OT Quotes in NT: My New Project

Updated Nov 20, 2024 by Jason Stone (Logos)

A number of recent threads about searching for the quotations in the New Testament of the Old Testament has prompted a new project for me. I am manually highlighting the quotations and setting up a framework to highlight allusions to the OT.

Here's my layout for the project thus far.

I started a new highlighting palette called "Intertextuality" This will allow me to toggle this view in the NA27. Quotations receive a color-coded underline plus a bubble tag with "short book abbreviation" in it. Pentateuch is brick red; Historical books Green; Poetry/Wisdom books are Purple; and Prophets are Dark Blue. After I highlight the quote I attach a note to the reference so I can have cross references whether or not a Bible is tagged with them.

Benefits?

When I am done I will be able to search just quotes from Psalms etc. The NA27 has a quoted material search field but it does not differentiate the sources of the quotes.
The line between a quotation and an allusion is a subjective one. This allows me to have a record of what I think the relationship is. If you notice I'm starting with all the instances in the OT quotes according to the HCSB. I've already found 3 instances that I don't think rise to the level of quotation, they've been dumped into my quotation/verbal parallelism note file.
Having the allusion framework set up will allow me to really track the influence of the OT on a passage drawing input from much more detailed work in journal articles and commentaries that isn't present in standard cross-reference schemes.
I anticipate Logos having a highlighting report - being able to view all the text of what you've highlighted with a specific style; there should be some really neat things I can do with all of this highlighted in the future. You can already do something like this by using a Passage List to pull verses from what's highlighted.

Some observations

It would be great if Logos would do something like this. However, I'm glad for the opportunity to have the highlighting reflect the results of my studies.
Notes are slow! This process really bogs down on my laptop with integrated graphics. My desktop is better. I estimate that it will take about 10-20 hours to complete the project.

So what do you think? I just made it through Acts. Have I missed something? Is there something that you do that would be good for me to incorporate into this project?

Prov. 15:23

Comments

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steve clark

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Nice icons!

Like you my laptop blogs down (and eventually crashes, due to temp files & i've cleared temp files several times). My laptop is probably slower than yours.

Great project for those with newer laptops!

Could you save your icon images in Old Test. icons similar to how i saved some?

QLinks, Bibl2, LLR, Macros
Dell Insp 17-5748, i5, 1.7 GHz, 8G RAM, win 8.1

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I didn't actually use Icons. I used the text tags with capsule option checked like this:

Prov. 15:23

steve clark

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I didn't actually use Icons. I used the text tags with capsule option checked like this:

Nice! Thanks!

QLinks, Bibl2, LLR, Macros
Dell Insp 17-5748, i5, 1.7 GHz, 8G RAM, win 8.1

Rosie Perera

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Awesome! Now I can't wait until Logos lets us export and share our highlighting and notes with other users! I'll try to remember to come knocking on your door at that time.

Kaye Anderson

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This is great! Have I mentioned (lately) that I am very visual??

I agree that some of the HCSB quotes don't seem to be quotes to me. I was noticing that yesterday.

I would LOVE the report of highlighted text. Even if just for cleanup purposes. I have changed how I mark over time and it would be nice to go back and fix up some of the earlier text.

Rosie, I agree. Sharing some of the talents of this user group in the form of things like this would be a great blessing to many of us and I would think it would add to the selling points for Logos. Imagine a study group that wants to share markup to all those who have Logos. I'm starting an online Precept class Thursday and many of the women will have Logos but most are very unsure how to use it to help their study. It would be great to give them my set of markup to get started.

I get the feeling right now that one person comes up with something cool and hundreds scurry off to try to do it, too. :-) Or is it just me?? :-D

Kaye

"But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:5 (NASB)

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Just a note if anyone wants to do a similar project. Turning off the note indicator box in the Bible and OT quotes resource sped things up significantly. My laptop had bogged down to the point of hanging up every 3 or so keystrokes in a note. With the boxes off I get virtually no hanging.

Prov. 15:23

Kaye Anderson

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Thanks for the tip. Anything to speed things up...

"But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:5 (NASB)

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Just a note if anyone wants to do a similar project. Turning off the note indicator box in the Bible and OT quotes resource sped things up significantly. My laptop had bogged down to the point of hanging up every 3 or so keystrokes in a note. With the boxes off I get virtually no hanging.

WOW!!!!! Kevin. If you turn off the visual filter box for the note file you are using and then add a note, it works like greased lightening!

How come no one noticed this before?

"For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power" Wiki Table of Contents

Dr. Charles A. Wootten

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I'll try to remember to come knocking on your door at that time.

Rosie, I am not sure that you will be able to do that because of the long line at your door!![:D]

{charley}

running Logos Bible Software 6.0a: Collector's Edition on HP e9220y (AMD Phenom II X4 2.60GHz 8.00GB 64-bit Win 7 Pro SP1) & iPad (mini) apps.

Dr. Charles A. Wootten

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Here's my layout for the project thus far.

This is REALLY very cool.

{charley}

running Logos Bible Software 6.0a: Collector's Edition on HP e9220y (AMD Phenom II X4 2.60GHz 8.00GB 64-bit Win 7 Pro SP1) & iPad (mini) apps.

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This is REALLY very cool.

For me the most important part of this is the ability to highlight and reference allusions. The book of Revelation for example has very few direct quotes, but dozens of scriptural allusions, which are actually a key to help understand the book. I am glad Kevin shared his work!

"For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power" Wiki Table of Contents

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I'm done with my first pass through the text. Whenever I study a NT passage now I will be certain to update my highlighting. Here's a screen-shot with some particularly dense quotations and allusions from 1 Peter. It's pretty cool to see the interplay.

Prov. 15:23

NetworkGeek

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Wow great job Kevin. I too look forward to the day where this may be able to be shared if you are willing. This is great work!

Steven L. Spencer

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Kevin, what you are doing it totally awesome! I hope that there will be a way that you can share this! Keep up the great work! [Y]

MJ. Smith

Just a note to remind everyone that there are quote and allusion lists in the Bible Harmony section.

Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

NetworkGeek

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Jan 15, 2011

Just a note to remind everyone that there are quote and allusion lists in the Bible Harmony section.

Just to be clear are you referring to the Parallel Passages section of the Passages Guide?

MJ. Smith

Jan 15, 2011

Just to be clear are you referring to the Parallel Passages section of the Passages Guide?

Yes, they appear there or you can open them directly from your library.

Robert Pavich

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I like this....but I have one question....how do I differentiate between a quote and allusion...I know that you said it was subjective....but is there a resource that draws this dividing line so I can get started?

Robert Pavich

For help go to the Wiki: http://wiki.logos.com/Table_of_Contents__

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I like this....but I have one question....how do I differentiate between a quote and allusion...I know that you said it was subjective....but is there a resource that draws this dividing line so I can get started?

I can't think of a resource off the top of my head that delineates a dividing line. Quotes use the same words, allusions use similar words. A quotation is a deliberate invoking of an OT passage whereas an allusion may just be present because the author was so immersed in the OT. So if you are in doubt about a specific example you can consult these to help make a determination

Does the NA27 put it in italics? What it considers quotes are italicized.
What does the NET Bible say? It is normally pretty good at identifying quotes and allusions.
If still in doubt a technical commentary or something like the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old should finish tipping it one way or the other.

Does this help? Even if you end up mis-classifying something here or there you will still end up better understanding how the NT authors use the OT.

Prov. 15:23

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Robert, since I suppose you are going to do this manually as Kevin did, let me remind you that as Kevin pointed out that if you underline the text, then it is searchable. Start a new palette. This could come in handy in the future if you wanted to find a quote and only remembered one or two of the words. Also if you don't want the underline to show, you can make it white and it pretty much disappears. I did the same thing Kevin did, only for the English NT. Here is a screen shot.

"For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power" Wiki Table of Contents

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I finished the quotes and will go on to the allusions soon. I enjoyed doing this as it gives you a heads up on what the NT writers had probably been reading and meditating on when they composed their writing.

"For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power" Wiki Table of Contents

Giovanni Baggio

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...it gives you a heads up on what the NT writers had probably been reading and meditating on when they composed their writing.

I don't think the writers of the NT or OT for that matter were reading or meditating on some portion of the OT when they "composed" their writing. Remember that "All Scripture is given by inspiration" God-breathed...(2Ti. 3:16) and they spoke (we could add wrote) as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21). In other words, God told the OT & NT writers what to write...consider the following verses: Isaiah 30:8 there God told Isaiah to write, record in a book the words God revealed to him. Jeremiah 30:2 God told Jeremiah the same thing (write in a book); cf. Jer. 36:4 where Jeremiah dictated to Baruch the words of the Lord so Baruch could write them (cf. Rom. 16:22). Same thing happened when the NT was written. Paul wrote the commandment of the Lord in 1 Corinthians 14:37, so that those who are spiritual can perceive that. And finally, let's not forget about John who wrote the things which were revealed to him (Rev. 1:11; cf. 2:1, 8, etc. ). As you can see, they were not reading or meditating on anything, they were given the task to write all the things God-breathed to them. Neither Peter nor Matthew read the OT to pick and choose which verses to insert in their writings, God breathed to them the right verses with the right interpretation/application.

Anyway, I'm not trying to be picky. I may be "over reacting" [;)] but it is my conviction that God-breathed the Bible to the OT & NT writers so they could write exactly what God wanted them to write. Is not a matter of God assigning topics like God telling Paul: "Paul write about love; and then Paul came up with love is kind, is patience, etc." That would not be inspiration....True inspiration is God telling Paul: "Paul, write about love; AND this is what I want you to write: 'love is kind, love is patience, etc." I hope you and all who read my post get my point and don't misinterpret it. All I'm saying is that whenever God-breathed Scriptures it was not time to sit, read the OT and meditate so they could "compose" the Bible -- because that would not be inspiration.

Sweet dreams!

Giovanni

MJ. Smith