρα εστιν

James 2:15 (NET)	James 2:15 (KJV)
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food,	If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἐὰν ἀδελφὸς ἢ ἀδελφὴ γυμνοὶ ὑπάρχωσιν καὶ λειπόμενοι τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς	εαν δε αδελφος η αδελφη γυμνοι υπαρχωσιν και λειπομενοι ωσιν της εφημερου τροφης	εαν δε αδελφος η αδελφη γυμνοι υπαρχωσιν και λειπομενοι ωσιν της εφημερου τροφης

Romans 4:4 (NET)	Romans 4:4 (KJV)
Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation.	Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
τῷ δὲ ἐργαζομένῳ ὁ μισθὸς οὐ λογίζεται κατὰ χάριν ἀλλὰ κατὰ ὀφείλημα	τω δε εργαζομενω ο μισθος ου λογιζεται κατα χαριν αλλα κατα το οφειλημα	τω δε εργαζομενω ο μισθος ου λογιζεται κατα χαριν αλλα κατα οφειλημα

Romans 14:12 (NET)	Romans 14:12 (KJV)
Therefore, each of us will give an account of himself to God.	So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἄρα [οὖν] ἕκαστος ἡμῶν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ λόγον δώσει	αρα ουν εκαστος ημων περι εαυτου λογον δωσει τω θεω	αρα ουν εκαστος ημων περι εαυτου λογον δωσει τω θεω

Matthew 25:31, 32 (NET)	Matthew 25:31, 32 (KJV)
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.	When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῇ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντες οἱ ἄγγελοι μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, τότε καθίσει ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης αὐτοῦ	οταν δε ελθη ο υιος του ανθρωπου εν τη δοξη αυτου και παντες οι αγιοι αγγελοι μετ αυτου τοτε καθισει επι θρονου δοξης αυτου	οταν δε ελθη ο υιος του ανθρωπου εν τη δοξη αυτου και παντες οι αγιοι αγγελοι μετ αυτου τοτε καθισει επι θρονου δοξης αυτου

All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ συναχθήσονται ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ ἀφορίσει αὐτοὺς ἀπ᾿ ἀλλήλων, ὥσπερ ὁ ποιμὴν ἀφορίζει τὰ πρόβατα ἀπὸ τῶν ἐρίφων	και συναχθησεται εμπροσθεν αυτου παντα τα εθνη και αφοριει αυτους απ αλληλων ωσπερ ο ποιμην αφοριζει τα προβατα απο των εριφων	και συναχθησεται εμπροσθεν αυτου παντα τα εθνη και αφοριει αυτους απ αλληλων ωσπερ ο ποιμην αφοριζει τα προβατα απο των εριφων

Matthew 25:44 (NET)	Matthew 25:44 (KJV)
Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’	Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
τότε ἀποκριθήσονται καὶ αὐτοὶ λέγοντες· κύριε, πότε σε εἴδομεν πεινῶντα ἢ διψῶντα ἢ ξένον ἢ γυμνὸν ἢ ἀσθενῆ ἢ ἐν φυλακῇ καὶ οὐ διηκονήσαμεν σοι	τοτε αποκριθησονται αυτω και αυτοι λεγοντες κυριε ποτε σε ειδομεν πεινωντα η διψωντα η ξενον η γυμνον η ασθενη η εν φυλακη και ου διηκονησαμεν σοι	τοτε αποκριθησονται και αυτοι λεγοντες κυριε ποτε σε ειδομεν πεινωντα η διψωντα η ξενον η γυμνον η ασθενη η εν φυλακη και ου διηκονησαμεν σοι

Romans, Part 19

Back to The Life

Back to Justice, Vengeance and Punishment

Back to You Must Be Gentle, Part 3

Back to Antichrist, Part 1

Back to Antichrist, Part 5

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 9

Back to Romans, Part 49

Back to My Reasons and My Reason, Part 6

Back to Romans, Part 69

Back to Romans, Part 89

Back to Atonement, Part 2

Back to Romans, Part 87

Back to Atonement, Part 3

Back to Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 13

Back to Romans, Part 81

Back to Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 1

Back to A Shadow of the Good Things, Part 7

Back to Christianity, Part 1

Back to Christianity, Part 2

Back to Nothing True, Part 2

Back to A Shadow of the Good Things, Part 10

¹ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had προπάτορα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had πατερα (KJV: father).

² The translators added of the law for clarity. It is what Paul wrote about, For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law (ἐξ ἔργων νόμου)… Romans 3:20a (NET)

³ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article τον preceding God. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

⁴ Romans 4:1-3 (NET)

⁵ James 2:21 (NET) This is the one hint that tempts me to assume that James thought he was correcting Paul. The phrase εξ εργων εδικαιωθη (justified or declared righteous by works) is identical in both Romans 4:2 and James 2:21.

⁶ Matthew 7:14a (NET) Table

⁷ Hebrews 11:17a (NET)

⁸ Hebrews 11:17b-19a (NET)

⁹ James 2:22-24 (NET)

¹⁰ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article των preceding works. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

¹¹ James 2:26b (NET)

¹² The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had δε here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

¹³ James 2:15, 16 (NET)

¹⁴ Acts 2:43-45 (NET)

¹⁵ James 2:1-13 (NET)

¹⁶ Genesis 22:10-18 (NET)

¹⁷ Romans 4:3 (NET)