But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Jude 1:20-21 NIV Keep yourselves in God’s love – The literal text places “yourselves in the love…
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will achieve success. Joshua 1:8 NASB Careful – Step…
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will achieve success. Joshua 1:8 NASB Mouth/ meditate/ careful…
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9 NASB Keeper? – How do you know if you’re human? No, I’m not asking if you’re homo sapien. That’s a matter of biology. I’m asking something more. I’m asking about ethics. Just…
The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. Psalm 121:7 NASB You – I suppose there are two questions to be asked about this verse. The first is, “Who is the Lord going to protect from all evil?” Who’s “you”? The second is “When is God going to do this?” If we…
I was also blameless with Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. Psalm 18:23 NASB My iniquity – It would be much easier to for David to say that he kept himself “from iniquity.” Then the wickedness would be alien, outside, an enemy at a distance. But David uses the Hebrew ‘awoni, the combination…
Little children, guard yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:21 NASB Guard yourselves – You don’t worship idols, do you? You aren’t bowing down to Buddha or bringing food gifts to statues on the street, right? Now you are a part of a much more dangerous form of idolatry. You can have the fantasy world…
Guard my life and save me. Let me be not ashamed, for I shelter in You. Psalm 25:20 Robert Alter translation Ashamed – You know it must be a big deal if David brings it up twice, once at the beginning and now at the end of his song. The word is bosh, and it…
For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. Psalm 91:11 NASB Guard – Human trials and temptations often leave us feeling as if we are all alone in this life. In our struggles we imagine that no one really knows us under our skin. We sometimes feel…
Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Deuteronomy 5:12 NASB Observe – One of my dear friends sent me an article about the two Sabbath commands. The other one is the more familiar verse, Exodus 20:8. But if you read them side by side, you realize (especially…
