For my life is exhausted in sorrow and my years in sighing. Through my crime my strength stumbles and my limbs are worn out. Psalm 31:11 (Hebrew Bible) Robert Alter Crime – Note Robert Alter’s remark: “The translation follows the Masoretic Text, which has ba’awoni here. But the Septuagint and the Peshitta read be’onyi, ‘in…
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. Me He drove off, led away—darkness and no light! Lamentations 3:1-2 Robert Alter Affliction – I’ve lived long enough to know. To know defeat. To know heartache. To know loss. To know distress. To know evil. To know adversity. To know…
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel…
Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Psalm 25:16 NASB Afflicted – Context, context, context. That’s the way you would determine the meaning of this Hebrew term, ʿānâ. It’s important because the consonants of this word are the same for two other meanings. These are designated ʿānâ I, II…
If Your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have revived me. Psalm 119:92-93 NASB Affliction – Does this verse as it is translated make any sense? How can delight in Torah rescue someone from death due to…
I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. Psalm 119:75 NASB You have afflicted me – We give the devil way too much credit. If something bad happens, he is to blame. If we are tempted, he is responsible. Tragedies and horrors follow in his wake….
I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. Psalm 119:75 NASB Faithfulness – Amen to that! Amen to what? To the faithfulness of God when He afflicts me! The Hebrew is emuna’, from the same root as Amen. God is faithful. That means He is trustworthy,…
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NASB Not crushed – Paul’s list of benefits reads like a colossal blunder. Do we really think that the opposite of afflicted is “not crushed,” or the opposite of perplexed…
I am the man who has seen affliction because of the rod of His wrath. He has driven me and made me walk in darkness and not in light. Lamentations 3:1-2 NASB Life Without Filters – What is the affliction that results from the rod of God’s wrath? We don’t have to look much beyond…
Israel is a luxuriant vine; He produces fruit for himself. The more his fruit, the more altars he made; the richer his land, the better he made the sacred pillars. Hosea 10:1 NASB More/ better – According to Hosea, affluence produces an increase in religion. There is no better example than America. American Christianity has…
