Tag Archives: translation

The Fall of Adam and Eve in the Armenian Aprocrypha

The account of the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Bible is relatively succinct, particularly in the vocal exchanges between the serpent, Eve, and Adam (bolded below).  What details we know of the Fall come primarily from chapter 3 of Genesis:
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which [...]

Job’s Covenant: Hebrew Tav and “Behold my sign!” in Job 31

A few days ago I wrote about a post I read over at Lehi’s Library which quoted a paper by Kevin Christensen in which he referenced Margaret Barker.  The subject was the use of the Hebrew word/letter tau or tav, translated as “mark” in Ezekiel 9:4-6, and what it meant in Ezekiel’s day, and what [...]

The Joseph Smith Papers Volume 1 Available for Pre-Order!

“The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Vol. 1: 1832-1839″ is available for pre-ordering at Deseret Book.  The description reads:
“The Joseph Smith Papers project is the single most significant historical project of our generation.”  —Elder Marlin K. Jensen, LDS Church Historian
Joseph Smith is known to history as the founder and first prophet of The Church of Jesus [...]

Temple imagery in “Gabriel’s Revelation” Discovery

The scholarly world is aflutter over the latest discovery of a 3-foot tall tablet being called “Gabriel’s Revelation,” “Hazon Gabriel,” or the “Vision of Gabriel.”  It contains 87 lines of Hebrew text written in ink on stone, and has been dated to the first century BCE.  The tablet was found near the Dead Sea in [...]

Service on Earth & Worship of God

The account of the garden of Eden in Genesis is a very interesting story indeed.  We learn much about the experiences of our first parents and their interactions with God.  It was a very intimate relationship, one in which God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden (Gen. 3:8).
When Adam was first [...]

The Egyptian Ankh, “Life! Health! Strength!” - Part 4

(Continued from Part 3)
In the last parts of our series on the Egyptian hieroglyph of the ankh, and other related symbols, I’d like to look at where these symbols are found on the extant portions of the Joseph Smith Papyri, related documents, and the facsimiles of the Book of Abraham, to see if Joseph Smith [...]

Brief Intro to the Joseph Smith Papyri and Book of Abraham

Note:  This was going to be the next part of the series on the Egyptian ankh, and its relationship with the papyri and Book of Abraham, but I thought an intro to these first would be a better place to start.
Let’s return again to the subject of the ankh, and related symbols, that we’ve briefly [...]

Time and Eternity: An Egyptian Dualism

As I was researching for the posts on the ankh, I came across some information which was interesting, describing the Egyptian concept of “time” and “eternity.” These concepts almost seem repetitive and redundant to our modern way of thinking, but to the Egyptians each of these terms represented something concrete and distinct, and both were [...]

The Egyptian Ankh, “Life! Health! Strength!” - Part 3

(Continued from Part 2)
The ankh symbol appears frequently with several other hieroglyphics in certain formulas and invocations that immediately call our attention.  These are wedja, seneb, djed, & was.
This table summarizes the different possible explanations for these hieroglyphics that I have been able to find: 

Consecrate = “A Filled Hand” in Hebrew

One of our readers, Dr. Kathy Larsen, pointed out a scripture yesterday that intrigued me. It is Leviticus 21:10:
And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;
There [...]

Enoch’s Anointing & Investiture during Ascension in 2 Enoch

While there is undoubtedly an abundance of temple allusions in the whole of Enoch apocryphal literature, I came across a good example today. I will certainly add more as I learn about them.
This example is from 2 Enoch. This apocrypha text is a pseudepigraphon, meaning its authorship is unknown, but is considered part [...]

Non-Temple-Goers as Swine and Dogs?

I posted my thoughts a couple days ago as “Approaching the Temple” on the Mormon Apologetics & Discussion Board (MADB), which concerned what is appropriate to discuss and talk about with temple subjects, and what is not, and how we might find that voice. A reader responded:
You said, “The temple ceremonies and ordinances are [...]

The Joseph Smith Papers

Every once and a while something comes along that strikes you as absolutely remarkable. The Joseph Smith Papers that will be published by the Church is one of those things. The Church announced the establishment of The Church Historian’s Press today, the first publication of which will be a 25-30 volume series of [...]

The Intercessory Prayer - Back to the Greek

The great intercessory prayer of John 17 is one of the great treasures in all of holy scripture. Dr. Hugh Nibley has given us a pearl of knowledge concerning a reinterpretation of John 17:11 when Christ prayed to the Father, going back to the Greek text in which this verse originally came to us:
As [...]