Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Isaiah 1:18a KJV Reason – Despite the later translation corrections of this Hebrew verb (yākaḥ rendered in the NASB as “debate” and in the NIV as “settle”), most believers of a certain age recall this verse in its King James vernacular, “let us reasontogether.” We won’t…
My voice to God—let me cry out. My voice to God—and hearken to me. In the day of my straits I sought the Master. My eye flows at night, it will not stop. I refused to be consoled. Psalm 77:2-3 (Hebrew Bible) Robert Alter Refused – “You’ll feel better in the morning.” “This too will…
“The Son of Man is going away just as it is written about Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good [a]for that man if he had not been born.” Matthew 26:24 NASB As it is written – I recently engaged in a lively interchange with someone…
Go, eat your bread in gladness, and drink your wine in joy; for your action as long ago approved by God. Ecclesiastes 9:7 JPS Go – Walk the path. Take the journey. Move along. Hālak is the Hebrew term here. You are the traveler on your life’s path, and there are some good things along…
Utter futility!—said Kohelet—utter futility! All is futile! Ecclesiastes 1:1-2 JPS Utter futility – bavel bavalim. Literally, “vapor of vapors.” “Utter senselessness” translates Michael Fox in the JPS commentary. “Ecclesiastes is a strange and disquieting book. It gives voice to an experience not usually thought of as religious: the pain and frustration engendered by an unblinking…
And You have not given me over into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a large place. Psalm 31:8 NASB Not given me over – What does it mean to fall into the hands of the enemy? Pay attention to David’s parallelism and you will understand just how much Hebrew is…
And I went back and saw all the oppression that is done under the sun: the tears of the oppressed who have none to console them, and from the hand of their violent oppressors there is none to console them. And I praised the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are…
Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. Genesis 32:24 NASB Alone – Consider these: “Self-awareness is a supreme gift, a treasure as precious as life. This is what makes us human. But it comes with a costly price: the wound of mortality. Our existence is forever shadowed by the knowledge…
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [a]suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18 NASB Alone – We all die alone. From birth to death we struggle to find connection. Sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we don’t. But the drive is there, only to be extinguished at the…
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [a]suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18 NASB Helper suitable – My work never gets too far from this original story of human desire. Over and over I return to these seminal verses, trying my best to tease out the…
