Was the Proverbs 31 woman workaholic?

 

“She did not necessarily have ongoing concurrent businesses in real estate, farming, tanning, and textiles. But over the years she has done such things. The behaviors are typical, not constant and simultaneous. We are reading about a lifetime achievement recognition, not her daily planner. The shift away from present-tense translation removes possible overtones of workaholism and adds the quality of persevering faithfulness.” (p.271)

聖經裡的nebel是怎樣的樂器？是「瑟」嗎？

「The nebel…comes from a Hebrew root meaning “skin-bottle” or “jar”; it has a waterskin-shaped sound box.」(Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel [Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001], 292.)

Othmar Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms (Timothy J. Hallett trans.; New York, Seabury Press, 1978), 349：「The obvious suggestion is that nēbel denoted this curved type of lyre.」See picture 233 on p.169. 

See the coins of the Jewish revolt against Roman domination (A.D. 132-36). 在這兩個錢幣上可以清楚看見kinnor和nebel形狀的分別，也看得見nebel的形狀像瓶子。

試譯作......

Roland de Vaux的Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions中譯本

原來Roland de Vaux的Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions早已有中譯本，叫做《古經之風俗及典章制度》，不過只譯了原著的Introduction、Part I、Part II。中譯本在中大圖書館有，基道網頁也顯示有售。英文版在Google Book可以預覽。

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament Partial Online View

The fifteen-volume Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament is a recommended set of reference books for looking up the background, meaning and usage of Old Testament Hebrew words.
When one cannot go to a library immediately, the partial preview on Google Books can prove helpful.

I have not made this link table for the sake of putting it up on the blog. Rather, I made it for my own use, but as a by-product I can share the convenience here as well.

Recently I found that on Amazon's preview, not many pages of this set can be seen. Rather, Google Books share more pages. So, below are two sets of links.

Here are the links to all fifteen volumes with the range of words in each volume.

Google Books:

TDOT 1 אב-בדד

TDOT 2 בדל-גלה

TDOT 3 גלולים - הרס

Afikoman / afikomen：飯後同樂餅

猶太傳統逾越節晚餐裡的afikoman（afikomen），應該怎樣譯成中文呢？

這個英文詞是音譯亞蘭文 אֶפִּיקוֹמָן。據 Jastrow 的詞典 (1) ，這個詞還可以拼作：
אֶפִּיקוֹמוֹן、אֶפִּיקוֹמִין。

Jastrow給的解釋是：希臘文ἐπὶ κωμον（留意這是兩個詞） ，英文 ‘to the aftermeal entertainment!’ Jastrow說，複數形式אֶפִּיקוֹמִין的意思是things belonging to the after-meal, dessert。這正是逾越節晚餐裡那塊餅的基本用途：餐後吃的小食。

English Translations of Tannaitic Literature: Online, Searchable Pdf or Printed Books

Bold Green = Title of the Tannaitic Work Itself

A web link indicates a searchable (mostly) free online book or website, while italic book titles without a link indicate printed books which are not available online.

Mishna / Mishnah

Herbert Danby trans., The Mishnah

Tosefta / Tosephta

Jacob Neusner trans., The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew (6 vols.), on D. Instone-Brewer, www.RabbinicTraditions.com

This is not free. Membership fee is £9 (about $14) per year or £24 (about $38) for life.

Just vol.1 Zeraim: Google Book

Scripture index of Rabbinic Literature

The set is titled תורה הכתובה והמסורה. 

My professor has taught me to use this. He highly recommends this set.

If you want to know which work in Rabbinic Literature mentions, quotes, alludes to or discusses a verse in the Hebrew Bible, this is the place to go. Hebrew knowledge is needed to use it.

Vol. 1 - Torah

為甚麼用「棕棗樹」這個名稱？

今年的住棚節就是中國人的中秋節那天。快到了，我們來談談住棚節物品的中文名字吧。

這篇文章只涉及中國語文層面的技術討論、翻譯過程的分享，至於聖經植物的習性、相關經文的屬靈亮光，請大家去聆聽或閱讀聖經老師的教導。

利未記記載了上主叫以色列人怎樣慶祝住棚節（23:39-40，《和合本》）：

「你們收藏了地的出產，就從七月十五日起，要守耶和華的節七日。第一日為聖安息；第八日也為聖安息。 第一日要拿美好樹上的果子和棕樹上的枝子，與茂密樹的枝條並河旁的柳枝，在耶和華－－你們的　神面前歡樂七日。」

其中一樣，按《和合本》的翻譯，是「棕樹」枝子。很多聖經英譯本也簡單地譯作palm。然而，猶太人和聖經植物專家告訴我們，這節希伯來文經文תָּמָר（tamar）所指的是date palm。（例如見Nature in Our Biblical Heritage頁76。這本書是以色列的一大聖經植物研究及教育機構－－Neot Kedumim出版的。Neot Kedumim中譯名可以是「聖經風物大觀園」。）

中文「棕樹」是不是準確地對應date palm呢？查中文「棕」字，《國語辭典》說等於「棕櫚」，棕櫚樹是棕櫚科棕櫚屬（trachycarpus）的，tamar則是棕櫚科刺葵屬（phoenix）屬的。故此，稱聖經裏這種樹為「棕樹」或「棕櫚」並不準確。

Rabbinic Literature freely accessible on the web (updated on Dec 8 2014)

Below are links to online whole text or nearly whole text of some rabbinic literature. I list only webpages or Google Books which number the sections and thus are easy to use. This collection of links is updated from time to time.
Such primary sources are useful when one reads articles about the Bible which quotes rabbinic materials to prove a point about social customs or Jewish methods of interpretation etc. Sometimes we wish to look up the context of the quoted rabbinic passage to ascertain what was really said.

Avot de Rabbi Nathan, Versions A&B (Hebrew)

Avot de Rabbi Nathan, Version A (Hebrew)

Avot de Rabbi Nathan, Version A (English, trans. Goldin, pdf)

Avot de Rabbi Nathan, Version A (English, trans. Goldin, Google Books)

Avot de Rabbi Nathan, Version B (English, trans. Saldarini)

Babylonian Talmud (Hebrew, English)

Deuteronomy Rabbah (Hebrew)

聖經學習及猶太文化詞彙中譯參考表

已經移到新帖：

著作、人名、多種事物，見聖經學習及猶太文化詞彙中譯參考表（一）。

地名及地理、妥拉讀經篇、衣食住行、語法及文本解釋、機構、習用語，見聖經學習及猶太文化詞彙中譯參考表（二）。