Daily Bible Reading Podcast

The formatted notes for this episode episode can be downloaded here: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/dailybiblereading/EveryWord001d.pdf

Welcome to this first podcast in a series that I am calling the Every Word Podcast. This is a podcast series for those who enjoy studying details found in God’s Word. In every episode I will read from Dr. Wilbur Pickering’s fresh-sounding translation of the  New Testament. The 2016 2nd edition of this NT was published with the name, “The Sovereign God Has Spoken.” It is available for a free download for the Kindle bool reading app. In today’s episode, I will read and comment on Pickering’s translation of Mark 1:1-28.

 

This is the kind of podcast where it might be better to look at the episode notes while listening. If you are flying down the freeway right now, just bear it in mind that you may want to check this out later. The full text that I will read is attached, but the attachment can only be found at dailybiblereading.info, not in podcast apps. (Click on the PDF download icon to get the attachment. For Android users, if you use our dedicated Daily Bible Reading app, you can get the PDF by clicking the gift icon.) The prettiest way to read Pickering’s NT is via the Kindle app using a tablet, and it is a free download.

 

Dr. Pickering’s translation is based on the Majority Text of the Greek New Testament, which is also called the Byzantine Text. I consider the Majority Text to be superior to the Eclectic Greek Text which was used as the basis of most of the translations of the last century. The shift in the Greek text used for our Bible translations began around 1881, with the publication of Wescott and Hort’s Greek New Testament, which was based on an extremely small sampling of manuscripts of the Alexandrian Text Type*— that is from Egypt. 

*Footnote: The two are Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. These are dated at 3_3_0—3_6_0 AD and 3_0_0—3_2_5 respectively. At the time Wescott and Hort were working, it was anticipated that research into newly discovered ancient New manuscripts from Egypt would reveal a coherent textual stream that would point to the authentic initial form of the Greek text. Now, over a century later, those ancient Egyptian papyrus manuscripts have been analyzed, but they do not reveal a coherent textual stream that can be followed. Instead the papyri manuscripts reveal that Egyptian scribes very freely edited the texts they copied. In contrast, the Majority Text of the New Testament was made by copyists who lived in the same places as the original recipients of the apostles’ writings. Individual scribal errors have been weeded out, since this text type is based on the majority reading of thousands of Greek manuscripts.

 

The Majority Text has been stable over the centuries and is the best academically defendable text of the Greek New Testament that we have today. In this podcast, I am trying in a small way to undo the damage caused by Wescott and Hort’s Greek New Testament, which passed a legacy of mistakes down to all succeeding editions of the Eclectic/Critical Greek Text.** The damage I speak of can be found in almost all of the English Bible translations of the last century, starting with the ASV (1901), and including RSV, NASB, NIV, GNT, NLT, NET, and ESV.

**Footnote: The Eclectic Text is also called the Critical Text, the Nestle-Aland text, and the United Bible Societies (UBS) Text. The succeeding editions of the Eclectic Text have primarily followed Wescott and Hort, but the apparatus (or footnotes) dealing with textual variations has detailed the other variants found among Alexandrian manuscripts.

 

I realize that all this stuff I have just tried to explain may ‘sound like Greek to you’. But I promise that the examples I give will be interesting, and you won’t need to know any Greek to understand them. It will be helpful to your understanding if as you listen you are able to see Pickering’s translation beside your own Bible translation while listening to this podcast.

 

 See the attached PDF for all the readings.

 

 

 

1 A beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God!

Pickering makes a footnote for many of the textual variants. The Eclectic Text does not include ‘Son of God’, and the Lexham Bible (published by Logos) doesn’t translate ‘Son of God’. But most of the last century’s translations follow the 1901 ASV, including those words with a footnote saying, “Some manuscripts do not include the Son of God.” Actually, it is only one Alexandrian manuscript that doesn’t have the three words. 98.4% of manuscripts have it. Another 0.4 percent have it slightly shortened. Only Codex Sinaiticus doesn’t have it, but it was one of Wescott and Hort’s favorites. So that one manuscript dropping the words has caused a footnote in many of today’s translations. Such footnotes have the unintended effect of causing people to question the accuracy of God’s Word.***

***Footnote:  I take all percentage information from Pickering’s footnotes in his Greek NT.

 

What might have guided Wescott and Hort to have left out ‘Son of God’? 

Here I quote from Pickering’s article entitled The Root Cause of the continuous defection from Biblical Infallibility:

F.J.A. Hort, a quintessential 'son of the disobedience'. Hort did not believe in the divine inspiration of the Bible, nor in the divinity of Jesus Christ. Since he embraced the Darwinian theory as soon as it appeared, he presumably did not believe in God.2 His theory of NT textual criticism, published in 1881,3 was based squarely on the presuppositions that the NT was not inspired, that no special care was afforded it in the early decades, and that in consequence the original wording was lost—lost beyond recovery, at least by objective means. His theory swept the academic world and continues to dominate the discipline to this day.1

 

Footnote 2:

For documentation of all this, and a good deal more besides, in Hort's own words, please see the biography written by his son. A.F. Hort, Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort (2 vols.; London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1896). The son made heavy use of the father's plentiful correspondence, whom he admired. (In those days a two-volume 'Life', as opposed to a one-volume 'Biography', was a posthumous status symbol, albeit of little consequence to the departed.) Many of my readers were taught, as was I, that one must not question/judge someone else's motives. But wait just a minute; where did such an idea come from? It certainly did not come from God, who expects the spiritual person to evaluate everything (1 Corinthians 2:15). Since there are only two spiritual kingdoms in this world (Matthew 6:24, 12:30; Luke 11:23, 16:13), then the idea comes from the other side. By eliminating motive, one also eliminates presupposition, which is something that God would never do, since presupposition governs interpretation (Matthew 22:29, Mark 12:24). Which is why we should always expect a true scholar to state his presuppositions. I have repeatedly stated mine, but here they are again: 1) The Sovereign Creator of the universe exists; 2) He delivered a written revelation to the human race; 3) He has preserved that revelation intact to this day.

 

2  As it is written in the prophets4—

4 Around 3.3% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘Isaiah the prophet’ instead of ‘the prophets’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). The 96.7% are correct. 

ESV ‘As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,’

 

Here the Majority Text is right with plural ‘prophets’, because two quotes that follow are by two different prophets, Malachi and Isaiah. (Mal. 3:1; Is. 40:3) There are a number of inaccuracies like this that have been introduced in our Bibles because of following the Eclectic Text, and this is a good example of one of them. 

 

 

 

10 And immediately upon coming up from11 the water He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him. 

11 Perhaps 3% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘out of’ instead of ‘from’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). 

 

This is my own comment, not Pickering’s: The difference here amounts to a difference of two prepositions. The Majority Text has ‘apo’ and the Eclectic Text has ‘ek’. Someone is going to try to use the difference here to show the method of baptism used by John the Baptist. Don’t base any doctrine on Greek prepositions. They have a very wide range of meaning. Neither preposition can be used to prove the depth of the water where Jesus was baptized.

 

 

 

13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days being tested1 by Satan,

1 Our ‘test’ and ‘tempt’ are translations of a single Greek word, the context determining the choice. To tempt is to test in the area of morals. In this context I consider that ‘tempt’ is too limited, but it is included in the wider meaning of 'test'. Note that the Spirit impelled Him, which means that this was a necessary part of the Plan. The three specific tests recorded by Matthew and Luke presumably happened near the end of the forty days. 

 

Pickering here gives an interesting translational note. This is not about a textual difference. I think it interesting and probably right that Satan was doing more than merely tempting Jesus. He was testing Who he was up against.

 

 

 

1:14 Now after John was put in prison,4 Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom5 of God,

5 Some 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit ‘of the Kingdom’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). 

 

ESV ‘gospel of God’

 

My comment: In the very next verse, Jesus said, “The time has been fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has approached. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” The phrase ‘gospel of God’ (meaning that God owns or sponsors the Gospel) does occur in the Pauline epistles and in 1st Peter, but not in any of the Gospels or Acts. To me, especially because of verse 15, it seems much more fitting for Jesus to specify, ‘Gospel of (or about) the Kingdom of God’.

 

 

 

16 Then, as He was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother, [the son of] of Simon,7 casting a circular net onto the water,8 for they were fishermen. 

7 Some 90% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘his brother, of Simon’—presumably a reference to their father. If Peter was the eldest son, he would have been named for his father. 

 

PCF: I think this is an interesting textual variant. If Simon’s father was also named Simon, this part of the story would match the next part where we hear of Zebedee, the father of James and John. If you are looking at the episode notes, you will note that I made a slight alteration to Pickering’s translation. I added the words ‘the son’ before ‘of Simon’, so that the listener will be able to catch the meaning Pickering intends.

 

When I make alterations like this, I will mark them with brackets. I think the Greek can be understood in the sense ‘his brother— that is Simon’s’. That seems to be the way the World English Bible takes it. (The WEB is another translation of the Majority Text, and it is freely available in many Bible apps.)

 

 

23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 saying: “Hey, what do you want with us, Jesus Natsarene?!13

13 The name of the town in Hebrew is based on the consonants נצר) resh, tsadde, nun), but since Hebrew is read from right to left, for us the order is reversed = n, ts, r. This word root means ‘branch’. Greek has the equivalent for ‘ps’ and ‘ks’, but not for ‘ts’, so the transliteration used a z (zeta) ‘dz’, which is the voiced counterpart of ‘ts’. But when the Greek was transliterated into English it came out as ‘z’! But Hebrew has a ‘z’, ז) zayin), so in transliterating back into Hebrew people assumed the consonants נזר ,replacing the correct tsadde with zayin. Neither ‘Nazareth’ nor ‘Nazarene’, spelled with a zayin, is to be found in the Old Testament, but there is a prophetic reference to Messiah as the Branch, netser—Isaiah 11:1—and several to the related word, tsemach—Isaiah 4:2, Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15; Zechariah 3:8, 6:12. So Matthew (2:23) is quite right—the prophets (plural, being at least three) referred to Christ as the Branch. Since Jesus was a man, He would be the ‘Branch-man’, from ‘Branch-town’. Which brings us to the word ‘natsorean’. The familiar ‘Nazarene’ (Nazarhnoj) [Natsarene] occurs in Mark 1:24, 14:67, 16:6 and Luke 4:34, but in Matthew 2:23 and in fourteen other places, including Acts 22:8 where the glorified Jesus calls Himself that, the word is ‘Natsorean’ (Nazwraioj), which is quite different. I have been given to understand that the Natsareth of Jesus’ day had been founded some 100 years before by a Branch family, who called it Branch town; they were very much aware of the prophecies about the Branch and fully expected the Messiah to be born from among them—they called themselves Branch-people (Natsoreans). Of course everyone else thought it was a big joke and tended to look down on them. “Can anything good . . . ?”

 

PCF: This time Pickering’s note points to a treasure he wants us to understand, not a textual variant. You may have picked up in my pronunciation that Jesus was called the ‘Natsarene’. Pickering’s footnote is long, and I think it would be hard to understand for podcast listeners— who may be going down the freeway at 70 miles an hour. The full footnote, complete with Scripture references, is found in the episode notes. But I will summarize what Pickering is pointing out. In Mark 1:23, the demon called Jesus a ‘Natsarene’, following the spelling in Wilbur Pickering's translation. We all know that Nazarene is normally spelled with a z, but Pickering spells it with ts. 

 

Recall that Matthew (2:23) states, “So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: He (Jesus) will be called a Nazarene.” But the name Nazarene or Nazareth appears nowhere in the Old Testament, so how could this fulfill what plural prophets wrote? Unlike what is often assumed, the name Nazareth has nothing to do with the Old Testament nazarite vow. But in Hebrew, the word meaning ‘branch’ is netser. 

 

Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah (plural prophets) refer to the Messiah as the Branch or Shoot (which is netser or a related word). Isaiah 11:1 is one of those places:

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot — yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. (NLT Isaiah 11:1)

 

So we might call the original name for Jesus’ hometown as ‘Netser-place’, or Natsereth. But when Natsereth was translated into Greek, the ts became a z, Nazareth. So the cool thing about this is that before Christ came, someone founded a settlement called Branchville. I don't think this happened by accident. At the very least, they named the town with the intent to remind people that God’s promised a Messiah who was given the title, ‘the Righteous Branch’. So it is significant, and a fulfillment of prophecy, that Jesus is called ‘the man from Branchville’.

 

27 And all were astounded, so that they questioned among themselves, saying: “What is this? What can this new [teaching//doctrine] be?3  Because with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!”

3 Instead of ‘what can this new [teaching//doctrine] be’, perhaps 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘a new doctrine’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, etc.). 

 

ESV And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”

 

The word ‘Because’ is also part of the textual variant. The ESV follows the Eclectic Text, and connects the rather disjointed text so that it makes sense. ESV has an incomplete sentence, ‘A new teaching with authority!’ But the Majority Text includes the verb ‘be’, and a logical connector, ‘for/because’ which renders a much smoother text with complete sentences and good logical flow.

 

 

 

The episode notes for all of the Every Word podcasts will include references to articles that will give further documentation about all of my claims about the Majority Text, the Eclectic Text, and about different Bible translations.

 

All of Dr. Wilbur Pickering’s works are available at PRUNCH.net. Additionally, his second edition (2016) NT translation is available for a free download via the Kindle app. It is also freely available as a module in the MyBible program for Android and Apple devices. Dr. Pickering named his NT, “The Sovereign Creator Has Spoken.” I have not found where Pickering has explained why he gave his NT translation that title. From the forward, I think that it relates to his opinion that God sovereignly protected the original wording of the New Testament through the best line of Greek manuscripts.*

*Footnote: As will be explained in further podcasts, Pickering has chosen a more narrow line of transmission, as found in the F35 family of manuscripts. This is slightly different from the Majority/Byzantine Text Type as published by Robinson and Peerpoint, 2018.

 

I note further that the title, “The Sovereign Creator Has Spoken,” contains three concepts that were not believed by Wescott and Hort. In their age Darwinism had invaded the church. They did not believe that our Creator created humans as described in Genesis. They did not believe in the sovereignty of God, and nor did they believe that God had actively inspired every word of Scripture and was making sure that every word would be preserved.

 

One of my favorite verses is in Jeremiah 1:11-12:

The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

12 The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching* to see that my word is fulfilled.”

*The footnote says, “The Hebrew for watching sounds like the Hebrew for almond tree.”

 

God will carry out his threats and his promises. 

 

If God is watching his word to fulfill it like that, it is logical to believe that He also was careful to preserve his Word for us. For the New Testament, God blessed the Majority line of Greek texts so that they predominate and the text has remained unchanged through the centuries. I think it is a good goal to hope for better translations in this century which will preserve every word that should be in the Greek text, and that every word should be translated in a way that fits the English language.

As Moses and Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but by Every Word of God.” (Deut. 8:3; Luk. 4:4)

 

Let’s pray: Lord, my listener and I want to know You better through your Word, that we may be transformed to obey you from the heart. We thank You for sending the Righteous Branch, Jesus, to be our King, just like the prophets foretold.

 

Resources:

Fields, Philip:

Playing Follow the Leader in Bible Translation, 2019, by Phil Fields. See the Resources list in that article for many more helpful articles on the superiority of the Majority Greek Text.

 

Friberg, Timothy: 

On the text of the Greek New Testament that also happens to be the right one for cousin audiences

Although the title of this four-page paper refers to translating for Muslims, the principles and summary is widely applicable. 

I suggest reading this paper before reading Friberg’s other articles listed below.

 

Layman’s Guide — A modest explanation for the layman of ideas related to determining the text of the Greek New Testament, 2019.

 

What is what? — Differences between the Traditional Text and the Bible Society Text of the Greek New Testament. Some data for the reader to weigh, 2019.

 

Pickering, Wilbur:

New Translation of the New Testament: The Sovereign Creator has Spoken

Greek Text of the New Testament based on Family 35

 

Articles and other major works:

See PRUNCH.net.

Robinson, Maurice: The New Testament in the Original Greek: Byzantine Textform, 1991, 2005, 2018. 

This is available in free digital form in the MyBible Bible app, and in other ways.

 

Article:

Full Text of the 105 verses lacking overall Greek Manuscript Support in the NA edition 27

The formatted notes for this episode episode can be downloaded here: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/dailybiblereading/EveryWord001d.pdf

Welcome to this first podcast in a series that I am calling the Every Word Podcast. This is a podcast series for those who enjoy studying details found in God’s Word. In every episode I will read from Dr. Wilbur Pickering’s fresh-sounding translation of the  New Testament. The 2016 2nd edition of this NT was published with the name, “The Sovereign God Has Spoken.” It is available for a free download for the Kindle bool reading app. In today’s episode, I will read and comment on Pickering’s translation of Mark 1:1-28.

 

This is the kind of podcast where it might be better to look at the episode notes while listening. If you are flying down the freeway right now, just bear it in mind that you may want to check this out later. The full text that I will read is attached, but the attachment can only be found at dailybiblereading.info, not in podcast apps. (Click on the PDF download icon to get the attachment. For Android users, if you use our dedicated Daily Bible Reading app, you can get the PDF by clicking the gift icon.) The prettiest way to read Pickering’s NT is via the Kindle app using a tablet, and it is a free download.

 

Dr. Pickering’s translation is based on the Majority Text of the Greek New Testament, which is also called the Byzantine Text. I consider the Majority Text to be superior to the Eclectic Greek Text which was used as the basis of most of the translations of the last century. The shift in the Greek text used for our Bible translations began around 1881, with the publication of Wescott and Hort’s Greek New Testament, which was based on an extremely small sampling of manuscripts of the Alexandrian Text Type*— that is from Egypt. 

*Footnote: The two are Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. These are dated at 3_3_0—3_6_0 AD and 3_0_0—3_2_5 respectively. At the time Wescott and Hort were working, it was anticipated that research into newly discovered ancient New manuscripts from Egypt would reveal a coherent textual stream that would point to the authentic initial form of the Greek text. Now, over a century later, those ancient Egyptian papyrus manuscripts have been analyzed, but they do not reveal a coherent textual stream that can be followed. Instead the papyri manuscripts reveal that Egyptian scribes very freely edited the texts they copied. In contrast, the Majority Text of the New Testament was made by copyists who lived in the same places as the original recipients of the apostles’ writings. Individual scribal errors have been weeded out, since this text type is based on the majority reading of thousands of Greek manuscripts.

 

The Majority Text has been stable over the centuries and is the best academically defendable text of the Greek New Testament that we have today. In this podcast, I am trying in a small way to undo the damage caused by Wescott and Hort’s Greek New Testament, which passed a legacy of mistakes down to all succeeding editions of the Eclectic/Critical Greek Text.** The damage I speak of can be found in almost all of the English Bible translations of the last century, starting with the ASV (1901), and including RSV, NASB, NIV, GNT, NLT, NET, and ESV.

**Footnote: The Eclectic Text is also called the Critical Text, the Nestle-Aland text, and the United Bible Societies (UBS) Text. The succeeding editions of the Eclectic Text have primarily followed Wescott and Hort, but the apparatus (or footnotes) dealing with textual variations has detailed the other variants found among Alexandrian manuscripts.

 

I realize that all this stuff I have just tried to explain may ‘sound like Greek to you’. But I promise that the examples I give will be interesting, and you won’t need to know any Greek to understand them. It will be helpful to your understanding if as you listen you are able to see Pickering’s translation beside your own Bible translation while listening to this podcast.

 

 See the attached PDF for all the readings.

 

 

 

1 A beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God!

Pickering makes a footnote for many of the textual variants. The Eclectic Text does not include ‘Son of God’, and the Lexham Bible (published by Logos) doesn’t translate ‘Son of God’. But most of the last century’s translations follow the 1901 ASV, including those words with a footnote saying, “Some manuscripts do not include the Son of God.” Actually, it is only one Alexandrian manuscript that doesn’t have the three words. 98.4% of manuscripts have it. Another 0.4 percent have it slightly shortened. Only Codex Sinaiticus doesn’t have it, but it was one of Wescott and Hort’s favorites. So that one manuscript dropping the words has caused a footnote in many of today’s translations. Such footnotes have the unintended effect of causing people to question the accuracy of God’s Word.***

***Footnote:  I take all percentage information from Pickering’s footnotes in his Greek NT.

 

What might have guided Wescott and Hort to have left out ‘Son of God’? 

Here I quote from Pickering’s article entitled The Root Cause of the continuous defection from Biblical Infallibility:

F.J.A. Hort, a quintessential 'son of the disobedience'. Hort did not believe in the divine inspiration of the Bible, nor in the divinity of Jesus Christ. Since he embraced the Darwinian theory as soon as it appeared, he presumably did not believe in God.2 His theory of NT textual criticism, published in 1881,3 was based squarely on the presuppositions that the NT was not inspired, that no special care was afforded it in the early decades, and that in consequence the original wording was lost—lost beyond recovery, at least by objective means. His theory swept the academic world and continues to dominate the discipline to this day.1

 

Footnote 2:

For documentation of all this, and a good deal more besides, in Hort's own words, please see the biography written by his son. A.F. Hort, Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort (2 vols.; London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1896). The son made heavy use of the father's plentiful correspondence, whom he admired. (In those days a two-volume 'Life', as opposed to a one-volume 'Biography', was a posthumous status symbol, albeit of little consequence to the departed.) Many of my readers were taught, as was I, that one must not question/judge someone else's motives. But wait just a minute; where did such an idea come from? It certainly did not come from God, who expects the spiritual person to evaluate everything (1 Corinthians 2:15). Since there are only two spiritual kingdoms in this world (Matthew 6:24, 12:30; Luke 11:23, 16:13), then the idea comes from the other side. By eliminating motive, one also eliminates presupposition, which is something that God would never do, since presupposition governs interpretation (Matthew 22:29, Mark 12:24). Which is why we should always expect a true scholar to state his presuppositions. I have repeatedly stated mine, but here they are again: 1) The Sovereign Creator of the universe exists; 2) He delivered a written revelation to the human race; 3) He has preserved that revelation intact to this day.

 

2  As it is written in the prophets4—

4 Around 3.3% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘Isaiah the prophet’ instead of ‘the prophets’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). The 96.7% are correct. 

ESV ‘As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,’

 

Here the Majority Text is right with plural ‘prophets’, because two quotes that follow are by two different prophets, Malachi and Isaiah. (Mal. 3:1; Is. 40:3) There are a number of inaccuracies like this that have been introduced in our Bibles because of following the Eclectic Text, and this is a good example of one of them. 

 

 

 

10 And immediately upon coming up from11 the water He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him. 

11 Perhaps 3% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘out of’ instead of ‘from’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). 

 

This is my own comment, not Pickering’s: The difference here amounts to a difference of two prepositions. The Majority Text has ‘apo’ and the Eclectic Text has ‘ek’. Someone is going to try to use the difference here to show the method of baptism used by John the Baptist. Don’t base any doctrine on Greek prepositions. They have a very wide range of meaning. Neither preposition can be used to prove the depth of the water where Jesus was baptized.

 

 

 

13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days being tested1 by Satan,

1 Our ‘test’ and ‘tempt’ are translations of a single Greek word, the context determining the choice. To tempt is to test in the area of morals. In this context I consider that ‘tempt’ is too limited, but it is included in the wider meaning of 'test'. Note that the Spirit impelled Him, which means that this was a necessary part of the Plan. The three specific tests recorded by Matthew and Luke presumably happened near the end of the forty days. 

 

Pickering here gives an interesting translational note. This is not about a textual difference. I think it interesting and probably right that Satan was doing more than merely tempting Jesus. He was testing Who he was up against.

 

 

 

1:14 Now after John was put in prison,4 Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom5 of God,

5 Some 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit ‘of the Kingdom’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). 

 

ESV ‘gospel of God’

 

My comment: In the very next verse, Jesus said, “The time has been fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has approached. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” The phrase ‘gospel of God’ (meaning that God owns or sponsors the Gospel) does occur in the Pauline epistles and in 1st Peter, but not in any of the Gospels or Acts. To me, especially because of verse 15, it seems much more fitting for Jesus to specify, ‘Gospel of (or about) the Kingdom of God’.

 

 

 

16 Then, as He was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother, [the son of] of Simon,7 casting a circular net onto the water,8 for they were fishermen. 

7 Some 90% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘his brother, of Simon’—presumably a reference to their father. If Peter was the eldest son, he would have been named for his father. 

 

PCF: I think this is an interesting textual variant. If Simon’s father was also named Simon, this part of the story would match the next part where we hear of Zebedee, the father of James and John. If you are looking at the episode notes, you will note that I made a slight alteration to Pickering’s translation. I added the words ‘the son’ before ‘of Simon’, so that the listener will be able to catch the meaning Pickering intends.

 

When I make alterations like this, I will mark them with brackets. I think the Greek can be understood in the sense ‘his brother— that is Simon’s’. That seems to be the way the World English Bible takes it. (The WEB is another translation of the Majority Text, and it is freely available in many Bible apps.)

 

 

23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 saying: “Hey, what do you want with us, Jesus Natsarene?!13

13 The name of the town in Hebrew is based on the consonants נצר) resh, tsadde, nun), but since Hebrew is read from right to left, for us the order is reversed = n, ts, r. This word root means ‘branch’. Greek has the equivalent for ‘ps’ and ‘ks’, but not for ‘ts’, so the transliteration used a z (zeta) ‘dz’, which is the voiced counterpart of ‘ts’. But when the Greek was transliterated into English it came out as ‘z’! But Hebrew has a ‘z’, ז) zayin), so in transliterating back into Hebrew people assumed the consonants נזר ,replacing the correct tsadde with zayin. Neither ‘Nazareth’ nor ‘Nazarene’, spelled with a zayin, is to be found in the Old Testament, but there is a prophetic reference to Messiah as the Branch, netser—Isaiah 11:1—and several to the related word, tsemach—Isaiah 4:2, Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15; Zechariah 3:8, 6:12. So Matthew (2:23) is quite right—the prophets (plural, being at least three) referred to Christ as the Branch. Since Jesus was a man, He would be the ‘Branch-man’, from ‘Branch-town’. Which brings us to the word ‘natsorean’. The familiar ‘Nazarene’ (Nazarhnoj) [Natsarene] occurs in Mark 1:24, 14:67, 16:6 and Luke 4:34, but in Matthew 2:23 and in fourteen other places, including Acts 22:8 where the glorified Jesus calls Himself that, the word is ‘Natsorean’ (Nazwraioj), which is quite different. I have been given to understand that the Natsareth of Jesus’ day had been founded some 100 years before by a Branch family, who called it Branch town; they were very much aware of the prophecies about the Branch and fully expected the Messiah to be born from among them—they called themselves Branch-people (Natsoreans). Of course everyone else thought it was a big joke and tended to look down on them. “Can anything good . . . ?”

 

PCF: This time Pickering’s note points to a treasure he wants us to understand, not a textual variant. You may have picked up in my pronunciation that Jesus was called the ‘Natsarene’. Pickering’s footnote is long, and I think it would be hard to understand for podcast listeners— who may be going down the freeway at 70 miles an hour. The full footnote, complete with Scripture references, is found in the episode notes. But I will summarize what Pickering is pointing out. In Mark 1:23, the demon called Jesus a ‘Natsarene’, following the spelling in Wilbur Pickering's translation. We all know that Nazarene is normally spelled with a z, but Pickering spells it with ts. 

 

Recall that Matthew (2:23) states, “So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: He (Jesus) will be called a Nazarene.” But the name Nazarene or Nazareth appears nowhere in the Old Testament, so how could this fulfill what plural prophets wrote? Unlike what is often assumed, the name Nazareth has nothing to do with the Old Testament nazarite vow. But in Hebrew, the word meaning ‘branch’ is netser. 

 

Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah (plural prophets) refer to the Messiah as the Branch or Shoot (which is netser or a related word). Isaiah 11:1 is one of those places:

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot — yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. (NLT Isaiah 11:1)

 

So we might call the original name for Jesus’ hometown as ‘Netser-place’, or Natsereth. But when Natsereth was translated into Greek, the ts became a z, Nazareth. So the cool thing about this is that before Christ came, someone founded a settlement called Branchville. I don't think this happened by accident. At the very least, they named the town with the intent to remind people that God’s promised a Messiah who was given the title, ‘the Righteous Branch’. So it is significant, and a fulfillment of prophecy, that Jesus is called ‘the man from Branchville’.

 

27 And all were astounded, so that they questioned among themselves, saying: “What is this? What can this new [teaching//doctrine] be?3  Because with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!”

3 Instead of ‘what can this new [teaching//doctrine] be’, perhaps 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘a new doctrine’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, etc.). 

 

ESV And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”

 

The word ‘Because’ is also part of the textual variant. The ESV follows the Eclectic Text, and connects the rather disjointed text so that it makes sense. ESV has an incomplete sentence, ‘A new teaching with authority!’ But the Majority Text includes the verb ‘be’, and a logical connector, ‘for/because’ which renders a much smoother text with complete sentences and good logical flow.

 

 

 

The episode notes for all of the Every Word podcasts will include references to articles that will give further documentation about all of my claims about the Majority Text, the Eclectic Text, and about different Bible translations.

 

All of Dr. Wilbur Pickering’s works are available at PRUNCH.net. Additionally, his second edition (2016) NT translation is available for a free download via the Kindle app. It is also freely available as a module in the MyBible program for Android and Apple devices. Dr. Pickering named his NT, “The Sovereign Creator Has Spoken.” I have not found where Pickering has explained why he gave his NT translation that title. From the forward, I think that it relates to his opinion that God sovereignly protected the original wording of the New Testament through the best line of Greek manuscripts.*

*Footnote: As will be explained in further podcasts, Pickering has chosen a more narrow line of transmission, as found in the F35 family of manuscripts. This is slightly different from the Majority/Byzantine Text Type as published by Robinson and Peerpoint, 2018.

 

I note further that the title, “The Sovereign Creator Has Spoken,” contains three concepts that were not believed by Wescott and Hort. In their age Darwinism had invaded the church. They did not believe that our Creator created humans as described in Genesis. They did not believe in the sovereignty of God, and nor did they believe that God had actively inspired every word of Scripture and was making sure that every word would be preserved.

 

One of my favorite verses is in Jeremiah 1:11-12:

The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

12 The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching* to see that my word is fulfilled.”

*The footnote says, “The Hebrew for watching sounds like the Hebrew for almond tree.”

 

God will carry out his threats and his promises. 

 

If God is watching his word to fulfill it like that, it is logical to believe that He also was careful to preserve his Word for us. For the New Testament, God blessed the Majority line of Greek texts so that they predominate and the text has remained unchanged through the centuries. I think it is a good goal to hope for better translations in this century which will preserve every word that should be in the Greek text, and that every word should be translated in a way that fits the English language.

As Moses and Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but by Every Word of God.” (Deut. 8:3; Luk. 4:4)

 

Let’s pray: Lord, my listener and I want to know You better through your Word, that we may be transformed to obey you from the heart. We thank You for sending the Righteous Branch, Jesus, to be our King, just like the prophets foretold.

 

Resources:

Fields, Philip:

Playing Follow the Leader in Bible Translation, 2019, by Phil Fields. See the Resources list in that article for many more helpful articles on the superiority of the Majority Greek Text.

 

Friberg, Timothy: 

On the text of the Greek New Testament that also happens to be the right one for cousin audiences

Although the title of this four-page paper refers to translating for Muslims, the principles and summary is widely applicable. 

I suggest reading this paper before reading Friberg’s other articles listed below.

 

Layman’s Guide — A modest explanation for the layman of ideas related to determining the text of the Greek New Testament, 2019.

 

What is what? — Differences between the Traditional Text and the Bible Society Text of the Greek New Testament. Some data for the reader to weigh, 2019.

 

Pickering, Wilbur:

New Translation of the New Testament: The Sovereign Creator has Spoken

Greek Text of the New Testament based on Family 35

 

Articles and other major works:

See PRUNCH.net.

Robinson, Maurice: The New Testament in the Original Greek: Byzantine Textform, 1991, 2005, 2018. 

This is available in free digital form in the MyBible Bible app, and in other ways.

 

Article:

Full Text of the 105 verses lacking overall Greek Manuscript Support in the NA edition 27

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Hi Friend!

Here’s my news:

First, I have attached a little image which I hope you will download from the episode notes to this podcast, our Facebook page, or the BibleReaders.info forum. I hope that you will share this image in whatever social media platform you use. Let’s pray that the simple message of this picture will cause someone to stop mindlessly scrolling and stop to read the message: “Read the Bible this year.” Let’s pray that the Lord will plant this message in the minds of those whom He is calling. Let’s pray for lives to be transformed in 2020 because of your sharing this simple message.

Secondly, if you happen to be good at making share-able pictures, please make any kind of imaginative graphic that we can use to promote the Daily Bible Reading Podcast or our YouVersion Bible reading plans. Please send them to me via the contact link found in this episode’s notes. An easy way to make such a graphic would be to make a verse picture inside of the YouVersion Bible app. When you share your picture with your friends, please include our web address (dailybiblereading.info) in your message. And I hope you will share a personal recommendation also.

Any new graphics I receive will be posted at our forum, BibleReaders.info. If you visit that site by manually typing in the address, click on the portal link in the site menu to see the newest posts. 

In the last two weeks, I have revised the 365-day Digging Deeper Daily YouVersion reading plan. Lots of improvements have been made in the devotional pages. This is the best YouVersion plan to use if you want to read the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan while listening to the podcasts for each day. I have also revised one half of the first semester of the Read To Me Daily reading plan.

I have also revised the Read This First pages at our website that are for new readers or listeners using the 3D reading plan.

In my last news update of each year, I always try to share information about the best one-year full-Bible reading podcasts out there. I am surprised NOT to find more good ones to choose from! I don’t recommend listening to my voice for multiple years in a row. Here are some great options to consider for your next year of Bible reading:

The first one, Dailyaudiobible.com with Brian Hardin is the oldest and biggest in this genre. They have a very active on-line community that shares in mission projects and prays for one another, and this makes it so people keep following his daily podcasts year after year. Unlike my podcasts, Brian and his family produce the Daily Audio Bible series new and fresh every year! This collection of podcasts includes products for children and in different languages. I consider the dailyaudiobible to be— in an odd way— an online church. If you cannot attend a local church, you might find the online interaction and the sharing of prayer requests a wonderful thing. I listened to the dailyaudiobible throughout 2012 on the advice of a friend in Jakarta. This is the audio Bible that gave me the idea to do my own podcast. 

The second one is Daily Radio Bible with Hunter Barnes. Hunter’s podcasts are in many ways like Brian Hardin’s. I think that he also is recording the Bible afresh each year. I have only listened to 1-2 of Hunter’s podcasts. They seem good. 

And THIS is a new one for me to recommend this year: I think some of you might really like the YouVersion audio reading plan named Bible in One Year 2020 by Nicky Gumbel, who is a pastor in London, England. There are also dedicated apps for this plan for Android, Apple, and even Amazon devices. The web site for this is http://www.bibleinoneyear.org/. I note with a little bemusement that Pastor Nicky and his wife Pippa were able to get past YouVersion’s length limit for devotional content. Their first day’s devotional has 4 times the normal YouVersion limit for devotional content. So if you choose to listen to the audio content for this reading plan, it will probably take you 35 to 45 minutes per day. (My podcasts average 24 minutes per day.) Pastor Gumbel has the advantage of having a staff of people who can help with all the production work of creating a wonderful podcast with great devotional content. You will also enjoy their British accent. 

I started my no-frills Daily Bible Reading podcast reading the NLT in 2014, then I added the GNT in 2016. Each day’s podcast was done with the hope that my children and grandchildren would one day be blessed by them. We praise the Lord that our five grandchildren are doing fine spiritually at this point. Luke is the oldest, at 18 years old, and our youngest, Devin, is 3. I still hope that my podcasts will be remembered by them just when they need spiritual input, and that might be when grampa is no longer around to talk to.

The motivation I have for asking YOU to share word about website, podcast, or reading plan is similar. Send out the news about the DBRP or the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan with a prayer that it will be noticed by those whom God is calling. I bet that not everyone of your Facebook or Instagram friends has their life perfectly together, spiritually speaking. They need God’s Word to be living and active in their lives. And they know you and will trust your recommendation, and God will use what you share!

May the Lord bless you ‘real good’ this Christmas and in 2020!

Phil & Gale

Hi Friend!

Here’s my news:

First, I have attached a little image which I hope you will download from the episode notes to this podcast, our Facebook page, or the BibleReaders.info forum. I hope that you will share this image in whatever social media platform you use. Let’s pray that the simple message of this picture will cause someone to stop mindlessly scrolling and stop to read the message: “Read the Bible this year.” Let’s pray that the Lord will plant this message in the minds of those whom He is calling. Let’s pray for lives to be transformed in 2020 because of your sharing this simple message.

Secondly, if you happen to be good at making share-able pictures, please make any kind of imaginative graphic that we can use to promote the Daily Bible Reading Podcast or our YouVersion Bible reading plans. Please send them to me via the contact link found in this episode’s notes. An easy way to make such a graphic would be to make a verse picture inside of the YouVersion Bible app. When you share your picture with your friends, please include our web address (dailybiblereading.info) in your message. And I hope you will share a personal recommendation also.

Any new graphics I receive will be posted at our forum, BibleReaders.info. If you visit that site by manually typing in the address, click on the portal link in the site menu to see the newest posts. 

In the last two weeks, I have revised the 365-day Digging Deeper Daily YouVersion reading plan. Lots of improvements have been made in the devotional pages. This is the best YouVersion plan to use if you want to read the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan while listening to the podcasts for each day. I have also revised one half of the first semester of the Read To Me Daily reading plan.

I have also revised the Read This First pages at our website that are for new readers or listeners using the 3D reading plan.

In my last news update of each year, I always try to share information about the best one-year full-Bible reading podcasts out there. I am surprised NOT to find more good ones to choose from! I don’t recommend listening to my voice for multiple years in a row. Here are some great options to consider for your next year of Bible reading:

The first one, Dailyaudiobible.com with Brian Hardin is the oldest and biggest in this genre. They have a very active on-line community that shares in mission projects and prays for one another, and this makes it so people keep following his daily podcasts year after year. Unlike my podcasts, Brian and his family produce the Daily Audio Bible series new and fresh every year! This collection of podcasts includes products for children and in different languages. I consider the dailyaudiobible to be— in an odd way— an online church. If you cannot attend a local church, you might find the online interaction and the sharing of prayer requests a wonderful thing. I listened to the dailyaudiobible throughout 2012 on the advice of a friend in Jakarta. This is the audio Bible that gave me the idea to do my own podcast. 

The second one is Daily Radio Bible with Hunter Barnes. Hunter’s podcasts are in many ways like Brian Hardin’s. I think that he also is recording the Bible afresh each year. I have only listened to 1-2 of Hunter’s podcasts. They seem good. 

And THIS is a new one for me to recommend this year: I think some of you might really like the YouVersion audio reading plan named Bible in One Year 2020 by Nicky Gumbel, who is a pastor in London, England. There are also dedicated apps for this plan for Android, Apple, and even Amazon devices. The web site for this is http://www.bibleinoneyear.org/. I note with a little bemusement that Pastor Nicky and his wife Pippa were able to get past YouVersion’s length limit for devotional content. Their first day’s devotional has 4 times the normal YouVersion limit for devotional content. So if you choose to listen to the audio content for this reading plan, it will probably take you 35 to 45 minutes per day. (My podcasts average 24 minutes per day.) Pastor Gumbel has the advantage of having a staff of people who can help with all the production work of creating a wonderful podcast with great devotional content. You will also enjoy their British accent. 

I started my no-frills Daily Bible Reading podcast reading the NLT in 2014, then I added the GNT in 2016. Each day’s podcast was done with the hope that my children and grandchildren would one day be blessed by them. We praise the Lord that our five grandchildren are doing fine spiritually at this point. Luke is the oldest, at 18 years old, and our youngest, Devin, is 3. I still hope that my podcasts will be remembered by them just when they need spiritual input, and that might be when grampa is no longer around to talk to.

The motivation I have for asking YOU to share word about website, podcast, or reading plan is similar. Send out the news about the DBRP or the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan with a prayer that it will be noticed by those whom God is calling. I bet that not everyone of your Facebook or Instagram friends has their life perfectly together, spiritually speaking. They need God’s Word to be living and active in their lives. And they know you and will trust your recommendation, and God will use what you share!

May the Lord bless you ‘real good’ this Christmas and in 2020!

Phil & Gale

EZEKIEL 16:This book should make modern day ‘prophets’ reconsider what they do in the Lord’s name. In this book we have heard again and again that the Lord will punish those who prophesy falsely. And in the part about the wood of a vine being useless in yesterday’s reading, there is only one useful thing a grape vine does, and this is bear grapes. And God was saying that since Israel did not bear the proper fruit, He would judge them, and do this without delay. The complaints become even more graphic in today’s reading. ISAIAH 1:For a number of years now, Isaiah has marked the end of my year. We will be reading Isaiah in our poetry portions until day number three hundred and 65. Since I start my readings anew every January 1st, I always enjoy the preparation Isaiah gives for Christmas, and also the correspondences with Revelation in the New Testament, which we also will read at the end of our reading calendar. Isaiah was written between 739 and 681 BC. I am of the opinion that the break in material at chapter 40 does not signal a different author. Isaiah simply was older and the Lord gave him different messages at the end of his life. Isaiah was a man of royal blood and of high standing. In the New Testament, Isaiah is the most frequently quoted OT book. Isaiah has 66 chapters and the Bible has 66 books. Further, Isaiah dIvides just where the testaments break, with 40 corresponding to Matthew in the NT. The first part of Isaiah deals with God’s judgment on Judah and on other nations. The senselessness of idolatry is preached against all the way through Isaiah. In Isaiah we can also see two comings for Christ, with Isaiah giving the wonderful 53rd chapter about the suffering Servant (Christ), and his coming in power is spoken about in chapter 34. MATTHEW 27b:Today we hear the second half of the crucifixion events. GNT Translation note:Ez. 16:23 The Sovereign Lord [says//said], “You are doomed! Doomed! You did all that evil, and then====Mat. 27:40 “You were going to tear down the Temple and build it back up in three days! [Go on and] Save yourself if you are God's Son! Come on down from the cross!”56 Among them were Mary  [from the village of Magdala//Magdalene], Mary the mother of James and Joseph ([who were Jesus’ half-brothers//0]), and the wife of Zebedee. NLT Translation note:Mat. 27:56 Among them were Mary [from the village of Magdala//Magdalene], Mary (the mother of James and Joseph ([who were Jesus’ half-brothers//0]), and the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

Hi Friends!

Before sharing personal news, I’ll give various bits of news about Youversion Bible reading plans and Bible podcasts.

If you haven’t noticed, I believe it is a good thing to read the Bible. Following the suggestion of one of my spiritual fathers, I think it is a great idea to read the Bible once a year. Devoted Bible believers are kind of divided between the ones who choose to memorize a whole lot of the Bible, and those who choose to read the Bible in a year. Here’s what I have noticed about the Bible memorizers: In order to keep three hundred or more verses in your memory, one needs to be dedicated to reviewing the chosen verses regularly. And Bible memorizers will not want to change translations, because it will mess with what they have memorized. So while Bible memorizers can amaze their friends by quoting appropriate passages verbatim from memory, they may miss the blessing of yearly reading some Old Testament books or gaining insight from different translations. Obviously (from my biased description above) you will know that I prefer the decision I made early in life to read the Bible every year instead of focussing on memorization. I enjoy keeping my Bible reading fresh by using different translations, and embracing the whole book— cover to cover— in my Bible study, rather than pinpointing three hundred verses. This means I never get to amaze people by quoting passages verbatim, but I can usually paraphrase the passages I need in conversation. 

All that was to say that I encourage you to keep things fresh! At dailybiblereading.info you can find tips for

• reading the Bible in a real-book Bible,
• listening to podcasts of the NLT and GNT,
• or you can mix listening and reading using multiple translations and hearing multiple voices using the Read To Me Daily YouVersion reading plan.
• Tips on how to do that with various apps or web sites are also found at dailybiblereading.info.

What I do NOT recommend is that you spend multiple years in a row listening to me reading. If you are listening to something I have produced this year, do something new and challenging in 2020. If you liked this year following my reading plan, please share my website with your friends.

If you happen to be using the Read To Me Daily YouVersion reading plan this year, I have just updated the images for each day. If you happen to be using a tablet, you may have noticed that the daily theme images (with words like Eyes on Christ or Wisdom) were pixelated and ugly. Now they should look much sharper. Semesters 3-4 have been published with the new images, and semesters 1-2 should go live with new pictures next week. You won’t see the new pictures if you just stay logged in on your device. Log out and then log back into your YouVersion app via the main settings page, then your plan should update to the new version.

Hey, let’s share our Bible-reading insights together. These don’t have to be profound. I have two ways to suggest: Come the first of the year, I will share my YouVersion Bible reading plan with people who request to join in my group. I’ll start on December 31st, so my sharing will be visible to you if you start on January 1st. If things go like this year, I normally share a little something about once a week. 

But secondly, I have been copying most of my posts from YouVersion into posts at our new forum: BibleReaders.info. The BibleReaders forum is open to any Bible reader sharing about any verse in the Bible on any day. And it is a good place to ask questions. So no matter where you are in your Bible Reading experience, you can share. Let me give an example: Someone might share, “Hey, praise the Lord, this is the first time I have made it through reading Matthew!” You know what? That would encourage me greatly! Right now it’s kind of sleepy in the forum, and I hope things pick up in the new year.

Gale will be going to Jakarta with me starting on October 3! She comes home on the 21st, and I stay on for another month. We look forward to a little more than two weeks of special time with Hannah and Brandon, and Ava (10), Joel (9), and Devin (3). 

We praise the Lord for Him providing a 5 times bigger office for our little Bible translation organization, right in the same building where we have been located. We don't even have to change our address! Praise the Lord for our new office. 

While in Jakarta, I will have some important days of meetings with our five Albata employees there. It just so happened that right when we moved into our better office, some difficulties regarding employees surfaced. I have struggled to know how to share this prayer request. I hope I have said enough for you to read between the lines when I say that I will need to make some hard decisions. Please ask for heavenly wisdom for me, as I so much want to make upright decisions.

Please pray that our new part-time employee (Bobby) will be able to do a great job promoting the use of our TSI New Testament through social media, our website, and YouVersion reading plans. The goal of this is not our fame, but to increase the understanding of God's Word in every province of Indonesia.

It is a huge answer to prayer that in November and December three consultants will come, for the pre-publication checking of several Old Testament books. The venue for this has been very difficult to set up. We had to move locations from Papua, where there are protest riots now. The checking will now take place in Salatiga, Central Java. Praise the Lord that a faithful donor has promised to give the full $5000 budget for the two months of consultant checking. Please pray that through these face-to-face checking times, we will build trust with our consultants so that checking can be done via email in the future. Please pray that we can complete all consultant checking of Genesis and Ecclesiates by the end of December.

Hi Friends!

Before sharing personal news, I’ll give various bits of news about Youversion Bible reading plans and Bible podcasts.

If you haven’t noticed, I believe it is a good thing to read the Bible. Following the suggestion of one of my spiritual fathers, I think it is a great idea to read the Bible once a year. Devoted Bible believers are kind of divided between the ones who choose to memorize a whole lot of the Bible, and those who choose to read the Bible in a year. Here’s what I have noticed about the Bible memorizers: In order to keep three hundred or more verses in your memory, one needs to be dedicated to reviewing the chosen verses regularly. And Bible memorizers will not want to change translations, because it will mess with what they have memorized. So while Bible memorizers can amaze their friends by quoting appropriate passages verbatim from memory, they may miss the blessing of yearly reading some Old Testament books or gaining insight from different translations. Obviously (from my biased description above) you will know that I prefer the decision I made early in life to read the Bible every year instead of focussing on memorization. I enjoy keeping my Bible reading fresh by using different translations, and embracing the whole book— cover to cover— in my Bible study, rather than pinpointing three hundred verses. This means I never get to amaze people by quoting passages verbatim, but I can usually paraphrase the passages I need in conversation. 

All that was to say that I encourage you to keep things fresh! At dailybiblereading.info you can find tips for

• reading the Bible in a real-book Bible,
• listening to podcasts of the NLT and GNT,
• or you can mix listening and reading using multiple translations and hearing multiple voices using the Read To Me Daily YouVersion reading plan.
• Tips on how to do that with various apps or web sites are also found at dailybiblereading.info.

What I do NOT recommend is that you spend multiple years in a row listening to me reading. If you are listening to something I have produced this year, do something new and challenging in 2020. If you liked this year following my reading plan, please share my website with your friends.

If you happen to be using the Read To Me Daily YouVersion reading plan this year, I have just updated the images for each day. If you happen to be using a tablet, you may have noticed that the daily theme images (with words like Eyes on Christ or Wisdom) were pixelated and ugly. Now they should look much sharper. Semesters 3-4 have been published with the new images, and semesters 1-2 should go live with new pictures next week. You won’t see the new pictures if you just stay logged in on your device. Log out and then log back into your YouVersion app via the main settings page, then your plan should update to the new version.

Hey, let’s share our Bible-reading insights together. These don’t have to be profound. I have two ways to suggest: Come the first of the year, I will share my YouVersion Bible reading plan with people who request to join in my group. I’ll start on December 31st, so my sharing will be visible to you if you start on January 1st. If things go like this year, I normally share a little something about once a week. 

But secondly, I have been copying most of my posts from YouVersion into posts at our new forum: BibleReaders.info. The BibleReaders forum is open to any Bible reader sharing about any verse in the Bible on any day. And it is a good place to ask questions. So no matter where you are in your Bible Reading experience, you can share. Let me give an example: Someone might share, “Hey, praise the Lord, this is the first time I have made it through reading Matthew!” You know what? That would encourage me greatly! Right now it’s kind of sleepy in the forum, and I hope things pick up in the new year.

Gale will be going to Jakarta with me starting on October 3! She comes home on the 21st, and I stay on for another month. We look forward to a little more than two weeks of special time with Hannah and Brandon, and Ava (10), Joel (9), and Devin (3). 

We praise the Lord for Him providing a 5 times bigger office for our little Bible translation organization, right in the same building where we have been located. We don't even have to change our address! Praise the Lord for our new office. 

While in Jakarta, I will have some important days of meetings with our five Albata employees there. It just so happened that right when we moved into our better office, some difficulties regarding employees surfaced. I have struggled to know how to share this prayer request. I hope I have said enough for you to read between the lines when I say that I will need to make some hard decisions. Please ask for heavenly wisdom for me, as I so much want to make upright decisions.

Please pray that our new part-time employee (Bobby) will be able to do a great job promoting the use of our TSI New Testament through social media, our website, and YouVersion reading plans. The goal of this is not our fame, but to increase the understanding of God's Word in every province of Indonesia.

It is a huge answer to prayer that in November and December three consultants will come, for the pre-publication checking of several Old Testament books. The venue for this has been very difficult to set up. We had to move locations from Papua, where there are protest riots now. The checking will now take place in Salatiga, Central Java. Praise the Lord that a faithful donor has promised to give the full $5000 budget for the two months of consultant checking. Please pray that through these face-to-face checking times, we will build trust with our consultants so that checking can be done via email in the future. Please pray that we can complete all consultant checking of Genesis and Ecclesiates by the end of December.

2CHRONICLES 29: Ahaz’s rule was one of the darkest chapters in Judah’s history. The people didn’t even bury him in the royal cemetery. He closed the temple and put up places to worship Baal all over the country. Even when under severe punishment from the Lord, he never turned to the Lord for help. ECCLESIASTES 5: In yesterday’s chapter, I really like the passages that talk of having the companionship of 2 (or perhaps 3) people. And that idea was echoed by Jesus’ teaching about 2-3 gathered to promote Jesus’ cause. MATTHEW 18b: Yesterday we heard the passage that deals with following Jesus with child-like faith. And we heard instructions for restoring broken relationships, and what to do if reconciliation is not achieved. GNT Translation note: Ecc. 5:6 Don't let your own words lead you into sin, so that you have to tell God's priest that you didn't mean [something//it]. Why make God angry with you? Why let him destroy what you have worked for? 9 Even [the//a] king depends on the harvest. ==== Mat. 18:20 For where two or three [of you] come together [because you want to glorify Me//in my name], I am there with [you//them].”