Introduction– current situation in N.S. Currently peotential organ donors in Nova Scotia are identified by opt-in option when they register for their health card. In addition, potential donors are identified by discussion with next of kin and physicians in critical care facilities around the province. as reported in Globe and Mail, April 24, 2014 …
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Click here to read “Psalm Fifteen – Translation of the Song” The form or structure of Song 15 matches its content or theme: the standards of moral conduct are set forth in 5 verses; each verse divides into 2 or 3 phrases, but for the closing verse, which consists of 3 phrases followed by a single declaration. The numbers 5,3,2 and …
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In Canada, suicide is the second-highest cause of death for youth aged 10 to 34. It is preceded only by car accidents casualties! (Statistics Canada, kidsmentalhealth.ca). In 1972 Canadian legislators debated on the large scale phenomena of suicides and, thank you very much, decided that suicidal acts should not be treated as legal crimes. Probably …
Click here to read “Psalm Fourteen– Translation of the Song” A bleak vision. The opening, more of a dirge than a praisesong. The singer sees a spiritual desert where “there is no doer of good” (v. 1). Worse yet, God “from the heavens observed the sons of man to see, is there someone wise, a …
Click here to read “Psalm Thirteen– Translation of the Song” The singer’s anguish in Song 13 is so acute that the four repetitions of “how long” in verses 2 and 3 sound a scream rather than a lament. The source of the singer’s grief is the seeming absence of God — “How long, ADONAI, will …
Click here to read “Psalm Twelve– Translation of the Song” The structure of Psalm 12 mirrors its content exactly; their reflection, each of the other, parallel. The song consists of 9 lines, with verses 3, 6 and 9 explicitly exemplifying the intricate, intimate connection between form and idea; the numbers themselves indicating both a duality …
Click here to read “Psalm Six – Translation of the Song” Song 11 presents unsolvable puzzles to its interpreters. It begins by adding a stanza to the usual identification of its composer, in itself a divergency from the previous Songs 3 to 10. Moreover, the stanza refers to someone unseen and …
That Song 10 is a continuation of, rather than separate from, Song 9 is clear from its first verse. It mentions neither the composer nor the instrument, setting it apart from Songs 3 to 9.* But, although Song 9 does not end with a chord of resolution, still the abrupt beginning of Song 10, with …
The address of the chapter as appears in Psalm 9:1, talks about the death / defeat of the wicked. Song 9 opens in a mood of jubilation. The verbs of joy surge: “acclaim” and “tell” of v. 2 build to “rejoice and exult” and “sing” of v. 3. The exultation ebbs away as the singer …
Psalm 8 describes the contrast between or oppositeness of God and humankind. An oppositeness that is immediately established in verse 2, with the juxtaposition of human frailty — “infants and sucklings” — and God’s “strength”. And yet it is out of the vulnerability and helplessness of the infant that God’s strength emerges: “From the mouths …
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