Matthew 16:24: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Practically every modern translation I read will render this as “let him deny himself.” The only exceptions are Young’s Literal Translation which says, “Let him disown himself,”
Genesis 49:22: “Joseph is a fruitful son, a fruitful son by a spring. His branches run over a wall.” This is presented as a poetic expression. It is the final blessing given by Jacob just before he died. However, this is more than just a blessing but a prophecy. In Genesis 49:1 we learn
Genesis 47:31: “And he said swear unto me and he swore unto him, And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.” Hebrews 11:21: “By faith Jacob when he was dying blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshipped upon the top of his staff. This is one passage that sure does not make
Genesis 22:13: “And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.” I never really considered the significance of the ram being caught in the thicket. My initial thought was, well God had to have the ram held in place by something. But
Deuteronomy 7:17-18: If thou shalt say in thine heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?” Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shall remember what the Lord did unto Pharaoh and all of Egypt. When twelve spies confronted giants in the promised land only two remembered the words
Psalms 27:1 “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Light has many different meanings for different people and religions. The New Age movement has latched onto the word light to such an extent that
Genesis18:14: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” When Sarah overheard God telling Abraham that she was going to have a child at the age of ninety, she laughed. The word used in the Hebrew here for laugh is tsachak. Lexicographers have debated the nature of this word to determine what type of laughter
Genesis 18:10: “And Sarah heard it in the tent door which was behind him.” I was reading in an ancient rabbinical work which noted that there was no preposition in the original text before the word door. Rabbi Shimon in this ancient text translated this as “Sarah heard the opening of the tent (dwelling
Genesis 17:1 “The Lord appeared unto Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect.” The Lord appeared unto Abram. The word appeared is ra’ah which has the idea of seeing through spiritual eyes. It is also used for a vision. In its primitive form it
Genesis 15:9-10: “And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid one against another; but the birds (singular in Hebrew) divided
