Bible Studies

contributions chiefly from papyri and inscriptions to the history of the language, the literature, and the religion of hellenistic judaism and primitive christianity

by

Dr. G. Adolf Deissmann

professor of theology in the university of heidelberg

with an illustration in the text

Authorised Translation

incorporating dr. deissmann’s most recent changes and additions

by

ALEXANDER GRIEVE, M.A. (Edin.), D.Phil. (Lips.)

minister of the south united free church, forfar

Edinburgh

T. & T. Clark, 38 George Street

1901

εἰ δὲ ἡ διακονία τοῦ θανάτου ἐν γράμμασιν ἐντετυπωμένη λίθοις ἐγενήθη ἐν δόξῃ, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι ἀτενίσαι τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον Μωϋσέως διὰ τὴν δόξαν τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ τὴν καταργουμένην, πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον ἡ διακονία τοῦ πνεύματος ἔσται ἐν δόξῃ;

contents

Preface to the English Edition

Extract from the Preface to Bibelstudien

Translator’s Note

Abbreviations

I. Prolegomena to the Biblical Letters and Epistles

II. Contributions to the History of the Language of the Greek Bible

III. Further Contributions to the History of the Language of the Greek Bible

Introductory Remarks

(i.) Notes on the Orthography

1. Variation of Vowels

2. Variation of Consonants

(ii.) Notes on the Morphology

1. Declension

2. Proper Names

3. Verb

(iii.) Notes on the Vocabulary and the Syntax

1. So-called Hebraisms

2. So-called Jewish-Greek “Biblical” or “New Testament” Words and Constructions

3. Supposed Special “Biblical” or “New Testament” Meanings and Constructions

4. Technical Terms

5. Phrases and Formulæ

6. Rarer Words, Meanings and Constructions

IV. An Epigraphic Memorial of the Septuagint

V. Notes on some Biblical Persons and Names

1. Heliodorus

2. Barnabas

3. Manaen

4. Saulus Paulus

VI. Greek Transcriptions of the Tetragrammaton

VII. Spicilegium

1. The Chronological Statement in the Prologue to Jesus Sirach

2. The Supposed Edict of Ptolemy IV. Philopator against the Egyptian Jews

3. The “Large Letters” and the “Marks of Jesus” in Galatians 6

4. A Note to the Literary History of Second Peter

5. White Robes and Palms

Indexes

author’s preface to the english edition

Having been honoured by a request to sanction an English translation of my Bibelstudien and Neue Bibelstudien, I have felt it my duty to accede to the proposal. It seems to me that investigations based upon Papyri and Inscriptions are specially calculated to be received with interest by English readers.

For one thing, the richest treasures from the domain of Papyri and Inscriptions are deposited in English museums and libraries; for another, English investigators take premier rank among the discoverers and editors of Inscriptions, but particularly of Papyri; while, again, it was English scholarship which took the lead in utilising the Inscriptions in the sphere of biblical research. Further, in regard to the Greek Old Testament in particular, for the investigation of which the Inscriptions and Papyri yield valuable material (of which only ...