1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Alphabetic biblical compositions (Acrostics)

Discussion in 'Bible Versions & Translations' started by rlvaughn, Sep 6, 2016.

  1. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2001
    Messages:
    10,544
    Likes Received:
    1,558
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I recently read a post on the (much more) liberal Baptist Life forum which talked about The Voice translation which illustrates the alphabetic style of writing in the Hebrew. For example, in Psalm 25 the translation begins the first verse with a word starting with "A", the second starting with "B", the third starting with a "C", the fourth starting with "D", and so forth. This interested me to restudy the topic and even write about it HERE. I'm not here to recommend The Voice -- I don't even think it is a good translation idea to try to recreate the alphabetic pattern in the receptor language. I did, nevertheless, find it a unique way to show people what you are talking about when trying to explain the alphabetic patterns in certain scriptures.

    What do you think of the use of the alphabetic or acrostic style of writing in the Hebrew text? What was its purpose? Do we who read in some other language lose some of the meaning by not knowing about the pattern?
     
  2. Van

    Van Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Messages:
    26,913
    Likes Received:
    1,017
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Sometime gifted writers can present something in a more powerful, more moving, more memorable way using word play, poetry, and other means to tie something together - the logos - for our benefit.

    My example would be the first 8 verses of Psalm 119.
     
  3. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2002
    Messages:
    9,469
    Likes Received:
    1,228
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Acrostic Psalm 145 offers a unique look at modern textual criticism.
    Modern version ofen add verse 13b found in a few Hebrew manuscripts and in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

    The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
    and faithful in all he does.

    It seems the letter "N" (nun) is commonly missing from the textus receptus.

    Ancient manuscripts complete the acrostic.

    Rob
     
  4. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2001
    Messages:
    10,544
    Likes Received:
    1,558
    Faith:
    Baptist
  5. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2002
    Messages:
    9,469
    Likes Received:
    1,228
    Faith:
    Baptist
  6. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2001
    Messages:
    10,544
    Likes Received:
    1,558
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Our excuses are probably pretty comical, but Benun makes serious assertions as to why some of the "acrostics" were not strictly alphabetical.
     
Loading...