Reading the Biblical Languages

'[R]eading in the original languages slows us down, and reading the text more slowly is essential for learning to love the Bible. As we know from other areas of experience, giving careful attention is not just an outcome of love; it is part of the process of growing in love. We love best those for whom we are obligated to give regular, often demanding, care: a child, an animal, a sick or elderly person, a plot of land or an old house. Inching patiently through the Greek or Hebrew text is best seen as “an act of charity” – ultimately, charity toward God. Poring over every syllable, frustration notwithstanding, we affirm the ages-old conviction of the faithful that these words of Scripture are indeed “some molten words perfected in an oven seven times.”'

Ellen F. Davis, “Teaching the Bible Confessionally in the Church,” in The Art of Reading Scripture (ed. E. F. Davis and R. B. Hays; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 14-16.