Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, so that I will not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?” and that I will not become impoverished and steal, Proverbs 30:8b-9a NASB Impoverished – What does it mean to be impoverished? Poor? Financially destitute? The Hebrew is yāraš, in the…
then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’ Joshua 4:22 NASB On dry ground – Are you having fun yet? You’re probably asking yourself, “How many times are we going to look at this incident? È già abbastanza (It’s enough already).” But, you know, I’m just fascinated by the oddities…
having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you. 1 Peter 5:7 NASB Anxiety – Many, many years ago, when I was still a teenager, I joined a Bible study group with my friends. It was actually a pivotal point in my life. It introduced me to people who seriously examined the text…
I said to the LORD, “My Master You are, my good is only through You.” Psalm 16:2 Robert Alter (Hebrew numbering) Is only through You – “The textual difficulties of this whole segment of the poem being here, because the Hebrew bal-‘aleikha is unclear.”[1] Here are a few other attempts to translate this: I said…
And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. Genesis 37:35b NASB Mourning – What happened to Jacob when he thought his son Joseph was dead? By carefully examining this narrative in Genesis we discover a lot about psychological trauma, family dynamics, and unconscious…
All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; 2 Timothy 3:16 NASB All Scripture – How many times have we investigated the nuances and implications of this single verse? A dozen? Two dozen? It seems that Paul’s statement in a letter to a pupil just…
Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24 NASB Doubt Doesn’t Matter (from August 2010, with revisions) Unbelief – What an odd expression? It’s so odd that even good translations stumble over it. The NASB adds “help me in my unbelief” in the 1963 version. The NIV substitutes…
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my savior, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2 NASB Rock – Gibraltar or the Grand Canyon? When you read this verse, do you think of granite or sandstone? They’re both rocks. Which one comes to mind? Before you answer,…
Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. Proverbs 27:6 NIV Can be trusted – I’m not a big fan of the NIV. For me, it has too much implicit theology, especially in the New Testament. In this particular verse, Robert Alter’s criticism of the translator’s need to explain rather than…
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….
