The Biblical Languages Podcast (brought to you by Biblingo)

William Varner was on the translation committee for the Legacy Standard Bible, an updated version of the NASB published in 2021. In this episode, host Kevin Grasso discusses Varner's involvement in the project, including some of the distinctives of the translation. They cover some of the exegetical decisions made by the committee as well as the translation philosophy behind the LSB. Other translations are also discussed, including Scot McKnight's new translation, The Second Testament. See Part 2 of this series for our interview with McKnight here: The Second Testament with Scot McKnight William C. Varner is an American biblical scholar. He is Professor of Biblical Studies & Greek at The Master's University. Varner studied at Bob Jones University, Dropsie College, Biblical Theological Seminary, Gratz College, and Temple University. In 1996, he came to The Master’s College, where he teaches Bible exposition courses and Greek Exegesis. He was also the Director of IBEX, the college’s overseas campus in Israel, for over twenty years, and has led 51 study trips to the land of Israel. Will pastored the Sojourners fellowship in Grace Community Church for twenty three years, and now teaches the Bereans Class at Grace Baptist Church.  He has written twenty books, some for laymen and some for scholars. His most significant scholarly efforts have been the 450 page commentary on James published by Fontes Press and a new translation and introduction to the Apostolic Fathers published by T&T Clark. He is also the founder and one of the moderators of the popular Facebook group Nerdy Biblical Language Majors where he is known as "Papa Nerd." As always, this episode is brought to you by Biblingo, the premier solution for learning, maintaining, and enjoying the biblical languages. Visit biblingo.org to learn more and start your 10-day free trial. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app and leave us a review. You can also follow Biblingo on social media @biblingoapp to discuss the episode with us and other listeners.

Scot McKnight recently released a new translation of the New Testament called The Second Testament: A New Translation (published by IVP Academic). In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, host Kevin Grasso interviews Scot on his new translation. They discuss Scot's translation philosophy as well as some of his exegetical decisions. Scot also responds to some of the criticism he has gotten for some of his more radical translation decisions. You don't want to miss this behind-the-scenes conversation on this leading NT scholar's fresh translation. Scot is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author or editor of some eighty-five books, is Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lisle, IL. Dr. McKnight has given interviews on radios across the nation, has appeared on television, and is regularly speaks at local churches, conferences, colleges, and seminaries in the USA and abroad. Dr. McKnight obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham (1986) and has been a professor for nearly four decades. As always, this episode is brought to you by Biblingo, the premier solution for learning, maintaining, and enjoying the biblical languages. Visit biblingo.org to learn more and start your 10-day free trial. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app and leave us a review. You can also follow Biblingo on social media @biblingoapp to discuss the episode with us and other listeners.

Anthony Pym's book "Exploring Translation Theories" is now in its third edition. In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, host Kevin Grasso interviews Anthony on different translation theories and how they work themselves out in real translations of texts. They focus on the idea of "equivalence" and the different ways two texts can equivalent. Other translation-related ideas are also discussed, such as a taxonomy of translation methods, skopos-related theories, and translation universals. Anthony Pym is Professor of Translation Studies at the University of Melbourne in Australia and at Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Spain. He has been a practicing translator since the 1980s, mostly working from Romance languages. As always, this episode is brought to you by Biblingo, the premier solution for learning, maintaining, and enjoying the biblical languages. Visit biblingo.org to learn more and start your 10-day free trial. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app and leave us a review. You can also follow Biblingo on social media @biblingoapp to discuss the episode with us and other listeners.

Ben Kantor has recently published two books on the pronunciation of NT Greek with Eerdmans: A Short Guide to the Pronunciation of New Testament Greek The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek: Judeo-Palestinian Greek Phonology and Orthography from Alexander to Islam In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, host Kevin Grasso interviews Ben on his new books. They discuss how we can know what NT Greek sounded like, different pronunciation systems in use in the first century, the importance of pronunciation, and what languages Jesus and other Jews most likely spoke in first century Palestine. Benjamin Paul Kantor is a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He received his B.A. in Classical Studies with an emphasis in Greek from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2012. Subsequently, he received his Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from the University of Texas in 2017. He specializes in the historical phonology of Greek and Hebrew and has particular interest in ancient Greek and Hebrew pedagogy. In addition to his research work, he also runs a website, KoineGreek.com, which focuses on providing “living language” resources for students and scholars of ancient Greek. As always, this episode is brought to you by Biblingo, the premier solution for learning, maintaining, and enjoying the biblical languages. Visit biblingo.org to learn more and start your 10-day free trial. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app and leave us a review. You can also follow Biblingo on social media @biblingoapp to discuss the episode with us and other listeners.

Matthew Bates, author of Gospel Allegiance, discusses in this podcast the meaning of εὐαγγέλιον (Gospel) and πίστις (Faith/Allegiance). The podcast explores Bates' understanding of the pistis word group, euangelion, and their relationship with other concepts in the Bible. They also touch on controversies, response, challenges, and upcoming projects.

Deuteronomy 6:5 is typically translated, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." But what does it really mean to love the Lord with your "heart"? The word translated "heart" here is לֵבָב, which is a word that does, in fact, refer to the organ that we call "heart". Here, the word is obviously being used metaphorically, just like we use "heart" metaphorically in English. But the key question is whether לֵבָב and "heart" are used metaphorically *in the same way*. In this video, Dr. Kevin Grasso shows how this Hebrew word actually has a different metaphorical use than you might expect, and that there may be a better English word than "heart" to get its meaning across. Check out our previous episode on Deuteronomy 6:4 here: https://youtu.be/_DRu1aE4y-s

The podcast explores the interpretation and translation of the Shema in Hebrew, focusing on the difficult word אֶחָד. It discusses whether אֶחָד refers to God's oneness or a class of things belonging to God. The chapter delves into the true meaning of 'ahad' in Deuteronomy 6:4, emphasizing its reference to a unique individual. It also explores the significance of 'ahad' in understanding the Shema and its call for exclusive devotion to God.

Matthew Thomas read through the entire Septuagint and New Testament in 2022. In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso interviews Matthew about his experience and why others should consider doing it. *Note: in the episode, we repeatedly reference reading through the Septuagint, when in fact, Thomas' experience was reading through the Septuagint AND the Greek New Testament. If you're looking for ways to advance your Greek or Hebrew in 2023, join one of our free reading groups. For Hebrew, we're reading through the entire Hebrew Bible. For Greek, we're reading through the whole Greek New Testament and the whole Septuagint. Join us at community.biblingo.org.

This is a recording of a live discussion and Q&A with Dr. Kevin Grasso about our series on Key Terms in Pauline Theology. Kevin offers a summary and synthesis of  what was covered in the series, offers more of his own analyses of Greek terms and key texts, and answers questions from the live viewers. In this series, we interviewed expert guests on their research focusing on key terms on Pauline theology. These terms and the texts in which they appear have been the subject of centuries of debate, with thousands of pages devoted to each. The way we understand these terms has a massive impact on how we understand Paul’s letters and theology. We covered χριστός (Christ, Messiah) with Joshua Jipp and Matthew Novenson, πίστις (faith, trust, faithfulness) with Teresa Morgan, δικαιοσύνη (righteousness, justification) with James Prothro, νόμος (law, Torah) with John Collins, and Ισραήλ (Israel) with Jason Staples. In addition to these interviews, Dr. Kevin Grasso did a series of episodes on key texts in which these terms appear, showing how a close reading of the Greek, along with the tools provided by theoretical linguistics, can bring a lot of clarity. He covered Romans 10:4, Galatians 3:22, Romans 1:17, Romans 3:24, Romans 2:14, and Romans 2:28-29.

Who is truly a "Jew" in Romans 2:28-29? Does Paul essentially redefine what it means to be Jewish? And what do ellipsis and constituent negation have to do with circumcision? In order to better understand and translate these verses, Dr. Kevin Grasso unpacks three key characteristics of biblical Greek syntax: ellipsis, negated constituents, and contrastive focus. This is a bonus episode for our series on Key Terms in Pauline Theology. Go to biblingo.org/podcast to learn more and subscribe to the Biblical Languages Podcast. Show notes: - Basic Pragmatics Concepts: https://youtu.be/h1xtO_Ozxiw -  Matthew Thiessen, "Paul and the Gentile Problem": https://academic.oup.com/book/7322 - Andrew Carnie, "Syntax: A Generative Introduction": https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Syntax:+A+Generative+Introduction,+4th+Edition-p-9781119569237