How blessed is the man who fears always, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity. Proverbs 28:14 NASB Fear always – How can a man be blessed if he is always afraid? This just doesn’t seem to make any sense. If perfect love casts out fear, and we are exhorted to enter…
He does not slander with his tongue, nor do evil to his neighbor, nor bring shame on his friend; Psalm 15:3 NASB Slander – The Hebrew word here is rāgal. Once you know that, you might be shocked at this translation. You see, only one time in twenty-four occurrences is it translated “slander.” In the other twenty-three instances…
So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth, Genesis 33:16-17a NIV However – Take a moment to read Genesis 33, Jacob’s reunion with Esau. You’ll find something odd about Jacob’s protests. Again and again, Esau shows no animosity, no hidden agenda of revenge, but Jacob turns away…
For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother. Philemon 1:7 NASB 1995 Refreshed – Paul has an agenda. It’s obvious and simple. He wants Philemon to accept Onesimus not as a slave but as a brother in the Messiah. Like…
There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 NASB Perfect love – We have a serious problem with perfect. Since Parmenides, our idea of perfect has been a negative concept, that is, freedom from any defect…
Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word: “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake, . . . Isaiah 66:5 NASB Tremble – Not very often, but when it happens—watch out! That’s my advice about ḥārēdim, the Hebrew word translated “tremble.” It’s only used five times, but…
I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4 NASB Fears – Have any of your really bad dreams turned out to be real? Do you sometimes feel as if you are living in a nightmare? Even a cursory look at human history will convince you that…
But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers; they turned aside like a treacherous bow. Psalm 78:57 NASB Turned back – Don’t be mistaken. This Hebrew word is not שׁוּב (šûb) (re)turn. šûb is “turning back” to God. Jeremiah uses this Hebrew verb in seventeen different ways, all connected to returning. But Asaph doesn’t employ šûb. …
Why should I fear in days of adversity, when the injustice of those who betray me surrounds me, Psalm 49:5 NASB Why – This question in Hebrew begins with the combination of a preposition and an interrogative: la-mah. It seems insignificant to us, but it has important implications in Hebrew. Literally, “until what” brings into view…
One of my readers replied to my recent article about “Losing.” I thought it was insightful enough to be widely published. Here it is: All the goings-on in the States reduces the society to the non-society of suspicion, slavery, spies, and policing, as you so well said. It is a repetition of pre-war and WWII…
