Volume 2 of The Hebrew Bible and its Music

Volume 2, The Former Prophets, of The Hebrew Bible and its Music is now available.

I have invented a sort of automated proof-reading tool. It looks at the variations in phrasing that I used for words taken 3 at a time in the context of words taken 6 at a time and I ponder them. How did that variation happen? Sometimes it is a first encounter of a text and a second without necessarily realizing that I had seen it before - perhaps I had not yet perfected by automated look-ahead translation algorithm for repeated phrases. Anyway, I can still usually detect a reason. Here's a trio that occurs 31 times: The three stems על פנה אדם occur in succession in two different forms: מעל פני האדמה and על פני האדמה - not much different. But enough that I have two separate phrases for them, from or from off the surface of the ground, and on or over the face of the ground. I think I am pleased that my inconsistency is reasonably consistent. I also like the sounds-like character of face and surface, the former seeing the ground almost as personal, the latter seeing it as material from which the subject is separated. As usual, English prepositions vary.

Still there are thousands of such triplet sequences and I won't manage to proof-read them all. When proofing these though, as I have reported before, I have found lots of inconsistencies and corrected them through other algorithms based in part on commonly known problems and on the redundancy built into my data.

There are some great benefits to reading a new version of Scripture that is designed with the music in mind. You can find the book here and a description of the resources available through the music here. (With a new podcast - 3 minutes from me...)

And these are the verses I was looking at... (31, I confirmed the count by an independent query). It will give you a taste of the phrasing and vocabulary that I use.

Book	Ch/Vs	6	5	4	3	2	words 1	Text
GENESIS	4.14	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from	היום today	אתי me	גרשׁת you expel	Lo, you expel me today from the surface of the ground and from your face I will be hid, and I will be a vagabond and aimless in the earth and it will happen that anyone who finds me will slay me.
GENESIS	6.1	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על over	לרב to multiply	האדם the earthling	החל started	And it happened that the earthling started to multiply over the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them.
GENESIS	6.7	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	בראתי I created	אשׁר that	האדם humanity	And Yahweh said, I will wipe out humanity that I created from off the surface of the ground, from human to beast to creeper and to the fowl of the heavens, for I regret that I made them.
GENESIS	7.4	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	עשׂיתי I constructed	אשׁר that	היקום that was placed	For in yet seven days I will cause rain upon the earth, a forty day and forty night span. I will wipe out all that was placed that I constructed from off the surface of the ground.
GENESIS	7.23	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על on	אשׁר that is	היקום that was placed	כל all	And wiped out was all that was placed that is on the face of the ground, from human to beast to creeper and to the fowl of the heavens and they were wiped out from the earth, and the residue was but Noah and those who were with him on the barge.
GENESIS	8.8	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	המים the waters	הקלו the dwindling of	לראות to see	And he sent the dove from him, to see the dwindling of the waters from off the surface of the ground.
EXODUS	32.12	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	ולכלתם and to consume them	בהרים in the mountains	אתם them	Why should Egypt say, saying, With evil intent he brought them out to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from off the surface of the ground? Turn from your fierce anger and be comforted, against the evil for your people.
EXODUS	33.16	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על on	אשׁר that are	העם the people	מכל from all	And how will it be known here that I find grace in your eyes, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us? And we will fall out, I and your people, from all the people that are on the face of the ground.
NUMBERS	12.3	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על on	אשׁר that is	האדם human	מכל more than any	But Moses was a very gentle person, more than any human that is on the face of the ground.
DEUTERONOMY	6.15	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	והשׁמידך and exterminate you	בך in you	אלהיך your God	(for a jealous God, Yahweh your God, is within you), lest the anger of Yahweh your God burn in you and exterminate you from off the surface of the ground. S
DEUTERONOMY	7.6	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על on	אשׁר that are	העמים the peoples	מכל from all	For a holy people you are of Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be for himself a people, a treasure trove, from all the peoples that are on the face of the ground.
DEUTERONOMY	14.2	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על on	אשׁר that are	העמים the peoples	מכל from all	For a holy people you are to Yahweh your God. And Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for himself, a treasure trove, from all the peoples that are on the face of the ground.
1 SAMUEL	20.15	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	אישׁ each one	דוד David	איבי the enemies of	And you will not cut off your kindness from my house for ever, ... not when Yahweh has cut off the enemies of David, each one from off the surface of the ground.
2 SAMUEL	14.7	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על over	ושׁארית or residue	שׁם name	לאישׁי for my man	And behold all the family arose against your handmaid, and they said, Give the one who struck his kin, that we may put him to death for the integrity of his kin that he has slain, and we will exterminate also the heir. So they will quench my coal that is still here, so as not to lay up for my man, name or residue, over the face of the ground.
1 KINGS	8.40	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על over	חיים live	הם they	אשׁר that	So that they may fear you all the days that they live over the face of the ground, that you gave to our ancestors.
1 KINGS	9.7	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	ישׂראל Israel	את --	והכרתי then I will cut off	Then I will cut off Israel from off the surface of the ground that I gave for them, and the house which I have sanctified for my name, I will send away from my presence, and Israel will become a parable and a gibe among all the peoples.
1 KINGS	13.34	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	ולהשׁמיד and for extermination	ולהכחיד and for concealment	ירבעם Jeroboam	And in this matter was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, and for concealment and for extermination from off the surface of the ground.
1 KINGS	17.14	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על over	גשׁם showers	יהוה Yahweh	תת gives	For thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, The pitcher of flour you will not finish, and a thin wafer of oil, you will lack not for, until the day Yahweh gives showers over the face of the ground.
1 KINGS	18.1	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על on	מטר rain	ואתנה and I will give	אחאב Ahab	And it was many days, and the word of Yahweh happened to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go. Show yourself to Ahab, and I will give rain on the face of the ground.
ISAIAH	23.17	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על over	הארץ the earth	ממלכות the kingdoms of	כל all	And it will be at the end of a seventy year span, Yahweh will visit Tyre and she will return to her fee, and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the earth over the face of the ground.
JEREMIAH	8.2	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על over	לדמן for compost	יקברו they will be entombed	ולא and not	And they will unfold them to the sun and to the moon, and for all the host of the heavens whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have searched out, and whom they have worshiped. They will not be gathered and they will not be entombed, for compost over the face of the ground they will be.
JEREMIAH	16.4	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על over	לדמן for compost	יקברו they will be entombed	ולא and not	Deaths by disease they will die. They will not be bewailed, and they will not be entombed. For compost over the face of the ground they will be, and by the sword, and by famine, they will be consumed, and their corpses will be as food to the fowl of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth.
JEREMIAH	25.26	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על on	אשׁר that are	הארץ the earth	הממלכות the kingdoms of	And all kings of the north, the near and the far, each to its kin, and all the kingdoms of the earth that are on the face of the ground, and the king of Sheshak will imbibe after them.
JEREMIAH	25.33	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על over	לדמן for compost	יקברו they will be entombed	ולא and not	And the profaned of Yahweh will be in that day from one extremity of the earth, and to the other extremity of the earth. They will not be bewailed, and they will not be gathered and they will not be entombed. For compost over the face of the ground, they will be.
JEREMIAH	28.16	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	משׁלחך I will send you	הנני note me well	יהוה Yahweh	Therefore thus says Yahweh, Note me well. I will send you from off the surface of the ground. This year you will die because you have spoken revolt to Yahweh.
JEREMIAH	35.7	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על on	רבים many	ימים days	תחיו you may live	Nor house will you build, nor seed will you sow, nor vineyard will you plant, and it will not be there for you. But in tents you will sit all your days, so that you may live many days on the face of the ground where you are guests.
EZEKIEL	38.20	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על on	אשׁר that is	האדם humanity	וכל and all	And they will quake in my presence, the fishes of the sea, and the fowl of the heavens, and the living of the field, and every creeper that creeps upon the ground, and all humanity that is on the face of the ground. And the hills will be overthrown and the steep places will fall, and every wall, to earth, will fall.
AMOS	9.8	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	אתה you	והשׁמדתי and I will exterminate	החטאה sin	Behold the eyes of my Lord Yahweh are on the kingdom of sin and I will exterminate you from off the surface of the ground, but, ... for not to exterminate do I exterminate the house of Jacob, an oracle of Yahweh.
ZEPHANIAH	1.2	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	כל for all	אסף havoc	אסף I will wreak	I will wreak havoc for all from off the surface of the ground. An oracle of Yahweh.
ZEPHANIAH	1.3	האדמה the ground	פני the surface of	מעל from off	האדם the human	את --	והכרתי and I will cut off	I will spread havoc for human and beast. I will spread havoc for fowl in the heavens and fish in the sea, and the stumbling-blocks are with the wicked. And I will cut off the human from off the surface of the ground. An oracle of Yahweh.
2 CHRONICLES	6.31	האדמה the ground	פני the face of	על over	חיים live	הם they	אשׁר that	So that they will fear you, to walk in your ways all the days that they live over the face of the ground, that you gave to our ancestors.