bible

"Government shall be upon His shoulder" Isaiah 9:6

Isaiah 9:6:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Pea…

To what extent was the LORD “sought” and “found” in Isaiah 65:1?

Isaiah 65:1a

נִדְרַ֙שְׁתִּי֙ לְל֣וֹא שָׁאָ֔לוּ
I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;

נִמְצֵ֖אתִי לְלֹ֣א בִקְשֻׁ֑נִי
I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. (ESV)

The ESV (also NRSV, NET, NASB; contrast NIV, HCSB) take these two verbs – “ready to be sought … ready to be found” – as tolerative nifals, I gather.

Joüon-Muraoka (a Hebrew grammar) says of the tolerative nifal נדרש:

generally with a notion of effective action….to allow oneself to be asked, and that effectively, hence practically = to answer (speaking of God)

Walkte & O’Connor (another Hebrew grammar) follow this idea, offering the translation:

I answered (< allowed myself to be sought by) those who did not ask (for me);
I revealed myself to (< allowed myself to be found by) those who did not seek me.

This “efficacy” nuance is different from the “ready to…” translation of the ESV etc.

How should we decide in what way to understand the nifal here? Is this verse intended to convey something already accomplished (revealed, answered) or merely offerred?



1. The other uses of the potentially “tolerative” nifal דרש (with subject = Yahweh) are in Ezekiel; mostly these could also be taken either way.


2. The LXX seems to carry a similar sense of “effective”: Εμφανὴς ἐγενόμην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ζητοῦσιν, εὑρέθην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ἐπερωτῶσιν· = I became visible to those who did not seek me; I was found by those who did not inquire after me. This may have more to do with reading them as passives (“was found” + reconciliation of “did not ask” with “was sought” –> “became visible”) rather than a reflection of the translator having read Jouon, but you never know.

What were the “Urim and Thummim” (KJV)?

The first mention of these two objects occurs in Exo. 28:30, in which it is written,

30 And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron’s heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually. KJV, 1769

ל וְנָתַתָּ אֶל חֹשֶׁן הַמִּשְׁפָּט אֶת הָאוּרִים וְאֶת הַתֻּמִּים וְהָיוּ עַל לֵב אַהֲרֹן בְּבֹאוֹ לִפְנֵי יַהְוֶה וְנָשָׂא אַהֲרֹן אֶת מִשְׁפַּט בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עַל לִבּוֹ לִפְנֵי יַהְוֶה תָּמִיד

  1. In English, how would one describe the objects referred to in Hebrew as הָאוּרִים and הַתֻּמִּים? What were they composed of? How were they made, and who made them?
  2. How did Jerome manage the words הָאוּרִים and הַתֻּמִּים in Latin in the Vulgate? Did he translate or transliterate?
  3. How did the 70/72 manage those words in Greek in the Septuagint? Did they translate or transliterate?
  4. Is there an idea of what the Hebrew words actually mean (since the KJV chose to transliterate rather than translate them)?

In 1 Corinthians 14:15, what is the difference between praying «τῷ πνεύματι» versus «τῷ νοΐ»?

In 1 Cor. 14:15, it is written,

15 What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. NASB

ΙΕʹ τί οὖν ἐστιν προσεύξομαι τῷ πνεύματι προσεύξομαι δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ ψαλῶ τῷ πνεύματι ψαλῶ δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ TR, 1550

What, if any, is the difference between praying «τῷ πνεύματι» (NASB: “with the spirit”) versus «τῷ νοΐ» (NASB: “with the mind”)? Or, is the apostle Paul using a parallelism thus equating the πνεῦμα with the νοῦς?