Study Guide: Group 6

Here is the latest Study Guide! I have not provided English translations, since those are easy enough to find by consulting versions of the Bible in English. Instead, I have tried to call attention to the various grammatical features of the verses, along with interesting vocabulary items, the importance of a specific Biblical context, etc.

You will find more Study Guides at the Vulgate Verses wiki.

These verses contain both first and second declension nouns and adjectives:

54. The verb is implied here: In Deo (est) gloria mea. Note that the predicate in Deo comes before the subject, which is not at all unusual - but it can be hard for English speakers to get used to that!

55. The word paradisus is ultimately from an ancient Iranian word, pairidaeza, which meant a gardeb park or enclosed grounds. The Greeks borrowed this word as paradeisos (παράδεισος), and you can find it used both in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) and in the New Testament.

56. The adjective plena takes a complement in the ablative, misericordia. In English we would say, "full of..."

57. The verb is implied in this verse, which consists of two parallel parts: Lingua (est) inquietum malum, (lingua est) plena veneno mortifero. The adjective plena takes an ablative complement, veneno. The adjective malum is being used substantively here. It does not agree with the noun lingua, but instead is a noun itself: "a bad thing, something bad."

58. Hebrew contains a number of consonants which are not found in either Latin or Greek, although they are found in English. When the Hebrew word "hoshana" was put into Greek, there was no way to represent the "sh" sound. In addition, Greek does not have a letter "h," although there is a special mark used to indicate a rough breathing at the beginning of the word: ὡσαννα. In Latin, the word was transliterated from Greek as "osanna." You can read more about the use of this word in Judaism and in Christianity at wikipedia.

59. These are the words of praise spoken by Jesus's disciples when he descends from the Mount of Olives. They salute him as a king, and proclaim peace and glory: benedictus qui venit rex in nomine Domini pax in caelo et gloria in excelsis, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord; peace on earth and glory in the high places." Compare also the similar statement made by the angels to the shepherds: Gloria in altissimis Deo et in terra pax in hominibus bonae voluntatis, "Glory to God in the highest places and on the earth peace to people of good will." You can read about the use of this phrase in the "Great Doxology" in Christian liturgy in this wikipedia article.

60. Notice that servi is nominative plural, while Dei and caeli are genitive singular (as is terrae). You cannot simply use the word ending to tell you the gender, number and case. Rather, the word endings let you know what gender, number and case might be possible, and you need to rely on context to resolve the grammar.

61. The noun advena is a first declension noun, but it is masculine in gender.

62. The verb is implied here: via impiorum (est) tenebrosa.

63. The verb is implied here: magna (est) Diana Ephesiorum. You will find this phrase in the portion of Acts which explains about the worship of the goddess Diana in the city of Ephesus, and how the Christian message preached by Paul was perceived as a threat to her cult.
(Acts 19:28) Magna Diana Ephesiorum.

64. The verb is implied here: magna (est) misericordia tua. The phrase usque ad caelos is added to specify just how great it is!

65. This verse is from the apocryphal book sometimes called "The Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach," which is often simply abbreviated as "Sirach." It is also sometimes know as the book of Ecclesiasticus (not to be confused with the book of Ecclesiastes). This verse has a clearly proverbial quality. The idea is the praecordia fatui, the mind of a fool is like, quasi, the wheel of a cart, rota carri, because it turns and turns and turns, instead of being stable and steady.

66. Like Verse #65, this is also a metaphorical comparison, using the phrase sicut...sic..., "just as... so is..." to introduce the comparison.

67. In Verse #66 you saw a metaphorical description of the female beloved, amica mea, while in this verse you see a metaphorical description of the male beloved, dilectus meus.