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VERSES DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND
I've found that there's a lot of truth in saying that the Bible is generally easy to understand. Most of it is pretty straightforward, you know? But, yeah, every now and then you stumble across a passage that really makes you scratch your head. Figuring out what those tricky parts mean can be a real challenge.
Thankfully, I'd say 99% of Scripture is clear as a bell. And that's the stuff we really need to focus on living out. The Bible itself talks about how God's word is meant to be understandable, accessible to everyone.
But let's be real, sometimes we run into those verses that feel a bit murky. Even with all the great commentaries and resources we have available today, including stuff online, even theologians will tell you some passages are just tough nuts to crack.
But I believe that with God's help, and by digging a little deeper with the tools available to us, we can gain a better understanding of even those difficult verses. He'll give us the wisdom we need if we seek it.
No one has gone up into heaven; there is only the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
In time the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to Avraham’s side; the rich man also died and was buried.
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; there is no longer any reward for them, because all memory of them is lost.
He called out, ‘Father Avraham, take pity on me, and send El‘azar just to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue, because I’m in agony in this fire!’
Now the natural man does not receive the things from the Spirit of God — to him they are nonsense! Moreover, he is unable to grasp them, because they are evaluated through the Spirit.
In time, when men began to multiply on earth, and daughters were born to them,Noach fathered three sons, Shem, Ham and Yefet.The earth was corrupt before God, the earth was filled with violence.God saw the earth, and, yes, it was corrupt; for all living beings had corrupted their ways on the earth.God said to Noach, “The end of all living beings has come before me, for because of them the earth is filled with violence. I will destroy them along with the earth.Make yourself an ark of gofer-wood; you are to make the ark with rooms and cover it with pitch both outside and inside.Here is how you are to build it: the length of the ark is to be 450 feet, its width seventy-five feet and its height forty-five feet.You are to make an opening for daylight in the ark eighteen inches below its roof. Put a door in its side; and build it with lower, second and third decks.“Then I myself will bring the flood of water over the earth to destroy from under heaven every living thing that breathes; everything on earth will be destroyed.But I will establish my covenant with you; you will come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives with you.“From everything living, from each kind of living being, you are to bring two into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they are to be male and female.the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were attractive; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.Of each kind of bird, each kind of livestock, and each kind of animal creeping on the ground, two are to come to you, so that they can be kept alive.Also take from all the kinds of food that are eaten, and collect it for yourself; it is to be food for you and for them.”This is what Noach did; he did all that God ordered him to do.Adonai said, “My Spirit will not live in human beings forever, for they too are flesh; therefore their life span is to be 120 years.”The N’filim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; these were the ancient heroes, men of renown. (Maftir)
You are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
Not one of this world’s leaders has understood it; because if they had, they would not have executed the Lord from whom this glory flows.
But you are not to eat those that only chew the cud or only have a separate hoof. For example, the camel, the coney and the hare are unclean for you, because they chew the cud but don’t have a separate hoof;A person who eats meat from its carcass or carries its carcass is to wash his clothes; he will be unclean until evening.“‘Any creature that swarms on the ground is a detestable thing; it is not to be eaten —whatever moves on its stomach, goes on all fours, or has many legs — all creatures that swarm on the ground; you are not to eat them, because they are a detestable thing.You are not to make yourselves detestable with any of these swarming, crawling creatures; do not make yourselves unclean with them, do not defile yourselves with them.For I am Adonai your God; therefore, consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy; and do not defile yourselves with any kind of swarming creature that moves along the ground. (Maftir)For I am Adonai, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. Therefore you are to be holy, because I am holy.“‘Such, then, is the law concerning animals, flying creatures, all living creatures that move about in the water, and all creatures that swarm on the ground.Its purpose is to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.’” Haftarah Sh’mini: Sh’mu’el Bet (2 Samuel) 6:1–7:17 (A); 6:1–19 (S) Suggested readings for Parashah Sh’mini from the B’rit Hadashah: Mark 7:1–23; Acts 5:1–11; 10:1–35; 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1; Galatians 2:11–16; 1 Kefa (1 Peter) 1:14–16 [In regular years read with Parashah 28, in leap years read separately]while the pig is unclean for you, because, although it has a separate and completely divided hoof, it doesn’t chew the cud.You are not to eat meat from these or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
and Adonai answered Moshe: “Make a poisonous snake and put it on a pole. When anyone who has been bitten sees it, he will live.”Moshe made a bronze snake and put it on the pole; if a snake had bitten someone, then, when he looked toward the bronze snake, he stayed alive.
“But if you refuse to pay attention to what Adonai your God says, and do not observe and obey all his mitzvot and regulations which I am giving you today, then all the following curses will be yours in abundance:“A curse on you in the city, and a curse on you in the countryside.“A curse on your grain-basket and kneading-bowl.“A curse on the fruit of your body, the fruit of your land and the young of your cattle and flocks.“A curse on you when you come in, and a curse on you when you go out.and all the following blessings will be yours in abundance — if you will do what Adonai your God says:“Adonai will send on you curses, disasters and frustration in everything you set out to do, until you are destroyed and quickly perish, because of your evil actions in abandoning me.“Adonai will bring on you a plague that will stay with you until he has exterminated you from the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.Adonai will strike you down with wasting diseases, fever, inflammation, fiery heat, drought, blasting winds and mildew; and they will pursue you until you perish.“The sky over your head will be brass and the earth under you iron.Adonai will turn the rain your land needs into powder and dust that will fall on you from the sky until you are destroyed.“Adonai your God will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will advance on them one way and flee before them seven. You will become an object of horror to every kingdom on earth.Your carcasses will become food for all the birds in the air and the wild animals, and there will be no one to scare them away.Adonai will strike you down with the boils that broke out on the Egyptians, tumors, skin lesions and itching, all incurable.Adonai will strike you with insanity, blindness and utter confusion.You will grope about at noon like a blind person groping in the dark, unable to find your way. “You will be continually oppressed and robbed, and there will be no one to save you.“A blessing on you in the city, and a blessing on you in the countryside.You will get engaged to a woman, but another man will marry her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not use its fruit.Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you won’t eat any of its meat. Your donkey will be taken away from you by force as you watch, and you won’t get it back. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to help you.Your sons and daughters will be handed over to another people; you will watch for them longingly all day but not see them; and there will be nothing you can do about it.A nation unknown to you will eat the fruit of your land and labor. Yes, you will be continually oppressed and crushed,till you go crazy from what your eyes have to see.Adonai will strike you down in the knees and legs with painful and incurable boils; they will spread from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.Adonai will bring you and your king whom you have put over yourselves to a nation you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors; and there you will serve other gods made of wood and stone.You will be so devastated as to become a proverb and a laughingstock among all the peoples to which Adonai will drive you.“You will carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, because locusts will devour it.You will plant vineyards and dress them but neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.“A blessing on the fruit of your body, the fruit of your land and the fruit of your livestock — the young of your cattle and flocks.You will have olive trees throughout your territory but not anoint yourself with the oil, because your olives will fall off unripe.You will father sons and daughters, but they won’t belong to you, because they will go into captivity.The bugs will inherit all your trees and the produce of your land.“The foreigner living with you will rise higher and higher while you sink lower and lower.He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head and you the tail.“All these curses will come on you, pursuing you and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you didn’t pay attention to what Adonai your God said, observing his mitzvot and regulations that he gave you.These curses will be on you and your descendants as a sign and a wonder forever.Because you didn’t serve Adonai your God with joy and gladness in your heart when you had such an abundance of everything;Adonai will send your enemy against you; and you will serve him when you are hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed and lacking everything; he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he destroys you.Yes, Adonai will bring against you a nation from far away that will swoop down on you from the end of the earth like a vulture, a nation whose language you don’t understand,“A blessing on your grain-basket and kneading-bowl.a nation grim in appearance, whose people neither respect the old nor pity the young.They will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil, until you have been destroyed. They will leave you without grain, wine, olive oil, or your young cattle and sheep — until they have caused you to perish.They will besiege all your towns until your high, fortified walls, in which you trusted, collapse everywhere in your land, which Adonai your God gave you.Then, because of the severity of the siege and distress that your enemies are inflicting on you, you will eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom Adonai your God has given you.Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will be without pity for his brother, his beloved wife or his surviving children,to the degree that he will refuse to share with any of them the flesh of his children whom he is eating; because if he did, he would have nothing left for himself — in the severity of the siege and distress your enemies are inflicting on you in all your towns.The most delicate and sensitive woman among you, so sensitive and delicate that she wouldn’t think of touching the sole of her foot to the ground, will so begrudge her own beloved husband, son and daughterthat she will secretly eat the afterbirth that comes out of her and even her own children as she bears them — so desperately hungry will she be in the severity of the siege and distress your enemies are inflicting on you in your towns.“If you will not observe and obey all the words of this Torah that are written in this book, so that you will fear this glorious and awesome name, Adonai your God;then Adonai will strike down you and your descendants with extraordinary plagues and severe sicknesses that go on and on.“A blessing on you when you go out, and a blessing on you when you come in. (vi)He will bring back upon you all the diseases the Egyptians had, which you were in dread of; and they will cling to you.Not only that, but Adonai will bring upon you all the sicknesses and plagues that are not written in this book of the Torah — until you are destroyed.You will be left few in number, whereas you were once as numerous as the stars in the sky — because you did not pay attention to the voice of Adonai your God.“Thus it will come about that just as once Adonai took joy in seeking to do you good and increase your numbers, so now Adonai will take joy in causing you to perish and be destroyed, and you will be plucked off the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.Adonai will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve other gods, made of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.Among these nations you will not find repose, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; rather Adonai will give you there anguish of heart, dimness of eyes and apathy of spirit.Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be afraid night and day and have no assurance that you will stay alive.In the morning you will say, ‘Oh, how I wish it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘Oh, how I wish it were morning!’ — because of the fear overwhelming your heart and the sights your eyes will see.Finally, Adonai will bring you back in ships to Egypt, the place of which I said to you, ‘You will never ever see it again’; and there you will try to sell yourselves as slaves to your enemies, but no one will buy you.”
Yeshua answered them, “The reason you go astray is that you are ignorant both of the Tanakh and of the power of God.
Yeshua said to them, “Isn’t this the reason that you go astray? because you are ignorant both of the Tanakh and of the power of God?
Yiftach made a vow to Adonai: “If you will hand the people of ‘Amon over to me,then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of ‘Amon will belong to Adonai; I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘I remember what ‘Amalek did to Isra’el, how they fought against Isra’el when they were coming up from Egypt.Sha’ul said to Sh’mu’el, “I did too pay attention to what Adonai said, and I carried out the mission on which Adonai sent me. I brought back Agag the king of ‘Amalek, and I completely destroyed ‘Amalek.But the people took some of the spoil, the best of the sheep and cattle set aside for destruction, to sacrifice to Adonai your God in Gilgal.”Sh’mu’el said, “Does Adonai take as much pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying what Adonai says? Surely obeying is better than sacrifice, and heeding orders than the fat of rams.“For rebellion is like the sin of sorcery, stubbornness like the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Adonai, he too has rejected you as king.”Sha’ul said to Sh’mu’el, “I have sinned. I violated the order of Adonai and your words too, because I was afraid of the people and listened to what they said.Now, please, pardon my sin; and come back with me, so that I can worship Adonai.”But Sh’mu’el said to Sha’ul, “I will not go back with you, because you have rejected the word of Adonai, and Adonai has rejected you as king over Isra’el.”As Sh’mu’el was turning around to leave, he took hold of the hem of his cloak, and it tore.Sh’mu’el said to him, “Adonai has torn the kingdom of Isra’el away from you today and given it to a fellow countryman of yours who is better than you.Moreover, the Eternal One of Isra’el will not lie or change his mind, because he isn’t a mere human being subject to changing his mind.”Now go and attack ‘Amalek, and completely destroy everything they have. Don’t spare them, but kill men and women, children and babies, cows and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
When they arrived at Nakhon’s threshing-floor, the oxen stumbled; and ‘Uzah put out his hand to steady the ark of God.But Adonai’s anger blazed up against ‘Uzah, and God struck him down on the spot for his offense, so that he died there by the ark of God.
Yeshua answered him, “You don’t understand yet what I am doing, but in time you will understand.”
Suddenly, as they were walking on and talking, there appeared a fiery chariot with horses of fire; and as it separated the two of them from each other, Eliyahu went up into heaven in a whirlwind.
for they did not understand about the loaves; on the contrary, their hearts had been made stone-like.
He supposed his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t understand.
Don’t answer a fool in terms of his folly, or you will be descending to his level;but answer a fool as his folly deserves, so that he won’t think he is wise.
After all, the same things that happen to people happen to animals, the very same thing — just as the one dies, so does the other. Yes, their breath is the same; so that humans are no better than animals; since nothing matters, anyway.a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,They all go to the same place; they all come from dust, and they all return to dust.
In the year of King ‘Uziyahu’s death I saw Adonai sitting on a high, lofty throne! The hem of his robe filled the temple.“Make the heart of this people [sluggish with] fat, stop up their ears, and shut their eyes. Otherwise, seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, then understanding with their hearts, they might repent and be healed!”
But he was wounded because of our crimes, crushed because of our sins; the disciplining that makes us whole fell on him, and by his bruises* we are healed.
For I know what plans I have in mind for you,’ says Adonai,‘plans for well-being, not for bad things; so that you can have hope and a future.
With the hand of Adonai upon me, Adonai carried me out by his Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones.So I prophesied as ordered, and the breath came into them, and they were alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army!Then he said to me, “Human being! These bones are the whole house of Isra’el; and they are saying, ‘Our bones have dried up, our hope is gone, and we are completely cut off.’Therefore prophesy; say to them that Adonai Elohim says, ‘My people! I will open your graves and make you get up out of your graves, and I will bring you into the land of Isra’el.Then you will know that I am Adonai — when I have opened your graves and made you get up out of your graves, my people!I will put my Spirit in you; and you will be alive. Then I will place you in your own land; and you will know that I, Adonai, have spoken, and that I have done it,’ says Adonai.”
“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and for your holy city for putting an end to the transgression, for making an end of sin, for forgiving iniquity, for bringing in everlasting justice, for setting the seal on vision and prophet, and for anointing the Especially Holy Place.Know, therefore, and discern that seven weeks [of years] will elapse between the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Yerushalayim until an anointed prince comes. It will remain built for sixty-two weeks [of years], with open spaces and moats; but these will be troubled times.Then, after the sixty-two weeks, Mashiach will be cut off and have nothing. The people of a prince yet to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary, but his end will come with a flood, and desolations are decreed until the war is over.He will make a strong covenant with leaders for one week [of years]. For half of the week he will put a stop to the sacrifice and the grain offering. On the wing of detestable things the desolator will come and continue until the already decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.”
Adonai’s opening words in speaking to Hoshea were to instruct Hoshea, “Go, marry a whore, and have children with this whore; for the land is engaged in flagrant whoring, whoring away from Adonai.”So he went and married Gomer the daughter of Divlayim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
When the shofar is blown in the city, don’t the people tremble? Can disaster befall a city without Adonai’s having done it?
Human being, you have already been told what is good, what Adonai demands of you — no more than to act justly, love grace and walk in purity with your God.
“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the young ones.In time, throughout that land,” says Adonai, “two-thirds of those in it will be destroyed — they will die, but one-third will remain.That third part I will bring through the fire; I will refine them as silver is refined, I will test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is my people’ and they will say, ‘Adonai is my God.’”
If your right eye makes you sin, gouge it out and throw it away! Better that you should lose one part of you than have your whole body thrown into Gei-Hinnom.“How blessed are the poor in spirit! for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.And if your right hand makes you sin, cut it off and throw it away! Better that you should lose one part of you than have your whole body thrown into Gei-Hinnom.
“Don’t suppose that I have come to bring peace to the Land. It is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword!For I have come to seta man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, so that a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.
“So if your hand or foot becomes a snare for you, cut it off and throw it away! Better that you should be maimed or crippled and obtain eternal life than keep both hands or both feet and be thrown into everlasting fire!And if your eye is a snare for you, gouge it out and fling it away! Better that you should be one-eyed and obtain eternal life than keep both eyes and be thrown into the fire of Gei-Hinnom.
Furthermore, I tell you that it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”
At about three, Yeshua uttered a loud cry, “Eli! Eli! L’mah sh’vaktani? (My God! My God! Why have you deserted me?)”
He answered them, “To you the secret of the Kingdom of God has been given; but to those outside, everything is in parables,so that they may be always looking but never seeing; always listening but never understanding. Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven!”
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brothers and his sisters, yes, and his own life besides, he cannot be my talmid.
“Shim‘on, Shim‘on, listen! The Adversary demanded to have you people for himself, to sift you like wheat!But I prayed for you, Shim‘on, that your trust might not fail. And you, once you have turned back in repentance, strengthen your brothers!”
Then Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves.Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life — that is, I will raise him up on the Last Day.For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in him.Just as the living Father sent me, and I live through the Father, so also whoever eats me will live through me.So this is the bread that has come down from heaven — it is not like the bread the fathers ate; they’re dead, but whoever eats this bread will live forever!”
But there was a man named Hananyah who, with his wife Shappirah, sold some propertyInstantly she collapsed at his feet and died. The young men entered, found her there dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.As a result of this, great fear came over the whole Messianic community, and indeed over everyone who heard about it.
But God chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise; God chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the strong;and God chose what the world looks down on as common or regards as nothing in order to bring to nothing what the world considers important;so that no one should boast before God.
for a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.
I wish the people who are bothering you would go the whole way and castrate themselves!
For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.
because for the Messiah’s sake it has been granted to you not only to trust in him but also to suffer on his behalf,
Don’t let anyone deny you the prize by insisting that you engage in self-mortification or angel-worship. Such people are always going on about some vision they have had, and they vainly puff themselves up by their worldly outlook.They fail to hold to the Head, from whom the whole Body, receiving supply and being held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God makes it grow.
Nevertheless, the woman will be delivered through childbearing, provided that she continues trusting, loving and living a holy life with modesty.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living;
For when people have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become sharers in the Ruach HaKodesh,and tasted the goodness of God’s Word and the powers of the ‘olam haba —and then have fallen away — it is impossible to renew them so that they turn from their sin, as long as for themselves they keep executing the Son of God on the stake all over again and keep holding him up to public contempt.
You see that a person is declared righteous because of actions and not because of faith alone.
and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits,as they see your respectful and pure behavior.to those who were disobedient long ago, in the days of Noach, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark, in which a few people — to be specific, eight — were delivered by means of water.
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he will ask; and God will give him life for those whose sinning does not lead to death. There is sin that does lead to death; I am not saying he should pray about that.
“I know what you are doing: you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other!So, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth!
Everyone living on earth will worship it except those whose names are written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb slaughtered before the world was founded.
showing grace to the thousandth generation, forgiving offenses, crimes and sins; yet not exonerating the guilty, but causing the negative effects of the parents’ offenses to be experienced by their children and grandchildren, and even by the third and fourth generations.”
‘Adonai is slow to anger, rich in grace, forgiving offenses and crimes; yet not exonerating the guilty, but causing the negative effects of the parents’ offenses to be experienced by their children and even by the third and fourth generations.’
“If a man has a stubborn, rebellious son who will not obey what his father or mother says, and even after they discipline him he still refuses to pay attention to them;then his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him out to the leaders of his town, at the gate of that place,then your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance between it and the surrounding towns.and say to the leaders of his town, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he doesn’t pay attention to us, lives wildly, gets drunk.’Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death; in this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you, and all Isra’el will hear about it and be afraid. (ii)
However, the men wouldn’t listen to him; so the man took hold of his concubine and brought her out to them. They raped her and abused her all night long; only at dawn did they let her go.At daybreak the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her husband was, and she was still there when it grew light.When her husband got up, opened the doors of the house, and went out to go on his way, he saw the woman lying there with her hands stretched out toward the door.He said to her, “Get up! Let’s go!” But there was no answer. So he loaded her body on the donkey and began his trip home.On arrival at his house, he got a knife, took hold of his concubine’s body, cut her up into twelve pieces, and sent them to all the regions of Isra’el.Then her husband went after her to persuade her to return; he had his servant with him and a pair of donkeys. She brought him into her father’s house; and when the girl’s father saw him, he was glad to meet him.Everyone who saw it said, “From the day the people of Isra’el came up from Egypt until now, never has such a thing happened or been seen. What are we going to do about it? Talk it over and decide.”
Once, after his afternoon nap, David got up from his bed and went strolling on the roof of the king’s palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful.he may become angry and ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall?Didn’t you think about the person who struck Avimelekh the son of Yerubeshet, that a woman threw an upper millstone down on him from the wall, so that he died at Tevetz? Why did you go so near the wall?’ If he says this, tell him, ‘Your servant Uriyah is dead also.’”So the messenger left, and on arrival he told David all that Yo’av had sent him to say.The messenger said to David, “The men were overpowering us and came out after us into the countryside. But we chased them back all the way to the entrance of the city gate.The archers shot at your servants from the wall; some of the king’s servants are dead; also your servant Uriyah the Hitti is dead.”David said to the messenger, “Tell Yo’av, ‘Don’t let this matter get you down — the sword devours in one way or another. Intensify your battle against the city, and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”When the wife of Uriyah heard that Uriyah her husband was dead, she mourned her husband.When the mourning was over, David sent and took her home to his palace, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But Adonai saw what David had done as evil.David made inquiries about the woman and was told that she was Bat-Sheva the daughter of Eli‘am, the wife of Uriyah the Hitti.David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he went to bed with her (for she had been purified from her uncleanness). Then she returned to her house.The woman conceived; and she sent a message to David, “I am pregnant.”
After this, there came to the king two women who were prostitutes. After presenting themselves to him,one of the women said, “My lord, I and this woman live in the same house; and when she was in the house, I gave birth to a baby.Three days after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were there together; there was no one else with us in the house except the two of us.During the night this woman’s child died, because she rolled over on top of it.The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places, because no house had yet been built for the name of Adonai.So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from next to me, while your servant was sleeping, and put it in her arms; and she laid her dead child in my arms.When I awoke in the morning to feed my child from my breast, there it was, dead. But when I took a closer look later in the morning, why, it wasn’t my son at all — not the one I gave birth to!”The other woman broke in, “No! The living one is my son, and the dead one is your son!” The first one said, “No! The dead one is your son and the living one is my son!” This is how they spoke in the presence of the king.Then the king said, “This woman says, ‘The living one is my son; your son is the dead one’; while the other says, ‘No, the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.’Bring me a sword,” said the king. They brought a sword to the king.The king said, “Cut the living child in two; give half to the one and half to the other.”At this, the woman to whom the living child belonged addressed the king, because she felt so strongly toward her son: “Oh, my lord, give her the living child; you mustn’t kill it!” But the other one said, “It will be neither yours nor mine. Divide it up!”Then the king answered, “Give the living child to the first woman, don’t kill it, because she is its mother.”All Isra’el heard of the decision the king had made and held the king in awe, for they saw that God’s wisdom was in him, enabling him to render justice properly.
Elisha left to go up to Beit-El. As he was on his way up the road, some boys came out of the town and began making fun of him. “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!”He looked behind him, saw them and put a curse on them in the name of Adonai; whereupon two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
“A human being, born from a woman, lives a short, trouble-filled life.But when a human being grows weak and dies, he expires; and then where is he?Just as water in a lake disappears, as a river shrinks and dries up;so a person lies down and doesn’t arise — until the sky no longer exists; it will not awaken, it won’t be roused from its sleep.“I wish you would hide me in Sh’ol, conceal me until your anger has passed, then fix a time and remember me!If a man dies, will he live again? I will wait all the days of my life for my change to come.You will call, and I will answer you; you will long to see what you made again.Whereas now you count each step of mine, then you will not keep watch for my sin.You will seal up my crime in a bag and cover over my iniquity.“Just as a mountain erodes and falls away, its rock is removed from its place,the water wears away its stones, and the floods wash away its soil, so you destroy a person’s hope.He comes up like a flower and withers away, flees like a shadow, doesn’t last.
When I had a sour attitude and felt stung by pained emotions,I was too stupid to understand; I was like a brute beast with you.
For you fashioned my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I thank you because I am awesomely made, wonderfully; your works are wonders — I know this very well.
Pointless! Pointless! — says Kohelet — Utterly meaningless! Nothing matters!What does a person gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?
He may cause grief, but he will take pity, in keeping with the greatness of his grace.For he does not arbitrarily torment or punish human beings.
“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and for your holy city for putting an end to the transgression, for making an end of sin, for forgiving iniquity, for bringing in everlasting justice, for setting the seal on vision and prophet, and for anointing the Especially Holy Place.
Woe to you who want the Day of Adonai! Why do you want it, this Day of Adonai? It is darkness, not light;as if someone were to run from a lion, just to be met by a bear; as if he entered a house, put his hand on the wall, just to be bitten by a snake.The virgin of Isra’el has fallen; she will not rise again. She lies abandoned on her own soil with no one to lift her up.Won’t the Day of Adonai be darkness, not light, completely dark, with no brightness at all?
“Once there was a rich man who used to dress in the most expensive clothing and spent his days in magnificent luxury.So he summoned him and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in your accounts, for you can no longer be manager.’At his gate had been laid a beggar named El‘azar who was covered with sores.He would have been glad to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table; but instead, even the dogs would come and lick his sores.In time the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to Avraham’s side; the rich man also died and was buried.“In Sh’ol, where he was in torment, the rich man looked up and saw Avraham far away with El‘azar at his side.He called out, ‘Father Avraham, take pity on me, and send El‘azar just to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue, because I’m in agony in this fire!’However, Avraham said, ‘Son, remember that when you were alive, you got the good things while he got the bad; but now he gets his consolation here, while you are the one in agony.Yet that isn’t all: between you and us a deep rift has been established, so that those who would like to pass from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’“He answered, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house,where I have five brothers, to warn them; so that they may be spared having to come to this place of torment too.’But Avraham said, ‘They have Moshe and the Prophets; they should listen to them.’“‘What am I to do?’ said the manager to himself. ‘My boss is firing me, I’m not strong enough to dig ditches, and I’m ashamed to go begging.However, he said, ‘No, father Avraham, they need more. If someone from the dead goes to them, they’ll repent!’But he replied, ‘If they won’t listen to Moshe and the Prophets, they won’t be convinced even if someone rises from the dead!’”
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed.For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved.Those who trust in him are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God’s only and unique Son.
“From one man he made every nation living on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the limits of their territories and the periods when they would flourish.
and before they were born, before they had done anything at all, either good or bad (so that God’s plan might remain a matter of his sovereign choice, not dependent on what they did, but on God, who does the calling),it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”This accords with where it is written, “Ya‘akov I loved, but Esav I hated.”
O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments! How unsearchable are his ways!For, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been his counselor?’Or, ‘Who has given him anything and made him pay it back?’For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
But, as the Tanakh says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard and no one’s heart has imagined all the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”
Were it otherwise, what would the people accomplish who are immersed on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not actually raised, why are people immersed for them?
there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one.
In the Messiah he chose us in love before the creation of the universe to be holy and without defect in his presence.
Not only that, but I consider everything a disadvantage in comparison with the supreme value of knowing the Messiah Yeshua as my Lord. It was because of him that I gave up everything and regard it all as garbage, in order to gain the Messiahand be found in union with him, not having any righteousness of my own based on legalism, but having that righteousness which comes through the Messiah’s faithfulness, the righteousness from God based on trust.
For it pleased God to have his full being live in his SonTo: God’s people in Colosse, faithful brothers in the Messiah: Grace to you and shalom from God our Father.and through his Son to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through him, through having his Son shed his blood by being executed on a stake.
When people are saying, “Everything is so peaceful and secure,” then destruction will suddenly come upon them, the way labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there is no way they will escape.
Great beyond all question is the formerly hidden truth underlying our faith: He was manifested physically and proved righteous spiritually, seen by angels and proclaimed among the nations, trusted throughout the world and raised up in glory to heaven.
Do all you can to present yourself to God as someone worthy of his approval, as a worker with no need to be ashamed, because he deals straightforwardly with the Word of the Truth.
For there are many, especially from the Circumcision faction, who are rebellious, who delude people’s minds with their worthless and misleading talk.They must be silenced; because they are upsetting entire households by teaching what they have no business teaching, and doing it for the sake of dishonest gain.
For a person who keeps the whole Torah, yet stumbles at one point, has become guilty of breaking them all.
But you are a chosen people, the King’s cohanim, a holy nation, a people for God to possess! Why? In order for you to declare the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
He who wins the victory will, like them, be dressed in white clothing; and I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life; in fact, I will acknowledge him individually before my Father and before his angels.
Next I saw a great white throne and the One sitting on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.And I saw the dead, both great and small, standing in front of the throne. Books were opened; and another book was opened, the Book of Life; and the dead were judged from what was written in the books, according to what they had done.The sea gave up the dead in it; and Death and Sh’ol gave up the dead in them; and they were judged, each according to what he had done.Then Death and Sh’ol were hurled into the lake of fire. This is the second death — the lake of fire.Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was hurled into the lake of fire.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will no longer be any death; and there will no longer be any mourning, crying or pain; because the old order has passed away.”
I warn everyone hearing the words of the prophecy in this book that if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues written in this book.And if anyone takes anything away from the words in the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the Tree of Life and the holy city, as described in this book.