Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Sunday, November 14. 2010

From today's Lectionary: A new earth

Isaiah 65:17-25



65:17 For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.

65:18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.

65:19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.

65:20 No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.

65:21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

65:22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

65:23 They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD-- and their descendants as well.

65:24 Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear.

65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent--its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

Posted by Bird Dog at 05:41 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

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thanks, never read 65:25 in context before. My favorite verse also comes from Isaiah 9:2-7
#1 gordon on 2010-11-14 08:03 (Reply)
The start of the chapter is pretty rough stuff...

17 - No "am about to" - "for behold I (shall) create". Even the shall is not in the text.

This is a sort of "timeless present". The main prayer in the Jewish prayer book does the same thing - the blessings are cast in this "perpetual present" as in:

"Blessed are you.... who gathers in the exiles of Israel."
"Blessed are you.... who builds Jerusalem."

Those have been said for centuries - the philosophical implication is that everything is part of the plan. It is happening now, G-d is bringing it about.

Same thing with prophecy. So "about to" is misleading.

"come to mind" in Hebrew idiom is "arise in the heart" - like a memory recalled.

18 - "in what I create" - Hebrew has fewer verb forms, no real gerund. Again, no "about to" - just simple present.

19 - "In it" is "from it", oddly. The whole "an infant..." is just two words in Hebrew - "a babe (of) days." This is a play on words - the root "olal" means destruction, a rare consonant word means infant.

Taking this verse as our "Hebrew is shorter" example:

No more will there be in it a babe of days
an old one who does not fill his days
For a "youth" at one hundred years will die
And the sinner, a hundred years old - accursed.

"accursed" can also be "scorned" - literally, made light of.

21-22 - This repeats almost verbatim in other famous passages of redemption in nearby chapters.

"chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands" is a nice translation - but the word for enjoy can also mean "wear out" - meaning: they will have use of their works for many years, and wear them out through their own use. Echoing the notion of permanence.

23- "labor" is literally "weary (themselves)" and "vain" is literally "emptiness". "Calamity" is literally "confusion" - in this context, upheaval?

24 - found its way into the Jewish prayerbook, for obvious reasons.

25- also repeats in nearby passages.
#2 Ben David on 2010-11-15 14:10 (Reply)
You therefore, brethren, knowing these things before, take heed, lest being led aside by the error of the unwise, you fall from your own steadfastness.
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and unto the day of eternity. Amen.
2 Peter 3 :17-18
#3 Leag on 2010-11-16 13:31 (Reply)

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