“Why did I not die [f]at birth, come out of the womb and pass away? Job 3:11 NASB Pass away – We’ll have to add another verse in order to understand the implications of this one. That other verse is Job 3:13: “For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then,…
May darkness and black gloom claim it; may a cloud settle on it; may the blackness of the day terrify it. Job 3:5 NASB Black gloom – ṣalmāwet. An unusual Hebrew word. A terrifying word. Not just deep shadow but rather “the shadow of death.” צַלְמָוֶת (ṣalmāwet). Deep darkness. (ASV prefers “the shadow of death” and…
Sustain me so that I may be safe, that I may have regard for Your statutes continually. Psalm 119:117 NASB May be safe – If you read the Hebrew text, you’d recognize this verb immediately, not as “may be safe” but rather as “be saved.” It is the verb yāšaʿ from which we derive the name Yeshua. …
Will You do wonders for the dead? Will the shades arise and acclaim you? Selah. Psalm 88:11 (Robert Alter translation) Wonders – When is it too late? When does the power of the Lord cease to be effective? When you’re dead! Death ends it. As the Korahites sang, we can cry out to the Lord…
Abandoned among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You no longer remember, and they are cut off from Your hand. Psalm 88:5 NASB Abandoned – What an interesting choice of words! Sometimes translated “forsaken,” the Hebrew root is the verb ḥāpaš. Here it is ḥopšî, an adjective. What’s interesting is the basic…
And he said, “Naked I came out from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD has given and the LORD has taken away. May the LORD’s name be blessed.” Job 1:21 Robert Alter Naked – “You can’t take it with you.” We all know that is absolutely true. We came into…
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…
The king reflected and said, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” Daniel 4:30 NASB 1995 I myself – A man should not write down his thoughts until he has no time left to complete…
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in regard to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. Romans 7:4 NASB Raised from the dead – Just when we thought we’d finally…
