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Where translation cost something

Reading with the Hebrew and Greek

Six words and two structures. By the end you should be able to tell the difference between a word study that illuminates a passage and one that is decorating a conclusion the reader already had.

Who this is for

You keep seeing “the Greek here is…” and want to know how much weight that kind of claim can carry.

8 steps1 hr 26 min

0 of 8 started
  1. FigureHebrew parallelismPsalm 19:1; Proverbs 10:1; Psalm 42:1Before any single word: how Hebrew poetry works, and the mistake that makes the Psalms and Isaiah look like lists.3 min
  2. Wordḥesed — covenant loyalty; steadfast loveחֶסֶדThe hardest word in the Hebrew Bible to render. The KJV uses at least six English words for it.6 min
  3. Wordʿēzer kənegdô — a strength corresponding to himעֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹTwo words in Genesis 2:18 that “help meet” has misled English readers about for four hundred years.6 min
  4. Wordagapē — love; charityἀγάπηThe love the New Testament describes entirely in verbs.6 min
  5. Wordcharis — grace; favour; a gift freely givenχάριςGrace — and the half of its meaning Latter-day Saints most often miss.6 min
  6. Wordkenoō — to empty; to make of no effectκενόω“Made himself of no reputation” is a fair rendering of the effect and hides the image entirely.6 min
  7. FigureChiasmus, using Alma 36Alma 36A structure rather than a word, and the clearest example of why the shape of a passage carries meaning.3 min
  8. LessonThe ServantIsaiah 52:13–53:12; Mosiah 14–15; Acts 8:26–39All of it applied at once, to fifteen verses where the softening is easiest to measure.50 min

Paths do not contain anything the library does not already have — they are an order to read it in. Nothing is locked, and you can leave one at any point.