Ditties about Bibliobloggers in Hebrew (2)

Ditty (1) proved that Hebraists and non-Hebraists who love riddles can collaborate in the solution of allusions. See if you can guess which blogs and bloggers I allude to in the following ditty, and to what end. Bonus points if you identify the Bible passages I adapt. Hebraists do well to learn to sight-read without vowels. Hence I offer the ditty without vowels first of all. To the first decipherer of the riddle, I will offer a rhymed toast in Italian in the comments.

מי הוא זה שר הטבחים
עטרת תפארת ביד יהוה
הוא זה שר הטבחים

דבר אחר
נהר קדוש פלגיו
ישמחו עיר אלהים
הוא זה שר הטבחים

מִי הוּא זֶה שַׂר הַטַּבָּחִים
עֲטֶרֶת תִּפְאֶרֶת בְּיַד יהוה
הוּא זֶה שַׂר הַטַּבָּחִים

דָּבָר אַחֵר
נָהָר קָדוֹׁש פְּ‎לָגָיו
יְשַׂמְּחוּ עִיר אֱלֹהִים
הוּא זֶה שַׂר הַטַּבָּחִים

There are allusions to three blogs and two bloggers in the above, and you have to know Greek and not just Hebrew to get one of the allusions. 

Comments

[Karyn]

OK, I'll start.

I hear Ps 24:8,10, except instead of asking "Who is this King of Glory?" you are asking "Who is this chief/commander of cooks/butchers?"

Yikes. I think I better think about this a little more.

[Karyn]

Ps 46:5 (MT)

still working on your allusions

[JohnFH]

You're on the right track.

[Pete Bekins]

My chief Cook is always Ed, or should I say Ralph the נהר קדוש.

[Simon Holloway]

Hmm. I'm confused by the fact that a wondrous crown is in the hand of God, and not upon his head. Nonetheless, the chief cook (or chief butcher) is likened to this crown, and used in a verse that speaks (in Psalms) of the glorious king. Which gastronome, you ask, is a glorious king, and a wondrous crown in the hands of God?

... Buggered if I know.

As for the second stanza, am I right to be flattered by the first two words? A bit lost after them, though. פלגיו is plural, but נהר קדוש is singular; also, is there a precedent for reading עיר as plural? I didn't think so, but don't have my concordance at hand...

[Pete Bekins]

Well, since nobody else is answering, the other biblioblogging Cook is Stephen, or should I say Στεφανος.

[JohnFH]

Hi Karyn,

It's a worthy goal to internalize scripture *in Hebrew* such that שר הטבחים brings to mind a character in the Joseph story, the other phrases, Pss 24 and 46 and Isa 62.

That is the point of these ditties: to encourage Hebraist to internalize scripture. If I were a Shakespeare scholar (I'm not), and a self-respecting one, would I not know by heart:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!
Hamlet:
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

If I were a Shakespeare scholar, I would probably know what plays the above quotes are found in, and be able to contextualize them.

It is my sense that Hebraists need to raise the bar for themselves, and not be content with having internalized so little of the corpus they study.

In my experience, the quality of my understanding of discrete passages depends to an alarming degree on how much of the rest of the corpus I have internalized, subject of course to detailed verification and further study.

Simon,

The name of your blog makes a fleeting appearance in this ditty, but the ditty does not otherwise latch onto you. That time will come.

Excellent, Pete.

Giacche' Pietro e' la pietra
su cui sara' edificata la chiesa,
quanto gradevole e quanto piacevole
che lui sa bene
la lingua di Eden
e gli angeli.

[Karyn]

Good challenge to us, John. Thanks for keeping us on our toes.

I resurrected & revised a post about internalizing scripture on my blog here.

[JohnFH]

That's a very fine post, Karyn. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.