Common English Bible (CEB)

I think I’ve mentioned that I’ve contributed study notes to Daniel for the forthcoming Study Bible edition of the CEB. The CEB is making quite a splash in the world of Bible Translation. It aims to be incredibly accessible, with an ease of reading on a par with the USA Today newspaper. I have just received an email from CEB with news that the Book of Psalms in the CEB translation is available free for the Kindle reader. To download your free Psalms for reading on your iPad, Kindle Fire, etc., click here.

Of course, the entire CEB is available free already in several ways, including through BibleWorks 9 for PC and through the Bible Gateway iPhone app and Website, and through the highly recommended, free YouVersion  app for iPhone and iPad. I’ve marked these apps with arrows in the screen shot below. The upper arrow marks my BibleReader app from Olive Tree, which has the CEB available for purchase, not for free. (Incidentally, the latter app has both the NABre and the NJPS-Tanakh versions available for purchase, both of which are hard to get on an Apple device otherwise). 

A Discouraging Trend (Hebrew Enrollments)

 

The chart above reveals a slow decline in the number of students taking Biblical Hebrew in the United States. In contrast, note how well Arabic, Korean, and Chinese are doing!

VTS Graduates, Commencement 2012

 

Jude Harmon's “Days of Creation”

VTS seminarian Jude Harmon has produced a stunning project entitled Days of Creation. Done in ink and watercolor on Japanese paper, these magnificent hanging scrolls constitute a partial fulfillment of his Summative Project, for which Dr. Kate Sonderegger and artist Peggy Parker served as advisors.

---artist self-portrait

The Exodus, Spectacular Shadow Performance

This short shadow play, is simply awesome. Special thanks to Chana W. for pointing me to it.

Exodus Rhapsody Video

The Clay Model from Khirbet Qeiyafa

 

“Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.” ---Psalm 84:3 

The heads are missing, but you can see lower bodies and feet of birds atop this clay temple model from Khirbet Qeiyafa (see yesterday’s post), a find that is being discussed and debated in many corners of the internet. The clay container features a decorated opening flanked by lions and two pillars that Prof. Yossi Garfinkel, head of the expedition to the site, says recall "Boaz and Yachin," the two pillars that flanked Solomon's Temple. Each column stands on a lion’s head. Over the entrance, rows of wooden beams are visible, and above them appears to be a folded textile, recalling the curtain covering the entrance to the temple’s inner sanctum.  Garfinkel suggests the columns and the textile evoke similarities with the temple that would later be built in Jerusalem.