Transcript: Episode 0103
This transcript:
- Was machine generated.
- Has not been checked for errors.
- May not be entirely accurate.
WEBVTT 00:00:37.392 --> 00:00:39.712Welcome to the Stone Choir Podcast. 00:00:39.712 --> 00:00:40.752 I am Corey J. 00:00:40.752 --> 00:00:41.832 Mahler. 00:00:41.832 --> 00:00:44.292 And I'm still Woe. 00:00:44.292 --> 00:00:49.652 On today's Stone Choir, we're continuing our discussion of the Septuagint. 00:00:49.652 --> 00:00:54.372 This week's episode is going to specifically be focusing on wisdom literature. 00:00:54.372 --> 00:00:59.632 So we're going to talk a little bit about the Psalms and mostly Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. 00:00:59.632 --> 00:01:03.812 Before we begin brief housekeeping, apologize for the last couple weeks not being around. 00:01:04.332 --> 00:01:08.432 I was on my way out the door to have my surgery when I got called and said they were being canceled. 00:01:08.432 --> 00:01:11.332 I don't have a date yet for when it's going to be done again. 00:01:11.332 --> 00:01:18.292 I am thankful that happened because I realized afterwards, I have six tons of wood pellets coming soon that I have to get into my garage. 00:01:18.292 --> 00:01:22.652 So I would not have been able to do that when I was healing from surgery. 00:01:22.652 --> 00:01:27.172 So God protected me from being an idiot as he does us all. 00:01:27.172 --> 00:01:30.052 I don't know yet when that's going to be, so there'll be another delay. 00:01:30.052 --> 00:01:31.732 A bunch of other things have come up and interrupted. 00:01:31.952 --> 00:01:36.472 I apologize for the intermittent nature of this series. 00:01:36.472 --> 00:01:47.392 If you don't follow on X, we recently published the entire six plus hour episode of the interview that Corey and I did with Will Spencer last year. 00:01:47.392 --> 00:01:48.892 He published it all. 00:01:48.892 --> 00:01:55.012 He has episodes on his sub stack and immediately pulled them down and stabs us in the back. 00:01:55.012 --> 00:01:58.672 So this is the last bit of pre-drama version of that. 00:01:59.132 --> 00:02:03.872 We decided to put up a whole thing as there were some new questions that came about from that camp of evil men. 00:02:04.692 --> 00:02:10.892 We don't have any of the episodes that were edited, which is the reason that we didn't actually put it on the Stone Choir feed. 00:02:10.892 --> 00:02:25.092 So in the link to the show notes for this episode, and we'll go back in the link for the show notes to the episode that we published on our feed a year ago, we will have a link to the six and a half hour, six hour roughly raw unedited. 00:02:25.092 --> 00:02:26.752 So it's not high quality audio. 00:02:26.752 --> 00:02:27.912 There's no editing or anything. 00:02:28.172 --> 00:02:30.492 It's just a conversation that we had with Will. 00:02:30.492 --> 00:02:31.632 It's a really good conversation. 00:02:31.632 --> 00:02:32.692 It was a great interview. 00:02:32.692 --> 00:02:40.912 So if you're jonesing for us in the meantime, well, we'll probably have some more intermittent downtime between getting these episodes out. 00:02:40.912 --> 00:02:43.732 In the show notes, there's a six hour interview with us. 00:02:43.732 --> 00:02:48.352 We didn't put on the feed because we didn't want to push such a huge episode. 00:02:48.352 --> 00:02:51.352 Everybody's devices get a big file. 00:02:51.352 --> 00:02:54.312 And we also didn't want to push something that was unedited. 00:02:54.312 --> 00:02:57.952 It's not really an episode, but it's a really good introduction. 00:02:57.952 --> 00:03:02.272 Frankly, it's the best introduction to Stone Choir that exists right now. 00:03:02.272 --> 00:03:09.292 So that recording is available if you want to hear it, but you'll have to click on a link in the list and do it in a web browser or whatever. 00:03:09.292 --> 00:03:18.992 As we're discussing the Septuagint today, I want to recap a few things that we've talked about in previous episodes. 00:03:18.992 --> 00:03:31.872 We're going to give a few examples principally from the Psalms of some different problems that exist when you compare the Hebrew text, the rabbinic text, to the scripture of the ancient church. 00:03:31.872 --> 00:03:35.152 And we're doing that for a very specific reason. 00:03:35.152 --> 00:03:37.372 It's answering the question, what's going on here? 00:03:37.372 --> 00:03:39.032 What are the differences? 00:03:39.032 --> 00:03:50.092 Because it's one thing to make the historical argument, as we have in previous episodes in this series, and it's one thing to make the conclusive argument from the New Testament, which will be where we're going to finish up. 00:03:51.192 --> 00:04:01.492 But that's still not necessarily enough for a reasonable, honest Christian to say, okay, I like the arguments those guys made, so I'm not going to read the Masoretic, the Rabbinic text anymore. 00:04:01.492 --> 00:04:04.672 I'm just going to read versions that are based on the Greek. 00:04:04.672 --> 00:04:07.152 It's entirely reasonable to say, well, I want to hear what the differences are. 00:04:07.152 --> 00:04:08.852 That's a fair question. 00:04:08.852 --> 00:04:22.792 So this couple of middle episodes we're doing here, we're covering the Old Testament changes that were made by the Masoretes and the Rabbis to the Christian text, is not engaging with their arguments. 00:04:22.792 --> 00:04:26.672 It's something we tried to hammer home in the first couple episodes about history. 00:04:26.672 --> 00:04:31.092 No Christian should have ever been listening to Rabbis, and we're not either. 00:04:31.092 --> 00:04:32.352 We're not arguing with them. 00:04:32.352 --> 00:04:34.472 We're not getting down in the mud with them. 00:04:34.472 --> 00:04:46.372 But every Bible in your house, unless you've gone out and bought a Septuagint since we started talking about it or if you happen to already have one handy, all your Bibles are based on the rabbinic text. 00:04:46.372 --> 00:04:49.392 So it's fair to ask, well, okay, what am I losing? 00:04:49.392 --> 00:04:50.752 What am I gaining? 00:04:50.752 --> 00:04:51.612 What is the nature? 00:04:51.612 --> 00:04:54.452 What is the meaning of these changes? 00:04:54.452 --> 00:05:00.392 Most of the examples we're going to give today, which will principally be from Proverbs, we're not going to do a lot of deep analysis. 00:05:00.392 --> 00:05:05.752 I know, well, here's the Hebrew word for this, and here's the vowel pointer, and none of that. 00:05:05.752 --> 00:05:13.812 The point that we hope to get across from the whole series is, is we as Christians have to stop doing that, because we never should have done it in the first place. 00:05:13.812 --> 00:05:15.392 Jerome shouldn't have done it. 00:05:15.392 --> 00:05:17.312 No one should have followed his lead. 00:05:17.312 --> 00:05:20.432 We must break with that false tradition. 00:05:20.432 --> 00:05:22.852 We have to stop listening to rabbis. 00:05:22.852 --> 00:05:31.732 So the only way for most people, unfortunately, to make the case, why should I stop listening to the rabbis, is to show what the Christian text of the early church looks like. 00:05:31.732 --> 00:05:34.292 What did Jesus and the Apostles Bible look like? 00:05:34.292 --> 00:05:38.332 So these comparison episodes are specifically answering that question. 00:05:38.332 --> 00:05:54.112 You have, just like Origins Hexhapla did before Jerome, you have a column of the Verbinic text, and you have a column of the Greek text, and you have something that you can read, which was already beginning to be Latin. 00:05:54.112 --> 00:05:55.612 Today it's English. 00:05:55.612 --> 00:05:56.832 What do we do with that? 00:05:56.832 --> 00:06:03.412 It's a fair question, but this is as much a thinking about thinking question as anything. 00:06:03.412 --> 00:06:12.732 We cannot fall into the trap of wanting to be guys who just argue all the time, especially when Jews want us to argue with them. 00:06:12.732 --> 00:06:15.132 Have you guys want to do this on X? 00:06:15.132 --> 00:06:16.292 Everybody wants to do that. 00:06:16.292 --> 00:06:22.732 Oh, well, the rabbis taught us this, and my Bible says this, which is what the rabbis say, and you're saying this different thing. 00:06:22.732 --> 00:06:29.632 We need to go have you argue with the rabbis so that we can know what Jesus said, so that we know what Christianity is about. 00:06:29.632 --> 00:06:32.572 Breaking that cycle is what is happening here. 00:06:33.452 --> 00:06:44.632 And so, there are going to be some arguments, some examples, but we're deliberately, both because it would be a waste of time, and it would simultaneously not be remotely exhaustive. 00:06:44.632 --> 00:06:52.572 You could go through the entire books of the Bible and find huge changes between the rabbinic text and the Septuagint. 00:06:52.572 --> 00:06:57.252 The categories are important, and we're going to highlight the categories, and then we're just going to let it drop. 00:06:57.252 --> 00:07:09.652 We're going to, you know, maybe mention, well, here's a verse that falls into this category or that category, but I want to highlight that we are not going to fight with Jews over what God said. 00:07:09.652 --> 00:07:11.132 That's not what this is about. 00:07:11.132 --> 00:07:16.772 That's not what you should have in your heart or on your mind when you're looking at these questions. 00:07:16.772 --> 00:07:35.392 Some examples are necessary, but once you are satisfied that the Bible of Jesus and the Apostles nearly church as a Greek, at that point, you personally, church denominations, new bodies that are formed are going to have to make the decision, okay, we are done with the rabbinic text forever, for eternity. 00:07:35.392 --> 00:07:37.732 I'm convinced that it is not the word of God. 00:07:37.732 --> 00:07:40.652 I'm convinced that the Septuagint is the word of God. 00:07:40.652 --> 00:07:42.372 Next question. 00:07:42.372 --> 00:07:47.732 And everything that comes after that is not going to be in view at all of the Hebrew. 00:07:47.732 --> 00:07:51.472 The rabbinic text is going to die with their lies. 00:07:51.472 --> 00:07:55.152 And all we're going to have is the Greek of Jesus and the Apostles in the early church. 00:07:55.732 --> 00:08:03.432 So, I say that up front because there are going to be a bunch of places today where we just skip over the textual argument. 00:08:03.432 --> 00:08:07.112 We're just going to look at what it says in English in a faithful translation. 00:08:07.112 --> 00:08:10.792 We're not going to care about the underlying text in Greek or the rabbinic text. 00:08:10.792 --> 00:08:13.692 We're just going to look and say, okay, what is the meaning? 00:08:13.692 --> 00:08:15.392 Because fundamentally, that's what's going on here. 00:08:15.412 --> 00:08:16.972 The meaning's changed. 00:08:16.972 --> 00:08:20.752 Those are some of the key categories that we're going to go through here initially. 00:08:20.752 --> 00:08:25.252 But please just recognize the distinction that we're making here at the outset. 00:08:25.252 --> 00:08:27.992 We are not arguing with rabbis. 00:08:27.992 --> 00:08:30.632 If your impulses are arguing with rabbis, you have sinned. 00:08:30.632 --> 00:08:34.412 You have sinned against God by listening to those who deny him. 00:08:34.412 --> 00:08:37.232 That is not where you should receive your teaching from. 00:08:37.232 --> 00:08:40.932 If you learn nothing else from the Septuagint series, it should be that. 00:08:40.932 --> 00:08:49.112 I don't want to say it any player that we're going to keep repeating it, but I say that because we are not engaging in the very thing that we're condemning. 00:08:49.112 --> 00:08:54.212 We're showing some examples of where the actual text in English differs. 00:08:54.212 --> 00:08:59.892 You can pick your translation, a translation that's faithful to either the Greek or to the rabbinic text. 00:08:59.892 --> 00:09:01.872 They're all pretty much going to say the same thing. 00:09:01.872 --> 00:09:04.552 You can basically get from one language to another. 00:09:06.112 --> 00:09:10.732 First example that we're going to use is from Psalm 59.9. 00:09:10.732 --> 00:09:18.032 This one I'm going to quote from the King James, and then from Brenton, King James 59.9. 00:09:18.032 --> 00:09:22.612 Because of his strength, I will wait upon me, for God is my defense. 00:09:22.612 --> 00:09:28.912 And then Brenton says, I will keep my strength looking for you, for you, O God, are my helper. 00:09:28.912 --> 00:09:31.752 So there are two crucial changes that happened here. 00:09:31.752 --> 00:09:39.972 The first, the King James, based on the Masoretic text, says because of his strength, whereas the Brenton says, I will keep my strength. 00:09:40.752 --> 00:09:43.272 So we've changed the pronoun entirely. 00:09:43.272 --> 00:09:47.132 Whose strength is being commented upon is either God's or it's mine. 00:09:47.132 --> 00:09:56.012 The reason that I quoted the King James here, even though I usually use the ESV, is that virtually every modern translation follows the Septuagint here again. 00:09:56.012 --> 00:09:59.752 There's a pattern that we had in the previous episode talking about the Christological passages. 00:09:59.752 --> 00:10:12.512 Yet again, your Bible, which probably doesn't footnote at all that's following the Septuagint, maybe some of them do, they're actually not being faithful to the rabbinic text by claiming they're based on it, because it changes whose strength. 00:10:12.512 --> 00:10:14.652 Is it my strength or is it his strength? 00:10:14.652 --> 00:10:16.872 Whoever that is. 00:10:16.872 --> 00:10:23.452 The reason that this my to his flips is once again a vowel pointer. 00:10:23.452 --> 00:10:26.232 The vowel changes it from my to his. 00:10:26.232 --> 00:10:33.752 So at some point, the rabbis change their teaching to change the meaning of this text in that small way. 00:10:33.752 --> 00:10:40.812 If you don't have vowels because you don't have a complete language and all that you have is an oral tradition for rabbis, it can go either way. 00:10:40.812 --> 00:10:43.952 And you can only know from oral tradition which one it is. 00:10:43.952 --> 00:10:50.532 And the rabbinic text, which the King James preserved and everything else abandons, says his versus my. 00:10:50.532 --> 00:10:53.912 Brenton in the Greek says, I will keep my strength. 00:10:53.912 --> 00:10:56.132 And the other change at the end is different. 00:10:56.132 --> 00:10:59.992 It's not a vowel change, but it's in a way, it's even more important. 00:10:59.992 --> 00:11:04.052 The second half of that passage says, For you, O God, are my fortress. 00:11:04.052 --> 00:11:08.592 That is present in both King James and ESV, because it's based on the rabbinic text. 00:11:08.592 --> 00:11:13.372 Brenton, based on Greek, says, For you, O God, are my helper. 00:11:13.372 --> 00:11:21.472 Which is an important distinction, and it's one that highlights one of the types of changes that we're going to see here today. 00:11:21.472 --> 00:11:28.252 To say that God is our fortress, like, as Lutherans, we obviously really like that sentiment, which is found elsewhere in scripture. 00:11:28.252 --> 00:11:29.692 It's entirely Christian belief. 00:11:30.272 --> 00:11:34.512 It's one that Luther memorialized, and a mighty fortress is our God. 00:11:34.512 --> 00:11:40.772 But Psalm 59.9 is not a proof text for a mighty fortress is our God. 00:11:40.772 --> 00:11:44.112 Psalm 59.9 says that, O God, you are my helper. 00:11:44.112 --> 00:11:47.192 What's the difference between being a fortress and a helper? 00:11:47.212 --> 00:11:53.672 One of the common changes that the rabbis made to scripture was exactly this sort of thing. 00:11:54.412 --> 00:12:00.332 They turn God into a place, into a status. 00:12:00.332 --> 00:12:05.192 It's basically the essential form of the argument that the Pharisees made to Jesus. 00:12:05.192 --> 00:12:07.432 We have Abraham as our father. 00:12:07.432 --> 00:12:07.852 What is that? 00:12:07.852 --> 00:12:09.312 That's a status claim. 00:12:09.312 --> 00:12:13.332 God is my fortress is true, but then God's just sitting there. 00:12:13.332 --> 00:12:15.352 Abraham is my father. 00:12:15.352 --> 00:12:21.232 You know, maybe that was true in some cases in that day, genetically, but it was beside the point. 00:12:21.712 --> 00:12:24.852 When you make a status claim saying, well, here's a placement. 00:12:24.852 --> 00:12:26.012 What don't you have? 00:12:26.012 --> 00:12:27.712 You don't have any actual activity. 00:12:27.712 --> 00:12:29.532 A fortress just sits there. 00:12:29.532 --> 00:12:33.972 So if God is your fortress, like he's a shelter, he's a refuge, which is a good thing. 00:12:33.972 --> 00:12:37.292 But it's the inert inherently. 00:12:37.292 --> 00:12:40.552 To say that God, you are my helper is a very active thing. 00:12:40.552 --> 00:12:41.532 This is a small change. 00:12:41.532 --> 00:12:42.472 It's not a huge thing. 00:12:42.472 --> 00:12:48.072 It doesn't change Christian doctrine one way or another, because those are sentiments, both of them are preserved elsewhere in scripture. 00:12:48.072 --> 00:12:57.932 But as we look throughout today's series of examples, one of the common refrains will be that God's action is reduced. 00:12:57.932 --> 00:12:59.152 God is no longer doing anything. 00:12:59.152 --> 00:13:00.792 He's no longer participating. 00:13:00.792 --> 00:13:02.192 He's just sort of sitting there. 00:13:02.192 --> 00:13:03.352 You're making a status claim. 00:13:03.352 --> 00:13:04.052 He's my fortress. 00:13:04.052 --> 00:13:05.992 He's my father. 00:13:05.992 --> 00:13:07.872 And everything else is implied. 00:13:07.872 --> 00:13:16.352 And that's one of the problems that we're going to have as Christians looking at some of these changes is as Christians, we can baptize a lot of these. 00:13:16.352 --> 00:13:23.612 So throughout the many examples we'll give here today, and we're going to run through them pretty quickly, apart from my introduction here. 00:13:23.612 --> 00:13:27.132 It's part of the reason for doing this kind of lengthy example. 00:13:27.132 --> 00:13:31.152 One of the things I want you to keep in mind is you're listening to all these examples. 00:13:31.152 --> 00:13:33.252 Don't just think about you. 00:13:33.252 --> 00:13:35.292 Maybe you're a Christian who's been raised in the church. 00:13:35.292 --> 00:13:38.432 You've been a Christian your whole life for decades. 00:13:38.432 --> 00:13:40.812 So you're really well inculcated in all this. 00:13:40.812 --> 00:13:41.852 You know it pretty well. 00:13:42.212 --> 00:13:43.092 You have a Christian heart. 00:13:43.092 --> 00:13:44.772 You have a Christian mind. 00:13:44.772 --> 00:13:49.972 When you hear something like, for God is my defense, God is my fortress, you know exactly what that means. 00:13:49.972 --> 00:13:54.872 You pull all of it in because you're incorporating all the rest of scripture. 00:13:54.872 --> 00:14:03.612 Think about these differences from the perspective of someone who's not a Christian yet, who is a brand new Christian, but they don't know their way around scripture. 00:14:03.612 --> 00:14:06.232 They don't know what God's voice sounds like yet. 00:14:06.232 --> 00:14:15.012 And think about the differences between the passive fortress, the passive status claim versus the act of God as my helper. 00:14:15.012 --> 00:14:16.912 That's a theological difference. 00:14:16.912 --> 00:14:20.152 And it's one that's repeated in many of these cases. 00:14:20.152 --> 00:14:32.632 Oftentimes, the changes that the Masoretes made, that the rabbis made long before them, some of these changes exist before the date of Jesus, which is why the Bible of Jesus and the Apostles was the Septuagint. 00:14:33.592 --> 00:14:39.012 You will find God's activity is actually removed from the text. 00:14:39.012 --> 00:14:40.372 And so, just keep that in mind. 00:14:40.372 --> 00:14:55.112 You, as a Christian, know what's going on, but someone who's not well-informed, if they were to be reading a Bible based on the rabbinic text versus one based on the early church and Jesus and the Apostles text, what conclusions would they reach? 00:14:55.112 --> 00:14:57.172 Because that's really what's going on here. 00:14:57.172 --> 00:15:00.512 It's not just about, oh, I have an expert level of theology understanding. 00:15:01.172 --> 00:15:06.492 I'm a very good Christian, very well-informed, so I can get these things right because I know the backstory. 00:15:06.492 --> 00:15:11.712 When you look at these texts, what are you missing if you're using the rabbinic text? 00:15:11.712 --> 00:15:21.092 The next example that we're going to look at here at the beginning, this shows some of what we're going to see throughout this episode, is from Psalm 84 verses 5 through 7. 00:15:21.092 --> 00:15:24.272 I'll read first from the ESV and then from Brenton. 00:15:24.272 --> 00:15:28.492 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 00:15:29.252 --> 00:15:32.872 As they go through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs. 00:15:32.872 --> 00:15:35.332 The early rain covers it with pools. 00:15:35.332 --> 00:15:36.972 They go from strength to strength. 00:15:36.972 --> 00:15:39.852 Each one appears before God in Zion. 00:15:39.932 --> 00:15:42.872 Then Brenton, for the most part, reads pretty much the same. 00:15:42.872 --> 00:15:45.852 Blessed is the man whose help is of the O Lord. 00:15:45.852 --> 00:15:52.212 In his heart, he has purpose to go up to the Valley of Weeping, to the place which he has appointed. 00:15:52.212 --> 00:15:53.652 Here's where it differs. 00:15:53.652 --> 00:15:55.932 For there, the lawgiver will grant blessings. 00:15:56.552 --> 00:15:58.612 They shall go from strength to strength. 00:15:58.612 --> 00:16:01.232 The God of God shall be seen in Zion. 00:16:01.232 --> 00:16:02.352 So most of that was the same. 00:16:02.352 --> 00:16:03.972 But what changed? 00:16:03.972 --> 00:16:11.212 Right there in the middle, the early rain also covers it with pools, changed to for there, the lawgiver will grant blessings. 00:16:11.212 --> 00:16:13.012 That's a completely different sentence, isn't it? 00:16:13.012 --> 00:16:15.132 Or a phrase is a part of a sentence. 00:16:15.132 --> 00:16:16.372 You know what changed there? 00:16:16.372 --> 00:16:18.152 A single vowel pointer. 00:16:18.192 --> 00:16:30.512 This is a second example where one small, tiny little change to, you know, in English, dog versus dig versus dug are three different words, and two of them are related. 00:16:30.512 --> 00:16:36.232 And dog is sort of conceptually related to dig and dug, but it doesn't have an etymological root. 00:16:36.232 --> 00:16:39.152 Totally different words, the only difference is a vowel. 00:16:39.152 --> 00:16:49.632 If I gave you DG and you had five vowels in English to choose from, well, two of those examples, dag and deg are not even English. 00:16:49.632 --> 00:16:52.792 It's what Dutch or something, but we don't use those. 00:16:52.792 --> 00:16:56.272 So you wouldn't know if it was dog, dig or dug. 00:16:56.272 --> 00:17:00.452 That's the sort of problem that we have when we only have an oral tradition. 00:17:00.452 --> 00:17:06.732 And so here we see an example of the ESV is faithful to the rabbinic text, which is not faithful to scripture. 00:17:06.732 --> 00:17:08.252 And yet again, what do we find? 00:17:08.252 --> 00:17:09.412 What was the change? 00:17:09.412 --> 00:17:17.272 You go from the sort of ambiguous, the early rain also covers it with pools to for there, the lawgiver will grant blessings. 00:17:17.292 --> 00:17:21.772 Once again, we see a case where God's activity vanishes entirely. 00:17:21.772 --> 00:17:26.352 God was erased from this entire passage by one vowel changing. 00:17:26.352 --> 00:17:37.752 Because when you look at the minimal structure that's left in the Hebrew, the only way that the rabbinic text can make sense is if early rain is used, and then you blush out the rest. 00:17:37.752 --> 00:17:45.972 Whereas if you believe it's teacher or a lawgiver, which is what is translated in Greek, that's very clearly a place where God is active. 00:17:45.972 --> 00:17:54.052 So again, these are examples where just one vowel changes and a substantial portion of the meaning vanishes entirely. 00:17:54.052 --> 00:18:07.792 And one of the frequent patterns that you will find as you're comparing whatever your rabbinic-based Bible is to the Septuagint, you'll find that these weird things like that were like, ah, the early rain covers it in pools. 00:18:07.952 --> 00:18:10.392 You think, well, that's some weird smick idiom. 00:18:10.392 --> 00:18:12.632 I'm not really sure what that's about, but okay. 00:18:12.632 --> 00:18:14.592 It's just flowery language. 00:18:14.592 --> 00:18:16.532 You don't realize what you've lost. 00:18:16.532 --> 00:18:18.332 You've lost God's activity. 00:18:18.332 --> 00:18:21.812 You've lost that for there, the lawgiver will grant blessings. 00:18:21.812 --> 00:18:23.812 God's doing something in that place. 00:18:23.812 --> 00:18:29.212 Yeah, they made it sound pretty, but it was just pretty for its own sake and not a place where God was doing anything. 00:18:29.212 --> 00:18:34.492 Just like the previous example where a fortress gave way to a helper. 00:18:34.492 --> 00:18:37.412 When God's action is removed, we have less of God. 00:18:38.112 --> 00:18:41.572 And someone who's not familiar with the Christian faith wouldn't know. 00:18:41.572 --> 00:18:47.072 It's like, okay, well, this is this is nice flowery language, but what's God doing for me? 00:18:47.072 --> 00:18:53.132 These changes are not insignificant, and the pattern becomes very obvious the further you go. 00:18:53.132 --> 00:19:03.132 We're not even going to scratch the surface today, but I'm highlighting these because as you do your own exploration, you will find this pattern and you won't have to worry about vowel pointers, any of that garbage again. 00:19:03.132 --> 00:19:05.392 We don't want you engaging with the Hebrew. 00:19:05.392 --> 00:19:11.492 We just want you engaging with the Greek text in English, a faithful translation, which is doesn't yet exist. 00:19:11.492 --> 00:19:16.092 I'm using Brenton in some cases, Corey's going to use Lexham in a bunch of cases. 00:19:16.092 --> 00:19:18.532 A lot of times Brenton follows the Hebrew anyway. 00:19:18.532 --> 00:19:26.332