Tuesday, November 21, 2023

"'You do not hasten faster than the Most High, for your haste is for yourself, but the Highest hastens on behalf of many.'"

Uriel leading John the Baptist,
Index of Medieval Art
"Non festina spiritu super Altissimum; tu enim festinas propter temet ipsum spiritum, nam Excelsus pro multis."

     The [arch]angel Uriel at 2 Esdras 4:34 RSV, Charlesworth (i.e. Metzger), & Stone (in Hermeneia).  The former, or RSV, draws, for "yourself," upon the Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic, and Armenian versions, not the Latin (i.e. IV Esr 4:34 Vulgate).  For the editions relied upon by Metzger, see The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. Charlesworth, vol. 1 (1983), pp. 518-519.  And for a helpful "Table of titles given to books associated with Ezra (and Nehemiah) in selected versions," see p. 516.  Outside the Bible, ed. Feldman, Kugel, & Schiffman, vol. 2 (2013), p. 1615 (Hogan):

'Do not be in a greater hurry than the Most High.  You, indeed, are in a hurry for yourself, but the Highest is in a hurry on behalf of many.'

 

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