The Unfinished Job's Silence

Closing

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.

Reading the non-canonical material alongside this shows how wide the shared vocabulary of the period really was. Looking only at what was eventually collected hides that width entirely.

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.（雅歌 5:5-8）

26このゆえに、この両日をプルの名にしたがってプリムと名づけた。そしてこの書のすべての言葉により、またこの事について見たところ、自分たちの会ったところによって、

エステル記 9:26（口語訳（日本語））

Leaving the question open

Let me set the terms. This is not an argument about doctrinal correctness. It is one reader's account of what the text can be made to yield. I am going to leave the ending open on purpose.

Finally, back to the text. No amount of commentary competes with the texture of the sentences themselves. Read it out loud once before you read anything else about it.（マリアの福音書 1:7）

（ローマ人への手紙 第12章）