The Greek text has much to offer those teaching and preaching, but gleaning these insights can be a frustrating experience. Too often, people expect that word studies or assigning a syntactic label to a construction is as good as it gets. But the new Discourse Analysis Bundle from Mobile Ed opens the door for those with an introductory knowledge of Greek to go deeper than they ever thought possible. In these courses, you’ll be introduced to significant discourse devices that the biblical writers used to prioritize and structure their message. You’ll learn how things like forward-pointing devices were used to help the original audience know that something important was about to be said.

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Whether you’ve studied Greek and Hebrew or just read the interlinear line, you’ve probably noticed that the ordering of Greek and Hebrew words sounds remarkably like you’d expect Yoda from the Star Wars saga to speak. Most introductory grammars don’t even tackle the issue of word order. So is there any exegetical significance to the Greek and Hebrew word order? Absolutely!

Most traditional grammarians like Gesenius or A. T. Robertson recognized two general motives for placing information in front of the verb: contrast and emphasis. Newer grammars like Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar and Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament, applying principles from modern linguistics, have sharpened our understanding of word order. But unless you are a biblical language expert specializing in information structure, you’d be hard-pressed to accurately analyze word order until just recently.

The Lexham Discourse Hebrew Bible and the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament provide you with sentence-by-sentence word order analyses. Accompanying introductions help you understand the important difference between emphasis and frame of reference (traditionally called contrast). The Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament is currently available in a special bundle with six other resources including the Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament and the High Definition Commentary: Philippians.

The Lexham Discourse Hebrew Bible will be shipping soon, helping you identify and understand the same useful concepts that pastors and teachers have come to value in the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament. The initial release will provide an analysis of Genesis–2 Samuel. The entire database is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013.

For those of you who’ve never studied Hebrew or Greek, the Lexham High Definition: ESV Edition resources mark every place where the biblical writers have used word order or some other device to emphasize important ideas. If you buy the Greek or Hebrew database, the ESV Edition comes bundled with it. All these resources include a glossary and introduction to help you get the most out of the text.

Remember how I said you’d need an expert in biblical languages to properly analyze word order? Well, about a year ago Logos hired Josh Westbury as a Hebrew language specialist to partner with me in completing the Lexham Discourse Hebrew Bible/HDOT project. He is currently in a doctoral program with my former adviser and friend Christo Van der Merwe. Look for Hebrew versions of popular resources like Discourse Grammar of the GNT and Lexham High Definition Commentaries written in conjunction with my new colleague, Josh!

One of the big challenges in studying Old Testament stories is identifying the central character, the one to whom the writer wants you paying close attention. This is especially true in complex stories like that of Jacob stealing Esau’s blessing, in which Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau each play an important role. So how do you find the central character, the one in the spotlight?

The Lexham Discourse Hebrew Bible and the Lexham High Definition Old Testament help you find information like this by marking all the places where the most important linguistic devices occur. The device we’ll look at today is overspecification.

Background:

Think about the last time you introduced someone to someone else. Chances are you gave a name (“This is Jayson…”) plus some specific connection to you (“. . . my neighbor” or “. . . a friend from work”). You picked the most relevant connection for the context, which required you to choose which connection to use. Here’s what I mean. If I were speaking at a conference, they’d never introduce me as “Ruth’s dad” or “Jayson’s friend.”  They’d pick the connection most relevant to the context, like “scholar-in-residence” or “doctor of biblical languages.” After the introduction, they’d only use my name, usually there’s no more mention of the connection. Usually, that is.

Genesis 27

Genesis 27 recounts the story of Jacob stealing Esau’s blessing. The main characters are already well established from the preceding context, as is their connection to one another. So why is it that the writer keeps repeating their connection to one another, e.g., “Esau his older son” (Gen 27:1), “Jacob her son”, and “Esau your brother” (Gen 27:6)? What is accomplished by these overly specific connections? They exist for two reasons; we’ll cover the first one in this post.

Since connections are only needed when someone is first introduced, repeating them where they’re not required helps us see where the writer has placed the spotlight. How? Even though the connection is unneeded, it still instructs us how to connect the person to the story. Here’s how it works. The story opens with Esau connected to Isaac as “his son” in v. 1, instructing him to fix him a savory meal. After Rebekah hears of Isaac’s plans, she calls for Jacob, “her son.” Note the shift here. He could have simply been called “Jacob” or alternatively connected to Isaac as “his son.” By connecting Jacob to Rebekah, the writer shifts the spotlight from Isaac to Rebekah just as Rebekah begins hatching a plan to divert Isaac’s blessing from Esau to Jacob.

In Gen. 27:11, overspecification signals another shift in the spotlight, just before Jacob protests against Rebekah’s request. He’s no longer called “her son”; instead, Rebekah is called “his mother.” This new connection forces us to the new initiator.

The coolest example of overspecification comes as Jacob presents the meal he’s prepared to Isaac. Gen 27:17 states that Rebekah gives the food to “Jacob her son,” who, in turn, takes it to “his father.” Here the connections and spotlight shift from Rebekah to Jacob. In v. 20, as Isaac questions the identity of the meal-bearer, he speaks to “his son!” Which one? He’s not sure, and the writer of Scripture captures this ambiguity by changing from “Jacob” vaguer “his son!” In v. 21, as Isaac prepares to touch and smell the one addressing him, there are no connections provided! Why not? It avoids making any judgment about who’s initiating, whether Jacob will triumph or whether Isaac will reject his claim.

Finally in v. 22, as Isaac gives in to Jacob’s request, the expression “Isaac his father” is used, connecting him to Jacob right at the point that Isaac decides to go along with Jacob’s request, despite his misgivings.

The Lexham Discourse Hebrew Bible and the High Definition Old Testament use a silhouette symbol () to mark all the overly specific references.

In Gen 27 this devices is used to signal shifts by providing new connections between participants. The changes coincide with shifts in initiators, heightening the drama of an already exciting story. The resource annotates all occurrences of 30 of the most exegetically significant discourse devices, and it includes both an introduction and a glossary that help you understand what each accomplishes. The analysis also provides a block-indent outline to help you break down the complexities of Hebrew syntax.

There’s also a version specially designed for those who haven’t studied Hebrew: The Lexham High Definition Old Testament  (HDOT). Even though the analysis is based on the Hebrew text, nearly all the same discourse devices are available, displayed on the ESV text.

Both resources come with an introduction and glossary to explain the concepts. Plus the Lexham Discourse Hebrew Bible comes bundled with the HDOT in a six-volume bundle: the Hebrew and the English together at a special price.

There’s a parallel set of New Testament resources currently available that use the same symbols and same linguistic framework:

• Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament
• Lexham High Definition New Testament
• Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament
• Introducing New Testament Discourse Grammar Video Series

These resources are part of a growing suite of exegetical resources that apply cutting-edge linguistic research to day-to-day study, helping you find important details often lost in translation.

Pre-order your copy of the Lexham Discourse Hebrew Bible and the Lexham High Definition Old Testament while they’re available on Pre-Pub. Then check out the rest of our Lexham resources.

Just in case you were wondering, Greek is different from English. But it’s not just the words that differ, there are also different preferences about how to get certain jobs done. These differences often result in a mismatch, where English won’t allow you to do something with a participle that would be perfectly natural in Greek. No worries, it just means that we need to find some means of mapping the information across other than a literal translation. This is where the Lexham High Definition New Testament (HDNT) and Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament (LDGNT) come in. These resources utilize a custom markup scheme to help you understand what each part of the verse is doing, regardless of how it is translated. Let’s take a look at one of my favorite things: participles! These are the verbs in English that mostly end in –ing, like hiking, biking and eating. Basically, participles let you talk about an action as though it were a thing. Because of the mismatch is usage between Greek and English, Greek participles often get translated as though they were a main action. It doesn’t sound like a big deal until you understand what their main purposes are. The participles the precede the main action de-emphasize or background the action compared to the main action. This allowed the biblical writers to keep the spotlight on the main action while still mentioning other things that happened. If you lose the participle, then you lose the focus of the writer’s spotlight (see an earlier post on this topic here).

The HDNTand LDGNTuse grayscale to make sure that the backgrounded actions can be clearly seen. This graphic representation let’s you see at a glance what each part of the discourse is doing, regardless of how it is translated. Take a look at Ephesians 2:1-5 to see what I mean about Greek allowing things that just would not be acceptable in English.

Paul has only one big idea in this whole section: God making us alive with Christ. All of the rest is set-up so that we understand all that was going on when he did this. We were dead in our sins, but God was rich in His mercy even though we were walking in disobedience. This is very important information, or Paul would not have included it. But in the big scheme of things, it is intended to set the stage for his one main thought. To try and keep all of the Greek complexity in a readable English translation is just not possible. But having all of the background information translated as though it was the main action can distract us from clearly seeing where Paul’s spotlight is focused, making us lose focus on the big idea.

The HDNT and the LDGNT help bridge the divide, making sure your focus stays sharp. They do this not just with the graphics, but also with the block outline. This simple outline enables you to clearly see the flow of the text while still reading it in its original order, unlike traditional diagrams. The participles that precede the main action are labeled Circumstance in the left column, whereas the ones the follow the main action are labeled Elaboration. These other participles spell out what the main action looks like in practice. In v. 3, living in the passions of our flesh is elaborated upon as carrying out the desires of the body.

The goal of the HDNT is to help those who aren’t comfortable working in Greek to identify significant discourse devices are used by the writers and to understand their significance. For those who want more detail, the LDGNT provides much more, including analysis of word order to help you better understand the structuring of passages and much more.

The LDGNT comes with all of the HDNT resources bundled in the same package.

For those interested in learning more about participles, especially how the uses I describe mesh with more traditional approaches to grammar, check out the Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament book or teaching videos. There is a whole chapter devoted to the topic, beginning with how grammarians like Wallace, Robertson, BDF and others have treated the issue.

If you want to skip the detail and jump right to the exegetical conclusions, take a look at the High Definition Commentaries. The Philippians volume is in process, to be followed by Romans. This isn’t your standard commentary, as it focuses exclusively on talking you through the flow of the text, providing custom graphics to help you communicate your message in a sermon or Bible study.