methodologically defective: there comes a point at which they prove nothing, because they are stretched to prove anything.4 Second, it is a question unlikely ever to be resolved with mathematical precision, how much the language of a single individual may change in the course of his (adult) lifetime, and how much in it remains constant. All that needs to be said here is that the distinctive features of Hebrews’ language (what linguists would call the author’s idiolect) tend to place it at such a