Joshua Alfaro

Joshua Alfaro

From Tewahido Bible Study by The Ephesus School

December 23, 2023 · 58 min · Episode 99

About this episode

Joshua Alfaro discusses his insights on the Scroll of Esther and the challenges of translation as observed at the Society of Biblical Literature conference.

Joshua Alfaro is a Septuagint (Old Greek translation(s) of the Hebrew Bible and their daughter translations Ge'ez, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian) scholar and student focusing on the Scroll of Esther. He recently attended the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) annual conference, where he watched and heard the Ethiopic (Classical and Modern) sessions. Hear what he has to say, about what they said. "The Scroll of Esther stands corrupted by various translators. Which (scroll) I, lifting up from the archives of the Hebrews, have translated more accurately word for word. The common edition drags the book by knotted ropes of words hither and yon, adding to it things which may have been said or heard at any time. This is as is usual with instruction by schools, when a subject has been taken up, to figure out from the words which someone could have used, which one either suffered injury, or which one caused injury (to the text). And you, O Paula and Eustochium, since you have both studied to enter the libraries of the Hebrews and also have approved of the battles of the interpreters, holding the Hebrew Book of Esther, look through each word of our translation, so you may be able to…

People in this episode

Guest: Joshua Alfaro

Topics covered

  • Septuagint
  • Scroll of Esther
  • Biblical scholarship
  • Translation studies
  • Ethiopic sessions

Keywords

  • Septuagint
  • Scroll of Esther
  • translation
  • Biblical Literature
  • Ethiopic

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Society of Biblical Literature

Books & works: Scroll of Esther

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