Thursday, October 05, 2006

Time for an update

In the last two weeks, I have been somewhat stationary. Psalm 145 did get colourfully translated with some attempt to follow the acrostic at least for the first 4 or 5 verses. After that it is impossible - a word I do not like, but I could not choose whether to use Latin letter order or Hebrew letter order and z stumped me as did i and j.

I asked a few questions on the b-hebrews list - very helpful and considerate responses - given the blindness of the questioner. Some keyword analysis is going to happen since I can largely do this with automation, at least at a preliminary level. It is clear that some translations are sensitive - e.g. when deciding to use a first century rather than an earlier or later reading. I am trying to avoid a first century reading; but sometimes the first century reading hits the poet's experience better than any other. That is, the LORD, as deliverer - whether the troubles be our own projection or real 'enemies'.

Questions: how did the writers of the NT read the psalms? (Certainly not like their interpreters - at least sometimes). Did the Psalmist (s) have a similar human experience to their first century interpreters? to later interpreters (including us)?

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