This book captures many ancient voices, a collection of literary excerpts from ancient Jewish books: Jubilees, Josephus, 4 Ezra, Qumran Scrolls, Talmud, Enoch, Baruch, Maccabees, Mishna, Judith, Apocalypse of Moses, Philo, Mishna, Ben Sira, and many others, fifty passages to be exact. The excerpts are mostly short, sometimes even intentionally
Apostle Paul was a first-century religious Jew, trained at the feet of the best rabbis of his time. Though he addresses primarily non-Jewish audiences, Shaul often writes as a rabbi, resorting to midrash and employing metaphors to illustrate his ideas. Sadly, his readers are not used to this
I wanted to share with you a Morning Prayer and, more specifically, a musical piece I created based on it. The words of this song are inspired by the words of the traditional morning blessings found in the Siddur (Jewish Prayer Book). The person who is praying in the early
What is this Sign of Jonah? The traditional thinking is that it's Jesus' resurrection, three days and three nights... But the passage may not be so simple as it appears on the surface. Interested in taking a closer look and discovering another way to read the text?
Over the years of teaching, I have often referred my students to the books of Enoch. But most of the time, I did so with some reservations. I knew that the broadly distributed copies they would likely come across would be littered with archaic and hard-to-digest language. Finally,
There are numerous Bible translations available in English. The number of options is related to the consumer market. English speakers spend more money on Bibles than many others; hence, the marketplace offers consumers a greater variety of choices competing for
Archaeological evidence from the First Temple era is very rare. The main reason is that the temple site has been off-limits for study and excavation in modern times. However, in 2013, a volunteer looking through the dirt that had
This series of lectures on Paul’s Letter to the Romans explains familiar concepts from a vector you may not have heard before. The structure of the letter itself informs us which topics are primary and which are peripheral. We
Miracles of multiplication are great, but they don’t happen every day. And sadly, Elisha is not walking around for us to ask for his help. It’s really something extraordinary and unique as we read these stories. How, besides
Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans is not easy reading. In my opinion, it is written from the perspective of a missionary to non-Jews, who wants them to understand that they are not the axis, but a part
Because 1 Baruch was incorporated into the Greek Septuagint (LXX), some are familiar with this ancient text. But many do not realize there are actually four books of Baruch in existence. Therefore, this edition presents a collection of four ancient
In this series of lectures on Paul’s Letter to the Romans, we move chapter by chapter, zeroing in on the most complicated sentences, periodically considering Greek and Hebrew concepts, background, and omitting only the most peripheral content. What may
Psalm 91 is a favorite for so many people because its words express powerful promises of divine protection. Feeling safe is something we can all identify with. Since deep antiquity, Jews have recited these words on a regular basis. So
There is a beautiful old song, often heard around the holidays, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” It was written sometime in the eighteenth century and is based on Luke 2:8-14, which explains its connection to Christmas. But I
The story of Eliyahu ha-navi, Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18, is iconic. A showdown between 1 prophet of Hashem and 450 prophets of a storm god on the slopes of the Carmel Mountain range.
Most people know that Apostle Paul was a pious Jew. Many New Testament readers would note that he was a Pharisee trained with the rabbis at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). And at the same time, an overwhelming
Have you ever heard about the four books of Baruch? Recently, I published all of them in one volume. "The Books of Baruch: Four Oracles in New Translation" - this edition presents you with a new, easy-to-read,
