But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 2 Timothy 2:16 NASB Worldly – Sometimes translations simply remove us from the context of the author. When the NASB (or ESV) chose to translate bebelous as “worldly” (there is no “and” in the Greek text) or “irreverent,” the English obscures Paul’s…
To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Genesis 3:16 NASB Pain – What a twisted verse! When you read this, doesn’t it make you question the justice of…
“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, . . .” Luke 6:27 NASB Do good – If you read this passage only in its Greek translation, you might conclude that doing good is essentially about benefiting the other. The Greek kalos is about what is…
The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger.” Genesis 25:23 NASB The older shall serve the younger – God dictated that Esau would serve Jacob. At least…
For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord, . . . Joshua 5:6 NASB War – At the macro level, human history is filled with…
“I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 NASB Forsake – This verse in Hebrews is really a modified quotation from a verse in Deuteronomy 31:6. The passage in Deuteronomy reads eemach lo yarpeka velo ya’azveka (He will not fail you, nor forsake you). The promise is very old. It…
A man does not fully understand the words of the Torah until he has come to grief over them. Babylonian Talmud, Gitten 43a Come to grief – Rabbi Huna commented with these words when he acknowledged his own error in interpretation concerning a debate over the conditions of betrothal. Rabbi Huna called for a public…
If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear…
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 NASB Good Works – It seems reasonable to suggest that Yeshua anticipated the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. It’s hard to read his teaching in Matthew 24 and…
“And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.” Genesis 21:13 NASB Descendant – In his book, Not In God’s Name, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks notes the fine distinction between the verbs used to describe Abraham’s relationship with Isaac and his relationship with Ismael. Genesis 21:3 says…
