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Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Luke 2:14, the words of the angels announcing Christ's birth, is where this comes from.  And it predates the Vulgate , which does not use the word excelsis, but rather altissimis! Linus recites the King James version in A Charlie Brown Christmas.  This is not a good translation of this verse.  Douay-Rheims has it right:  Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will. Greek NT:  δοξα εν υψιστοις θεω και επι γης ειρηνη εν ανθρωποις ευδοκια δοξα -->doxology ειρηνη -->Irene  (peace) ανθρωποις-->anthropology.  ανθρωποις ευδοκια - men of good will (good intentions). Vulgate:  Gloria in altissimis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis. This word ευδοκια is used in Psalm 50(Vulgate)/51(Septuagint):  Different Bibles mess up the verse numbers, too.  Let's use 19-20: 50:19   θυσια τω θεω πνευμα συντετριμμενον καρδιαν συντετριμμενην και τεταπεινωμενην ο θεος ουκ εξουθενωσει 50:20   αγαθυνον κυριε εν τη ευδοκια σου την σιων και οικοδομηθητω τα τειχ

Gaudete! Semper gaudete!

Pink candle Sunday in Advent is also called Gaudete Sunday. This is the (plural) command to rejoice in Latin. This was one of the readings this past week. It's a tough one when things are as crazy as they are. Semper (like in Semper Fidelis) means always (Fidelis is faithful, also in this passage). As in, always! Not so easy sometimes, but it's important to try. There are many reasons to rejoice, but the coming of Jesus (and Christmas) is the best one!  There are lots of words in the Latin here which are recognizable to English speakers.  Intermissione - a break, respite.  omnibus -  everything (like an omnibus bill).  Gratias - giving thanks.  Voluntas - will, as in when you volunteer to do something of your own will.  Spiritum (spiritus) - the Spirit.  Prophetias - prophetic.  Abstinete (plural command - this passage is full of them) as in abstinence.  Specie - type, kind, as in species.  Pacis - peace.  Santificet - sanctify.  Omnia - entirely.  Anima et corpus - soul

Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

  English: New American Standard Bible                          Greek OT: LXX Isaiah 7 14.  "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. δια τουτο δωσει κυριος αυτος υμιν σημειον ιδου η παρθενος εν γαστρι εξει και τεξεται υιον και καλεσεις το ονομα αυτου εμμανουηλ Ever hear of the Parthenon? It was a temple to Athena, the Virgin (parthenos) - hence the name (appartments of the virgin/unmarried woman)! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon#Etymology Some Jews (and others) dispute that the Hebrew word here was virgin, rather than young girl. But clearly the 70 elders who translated the Septuagint agreed that it was virgin. And although the Hebrew came first, we really have no older versions of the Hebrew than the Greek (except for the Dead Sea Scrolls - and this passage is the same there ). The Septuagint is the Bible quot

Maria Virgine

  αδελφος - brother, close relative Here is one of many, many examples of the Greek word for brother not literally meaning brother, but rather relative: Genesis 28: English: New American Standard Bible Greek OT: LXX (Septuagint) English: King James Version 2.  "Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother . αναστας αποδραθι εις την μεσοποταμιαν εις τον οικον βαθουηλ του πατρος της μητρος σου και λαβε σεαυτω εκειθεν γυναικα εκ των θυγατερων λαβαν του αδελφου της μητρος σου Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother . 15.  Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my relati

A New Beginning

 A couple of years ago, I had a blog such as this, and posted quite a few things, reading Genesis from the beginning.  Due to circumstances at the time, I wound up deleting it all.  Which I kind of regret now...  But it was probably too ambitious anyway for the amount of time I can spend on this.  So I am now going to try again.   This will use the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament), the Greek New Testament, The Vulgate (Latin Old Testament) and the Latin New Testament.  It will be a way to learn, review, and practice Koine Greek and Latin, as well as a Bible study.   I expect it will be a bit random, but hopefully the Spirit will guide me!  No promises as to regularity - I always bite off more than I can chew...  But I hope it will be useful and fun, and I invite your comments and contributions.  I think I'll be going by themes rather than trying to read straight through the Bible this time. I am a Roman Catholic and that will be apparent from some of my thoughts here.  Everyone is