Daniel Gruber is a dedicated researcher, a gifted writer, and a long time friend. As the culmination of over twenty years of research, he has just published a new covenant translation titled The Messianic Writings.
Maybe you are asking yourself: Why another translation? Daniel explains in the introduction: “There are two basic approaches to translation. One is to bring the text into the world of the reader, and the other is to bring the reader into the world of the text. To some extent, both are necessary and neither is possible. Any translation is an approximation of meaning. My emphasis has been to bring the reader to the world of the text, believing that the meaning of the text is most accurately found in the world in which it was given; but recognizing… we are far removed from the time, culture, and mindset in which the texts were written. We do not think as the people of those times thought; nor do we know as they knew.”
In the Hebrew mindset of those times, life revolved around relationships (I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.) and action (I am the God who brought you out of Egypt). To the Greek, or Western mindset, ideas were most important as evidenced by Luke recording Rabbi Paul’s experience in Athens: “… they brought him to the Areopagus, saying, ‘May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?” For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” (Acts 17:19-21)
All of this has led us to today where the emphasis in Judaism is what you do (DEEDS) while the church has focused on what you believe (CREEDS). The problem is that we need both. That’s why Yeshua’s responding to the question: What is the most important commandment? said: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27) Clearly, Yeshua was saying you need both CREED and DEED (as does James 2:17).
If you are serious about studying the Bible, and want to see it more clearly from a Hebrew mindset, this book is for you. You may purchase a copy at:www.elijahnet.net
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