Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Fecit Ergo Noe Omnia Quae Praeceperat Illi Deus

Cara Michele posted some great information about online Bible study, and I was especially intrigued when I found out that I could sign up to read the whole Bible -- in Latin! -- in a year.

So I signed up.

It'll be a challenge to do the whole thing. But it's neat that they send me my verses via e-mail every day.

Something about reading familiar stories in an unfamiliar language makes you think of them in a new way. I was struck by the verse in the title of this post: fecit ergo Noe omnia quae praeceperat illi Deus ("So Noah did everything that God told him to").

Well, that's pretty challenging, isn't it? Especially when last week's Gospel was "love one another."

Still working on that one.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Especially when last week's Gospel was "love one another.""

Try the Hebrew:
Leviticus 19:18, the Hebrew of which contains the phrase “Ve-ahavta le-re’akha kamokha.”

The King James Version of the Bible translates this as, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” The 1985 Jewish Publication Bible gives us, “Love your fellow as yourself.” On the other hand, the second-century C.E. Aramaic version of Onkelos, to this day the most rabbinically authoritative Jewish Bible translation, has “U’terah.ameh le-h.avrakh k’vatakh,” “And you shall love your friend as yourself.”

Which is it — neighbor, fellow or friend? And why does it matter?

Why not read the original? Hebrew "Daf Yomi," a page a day, is also available online. With aduio help.

David Wharton said...

I'd dearly love to learn Hebrew. When I get to the NT, I'm switching to the original Greek.

Luke's gospel has an addendum to the passage in Leviticus you quoted:

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b]"

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Footnotes:

(a) Luke 10:27 Deut. 6:5
(b) Luke 10:27 Lev. 19:18
(c) Luke 10:35 Greek two denarii

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