TIP OF THE DAY 9: Name > Original language

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We are finally getting into the information that we need to know about a name, whether or not Logos/Verbum makes it available to us. From here on, I really need your feedback on data I have missed, uses that apply to methods I'm not particularly familiar with, unclear directions ... you get the idea. I will be making the editorial changes/additions/deletions in the shared .docx file.

QUESTION: How do I find all the personal names in a scriptural passage?

SOFTWARE:  As you can see, there are several ways we can get close to a list of personal names in a scripture passage, but all of the options are partial solutions with results that require some manual intervention. It should be no surprise that the most common and most accurate method still requires manual intervention.

1. Open Factbook from the application toolbar. You may either click the icon and allow the application where to open the panel or you may drag and drop into the tile of your choice.
2. Enter a continuous passage reference into the navigation box at the top of the Factbook panel.
3. Then select an entry from the drop-down selection menu.
4. Expand the People, Places, and Things section.
5. Select the People tab
6. You will see a list of all people referred to in the passage. Read through the list and pick up the personal names.

VOCABULARY for blocks of Biblical text

Pericope

Commonly refers to a selected portion of a book chosen for liturgical reading. The term is used to designate a specific paragraph or a section of Scripture that addresses a particular subject (Kaiser and Silva, 285). In Form criticism (see ch. 4) the term refers to self-contained units of gospel tradition, containing stories or teachings of Jesus. They are thought to have circulated first in oral form before being collected and written down (Efird, 91). It should be noted that traditional paragraph divisions found in the Bible do not always mark the limits of a pericope.^[1]

Synoptic and parallel events

A single event may have multiple defining texts as long as it is clear that a single event is in view. For example, the event The Men of Jabesh-Gilead Bury Saul has as its defining texts as 1 Samuel 31:11–13 and 1 Chronicles 10:11–12.

If two events share some similarities but it is unclear whether they are the same event, the events are listed separately. For example, the event The People of Nazareth Refuse to Believe (Matthew, Mark) is listed separately from the event Jesus Is Rejected at Nazareth (Luke). The events are distinguished by including the book reference(s) in parentheses.^[2]

Story

In addition to having the kinds of unity that we expect from an anthology, the Bible possesses an overarching narrative unity. Taken as a whole, the Bible tells a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The Bible is above all a series of events, with interspersed passages that explain the meaning of those events.

This story has a unifying plot conflict consisting of the great spiritual struggle between good and evil. Virtually every event that we read about in the Bible shows some movement, whether slight or momentous, toward God or away from him, toward good or evil. The world of the Bible is claimed by God and counterclaimed by the forces of evil. Human choice is inevitable as the Bible concentrates on people at the crossroads. Every story has a protagonist, and in the Bible that protagonist is God. He is the central actor whose presence unifies the story of universal history.^[3]

Lection/Lesson/Pericope

An ancient division of the text is the lessons, or lections, from the Gospels on the one hand, and the Acts and Epistles on the other, read in the public services of the Church. The history of these is obscure, and they varied much at different periods and in different regions. The lessons for the Sundays and chief festivals of the year seem to have been the earliest; next were added lessons for the Saturdays, and finally for every day in the week, with special commemoration of saints and martyrs. Euthalius marked, in the Acts, 16 of these “lessons”; in the Catholic Epistles, 10; in the Pauline Epistles, 31; in all, 57. He was probably not, as many have supposed, their inventor. The system of lessons which ultimately prevailed in the Greek Church appears in our evangelistaries and lectionaries (more properly praxapostoli), containing the lessons from the Gospels and the Acts and Epistles respectively. The ordinary manuscripts of the Greek Testament were often adapted for church service by marking the beginning and end of each lesson, with a note in the margin of the time or occasion for reading it, and by prefixing to them a Synaxarion, or table of the lessons in their order; sometimes also a Menologion, or calendar of the immovable festivals and the saints’ days, with their appropriate lessons.^[4]

Parashah/Haftarah

There was also a division into sections (parashôth), greater and smaller; each longer portion of the Law, read as a lesson in the Synagogue, was also called a parashah; the Prophetical lessons were called haphtarôth. The printed Hebrew Bible still marks these in the Pentateuch: three letters for the end of a Synagogue lesson, one for a section. The chapter-division is generally said to have been invented by Abp. Stephen Langton in the thirteenth century, and applied firstly to the Vulgate; the Jews, later, used it for reference, and it was also used for the English translations of the Bible. (The printer-editor, Stephanus, first broke up the New Testament into verses; but besides the mediaeval chapter-division, there were ancient chapter-divisions, of which indications are found even in early MSS.^[5]

The appropriate parashah is chanted publicly. In most communities, it is read by a designated reader (ba'al koreh) in Jewish prayer services, starting with a partial reading on the afternoon of Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, i.e. Saturday afternoon, again during the Monday and Thursday morning services, and ending with a full reading during the following Shabbat morning services (Saturday morning). The weekly reading is pre-empted by a special reading on major religious holidays. Each Saturday morning and holiday reading is followed by an often similarly themed reading (Haftarah) from the Book of Prophets (Nevi'im).

System defined common divisions

• Entire Bible
• Old and New Testament
• Old Testament
• Apocrypha
• New Testament
• Law
• Histories
• Nevi’im
• Kethuvim
• Former prophets
• Latter prophets
• Poetic Books
• Poetic Writings
• Megilloth
• Major prophets
• Minor prophets
• Gospels
• Synoptic gospels
• Luke-Acts
• Pauline epistles
• Pastoral epistles
• General epistles
• Petrine epistles
• Johannine literature
• Johannine epistles

User defined common divisions

Note that some of these divisions exist in the common divisions but I like to be able to use the name that is familiar to the audience. They are given to spark awareness of the passages you use together.

• Canon: Slavonic Orthodox
• Canon: Greek Orthodox
• 1611 King James Bible canon
• Canon: Catholic
• Canon: NAP (North American Protestant)
• Canon: Tanakh
• Canon: Samaritan
• Canon: Samaritan + Joshua
• Unateuch
• Hexateuch
• Pentateuch
• Tetrateuch
• Torah
• Book of Odes
• Law: Ethical decalogue
• Law: Covenant code
• Law: Ritual decalogue
• Law: Holiness code
• Deuteronomic history
• Law: Deuteronomic code
• Catholic historical books
• Pre-exile post-judges history
• LXX Kingdoms
• Esdras literature
• Anagignoskomena (Orthodox)
• Biblical novellas
• Deuterocanonical Catholic
• Deuterocanonical NRSV (ecumenical canon)
• Catholic wisdom literature
• Wisdom literature
• Psalms (expanded)
• Psalms of trust
• Solomonic literature
• Isaiah, authentic
• Isaiah, deuteron
• Isaiah, Trito
• Daniel (Greek Daniel)
• The Twelve prophets
• Maccabees (4 books)
• Peshitta
• Q
• Matthew: The five discourses
• Passion narratives
• John: Bread/Water of life, Farewell discourse
• Prison epistles
• Pastoral epistles (long)
• Pastoral epistles (short)
• Antilegomena (Luther)
• Catholic epistles
• Antilegomena (Syriac)

Passage lists

Passage lists are often temporary. These are typical, long-term example to spark awareness of how you might use it.

• LAW: Haustafeln Passage List
• LIST: I AM’s of John
• LIST: Scripture referenced in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
• RCL Year A passage list
• RCL Year B passage list
• RCL Year C passage list
• LIST: Suffering servant songs
• LITURGY: USA Catholic Missal antiphons
• LITURGY: USA Sunday & Feast day readings
• LIST: Messianic prophecies
• LAW: Mitzvot commandments of the Law
• LAW: Priestly code passage list
• LITURGY: USA Catholic Office of Readings 2 year cycle
• LITURGY: USA Catholic daily passage list
• LITURGY: RCL daily passage list
• LIST: Missing verses passage list
• LIST: Biblical canticles
• LIST: Beatitudes of Revelation
• LIST: Five laments of Revelation 18
• LIST: Tre Ore: Seven last words
• LIST: Holy Thursday: Orthodox 12 gospels
• LIST: Rabbinic Messianic prophecies from Edersheim

Bible reference

The special restrictions for Logos/Verbum references include:

• No partial verses
• Must be continuous
• If versification is different than your highest priority Bible, the translation map must be identified.

QUESTION: How do I limit my results to a single pericope, event, story, liturgical pericope, predefined divisions, or Bible reference.

SOFTWARE: Set up for the tool you are using:

ANSWER A PERICOPE: Pericopes in the sense of divisions within a Bible not in the sense of lections are heavily integrated into Logos. To see the available pericope names:

1. From application toolbar via menus: Tools > Passage Analysis > Passage > Compare Pericopes OR from application toolbar command line (application icon) enter “Show Compare Pericopes”.
   1. In the Pericope Sets drop down menu, add a check mark (i.e. toggle on) the pericope sets from Bibles you wish to consider.
   2. In the Navigation reference box list a Bible reference as a starting point for the pericope data. Note it displays as a continuous scroll so that the reference simply positions you, it does not limit you.
   3. OR you may simply pick pericope titles from an open Bible

If you enter a pericope name into Factbook, select it from the drop-down menu, the Factbook will open to that passage. If displays the Bible reference rather than the pericope name.

If you enter a pericope name into the passage option of a Search and select it from the drop-down menu in the pericope section the pericope title will be shown. Continue setup for the search as usual.

ANSWER B EVENT: In theory, the Biblical Event Navigator (2014) or the Factbook table of contents provide the names for events. They are generally reliable but have enough errors as to require forewarning.

If you enter an event name into Factbook, select it from the drop-down menu, the Factbook will open to that event. Note that the event record in Factbook is NOT the same as the Bible passage record in Factbook i.e. event is not used as a Biblical reference.

The search offers no support for Biblical events. You must first convert it to a Biblical reference and use that reference.

ANSWER C STORY: Logos/Verbum has no support for stories as a unit of text. Use your library to convert it to a Biblical reference and use that reference.

ANSWER D (LITURGICAL) PERICOPE/LECTION/LESSON: Logos/Verbum has no support for liturgical pericopes as a unit of text. The references used in lectionaries have have discontinuous text and partial verses, neither of which is supported by Logos. Use your library to convert it to a Biblical reference and use that reference.

ANSWER E PARASHOT: The parashot should work identically to Answer a: pericope. Unfortunately, with the mixture of Hebrew and English in the pericope name, I have been unable to get it to work.

ANSWER F SYSTEM PREDEFINED DIVISIONS: When a common division happens to exist in Factbook, it is the collection of books rather than the Bible text reference that is meant. Treat the System-predefined divisions (common divisions) as a search only feature.

ANSWER G USER PREDEFINED DIVISIONS: Treat the user defined divisions as a search only feature.

ANSWER H PASSAGE LIST: Trear the user defined passage lists as a search only feature.

ANSWER I BIBLE REFERENCE: A very brief description of the American form of Bible reference.

A passage is referred to by chapter and verse number. When writing a passage, you write the name of the book, followed by a space, then the chapter number, followed immediately by a colon, with the verses immediately following. The verses are indicated from the first to the last with a hyphen in between:

book name (space) chapter number:verse-verse

For example: John 1:1–5

This designation refers to the book of John, chapter 1, verses 1 through 5. When saying aloud a Bible reference, you give the name of the book, then the chapter number, then the verse numbers. For example, John 1:1–5 is “John one, verses one through five,” or, more simply, “John one, one through five.”

A passage sometimes cuts across chapter boundaries, as in:

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11.

This designation refers to the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 13 through chapter 5, verse 11. Aloud, it would sound like this: “First Thessalonians four, verse thirteen through five, verse eleven, or “First Thessalonians four, thirteen through five, eleven.”

Four books in the New Testament are only one chapter in length: Philemon, Jude, and 2 and 3 John. These books do not have chapter numbers. We cite these little books only by book title and verse numbers, as in:

Jude 5–7.

When referencing this passage aloud, you would say, “Jude, verses 5 through 7,” or simply “Jude five through seven.”^[7]

ANSWER J CHAPTER: For both Factbook and Search, treat chapters like any other Bible reference.

ANSWER K PARAGRAPH: Paragraphs are not recognized as a unit. Convert to a Bible reference for use in both Factbook and search.

TOPIC: Name.Original language

QUESTION: Why use the form entity.attribute?

ANSWER: The overall thrust of this document is to explore the data available in Logos/Verbum. It is common to describe data  in terms of entities, things we what to collection information about, and attributes, the information that is collected about an entity. Rather than providing the types of diagrams that are used in information technology/information management to show the relationships, I choose a simple period between the elements. I hope this convention is simple enough to be understood without feeling technical.

Up to this point, we have been speaking of names generically. To discuss the attributes, we have to speak of particular names that are representative of all names.

QUESTION: How do I find the original language for a particular name, e.g. Esther?

SOFTWARE: An All smart search is the most reliable source of information as this is not information that Logos has curated. The question I found most reliable is “What is the original language of the personal name Esther?” The most common problem I found in forming this question was confusing the personal name with Bible books or tribal groups. If you don’t have access to a smart search or a chatbot, pick up this information together with Name.Name etymology discussed below.

ANSWER: This is the synopsis of the search in Logos/Verbum:

The personal name Esther has its origins in Old Iranian, possibly meaning "star"[1][2]. However, it's important to note that the linguistic origins of names in the book of Esther are complex and not entirely certain[3]. Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah, was a Jewish woman who became queen to the Persian king Ahasuerus (also known as Xerxes I)[1][2][4]. The name Esther may have been associated by original readers with the Akkadian goddess Ishtar[1][2]. Some interpreters have found significance in the unpointed Hebrew form of the name (אסתר, 'str), which can suggest the idea of hiddenness[1][2]. The book of Esther, which tells her story, contains many Persian names, which some scholars view as evidence of the book's historical authenticity in its Persian setting[3].

[1] Leonard Greenspoon, “Esther,” in The Concise Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2021).

[2] Leonard Greenspoon, “Esther,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

[3] Karen H. Jobes, Esther, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999), 199.

[4] Gregory A. Lint, ed., Ezra–Job, The Complete Biblical Library: Study Bible (World Library Press, 2000), Es 1:1.

QUESTION: Why does the original language of a name matter?

ANSWER: In the example of Esther, the original language of the name is a clue of assimilation on the part of her family. In other cases, it may be a clue as to ethnicity of a person or the ethnicity of the general population of a region. At times, it exposes wordplay that one might otherwise miss.

In addition, the original language of names is often a clue a to the makeup of a particular group e.g. the court of King Ahasuerus.

^[1] James D. Hernando, “Pericope,” in Dictionary of Hermeneutics: A Concise Guide to Terms, Names, Methods, and Expressions (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 2012), 31.

^[2] Jessica Parks, Biblical Events Dataset Documentation (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2021).

^[3] Leland Ryken, Words of Delight: A Literary Introduction to the Bible, Second edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1992), 31.

^[4] Samuel Macauley Jackson, ed., The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (New York; London: Funk & Wagnalls, 1908–1914), 101–102.

^[5] Richard R. Ottley, A Handbook to the Septuagint (London: Methuen & Co., 1920), 285–286.

Weekly Torah portion - Wikipedia accessed 9/24/2024 6:12 PM

^[7] Ronald J. Allen, Reading the New Testament for the First Time (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012), 4–5.