Bono uses the Bible for imagery in the second song on the album Achtung Baby, "Even Better than t... more Bono uses the Bible for imagery in the second song on the album Achtung Baby, "Even Better than the Real Thing"
Ken M. Penner determines whether Qumran Hebrew finite verbs are primarily temporal, aspectual, or... more Ken M. Penner determines whether Qumran Hebrew finite verbs are primarily temporal, aspectual, or modal. Standard grammars claim Hebrew was aspect-prominent in the Bible, and tense-prominent in the Mishnah. But the semantic value of the verb forms in the intervening period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were written has remained controversial. Penner answers the question of Qumran Hebrew verb form semantics using an empirical method: a database calculating the correlation between each form and each function, establishing that the ancient author’s selection of verb form is determined not by aspect, but by tense or modality. Penner then applies these findings to controversial interpretations of three Qumran texts.
Prayer and Poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, 2011
This volume is first major volume of articles devoted to the topic of prayer and poetry in the De... more This volume is first major volume of articles devoted to the topic of prayer and poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls since Liturgical Perspectives was published over a decade ago. This volume includes discussion of new insights, and findings of other leaders in this field that reflect the state of research on specific prayers and poetic texts. Contributors include the most notable researchers in the field: G. Brooke, E. Chazon, J. Collins, D. Falk, E. Tov, H. Najman, M. Boda, D. Dimant, L. DiTommaso, I. Frölich, J. Newman, C. Newsom, J. VanderKam, J. Zilm, M. Abegg, P. Flint, C. Korting, R. Kratz, R. Kugler, A. Lange, M. Pajunen, É. Puech, A. Reinhartz, S. W. Crawford.
In this dissertation I clarify the significance of verb form selection in the Qumran sectarian te... more In this dissertation I clarify the significance of verb form selection in the Qumran sectarian texts by determining the extent to which the semantic value of the Hebrew finite verb is temporal, aspectual, or modal in the selected corpus. Standard grammars claim Hebrew was aspect ...
The earliest manuscripts of the Greek text of Isaiah agree more with Codex Marchalianus than with... more The earliest manuscripts of the Greek text of Isaiah agree more with Codex Marchalianus than with the earlier and better-known codices Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, and Alexandrinus. Yet until now, no transcription of Marchalianus (Q) has been published. Our new digital transcription and collation of Q demonstrates that it exhibits fewer corruptions than even Alexandrinus and Sinaiticus's best corrector. We here describe Q's textual character and reliability for the Greek text of Isaiah, showing that Q's importance extends beyond its marginalia and appendices.
Although first-century writings in the New Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the pseudepigrapha ar... more Although first-century writings in the New Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the pseudepigrapha are widely recognized for their descriptions of the ultimate destiny of individuals and the world, the views of Philo of Alexandria do not get the same attention. To situate the apocalyptic eschatologies of Jesus, the Qumran sectarians, and Enoch in their context, we must compare them to the eschatology of this contemporary Hellenistic Jew. I demonstrate that Philo’s eschatology is shaped by two convictions: (1) that God is good and can do no evil, and (2) virtue must be developed within people in this life. These convictions entail that the purpose of punishment must be solely for correction, and that God provides unlimited opportunity for souls to improve. Philo held that reincarnation provides just such an ever-improving spiral in which souls finally become wise by honoring God and consequently the world becomes a peaceful, prosperous paradise.
The view expressed in BDAG that Hebrais refers not to Hebrew but to 'the Aramaic spoken at that t... more The view expressed in BDAG that Hebrais refers not to Hebrew but to 'the Aramaic spoken at that time in Palestine' derives from a century-old argument that because Hebrais could mean either Aramaic or Hebrew, and since the average person could not understand Hebrew, Hebrais must mean Aramaic. This article challenges the view that Hebrais(ti) could mean Aramaic by (1) using an exhaustive list of all instances to show that Aramaic was consistently distinguished from Hebrew, and (2) by explaining the evidence to the contrary: Aramaic-looking words in John, Josephus and Philo that are said to be Hebraisti.
Scriptures, Scholarship, and the People of God, 2021
It has long been recognized that “Trust in God is a basic feature in OT religion,” as Bultmann sa... more It has long been recognized that “Trust in God is a basic feature in OT religion,” as Bultmann said, “This is indicated by the prophetic message. Isaiah and Jeremiah in particular demand confidence in God and warn against false confidence in earthly powers.” Zion is judged for being a faithless city; king Ahaz is urged to trust God in the face of the threats from Aram and Ephraim. Idols are not to be trusted, and neither is Egypt’s military might. In the New Testament, trust is normally spoken of using the word πίστις and cognates in the semantic realm that includes faith, trust, belief, and confidence. Some of the most famous sayings in the Bible use a one of these words. Paul said, “It is by πίστις that you are saved, not by works, lest anyone should boast.” Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων in him might not perish, but have eternal life.” But despite the importance of faith in the message of Greek Isaiah, πίστις and πιστεύω together appear there only a dozen times. Because faith is central to Christian theology, the question of how the earliest Christian commentators interpreted faith when they read of it in Isaiah is of interest. I will describe the extent to which the earliest commentary on Greek Isaiah interpreted this faith in Christian ways by recasting the idea in terms of Christian πίστις.
Hebrew Texts and Language of the Second Temple Period: Proceedings of an Eighth Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira, 2021
There is disagreement among Hebrew philologists about how to interpret the difference between the... more There is disagreement among Hebrew philologists about how to interpret the difference between the ancient suffixed verb form variously called perfect, past, ʿavar, and qatal, and the contrasting prefixed verb form called imperfect, future, ʿatid, or yiqtol. Some scholars interpret the Dead Sea Scrolls as if ancient Hebrew was tenseless and instead expressed aspect; others insist it did in fact have tenses that could be used to identify the point in time at which something takes place. This model lays the foundation for a synchronic description of the Hebrew verbal system in the two centuries just before the turn of the era.
Linguistic Approaches to Tense, Aspect, and Modality in the Biblical Hebrew Verbal System
Hebrew philologists disagree on how to describe the biblical Hebrew verbal system. We especially ... more Hebrew philologists disagree on how to describe the biblical Hebrew verbal system. We especially disagree about the difference in meaning between the main verb forms: yiqtol and qatal, wayyiqtol, weyiqtol, weqatal: is it tense, taxis, aspect, modality, or something else that prompts the use of one form rather than the other? In this paper I clarify the semantic value of the finite verb forms in biblical Hebrew by identifying a model that accounts for the selection of verb forms in a limited corpus: the narrative beginning in 1 Samuel. This study contributes to the resolution of the question of Biblical Hebrew verb form semantics by using the same method I applied to Qumran Hebrew: analyzing all the verbs in this narrative, using an empirical method of statistical correlation between form and meaning. I first produced a computer database of all the verbs in this corpus, tagged for formal features such as morphology, situation aspect, and word order on one hand, and semantic functions such as time reference, viewpoint aspect, and modality on the other. I then determined the strength of an association between each form and each function. Finally, I used the patterns found in these correlations to (1) evaluate conflicting proposed interpretations, and (2) construct a model that accounts for the ancient Hebrew author’s choice of verb forms in this corpus. In this paper I first introduce the problem of Hebrew tense and aspect, then very briefly outline the basics of relevant theoretical linguistics, significant methodological issues, and previous attempts to explain the Hebrew verbs, synthesize statistical trends from the database into hypotheses, and describe the results of applying these hypotheses to specific verbs in 1 Samuel 1-2.
Bono uses the Bible for imagery in the second song on the album Achtung Baby, "Even Better than t... more Bono uses the Bible for imagery in the second song on the album Achtung Baby, "Even Better than the Real Thing"
Ken M. Penner determines whether Qumran Hebrew finite verbs are primarily temporal, aspectual, or... more Ken M. Penner determines whether Qumran Hebrew finite verbs are primarily temporal, aspectual, or modal. Standard grammars claim Hebrew was aspect-prominent in the Bible, and tense-prominent in the Mishnah. But the semantic value of the verb forms in the intervening period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were written has remained controversial. Penner answers the question of Qumran Hebrew verb form semantics using an empirical method: a database calculating the correlation between each form and each function, establishing that the ancient author’s selection of verb form is determined not by aspect, but by tense or modality. Penner then applies these findings to controversial interpretations of three Qumran texts.
Prayer and Poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, 2011
This volume is first major volume of articles devoted to the topic of prayer and poetry in the De... more This volume is first major volume of articles devoted to the topic of prayer and poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls since Liturgical Perspectives was published over a decade ago. This volume includes discussion of new insights, and findings of other leaders in this field that reflect the state of research on specific prayers and poetic texts. Contributors include the most notable researchers in the field: G. Brooke, E. Chazon, J. Collins, D. Falk, E. Tov, H. Najman, M. Boda, D. Dimant, L. DiTommaso, I. Frölich, J. Newman, C. Newsom, J. VanderKam, J. Zilm, M. Abegg, P. Flint, C. Korting, R. Kratz, R. Kugler, A. Lange, M. Pajunen, É. Puech, A. Reinhartz, S. W. Crawford.
In this dissertation I clarify the significance of verb form selection in the Qumran sectarian te... more In this dissertation I clarify the significance of verb form selection in the Qumran sectarian texts by determining the extent to which the semantic value of the Hebrew finite verb is temporal, aspectual, or modal in the selected corpus. Standard grammars claim Hebrew was aspect ...
The earliest manuscripts of the Greek text of Isaiah agree more with Codex Marchalianus than with... more The earliest manuscripts of the Greek text of Isaiah agree more with Codex Marchalianus than with the earlier and better-known codices Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, and Alexandrinus. Yet until now, no transcription of Marchalianus (Q) has been published. Our new digital transcription and collation of Q demonstrates that it exhibits fewer corruptions than even Alexandrinus and Sinaiticus's best corrector. We here describe Q's textual character and reliability for the Greek text of Isaiah, showing that Q's importance extends beyond its marginalia and appendices.
Although first-century writings in the New Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the pseudepigrapha ar... more Although first-century writings in the New Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the pseudepigrapha are widely recognized for their descriptions of the ultimate destiny of individuals and the world, the views of Philo of Alexandria do not get the same attention. To situate the apocalyptic eschatologies of Jesus, the Qumran sectarians, and Enoch in their context, we must compare them to the eschatology of this contemporary Hellenistic Jew. I demonstrate that Philo’s eschatology is shaped by two convictions: (1) that God is good and can do no evil, and (2) virtue must be developed within people in this life. These convictions entail that the purpose of punishment must be solely for correction, and that God provides unlimited opportunity for souls to improve. Philo held that reincarnation provides just such an ever-improving spiral in which souls finally become wise by honoring God and consequently the world becomes a peaceful, prosperous paradise.
The view expressed in BDAG that Hebrais refers not to Hebrew but to 'the Aramaic spoken at that t... more The view expressed in BDAG that Hebrais refers not to Hebrew but to 'the Aramaic spoken at that time in Palestine' derives from a century-old argument that because Hebrais could mean either Aramaic or Hebrew, and since the average person could not understand Hebrew, Hebrais must mean Aramaic. This article challenges the view that Hebrais(ti) could mean Aramaic by (1) using an exhaustive list of all instances to show that Aramaic was consistently distinguished from Hebrew, and (2) by explaining the evidence to the contrary: Aramaic-looking words in John, Josephus and Philo that are said to be Hebraisti.
Scriptures, Scholarship, and the People of God, 2021
It has long been recognized that “Trust in God is a basic feature in OT religion,” as Bultmann sa... more It has long been recognized that “Trust in God is a basic feature in OT religion,” as Bultmann said, “This is indicated by the prophetic message. Isaiah and Jeremiah in particular demand confidence in God and warn against false confidence in earthly powers.” Zion is judged for being a faithless city; king Ahaz is urged to trust God in the face of the threats from Aram and Ephraim. Idols are not to be trusted, and neither is Egypt’s military might. In the New Testament, trust is normally spoken of using the word πίστις and cognates in the semantic realm that includes faith, trust, belief, and confidence. Some of the most famous sayings in the Bible use a one of these words. Paul said, “It is by πίστις that you are saved, not by works, lest anyone should boast.” Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων in him might not perish, but have eternal life.” But despite the importance of faith in the message of Greek Isaiah, πίστις and πιστεύω together appear there only a dozen times. Because faith is central to Christian theology, the question of how the earliest Christian commentators interpreted faith when they read of it in Isaiah is of interest. I will describe the extent to which the earliest commentary on Greek Isaiah interpreted this faith in Christian ways by recasting the idea in terms of Christian πίστις.
Hebrew Texts and Language of the Second Temple Period: Proceedings of an Eighth Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira, 2021
There is disagreement among Hebrew philologists about how to interpret the difference between the... more There is disagreement among Hebrew philologists about how to interpret the difference between the ancient suffixed verb form variously called perfect, past, ʿavar, and qatal, and the contrasting prefixed verb form called imperfect, future, ʿatid, or yiqtol. Some scholars interpret the Dead Sea Scrolls as if ancient Hebrew was tenseless and instead expressed aspect; others insist it did in fact have tenses that could be used to identify the point in time at which something takes place. This model lays the foundation for a synchronic description of the Hebrew verbal system in the two centuries just before the turn of the era.
Linguistic Approaches to Tense, Aspect, and Modality in the Biblical Hebrew Verbal System
Hebrew philologists disagree on how to describe the biblical Hebrew verbal system. We especially ... more Hebrew philologists disagree on how to describe the biblical Hebrew verbal system. We especially disagree about the difference in meaning between the main verb forms: yiqtol and qatal, wayyiqtol, weyiqtol, weqatal: is it tense, taxis, aspect, modality, or something else that prompts the use of one form rather than the other? In this paper I clarify the semantic value of the finite verb forms in biblical Hebrew by identifying a model that accounts for the selection of verb forms in a limited corpus: the narrative beginning in 1 Samuel. This study contributes to the resolution of the question of Biblical Hebrew verb form semantics by using the same method I applied to Qumran Hebrew: analyzing all the verbs in this narrative, using an empirical method of statistical correlation between form and meaning. I first produced a computer database of all the verbs in this corpus, tagged for formal features such as morphology, situation aspect, and word order on one hand, and semantic functions such as time reference, viewpoint aspect, and modality on the other. I then determined the strength of an association between each form and each function. Finally, I used the patterns found in these correlations to (1) evaluate conflicting proposed interpretations, and (2) construct a model that accounts for the ancient Hebrew author’s choice of verb forms in this corpus. In this paper I first introduce the problem of Hebrew tense and aspect, then very briefly outline the basics of relevant theoretical linguistics, significant methodological issues, and previous attempts to explain the Hebrew verbs, synthesize statistical trends from the database into hypotheses, and describe the results of applying these hypotheses to specific verbs in 1 Samuel 1-2.
A tree identified as the Tree of Life appears in 1 En. 24.3–25.6; 2 En. 8.3–7; 3 En. 5.1; 23.18; ... more A tree identified as the Tree of Life appears in 1 En. 24.3–25.6; 2 En. 8.3–7; 3 En. 5.1; 23.18; 48D.8. In (Ethiopic) 1 Enoch, this tree is not called the Tree of Life, but it is described in such sublime terms that scholars at least since Dillmann have identified it as such. The tree is located at the earthly throne of God. It is superlatively fragrant and inaccessible until the judgement day, after which the righteous and holy will enjoy it, and it will be planted toward the house of the Lord. The tree’s fragrance shall give the righteous long life on earth. In 2 (Slavonic) Enoch, the Tree of Life is indescribably and incomparably excellent and sweet-smelling. This cosmic Tree is in the paradise in the third heaven (8.1), where the Lord rests. In 3 (Hebrew Apocalypse of) Enoch (5.1), the Tree of Life provides shelter for the cherub upon whom the Shekinah dwelled after the expulsion of Adam. The righteous and godly are to inherit the garden of Eden and the Tree of Life (23.18). The Tree is one of the creations made by the secret of Metatron (48D.8).
Historical and Theological Lexicon of the Septuagint, 2019
The word group βουλή, βουλεύω, βουλευτής expresses decision-making. The noun βουλή can refer to t... more The word group βουλή, βουλεύω, βουλευτής expresses decision-making. The noun βουλή can refer to the capacity to make wise decisions, the activity of deciding, the information used in making a decision, the resulting decision, or an official decision-making group. The verb βουλεύω is derived from βουλή and thus can refer to the whole range of meaning described above. The noun βουλευτής is in turn derived from the verb βουλεύω and designates a member of a decision-making group.
T&T Clark Companion to Second Temple Judaism, 2019
The work called Testament of Qahat (or Kohath) is found in one fragmentary Aramaic scroll from Qu... more The work called Testament of Qahat (or Kohath) is found in one fragmentary Aramaic scroll from Qumran, numbered 4Q542. Its one major fragment preserves most of one column and part of the next, and two other minor fragments contain too little to be of use. Although Qahat is not mentioned by name in the portions of the scroll that have survived, the references to Amram his son (frag. 1 ii 11) and Levi his father (frag. 1 ii 9) indicate that the speaker is the person with the Hebrew name Kohath in Gen. Exod. 6:16-20 in the lineage from the patriarch Levi to the first high priest Aaron.
Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Aug 16, 2013
Modern Hebrew is a tense system and Biblical Hebrew was usually thought to be the same until the ... more Modern Hebrew is a tense system and Biblical Hebrew was usually thought to be the same until the end of the 19th century, when tense was rejected in favor of ‘aspect’, followed by other proposals combining tense with some other parameter, whether aspect, taxis, discourse genre, or modality.
The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 2009
The combustible liquid found at the time of Nehemiah where the fire of the altar had been hidden ... more The combustible liquid found at the time of Nehemiah where the fire of the altar had been hidden (2 Macc 1:18–36).
MIRJAM VAN DER VORM-CROUGHS, The Old Greek of Isaiah: An Analysis of its Pluses and Minuses. (Soc... more MIRJAM VAN DER VORM-CROUGHS, The Old Greek of Isaiah: An Analysis of its Pluses and Minuses. (Society of Biblical Literature Septuagint and cognate studies 61). Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2014. Pp. xiii + 577. Price: $75.95 paperback. ISBN: 978-1-58983-978-6.
Review of Joosten, Jan and Jean-Sebastien Rey (eds.), Conservatism and Innovation in the Hebrew L... more Review of Joosten, Jan and Jean-Sebastien Rey (eds.), Conservatism and Innovation in the Hebrew Language of the Hellenistic Period: Proceedings of a Fourth International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira (STDJ, 73; Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008). Pp. xii+250. Hardcover. US$139.00. ISBN 978-90-04-16404-8.
Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, 2019
Increasingly it is being recognized that the pronunciation of Hebrew represented by the Dead Sea ... more Increasingly it is being recognized that the pronunciation of Hebrew represented by the Dead Sea Scrolls cannot be assumed to match the Masoretic vowel markings, and that Qumran phonology must be based on the evidence from the scrolls themselves. For other languages and dialects with no surviving speakers or recordings, some of our best evidence for establishing phonology comes from spelling inconsistencies. For the Dead Sea Scrolls, such spelling inconsistencies can be found in the multiple copies of texts, especially biblical texts. But although Marty Abegg and Jarod Jacobs have published an Accordance module that collects the textual variants of biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, their data set explicitly excludes orthographic differences. This study uses the textual databases Nick Meyer and I created to produce the Lexham Dead Sea Scrolls Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible (2016) to isolate and categorize the orthographic variants in the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, and identifies the contribution these make to our understanding of Qumran phonology.
What can we know about the time reference of Hebrew "tenses" in the Hodayot? Do they indicate pas... more What can we know about the time reference of Hebrew "tenses" in the Hodayot? Do they indicate past, present, future? Aspect? Modality? Can there be such a thing as a "prophetic perfect"?
Although the Greek translation of Isaiah differs considerably from the Masoretic Text, the reason... more Although the Greek translation of Isaiah differs considerably from the Masoretic Text, the reason for these differences has been hotly contested. Those who first studied these differences in Isaiah over a century ago (Scholz, Ottley, and Swete) noted that major differences between the Greek and Hebrew were very few, but minor discrepancies abounded. They therefore concluded that the Hebrew text from which the translator worked was very similar to our Masoretic Text, but they questioned the competence of the translator to render that text carefully. However, within the last century a new explanation for the differences has become dominant. Seeligmann, followed by das Neves, Hanhart, Koenig, and van der Kooij, argued that the translator found the fulfillment of Isaiah's "prophecies" in his own time. Recent proponents of this explanation claimed that many of the differences are intentional, a result of a method called variously "fulfillment interpretation," "actualization," or "contemporizing." Most recently, Ron Troxel has argued that the differences are not the result of a contemporizing "method," but the translator wanted the translation to convey the sense of the original oracles. This paper argues that the significant differences between the Greek and the Masoretic Text are mainly the result, not of a contemporizing method, but rather of the translator's incompetence or carelessness. I will do so by first demonstrating that most of the differences are not readily explained by a contemporizing method, secondly by showing that the differences are explainable as either mistakes or updating with no change of referent, and thirdly by arguing that the mistakes are better attributed to the translator than to the copyist of the Vorlage.
Septuagint scholars have disagreed about the reason for the numerous differences between the Gree... more Septuagint scholars have disagreed about the reason for the numerous differences between the Greek and Hebrew of Isaiah, especially those that can be attributed to the translator. Are they mistakes, or are they intentional? Is the translator incompetent, or driven by an agenda? Only if the differences change the meaning, originate with the translator, and are intentional can we use them as evidence of the translator's views. We must therefore leave aside differences due to updating (in which case the meaning of the text is not changed) or to confusion between letters that look or sound alike (in which case the difference may originate with the Vorlage rather than the translator). One set of differences that both change the meaning of the text and originate with the translator consists of the differences of inflection that are not due to visual or phonetic similarity. In this presentation I examine two such types of inflectional differences: personal pronouns and verb tenses, for what they can tell us about the translator's purpose.
What I seek to demonstrate in this paper is that one of the correctors of the codex Sinaiticus pr... more What I seek to demonstrate in this paper is that one of the correctors of the codex Sinaiticus provides another, possibly independent, early witness to the Alexandrian Greek text of Isaiah. The Alexandrian text is generally considered to be the oldest text-type, but it is represented in only a few early witnesses. According to Ziegler, in Isaiah the earliest manuscripts that provide the Alexandrian text are the (very fragmentary) papyrus 965 from the 3rd century, the uncials A and Q, from the 5th and 6th centuries, and partially S, from the 4th century. After these, it is not until the miniscules from the 9th century onward that the Alexandrian text is attested. However, it is now possible to isolate another possibly independent witness to the Alexandrian text. The Codex Sinaiticus Project at codexsinaiticus.com now provides a complete identification of the manuscript corrections. While I was collating textual variants in the book of Isaiah for the Brill Septuagint Commentary, I noticed that the readings attested by the corrector that Milne and Skeat call Cb2 very often agree with Ziegler's critical edition; much more often than the changes made by other correctors, and more often than Codex Vaticanus. Because this corrector cb2 has been dated sometime from the 5th to the 7th century, this agreement shows cb2 to be a new witness to a form of the Greek text of Isaiah that is relatively free from recensional changes.
The ancient Greek translation of Isaiah is the locus of two debates among Septuagint scholars whi... more The ancient Greek translation of Isaiah is the locus of two debates among Septuagint scholars which verb tenses can help resolve. One of these is the extent to which Greek Isaiah should be considered relatively “free” translation rather than “literal” because of its numerous divergences from the Masoretic text. The other debate is the extent to which the translator of Isaiah infused his translation with his own ideological tendencies, especially a conviction that the prophet was speaking of the translator’s own time. In addition to these disputes regarding Isaiah, there is a broader question regarding the meaning of the Hebrew verb forms and how a reader from the second century would have understood their semantics. The Greek translation of Isaiah provides an example of just such a reader. This paper addresses the question of how the translator of Isaiah understood the Hebrew verb tenses by testing the following hypotheses: (1) If his “free” translation style led him to translate according to meaning and context rather than automatically mapping the formal features of Hebrew onto Greek, we should expect to find a tendency more varied than the usual qatal verbs translated into aorists and yiqtols to futures evident in the scriptures that were translated relatively late. (2) If his eschatology shaped his translation, we should expect to find Hebrew qatals and participles translated as futures even when the context does not demand it. (3) If Hebrew and Greek were both aspect-prominent languages, we should expect to find a statistical tendency for yiqtols and participles to be translated as Greek presents, imperfects, and participles; qatals should be translated as Greek aorists, futures, and perfects. Alternatively, if Hebrew was more modal than aspectual, yiqtols should become Greek subjunctives, optatives, and futures; and participles and qatals should be rendered as participles and indicatives. Finally, if Hebrew was a tense-prominent language, we should expect to find active qatals translated as aorists, imperfects, and pluperfects; stative qatals should be perfects and presents; active yiqtols should be futures; and stative yiqtols should be presents or futures. Recognizing the possibility of variant readings in the translator’s Hebrew parent text, this investigation takes into account verb form differences between the MT and the Qumran scrolls.
Although the book of Isaiah is replete with the theme of faith, the way that theme is expressed i... more Although the book of Isaiah is replete with the theme of faith, the way that theme is expressed in Greek Isaiah differs considerably from the way it is expressed in early Christian writings. In the New Testament, faith is normally spoken of using the root πιστεύω. But πιστεύω only appears 4 times in Isaiah, πιστός only 8 times, and πίστις does not appear at all. Instead, πεποιθώς is Greek Isaiah’s preferred way to speak of faith. Because faith is central to Christian theology, the question of how the earliest Christian commentators interpreted faith when they read of it in Isaiah is of interest. In this essay I describe the extent to which the earliest complete commentary on Isaiah interpreted this faith in Christian ways by recasting the idea in terms of Christian πίστις.
Old Testament Greek Pseudepigrapha with Morphology, 2008
If you are a scholar or a student who has reasonable facility in Greek, Logos Bible Software’s co... more If you are a scholar or a student who has reasonable facility in Greek, Logos Bible Software’s collection of Greek Pseudepigrapha will come as a welcome tool. Not only is this the most complete collection of morphologically-tagged Greek Pseudepigrapha available in any computer platform, but Logos has added to its value by including short introductions for each book. Background information includes discussion of genre, date, authorship, original language, content summary, and relevance for those who do exegesis in the canonical material of the Old and New Testament. The total output of these introductions exceeds 50,000 words, easily the equivalent of an introductory book on the subject. Bibliography for each book is also included. For those who do not do translation work in Greek, Logos also has the well known English translation of the Pseudepigrapha by R. H. Charles. The user is advised, however, that the Charles translation of the Pseudepigrapha represents a translation of Pseudepigrapha from many texts in other ancient languages besides Greek, such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, and Ethiopic. Often a given book of the Pseudepigrapha has been preserved in several languages. At times a portion of a book is preserved only in one language with the other portions in another language. As a result, Charles’ translation will not scroll with the Greek Pseudepigrapha collection, and the Greek text will not always correspond to Charles.
This interlinear edition of the biblical Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls brings a new level of user-frien... more This interlinear edition of the biblical Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls brings a new level of user-friendly functionality to this priceless collection of ancient texts. The resource collates the textual witnesses of hundreds of manuscript fragments into a single text of the Hebrew Bible as collectively attested in the Qumran scrolls.
The text draws on expert scholarly analysis to select the best readings for verses with multiple manuscript witnesses. Verses with multiple witnesses include notes linking to individual transcriptions of the variant readings. This edition also features Logos Hebrew Morphology, so you can search the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Lexham Hebrew Bible as a single body of literature in one search.
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was a monumental event in the history of biblical studies. With the Lexham Dead Sea Scrolls Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible, you can dig into this biblical treasure trove and see for yourself what a powerful witness these ancient manuscripts bear to the text of the Hebrew Bible!
In this volume, Ken M. Penner uses an empirical method to establish that the Qumran authors’ sele... more In this volume, Ken M. Penner uses an empirical method to establish that the Qumran authors’ selection of finite verb forms is determined not by aspect, but by tense or modality.
There is disagreement among Hebrew philologists about how to interpret the difference between the... more There is disagreement among Hebrew philologists about how to interpret the difference between the ancient suffixed verb form variously called perfect, past, ʿavar, and qatal, and the contrasting prefixed verb form called imperfect, future, ʿatid, or yiqtol. Some scholars interpret the Dead Sea Scrolls as if ancient Hebrew was tenseless and instead expressed aspect; others insist it did in fact have tenses that could be used to identify the point in time at which something takes place. This model lays the foundation for a synchronic description of the Hebrew verbal system in the two centuries just before the turn of the era.
A tree identified as the Tree of Life appears in 1 En. 24.3–25.6; 2 En. 8.3–7; 3 En. 5.1; 23.18; ... more A tree identified as the Tree of Life appears in 1 En. 24.3–25.6; 2 En. 8.3–7; 3 En. 5.1; 23.18; 48D.8. In (Ethiopic) 1 Enoch, this tree is not called the Tree of Life, but it is described in such sublime terms that scholars at least since Dillmann have identified it as such. The tree is located at the earthly throne of God. It is superlatively fragrant and inaccessible until the judgement day, after which the righteous and holy will enjoy it, and it will be planted toward the house of the Lord. The tree’s fragrance shall give the righteous long life on earth. In 2 (Slavonic) Enoch, the Tree of Life is indescribably and incomparably excellent and sweet-smelling. This cosmic Tree is in the paradise in the third heaven (8.1), where the Lord rests. In 3 (Hebrew Apocalypse of) Enoch (5.1), the Tree of Life provides shelter for the cherub upon whom the Shekinah dwelled after the expulsion of Adam. The righteous and godly are to inherit the garden of Eden and the Tree of Life (23.18). The Tree is one of the creations made by the secret of Metatron (48D.8).
The view expressed in BDAG thatHebraisrefers not to Hebrew but to ‘the Aramaic spoken at that tim... more The view expressed in BDAG thatHebraisrefers not to Hebrew but to ‘the Aramaic spoken at that time in Palestine’ derives from a century-old argument that becauseHebraiscould mean either Aramaic or Hebrew, and since the average person could not understand Hebrew,Hebraismust mean Aramaic. This article challenges the view thatHebrais(ti)could mean Aramaic (1) by using an exhaustive list of all instances to show that Aramaic was consistently distinguished from Hebrew, and (2) by explaining the evidence to the contrary: Aramaic-looking words in John, Josephus and Philo that are said to beHebraisti.
In this volume, Ken M. Penner uses an empirical method to establish that the Qumran authors’ sele... more In this volume, Ken M. Penner uses an empirical method to establish that the Qumran authors’ selection of finite verb forms is determined not by aspect, but by tense or modality.
It has long been recognized that “Trust in God is a basic feature in OT religion,” as Bultmann sa... more It has long been recognized that “Trust in God is a basic feature in OT religion,” as Bultmann said, “This is indicated by the prophetic message. Isaiah and Jeremiah in particular demand confidence in God and warn against false confidence in earthly powers.” Zion is judged for being a faithless city; king Ahaz is urged to trust God in the face of the threats from Aram and Ephraim. Idols are not to be trusted, and neither is Egypt’s military might. In the New Testament, trust is normally spoken of using the word πίστις and cognates in the semantic realm that includes faith, trust, belief, and confidence. Some of the most famous sayings in the Bible use a one of these words. Paul said, “It is by πίστις that you are saved, not by works, lest anyone should boast.” Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων in him might not perish, but have eternal life.” But despite the importance of faith in the message of Greek Isaiah, πίστις and πιστεύω together appear there only a dozen times. Because faith is central to Christian theology, the question of how the earliest Christian commentators interpreted faith when they read of it in Isaiah is of interest. I will describe the extent to which the earliest commentary on Greek Isaiah interpreted this faith in Christian ways by recasting the idea in terms of Christian πίστις.
Journal for the study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman period, Aug 29, 2019
Although first-century writings in the New Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the pseudepigrapha ar... more Although first-century writings in the New Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the pseudepigrapha are widely recognized for their descriptions of the ultimate destiny of individuals and the world, the views of Philo of Alexandria do not get the same attention. To situate the apocalyptic eschatologies of Jesus, the Qumran sectarians, and Enoch in their context, we must compare them to the eschatology of this contemporary Hellenistic Jew. I demonstrate that Philo’s eschatology is shaped by two convictions: (1) that God is good and can do no evil, and (2) virtue must be developed within people in this life. These convictions entail that the purpose of punishment must be solely for correction, and that God provides unlimited opportunity for souls to improve. Philo held that reincarnation provides just such an ever-improving spiral in which souls finally become wise by honoring God and consequently the world becomes a peaceful, prosperous paradise.
MIRJAM VAN DER VORM-CROUGHS, The Old Greek of Isaiah: An Analysis of its Pluses and Minuses. (Soc... more MIRJAM VAN DER VORM-CROUGHS, The Old Greek of Isaiah: An Analysis of its Pluses and Minuses. (Society of Biblical Literature Septuagint and cognate studies 61). Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2014. Pp. xiii + 577. Price: $75.95 paperback. ISBN: 978-1-58983-978-6.
A timely collection of contributions by major scholars in the field of prayer and poetry in the D... more A timely collection of contributions by major scholars in the field of prayer and poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Prayer and Poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, 2012
A timely collection of contributions by major scholars in the field of prayer and poetry in the D... more A timely collection of contributions by major scholars in the field of prayer and poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Transcription and English translation on facing pages, of folios 171-338 of Vat.gr.121, with text... more Transcription and English translation on facing pages, of folios 171-338 of Vat.gr.121, with textual apparatus of variants of variants from the major uncials and editions on the left page, and notes indicating citations and allusions from ancient Christian writers.
Text of folios 171-338 of codex Vat.gr.1215 With textual apparatus of variants from the major unc... more Text of folios 171-338 of codex Vat.gr.1215 With textual apparatus of variants from the major uncials and modern editions.
Ken M. Penner determines whether Qumran Hebrew finite verbs are primarily temporal, aspectual, or... more Ken M. Penner determines whether Qumran Hebrew finite verbs are primarily temporal, aspectual, or modal.
Standard grammars claim Hebrew was aspect-prominent in the Bible, and tense-prominent in the Mishnah. But the semantic value of the verb forms in the intervening period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were written has remained controversial.
Penner answers the question of Qumran Hebrew verb form semantics using an empirical method: a database calculating the correlation between each form and each function, establishing that the ancient author’s selection of verb form is determined not by aspect, but by tense or modality. Penner then applies these findings to controversial interpretations of three Qumran texts.
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 10 (2010) - Review. Joosten, Jan and Jean-Sebastien Rey (ed... more Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 10 (2010) - Review. Joosten, Jan and Jean-Sebastien Rey (eds.), Conservatism and Innovation in the Hebrew Language of the Hellenistic Period: Proceedings of a Fourth International ...
In this dissertation Penner clarifies the significance of verb form selection in the Qumran secta... more In this dissertation Penner clarifies the significance of verb form selection in the Qumran sectarian texts by determining the extent to which the semantic value of the Hebrew finite verb is temporal, aspectual, or modal in the Serakhim (1QS, 1QSa, 1QSb, CD, 1QM), Pesharim, Hodayot (1QHa), MMT, and Temple Scroll, using an empirical method of statistical correlation between form and meaning.
Dictionary of the Septuagint and Early Greek Jewish Scriptures
The pseudepigraphal work alluded to most in the New Testament is 1 (Ethiopic) Enoch, a composite ... more The pseudepigraphal work alluded to most in the New Testament is 1 (Ethiopic) Enoch, a composite work written in Hebrew or Aramaic over the last three centuries BCE. First (Ethiopic) Enoch is the earliest of the three books attributed to him (along with 2 [Slavonic] Enoch and 3 [Hebrew Apocalypse of] Enoch), and it has survived in its entirety only in Ethiopic translation. Enoch first appears in Genesis 5:18-24, the seventh generation from Adam; he "walked with God" and "God took him" at the unusual age of 365 years. Later writers elaborated on God taking him (Hebrews 11:5, Sirach 44:16; 49:14), and the anthology now called 1 Enoch is the largest such elaboration.
English Translation of the Greek text of Isaiah in Codex Sinaiticus, now including references fro... more English Translation of the Greek text of Isaiah in Codex Sinaiticus, now including references from Philo, pseudepigrapha, and patristic authors up to the mid fourth century.
The Old Greek translation of Isaiah is notorious for the liberties it takes with its source text.... more The Old Greek translation of Isaiah is notorious for the liberties it takes with its source text. Septuagint scholars have disagreed about the reason for the numerous differences between the Greek and Hebrew of Isaiah. Over a century ago, the tendency was to consider these differences mistakes made either by a Hebrew copyist or by the translator. However, in the last hundred years, the prevailing view has shifted, and the trend has been to suggest the numerous differences between the Hebrew and Greek are intentional. Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it has become commonplace to argue that the translator of Isaiah created pesher-like allusions to contemporary events because he thought Isaiah was referring to the translator's own time. Yet the evidence for this " fulfilment-interpretation " has not convinced everyone, and Troxel and de Sousa have recently argued that it is unable to adequately account for the changes made by the translator. I argue that the significant differences between the Greek and the Masoretic Text are mainly the result, not of a contemporizing method, but rather of the translator's carelessness. I am led to this conclusion by three kinds of observations: (1) the translation includes frequent changes equally attributable to the Vorlage or to the translator, but rarely includes changes attributable only to the Vorlage; (2) most minor differences are explainable as either mistakes or updating with no change of referent; (3) the major differences cannot be attributed to a consistent intentional method.
Although first century Christian and Jewish writings in the New Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, and ... more Although first century Christian and Jewish writings in the New Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the pseudepigrapha are widely recognized for their descriptions of the ultimate destiny of individuals and the world, the views of another first century Jew, Philo of Alexandria, do not get the attention they deserve. In order to place the apocalyptic eschatologies of Jesus, the Qumran sectarians, and Enoch in their wider context, we must compare them to the eschatology of this contemporary Hellenistic Jew. In this article, I show that Philo’s eschatology is shaped by two convictions: (1) that God is good and can do no evil, and (2) virtue must be developed within people in this life. These convictions entail that the purpose of punishment must be solely for correction, and that God provides unlimited opportunity for souls to improve. Philo held that reincarnation provides just such an ever-improving spiral in which souls finally become wise by honoring God and consequently the world becomes a peaceful, prosperous paradise.
The standard lexicon of early Christian Greek claims that the word Hebrais “the Hebrew language” ... more The standard lexicon of early Christian Greek claims that the word Hebrais “the Hebrew language” in the New Testament actually refers to “the Aramaic spoken at that time in Palestine.” This opinion appears to be based a century-old hypothesis that (1) Hebrais could mean either Aramaic or Hebrew at that time, and since (2) the average person could not understand Hebrew, (3) it must mean Aramaic rather than Hebrew in passages such as Acts 21–22. The present paper challenges the view that Hebrais(ti) could mean Aramaic at that time by (1) using an exhaustive list of all instances of this word group to show that Aramaic was consistently distinguished from Hebrew, and (2) by explaining the evidence to the contrary: Aramaic-looking words in John, Josephus and Philo that are said to be Hebraisti. The paper concludes that if Hebrais never demonstrably refers to Aramaic, BDAG and the NIV need revision.
Part of a draft of my commentary on Esaias in Codex Sinaiticus for Brill's Septuagint Commentary ... more Part of a draft of my commentary on Esaias in Codex Sinaiticus for Brill's Septuagint Commentary Series
Text, Translation, and Commentary on Greek Isaiah 9 in Codex Sinaticus for the Brill Septuagint C... more Text, Translation, and Commentary on Greek Isaiah 9 in Codex Sinaticus for the Brill Septuagint Commentary Series. This version does not completely note the patristic references and engage the secondary literature.
Text, translation, and commentary on Isaiah 1 in Codex Sinaiticus, for Brill's Septuagint Comment... more Text, translation, and commentary on Isaiah 1 in Codex Sinaiticus, for Brill's Septuagint Commentary Series
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Standard grammars claim Hebrew was aspect-prominent in the Bible, and tense-prominent in the Mishnah. But the semantic value of the verb forms in the intervening period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were written has remained controversial.
Penner answers the question of Qumran Hebrew verb form semantics using an empirical method: a database calculating the correlation between each form and each function, establishing that the ancient author’s selection of verb form is determined not by aspect, but by tense or modality. Penner then applies these findings to controversial interpretations of three Qumran texts.
In the New Testament, trust is normally spoken of using the word πίστις and cognates in the semantic realm that includes faith, trust, belief, and confidence. Some of the most famous sayings in the Bible use a one of these words. Paul said, “It is by πίστις that you are saved, not by works, lest anyone should boast.” Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων in him might not perish, but have eternal life.”
But despite the importance of faith in the message of Greek Isaiah, πίστις and πιστεύω together appear there only a dozen times.
Because faith is central to Christian theology, the question of how the earliest Christian commentators interpreted faith when they read of it in Isaiah is of interest. I will describe the extent to which the earliest commentary on Greek Isaiah interpreted this faith in Christian ways by recasting the idea in terms of Christian πίστις.
This model lays the foundation for a synchronic description of the Hebrew verbal system in the two centuries just before the turn of the era.
In this paper I clarify the semantic value of the finite verb forms in biblical Hebrew by identifying a model that accounts for the selection of verb forms in a limited corpus: the narrative beginning in 1 Samuel.
This study contributes to the resolution of the question of Biblical Hebrew verb form semantics by using the same method I applied to Qumran Hebrew: analyzing all the verbs in this narrative, using an empirical method of statistical correlation between form and meaning. I first produced a computer database of all the verbs in this corpus, tagged for formal features such as morphology, situation aspect, and word order on one hand, and semantic functions such as time reference, viewpoint aspect, and modality on the other. I then determined the strength of an association between each form and each function. Finally, I used the patterns found in these correlations to (1) evaluate conflicting proposed interpretations, and (2) construct a model that accounts for the ancient Hebrew author’s choice of verb forms in this corpus.
In this paper I first introduce the problem of Hebrew tense and aspect, then very briefly outline the basics of relevant theoretical linguistics, significant methodological issues, and previous attempts to explain the Hebrew verbs, synthesize statistical trends from the database into hypotheses, and describe the results of applying these hypotheses to specific verbs in 1 Samuel 1-2.
Standard grammars claim Hebrew was aspect-prominent in the Bible, and tense-prominent in the Mishnah. But the semantic value of the verb forms in the intervening period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were written has remained controversial.
Penner answers the question of Qumran Hebrew verb form semantics using an empirical method: a database calculating the correlation between each form and each function, establishing that the ancient author’s selection of verb form is determined not by aspect, but by tense or modality. Penner then applies these findings to controversial interpretations of three Qumran texts.
In the New Testament, trust is normally spoken of using the word πίστις and cognates in the semantic realm that includes faith, trust, belief, and confidence. Some of the most famous sayings in the Bible use a one of these words. Paul said, “It is by πίστις that you are saved, not by works, lest anyone should boast.” Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων in him might not perish, but have eternal life.”
But despite the importance of faith in the message of Greek Isaiah, πίστις and πιστεύω together appear there only a dozen times.
Because faith is central to Christian theology, the question of how the earliest Christian commentators interpreted faith when they read of it in Isaiah is of interest. I will describe the extent to which the earliest commentary on Greek Isaiah interpreted this faith in Christian ways by recasting the idea in terms of Christian πίστις.
This model lays the foundation for a synchronic description of the Hebrew verbal system in the two centuries just before the turn of the era.
In this paper I clarify the semantic value of the finite verb forms in biblical Hebrew by identifying a model that accounts for the selection of verb forms in a limited corpus: the narrative beginning in 1 Samuel.
This study contributes to the resolution of the question of Biblical Hebrew verb form semantics by using the same method I applied to Qumran Hebrew: analyzing all the verbs in this narrative, using an empirical method of statistical correlation between form and meaning. I first produced a computer database of all the verbs in this corpus, tagged for formal features such as morphology, situation aspect, and word order on one hand, and semantic functions such as time reference, viewpoint aspect, and modality on the other. I then determined the strength of an association between each form and each function. Finally, I used the patterns found in these correlations to (1) evaluate conflicting proposed interpretations, and (2) construct a model that accounts for the ancient Hebrew author’s choice of verb forms in this corpus.
In this paper I first introduce the problem of Hebrew tense and aspect, then very briefly outline the basics of relevant theoretical linguistics, significant methodological issues, and previous attempts to explain the Hebrew verbs, synthesize statistical trends from the database into hypotheses, and describe the results of applying these hypotheses to specific verbs in 1 Samuel 1-2.
This study uses the textual databases Nick Meyer and I created to produce the Lexham Dead Sea Scrolls Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible (2016) to isolate and categorize the orthographic variants in the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, and identifies the contribution these make to our understanding of Qumran phonology.
This paper addresses the question of how the translator of Isaiah understood the Hebrew verb tenses by testing the following hypotheses: (1) If his “free” translation style led him to translate according to meaning and context rather than automatically mapping the formal features of Hebrew onto Greek, we should expect to find a tendency more varied than the usual qatal verbs translated into aorists and yiqtols to futures evident in the scriptures that were translated relatively late. (2) If his eschatology shaped his translation, we should expect to find Hebrew qatals and participles translated as futures even when the context does not demand it. (3) If Hebrew and Greek were both aspect-prominent languages, we should expect to find a statistical tendency for yiqtols and participles to be translated as Greek presents, imperfects, and participles; qatals should be translated as Greek aorists, futures, and perfects. Alternatively, if Hebrew was more modal than aspectual, yiqtols should become Greek subjunctives, optatives, and futures; and participles and qatals should be rendered as participles and indicatives. Finally, if Hebrew was a tense-prominent language, we should expect to find active qatals translated as aorists, imperfects, and pluperfects; stative qatals should be perfects and presents; active yiqtols should be futures; and stative yiqtols should be presents or futures.
Recognizing the possibility of variant readings in the translator’s Hebrew parent text, this investigation takes into account verb form differences between the MT and the Qumran scrolls.
Because faith is central to Christian theology, the question of how the earliest Christian commentators interpreted faith when they read of it in Isaiah is of interest. In this essay I describe the extent to which the earliest complete commentary on Isaiah interpreted this faith in Christian ways by recasting the idea in terms of Christian πίστις.
For those who do not do translation work in Greek, Logos also has the well known English translation of the Pseudepigrapha by R. H. Charles. The user is advised, however, that the Charles translation of the Pseudepigrapha represents a translation of Pseudepigrapha from many texts in other ancient languages besides Greek, such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, and Ethiopic. Often a given book of the Pseudepigrapha has been preserved in several languages. At times a portion of a book is preserved only in one language with the other portions in another language. As a result, Charles’ translation will not scroll with the Greek Pseudepigrapha collection, and the Greek text will not always correspond to Charles.
The text draws on expert scholarly analysis to select the best readings for verses with multiple manuscript witnesses. Verses with multiple witnesses include notes linking to individual transcriptions of the variant readings. This edition also features Logos Hebrew Morphology, so you can search the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Lexham Hebrew Bible as a single body of literature in one search.
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was a monumental event in the history of biblical studies. With the Lexham Dead Sea Scrolls Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible, you can dig into this biblical treasure trove and see for yourself what a powerful witness these ancient manuscripts bear to the text of the Hebrew Bible!
Standard grammars claim Hebrew was aspect-prominent in the Bible, and tense-prominent in the Mishnah. But the semantic value of the verb forms in the intervening period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were written has remained controversial.
Penner answers the question of Qumran Hebrew verb form semantics using an empirical method: a database calculating the correlation between each form and each function, establishing that the ancient author’s selection of verb form is determined not by aspect, but by tense or modality. Penner then applies these findings to controversial interpretations of three Qumran texts.
In this article, I show that Philo’s eschatology is shaped by two convictions: (1) that God is good and can do no evil, and (2) virtue must be developed within people in this life. These convictions entail that the purpose of punishment must be solely for correction, and that God provides unlimited opportunity for souls to improve. Philo held that reincarnation provides just such an ever-improving spiral in which souls finally become wise by honoring God and consequently the world becomes a peaceful, prosperous paradise.