Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, liberation and rescue will arise for the Jews from another place, Esther 4:13-14a NASB From another place – A few days ago my bicycle stopped working…
How fair you are, how beautiful! O Love, with all its raptures! Song of Songs 7:7 JPS Its – Does the second part of this verse sound a bit strange to you? The man begins with something we can easily understand. He thinks his lover is incredibly beautiful. But instead of “O love, with all…
“Who knows, God may turn and relent, and turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish.” Jonah 3:9 NASB Who knows? – Nineveh is a problem. Not because it was an evil city that needed to be eradicated. Not because Jonah resisted announcing God’s intention. No, Nineveh is a problem because of…
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you also are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 NASB Build up – “Generally, relationships build by a process of reciprocal self-revelations. One individual takes the leap and reveals some intimate material; thereby placing himself or herself at risk; the other closes the gap by reciprocating in kind;…
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, Psalm 146:5 NASB Hope – When is it necessary to hope? That’s an odd question, wouldn’t you say? We don’t think about a particular time to hope. Hope is almost like a constant companion. We hope the weather will be…
Now when the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, Joshua 4:1 NASB Had finished crossing – Sometimes what matters most is what can’t be written and can’t be read. Here’s what this verse looks like in the Hebrew text: {וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר-תַּמּוּ כָל-הַגּוֹי לַעֲבוֹר אֶת-הַיַּרְדֵּן {פ וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-יְהוֹשֻׁעַ לֵאמֹר Notice this…
The sea looked and fled; the Jordan turned back. Psalm 114:3 NASB Turned back – Biblical cartoon animation. That’s what I imagine when I read a verse like this. Why? Because the verbs associated with these descriptions of the crossing of the Sea of Reeds and the Jordan are emotional and personal, as if the Sea and…
the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; Joshua 3:16a NASB At Adam – As you know, sometimes the text of the Tanakh is written one way but read another. Here is an example (in red): וַיַּעַמְדוּ הַמַּיִם הַיֹּרְדִים מִלְמַעְלָה…
But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Peter 2:1 NASB Heresies – “Don’t call me a heretic until I am one.” That’s usually my approach to slanderous claims about what I believe and…
So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:24 NASB Drove – Human birth is painful. Every mother knows this. The biblical account seems to establish this painful experience as…
