Studying Proverbs in the Original Languages

[raplummer]

Dear Accordance Friends, I am about to commence a Masters dissertation on Proverbs. I have not learnt Greek and Hebrew but would like to reference the LXX and Masoretic texts, preferably with English translation to guide me. Are there particular Accordance modules or bundle purchases that you would particularly recommend to assist with this? Many thanks, Robin

[EricC]

A helpful book might be Peter A. Steveson's commentary on Proverbs (http://www.amazon.com/Proverbs-Peter-Steveson/dp/1579244556/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415623592&sr=1-7&keywords=peter+a+steveson). Unfortunately, I don't think Accordance has it in electronic form. One competitor that I know of does have it available electronically.

[Gedalya]

You might benefit from Anchor Bible on Proverbs and the WBC on Proverbs but they are part of collections and I don't think you can purchase separate volumes on Accordance.

[Peter Brylov Christensen]

Hm. I know of no quick solutions for this - do you have spare time to learn Hebrew and Greek while writing your dissertation? If so, I can only recommend it: The only real way to "study the Proverbs in the Original Languages" is to learn them. It is not an easy task to write a big paper and learn a new language on the side, though. I had to teach myself Ugaritic while writing my BA and even though I was able to pull it off, it also made the whole writing process a lot more difficult and exhausting.

 

But in the end, scope is the most important factor here: What is your reason for referencing the Hebrew and Greek texts? If it's merely to mention relevant philological discussions of difficult/strange words and the like, you might as well round up a line of commentaries in order to present a broad perspective (Gordon's and Eric's recommendations will just do fine in this regard), then reference the specifics and move on. But if the original languages are the primary focus of your dissertation, you've got your work cut out for you. Especially if you're covering the Prov 22,17-23,11 - this is due to the fact that it has strong ties to a much older Egyptian text named the Instruction of Amenemope which contains very similar content. On the bright side, you'd then have the perfect excuse to learn Egyptian.

 

With kind regards

 

Pchris

[Helen Brown]

The New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS) is an excellent version with good notes. I think it would be very helpful to Robin.

[raplummer]

Folks, thanks for the suggestions. My dissertation is not directly philological, but rather thematic. I'd like original language referencing in order to cross reference certain text based assertions made in the commentaries. I will definitely check out NETS and had previously been recommended the Theological Word Book of the OT by Harris, Waltke et al. As a practicing minister, time is limited, although I probably will flick through a Hebrew bluffers guide beforehand! Robin

[Abram K-J]

Yes, NETS is good for comparing with the Greek. As readability goes, it is a little stiff (okay, maybe more than a little), but for your purposes, it could be perfect.

[Peter Brylov Christensen]

Yes, NETS is good for comparing with the Greek. As readability goes, it is a little stiff (okay, maybe more than a little), but for your purposes, it could be perfect.

 

 

I, for one, find the transliteration of personal names in NETS quite amusing. "Moyses" (Μωϋσῆς) gets me every time.

[Abram K-J]

Dauid, too.