Earlier quoted context omitted.
But the original Hebrew word is "פְּלִשְׁתִּים֒" which is "Philistines", not "foreigners". P.S. My only reaction to the response is "whoosh!".
I don't think that disagrees with what I said. I was translating the Greek, not the Hebrew. But you're right the Hebrew פְּלִשְׁתִּים֒ is unambiguously "Philistines." The Greek quoted above is from the Septuagint, and those translators rendered that word as ἀλλόφυλοι, roughly "those of another tribe." So "foreigners" is the closest I have in English to the Greek word, and "Philistines" is who it refers to. I'm no sch…
Seven books I keep close because I love them
151–160 of 205 posts
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah the comment is a bit of a cliffhanger. Wish they had given us their preferred translation.
That's funny, I (not the poster) didn't stop to think that other readers might not understand the Latin and Greek here! Both of those forms are third-person and say "may my soul " ( ψυχή/anima) "die with the Philistines". (Definite article in Greek but not in Latin because Latin doesn't have them.) The original Hebrew has תָּמוֹת נַפְשִׁי עִם-פְּלִשְׁתִּים which is also third person "may my soul " (נַפְשִׁי) "die wit…
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do own more than these seven books.
I mean, yeah, I'd presume, but you also describe these books in a way that bespeaks a deep familiarity with the western canon. I'm curious what you've got that's off that track? (Genuinely, I'm not pushing this as a critique or thinking ill of you, your descriptions of those books get into some deep parts of the evolution of western thinking that most people don't approach or don't appreciate. I'm pushing the outside…
Of those, only the Thousand and One Nights and the Book of the Dead are anything like canonical. But of the seven I talked about in the article, only the Bible and the Decameron are canonical. I wouldn't have mentioned the dictionaries, except that one of the books in the original article was a thesaurus.
But most of the books I keep in the office are technical (lots of mathematics) or are more or less contemporary Western fiction.
I think some people might see my reading habits as those of a dilettante with a lack of serious focus, and I don't think I would care to dispute that. As I said, my brain is full of stuff, and and what's in it doesn't always make sense or go together with the other stuff.
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you tried living somewhere else or would you like to? For what it’s worth, several societies who were and are predominantly Christian have done quite well, such that most people immigrate to them as opposed to other countries.
I’ve lived in other Christian countries and also don’t like it. I’m actually more interested in indigenous American culture and history.
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#155> This of course is the cornerstone of Western culture and no well-educated person can be without a knowledge of what is in it. > I would like to understand the world I live in, and there is no way to understand 21st-century America without understanding the Bible. Hard disagree! Yes, many of the more odious directions society has taken have been backed by Christianity (Christian Zionism anyone?) but we're already ov…
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cool! In that case, let me ask you: what books would you recommend on the topic?
Ancient history scholarship is very accessible, most of it is published on periodicals that offer free download of articles. I recommend searching books and articles about 'canaanite religion' - the cult of El, Baal and Yaveh have a lot in common. You need to understand the context of Israelite religion to realize that modern monotheism wasn't created in a vacuum, it matured out of a deep tradition of local cults. I'…
It's my understanding that both Baal and El were Canaanite deities and that the Israelite cults brought their storm god Yahweh with them to Canaan and eventually he absorbed features of the Canaanite gods.
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#157> After several repetitions of this, Samson decides that being shaved, blinded and crushed will be less exasperating than listening to any more of Delilah's nagging. A very off-tangent note, but I recently learned that Samson's last words, "ἀποθανέτω ἡ ψυχή μου μετὰ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων"/"moriatur anima mea cum Philisthiim", pretty much have never been translated into English literally; it's always "Let me die with the Phil…
The Hebrew is תָּמ֣וֹת נַפְשִׁי֮ עִם־פְּלִשְׁתִּים֒, which literally translates to "You shall die, my soul, with the Philistines."
The other line sounds like a plea to others.
I can't help but wonder about LLM translations... will they do it better or worse or just different? I can wonder if it might be with less bias, or with a better body to pull from, but I can see it can be slop too.
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#158Slightly off topic: The title hits home. When I was young, books were a luxury item. Less rich people just used the library. But the library had a strict 7 books rental policy. Not enough for the avid reader that also needed a small programming reference library. So I had 3 steady, occasionally 4th, library card pool from family members to keep my bookshelf operational.
I also remember libraries having a very small limit back in the day, so I was surprised to find out that in the Bay Area libraries typically allow up to 100 books per card!
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#159He lost me at Thesaurus
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve lived in other Christian countries and also don’t like it. I’m actually more interested in indigenous American culture and history.
Can you live in a majority indigenous area? Would that be appropriate if you are not indigenous? I say this because I do think many are too critical of Christian countries without ever experiencing another country. They don’t know how good they have it.
Have you ever been to the US? I’ve been to many countries and Christian culture is one of my least favorites.
What makes you think I’m not indigenous? I never said that.