Today’s Word

Pattern Paradigms

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Mark 1:1  NASB Son of God – “What the sages have done with Scripture then becomes clear.  They have taken its narrative and discerned a pattern within it, and this pattern then has guided them in thinking about the present.  Whatever happens finds…
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Concluding Postscript

My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.   For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you have destroyed all those who go astray from you.  Psalm 73:26-27  Hebrew World translation Have destroyed – Justice will prevail.  Oh, we like the sound…
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The Five Words

Whom have I in heaven but You?  And beside You, I desire nothing on earth.  Psalm 73:25  NASB Desire – A lot gets added in translation to fill in Asaph’s blurted exclamation.  In Hebrew, the text literally reads, “Who in heaven? I do not desire in earth.”  NASB, ESV, NIV and others add conjunctions, pronouns…
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Old Testament Heaven?

You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.  Psalm 73:24  ESV Glory – This verse certainly appears to support an afterlife in heaven, doesn’t it?  If this is so, it is one of the few verses in the Tanakh that indicates a heavenly reward for the righteous.  Of course,…
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Get a Grip

Yet I was always with You, You grasped my right hand.  Psalm 73:23 (Robert Alter translation) Grasped – Does Asaph reach out and grab hold of God?  No, he doesn’t.  When you and I are in the midst of herd mentality, when we are caught in group-think, when we act by addictive instinct, we can’t…
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Just in Case

I was foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before you.  Psalm 73:22  Hebrew World translation Beast before – It’s worth noting that Asaph uses the plural word behemot (beasts) with a singular verb (hayiti).  Asaph isn’t just one animal before the Lord.  Literally, he says, “I became (was) beasts with  (not “before”) You.” …
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