Brian P. Baucom

Ps 2:11—"Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling" ( ESV ). "Rejoice" is a fairly common word in the Bible. In the NRSV , the English word "rejoice" occurs 280 times. This number is reduced to 268 occurrences in the KJV . It is further reduced to 233 in the ESV . In the ESV , the word "rejoice" is used in the Psalms more than twice the number of times compared to the biblical book with the next most occurrences (i.e., Isaiah). The English word actually translates several different Hebrew terms, which partly explains why there is a difference in the number of occurrences of the word "rejoice" in English Bibles (i.e., versions differ in how consistently they render a given Hebrew word, or they consistently use a different English equivalent for a given Hebrew word). The Hebrew root underlying "rejoice" in Ps 2:11 is גיל (also, for those interested, the word  nagila  in the song "Hava Nagila" [i.e., ...

I love the biblical text. I also love learning about how it was transmitted and what sorts of alterations occurred in this process. The Septuagint, one strand of the transmission of the biblical text, offers numerous interesting readings. This first installment of "Versional Readings" comes from the book of Isaiah. Isa 3:10—εἰπόντες Δήσωμεν τὸν δίκαιον, ὅτι δύσχρηστος ἡμῖν ἐστιν· τοίνυν τὰ γενήματα τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν φάγονται.    ". . . saying, 'Let us bind the just, for he is a nuisance to us.' Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their works" (New English Translation of the Septuagint). Isa 3:10—אמרו צדיק כי טוב כי פרי מעלליהם יאכלו "Tell the innocent how fortunate they are, for they shall eat the fruit of their labors" (New Revised Standard Version). At the outset, one should know that the relation of the Hebrew text of Isaiah (as we know it in modern editions) to the Septuagint version is particularly complicated. The Septuag...

Ps 2:9—"You shall break them with a rod of iron" The term usually translated "break" in English Bibles has an interesting rendering in the Septuagint. In the Septuagint, we find, "You will shepherd them with a rod of iron." The explanation is simple enough. In unpointed script the Hebrew could be understood as "break" or "shepherd." That is to say, תרעם could be derived from רעע ("break," or "shatter"; cf. Job 34:24), or רעה ("shepherd," "lead," "rule"; cf. Mic 7:14, which has a very similar construction). The context, at first blush, appears to favor the sense of "break." Because repetition is a well-known literary device in Hebrew poetry, and because the second part of verse 9 reads, "You will dash them in pieces," it would make sense for the first line of the verse to have a similar meaning, namely, "break" or "shatter." It may very well be...

Psalm 2:1—"Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?" (NRSV). The word translated "conspire" is elsewhere translated "so furiously rage together" (as one finds in Handel's,  Messiah,  part 2, scene 6, for instance). These renderings, or variations thereof, are the two most common translations for the Hebrew רָגְשׁ֣וּ. Why is there a disparity in English translations? Clearly, conspire is not semantically related to rage. If anything, rage may motivate peoples to conspire against overlords or other people groups. The reason for the English translation disparity is clear when one considers that the verb only occurs here in the Hebrew Bible. Fewer usages muddles a clear understanding of the contours of the verb's semantic range. Though the Hebrew verb occurs only once in the Bible, the Aramaic counterpart of the verb does occur in Daniel, which appears to be the basis for translations of "conspire" and similar renditions...

Psalm 1:3—"He will be like a tree  planted  by streams of water that bears its fruit in its season, and whose leaves do not wither. He will prosper at whatever he does." The word שָׁתוּל is usually translated, "planted," in English translations; however, there may be an exegetical point in this lexical choice. The psalmist could have used נתע to convey the meaning "plant." Though the verb שׁתל can also mean "plant" (Hos 9:13), it often takes on the nuanced meaning "transplant"—that is, to move something from its natural, or original, habitat to another location (see esp. Ezek 17 and 19). The translational challenge is observable in differences between Jerome's translation on the basis of the Greek (Origen's Hexaplaric recension) and his later translation on the basis of the Hebrew. His initial translation is  plantatum est  ("is planted") ,  which translates the Greek πεφυτευμένον; however, he later adjusts his trans...

Psalm 1:1—"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stays in the path of sinners, nor dwells in the place of  scoffers. "      The word lying behind the English word generally translated "scoffers" in Ps 1:1 is the Hebrew word לצים ( le̅tzîm ). The Hebrew word is not too common, but common enough to have a basis for establishing a semantic range. Generally it does have something to do with scoffing or mocking. A helpful text for comparison is Ps 119:51, which reads, "The proud persistently  mock  me; I do not turn from your law." The usage at 119:51 fits the usage at 1:1, and helps to elucidate the meaning here. In the current verse, the fact that  le̅tzîm  is not accompanied by an object indicates that mocking/scoffing is a characteristic behavior. These mockers, just like the evil-doers and sinners of verse 1, detract from the happy man's delight in the instruction of the Lord (v. 2). It's natural for insolent mocking...