| | The [[Greek]] of his Epistle is extraordinarily sophisticated, and is widely regarded as the best example in the New Testament,<ref>Pawson, J. David op cit</ref> This Epistle is noted for its "striking purity and elegance."<ref>"Language and style" [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07181a.htm ''Epistle to the Hebrews''] Catholic Encyclopedia. Accessed 15 March 2008</ref> Not only does the author show "great familiarity with the rules of the Greek literary language" but also "of all the New Testament authors he has the best style. '''His writing may even be included among those examples of artistic Greek [[prose]] whose rhythm recalls the parallelism of [[Hebrew]] poetry.'''"<ref>Catholic Encyclopedia op cit (emphasis added).</ref> Even in the English translation, the language is refined and sophisticated. It uses 168 terms which appear in no other part of the New Testament, including ten words found neither in [[koine]] or classical Greek, and a further forty words which do not appear in the [[Septuagint]]. | | The [[Greek]] of his Epistle is extraordinarily sophisticated, and is widely regarded as the best example in the New Testament,<ref>Pawson, J. David op cit</ref> This Epistle is noted for its "striking purity and elegance."<ref>"Language and style" [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07181a.htm ''Epistle to the Hebrews''] Catholic Encyclopedia. Accessed 15 March 2008</ref> Not only does the author show "great familiarity with the rules of the Greek literary language" but also "of all the New Testament authors he has the best style. '''His writing may even be included among those examples of artistic Greek [[prose]] whose rhythm recalls the parallelism of [[Hebrew]] poetry.'''"<ref>Catholic Encyclopedia op cit (emphasis added).</ref> Even in the English translation, the language is refined and sophisticated. It uses 168 terms which appear in no other part of the New Testament, including ten words found neither in [[koine]] or classical Greek, and a further forty words which do not appear in the [[Septuagint]]. |
| − | The Epistle's length is 4953 words, which would take about 50 minutes to recite (it takes roughly 1 minute to recite 100 words). But it would take longer to recite the words of this Epistle while taking a brisk walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus as nightfall approached, due to pauses necessary to catch one's breath. Moreover, questions and comments, not included in the Epistle, would further stretch this presentation to cover a 90 or so minute period. Jerusalem is about 6.5 miles from Emmaus, but Jesus joined the pair outside of Jerusalem and they ended this dialog outside of Emmaus, so it was roughly only a 6-mile distance, or about 90 minutes when walked quickly to avoid impending darkness (15 minutes per mile). In other words, the length of this Epistle matches perfectly the length of the presentation by Jesus while walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, as described in Luke 24:13-35. | + | The Epistle's length is 4953 words in English, which would take about 90 minutes to recite in Greek, including pauses and questions, because Greek has more syllables per the corresponding English word. Jerusalem is about 6.5 miles from Emmaus, but Jesus joined the pair outside of Jerusalem and they ended this dialog outside of Emmaus, so it was roughly only a 6-mile distance, or about 90 minutes when walked briskly to avoid impending darkness (15 minutes per mile). In other words, the length of this Epistle matches perfectly the length of the presentation by Jesus while walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, as described in Luke 24:13-35. |