Now Get To Work (1)

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,  keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.  Jude 1:20-21  NIV Building yourselves up – Someone wrote to me:  “To [sic] much hassle opening daily…

The Suffering Sequence

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10 NASB Perfect, confirm, strengthen, establish – What is the by-product of suffering a little while?  Notice that I did not write “the product of.”  Why?  Because it is not God’s purpose…

I Think I’ll Pass

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10 NASB For a little while – Pie in the sky, by and by.  That’s what I really want, right?  Oh, sure, I’ll have to put up with some bad things before…

If the Truth Be Told

See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him. 1 John 3:1  NASB For this reason – Does this statement seem odd to you?  It does to me.  First, I find…

A Little Change Here, a Little Change There (5)

You favor man with perception and teach mankind understanding. Grant us knowledge, understanding and intellect from You. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Grantor of perception.  Amidah  (Ashkenazi version) Wisdom, intellect and knowledge – The Sephardic version of the Amidah reads as follows: You favor man with knowledge and teach mankind understanding. Grant us wisdom, intellect and…

A Little Change Here, a Little Change There (4)

You favor man with perception and teach mankind understanding. Grant us knowledge, understanding and intellect from You. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Grantor of perception.  Amidah  (Ashkenazi version) Knowledge, understand and intellect – Let’s be consistent.  That’s one of the fundamental requirements of good translation.  The same word needs to be rendered as the same word. …

A Little Change Here, a Little Change There (3)

You favor man with perception and teach mankind understanding. Grant us knowledge, understanding and intellect from You. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Grantor of perception.  Amidah  (Ashkenazi version) Teach understanding – da’at is gifted.  bina is taught.  What’s the difference? First, the verb.  You’ll remember that the verb for da’at is nātan.  The first sequence is…

A Little Change Here, a Little Change There (2)

You favor man with perception and teach mankind understanding. Grant us knowledge, understanding and intellect from You. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Grantor of perception.  Amidah  (Ashkenazi version) Perception/ Understanding – Let’s summarize yesterday’s insights.  This version of the Amidah suggests that da’at was given to Adam, and that bina was taught to ‘enosh.  These are…

A Little Change Here, a Little Change There (1)

You favor man with perception and teach mankind understanding. Grant us knowledge, understanding and intellect from You. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Grantor of perception.  Amidah  (Ashkenazi version) Man/ mankind – Before we begin to explore the subtle changes in the Sephardic and Ashkenazi versions of the Amidah, let’s look at translation consistency.  Robert Alter makes…

A Feast to Forget

Be silent before the Lord God!  For the day of the Lord is near, because the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated His guests.  “Then it will come about on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice that I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all who clothe themselves with foreign garments.”   Zephaniah 1:7-8  NASB Sacrifice – Robert Alter makes an important comment…