My Bible Doesn't Have a Book of Jacob... Part 2

The lovely Marcia comes to the rescue: the Greek New Testament has the book of Jacobus, not James. The English translators must have chosen James over Jacob for some reason. The first half of this article, http://www.tentmaker.org/Dew/Dew7/D7-TheBookOfJacob.html, talks about how the switch from Jacobus to James may have occurred. Interesting. The Russian translation of the Bible sticks with the original Greek name, Jacob. I don't hold to the second half of the article. I'm not familiar with the Tentmakers, but a quick perusal suggests they're a universalist group of some sort.

My Bible Doesn't Have a Book of Jacob...

I went to a bible study at church, tonight. We talked for a little while before the study began and had tea and treats. Pasha talked some about his recent trip to America. When things got under way, everyone opened their Russian bibles to the book of Yakov. At first, I didn't recognize the name. Yakov? Some of the Russian names of the books of the Bible are a little different than the English names, but I can usually figure it out after a few moments. Yakov? That sounds a lot like Jacob. I asked the lady sitting next to me and she confirmed that it was, indeed, the book of Jacob. My bible doesn't have a book of Jacob. My first thought was maybe this was one of the apocrypha, but I've got the apocrypha at home and there is no book of Jacob. Pastor Victor, ever vigilant, noticed my confusion and also stated (in English) that tonight were were studying the book of Jacob. The book appeared to be near the end of the Bible, so I asked if he really meant the book of Jude. "No, the book of Jacob", Victor responded. "Um, my Bible doesn't have a book of Jacob. What are we studying?", I said. I think somebody repeated what I had said in Russian, the other 10 Russian people had stopped talking and were now watching me. At this point I was wondering where this new book of the Bible had come from and the Russians were probably wondering why I had bought such an obviously defective Bible. "The book of Jacob, it comes after Hebrews", persisted Victor. "After Hebrews... You mean James?", I asked. It took a few moments, but we got it sorted out. The book of James in the English bible is the book of Jacob in the Russian bible. Who knew? Perhaps Jacob is the closest equivilant to the English name James and the translators used Jacob, instead. We all had a good laugh. This isn't the first time I've completely stopped conversation in a room here in Russia, it probably won't be the last. Fun times. Some days, the learning curve feels pretty steep.

Completed Reading the Bible

I recently completed reading the Bible (cover to cover) for the first time, which I think is pretty cool. It took me a year and a half, I was taking my time. I'd read most of the Bible at various times in the past, but never all the way through in a continous fashion. I began my journey on my last visit to Russia, actually, and took a somewhat roundabout route. I started with Ezekiel and went through Malachi, then doubled back to Genesis and went through Lamentations. Then I tackled the New Testament. What an awesome book. Sex, murder, mystery, epic battles, poetry, prophesy, divine visitations, creation, salvation, ... No wonder it's been a best seller for 2,000 years.