Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Esther and reading plans

Some of you may remember my comments about the deuterocanonical version of Esther and its chapter numbering. Turns out some of the reading plans were a little confused about this! Douay-Rheims' 1-year plan had chapters "A, 1-2" for its Day 220 Old Testament reading. Thing is, Douay is different than the other deuterocanonical versions I deal with (KJV, RSV) in that it just numbers the chapters 1-16.

Also noticed that the new chronological 1-year plans I created for KJV and RSV didn't quite work with Esther. Fixing this (and taking a quick look at how the plans handle Daniel...) before releasing the iPad apps to store.

Funny enough, I have a new text I'll be working on soon that numbers Esther yet another way, with chapters A, B, C instead of KJV/RSV's 11, 12, 13. Fun fun fun!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

looking forward to the release of the RSV for I Pad.......
jeremy

Bruce Geerdes said...

Just submitted it to the App Store! So it should be available in a week or two.

Anonymous said...

I thought this app was great until I picked up my Apocrypha Authorized King James version and realized all of Esdras is not in your app. In my book II Esdras last chapter is 16:78.

Bruce Geerdes said...

Hello Anonymous -

The whole Ezra/Nehemiah/Esdras thing can be a little confusing! Does your print Bible have 1 & 2 Ezra and Nehemiah? Or does it have 1 & 2 Esdras, Ezra and Nehemiah instead?

I myself don't have a print version of KJV + deuterocanon to compare with. And I suspect different printings handle the names differently. The different translations I've looked at certainly handle it differently (Douay Rheims, RSV-CE and Orthodox Study Bible for example).

I have the 2 Esdras text, I'd just need to figure out how to handle it. Maybe rename what is currently 1 Ezra as "1 Esdras", insert "2 Esdras", and rename what is currently "2 Ezra" as "Ezra".

Bruce

Anonymous said...

These are the books of the Authorized KJV Apocrypha. What you published is not the authorized. And not to be rude but how do you publish something and not have full knowledge of it. Only top scholars know where the Apocrypha fits in the bible being there the ones that took it out. You should be careful about taking it upon yourself to take on an endeavor of this kind unless you have an original old Bible with the Apocrypha in it or extensive knowledge. You can't guess and rewrite as you will. Otherwise just publish the book separately. Like the all red covered Apocrypha from Baker Publishing Book. Take a look at it on amazon and maybe purchase so you have an idea of what one looks like.

Anonymous said...

1 Esdras
2 Esdras
Tobit
Judith
Additions to Esther
Wisdom of Solomon also referred as Sirach
Ecclesiasticus
Baruch
Epistle of Jeremiah
Song of the Three Children
Story of Suzanna
Bel and the Dragon
Prayer of Manasseh
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees

Anonymous said...

Excuse me…the book of Ecclesiasticus is referred also to Sirach.

Bruce Geerdes said...

And not to be rude but how do you publish something and not have full knowledge of it. Only top scholars know where the Apocrypha fits in the bible being there the ones that took it out.

Which is why I used the Catholic Edition of the RSV and the Orthodox Study Bible as guides. 2 Esdras is in neither of them (not being in the Catholic or Orthodox canons), hence my misstep.

My desire was to present the text as it was originally read in the Septuagint and not just append the text in separate blocks as Jerome did in the Vulgate and as the current print versions of KJV + apocrypha do. Given that 2 Esdras is not in the Septuagint, including it would be changing my original vision, but if there is interest in the text I'm willing to make the change.

I apologize if you were expecting an electronic version of the print Bible you have.

Bruce Geerdes said...

You should be careful about taking it upon yourself to take on an endeavor of this kind unless you have an original old Bible with the Apocrypha in it or extensive knowledge.

I appreciate the audacity of what I am doing and welcome your corrections and your prayers for me.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for responding. But if you publish a KJV Bible shouldn't it make sense to use an Authorized KJV Apocrypha. I mean you wouldn't put Lutheran books in seventh day advent bible. When you publish a book you put its complimenting respective book with it. And just as important, you don't charge people for how you feel the Bible should or maybe is read. I mean, I paid $2 for a book authored by God and I got your version. That's not right or fair.

Anonymous said...

I don't appreciate paying for your "audacity" or a bible that needs correction. I mean I wouldn't think biblically that that's right.
Thank you.

Bruce Geerdes said...

I am not correcting "the Bible". I am conforming the ordering of the text to that of the original ordering of the Septuagint and modern deuterocanonical publications like the Catholic Edition of the RSV and the Orthodox Study Bible. If one is interested in the deuterocanonical text, I don't see why one would want to read it in a disjointed fashion.

That said, I understand you're unhappy with this. I cannot offer refunds, but here are instructions on how to request a refund from Apple:

http://www.knowyourcell.com/apple/apple-iphone-3gs/iphone-3gs-guides/404319/how_to_get_a_refund_for_an_iphone_app_purchase.html