studythewordgirl

January 2, 2019

Genesis 5:1 – Genesis 7:24

Genesis 5

From Adam to Noah

1 This is the written account of Adam’s family line.

When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.

3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. 7 After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. 10 After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. 16 After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.

18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. 19 After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.

21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 26 After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.

28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29 He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.” 30 After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.

32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Genesis 6

Wickedness in the World

1 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal ; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Noah and the Flood

9 This is the account of Noah and his family.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Genesis 7

1 The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. 24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 1:1 – Genesis 4:26

January 1

Old Testament

Genesis

Genesis 1

The Beginning

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 2

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Adam and Eve

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. 5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of man.”

24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Genesis 3

The Fall

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock

and all wild animals!

You will crawl on your belly

and you will eat dust

all the days of your life.

15 And I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.”

16 To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;

with painful labor you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

and he will rule over you.”

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;

through painful toil you will eat food from it

all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

and to dust you will return.”

20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 4

Cain and Abel

1 Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.”

2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

15 But the LORD said to him, “Not so ; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

23 Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;

wives of Lamech, hear my words.

I have killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for injuring me.

24 If Cain is avenged seven times,

then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.

NIV Translation

December 31, 2018

As I told you yesterday, the Bible translation that I’m going to be using is the New International Version, or the NIV as it is commonly known. I originally bought this version many years ago, because it is written in plain, easy to understand English. When I first bought it and was still questioning the accuracy of Biblical translations, I was made aware of my ignorance when I read the preface.

I learned that this Bible was made by over a hundred scholars that used the best available Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. The goal for this translation was to put the Bible into contemporary English. They, of course, wanted it to be an accurate translation. But they also wanted it to be easily used by people for reading, teaching, and preaching, as well as other uses.

The biblical scholars that worked on this project were from colleges, universities, and seminaries. They were from many different denominations and from many different countries. There were participants from the Anglican Church, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Church of Christ, Mennonite, and many others. They lived in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The entire Bible went through three revisions, during which each translation was examined for its faithfulness to the original languages. These revisions involved thousands of hours of research and discussion about the meaning of the text and the best way of putting them into English. In 1978 the first printing of the entire NIV Bible was published. There were additional revisions made in 1983.

This is a very brief description of how this version came to be. I hope that this blog will either introduce you to the Bible or reacquaint you with it. I also encourage you, if you aren’t already, get involved with a church! If you don’t have a church, ask people that you know, which church they attend. Go, “church shopping”. Try out different churches. Find one that teaches the Bible, follows the Bible faithfully, and encourages you to live out God’s Word. Find one that provides support systems in their women’s and men’s ministries. Do they offer classes? Do they have small groups? Do they have children’s, middle school, high school, and college ministries? Do they do life together? Reading the Bible through once, is never going to be enough. It’s just a start. You’ll want to dig in deeper. You’ll want to explore it and live it. I can’t wait to take this journey with you!

Oh! And, Happy New Year!

Bible Translations

December 30, 2018

Yesterday we started talking about Bible translations. As you can imagine, it’s quite a long and winding road from Moses writing Genesis to what we see today in our Bibles. There is certainly not enough room in a blog to go through all of that history in one reading. If you would like to do further research, it’s all really quite fascinating. Following are some of the highlights. This is certainly not a full or comprehensive history of Bible translations.

The first hand-written English language Bible manuscripts were produced in the 1380’s by John Wycliffe, a seminary professor at Oxford, scholar, theologian, reformer, and English priest. He was well-known throughout Europe for his opposition to the teaching of the organized Church, which he believed to be contrary to the Bible. According to the website of Christianity Today,

“Believing that every Christian should have access to Scripture (only Latin translations were available at the time), he began translating the Bible into English, with the help of his good friend John Purvey.

The church bitterly opposed it: ‘By this translation, the Scriptures have become vulgar, and they are more available to lay, and even to women who can read, than they were to learned scholars, who have a high intelligence. So the pearl of the gospel is scattered and trodden underfoot by swine.’

Wycliffe replied, ‘Englishmen learn Christ’s law best in English. Moses heard God’s law in his own tongue; so did Christ’s apostles.’ ”

He became an influential dissident within the Roman Catholic priesthood during the 14th century and is considered an important predecessor to Protestantism. With the help of his followers, and many scribes, Wycliffe produced dozens of hand-written English language copies of the scriptures. They were translated out of Latin, which was the only source text available to Wycliffe. The Pope was so infuriated by his teachings and his translation of the Bible into English, that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he ordered the bones to be dug-up, crushed, and scattered in the river!

When Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1450’s, the first book to ever be printed was a Latin language Bible. Early documentation states that a total of 200 copies were scheduled to be printed on rag cotton linen paper, and 30 copies on velum animal skin. Today, only 22 copies are known to exist, of which 7 are on velum. That first Bible was in two volumes, each of which had three hundred pages, while each of the pages had forty-two lines. (Obviously not a complete Bible.). They had been printed from movable types of metal. Gutenberg’s Bibles were surprisingly beautiful, as each leaf Gutenberg printed was later colorfully hand-illuminated. The invention of the movable-type printing press meant that Bibles and books could finally be effectively produced in large quantities in a short period of time. This was essential in the coming Reformation.

Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German for the first time and published it in September of 1522. In the 1530’s he would go on to publish the entire Bible in German. Volumes have been written on Martin Luther. I encourage you to read up on church history.

In 1526 William Tyndale was the first man to ever print the New Testament in the English language. Because of the politics at the time, Tyndale was eventually jailed and burned at the stake in 1536, for his crime of printing the New Testament in English. The Church much preferred to have the populace dependent on them for God’s Word. This is a long and deep history that, hopefully, we can dig into more someday.

A mere 3 years after putting William Tyndale to death for publishing the New Testament in English, in 1539 what is known as the “Great Bible” was printed. It was the first English language Bible that was authorized by King Henry VIII, for use by the general public .

The King James Bible was printed in 1611. It was actually a revision of a Bible that was printed in 1568, and called the Bishops Bible.

After producing his dictionary, Noah Webster printed his own revision of the King James Bible in 1833.

The American Standard Version of the Bible was printed in 1901. This was the first major American revision of the King James Bible.

Since the time of the American Standard Bible being published, there have been several other versions released. For our Bible in a year blog, I’ll be using a version known as the New International Version. One more day and then we’ll get started!

Bible Translation

December 29, 2018

One of the arguments that I’ve heard over the years, and one that I ignorantly subscribed to many years ago, was that the Bible has been translated so many times and from old and ancient languages, that we really didn’t know if what we have now is a faithful rendering. This is completely false!

It’s interesting to realize that scholars know so much about the languages and translations of the Bible, that we can be sure we have a book that has been painstakingly copied and translated from the three original biblical languages. Because the text was regarded as sacred, copying by scribes was done with meticulous care. Existing today are some 5000 hand-copied documents of all or part of the Bible, and they agree in 98% of the text! No other ancient writing has this amount of underlying support with such a large percentage of agreement as to the text. The three original biblical languages are: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.

The first human author to write down part of the biblical record was Moses. Moses wrote the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and possibly compiled and/or wrote the book of Job. And what language did he use? He wrote in his native language, which was Hebrew. We have to remember that Moses was a well-educated man, for his time. Although he was a Jew, by birth, he was raised by the Pharaoh’s daughter as a member of the household. As such, he had the best education of the time.

The written Hebrew language, extending back to at least 1500 B.C., was a script composed of twenty-two consonants and was read from right to left. Eventually, vowels were added to the language. Hebrew is one of a group of languages known as the Semitic languages which were spoken throughout that part of the world, then called Mesopotamia, located today mainly in Iraq.

Almost the entire Old Testament was written in Hebrew. There are a few chapters in the books of Ezra and Daniel and one verse in Jeremiah that were written in Aramaic. Aramaic was closely related to the Hebrew language, although they were two separate languages. Aramaic became very popular and took the place of many other languages. It became the common language spoken in Israel in Jesus’ time, and it was likely the language that Jesus spoke day to day.

The New Testament, however, was written in Greek. Greek was the language that was taught and used during the years when the New Testament was being compiled, from 50 to 100 AD. At that time many Jews could not even read Hebrew anymore. Around 300 BC a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek was started, and it was completed around 200 BC. Gradually this Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, was widely accepted and was even used in many synagogues.

I hope that this helps to clear up some of the confusion about how the Bible was written and compiled. Volumes have been written on this subject. And I have not read them! But I would encourage you to do your homework if it is something that you are interested in. I’ll talk about more recent translations tomorrow.

Study the Word!

December 28, 2018

Hello!

A couple of years ago, I decided to start a blog to read through the entire Bible in one year. And, no, it was really not me that decided it. This has definitely been a nudge from God. An ongoing nudge. And yes, I do realize that it’s taken me a couple of years to organize the project! Hopefully, I’m not the only person that delays, and does the start and stop thing. But, God just would not let me forget about this project. I’d ignore it for a while, and then come back to it. Work on it every day for weeks at a time, and then get side-tracked. A few months ago, I knew this was the right time to get it finished and launched. God has been with me the entire time I’ve been working on this and I know that He has dictated when this blog should be published. (Please note that yesterday, when I planned to post this, we had the great Century Link/Verizon internet outage of 2018! Evidently, I was not supposed to post this yesterday.)

When, as an adult, I decided to read the Bible in its entirety, I would read some every morning before I got out of bed. I’m not sure how long it took me to get through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but it was certainly more than a year.

I’ve known, since I first got the idea to compile this blog, I would need to be able to post my first entry at the end of a year, going into a new year. I’d like to spend a few days talking about this project and talking about the Bible, itself. Then we can start at the beginning of the Bible on January 1, 2019.

So, it’s finally organized. I’ve broken the entire Bible down into 365 days. One of the reasons that I wanted to do this, is because other, “the Bible in a year” books that I’ve seen, don’t really include the entire Bible. They seem to leave out sections and parts. I’m sure there are some out there that do include the entire book, it’s just that I haven’t seen them. (Although I’m hoping to hear from people that read this blog, you really don’t need to send me a list of other, complete, Bible in a year books or blogs!)

And I understand why some parts are left out. There are parts that are difficult to read. The genealogies that go on and on… It’s not easy. But, breaking it down, day by day, does make it easier. It is still a lot, but the time and effort is definitely worth it. The entire Bible is important. Every single word. It would not be included in the Bible if it were not important. I’d really like to encourage you to read this every day and not give up!

Reading the Bible is reading history, poetry, a self-help book, wisdom, and prophecy all in one place. It tells of love, betrayal, and war. It’s a guide on how to live. It tells how not to live. Most importantly, it tells of a love that is beyond understanding. Please join me as we go through the Bible in a year.