All Things Biblical

In this illustrated reading of the Preface to my book Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity (Simon & Schuster 2012) I present a very personal overview of how I view and understand "The Thirteenth Apostle" since I first encountered him at age 17 in my Testament Greek course with the late Professor Abraham Malherbe. He was one of the towering scholars of his generation. I was "hooked" for life and have continued to think about Paul, his ideas, and his relationship to Jesus and his message, ever since.That book, and my earlier one, Paul's Ascent to Paradise, encapsulated my own approach and conclusions to this lifetime of study. You can find both of them described and linked at https://jamestabor.com/books.

In this final interview of 2025 I speak with Dr. Chris Corinthwaite. We delve into some of the more fascinating and intricate deals of my research on Mary, Mother of Jesus, as presented in my new book: The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus IKnopf 2025)Link: https://jamestabor.com/lostmary

In Part II of this podcast I explores the idea that John the Baptizer was the prophetic figure who inaugurated the Jesus movement, that Jesus joined the movement as his disciple, and when he was arrested, Jesus picked up the baton.

In this podcast I explores the idea that John the Baptizer was the prophetic figure who inaugurated the Jesus movement, that Jesus joined the movement as his disciple, and when he was arrested, Jesus picked up the baton.

Don't miss this one. Come Time Travel with me. I wanted to share this podcast interview I did recently with Professors Helen Bond and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones  on their amazing show "Biblical Time Machine." They asked me to take them back to the first century CE, the time of Jesus, and to explore the the historical Mary --not the ransformed Perpetual Virgin, Mother of God,  Queen of Heaven of much later Christian Theology.  Enjoy the trip! Here is their website for your exploration! https://www.biblicaltimemachine.com

In this interview with Megan Lewis, host of the Youtube channel  @DigitalHammurabi   I offer an overview of a more extensive lecture on the topic of "The Making of a Messiah," I discuss some of the methods scholars use to peer through our historical and material evidence to try to get at what we call the "historical figure of Jesus," not so much what people came to believe theologically, but what he in fact was in his own time, within his Jewish-Greco-Roman contexts.  Be sure and check out Megan's Youtube channel for much more! She and I have done several interviews and I find her to be among the best interlocutors out there. For a more extensive treatment and a free link to my major published article on the subject, see: jamestabor.com/messiahmakinghttps://youtu.be/M-7l73i1DTw

In this continuing series of Jesus' last week the activities of Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple led to the "plot to kill" by a select "mafia-like" gang of priests who are even viewed negatively in Jewish sources.

In this new series of podcasts beginning today, April 8th, five days before Passover on the Jewish calendar, I begin to trace the last journey of Jesus to Jerusalem. Subsequent podcasts will carry us through his crucifixion and the aftermath of both despair and faith, in the future and significance of his message.

Millions of Christians for nearly 2000 years have assumed, based on faulty translations--and frankly, Handel's Messiah--that Jesus is referred to as the Mighty God and Everlasting Father by the Prophet Isaiah...Here is the back story.You can download a free PDF of the notes here:https://jamestabor.com/JesusGod

A plain historical reading of Isaiah 7 and 8 in context reveals that Immanuel is NOT Jesus or any Messiah--it is Isaiah's Son!

Millions have read the quotation in Matthew from Isaiah 7:14 that reads in the King James Version--"A Virgin shall conceive," and taken that text as predicting Jesus' virgin birth. As it turns out the Isaiah text says nothing of the kind, and has not only been poorly translated, but read totally out of content. You can download a free PDF of my notes here: https://jamestabor.com/virginbirth

In this new series on my Youtube channel, to run concurrently with the present series, "Lost in Translation," we work on learning how to spot and identify texts of the Bible, whether Hebrew Bible/O.T. or New Testament, that have been overlaid with what appear to be disjunctive interpolations inserted for polemical reasons. . You can download a free PDF of the notes I use in this video here: https://jamestabor.com/falsepen

Millions sing the old evangelical Christian hymn "I Know that My Redeemer Lives," referring to Jesus. However, the idea comes from Job 19 and it turns out it has been seriously mistranslated in Christian versions of the Bible and the actual meaning is something totally different--but equally amazing! For a free PDF of the notes I used in this presentation you can use this link: https://jamestabor.com/JobRedeemer

Millions for centuries--and into our own time, read Genesis 2 and the creation of Adam from the dust as referring only to his body--but then he receives the "breath of life" from God and becomes a living soul--special and above the animals, who are only beasts who perish. Here is a free link to my notes in PDF form you can download: https://jamestabor.com/AdamSoul Here is a link to my translation of Genesis: https://jamestabor.com/TaborGenesis

The traditional translation of "Den of Thieves" is misleading both in the mouth of Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple--but more significant,--in the mouth of the Prophet Jeremiah whom Jesus quotes. Here is the back-story on what was really going on, both in the time of Jeremiah and of Jesus. Here is is a FREE PDF download of the texts I cover in this video: https://jamestabor.com/templeslaughter

A Single verse of the Bible--Jeremiah 17:9, has been mistranslated and misapplied to millions over the past two thousand years to imply that humanity is hopelessly lost in sin, desperately wicked--and that means EVERYONE, even those who are living a righteous life. What it really says is quite the opposite? As it turns out, it is the apostle Paul who has shaped the entire Christian world into the idea of the "total depravity " of all humankind. Here is a PDF with the notes I used in the video, which you can download and print out free: https://jamestabor.com/humanswicked

The very first verse of the Bible--Genesis 1:1--which millions can quote by heart--is MIStranslated in most all major versions and all languages--with very few exceptions. The reasons are simple--Marketing and Commercialism. Who would buy a Bible translation that does not begin with "In the Beginning, God Created the Heavens and the Earth"? In this short exposition I dhow how the original Hebrew has a completely different meaning. It is not a philosophical or scientific statement--but rather a description of the ordering of the chaotic, empty, water covered, wind sweep, wasteland that was Planet Earth, WHEN the "Force of All Forces" (Elohim) begin to bring order out of the random chaos. For my translation of the Book of Genesis see: https://jamestabor.com/taborgenesis

The image of the "Son of Man returning in the Clouds of Heaven" becomes common among Christians to refer to Jesus and his 2nd Coming. However the phrase originates from Daniel 7 in the Hebrew Bible and has nothing to do with the coming of Jesus or any other Messiah figure. Playlist for Prophecy Through the Ages: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIRNAKj50kuuRc5p9l9bSmLgbTWkzyngX

A careful look at Zechariah 14 that predicts a final "battle against Jerusalem" between all the nations of the world, manifestation of the LORD on the Mt of Olives. Christians frequently refer to this and apply it to Jesus as the Messiah. But what does the original Hebrew text in fact say? Here is a free link to my notes in PDF form that you can download and study further; http://jamestabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Lost-in-Translation-LORD-Not-Jesus-Mt-Olives.pdf Two Youtube videos dealing with all the texts on the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible--and whether ANY of them have been fulfilled: https://youtu.be/gGhsWsjNSa0?si=D7-efObooQGG7Aiu https://youtu.be/gGhsWsjNSa0?si=D7-efObooQGG7Aiu

This is a long and serious study based on a lecture I recently gave to my students in the "Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls" course--which is still open to join. We went through a much neglected text--the WAR SCROLL--found in 1947 and seldom mentioned. As it turns out it is the FIRST grand example of Apocalyptic Predictions, Expectations, and FAiLURE from 100 years before the time of Jesus. It dates to the first century BCE--not long after the period of the Maccabees. It is very much an "Apocalypse," but one that failed to come about! Many of the core ideas resurface in our early New Testament materials--with everything moved forward to the period before disastrous Jewish Roman War (63-73 CE), when all hopes for deliverance were shattered. The translation I use here of the Dead Sea Scrolls is that of Geza Vermes, and you can get a copy at this link: https://amzn.to/3yDHHuw You can also sign up for the course itself and get these and many more lectures and class meetings and discussions. It is never too late to join the course--and you own it for life. Check it out here to get an idea of what is included: On-line Courses: "Jesus & Dead Sea Scrolls” https://mvp-courses.com/tabor-dss

Blast from the past...I gave this lecture in 2007 at an academic conference. Don't miss the Q&A at the end. In these intervening years, although I have further developed these views, by and large I remain in agreement with the position I present here. I thought some of you might enjoy both the speaker and the content--looking back!

Studies of the Armenian "Apocryphal Texts" (i.e. Jewish literature from 200 BCE to 100 CE aka "Pseudepigrapha") associated with the Old Testament have been long neglected in favor of other textual traditions, especially Greek, Latin, and Syriac--and some Hebrew materials from the Dead Sea Scrolls, and in the case of 1 Enoch, Ethiopic. See the collections of R. H. Charles, H.F. D. Sparks, and James Charlesworth, for the standard editions in English. In this lecture Michael Stone of Hebrew University offers an overview of what has survived among the Armenians--the oldest Christian community in Jerusalem.

Here we see a very young David Koresh in his defensive mode...this is before his "New Light" Revelation came, making him the Lamb of Revelation, who opens the Seven Seals, a sinful Messiah, fulfilling Psalm 45--the "Rider on the Wbute Horse-, with many wives and children, right before the End Times. George Roden was the son of the previous leaders: Ben Roden, who was then succeeded by his wife Lois Roden.

In this short video I try to put my finger on the single FATAL flaw underlying all modern interpretations of "Bible Prophecy" that plot a countdown of events leading up to the end of the World. The key is a historical reading and understanding of the texts in their original time and contexts. This is particularly the case with the books of Daniel and Revelation. They must be read in the light of events from the Maccabees through the end of the 2nd Revolt in the early 2nd century CE.

For the past 100 years a new form of popular Christian Prophecy belief took over much of evangelical Christianity. This interpretation rendered all the predictions of apocalyptic signs leading up to the end of the world,  "Failure Proof" by a Double "Coming of Christ" idea. This essentially allows for perpetual expectations of the imminence of the End, without facing the failures so common with apocalyptic Jewish and Christian expectations through the ages.

Many Bible readers assume that "Bible Prophecy" refers to the FUTURE--what is called "eschatology." In fact, as the very makeup of the Hebrew Bible demonstrates, such is not the case. Even the book of Daniel, that many would consider quintessentially "prophetic," is not included among the Biblical Prophets.

In Romans 4:3 Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 about the "faith of Abraham," being "reckoned" as "righteousness," which is a meaning quite opposite to the original context and literal Hebrew phrasing. And yet, this along with Romans 1:17, are the TWO PILLAR texts of his entire understanding of what he calls "his Gospel."

Paul's foundational verse for what he calls "my gospel," is taken directly from a quotation of the Hebrew Prophet Habakkuk--seldom read by hardly anyone. However, he completely reverses its meaning!

In this FINALE of my mini-series on the Top Seven Fateful Texts of the New Testament I choose the central underlying cause that lies behind all six of the specific texts I previously y covered. It is the CORE reason that the texts I selected ended up causing untold harm, namely that the Kingdom of God was to arrive in Jesus' generation and all the parameters of our present existence as human beings (gender, , marriage, celibacy, slavery, government, et al.)--that is, mid to late 1st century CE. You can find the texts I discuss at this blog post: https://jamestabor.com/new-testament-texts-on-the-imminence-of-the-end/ 

The TITLE is too long--No One Will Choose this podcast...or maybe not...let's see... SPOILER: I am very familiar with theories of Hitler fleeing Germany to South America or other proposals. The series "Hunting Hitler" is one of my favorites. But THIS is not about that--it is about a place and a time--and a MAN, who embodied the figure in Isaiah 14 as close as one could imagine in your wildest dreams. I offer at the end an interesting proposal...

These texts, written under one of the most oppressive period of Roman Imperial history, are quite jarring in that they seem to whitewash the horrible injustices and cruelties of ancient rulers---from the Emperor of Rome to various Senatorial and Imperial provincial governors--on down the chain. They are ALL God's servants and ministers, and are to be obeyed and honored. These FATEFUL texts were subsequently used for centuries, even by Christian rulers, to subjugate their populations with the "divine rights of Kings" as their banner and God on their side!

Watch or listen carefully...I show how a look at our earliest sources on the burial and empty tomb of Jesus have been completely missed--and support a totally different take on how faith in Jesus' resurrection arose. Expect to be both surprised, and I hope enlightened. For more details and further textual analysis see: https://jamestabor.com/firstressurectionfaith

In this ongoing short series on the Top Seven Fateful texts of the N.T. I select another from the apostle Paul--which taken out of context downplays this present world as passing, almost an illusion or shadow, in favor of a future Heavenly World to come. I call this the "Bad Idea that Took over the World." See the links below to two videos that explore this in depth, with slides and further source materials. Also the PDF I used in the presentation you can download below. “The Bad Idea that Took over the World” 312K views on Youtube https://jamestabor.com/badidea

The first Waco memorial was held on April 19, 1994--precisely one year after the Tragic Fire in which 74 men, women, and children burned to death. Although memorials have been held each year--including this year of 2024--there will never be another like this one. The surviving Branch Davidians who were not in jail were present, many media outlets both national and international, and the late Ron Engleman, of KGBS Radio, did a wonderful job of introducing the speakers and giving his own vital story of involvement along the way. On that sad day a series of expert speakers offered their analysis of the tragedy--including Drs. Tabor and Arnold at the end. The Mt Carmel Center was of course devastated and largely abandoned, but that gathering, one year to the day from the horrible Fire, was a poignant memory for all of us. In this rare archive footage you will hear all the presentations made from the stage, with a quite remarkable collective analysis so close to the horrors of that day. We have learned a lot since then, but this first attempt at analysis has its own special and unique value. Please see my Youtube playlist (@jamestaborvideos) "Waco Tragedy after 30 Years," for much more, including footage of David Koresh and his followers in interviews. I especially recommend the "Last Words of David Koresh."

I just received this archive footage of the very first Memorial at the Mt Carmel Center outside Waco, TX. This was in 1994--and I could not have told you what I said and listened to it quite avidly to find out! I wanted to share with all of you. Interesting on so many levels. We have, of course, learned so much more now (see my Waco playlist on my Youtube channel @jamestaborvideos). I will post the entire Memorial in the future.

In this recent lecture I explore a single chapter of the Hebrew Bible, within its wider contexts, in which I argue the fundamentals of "Abrahamic Faith," are ideally set forth.

One always hears that the New Testament condors Slavery as part of Roman life and culture--but in this video you will encounter a big surprise. There is an important twist here--that involves being willing to suffer as well as considering yourself "free" even though you are a slave and are treated abusively. Find out for yourself what "in Christ" means in these important texts--mostly ignored! And Slave owners are not told to release their slaves, but rather to consider them "free" in Christ. And the continued adherence to the ideas long after the Apocalypse failed to come about is evil-- plain and simple.

These texts from the apostle Paul have been the most influential in Western history in terms of how they have been used to hold back, oppress, restrict, woman for the past 2000 years. Outside of senseless Wars, the suffering and loss is only comparable to slavery and child abuse. The Greco-Roman world did their part in these crimes against woman, but once the Great Church came into the picture, to control much of the world, the denigration of women became the Word of God, directly contrary to everything Jesus taught and his close relationships with leading woman as major influencers and leaders in his movement. At the end of the video I speculate on what Paul would say today--and I think he would be "appalled," to use a bad pun!

In this new series I have gathered together a list of fateful New Testament passages that have been both understood and misunderstood over subsequent ages in ways that reinforce and foster incalculable harm to our lives. I did not try to order these into any kind of priority and I think that would be a difficult thing to determine. These "affirmations" have so direly affected so many billions of people over the past two thousand years I would not want to even attempt to put one above the other in terms of fateful impact. Keep in mind that this series is not about what any of these passages in fact mean, but rather how they have been understood and applied to our personal, social, civil, and spiritual lives with great harmful consequence and effect. The simple phrase--"The Bible tells me so" has justified and covered a multitude of sins! Here are free PDFs of the documents I went through that you can download here: https://jamestabor.com/PaulCelibacy https://jamestabor.com/TaborGenesis If you are interested in a copy of my translation of Genesis in the Transparent English Version here is the link: https://amzn.to/42KZARk

In this presentation to my "Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls" course I go through the various ways in which scholars have sought to position, situate and understand the Dead Sea scrolls in the wider contexts of various forms of Judaism and the emerging 1st century John the Baptist/Jesus/James the Just movement. To learn more about the course, which you do at your own pace, on-line, with monthly Zoom meetings with students, see: "Jesus & Dead Sea Scrolls” https://jamestabor.com/JesusandDSS

In this final video in my mini-series on the Final Week of Jesus' Life I offer an overview of his arrests, trials before the Jewish and Roman authorities, his crucifixion, and his burial. Here is the link to the PDF document I take you through in the Podcast: https://jamestabor.com/GospelParallels

In this new series I have gathered together a list of fateful New Testament passages that have been both understood and misunderstood over subsequent ages in ways that reinforce and foster incalculable harm to our lives. I did not try to order these into any kind of priority and I think that would be a difficult thing to determine. These "affirmations" have so direly affected so many billions of people over the past two thousand years I would not want to even attempt to put one above the other in terms of fateful impact. Keep in mind that this series is not about what any of these passages in fact mean, but rather how they have been understood and applied to our personal, social, civil, and spiritual lives with great harmful consequence and effect. The simple phrase--"The Bible tells me so" has justified and covered a multitude of sins!

A critical historical examination of our various sources both in the New Testament and outside regarding Jesus' Empty Tomb on Easter Morning.

In this podcast I offer my own very personal overview of the way my forty year academic career began to shift once I began to work on the Dead Sea Scrolls and doing archaeology here. For an archive video of those early days see: https://youtu.be/DbrufyTudxo