A Bible translation vision

Colleague Rob Holmes wrote this article for World magazine published December 1, 2025: "A vision fulfilled: The ambitious plan to start translating the Bible into every language is nearly complete."

He wrote,

“More than almost any other human activity, it is the translation of the Bible that has fueled Christian mission and resulted in the expansion of the Church,” wrote R.J. Sim, a Scottish Bible translator in Ethiopia and longtime professor in Kenya...

One Chadian teammate, who initially worked only in literacy, made a profession of faith when God’s Word in the Psalms penetrated his heart. He buzzed with new motivation and became the key to making the translation sound beautiful and natural—with chette (“pepper”)—as he would say. He and a Chadian female colleague grew in their translation skills and learned Hebrew, becoming more responsible for the text’s accuracy. Their wording made the translation “acceptable” to readers, without obscuring the truth that inevitably causes offence to those without ears to hear. They also began to treat each other differently, in Christ, in a culture where men and women rarely stayed in the same room together....

Last century, sorting data on note cards in shoeboxes gave way to computers, causing an explosion in productivity and pacing. This century, artificial intelligence (AI) is the new game changer. About 500 languages are now using AI for drafting translation.

Before you start worrying that robots are churning out Scripture, consider that AI tools, like Scripture Forge, do some tasks flawlessly and more easily than a translation team. It reduces open quotes, missing or misnumbered verses, or unintended additions in a text. Languages with a New Testament can even use that corpus to produce a machine draft of Old Testament books for humans to glean from and improve their own translation: One Nigerian team I serve as a consultant found that Scripture Forge renderings in Deuteronomy sparked them to express their own wording better. And like a good German, AI gets grammar rules right every time, remembering to use an inclusive pronoun where the team forgot. AI tools still require trained people to ensure exegetical faithfulness....

In August, the official tally from Vision 2025’s (current) alliance of over 100 partner Bible agencies shows only 544 of the world’s 7,396 living languages still need translation work to begin! About 300 of these are sign languages. Many of those that remain will have an Oral Bible Translation. Major Scripture organizations remain committed to making “God’s Word accessible to all people by 2033.”

“Latest statistics suggest there is some form of translation or Scripture Engagement work going on in 4,457 languages,” British linguist Peter Brassington shared recently in a consultant forum.

My own Bible agency’s vision is galvanizing me afresh: ASAP—All Scripture, All People. This year some of us started learning American Sign Language, in hopes of branching out to one day serve deaf translation teams.

Click here to read the whole article.

Bible translation is justice - Dr. Kenmogne

Dr. Michel Kenmogne, SIL's Executive Director since 2016, wrote an article on Bible translation as justice, in the current edition of JOT: 

Because Bible translation acknowledges and values all languages, the advent of Scriptures in minority languages goes a long way to proclaim that the speakers of these languages are equal in dignity and are worthy to connect with their Creator in non-mediated terms. Around the world, people from minority speaking communities have expressed the value of Bible translation as justice in different ways.

• “Here is a document which proves that we also are human beings—the first and only book in our language,” said an African Christian holding a translated Gospel in his hands for the first time (quoted in Sanneh 2008:177).

• “Now we see that our friends in the foreign countries regard us as people worthwhile,” said a Christian in Angola holding Scriptures in his hands for the first time (quoted in Sanneh 2008:177).

• “I know that in my body I am a very little man, but today as I see the whole Bible in my language, I feel as big as a mountain” (quoted in Sanneh 2008:177). 

• “When we go to the politicians, they don’t know us. But now God knows us. Now we are counted among the children of God,” said the Chief of Kpandai Wura as he tearfully evoked the marginalisation of the Nawuri people of Ghana (2012). This was a call for the Nawuri people to look beyond their current socio-political marginalisation and develop the confidence that comes from the knowledge of also being “children of God”.

In this regard, Bible translation and the empowerment it brings becomes a critical organising principle and a practical tool for transformation. For a vulnerable and marginalised group like the Nawuris, being “counted as children of God” is more than spiritual transformation. It is a key to transforming their perception of themselves and unleashing their potential to flourish in all regards as people created in the image of God...

Bible translation is not just a strategic tool to ensure the cross-cultural transmission of the Gospel and enable the growth of God’s Kingdom. Bible translation is justice. It sets the context for people to recover their imago dei and regain the confidence to meaningfully engage with God and with others within communities and nations.

You can read the whole article here. 

Ending a story, Kamwe of Nigeria

How do you signal the end to a story?

In an interview by colleagues, Matthew Harley reports about "one of the most marvelous linguistic sounds in the world," used in the "Kamwe language of Nigeria, as the traditional way to end a story":

It consists of a disyllablc ‘ng-ng’ sound, with low-high tone, whilst simultaneously pinching your nose with your forefinger and thumb, and pulling downwards, like pulling a clothes peg off a washing line. The sound was unforgettably first described by a linguist as, “the nasalised nose twang”, and one of my first three students in Nigeria asked me how it could be written. Linguistics doesn’t get much better than that!

For more on the Kamwe, read this 2022 article in Christianity Today.

The Shallowness of Google Translate

Douglas Hofstadter's article argues that the program uses state-of-the-art AI techniques, but simple tests show that it's a long way from real understanding. (Personal note: Don't construe this to mean that I don't ever use it for basic help in understanding or writing in a Language of Wider Communication :-))

French translation of Hebrew and Greek texts of the Psalms

 Ce produit pourrait être très utile aux traducteurs et conseillers de la Bible!: 

https://www.editionsbiblio.fr/etudier/traduction/le-premier-livre-des-psaumes-texte-hebreu-et-grec

(ht: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

Praying for Ethiopia

The Xamtanga of Ethiopia are in a zone of conflict, but they have an active Bible translation project underway (see page 5 of the Pray for Zero prayer guide). Elizabeth and I met them in 2020 at our Psalms workshop. Please join us in praying for the Xamtanga. May the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 provide for his people!

Book review of A Guide to Bible Translation

Chris Lovelace (Translation Consultant) has just published an 18-page review of Noss and Houser's book A Guide to Bible Translation. Chris has a breadth of knowledge on the topic of Bible translation, including the history of Bible translation in various languages in the world. 

Click here to download a free pdf of his article.

Book Review (Extended): A Guide to Bible Translation: People, Languages, and Topics by Philip A. Noss and Charles S. Houser. SATS (South African Theological Seminary) Journal: Conspectus, Volume 33. April 2022. pgs 119-137.

10 Biblical Terms I Wish Christians Had in English

Good reminder from Jost Zetzsche about the limits of the English language in Bible translation, "10 Biblical Terms I Wish Christians Had in English: How the languages of the indigenous in Panama, a community in Siberia, and people in Papua New Guinea shape their understanding of God" (article published last month in CT). Read the whole thing here.

1. Mär: pick one thing and one thing only (Teribe)

2. Dao / 道: reason; path toward right living; speech (Chinese)

3. Yumi: we and you (Tok Pisin)

4. Dios y’ayucnajtzcapxɨɨybɨ: God’s word-thrower (Coatlán Mixe)

5. Ña̱ kúꞌu̱ ini yo̱ sa̱ꞌá ña̱yuu xi̱ꞌín yó: us loving others (Tezoatlán Mixtec)

6. Sen: intimate form of “you” (Tuvan)

7. Bideezhí: her younger sister (Navajo)

8. Ambum: turtle (Aekyom)

9. P’ijil-o’tanil: heart wisdom; p’ijil c’op: word wisdom; p’ijil jol: head wisdom (Highland Tzeltal)

10. Diri: engrave your mind (Ngäbere)

Importance of Discourse Analysis for Translation

 “It’s not widows that you should steal from (but everyone else!)” 

In the Kifuliiru language of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this could easily be the meaning that results when translating “Don’t steal from widows!” The only error in the translation of this sentence is the focus, or the most important word of the sentence. The translators have learned with the help of a consultant that they need to reorder sentences in order to have the correct focus and meaning. 

(from Steve Nicolle)

Hebrew Learning Aids

Several individuals involved in teaching Biblical Hebrew have collaborated together to build an online platform called BibleLing: http://hebrew.bibleling.org The goal is to host audio visual learning tools that various educators are happy to make available to be freely used by anyone with a desire to learn worldwide. To this end we envision expanding the navigation interface to include more world languages. 

The platform does not own the material but is a catalyst to allow free multimedia learning aids to be more easily found and accessed. These materials may be used to supplement formal courses and aim to help learners learn their first words as well as practice reading simplified stories and Bible passages.

An Android app is in development and Beta testers are welcome. One feature that is especially helpful (in the contexts that many of our translators find themselves without regular internet) is the ability to download lessons offline to take on the go even out in the bush. https://play.google.com/apps/testing/org.bibleling.hebrew.langapp

Feedback and suggestions on how to continue to make this platform useful are welcome.

(repost of Caleb S's article at MAP)

Mark Strauss on why the ESV should not become the standard English version, at least not yet

Mark Strauss wrote a thoughtful article worthy of consideration, "Why the English Standard Version (ESV) Should Not Become the Standard English Version: How to Make a Good Translation Much Better." He writes as one who likes the ESV but is offering a constructive critique to improve it.

He is well-suited to offer such critiques. He has served on the revision committee of the NCV and as a consultant for the NLT, and he presently serves on a committee for the NIV/TNIV and on an editorial team for a new version yet to be released by Thomas Nelson (proposed name, the Expanded Bible).

Strauss surveys problems in the ESV and divides them "into eleven broad categories: (1) 'oops' translations, (2) idioms missed, (3) textual problems, (4) exegetical errors, (5) collocational clashes, (6) archaisms, (7) inconsistent gender-language, (8) awkward and unnatural style, (9) word-order problems, (10) run-on sentences, and (11) mistranslated genitives." He provides multiple examples in each category, though he makes clear that he does not claim to find all the problems.

Here are a couple of examples from Strauss' "oops" translation category:

Rock badgers are people too!

Prov. 30:26 ESV “the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer; rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs;” 

Comment: In addition to the tortured word order, the ESV’s use of “people” is very strange. We sometimes joke that animals are people too, but surely ants and rock badgers are “creatures” or “species,” not people.  

Nice legs! 

Ps. 147:10 ESV “His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,” 

Comment: Taking pleasure in a man’s legs will surely leave readers chuckling. 

TNIV reads “in the power of human legs”; NET has “by the warrior’s strong legs.” 

 In Strauss' category "idioms missed," one of the examples he provides is Acts 8:23:

ESV For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. 

Comment: The “gall of bitterness” is a Greek idiom that means bitterly resentful or envious. Very few English readers have any idea what “gall” is. The translation “bile of bitterness” might be better but is still obscure and inaccurate, since this was likely a dead metaphor by the first century. The second phrase “bond of iniquity” is also obscure and archaic. 

TNIV For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.
NET For I see that you are bitterly envious and in bondage to sin.

Strauss concludes by arguing that "half-idioms" do not result in either faithful translation nor natural English. Instead--as is standard practice in Bible translation--he wisely suggests that we should ask how anyone speaking English would say it (My comment on this point: The crucial question, of course, is what is the skopos for the English translation? Who is the target audience and their level of English, and which dialect--or sub-dialect--of English does the translation target? Etc.). Highlights below are mine:

There is an unfortunate tendency among biblical scholars—who live in the world of Hebrew and Greek—to think they are getting it “right” if they mimic the form of the original languages. The unfortunate result is a tendency to create “half-idioms” (half-English/half-Greek), transferring a few words of the original, but missing its meaning in standard English. This is what the ESV does when people speak “with a double heart” (Ps. 12:2), have “news in their mouths” (2Sam. 18:25), “go in and out among them” (Acts 1:21; 9:28), or “fill up the measure of their fathers” (Matt. 23:32). These are half-idioms—Biblish rather than English. As noted earlier, idioms work as a whole rather than through their individual parts. In translating the English idiom, “He’s really in a pickle,” it would be a mistake to preserve cucumbers in the translation. It is not the component parts but the statement as a whole that communicates its meaning. 

Some critics have claimed that the only way to protect the verbal and plenary inspiration of Scripture is to translate literally. This, of course, is linguistic nonsense. The translation that best preserves the verbal and plenary inspiration of Scripture is one that clearly and accurately communicates the meaning of the text as the original author intended it to be heard. The Greek idioms that Paul or John or Luke used did not sound awkward, obscure or stilted to their original readers. They sounded like normal idiomatic Greek. Verbal and plenary inspiration is most respected when we allow the original meaning of the text to come through. 

Asking the simple question, “Would anyone speaking English actually say this?” is a good test for standard English. This simple question could transform our Bible versions and bring them in line with the finest translation practices used around the world. We must remember that the ultimate goal of Bible translation is not to give our students a “crib” on their weekly Greek and Hebrew assignments, but to clearly and accurately communicate the meaning of God’s inspired and authoritative Word. 

Imagine Life Without His Words: Why We Translate the Bible

Desiring God invited me to write on the central role Bible translation plays in missions. Here's the first paragraph:

Ten years ago, my wife and I moved from the United States to France (to study French), and then to Cameroon, Central Africa, as recently minted members of Wycliffe Bible Translators. Our hearts had been gripped by Paul’s logic in Romans 10:14–17: sent ones are needed to proclaim the word of Christ, yet many do not even have access to a word of Scripture that can be so proclaimed. And we were deeply impacted to learn that the highest concentration of languages needing Bible translation to begin is in Asia and Africa. We sensed God leading us to relocate to Africa....

[Read the whole thing here]

 

Resources for Reformation Day

Today (October 31) is Reformation Day, commemorating and celebrating the Reformation, which involved renewed focus on the Bible and led to Martin Luther translating the Bible into German. Reformation Day takes place each year on the anniversary of Luther’s nailing of the 95 Theses on the Wittenberg Door on October 31, 1517.

A few years ago, Justin Taylor posted some resources and recommendations for the day, and his post is still applicable (but I have removed most of the videos):

1. Last year I interviewed Carl Trueman about the 95 Theses. It’s a nice way to get a brief introduction to what happened.
2. There are a number of accessible introductions to the Reformation, but if you want to focus on Luther’s life and theology, a great choice would be Stephen Nichols’s Martin Luther: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought. J. I. Packer writes, “For half a century, Bainton’s Here I Stand has been the best introduction to Luther. Stephen Nichols’s engaging volume is in many ways better than Bainton’s for this purpose. It deserves to be widely read.” Nichols also has a good introduction to the 95 Theses.
3. The 2003 movie on Luther starring Joseph Fiennes is surprisingly well-researched and reconstructed. Here is their depiction of the 95 Theses:
4. The Diet of Worms (1521) was where Luther gave his famous “Here I Stand” speech. (Although “Diet of Worms” sounds like an exotic diet, the Imperial Diet was the general assembly of the imperial estates of the Holy Roman Empire, and Worms [pronounced more like verms] was a German town on the western bank of the Rhine River). This is a fascinating and momentous event in history. Here’s a great website for learning more about what happened.

The Luther film portrays Luther arriving in Worms after completing his 15-day, 300-mile journey from Wittenberg on April 17, 1521. At 4 PM he was taken to the Bishop’s Court and waited for two hours to see the Emperor. Then at 6 PM he appeared before the Diet, led by Charles V, the 21-year-old Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and Johann Eck, his spokesman. Along with them were the Roman advisers and representatives, Spanish troops, and the German political elite.

Luther was asked two questions: Do you acknowledge having written these twenty books lying here? Are you prepared to retract them as a whole or in part? 

Luther was taken aback; he was expecting debate, not a yes or no answer. After Luther’s lawyer Hieronymus Schurff objected, “Let the titles of the books be read!” Luther responded in a barely audible voice: “The books are all mine and I have written more.” 

As to the second question, Luther responded: “This touches God and his word. This affects the salvation of souls. Of this Christ said, ‘He who denies Me before men, him will I deny before My father.’ To say too little or too much would be dangerous. I beg you, give me time to think it over.”

The assembly reluctantly gave him 24 hours to think it through. He responded the next evening with his famous answer. 

For an audio overview using good historical sources, you can’t beat Max McLean’s Here I Stand album. They have kindly made the whole thing available for free on YouTube:

1. Introduction
2. The Road to Reformation
3. Luther’s Prayer
4. Here I Stand
5. Eck’s Response to Luther
6. Luther’s Final Response
7. Conclusion
8. Sources and Closing Comments
Total Time: 24 minutes

5. I have mentioned in previous posts some good books for children related to Luther. For example, the illustration at the top of this post was painted by Greg Copeland (and used by permission of Concordia Publishing House) and can be found in Paul Maier’s book for older kids, Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed the World. I’ve also posted on the new graphic novel about Luther.

But I would be remiss not to mention a brand-new children’s book published by Crossway, written by R.C. Sproul, and illustrated by T. Lively Fluharty, called The Barber Who Wanted to Pray. It tells the true story of Luther’s writing A Simple Way to Pray in response to his barber’s request for help with his prayer life. Even books like these are designed to be read to children, Dr. Sproul has said, “Ultimately, my target audience in a children’s story is the parents who are reading the stories to their children.” We can all learn a lot from this simple book.

Translating Presuppositions and Exodus 18:2-3

The past few days, I attended the Bible Translation Conference in Dallas. The last paper/presentation I heard was Paul Kroeger's "Translating Presuppositions," and it was very enjoyable (and helpful!). The following points are from some of his presentation and handout:

New information can be packaged as if it were old info. For example:

• Two people meet each other for the first time and one asks the other to go with him somewhere. The second one responds and says, "No, I have to pick up my sister."

"My sister" is presented as shared knowledge, but before the utterance, the first person did not know the second one had a sister. This is therefore a case where the utterance is treated as though shared info, and not controversial.

Definition of presupposition from SIL Online Glossary of Linguistic Terms:

A presupposition is background belief, relating to an utterance, that

• must be mutually known or assumed [or--Kroeger argued--considered not controversial/challengeable] by the speaker and addressee for the utterance to be considered appropriate in context...

Exodus 18:2-3a contains an informative presupposition:

Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zippo'rah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away, and her two sons...

The clause "after he had sent her away" is presented as though the reader already knows this happened, when in fact, this is the first we hear of it in the OT narrative.

Translations handle the presupposition in various ways.

• NCV: Now Moses had sent his wife Zipporah to Jethro, his father-in-law, along with her two sons.
• NIV: Moses had sent his wife Zipporah to his father-in-law. So Jethro welcomed her...
• CEV: In the meantime, Moses had sent his wife Zipporah and her two sons to stay with Jethro, and he had welcomed them in.
• NLT: Earlier, Moses had sent his wife, Zipporah, and his two sons back to Jethro, who had taken them in.
• Brazilian Portuguese "Today's Language" Version (Eng. BT): So he went to the place where Moses was, bringing Zipporah, Moses' wife. Moses had sent Zipporah and her two sons to the house of Jethro.

Alternative rendering as conventional implicature:

• UBS Handbook on Exodus (option b): So Jethro came to Moses bringing with him Moses' wife Zipporah, whom Moses had left behind.
• Indonesian Terjemahan Baru (Eng. BT): Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought Zipporah, Moses' wife--who had earlier been sent back/ordered to return by Moses-

Some options for translation:

1. As a separate assertion (i.e., Moses had sent away his wife; e.g., NIV) . But the SL treats it as background info, and the main point of the SL should the main point of the TL if following Callow 1974: 59.
2. As a parenthetical (i.e., "....--Moses had sent her away--...")
3. As a relative clause (i.e., "whom Moses had left behind" (UBS Handbook)

Some questions to ask of the translation option chosen:

• Does repackaging the information go too far away from the meaning of the SL?
• What is the cost-benefit analysis of the translation decision?

Using AI in Bible Translation

Nguyen's MAP article on translating the OT using Artificial Intelligence

Duy Niem Nguyen just posted an interesting essay at MAP, "Using Neural Translation Technology to Translate the Old Testament from the New Testament." His essay includes step-by-step instructions for how to execute the process of using the data from a NT translation to provide a rough draft of the entire OT with the AI tools available by Google (read the whole thing here): 

The purpose of this essay is to raise awareness of using neural translation technology for Bible translation. My idea is using the New Testament vocabulary of existing translation and create the first draft of the Old Testament for that language with the neural translation technology provide by Google. In this essay, I will explain the neural translation technology, its potential, and practical usages for Bible translation with all the tools freely available for public usage. 

First, Google provides The Seedbank (https://research.google.com/seedbank/). It is a depository of the pre-made, ready-to-test programs in Python code for many applications of Artificial Intelligence. In this Seedbank depository, there is a program name Neural Translation with Attention (https://research.google.com/seedbank/seed/neural_translation_with_attention). This program is a demonstration of neural translation technology, and especially it shows the implementation of two well-known algorithms: seq2seq and Attention. This program exposes the inner working of a neural translation engine, and the best thing is: it is open-sourced, ready to modified and free to use for any kind of application. It is the program that I want to modify for the task of Bible translation. Google also provides the tool to test this program: the Google Colab cloud server...(continue reading here)

My brief analysis

The use of such AI, while perhaps helpful in fronting a significant amount of data for a team, should be exercised with caution by a translation team (and/or consultant). Some of my initial concerns are:

     1. Key terms 

The key terms in the OT are not the same in the NT, and the OT contains several key terms that do not occur in the NT. 

     2. Accurate and natural OT discourse

In addition, AI is not able to produce a document that is sensitive to natural TL discourse, let alone conduct good exegesis and analysis of the OT Hebrew/Aramaic, since the data is limited to two input translations--one in the target language and the other in a language of wider communication. Thus, the risk of producing a grand-daughter translation might be rather high, especially if the other translation steps are not practiced in rigor. Translation of individual terms and/or expressions does not equal faithful and natural clauses and discourse.

     3. Actual payoff or net-negative impact?

In the end, I have to wonder if using AI in the way Nguyen suggests is actually time efficient or productive (helpful in producing a draft of the Scriptures that is faithful to the Hebrew/Aramaic). If significant revision of the rough draft would be necessary, or if the discourse and other terms need complete overhaul (for example), how helpful is an AI-produced rough draft? Does it have net-negative benefits? Such analysis is impossible to make at present, but as more exploration occurs in this area, hopefully scholars will conduct careful studies to research these and other questions. 

Despite these shortcomings that seem intrinsic to the current limits of AI, I am nevertheless open to its (limited) use and development, in the hope that AI might become an effective tool for the global Bible translation movement. 

Translating Proper Names

Working with a translation team in DRC in both Luke and Genesis, I suggested we consider making the proper names consistent, even though French versions are split between rendering them the same or different in the two testaments. Nicholas Bailey recently posted an article on academia.edu that provides a framework for making such decisions, arguing for rendering them consistently.

Bailey's abstract for "Proper Names in the Bible: translation and transliteration issues Proper Names in the Bible: translation and transliteration issues":

According to one method of counting, there are about 2670 Old Testament Hebrew proper names and 580 New Testament Greek proper names, and out of these names, about 165 are common to both Testaments. Although a translation team may not be thrilled about working through all these names in their translation, there are, to be sure, unmistakable rewards if they handle them in a systematic and appropriate way. Handling them in a systematic way saves time and leads to a more consistent product. And, more importantly, doing the needed research and testing to find out what forms of names are most appropriate for their receptor language can improve the reception of their translation and the joy their readers will have from all those names.

This paper summarizes three topics that can help a team handle names systematically and appropriately: • general issues revolving around proper names, including (a) linguistic and (b) translation issues; • issues pertaining to transliterating Biblical proper names from Hebrew and Greek; • how a translation team can use the computer program NameTrans to automatically transliterate all of the names of the Bible, thereby creating a database that can be used for spellchecking and other functions.

Numbers 4:20 and limitations of digital tools for exegesis

Numbers 4:20
Today I'm looking through a team's translation of Numbers 4 and stumbled on a difficult expression in Hebrew. I was scratching my head and found out that that all the commentaries were scratching their heads, too. Moses, what were you thinking here, when you wrote verse 20?

The translation issue is apparent for English readers by comparing the ESV and JPS:

"but they shall not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment, lest they die." (ESV)
"but they shall not go in to see the holy things as they are being covered, lest they die." (JPS)

In the MT (Hebrew) text, there is a grammatical expression called an infinitive construct here (כְּבַלַּ֥ע), which could be woodenly translated as "when swallowing/engulfing." The verb form (Piel stem) occurs 23 times in the OT, and seems to only refer to either engulfing (eating/swallowing/consuming) or destroying, neither of which seems to happen in this verse. So what can the expression mean? Options:

1. Metaphor for packaging?
Some commentators and Bible translations (e.g., NET, JPS, CJB) find warrant to extend the sense of "engulf" to "cover," since in the preceding verses of Numbers 4, the Kohathites were instructed to cover certain holy things with special cloths. The Aramaic Targum ("when covering the vessels") and Syriac Peshitta ("when covering the holy things") seem to have this reading.

2. Figure of speech for something ephemeral?
However, some commentators and translations interpret the root sense as "to swallow," and find warrant in interpreting this as a figure of speech for something momentary: "even for a moment" (e.g., ESV, NIV, NLT). I don't know about you, but it only takes a brief moment for me to do the action of swallowing! An akin English expression would be, "in the blink of an eye." The Greek Septuagint ("immediately") and another OT verse with a time limitation (Job 7:19) provide further evidence for this position.

3. "When communicating": Not listed in digital tools! 
The two above interpretations are the only two that I have seen discussed in literature. But I would like to propose a third possibility which brings up a limitation with using digital tools (e.g., Logos, BibleWorks, Accordance) for exegetical research. To put it simply, the editors of Bible software programs had to make choices in regard to which Hebrew root words to assign and tag in a given verse, and they had to exclude some possibilities. Often times this is straightforward, but other times there is debate. Standard print Hebrew lexicons had to make similar choices (NB: Bible software programs largely follow a certain lexicon's decisions, so both print and digital resources might seem to correspond), but the digital resources do not easily make available to you the other possible options.

For example, the Hebrew root word tagged in BibleWorks follows the assignment given in the standard Hebrew lexicon (HALOT): I בלע: Piel "to engulf" or to "destroy." But the keen eye will observe that there is an I at the front of the supposed root, which tips you off to knowing that there are other roots with the same consonants/letters based on parallels with other related languages. If you pull up the full lexicon of HALOT, you will notice that there are two other entries for these same consonants, and the second entry is based on an Arabic word meaning "to be eloquent, to report." Proverbs 19:28; 2 Samuel 17:16; and Job 37:20 are cited as possible occurrences with this meaning.

Could v20 then be translated as, "but they shall not go in to see the holy things while they are talking, lest they die"? Taking that possible reading up in the context, Numbers 4:19 refers to Aaron and his sons assigning tasks to the sons of Kohath, and verse 20 then provides the precision that the verbal conversation must take place outside the tent. Aaron and his sons oversee the assignments inside (v19), having already verbally designated who does what before entering the tent (v20).

My major hesitations with this proposal are that it lacks ancient manuscript (though I have not done an extensive search of this) and modern translation support. That modern commentators have also not picked up on this possibility does not bother me too much, since we are all scratching our heads on this one!

Explaining the unusual Hebrew word choice
I agree with certain commentators that one reason for the unusual Hebrew word choice here might be to prepare the reader for Numbers 16 and 26, when the rebellious sons of Korah are "engulfed" (same word) by the earth.1 I would not advocate for translating the action verbs in Numbers 4, and 16 and 26 the same way, since chapter 4 does not refer to the earth gobbling up people. But it is an important observation that the only times that this Hebrew verb occurs in Numbers, it is always in association with the Kohathites, in Number 4 and in the later chapters.

Translating Numbers 4:20 in a language in Africa
A translation in Africa that I am consulting seems to follow interpretation #2 above, which--as I indicated above--is a viable interpretation of the Hebrew expression:

"But if the Kohathites enter in the tent and see the dedicated holy things, even if it is small, they will die."

I do need to make sure, however, that "it is small" refers to a short amount of time (not tiny holy things!):
__________________________

1 See Dale A. Brueggemann, “Numbers,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, ed. Philip W. Comfort, vol. 2 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1996), 251–252.

Where was Ruth in Ruth 2:7f?: Wrestling with a translation in Nigeria

Ruth 2:7f

I recently ran into Ruth 2:7 while prepping to consultant check the book of Ruth with a team in Nigeria. Here is what I am wrestling with in a part of that verse...

In Ruth 2:7, we reach the point in the narrative where Ruth had been gleaning in Boaz's field, and he now arrives, first talking with his harvesters. The leader of the harvesters reports to Boaz about the young Moabite woman, Ruth.

There is some discussion about establishing the original text of verse 7 (a practice called textual criticism). This post is about an issue in verse 7f, the last part of the verse. 

First off, note that the external evidence is not in agreement:

• ‎ Hebrew text: זֶ֛ה שִׁבְתָּ֥הּ הַבַּ֖יִת מְעָֽט׃   ("This her-sitting the-house a-little")      

• Septuagint (Greek) text: οὐ κατέπαυσεν ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ μικρόν (“She did not rest a bit in the field," NETS), referring to “rest” and “field” instead of MT’s “sitting/dwelling” and “house”.

• ‎Peshitta (Syriac) text: 9xynl amd[ arpc !m  (מִן הַבֹּקֶר וְעַד־שׁבתה “from the morning until the (time of) rest^[1]”), referring to neither “house” nor “field”

• Aramaic text: ‎ פון זעיר דין דיתבא בביתא ציבחר׃  ("then a-few this-one she-sat in-house small-amount," my word-for-word rendering = “It is only for a short time that she has sat in the house but a little while,” Brady’s translation), referring to “house” like the MT does. Btw, the standard Aramaic lexicon (CAL: Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon) is available online for free!: http://cal.huc.edu/       

So, in Ruth 2:7, where does the lead harvester say Ruth had been?

The issues are complex—as is clear even from the external textual evidence above—and much has been written about them (and other text crit issues in this verse). But staying with this one question….

Block comments, 

“it is unclear what the young man meant in lines 7d–f, arguably the most difficult in the book….The interpretive problems continue in 7f, which translates literally, ‘This (masculine) her sitting/dwelling the house a little.’ While consensus on the meaning of this utterance is lacking, it seems the narrator has intentionally preserved a convoluted reading to aid in characterizing the supervisor. Not only has the young man painted Ruth with negative brush strokes, but his stammering style at this point also conveys his own insecurity and nervousness before his boss, who may see through his exaggeration if not fabrication of Ruth’s intent.”^[2] NB: Block counts at least 19 different interpretations of the sentence by 1971!

Brotzman provides a good model of reasoning through the external and internal evidence, and of following text critical principles (I’ve highlighted his conclusion). He writes:

“Having gathered all of the information, we are now in a position to summarize and draw a conclusion. First, it is clear that there are multiple, actual differences between the versions and the MT [Hebrew]. Second, the differences involve multiple noncontinuous words. This suggests that they were not caused by a simple scribal error. Third, the MT is difficult, but G [Greek] and S [Syriac] are clear and simple. However, G and S are clear and simple in different ways. G has a common word pair (morning and evening) and makes more sense in regard to the story (i.e., she was in the field, not the house). S is simpler because it is shorter and does not contain any of the difficult elements that are in the MT. It seems likely, then, that the MT is original and the preferable reading. G and S both had a Hebrew text like the MT before them, but they used different means to 'fix' it. G changed several difficult words to easier ones that made more sense; S simply omitted several words and combined the two clauses. 

This conclusion is very significant for our exegesis. Did Ruth work in the field and then take a rest? Or did she wait in the house until she had permission from Boaz to work in the field? According to G, she did not rest at all during her day of gleaning! G and S represent particular exegetical perspectives and are themselves a kind of commentary on what they thought the Hebrew text was saying. If the MT is original, as we think, then we must first explain what the foreman is telling Boaz and then how that relates to the rest of the story. One interesting proposal, made by Avi Hurvitz, is that the text is intentionally confused and ungrammatical in order to reflect the foreman’s stammering speech. He is worried that Boaz will be angry that Ruth has been allowed to sit in the house.”^[3]

Block and Brotzman both conclude with the possibility that the story depicts the lead harvester as “stammering” due to worry/fear (something like, “This…her sitting…the house…a little”)—though they imagine different causes for his supposed concern/worry—which to me seems a reasonable take on the evidence. The Hebrew text does seem a bit choppy. And the lead harvester was talking with his boss, after all, which may have been an unnerving experience.

Translation takeaways for translating Ruth 2:7 in Nigeria

This is a back-translation of what the translation team has currently drafted for the last sentence of v7: 

“It is now that she sat down small in the shade so she can rest small.”

My two big takeaways from the above discussion in relation to consulting the team's translation are:

1. Suggest that the team avoid a (lengthy) description of a sitting/resting booth. It is not at all firmed up that the original text indicated that she was in a booth in the field. So, one question for the translators would be where this shade is located, and if it can possibly refer to the shade of the house. A further consideration to this is how the modern translations that impact their language community have rendered this. Many English versions have “shelter” (e.g., NIV, NLT), which suggests they think of her being in the field. I should also ask the team what the Hausa versions (the major regional trade language) have for this verse…
2. I am also interested to know what the translators think that the lead harvester was feeling as he shared this bit of info with his boss in v7f. If there is a way to bring out the nervousness/worry he may have felt, I might suggest they add an ideophone or something…

For more discussion on this complicated textual issue and others in this verse, see the resources cited below and the NET notes on this verse. 

---

^[1] Ellis R. Brotzman and Eric J. Tully, Old Testament Textual Criticism: A Practical Introduction, Second Edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2016), 153.

^[2] Daniel I. Block, Ruth: The King Is Coming, ed. Daniel I. Block, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015), 128.

^[3] Ellis R. Brotzman and Eric J. Tully, Old Testament Textual Criticism: A Practical Introduction, Second Edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2016), 153–154.

ESV Bible Translators Debate the Word "Slave" at Tyndale House, Cambridge

The video includes the following members of the committee: Jack Collins, Peter Williams, Gordon Wenham, Paul House, Wayne Grudem, and Lane Dennis.

Old Testament Text Criticism (Links)

This site is full of OT Text criticism links, even if it needs updating (some links are broken; their last update was in 2010):

Texts Online

• bibelwissenschaft.de. Website of the German Bible Society. Full text of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.
• The Online Parallel Bible Project. By John Isett. A fast-loading site with full text of several Hebrew editions, pointed and unpointed.
• Mechon Mamre. A Jewish site that has the full text of the Hebrew Bible online in four editions in Hebrew (including one with cantillation marks), one in Aramaic (Targum Onqelos), one in English (the Jewish Publication Society translation of 1917), and one in parallel Hebrew and English (voweled Hebrew and JPS English). Also provides several ancient compilations of the Oral Law (Mishneh Torah, Mishnah, Tosefta, Yerushalmi and Bavli), and an encyclopedia of Torah basics (in English).
• Sifrut HaKodesh, an online Hebrew Bible with links to relevant references in Rabbinical literature, provided by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem through the Snunit program, Israel's main learning and teaching resource for children, parents, and educators. Also on the Snunit site are the Hebrew texts of the Targum Onkelos, Mishnah, Tosefta, Talmud Yerushalmi, and Mishneh Torah. (NOTE: There is no English here, only Hebrew.)
• The TanakhML Project. By Alain Verboomen in Brussels, Belgium. The complete Hebrew Bible online (including vowel points and cantillation marks), with a sophisticated concordance feature and a "verse structure analyser" (based on massoretic verse cantillation). Requires the SBL Hebrew font.
• Electronic Text of the Leningrad Codex. By Christopher V. Kimball in West Redding, CT. An elegantly formatted Hebrew Bible, displaying vowels and accents, based upon the Michigan-Claremont electronic text. Requires the SBL Hebrew font. Users can download the whole site in a zipped archive.
• Unicode Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), from the Internet Sacred Text Archive by J.B. Hare.
• The Book of Genesis, in accented and pointed Hebrew characters, from the Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia.
• The Aleppo Codex website. Pages of the Aleppo Codex online in digital photographs. Sponsored by the George S. Blumenthal Foundation.
• Complete Hebrew Bible (with vowel points) by Jeff A. Benner at his "Ancient Hebrew Research Center" site.

Audio recordings of the Hebrew text

• Selected chapters of the Hebrew Bible. About a hundred chapters of the Hebrew Old Testament in mp3 audio files.
• Complete Hebrew Bible in mp3 files, hosted by Audio Scriptures International. These files must be played on site or purchased on CD. No download available.
• Complete Hebrew Bible in mp3 files, divided into chapters and hosted by Gary Martin at the University of Washington in Seattle. This is the same recording available at the Audio Scriptures International site, but divided up into chapters for downloading.
• Complete Hebrew Bible in mp3 files, divided into chapters, hosted by the Israeli Snunit Kodesh site [Father Abraham Shmueloff]. This also is the same recording available at the Audio Scriptures International site. The larger book files are also available here.
• Audio Hebrew Bible on CD. The Hebrew text narrated and recorded on four CD's by "Israel's premier Bible reader," Shlomo Bertonov. Produced by The Central Library for the Blind in Israel. This is a professional-quality narration. Also available for purchase here

Textual Criticism

•  LOCAL  The Hebrew Text of the Old Testament. Several introductory articles on the Hebrew text and the Hebrew language in general, with a bibliography.
• Canon and text of the Old Testament, by Dr. Frants Buhl ... translated by Rev. John Macpherson (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1892).
• General Introduction to the Old Testament: the Text, by William Henry Green (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899).
• The Old Testament Text and the New Testament Text. By Philip Comfort. A very good introduction to text-critical materials and methods. This is the first two chapters of Comfort's book, Essential Guide to Bible Versions.
• The Study of Textual Criticism. By Dr. Allen P. Ross at Beeson Divinity School. A good brief introduction to textual criticism of the Old Testament. See also the samples of textual criticism in his Samples of the Exegetical Procedures.
• The Dead Sea Scrolls and Biblical Integrity. by Garry K. Brantley, M.A., in the Reason & Revelation online Journal of Apologetics Press. A good article explaining the practical importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which have provided proof of the general reliability of the traditional text of the Old Testament.
• Scrolls From the Dead Sea: The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Scholarship. From the Library of Congress. Also here.
• The Great Isaiah Scroll. Images of all parts of the Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran with translation and commentary, by Fred P Miller.
• The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls. From the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. “The five Dead Sea Scrolls that have been digitized thus far include the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, the Commentary on Habakkuk Scroll, the Temple Scroll, and the War Scroll … All five scrolls can be magnified so that users may examine texts in exacting detail.”
• Variants of the Isaiah Scroll Adopted by the Revised Standard Version and the Jerusalem Bible. By Dr. Paul W. Peters of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.
• Second Thoughts on the Dead Sea Scrolls. By F.F. Bruce (1956). A popular-level book about the significance of the Scrolls. Maintains that "in general the new discoveries have increased our respect for the Massoretic Hebrew text."
• West Semitic Research Project Educational Site. From the University of Southern California. A brief introduction to biblical manuscripts and ancient texts relating to the Old Testament.
• A Brief History of the Hebrew Bible. by Debra E. Anderson, at the Trinitarian Bible Society.
• Old and New in Textual Criticism: Similarities, Differences, and Prospects for Cooperation. By James R. Adair, Jr.  A long article that compares and contrasts the methods usually employed by scholars in New Testament and Old Testament textual criticism. Also here.
• The Kimhi Family: The Emergence of Their Writings in the Reformation. By Gordon Laird (1999). Describes early editions of the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic commentaries used by Protestants in the Reformation era.
• Introduction to the Mikra'ot Gedolot (Rabbinic Bible). By Dr. Eliezer Segal at Calgary University in Canada.
• The Idea of the Sanctity of the Biblical Text and the Science of Textual Criticism. By Menachem Cohen, Professor of Bible, Bar-Ilan University. Also here.
• Oxford Hebrew Bible Project. Introduction and samples of a future Oxford edition of the Hebrew Bible, with extensive text-critical notes, under the general editorship of Ronald Hendel. The sample pages online provide some good examples of how textual criticism of the Old Testament is done.

Hebrew Language

• A Handbook to Old Testament Hebrew, containing an Elementary Grammar of the Language, by Samuel G. Green (3rd ed., London, 1921).
• Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford, 1907). Also here and here.
• Davidson’s ‘Analytic Hebrew Lexicon’ — Benjamin Davidson, The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon: Consisting of an Alphabetical Arrangement of Every Word and Inflection Contained in the Old Testament Scriptures, Precisely as they Occur in the Sacred Text, with A Grammatical Analysis of Each Word, and Lexicographical Illustration of the Meanings. A complete series of Hebrew and Chaldee Paradigms, with Grammatical Remarks and Explanations (London, Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1848).
• Robinson’s translation of Gesenius’ Hebrew Lexicon — A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament: Including the Biblical Chaldee, translated from the Latin of William Gesenius, by Edward Robinson. New Edition. (Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1844) also here and here.
• Josiah Gibbs’s translation of Gesenius’s Lexicon (1824, also here).
• Tregelles’s translation of Gesenius’ Hebrew Lexicon — Gesenius's Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures; translated, with additions and corrections from the author's Thesaurus and Other Works, by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (London: Bagster and Sons, 1893).
• German editions of Gesenius’ Hebrew Lexicon — Wilhelm Gesenius’ Hebräisches und chaldäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, Neunte Auflage. Neu Bearbeitet von F. Mühlau und W. Volck (Leipzig: Vogel, 1883); Wilhelm Gesenius' hebräisches und aramäisches Hardwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, in Verbindung mit Prof. Dr. H. Zimmern, Bearbeitet von Dr. Frants Buhl. Vierzehnte Auflage (Leipzig: Vogel, 1905).
• Conant’s English translation of Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar — Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, seventeenth edition, with numerous corrections and additions, by Dr. E. Rödiger, translated by T.J. Conant, with Grammatical Exercises and a Chrestomathy, by the translator (New York: Appleton & Co., 1859). Cf. also the earlier editions of 1851 and 1856.
• Collins’s English translation of Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar — Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, as edited and enlarged by E. Kautzsch ... translated from the twenty-fifth German edition by the late Rev. G.W. Collins ... revised and adjusted to the twenty-sixth edition by A.E. Cowley (Oxford, 1898). See also the second edition (1910, “revised in accordance with the twenty-eighth German edition”) at wikisource.org.
• Gesenius-Kautzsch Hebrew Grammar, 28th edition (1909 also here); translated into English by Cowley (Oxford, 1910). This is really much more the work of Kautzsch than of Gesenius.
• Ewald's Introductory Hebrew Grammar, translated from the third German Edition by J. Frederick Smith (London: Asher & Co., 1870).
• The ‘Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance’ — The Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament; Being an Attempt at A Verbal Connection between the Original and the English Translation, edited by George V. Wigram (3rd ed. London: Bagster, 1866): vol. 1; vol. 2.
• Girdlestone’s ‘Synonyms of the Old Testament’ — Synonyms of the Old Testament; their Bearing on Christian Faith and Practice, by the Rev. Robert Baker Girdlestone, M.A. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1871).
• The Study of Words and The Study of Syntax. By Dr. Allen P. Ross at Beeson Divinity School. A very helpful guide to Hebrew language resources and research methods, and a quick overview of Hebrew grammar.
• The Importance of Studying Hebrew. By Dr. Daniel Botkin. An article from Messianic Home magazine (Spring 1999) that discusses some untranslatable features of the Hebrew text.
• Ancient Hebrew Research Center. "Dedicated to teaching and promoting the study of the ancient Hebrew language, alphabet and culture in a manner that is both enjoyable and educational."
• Biblia Hebraica. Thirty-one interactive lessons containing notes and quizzes; Most lessons include a Hebrew to English/English to Hebrew vocabulary quiz. The quizzes are multiple choice and advance by themselves when the correct answer is selected.
• Hebrew for Christians. By John Parsons in Minneapolis, Minnesota. An attractive site that gives a brief introduction to the Hebrew language, with vocabulary, basic grammar, exercises, and other helps. Also presents some interesting "Messianic Jewish" material which illustrates traditional Jewish methods of handling Scripture.
• Learn Hebrew Verbs. By Jacob Richman. Three hundred Hebrew verbs fully conjugated.
• Consonants and Vowels In the Hebrew Script. By Helmut Richter.
• Hebrew script. By Simon Ager. A good presentation on the Hebrew alphabet, points, and styles of script on Ager's Omniglot site.
• Publications of David J.A. Clines, at the University of Sheffield. Many articles on Hebrew philology.

Introductions and Surveys

• Theological and Homiletical Introduction to the Old Testament, by Johann Peter Lange, translated by Tayler Lewis and A. Gosman. Moderately conservative.
• Davidson’s Introduction to the Old Testament — Samuel Davidson, An Introduction to the Old Testament, 2 vols. (Edinburgh: Williams and Norgate, 1862): vol 1; vol. 2. Somewhat liberal for its time.
• Old Testament Exegesis. By Dr. Allen P. Ross at Beeson Divinity School. A series of long and interesting lectures at the seminary level. Includes lessons on the study of words, poetics, textual criticism, syntax, biblical theology, and practical exegetical exposition in the different genres of the Hebrew Bible. Some knowledge of Hebrew is required to fully understand the lessons, but students without Hebrew can follow most of it.
• The Bible History, Old Testament. By Alfred Edersheim. This older work (published 1890) is essentially a detailed survey of the Old Testament. Edersheim's treatment is conservative and devotional. Also here.
• Concise Old Testament Survey. By J. Hampton Keathley III. A good series of up-to-date notes and outlines (1998) from the Biblical Studies Foundation.
• Old Testament Book Studies. From the Biblical Studies Foundation. Large and detailed introductions, with outlines and bibliographies. See also the index page of studies by book.
• Old Testament Teacher's Guide. A series of outlines and other classroom handouts, provided by the Division of Student Ministry of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
• The Origin and Permanent Value of the Old Testament. By Charles Foster Kent (1906). A higher critical approach.
• Introduction to the Old Testament. By John Edgar McFadyen (1905). A higher critical approach.

Miscellaneous

• Website of Dr. Emanuel Tov, Professor of Bible at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. On the site are many pdf files with full text of articles written by Tov.
• Lowth’s classic treatise on Hebrew Poetry — Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews by Robert Lowth , D.D. Lord Biship of London, Translated from the original latin by George Gregory, F.A.S.; A New Edition with Notes by Calvin E. Stowe, A.M. (Andover: Crocker and Brewster, 1829).
• Herder’s ‘Spirit of Hebrew Poetry’ — The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, by J. G. Herder, translated from the German by James Marsh. 2 vols. (Burlington: Edward Smith, 1833); vol.1; vol. 2. Also at archive.org: vol. 1; vol. 2.
• The Spirit of the Hebrew Poetry. By Isaac Taylor (1861).
• Hebrew Cantillation Marks And Their Encoding. By Helmut Richter.
• Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Library Exhibits, from the University of Pennsylvania Library. Some very interesting and informative exhibits here. Rare books from the University of Pennsylvania Library are used as a springboard for discussions of the history of the Hebrew text and its interpetation. I note especially Jewish Biblical Interpretation in a Comparative Context by Seth Jerchower, Hebraica Veritas? (Christian Hebraism between 1450 and 1750) by Stephen Burnett and Seth Jerchower, and From Written to Printed Text: The Transmission of Jewish Tradition by Rebecca Kobrin and Adam Shear.
• Scientific Refutation of the Bible Codes. By Brendan McKay, Professor of Computer Science at the Australian National University. See his index page In Search of Mathematical Miracles for more information on the subject.
• What Does Almah Mean? By William F. Beck. A detailed scholarly article on Isaiah 7:14.
• The Immanuel Prophecy, by William Brooks. MA thesis submitted to Western Conservative Baptist Seminary (1993).
• The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures. An online scholarly journal, with full text articles and book reviews. All of the material seems to be based on an historical-critical point of view.
• Rhetorical Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. By Michael Morrison.
• Early Hebrew Printing Homepage. By Michael Davidson, rare book collector in Ontario. "A Virtual Guide to the Great Jewish Libraries and Rare Book Collections On-line."
• Poetic Discourse. By Dr. Allen P. Ross at Beeson Divinity School. Describes the various literary features and forms of the Old Testament.
• Near Eastern Acrostics and Biblical Acrostics. By John F. Brug. An introduction to acrostics in the Hebrew Bible and their relationship to other ancient Near Eastern acrostics.
• Introduction to the Psalms. By Henry Wansbrough at Oxford University. This is an excellent book-length introduction to form criticism of the Psalms (and Hebrew poetry in general), by a notable Roman Catholic scholar. Wansbrough is a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and was the chief editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. See his site's index page for links to many other interesting essays and introductions. Some of these require a network password, but most are public. Unfortunately the approach is somewhat 'liberal' in places, but those who read with discretion will learn much.
• Hengstenberg's Christology of the Old Testament — Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament: And a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions, trans. by Theodore Meyer and James Martin. 3 vols. (edinburgh, 1854-8); vol. 1; vol. 2; vol. 3.

Bibliographies

•  LOCAL  Old Testament Bibliography. Compiled by Michael Marlowe. An annotated bibliography that focuses on textual and lexical resources.
• Annotated Old Testament Bibliography. By M. Daniel Carroll R. and Richard S. Hess, in the Denver Seminary Journal.
• Bibliographic Tools for the Study of Hebrew Bible Texts. By Marc Brettler at Brandeis University. Discusses the characteristics of the most often used critical editions, lexica, grammars, and concordances; and provides some excercises for the student. Very helpful.

Discussion

• Biblical Hebrew Mailing List (B-Hebrew). An ecumenical academic discussion list for the Hebrew Bible. Students and interested non-academics are welcome, but the list assumes a working knowledge of Hebrew.

Web Directories

• Old Testament Gateway. By Roy Nicholson.
• iTanakh. By Christopher Heard. Annotated directory of scholarly resources relating to the Old Testament.
• Okeanos: Ancient Near Easter Studies. A good web directory by Scott B. Noegel at the University of Washington.
• Hebrew Bible links compiled by Mischa Hooker. Links to editions of the Hebrew text and commentaries on the several books.

Books

"The Hebrew language is the best language of all ... If I were younger I would want to learn this language, because no one can really understand the Scriptures without it. For although the New Testament is written in Greek, it is full of Hebraisms and Hebrew expressions. It has therefore been aptly said that the Hebrews drink from the spring, the Greeks from the stream that flows from it, and the Latins from a downstream pool." --Martin Luther, Table Talk, quoted in Pinchas E. Lapide, Hebrew in the Church, trans. Erroll F. Rhodes (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1984), p. x.

• The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English. By Martin G. Abegg, Peter W. Flint, and Eugene Charles Ulrich. (Harper San Francisco, 1999). This book is useful for looking up translatable variants in the scrolls, but unfortunately the translation in it leaves much to be desired. The presentation of the variants requires a highly literal translation. "Inclusive language" in a work of this kind is really rather foolish.
• Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, by Emanuel Tov. A standard introduction.
• The JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1999). ISBN 0-8276-0656-7. The Hebrew text from the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the English text from the New JPS Tanakh (1985) arranged in parallel columns. A very convenient volume for students.
• The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament by Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner. The most up-to-date and detailed lexicon, now in an affordable unabridged 2-Volume Study Edition.

NB: Hebrew 4 Christians is a maintained website with links to Hebrew tools, Hebrew audio, and Hebrew Scriptures.