From the Kitchen Table: Holy Week

One word that snags

How you render this one word determines the meaning of the whole paragraph. A translator has to decide, and the decision is already an interpretation. Readers deserve to know that a decision was made.

55υἱοὶ αβδησελμα υἱοὶ σατι υἱοὶ ασεφηραθ υἱοὶ φαδουρα

56υἱοὶ ιεηλα υἱοὶ δαρκων υἱοὶ γεδηλ

エズラ記 2:55-56（七十人訳（ギリシャ語））

This is where I stopped. I could not go forward, so I stayed with the same few lines for a long time. I have come to think the staying was the point.（知恵の書 15:1-3）

Anticipating the objection

A word about ordinary life. I think about this passage in the kitchen and on the train, almost never in a pew. I have come to suspect that is not accidental.

• A direct look at the part of this text that rarely gets preached.
• A direct look at the part of this text that rarely gets preached.
• A direct look at the part of this text that rarely gets preached.

Another way to read it

Here is the conclusion, which is not an answer. I have decided to read this as a promise rather than a command, for the plain reason that I can live inside the first reading and not the second. Whether that is a legitimate reason I genuinely do not know.（オバデヤ書 1:12）

（テモテへの第一の手紙 第5章）

Following the context

How you render this one word determines the meaning of the whole paragraph. A translator has to decide, and the decision is already an interpretation. Readers deserve to know that a decision was made.（ヨハネの第二の手紙 1:9）

18דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים א 24:18 לִדְלָיָ֙הוּ֙ שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה וְעֶשְׂרִ֔ים לְמַֽעַזְיָ֖הוּ אַרְבָּעָ֥ה וְעֶשְׂרִֽים׃ פ

19דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים א 24:19 אֵ֣לֶּה פְקֻדָּתָ֞ם לַעֲבֹדָתָ֗ם לָבֹ֤וא לְבֵית־יְהוָה֙ כְּמִשְׁפָּטָ֔ם בְּיַ֖ד אַהֲרֹ֣ן אֲבִיהֶ֑ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוָּ֔הוּ יְהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ פ

20דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים א 24:20 וְלִבְנֵ֥י לֵוִ֖י הַנֹּותָרִ֑ים לִבְנֵ֤י עַמְרָם֙ שֽׁוּבָאֵ֔ל לִבְנֵ֥י שׁוּבָאֵ֖ל יֶחְדְּיָֽהוּ׃

21דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים א 24:21 לִרְחַבְיָ֑הוּ לִבְנֵ֣י רְחַבְיָ֔הוּ הָרֹ֖אשׁ יִשִּׁיָּֽה׃

歴代志上 24:18-21（レニングラード写本（ヘブライ語））