When God began to create heaven and earth—the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water—God said . . . Genesis 1:1-2 JPS A wind from God – One might reasonably argue that this text forms the backbone of the Western…
It came about when the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks as before. …
When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take them away captive, Deuteronomy 21:10 NASB When – The most important word in this verse is not “battle” or “enemies.” It’s not the claim that God will fight on your side. It’s the opening conjunction, the…
When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. Psalm 56:3 NASB I will put my trust – Hebrew is a sparse language. One word may be called into service in many different ways. For example, you know that shema means both “to hear” and “to obey.” This is a small umbrella compared…
When a person presents an offering of meal to the LORD, his offering shall be of choice flour; . . . Leviticus 2:1 JPS When – God never commanded sacrifices. Let’s say that again. God never commanded sacrifices. Even when Abraham was asked to take Isaac to the altar, it was not a command. The…
Thy kingdom come Matthew 6:10 Come – Yesterday we discovered that sometimes the verb tense makes a huge difference. Do you remember “revile” and “persecute?” Both were in the aorist tense. That means they are about a particular, limited point in the past. The actions do not go on and on. Aorist actions are like…
