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The Contours of the Land in Israel's History
The Land of Palestine
The land of Palestine took its name from the Philistines (the Pelishtim in Hebrew) who settled along the Mediterranean coast from Joppa to Gaza about 1300–12...
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“Healthy” or “Sound” - 1 Tim 1:10 (Monday with Mounce 168)
In the Pastorals, Paul talks about “healthy (ὑγιαινούσῃ) teaching.” ὑγιαίνω has a range of meaning that is impossible to bring into English...
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Etymology Errors? (Monday with Mounce 167)
I have been playing around with word meanings lately. How do words get meaning? We understand that words have a semantic range, a bundle of...
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“Those from him” - Mark 3:21 (Monday with Mounce 166)
I came across an interesting situation this morning in Sunday School. (You remember Sunday School? That mid-level entry point into our mega...
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A Translation Conundrum - 1 Tim 2:9 (Monday with Mounce 165)
We often distinguish between two types of translations, a formal equivalent and a dynamic equivalent. Formal tries to stick to the Greek/He...
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Jesus is Back in Jude (Monday with Mounce 164)
Perhaps this is a little overstated, but it did get your attention.
I just got back from the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological ...
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γάρ and Paragraph Divisions (Monday with Mounce 163)
Conjunctions are tricky things. In standard Greek style, sentences begin with conjunctions. The conjunction shows the connection with the p...
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Why is Ἰάκωβος James and not Jacob? (Monday with Mounce 162)
One of my students asked this rather fundamental question last week. Good question, and I hadn’t thought about it before, and I need your h...
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The most amazing translator I have ever met (Monday with Mounce 161)
Having been on the ESV and now on the NIV translation committee, I have met some amazing translators, men and women who love the Lord and hi...
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Is Faith Merely Assurance? - Heb 11:1 (Monday with Mounce 160)
A friend of mine recently pointed out a blog by John Piper on some upcoming changes (more properly, clarifications, precision) ...
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Except for Adultery - Matt 5:32 (Monday with Mounce 159)
This is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible to interpret, and especially to apply in a church situation. I have already written...
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Anger - Part 2 (Monday with Mounce 158)
Last week I raised the issue of anger, and whether it is ever appropriate. The Greek is in Eph 4:26 where Paul writes, ὀργίζεσθε καὶ μὴ ἁμα...
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In your anger, do not sin - Eph 4:26 (Monday with Mounce 157)
I have been thinking about anger lately. I was raised in a traditional Christian home and church, and like many people believed that anger ...
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Indicative and Subjunctive - 1 John 4:7, 19 (Monday with Mounce 157)
Every once in a while you will see an inflected form that can be parsed two different ways. If all you are looking at is the Greek word, yo...
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Are Gossips in Heaven? - James 1:26-27 (Monday with Mounce 156)
This verse hit me pretty hard this morning: “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues dece...
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Overseer, or Office of Overseer - 1 Tim 3:1 (Monday with Mounce 155)
I was going to take one more week off for a short summer break, but someone challenged me on one of my decisions in my commentary, so...
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Preserving Images in Translation - Heb 10:29 (Monday with Mounce 154)
We all know by now that it is often impossible to bring the full meaning of a word into English. Languages do not have equivalent vocabulari...
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