The voice of one crying in the desert to prepare the way of Jehovah, to make His paths straight for His sent one, was John the baptist, Jesus’ cousin, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, whilst the sent messenger of God so many times spoken off before, was coming to baptise the people in the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Pneuma or Holy Spirit) and in fire.
People from all the countryside of Judaea, and all the people of Jerusalem went out to this baptiser, to be baptised by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins.
John the Baptist preached and gave notice that some one mightier would come after him, whose shoes he was not good enough to undo.
The men of God, called prophets, like Malachi and Isaiah, long ago wrote about it this way:
God said, ‘See, I send my man ahead of you to tell about you. He will make the way ready for you.
Malachi prophesied that before the great King should come unto Zion, a harbinger should come before him, to prepare his way.
John by his preaching turned the ears of the people to the sound of the gospel, and so prepared them for the coming Christ.
“29 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptising with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”” (Joh 1:29-34 NIV)
The evangelist Mark tells us about that time when Jesus came from the town of Nazareth in the country of Galilee and asked John to baptise him in the Jordan River. In this text we also get already a signal about the baptism into death and the baptism of the Holy Spirit which are distinctly separate.
After the baptism of Jesus happened something which lots of Christians seem to forget (on purpose or not) or do not seem to understand God’s Words, though they very clearly declare who that man, standing in the River Jordan is.
As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, Jesus and the people around him, saw the sky opening. They could see God’s Holy Spirit come down on Jesus like a bird called a dove. And then sounded a voice from the sky which declared that this man standing in the water was His dear Son.
“13 Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” 15 But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *permitted Him. 16 And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”” (Mt 3:13-17 NAS)
So many, who call themselves “Christian” do not want to accept that Jesus is the son of God, but keep insisting that Jesus is God Himself, and not the one in Whom God is pleased. Though the Holy Scriptures gives a clear wording of God:
“And lo a voice from heaven, saying,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mt 3:17 AV)
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”” (Mt 3:17 NIV)
There is no reason at all that Jehovah would mislead people or would not tell the truth, because Jehovah God is a god of truth, not telling lies.
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Nu 23:19 AV)
“Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.” (Ps 89:35 AV)
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” (Tit 1:2 AV)
In case Jesus would be God then when God would not be a liar He would have told the people that He was standing there. But Jehovah, the God above all gods said:
“And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” (Lu 3:22 AV)
Also on other occasions, we come to hear that Jesus is a servant chosen by god. The Bible nowhere tells us it would be God having come to be a servant of someone. In case Jesus would be God, than God’s Spirit is in Him always and then Jesus could not be killed, because man can do God nothing, and certainly can not kill God. But the God, Who cannot be seen by man, came over the Nazareen man who was seen by many, to give him authorisation. Jesus is not God but is the man who is loved by God and who received honour and glory from God.
“Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.” (Mt 12:18 AV)
“For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (2Pe 1:17 AV)
Throughout the rest of his gospel, the apostle Mark shows us what kind of Messiah this Nazarene man is. We also come to read in his gospel how people came to hear the words of Jesus, but did not want to agree with them. Also the words about his heavenly Father, the Only One True God, did not please them. About how to live life by following him was what many did not want and still do not want.
We should accept the words of God as the Words of Truth. As such we should see that beloved son of God in Jesus Christ and we should hear and listen to that beloved son of God.
“And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.” (Mr 9:7 AV)
We should “Listen to him!” (Mr 9:7 NIV) who was declared to be the son of God and who very well knew that God is much greater than him.
“”You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” (Joh 14:28 NIV)
“Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”” (Joh 20:17 NIV)
“Now I want you to realise that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” (1Co 11:3 NIV)
“When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” (1Co 15:28 NIV)
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,” (Php 2:6 NIV)
Therefore, let us always keep to the Words of God and believe Him Who does not tell lies. Today still too many people are blinded by the light of false human doctrines. They prefer to keep holding unto the human dogma of the Trinity. They also do not believe what the followers of Christ came to believe, like Peter did. Peter, after Jesus had asked him who he thought Jesus was, was convinced that Jesus is the Messiah or the Christ.
“29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” (Mr 8:29 NIV)
A few days later Peter and his friends James and John are taken up a high mountain apart where they experience something incredible.
“1 And he said to them, “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.” 2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
Again we encounter a part in Scriptures which a lot of so-called Christians do not want to accept. Again there is God telling us that Jesus is His son, and again there are millions of Christians who ignore God’s saying.
7 Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
8 Suddenly, when they looked round, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant. 11 And they asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?” 12 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”” (Mr 9:1-13 NIV)
When Jesus told that, he previously also had told about his coming end.
“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” (Mr 8:31 NIV)
As such let us not only accept Jesus as the son of God, but let us also make his name and deeds be known all over the world, telling about the Good News he came to bring.
In the previous chapter we showed that in the 1980ies and 1990ies publishers looked for way to have some cheap material easily printed and reproduced. For them the Word of God or the Bible looked very handy to use, because when they changed here and there some words they could publish it freely without having to bother about copyrights. In those years lots of economical and political problems started showing up, the Gulf War and beginning pressure from Islamicterrorist groups, making that people went looking for alternatives and solutions for making their life better.
From the time that all sorts of translations were provided for different groups of people, like housewives, prisoners, blue-coloured workman, modern women and modern man – Good News for modern man New Testament in Today’s English Version
Many publishers knocking the ball around presented booklets, pocket editions but also hard-covers with fragments and with full texts of the Bible. Many wanted to bring out a ‘fresh’ or ‘up-to-date’ Bible translations which could draw on a particular group of people or could be favoured by a particular denomination. For some it did not matter so much when the words got twisted a little-bit or when the translation was so loosely done it went very far from the original Holy Writings. The Good News Bible, which also presented a version for the ‘modern man’ is such a Bible translation were too much liberty is taken, but which manage to continue to exist until today.
Though for those thematic bibles, like the Poverty and justice Bible [2009; using the clear Contemporary English Version (CEV) text], the Street bible (2003) or The Word on the Street (2004), which was was one of the bestselling religious books for the next two years, Modern Man Bible, Women’s devotional Bible,the aim may well have been to help people to apply God’s Word to their everyday life, but too many do forget that all those notes are human additions. Lots of readers of such works take those human notes as part of the bible and start thinking that the bible is saying what those theologians say.
The full versions and study Bibles, like the The Full Life Study Bible (revised as the Life in the Spirit Study Bible) could find a long life, whilst the books which had only a selection of Bible texts have disappeared in obscurity.
The Liberator (2006) a retelling of the life of Jesus based on the gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, could find perhaps a prolonged life because of the Lacey Theatre Company toured shows based on this book in 2007 and 2008, and extracts also being performed in “St David’s Praise” (31 May 2008, St David’s Hall in Cardiff).
Titlepage and dedication from a 1612-1613 King James Bible, printed by Robert Barker. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Coming closer to the 400th birthday of the publication of the Authorised King James version, several companies also started bringing new King James Versions, whilst others found it time to not only update the language but to restore the names and present the words like it would be linguistic right.
Some of the new King James versions around the turn of the century did not alter the language much, like the minor very conservative update of the King James Version, the 21st Century King James Version bible, which stays true to the Textus Receptus and does not delete Bible passages based on Alexandrian Greek manuscripts. Obsolete and certain archaic words are eliminated but further it preserves the traditional Biblical language, making it possible to have all those using a King James Bible to follow easily. The 21st Century King James Version has also been released in an edition with the Apocrypha and without the unusual formatting; this is known as the Third Millennium Bible.
Having taken 7 years to complete the New King James Version (NKJV) already commissioned in 1975, published by HarperCollins (a subsidiary of News Corp), conceived by Arthur Farstad with 130 biblical scholars, pastors, and theologians, alters the language more significantly from the 1611 King James Version, but still trying to retain the purity and stylistic beauty of the original.
The exceptionally rich and accurate translation of the Holy Scripture became first available in 1982 but got more in the picture around the 400th birthday of the original KJV, also receiving some new study edition.
The purpose of the New King James Version was to preserve the authority and accuracy, as well as the rhythm and beauty of the original King James while making it understandable to 21st century readers. The result is an even better King James, scrupulously faithful to the original, yet truly updated to enhance its clarity and readability. There are several other good modern Bible translations available, but none does a better job of presenting the accuracy, beauty, and clarity that Bible readers need than the New King James Version. The Second Edition includes more features according the editors to make it the best all-purpose study Bible which sold to date: more than 1.3 million and more than 60 million copies for the stand alone NKJV.
The NKJV claiming to be “more accurate” because it leaves untranslated words like “Gehenna,” “Hades” and “Sheol” is misleading the people and has the only reason not to bump some church-member’s head. They choose for security not to knock against those who keep insistently wrong teachings of having gehenna/hades/sheol being a place of doom, the hell, where so called sinners would be penalised for their sins, instead of an abode of the dead, the grave/tomb. For that reason also many present bibles are afraid to print the Divine Name of God (יהוה) where it stood in the original writings, because also there people would come clearly to see about whom is been spoken and soon would come to see the difference between Jehovah God and Jehovah God His only begottenbeloved son, יהושׁעJeshua, where all of those KJV’s print Jesus.
But some of the newer versions restored the names. By them avoiding, where most trinitarians loved to see “Lord“, having titles placed instead of the original names, using the names of the people makes it much clearer for the bible reader about whom is been spoken, and as such mistaking one person fro the other is avoided. This way the Restored Name Versions and the New European Version are King James versions which haven taken up the old way of presenting God’s Name like it was in the original King James version, to leave no doubt when is spoken about the God of gods or about the son of God.
For the English Bible translations God’s Divine Name was already in the William Tyndale Bible of 1530 and in the King James Version in 1611. The excuse of avoiding the risk of taking God’s name (יהוה/YHWH) in vain, according to devout Christians was not necessary any more, because Jeshua liberated us from the curse of sin and restored the relationship between God and man. After the sacrifice of God‘s only begotten son, man does not have to be afraid any more to come up to God and speak to Him using His Sacred Name. Being convinced of the restored relationship and feeling that we as children of God not only may use His Name but should spread His Name, several Sacred Name Bibles started seeing the light.
When we look at the original texts and see how frequent that Divine Name appears, and hear how God speaks about His Name, we should comprehend its importance. The Tetragrammaton occurs 6,828 times in the Hebrew text (BHK and BHS). This is confirmed by the Theologisches Handwörterbuch zum Alten Testament, Vol. I, edited by E. Jenni and C. Westermann, 3rd ed., Munich and Zurich, 1978, cols. 703, 704. The New World Translation renders the Tetragrammaton as “Jehovah” in all occurrences.
The knowledge of the correct pronunciation of God’s name was there at the time of Christ, as it was heard at least by the high priest until 70 CE and respectively its utterance was common practice until at least the 1st century CE, but Hebrew speaking people can and do read the name in some groups as well as the majority of Messianic Jews who also accept that the relationship between God and man is restored by the Mashiah or Messiah.
The Jerusalem Bible: Reader’s Edition Hardcover – Abridged, February 15, 2000
Though throughout history there have been several versions which used God’s Name Jehovah or placed Yahweh for the Tetragrammaton, like The Jerusalem Bible (JB or TJB) (translated from the French La Bible de Jérusalem of 1956, revived and updated in 1973), first introduced to the English-speaking public at the time when the fear for the users of God’s Name (the Jehovah Witnesses started growing) in 1966 and published by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a CatholicBible, it includes the traditional 73 books found in most English translations until the mid 19th century: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonical books as the Old Testament, and the 27 books shared by all Christians as the New Testament. It also contains copious footnotes and introductions. It is the basis of the Lectionary for Mass used in Catholic worship throughout England, Wales, and the majority of the English-speaking world outside the United States and Canada, though the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has approved other translations for conditional liturgical use.
The New American Bible (With the Revised Book of Psalms and the Revised New Testament) New American Bible Revised ed. Edition by World Bible Publishing St
The Revised New American Bible (RNAB) had the traditional phraseology — absent from the 1970 edition — restored to the New Testament, and having several non-traditional gender-neutral terms incorporated in its 1986 version. The New Testament was almost completely revised, and bears a much closer resemblance to the 1941 Confraternity version, as opposed to the much more periphrastic 1970 NAB NT. In 1991 the Book of Psalms was amended to introduce the use of extensive gender-neutral language. The last update is from 2011, including the newly revised Old Testament and re-revised Psalms, and the revised New Testament from the second edition.
Several English people did not like it that God’s Name was printed and would have preferred the Name of God be left unpronounced, or substituted with Lord or another title. In 1985, the English translation was completely updated. This new translation — known as the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) — was freshly translated from the original languages and not tied to any French translation any-more (except indirectly, as it maintained many of the stylistic and interpretive choices of the French Jerusalem Bible).
When the the Catholic Truth Society in 2007 published the CTS New Catholic Bible, consisting of the original 1966 Jerusalem Bible text, prepared by the faculty of the Dominican Biblical School in Jerusalem, on the basis of the Hebrew and Greek and revised to match its use in lectionaries throughout most English-speaking countries, in conformity with the directives of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and the Pontifical Biblical Commission the name “Yahweh” was replaced by “the LORD” throughout the Old Testament, which frequently departs from the traditional Masoretic text, and the Psalms have been completely replaced by the 1963 Grail Psalter. The revised text is accompanied by new introductions, and textual and liturgical notes, supplemented as needed with material from the notes to the New Jerusalem Bible.
In the 1990s the ex-Jehovah Witness Mark Heber Miller started working at a contemporary American literal version with limited paraphrase translation with non-trinitarian notes. The Nazarene Friends, several Bible Students and the Belgian Christadelphians started using his work in progress. The Nazarene Friends and Belgian Christadelphians from the end of the 1990s started distributing a digital version in the Online BibleBiblical software program, with Larry Pierce, of his bible translation 21st Century Version of the Christian Scripture and of his Nazarene commentary. After several Windows renovations and adaptations in the Online Bible program those modules did not work any more, and no computer technician could be found to rework the material. As such we and many others can not use it digitally, though brother Marcus Ampe is working at it and placing it again in an Online Bible module. The printed copies where offered to the public from 2007 onwards.
Concerning “the scriptures” we can think of any Religious texts (also known as scripture, or scriptures, from the Latinscriptura, meaning “a writing” ) having the texts which various religious traditions consider to be sacred, or central to their religious tradition.
Religious texts may be used to evoke a deeper connection with the divine, convey spiritual truths, promote mystical experience, foster communal identity, and to guide individual and communal spiritual practice. {Free encyclopedia Wikipedia on Religious text}
But we, like other Belgian Christadelphians, Messianic Jews and Messianic Christians (sic), use also a literal Bible translation with the name “The Scriptures“, which follows the order of books of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Tanakh, and restored the Name of the Most High, (יהוה) throughout. Where it had become fashion in the 1980ies and 1990ies to replace the tetragrammaton with the title Lord instead of putting the Divine Name where it should belong, in 1998 the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR) published “a literal translation of the Bible in English”. In the 2009 version they made it easier having the Hebrew names of Book Titles placed on the right hand pages with corresponding traditional English names on the left hand pages. They do not only use the divine Name (the tetragrammaton), יהוה, {Jehovah} but also restored original Hebrew personal names of people and places, such as “Yirmeyahu” for Jeremiah, “Yeshayahu”, for Isaiah and “Mosheh” for Moses and in the Messianic Scriptures, or New Testament, יהושׁע { Y’hoshua / Yeshua = Jeshua for Jesus his real name}, “Mattithyahu” for Matthew etc..
(Hebrew names are also used where possible for annual festival days, as well as being used, minimally, for ambiguous words).
Opposite to the Hebraic Roots Version Scriptures (HRV), which contains over 2000 footnotes giving important alternate readings from the Aramaic Peshitta Tanakh, Aramaic Targums, Dead Sea Scrolls, Greek Septuagint, and Samaritan Pentateuch, The Scriptures has no place given for doctrinal comments from footnotes, explanatory notes etc., (including deletion of prophecy hairlines) in favour of more useful notes – thus clearing away obstacles to your unbiased study of Scripture.
For many english people accustomed to the KJV order of books it may demand some adaptation to come used to the original order of the Tanakh (Old Covenant Scriptures) which is restored according to the order of the Hebrew Scriptures, i.e. Torah, Neviim, Kethuvim. In the newer versions the New Covenant Writings (Brit Chadasha / New Testament), its allusions to the Tanakh are printed in Bold, and cross referenced to the Tanakh (Old Covenant Scriptures).
Dr. Chris J. Koster, with the aid and support of other scholars and textual experts from both Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds in different parts of the world, was the original translator for the South African and English version. He formed the ISR so that it could continue the work, even after his death (+4 May 1995). At the ISR, which also publishes the Hebraic Roots Version Scriptures (HRV), the board of directors is now overseeing the on-going work of translation and revision. It was around the time of his death that brother Marcus Ampe got to know him and his work and asked if he could make a Dutch version of the work. He had requested the version in Afrikaans, but never got it. The text fragments from 1993/1995 he got and 1998 had some little differences with the 2009 and 2010 versions. (At the moment in the ecclesia we use the 1998 and 2010 version, next to the NWT and the Bible Students Reference bible.) Because of his daily work and Marcus Ampe writing for several websites the translation-work got very much slowed down, also by his work on the Christadelphian modules for the Online Bible program.
Don Esposito, Senior Elder of the Congregation of YHWH Jerusalem, for his Hebrew Roots Version used the original names of our Creator, but presented it from the Paleo Hebrew as YAHWEH (יהוה HWHY/YHWH), and for God’s Son, our Saviour he used Yahshua (יהושׁע Yeshua/Jeshua in modern spelling), throughout. Because there was no letter J at that time he kept to the Y. Though than you also could say there did not exist a letter u and still should use the v or also for the w one still should, in that instance use, the vv. We do know also in the Catholic Imprimatur Bibles from the 1950ies there was written Yehowah, but in later prints this became modernised to Jehovah. The “New Testament” portion is titled “The Ketuvim Netzarim” (“Writings of the Nazarenes”) and is also a Messianic Sacred Name Edition and is translated from the original Aramaic and Hebrew. The NT books are also in the original manuscript order (The Gospels; Acts; James, 1&2 Peter; 1,2,3 John, Jude; Pauline Epistles; Revelation) but the titles of the books are their Hebraic names. The HRV also divides the books into two sections The B’sorah (Goodnews) and The Sh’lukhim (Emissaries).
The HRV Complete Bible is by many considered to be the first complete Messianic Study Bible.
It was the 1993 Chris J. Koster version of the Scriptures which was also used for the HalleluYah Scriptures (HS). Designed for the Hebrew Roots of the Faith of the people of Israel with the Messianic restoration of the name of Elohim transliterated as YaHUaH from the tetragrammaton and God as YAH, Daniel W Merrick, PhD searched the Paleo Hebrew phonetic that show the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith which are embedded in many old testament prophesies and translated and transliterated the Hebrew Bible and Messianic writings.
Shalom and Max Weiss also known as Deborah (Debra) and Ken Allen or Deborah and Ken Wessel, from New Zealand, seem to be the sole “voice” of www.halleluyahscriptures.com/ www.halleluyahscripturesproject.com (which is Halleluyah Scriptures in print since 2009) having Alan Horvath (Alan J. Post) as their frontman. The direction of Halleluyah Scriptures has been carried out publicly by Debra and Ken Allen-Wessel. Alan Horvath (the Vice President) has been recently thrust to the forefront as a public voice for H.S. and all funds, mail, etc have been redirected from Fort Wayne to New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Further there where Ted Ramp, President of Halleluyah Scriptures Inc. (Incorporated Dec. 6, 2012) – Fort Wayne, IN, Robin Ramp, Secretary of Halleluyah Scriptures Inc. , Erik Klausner, Marilyn Nave and Nance Whitaker who seem to have broken with Deborah (Debra) and Ken Allen and their the Halleluyhah Scriptures.
The HalleluYah Scriptures wants to be the purest version and the closest to the Hebrew than any other version by far, and wants to take it very seriously the Torah Commands not to mention the names of false mighty ones especially when it pertains to the Father, His Son and His people…
This has taken years of research as it is not always obvious that English words are derived from pagan deities. Much diligent research has been done into assuring that there are no pagan words used to describe our wonderful Father and His Son and as such we also do not find the false name of the Messiah which was given in the 4th century to the rabbi, but which is now the common name, Jesus, coming from Issou or Hail Zeus. In this version all paganism and names of false gods that have traditionally been used in translation when pertaining to the the Father, His Son and His people have been avoided, and in many cases retain a Hebrew transliteration if the word is linked to paganism, though we do find some words which are still presented like a name, like Satan, though in the Name Meaning guidebook they print it right giving the reading the real English word ‘adversary’. The reason they probably did not translate it this way in their translation is perhaps some of their translators do want to believe in a devilish figure, called ‘Satan‘ instead of heaving any adversary being called so.
Although the English language is replete with words derived from pagan deities, this translation has attempted to remove most, if not all of these words when attributed to the Almighty, His Son or His people. Problem for translators is that certain words or Hebrew terms have no comparison in English.
HalleluYah Scriptures chose to retain the Hebrew term “qodesh” for ‘holy’ or ‘set-apart’ (for we are qodesh and not Set apart from Him), and removed all occurrences of the word “set” in obedience to the Word (Exodus 23:13, Josiah 23:7, Psalms 16:4). eg.
Underneath you may find on the left the HalleluYah Scriptures words and on the right the versions other restored Name Scriptures use:
qodesh vs set-apart*
Qadosh One vs Set-apart One*
qodeshi vs set-apart one*
qodeshim vs set-apart ones*
qodeshah vs set apartness*
put vs set*
depart vs set* out
lit vs set* (on fire)
Due to the fact that the term “spirit” in English carries so many confusing possibilities from ghosts to alcohol, HalleluYah Scriptures renders the Spirit of Yah in it’s Hebrew form Ruaḥ or Ruaḥ ha’Qodesh, like you may find Ruach also in “The Scriptures” and mark Heber Miller his 21st Century bible translation and the Nazarene Commentary.
In the HalleluYah Scriptures you may find Ruaḥ ha’Qodesh vs Set-apart Spirit, Ruaḥ vs Spirit and Ruaḥoth vs Spirits.
For the Messiah/Mashiah/Masschiah, to maintain the Hebrew origin of many words borrowed from the Greek texts, HalleluYah Scriptures used the Hebrew words in the following Mashiaḥ vs Messiah, Mashiaḥiyim vs Messianic, talmidim vs taught ones, Gĕy-Hinnom vs Gehenna, Shabbath vs Sabbath and Shabbathoth vs Sabbat.
Because the title Master is linked etymologically with the goddess Maia through the common root word “Meg” the original Hebrew form of Adonai used in the Hebrew scrolls is used as the title for the Almighty. Some people teach that Adon is a pagan word based on the greek false god Adonis. But the Hebrew is the original form where as Adonis is just a copy used for wicked means. It does not mean the word Adonai is pagan.
To retain the Hebrew origin of the qodesh Moedim (Appointed Times/Festivals) HalleluYah Scriptures rendered these Festivals in Hebrew.
HalleluYah Scriptures uses the words on the left.
Pesaḥ vs Passover
Matstsoth vs Unleavened Bread
Shaḇuoth vs Weeks
Yom Teruah vs Trumpets
Yom Kippurim vs Atonement
Sukkoth vs Booths
Yoḇĕl vs Jubilee
LIFE vs. HAI
The translators and publisher’s idea is that adding footnotes etc. is in conflict with the Word of God. According to them nearly all translations (including all Restored Name versions) add italicized words to the text in the attempt to ‘clarify’ certain portions causing much confusion and damage with the addition of these italicized words and in many cases goes against Deuteronomy 4:2 not to add to the Word.
Although there are a few situations where the context or root word may be translated with an ‘added’ word, HalleluYah Scriptures chose to remove as many as physically possible while maintaining a coherent translation. Space does not permit the number of italicized words that were removed and/or reworded, but amounts to well over 80% from the total of added words.
In many cases this required re-writing an entire verse to conform with the original language and this was not an easy job taking many months. The HalleluYah Scriptures translation team are working on the other 20% of added words and will make the changes in following print runs when completed.
For over 2 years a translation team has worked on two special editions, the HalleluYah Scriptures and Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled with the Jews their own language, Hebrew. That special book contains around 300 prophecies of Ha’Mashiach (Jeshua the Messiah) in the first Covenant alongside all their fulfilments recorded in the Renewed Covenant.
This will aid many people who do not believe that our Saviour was the promised Redeemer of Yisrael/Israel. This book will prove without a shadow of a doubt that Jeshua (Jesus Christ) is the Saviour.
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You may visit the HalleluYah Scriptures web site and read more about this important project that has touched and changed thousands of lives forever. http://www.Halleluyahscriptures.com
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No Footnotes, No Explanatory References, No Doctrines of Man! Just the Word of YHWH…
HalleluYah Scriptures Paralell Hebrew Bible & Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled New Book
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An other version using the Paleo Hebrew for the Names of the Creator and The Messiah is the Besora of Yahushua (Besorah being the Hebrew word for “message” or “report” = The message of Jeshua). Sadly, this translation has a number of notes throughout, including 60-odd pages of man’s writings, pictures and poems, with misleading doctrines. They transliterated the Name of the Messiah as Yahusha.
The Christadelphians have also some projects where a restored name version is sent out to those who want to read the word of God, so that it can be as a lamp to man’s feet and a light to our path, Psalms 119:105; 2 Peter 1:19. They have “The Scriptures” with the tetragrammaton and God’s Name Jehovah in it, but also distribute two older King James versions (with Jehovah) and a new King James version with the (transcribed) name Yahweh in it.
New European Version of the Bible with commentary
The New European Version of the Bible is a remediation of the King James Version into modern English, correcting some glaring issues in translation here and there. The NEV Bible is published in hard copy with a brief commentary on a few verses from each chapter, printed at the bottom of each page. At the back of the volume, there is a reduced version of the book Bible Basics. There is also an online version provided which has a dedicated page for each chapter of the Bible. On each page there is the Bible text, basic commentaries and links to other resources relevant to that chapter. There is also a “Deeper commentary” tab on each chapter. This gives some deeper insights on some Old Testament chapters; and in the New Testament, this tab connects to the New European Commentary. This is an in-depth, verse by verse commentary on the entire New Testament.
Duncan Heaster
Duncan Heaster
The NEV is published by CarelinksMinistries who say to pray earnestly that this Bible and the distribution of it will play a part in the spreading of the Gospel worldwide before Christ returns. Though also for this editor we must give a warning.
They say they are Christadelphian, but out of experience we have found that they do not take on a Christian attitude, namely not willing to share brotherly love with each other. We do have the impression it is more a cult organisation around one ex-communicate Christadelphian preacher, Duncan Heaster who has written over 20 books and having edited “Gospel News” magazine for over 20 years, has a team of followers round him, who do a lot of great work, but once people get baptised in their organisation they do not want them to have contact with others. They do not want their members to share with other Christadelphians or Bible students. So please if you order a copy by them and would become interested in what they teach and want to get baptised, never forget those who brought you into contact with them.
We also want to make it clear that the New European Version isn’t a fresh translation. It is more a re-working into modern English of the Old and New Testament as found in the King James and American Standard Versions. In some difficult and controversial areas, the original Greek text has been retranslated in an attempt to provide dynamic equivalence in modern English, seeking to provide a text which is familiar to those who have been used to the traditional Bible versions, and yet which is sensitive to the needs of those for whom English is a second language. During the years 2010 – 2014, the project of sending Bibles to those who need them and supporting them in their Bible reading [or Bible studies] with other books and article, now being funded by Bibles Worldwide Trust has sent out over 50,000 Bibles. The largest numbers are to Russian speaking countries, to Africa and to many English speaking countries.
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Free Bible Distribution, New European Version Free Bible with commentary
New American Standard Bible NAS on line – 1971, widely regarded as one of the most literally translated of 20th-century English Bible translations next to the New World Translation.
We’ve been duped! {Note: Marcus Ampe also had promoted the HalleluYah Scriptures in 2011 and later and got many complaints. This year he contacted that organisation again an could find a copy in his letterbox this October. We too are willing to give another chance to that organisation, and therefore would like to ask readers who order a copy to let us know how it goes and if they really get a copy for free or at reasonable price and how long after they ordered it.}
Tiberius Caesar Divi Augusti filius Augustus – Rome, Ara Pacis museum
The Trojan refugeeAeneas had escaped to Italy and founded the line of Romans through his son Iulus, the namesake of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The Year of the Consulship of Balbus and Vetus was gone by and the Rome considered to have become a real Roman Empire bastion (on 21 April 753 bCE) had sent their conquerors also to the East. One of the most prominent patrician houses at Rome which were known for their pride and arrogance and intense hatred of the commonalty, brought Tiberius Caesar Divi Augusti filius Augustus better known simply as Tiberius Claudius Nero. After he had divorced Vipsania Agrippina, he had married Augustus’ daughter Julia the Elder (from his marriage to Scribonia) and was adopted by Augustus, by which act he officially became a Julian, bearing the name Tiberius Julius Caesar. {Tiberius was the stepson of Augustus, grand-uncle of Caligula, paternal uncle of Claudius, and great-grand uncle of Nero.}
On the verge of accepting command in the East and becoming the second most powerful man in Rome, Tiberius suddenly announced his withdrawal from politics and retired to Rhodes, possibly as an interim solution: he would hold power only until his stepsons would come of age, and then be swept aside.
Instalment of Roman client king of Judea
Rome, Ara Pacis museum: collection of casts of busts showing the members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Picture by Giovanni Dall’Orto, March 28 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In in 63 BCE the Romans had taken over control of Syria, and then intervened in the Hasmonean civil war. A Romanclient king of Judea was installed. But he seemed for many “the evil genius of the Judean nation” {Tierney, John. “Herod: Herod the Great”, Catholic Encyclopedia (1910): “Herod, surnamed the Great, called by Grätz “the evil genius of the Judean nation” (Hist., v. II, p. 77)} Though the Jews were granted exemptions from the official Roman state religion, they were not happy with this ambitious man and saw their tribe threatened very hard by this ruthless savage. For others he was Herod the Great (not to be confused with Herod Antipas who came later) and became known as Herod I. He has been described as “a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis“.
Worshippers of One God
By the Greek experience they had learned that others could not be forced to worship their idols and they saw for themselves that the Jews, who only wanted to worship One God, were not like other pagan people who had already several gods and perhaps could have advantage in some extra ones. By the years the Jews had prove that they were not going to conform to a worship which would not have been according to their Laws of worship. So the Romans granted the Jews an official status of being exempt from Roman state religion when they were willing to pay their punitive tax called fiscus Judaicus.
At the time Judea was a very important place for several major trade routes. It was sort of like the great way-station for the incense trade coming from Yemen up the Arabian Peninsula and going out to the Mediterranean. It was also one of the most agriculturally productive pieces of land in the Middle East famous for its olive oil (which was used as a main source of light, and not just for cooking), for its dates (the chief sweetener in the times before sugar), and for its wine.
Thorn in the flesh for the Jews
Roman Theatre
A thorn in the flesh was the centre of trade and the Roman administrative capitol of Judea, the artificial port city of Caesarea (one of the two largest in the Empire). Like in the most important Roman cities there was a beautiful amphitheatre, a hippodrome for chariot races and people could gamble and enjoy life or give one’s desires in their pleasure gardens. There was also a huge temple dedicated to the Roman god-emperor, Augustus Caesar.
Temples were sacred places and for the People of God the mount in Jerusalem was most sacred and they did not like the pagan ideas of their oppressor who had found an ambitious project in the re-building of ‘the Temple’, which was almost certainly an attempt to gain popularity among his subjects who, he knew, held him in contempt and also to make amends for his cruelty toward the rabbis.
Build walls around the Temple Mount
It took 10,000 men ten years just to build the retaining walls around the Temple Mount (on top of which the Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock, stands today). The Western Wall (formerly known as the Wailing Wall or “Kotel Ma’arabi”) is merely part of that 500-meter-long retaining wall that was designed to hold a huge man-made platform that could accommodate twenty four football fields. When it was completed, it was the world’s largest functioning religious site and until today it remains the largest man-made platform in the world.
‘Foresight is the essence of government’, he must have thought and forward looking to a growing Jewish community of which there were already about 6-7 million Jews living in the Roman Empire (plus another 1 million in Persia), they should have felt welcome in the town they had to visit in their lifetime. Because it was considered to go for pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the three pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. (Exodus 23: 17; Deuteronomy 16:16). The Mishnah says,
“All are under obligation, to appear, except minors, women, the blind, the lame, the aged, and one who is ill physically or mentally.”
Also knowing that according to the Mosaic law every one should take an offering, though the value thereof is not fixed (comp. Exodus 23: 14; Deuteronomium 16:17) this would mean they had to buy goods in the city and could bring in money for the Roman Empire by the taxes. They were sure of collecting at least the tax for a fixed minimum of three silver pieces, each of thirty-two grains of fine silver (Ḥagai 1:1-2). While the appearance of women and infant males was not obligatory, they usually accompanied their husbands and fathers, as in all public gatherings (Deuteronomy 31:12), which would mean lodging and food for them to be provided. The Talmud plainly infers that both daughters and sons joined the pilgrims at the Passover festival in Jerusalem (Pes. 89a; Giṭ. 25a).
Herod understood that in case the Jews could find a nice place where they could come together to celebrate their festivals, they also would spend a lot of money over there, which would be good for the tax-income. To accommodate such a huge number of people there was a need for a huge space. Hence the size of the platform.
Several Jews where also astonished what the emperor could establish and in the Talmud it was notated:
“He who has not seen Herod’s building, has never in his life seen a truly grand building.” (Talmud-Bava Basra 4a)
In Judea the pilgrimages to Jerusalem were kept up regularly, but the principal gathering of the people was on the Sukkot festival, called “Ḥag ha-Asif” = “Festival of Gathering” (1 Kings 8:65; 2 Chronicles 7:8, 9). The people went undisturbed to Jerusalem for the festivals (Yer. Ta’an. iv. 7; Giṭ. 88a). From beyond Palestine, especially from the River Euphrates, they journeyed to Jerusalem for the festivals. Some even endangered their lives passing the guards posted to stop the pilgrimages (Ta’an. 28a; Grätz, “Gesch.” 3d ed., iii. 157, 668). The number of Jewish pilgrims to the Temple was computed by the governor Gesius Florus (64-66), who counted 256,500 paschal lambs at one Passover festival; allowing ten persons to one lamb, this would make 2,565,000 pilgrims (Josephus, “B. J.” vi. 9). The Tosefta records the census of Agrippa, who ordered the priests to take one hind leg of every paschal lamb, and counted 1,200,000 legs, which would make the total 12,000,000, (Tosef., Pes. iv. 64b). {These figures are evidently exaggerated, and are based on the desire to double the 600,000 of the Exodus, a tendency frequently noticed in the Haggadah.} It is calculated that ancient Jerusalem comprised an area of 2,400,000 square yards, and, allowing 10 yards for each person, would contain 240,000 persons {see Luncz, “Jerusalem,” i, English part, pp. 83-102}. {Jewish Encyclopedia}
Temple servants also servants of the emperor
Having built the Temple, Herod took pains to make sure it would be run without future problems of this kind. He appointed his own High Priest, having by then put to death forty-six leading members of the Sanhedrin, the rabbinical court.
In that Holy of Holies which was covered in gold there was such a priest assigned service in the regiment of Abijah. His name was Z’kharyah or Zachariah who had a wife who descended from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. Together they lived honourably before God, careful in keeping to the ways of the commandments and enjoying a clear conscience before God Who is One. He was a respected priest who could use his words to enlighten many people.
In the other buildings were the walls and columns were of white marble; the floors were of carrara marble, its blue tinge giving the impression of a moving sea of water, the congregation gathered and waited for Zachariah who did not seem to come at his regular time. They waited and waited and became restless. what they did not know was what happened in the house, where the curtains were tapestries of blue, white, scarlet and purple thread, depicting, according to Josephus, “the whole vista of the heavens.” those heavens seemed to have opened for the priest who was astonished and did not believe his eyes and ears.
A special messenger to a priest
Unannounced, an angel of God had appeared just to the right of the altar of incense and got the priest Zachariah paralyzed in fear. But the angel reassured him not to fear because this messenger of God came to tell that their prayer to receive a child was been heard and would be answered positively. Elisheva (Elizabeth), his wife, who also observed all the mitzvot and ordinances, but did not seemed to be blessed to have children, would bear a son by him. Both where were quite old and had passed the age of having children so Zachariah did not believe the angel Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring him this glad news.
As priest before God, now not believing the messenger of God, he was punished and became unable to say a word until the day of his son’s birth. He would not be able to say any word until he would be filled with the Ruach haKodesh (the Holy Spirit) when the baby would leave his mother’s womb and would get people to rejoice when he was born, having to face the one who was going to turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God AdonaiElohimHashemJehovah. That son of those old people would herald and go before his face in the spirit and power of Eliyahu (Elijah), to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Most High a people prepared for him.
Dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things were performed, because he did not believe the words, which were fulfilled in their season, he went out the sanctuary, to the waiting people, who marvelled while he tarried in the temple and saw at his face and how he behaved that something special had happened. They knew he had seen a vision. He continued speechless and had to use sign language with the people. When the course of his priestly assignment was completed, he went back home. It wasn’t long before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy.
Luke’s story of the temple priest
The physician Luke (Colossians 4:14) has generally been credited with the writership of the following account:
“5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. 7 But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well on in years. 8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshippers were praying outside. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. 16 Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well on in years.” 19 The angel answered, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.” 21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realised he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. 23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favour and taken away my disgrace among the people.” (Luke 1:5-25 NIV)
Elisabeth’s other family member also receiving honour of being with child
Eastern Christianity fresco of the Visitation in St. George Church in Kurbinovo, Macedonia
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy by which God had taken away away her reproach among men or her public disgrace, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Natzeret/Nazareth to an Essene young girl, a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Miryam/Miriam (the same name as the granddaughter of Hyrcanus, the Hasmonean princess). Miriam is today better known as Mary (Maria), the mother of Christ (and by many also called the mother of God, though God did not have a mother and has been for ever, so did not have a beginning as eternal Spirit). Mary or Miryam/Miriam became pregnant with the Messiah and lost her virginity at the exact same time (her first time), thus confirming the Messiah’s physical birth (a physical to Spiritual parallel) as a First Born Son (physical for Mary and Joseph, but Spiritual for Jehovah), and legal heir to the throne of King David. This was a serious situation for the young girl, because in the East, the betrothal or engagement was entered into with much ceremony, and usually took place a year before the marriage and was so sacred that the parties entering into it could not be separated save by a bill of divorcement, which could be called in when somebody seemed to have been unfaithful. Unfaithfulness to each other was deemed adultery and could result in stoning to death.
26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God.” (Luke 1:26-30 NIV)
Shame over the family
Joseph or Yosef, her husband, being a righteous man,chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced, not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly. But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Most High appeared to him in a dream, saying,
“Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21)
Not interested in Judean politics
At the time that Jewish nationalistic feelings were rising to the surface and Hellenism dominated Judea, the devote Miriam (Mary) was not interested in politics and the significant number of Greeks as well as other gentiles who adopted the Greek lifestyle who came to settle the land. As a result of Herod’s interference and the ever-spreading Hellenistic influences among the Jewish upper classes, the Temple hierarchy had become very corrupt, but her family always stayed truthful to her God, who was the God of Abraham and which she considered the Only One God, the Divine Creator. But perhaps she also might have looked forward to a solution and to their promised land and have sang:
“Maran de-bashamaya,” “Our Master in heaven, to Thee we beg, even like a captive to his master. All captives are ransomed with money; but Thy people Israel, with mercy and supplication. O grant us our request and prayer, and let us not return from Thy presence in vain.”
The Sadducees, a religious group of the wealthy, who collaborated with the Romans in order to keep their power base, now had come in control of the Temple, much to the chagrin of the mainstream Jewish majority, the Pharisees, and of the extreme religious minority, the Zealots.
Dating “Before and after Christ”
Basileus or King, emperor Herod the Great
Evidence for the 4 BCE date as the death of Herod in Jericho, is provided by the fact that Herod’s sons, between whom his kingdom was divided, dated their rule from 4 BCE, and Josephus tells us that Herod died after a lunar eclipse. {Josephus, Antiquities, 17.6.4} Elisabeth and Mary having become pregnant before his death, should then also have been delivered their child before the so called Anno Domini (AD or A.D.) used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars.That Medieval Latin term specified more fully as Anno Domini Nostri Iesu (Jesu) Christi (“In the Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ”) was long wrongly taken as the year of birth of Christ Jesus. This Gregorian calendar dating system was devised in 525, but was not widely used until after 800, when the Trinitarians got in the majority of those who still kept to the teachings in which Miriam (Mary) strongly believed. Because BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes incorrectly concluded that AD means After Death, i.e., after the death of Jesus. However this would mean that the ~33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would not be present in either BC or AD time scales. {Donald P. Ryan, (2000), 15.} Others use it as “Anno Domine” “Year of the Lord” meaning Year of God an having the years BC ‘before Christ’ as the years ‘Before God’ of the “years before God his birth”, which would naturally be impossible, having God being the creator when he would not yet have been born or been in existence.
From told before
Israel had not yet seen realized the long-awaited fulfilment of the promise regarding the Seed through whom blessings would flow. (Ge 22:15-18) Israel had tried to create their won country and to liberate themselves many times from several oppressors. But their own efforts at salvation had produced nothing, unreality. They did not yet form a political nation where there could be found freedom “from enslavement to corruption” and peace for which all creation “keeps on groaning together and being in pain together.” (Romans 8:19-22; compare 10:3; 11:7.) Jehovah, their God had made Jerusalem like a woman who had been made pregnant by her husband and who brought forth numerous children. (Isaiah 54:1-8). After several prophets telling about a saviour to come the time seemed to be ripe.
Later the devout Jew and convert to the new faith, the apostle Paul quoted this prophecy of Isaiah chapter 54 and applied it to “the Jerusalem above [which] is free, and she is our mother.” (Galatians 4:26, 27)
At the end of the current time indication the stars and the moon came to stand in a situation which was predicted by the earlier prophets. Some wise men knew those predictions of a great king and noticed the signs which were predicted in many books. some started traveling and following the stars to find the right place where that king would come to earth.
They did not know that out of that simple devout woman from Nazareth would arise such a great prophet. The apostle John his vision recorded at Revelation 12:1-5 brings the pregnant heavenly “woman” to the forefront. In his revelation we can see that there is given birth to “a son, a male, who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod.” The shepherding of the nations with an iron rod is directly connected with the Messianic Kingdom of God, and hence the vision must relate to the producing of that Kingdom, so that, following the defeat of Satan’s attack on the newborn “child,” the ensuing cry goes forth:
“Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ.” (Revelation of the apostle John 12:10)
The anguish of the pregnant heavenly “woman” preceding the birth calls to mind Paul’s expression at Galatians 4:19, “childbirth pains” there apparently representing stirring interest and fervent desire to see full development of matters reached (in Paul’s case, the full development of the Galatian believers as Christians).
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Next:
Nazarene Commentary to A Factual and Logical Statement
Nazarene Commentary to Zechariah and Elizabeth
Nazarene Commentary to An Angel Appearing to a Priest
Nazarene Commentary to Struck Dumb For Disbelief
Nazarene Commentary to Elizabeth Pregnant
Nazarene Commentary to Gabriel’s Appearance to Mary
Lectionary sermon for 15 December 2013 (Advent 3 A) on Matthew 11:2-11 (billpeddie.wordpress.com)
John’s undoing in this instance was that he believed Herod Antipas the Tetrarch had done something quite immoral, and despite knowing Herod Antipas’ unpleasant reputation, told him so. Herod Antipas had been named as king by Caesar Augustus on the death of his father King Herod the Great, but the Romans had decided his power should be limited and only gave him a quarter share of his father’s territory. He set about trying to win back more power by building the city of Tiberius in honour of his current patron the Emperor Tiberius. The immoral action which had offended John was that Antipas also fancied his brother’s wife, Herodias, so he divorced his own wife and married Herodias. Well it is one thing to believe the king had done wrong, but telling him so was quite another. It is understatement to say upsetting a ruthless king from a ruthless family by calling him immoral was not a wise career move and it was probably no surprise to anyone that John was now imprisoned, and, according to the historian Josephus, in the forbidding fortress Machaerus.
Tiberius (14-37) (mkukahiwaharuno.wordpress.com)
During this time, Augustus’ death in 14 had then caused Tiberius to become ruler. However, at the time of Augustus’ death, he had hesitated to take over as ruler because he felt as if he was inadequate for the position. He had even gone as far as telling the senate that he was reluctant and inadequate to fill this role. He was then appointed control of the Praetorian Guard. The authority in which Tiberius had during this time since he was Augustus’ heir was also greatly and positively impacted because of his tribunician power, the fact Augustus adopted him and Augustus’ bequest to him of his estate along with one of the most important components, his name… Augustus. However, Rome’s armies had saw the death of Augustus in a different aspect which was it simply being their way to possibly obtain munity.
Sorting out the Agrippinas (timesonline.typepad.com)
One of the problems of the first century AD is that there are simply too many Agrippinas. Not only the “Elder Agrippina” (the wife of the glamorous prince Germanicus, who kept his memory alive after his suspicious death and was morally upright to the point of being a bit of a pain in the neck) and the “Younger Agrippina” (daughter of the Elder A, wife of Claudius and mother — and lover it was said — of Nero). There’s also the virtuous lady that we tend to know as Vipsania, who was the first wife of the emperor Tiberius….the one he really loved but was made to divorce in order to marry the dreadful Julia. Vipsania was actually “Vipsania Agrippina”, the daughter of Augustus’ aide, Agrippa.This last Agrippina is often missed. In fact the traditional title of the picture, below right (by Rubens, now in the National Gallery in Washington) was “Tiberius and Agrippina”… but has been changed to “Germanicus and Agrippina”, partly because the traditional pairing seemed so odd (the Elder Agrippina hated Tiberius, whom she believed was heavily implicated in the death of Germanicus). But actually it’s a pairing that makes perfect sense if you remember it could be what we would call “Tiberius and Vipsania”. This is the sad loving couple who were forced to divorce by the imperial dynastic machine.
The Story of Mary and the Birth of the King (womenfromthebook.com)
or over 500 years the nation of Israel chafed under the thumb of first one Gentile kingdom and then another—Babylon, Persia, the Greco Macedonians, and now Rome, with its absolute ruler Caesar Augustus, and Herod the Great, one of his ruthless client kings. It wasn’t unusual, particularly during Passover season, for passions to ignite as the tribes of Israel revisited the story of God’s intervention and the stunning liberation of their ancestors. When the white-hot flames of resistance and rebellion flared, they were summarily stamped out under the cruel boot of Herod’s soldiers.Exorbitant taxation compounded the misery of oppression in pre- and first-century Palestine: the mandatory tribute to Rome; locally imposed taxes; several layers of temple tax; impromptu levies to fund military expeditions and building projects. Privation and hardship enveloped the land like a dank, smothering blanket, and peasants found themselves forced to sell their land holdings—inheritances from generations past—in order to survive. The swelling ranks of day laborers told the tale.
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On a cool autumn morning sometime before Herod’s death, in the frontier town of Nazareth in Lower Galilee, a young woman prepared for a long trip to Bethlehem. Caesar Augustus called for a census, declaring “all the world should be taxed” (Luke 2:1-5) and ordered that everyone[1] must register in their ancestral home. And so, Mary, nearly full-term in her pregnancy, helped Joseph load the cart with the necessities they would need to see them through their journey to the ancient city of David.
Signs and Wonders (mnorth52.wordpress.com)
Astrology boomed under the Caesars: here we had a severely autocratic regime which considered it worthwhile to be seen as “one with the gods”, and so it greatly benefited the emperors to have the legitimacy of their sovereignty literally “written in the stars.”Tiberius was no exception: having become self proficient in divination, after a dream which told him to give a large sum of money to a certain person, he decided he was the victim of enchantment, and had the man put to death. So even if you have no connection with someone (even an emperor), you could find your life terminated simply on the arbitrary say-so of interpretation of dreams. Freud no doubt would have been in his heaven among the Romans.
Rome’s Religion (ecpsocialstudies6.wordpress.com)
Honoring gods was a big part of Roman life. There were thousands of Roman gods. The ancient Romans believed gods lived everywhere—in trees, by the side of the road, in a flower, under the bed, and maybe even in the oven in your house. In ancient Rome, everything had a spirit in charge of it.
Tiberius Used Quantitative Easing To Solve The Financial Crisis Of 33 AD (businessinsider.com)
Tiberius ruled the Roman Empire from 14 AD to 37 AD. He was frugal in his expenditures, and consequently, he never raised taxes during his reign. When Cappadocia became a province, Tiberius was even able to lower Roman taxes. His frugality also allowed him to be liberal in helping the provinces when, for example, a massive earthquake destroyed many of the famous cities of Asia, or when a financial panic struck the Roman Empire in 33 AD.As with many financial panics, this one began when unexpected events in one part of the Roman world spread to the rest of the Empire. To quote Otto Lightner from his History of Business Depressions, “The important firm of Seuthes and Son, of Alexandria, was facing difficulties because of the loss of three richly laden ships in a Red Sea storm, followed by a fall in the value of ostrich feather and ivory. About the same time the great house of Malchus and Co. of Tyre with branches at Antioch and Ephesus, suddenly became bankrupt as a result of a strike among their Phoenician workmen and the embezzlements of a freedman manager. These failures affected the Roman banking house, Quintus Maximus and Lucious Vibo. A run commenced on their bank and spread to other banking houses that were said to be involved, particularly Brothers Pittius.
Bishop MacEvilly’s Commentary on Matthew 22:15-21 (thedivinelamp.wordpress.com)
Pharisees are in a special manner said to be the instigators or concocters of this scheme, to insnare our Redeemer, both, because they were most hostile to Him, and among them, especially the following captious question was agitated. Instead of being struck with feelings of dread at the punishment menaced by our Redeemer, and conceiving feelings of true sorrow, they become more hardened in their iniquity, and endeavour to insnare Him.
The man behind the emperor: major Augustus exhibit opens in Rome (rawstory.com)
A political genius, a great reformer, a patron of the arts — but ancient Rome’s first emperor Augustus was also a family man, as highlighted in a new exhibition that opened in Rome this week.The show marks 2,000 years since the death of the founder of the Roman Empire and the man most associated with the “Pax Romana”, a period of immense architectural and artistic achievement.“We wanted to look at the personality of Augustus beyond the official persona,” said Daniel Roger, chief conservator at the Louvre museum in Paris, which is co-organising the exhibition in Rome.
Through some 200 items including statues, jewelry and platters, the exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale delves into the emperor’s family life and tries to depict the ebullient mood of the time.
The show brings together for the first time statues of Augustus in his attire as a divine leader and as a star general, as well as an equestrian one found in the Aegean Sea in Greece and displayed in Italy for the first time.
Augustus (aaam4e.wordpress.com)
Augustus got very sick in 23 BC he died visiting his fathers grave on August 19 14 AD
The Pentecost Mosaic, in the center is the dove of the Holy Spirit with the twelve apostles below. This is one of the oldest mosaics in the church dating from 1125 AD. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In the previous articles “The day of the festival of Pentecost” and “Speaking in tongeus” we have cited that speaking in tongues or Glossolalia, was by the grace of God‘s Holy Power, the Holy Spirit, the holy Pneuma, which had been poured out on the disciples of Jesus gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem in the late Spring of CE 33. They were surprised by a sound from the shamayim as of a groaning Ruach or a rushing stiff breeze, filled with the Ruach Hakodesh, the Holy Spirit or counsellor, presented by tongues as if of fire, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Ruach Hakodesh or Pneuma gave them the utterance. It was bringing the followers of Christ outdoors to meet the foreigners, who were not pagans but returning returning Israelites in varying stages of return, who were there in Jerusalem for the annual festival of Pentecost, the Shavuot feast or moed of Shavuot . No pagans would go and worship יהוה YHWH {Jehovah} on Shavuot/Feast of Weeks.
It was not until the festival of Pentecost CE 33 that the gift of speaking in tongues was first received, and on that occasion it served as an effective evidence that Christians had God’s spirit upon them.
You can imagine the effect it had on the people in town when the Jews heard Jesus’ followers speaking in perhaps over a dozen different languages. But their talking at that time had nothing to do with what certain Christians today believe is ‘speaking in tongues’. The people at the beginning of the Chrisitian church heard the followers of Christ speaking in their tongues about the magnificent things of God and not in a sort gibberish or in ‘loud and fervent shouts’ of the Pentecostals. — (Acts 2:5-11) (Please do find our next article about the meaning of “filled with the Holy Spirit” and “speaking in tongues” : Meaning of “speaking in tongues”)
In “Is Speaking in Tongues an Evidence of True Worship?” a sister also goes deeper into the subject.
Knowing the beliefs of other religions always helps to understand why they think so or where certain religions go wrong. Therefore it is worth looking into the matter if speaking in tongues is really a necessary requirement of true worship. In the article the sister discusses the three chapters in which the apostle Paul discusses the gift of tongues.
This special gift of tongues received in Jerusalem through God’s holy spirit assisted the disciples there in preaching the good news for a sign to those Jewish worshippers from distant parts of the earth. But the real fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32 on that day of Pentecost was the fact that those who were filled with the spirit prophesied. Speaking with tongues was incidental, for a sign of authenticity or divine backing. — Acts 2:16-22. {Is Speaking in Tongues an Evidence of True Worship?}
To emphasize the importance and permanence of love as compared to the miraculous gifts of the spirit, the Apostle Paul wrote: “Love never fails. But whether there are gifts of prophesying, they will be done away with; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will be done away with.” — (1 Corinthians 13:8).
On the basis of Paul’s words here, there should be no question that the miraculous gifts of the spirit were to pass away. Find out in the above mentioned articles how Paul is comparing the temporariness of the gifts of the spirit with the permanence of love; and how he links the transitoriness of these gifts, not with unbelievers, but with the infancy of Christianity and how these miraculous gifts passed away when the community or congregation reached maturity by becoming a recognized, established organization. (1 Corinthians 13:9-13; Acts 8:18)
Our readers who speak Dutch can find a similar discussion in Dutch in our previous posting: “In Talen sprekend” & “Teken van authenticiteit of goddelijke backing” & in the coming publication “Betekenis van ‘Spreken in Tongen’ en ‘Uitstorting van de Geest’”
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14 But Peter stood up with the eleven {1} and raised his voice and made this utterance to them: “Men of Ju·de′a and all YOU inhabitants of Jerusalem,{2} let this be known to YOU and give ear to my sayings. 15These [people] are, in fact, not drunk,{3} as YOU suppose, for it is the third hour {*4} of the day. 16On the contrary, this is what was said through the prophet Joel, 17‘“And in the last days,” God says, “I shall pour out some of my spirit {*5} upon every sort of flesh,{*6} and YOUR sons and YOUR daughters will prophesy and YOUR young men will see visions and YOUR old men {*7} will dream dreams;{8}18and even upon my men slaves and upon my women slaves I will pour out some of my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.{9}19And I will give portents in heaven above and signs on earth below, blood and fire and smoke mist;{9}20the sun {10} will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and illustrious day of Jehovah {*11} arrives.{12}21And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah {*13} will be saved.”’{14}
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(NWT)
Pentecostés. Óleo sobre lienzo, 275 × 127 cm. Madrid, Museo del Prado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
{1} the eleven: (Matthew 28:16): 16However, the eleven disciples went into Gal′i·lee+ to the mountain where Jesus had arranged for them,
{2} Jerusalem: (Acts 7:2): 2He said: “Men, brothers and fathers, hear. The God of glory+ appeared to our forefather Abraham while he was in Mes·o·po·ta′mi·a, before he took up residence in Ha′ran,+
(Acts 22:1): 22.1 “Men, brothers+ and fathers, hear my defense+ to YOU now.”
{3} not drunk: (Acts 26:25): 25But Paul said: “I am not going mad, Your Excellency Festus, but I am uttering sayings of truth and of soundness of mind.
(1 Thessalonians 5:7): 7 For those who sleep+ are accustomed to sleep at night,+ and those who get drunk are usually drunk at night.
{*4} the third hour of the day: That is, about 9 a.m., counting from sunrise:
{*5} pour out some of my spirit: Or, “active force.” Gr., pneu′ma·tos; Lat., Spi′ri·tu; J17,18,22(Heb.), ru·chi′, “my spirit.” See Ge 1:2 ftn, “Force.”: (Isaiah 44:3): 3For I shall pour out water upon the thirsty one,+ and trickling streams upon the dry place.+ I shall pour out my spirit upon your seed,*+ and my blessing upon your descendants.
(Ezekiel 36:27): 27 And my spirit I shall put inside YOU,+ and I will act so that in my regulations YOU will walk,+ and my judicial decisions YOU will keep and actually carry out.+
(Zechariah 12:10): 10“And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit* of favor+ and entreaties,+ and they will certainly look to the One whom* they pierced+ through, and they will certainly wail over Him as in the wailing over an only [son]; and there will be a bitter lamentation over him as when there is bitter lamentation over the firstborn [son].+
{*6} every sort of flesh: Or, “upon all flesh.” Gr., e·pi′ pa′sansar′ka; Lat., car′nem; J17,18,22(Heb.), ba·sar′.
{8} dream dreams: (Joel 2:28): 28“And after that it must occur that I shall pour out my spirit*+ on every sort of flesh,+ and YOUR sons and YOUR daughters+ will certainly prophesy. As for YOUR old men, dreams they will dream. As for YOUR young men, visions they will see.
{9} prophesy: (Numbers 11:29): 29However, Moses said to him: “Are you feeling jealous for me? No, I wish* that all of Jehovah’s people were prophets, because Jehovah would put his spirit* upon them!”+
(Joel 2:29): 29And even on the menservants and on the maidservants in those days I shall pour out my spirit.+
(Acts 21:4): 4By a search we found the disciples and remained here seven days. But through the spirit+ they repeatedly told Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem.
(1 Corinthians 12:10): 10to yet another operations of powerful works,*+ to another prophesying,+ to another discernment+ of inspired utterances,*+ to another different tongues,+ and to another interpretation+ of tongues.
{10} sun: (Matthew 24:29): 29“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened,+ and the moon+ will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.+
{*11} illustrious day: “Jehovah.” Heb., יהוה (YHWH or JHVH)
{12} illustrious day of Jehovah arrives: (Joel 2:31): 31The sun itself will be turned into darkness,+ and the moon into blood,+ before the coming of the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah.+
(Mark 13:24): 24“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
{*13} the name of Jehovah: Heb., יהוה (YHWH or JHVH)
{14} be saved: (Joel 2:32): 32And it must occur that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe;+ for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will prove to be the escaped ones,+ just as Jehovah has said, and in among the survivors,* whom Jehovah is calling.”*+
(Romans 10:13): 13For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah* will be saved.”+
What does it mean to speak in tongues? by Todd Clippard (braggschurchofchrist.com)
There is a general misunderstanding, especially among modern pentecostals and charismatics as to the nature of tongues. Those who claim to speak in tongues today are referring to ecstatic utterances made after a so-called personal manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Ecstatic coming form the word “ecstasy” meaning to be beside oneself, beyond reason or self control, given over to extreme and engrossing emotions. Utterances are simply vocalized expressions. Participants in such babbling believe the Holy Spirit has taken over their verbalization and caused them to speak some heavenly language or tongues of angels.
What does it really mean to speak in tongues?
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The Baptism In The Holy Spirit for All is the Biblical Norm. (keithlannon.wordpress.com)
To minister as New Testament preachers did without the baptism in the Holy Spirit would not be consistent with what Jesus commanded the 120 to do. In the very mouth of Christ, before He returned to heaven, was the command for the disciples to stay in Jerusalem – ie: no preaching, no healing, no casting out demons, until they were baptised in the Holy Spirit. That was the priority that Jesus Christ placed on the Holy Ghost baptism.
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The outward sign of the inward work of grace that John the Baptist referred to as, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, was unwelcome in many churches of the world when the Pentecostal move began. Zealous evangelical movements, as well as the lukewarm nominal denominations, ejected many “tongue talking” believers who had sought after and received what they believed to be the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The ejected regrouped into newly formed churches. These “new” churches referred to themselves as “Full Gospel”, or “Pentecostal Churches.” The first few decades of the outpouring saw an incredible growth of zealous, biblically based, supernaturally inclined Christianity. However, the growth of those early days was stultified somewhat as mid century approached.
William Dwight McKissic Gives a Biblical Basis for Speaking in Tongues In Private (blackchristiannews.com)
If the Bible does not back the practice of speaking in tongues, then no believer–period–should speak in tongues at any place or at any time.
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It is not my purpose, desire, or place to attempt to persuade all Baptists or all believers to speak in tongues. I do not believe that it is God’s will based on His Word for all believers to speak in tongues (1 Cor. 12:30). Although it is debated among those of us who speak in tongues, neither do I believe that every believer is capable of speaking in tongues–even if they desire to. God sovereignly determines which believer gets which gifts (1 Cor. 12:7-12).
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Those of us who speak in tongues often during times of intense worship, devotion, prayer, and praise spontaneously often speak in tongues as the Sprit gives utterance (Acts 2:4). It is my opinion, but, I don’t believe their tongues speaking was limited to Pentecost only. I believe it carried over to their private devotions.
The Gift of Tongues (thetruesacrifice.wordpress.com)
Does the bible state that speaking in tongues is proof of receiving the Holy Spirit? In this article i will show you biblical proof that what the majority of Christians are taught about tongues is indeed false and the tongues most christians think they are speaking may indeed be satanic.
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When Jesus was alive with his disciples, he instructed them not to preach to anyone who was not a Jew. You can read this in (Matthew 10). However, after Jesus died and resurrected, the command changed drastically. Jesus told his disciples almost the exact opposite in (ACTS 1:8). The time had come for the Apostles to preach to everyone whether or not they were Jew. Since Jesus went to his own people and they ended up killing him, Jesus made it then possible for anyone to be saved just by believing in him. This is the new covenant(testament). But how could the Apostles preach to everyone without being able to communicate with them? Good question! This is why Jesus gave them the gift of tongues so that they could preach to the Greek, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontos and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, In Egypt, Libya about Cyrene and so on… you can read the full list in (Acts 2:9-10) The apostles needed to preach to everyone and the only way to do so was to be able to speak those people’s language or tongue.
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The proof that you are saved and have the Holy Spirit is if you are Holy!! It is as simple as that. You will know if you are reborn or born again because you will be different.
Is Speaking in Tongues an Evidence of True Worship? (illustrationstoencourage.wordpress.com)
someone may argue that there is a difference between the “gift of tongues” and the speaking in tongues as “evidence” of the outpouring of the holy spirit. All spoke in tongues upon receiving the spirit, they might say, but not all were later endowed with the “gift of tongues.” But where is the Scriptural support for such a supposition? It is lacking.
Wisdom: Evidence of God’s Breathe (mfmdelaware.wordpress.com)
The spiritual gifts in the New Testament were also found in the Old Testament except for the gift of tongues. That marks the evidence of God’s nature in us. Demons speak in tongues as experienced on deliverance ground. The difference is that it is to confuse and deceive while that which is from the Holy Spirit caries power and fire. The one by demon entertains but that from God shakes the kingdom of darkness to the root and turns the believer to unquenchable flames of fire
Cessationists, such as influential pastor and traditional Calvinist John MacArthur, believe that 1 Corinthians 13:8 and other Biblical passages indicate that the divine ability to speak in other languages or an unknown tongue (glossolalia) ended with the apostles’ deaths, as did prophetic revelations and faith-healings through individuals. Some Christians, however, believe that these Holy Spirit-inspired gifts will continue until Christ’s return.
Rose and Linda’s Journal Speaking in Tongues (momsfirstscreenn.wordpress.com)
Jesus said that the Spirit would testify, and that the disciples would be the ones to witness.
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Ten years after Pentecost, the Gentiles received the gift of the Holy Ghost; the Holy Ghost also testified through them when He came in.
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Twenty-five years later we find some people receiving the same Holy Ghost in the same way. He took over their vocal organs and spoke in another tongue. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues (Acts 19:6).
Apostles receive the gift of tongues (Acts 2) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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2.1 And when the moed of Shavuot was fully counted by the omer, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from the shamayim as of a groaning Ruach, and it filled all the Bayit {7} where where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared to them divided tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. {8}
4 And they were all filled with the Ruach Hakodesh, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Ruach Hakodesh gave them the utterance.
5 And there were dwelling at Yahrushalayim, Yahudim, {9} devout men, out of every nation {1} under the shamayim.
6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, {2} and were confused, because every man heard them speak in his own language. {3}
7 And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, See, are not all these who speak Galilaeans?
8 How then do we hear them speaking in our own native language?
9 Parthians, and Medes, and Eylamites, and those Yisraelites dwelling in Aram, among whom were Yahudim, and those from Kappadokia, those from Pontos, and also Asia Minor, {4 }{5 }
10 Phrygia, and Pamphulia, in Mitzrayim, and in the parts of Libya near Cyrene, and Yahudim and gerim from Romiyah, along with the Yireh-vuvh, {6 }{7 } {both Yehuḏim and converts/both Jews and proselytes }
11 Cretes and Arabians, {8 } we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of יהוה {speaking the great wonders of Elohim Jehovah}. 12 And they were all amazed and stunned, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What does this mean? {9 }13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
14 But Kepha, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said to them, You men of Yahudah, and all you that are staying at Yahrushalayim, {10} be this known to you, and listen to my words:
15 For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but nine o’clock in the morning.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the navi Yo-El; {11}17 And it shall come to pass in the yamim acharonim, said יראו {Elohim Jehovah }, I will pour out from My Ruach upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on My avadim and on My female avadim I will pour out in those days from My Ruach; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will show wonders in the shamayim above, and signs in the olam beneath; dahm, and fire, and vapor of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into dahm, before that great and terrible Yom יהוה {splendid day of יהוהJehovah} comes: {12}21 And it shall come to pass, that whoever shall call on the Name of the Master יהוה shall be saved. {13}22 You men of Yisrael, {14} listen to these words; יהושע {Jeshua} of Natzeret, a man approved of יהוה {Jehovah} among you by nisim and wonders and signs, which יהוה {Jehovah} did through Him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know:
23 Him, being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of יהוה {Jehovah}, you have taken, and by the hands of Torah-less men, you have impaled and killed: {1}
24 Whom יהוה {Jehovah} has raised up, having demolished the cords {2} of death: because it was not possible for Sheol to hold Him.25 For Dawid spoke concerning Him, I saw my יהוה {Jehovah} always before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
26 Therefore did my lev have gilah, and my tongue had simcha; moreover also my body shall rest in tikvah:
27 Because You will not leave my being in Sheol, neither will You allow the Kadosh-One of Yisrael to see corruption.28 You have made known to me the ways of chayim; You shall make me full of simcha with Your presence.29 Men and Yisraelite brothers, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch Dawid, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 Being a navi, and knowing that יהוה {Jehovah} had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Moshiach to sit on his kesay;
31 He seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of the Moshiach, that His being was not left in the Sheol, neither did His flesh see corruption.32 This יהושע {Jeshua} has יהוה {Jehovah} raised up, of which we all are witnesses.
33 Therefore being by the Right Hand of יהוה {Jehovah} exalted, and having received from Abba the promise of the Ruach Hakodesh, He has sent out all this, which you now see and hear.34 For Dawid is not ascended into the shamayim: {3} but he he said himself, the Master יהוה {Jehovah} said to My Master, Sit at My right hand,
35 Until I make Your enemies Your footstool.36 Therefore let kol Beit Yisrael know {4} assuredly, that the Master יהוה {Jehovah} has made known that same יהושע {Jeshua}, whom you have impaled, as both Melech and Moshiach.
37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced in their levim, and said to Kepha and to the rest of the shlichim, Men and Yisraelite brothers, what shall we do?
38 Then Kepha said to them, Shuv, and be immersed every one of you in the Name of the Master-Yah {5} יהושע {Jeshua} ha Moshiach for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Ruach Hakodesh.39 For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are far off, {6} even as many as יהוה {Jehovah} our אלהינו {Elohim} shall call. {7}
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this sinful generation.
41 Then they that gladly received his word were immersed: and the same day there were added to them about three thousand beings. {8}
42 And they continued steadfastly in the shlichim’s Torah and chavurah, and in breaking of lechem, and in the tefillot. {9}43 And fear came upon every being: and many wonders and signs were done by the shlichim.
44 And all that believed were echad, and had all things be-yachad;
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and divided them to all men, as every man had need.46 And they, continuing daily as echad in the Beit HaMikdash, {10} breaking lechem from bayit to bayit, {11} did eat their food with simcha and a pure lev,
47 Offering tehilla to יהוה {Jehovah}, and having favor with all the people. And יהוה {Jehovah} added to the congregation of Yisrael daily all those being saved.
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Notes from the Bible translators of the Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition Study Bible:
{7} The House is not a room. And is not an upper room. It is merely a Hebraic way of identifying the place as the House of YHWH on Mt. Moriah. Even in the land of Yisrael today, the Temple Mount is known as Har HaBayit, or the Mountain of the House. The Spirit fell in The Temple, or the “House” of YHWH, since that was the only place Yisraelites would be gathered by commandment according to Deut. 16 and Lev. 23. Had these Yisraelites been in an upper room, the Set-Apart-
Spirit could not have been given, since they would be in disobedience to the Torah, as would YHWH, if He gave it to those who were not in His House, but rather in a prayer room of their own choosing. The so-called church as a separate entity from Yisrael, was never born on that day, since the events were promised and prophesied and fulfilled to Yisraelites in the Temple in YHWH’s House.
{8} Another indication that Yisrael was being renewed, as as opposed to a gentile church being birthed, as the Torah was also given in voices of thunderings, or (as the sages teach) in the 70 known tongues of the nations. The Torah was now being placed in their hearts, and this sign of divided tongues indicated that very implanting within the disciples.
{9} Note that these people were not pagans but returning returning Yisraelites in varying stages of return. No pagans would go and worship YHWH on Shavuot/Feast of Weeks. Later in verses 8-11 we see that these men were Yisraelites but not Jews, even though the term Jew is used here to include other Yisraelites both natural and by conversion.
{1} The term “every nation” is indicative of non-Jewish Yisraelites, since this was before the exile of 70CE and the Jews at that time had not yet been exiled to every nation under heaven like they are today, which had in fact occurred to Efrayim at that time.
{2} The “multitudes of the nations.” We see both the devout Jews and the multitudes from the nations coming together around the feasts as the restoration work begins.
{3} Native tongue of the many Yisraelite nations that were visiting.
{4} The Parthians and Medes in Acts 2:9, are identified as an area where Efrayim (ten tribes) was scattered, according to I Chronicles 5:26. The Gozan River was in the area of Medo-Persia. They later formed a large part of the Scythian peoples, who later would settle Northwest Europe as the invading Anglo-Saxon and barbarian nations. The Eylamites in Acts 2:9, were most likely descendents of Ullam, son of Sheresh, son of Maachah, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph.
“Eylamites descended from Ullan, son of Maachah, son of Manasseh, son of Yoseph…” Kol Shofar Monthly Newsletter, Vol.2 No.6 p.2.
{5} The exiles from Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia and Asia, were all to be considered the dispersed exiled chosen people according to Peter in 1 Peter 1.1.
{6} Known in Hebrew as Yireh-YHWH, or YHWH fearers who were not natives.
{7} Clearly many non-Yisraelites by birth were also in YHWH’s House joining Yisrael and thus being Yisrael as seen by the term gerim/strangers and Yireh-YHWH converts. Notice that Libyans and Egyptians also become Yisrael and received the seal of the Spirit.
{8} Arabs can and have always been welcome to become Yisrael based on Torah terms.
{9} Most believers still don’t clearly see the significance of this event, seeing it as the birth of a new religion, or non-Yisraelite entity, rather than as the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:31.
{10} A clear two-house reference. The Jews, and those non-Jews staying for the feast.
{11} Joel’s prophesy in Joel 2:28-32 was given exclusively to Yisraelites and not to pagans, or gentiles. Peter states that this Yisraelite prophecy is fulfilled in the men and women standing there that day.
This prophecy states that the “all flesh” under consideration in the context of Joel 2:27, is the flesh of Yisrael and Yisrael alone. In Joel 2:27, YHWH states that this promise is to Yisrael, since it is He who dwells in the midst of Yisrael. YHWH further elaborates about this last days outpouring of the Spirit upon all Yisraelite flesh in Joel chapter 2:28, 29. The promised outpouring of the Spirit would take place upon your sons, your daughters, your old men, your young men, your men servants, and your female servants.
Obviously the key word here is “your,” or Joel’s people. If we are honest with Scripture and we let
Scripture interpret Scripture, the “all flesh” that received the Spirit had to be Yisrael’s sons, daughters, young men, old men and all sojourners among them.
Yisrael was being renewed without any new church being born.
{12} At the second coming.
{13} MarYah in the Peshitta, literally meaning that to call on YHWH through Yahshua is salvation itself.
{13} BS note: And it shall be that everyone who calls on the Name of יהוה {Jehovah} shall be saved. (Joel 2:28-32, Rom. 10:13. )
{14} The multitudes from all the nations despite not being Jewish, or speaking Hebrew, are called “Yisrael” by Peter.
{1} v.23: Yahshua’s death was arranged by the will of the Father, in order to redeem man individually and Yisrael collectively, as seen in John 10:16-17. This was and remains the Father’s plan to cleanse all His children from both houses. The Jews did not kill Messiah. The Father’s predetermined plan did.
{2} Peshitta term khabelyeh in context means ropes not pain.
{3} Dawid’s spirit ascended only after the resurrection of Messiah, and his body remains in the grave for the return of Messiah.
{4} In the setting, an obvious reference to kol, or all Yisrael, or those returning from both houses.
{5} Aramaic Mar-Yah Yahshua, a clear reference to His deity.
{6} A Hebraic idiom as outlined in Ephesians 2:13 and Daniel 9:7 and elsewhere, that speak of the 10 tribes of Efrayim-Yisrael.
{7} The perpetual promise to all of Joel’s regenerated children, even as many as are generations away.
{8} Further proof that this event could not have taken place in the so called “upper room” since that tiny upper room of the last supper can’t hold 3,000 people, or even 120, and certainly did not have a baptismal pool.
{9} Three times daily.
{10} The final proof that these events did not birth an upper room church, as by definition they could not continue in the temple, unless they were there in the first place.
11 This is a remez (scriptural hint) on the unity of Yisrael being restored from house to house, between Judah and Efrayim.
*
Acts of the Apostles in the version of the Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition Study Bible, Updated Third Edition, with Scriptural Supervision and Doctrinal Oversight by Rabbi Moshe Yoseph Koniuchowsky, Your Arms To Yisrael Publishing, 2007, 2008 CE
Group of Kohanim studying the Halachot of Tumah and Taharah in anticipation of the coming of Moshiach. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Related articles
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As believers in Messiah Y’shua we understand there there are no idle words in scripture, which is why it is so fundamentally important to grasp the deeper levels of understanding that we can see utilizing the PaRDeS method of study.
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knowing that Joshua (Yehoshua, Y’shua) is the Messiah’s name it may be logical to conclude that the events surrounding Joshua’s ascending to leadership and his relationship to Moses are Shadows of Messiah.
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It was Moses who changed his name from Salvation to YHWH is salvation. Moses represents the Law/Torah and we can see here a beautiful hint that the Torah/Law points to salvation from YHWH.
Mitzvot 487 – 489 (tqnbytdvd.wordpress.com)
Attitude is every bit as important as the physical act itself. We are commanded to rejoice in these festivals. To look forward to them with enthusiasm, to absolutely enjoy meeting with our brothers an sisters, and above all to give total praise to God. And when we understand WHY we keep these festivals, we should rejoice even more!
The Dumb Spirit (kumi07.wordpress.com)
Inability to speak about YHVH, to praise His Name, to glorify Him may
indicate a dumb spirit. Once this dumb spirit is gone by the Ru-ach
HaKodesh [the Holy Spirit] in the Name of Yeshua, we can speak to anyone, we can shout
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We are no longer bound. When we are no longer bound, the Ru-ach has
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Do You Speak in Tongues? (eternalchrist.wordpress.com)
it is important to recognize that (while our Gentile brothers and sisters enjoy the favors of Christian liberty) Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the feasts of Israel. He is our Passover Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; and the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost.
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we do know that the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual gifts to all believers, but not the same gifts. In his first letter to the assembly at Corinth (chapter 12), the apostle Paul (the 12th apostle since he was appointed by Christ whereas Matthias was chosen by lottery) noted the various gifts of the Spirit including wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, and tongues. In the Bible tongues means language and not gibberish which is so often heard by the false teachers of the word of faith gospel.
Rastafari Shavuot – Feast of Weeks – Pentecost Pt.1 (melekmediahouse.wordpress.com) Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mt Sinai before Israel entered the Land of Promise. More specifically, it is the giving on the One Law of Jah and it’s Ten Articles (otherwise known as ’10 Commandments’). This is the true and living charter of “Human Rights” – this is the Hebrew Rights Charter. This document is the contract between Israel and YHWH, agreed to before Israel could enter into Jah’s appointed Holy territory and receive the inheritance of Canaan and all the blessings from YHWH.
Acts 1-3 By Jack AKA Brutus (obterns2013.wordpress.com)
People from many nations were amazed the disciples were speaking in their native language. Acts 2:8 “Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?” Then in verse 11 “We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”Right away they’re persecuted for what they did, in verse 13 “They have had too much wine.” Here we see that the followers of Christ are persecuted when they are seriously being moved by the Holy Spirit. I know most of us can attest to similar things happening in our own lives. I personally can think of many times where I’ve been shot down after doing what I was convinced God was leading me to do.
The Avot were commanded to keep the seven noachide laws and indeed kept them, but they were not commanded to keep the other mitzvot – did the Avot keep the Torah before it had been given?
There are several examples of the Avot (and others) going against Torah commands;
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The Avot did not keep the mitzvot, but rather got to their lofty spiritual level by ‘having understood everything there is to understand in true wisdom and corrected themselves in every way.’ What the Rambam means is each mitzvah achieves a certain spiritual effect/tikun, the Avot had the ability to be able to tap into creating these effects and tikkunim without necessarily performing the technical details of the mitzvah.
Happy (Greek) Easter (sojourningwithjews.com) Shavuot begins on Sivan 6 on the Hebrew and is the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, and guess what? It is also the day that the Holy Spirit fell upon the believers as recorded in Acts 2:1-6. I’ll use a quote from the CJB in order to capture a better flavor:
{Peace} Be at Peace by Felecia… (thenarrowpassage.wordpress.com)
The gift of peace comes when we let YHWH’s Spirit, His Ruach dwell. To do that we have to constantly trust in Him, for “The one steadfast of mind YHWH guards in perfect peace, for he trusts in YHWH. Trust in YHWH forever, for in YHWH, Elohim, is a rock of age” (Isaiah 26:3-4). He wants us to be at peace, “the peace of Elohim, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).
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Constantine wanted unity in his realm, and his call in 325 C.E. for a council of his bishops at Nicaea, located in the Eastern, Greek-speaking domain of his empire, across the Bosporus from the new city of Constantinople was in a certain way his goal to achieve some agreement by which many could live. Constantine […]
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Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #9 Restored names and Sacred Name Bibles
In the previous chapter we showed that in the 1980ies and 1990ies publishers looked for way to have some cheap material easily printed and reproduced. For them the Word of God or the Bible looked very handy to use, because when they changed here and there some words they could publish it freely without having to bother about copyrights. In those years lots of economical and political problems started showing up, the Gulf War and beginning pressure from Islamic terrorist groups, making that people went looking for alternatives and solutions for making their life better.
From the time that all sorts of translations were provided for different groups of people, like housewives, prisoners, blue-coloured workman, modern women and modern man – Good News for modern man New Testament in Today’s English Version
Many publishers knocking the ball around presented booklets, pocket editions but also hard-covers with fragments and with full texts of the Bible. Many wanted to bring out a ‘fresh’ or ‘up-to-date’ Bible translations which could draw on a particular group of people or could be favoured by a particular denomination. For some it did not matter so much when the words got twisted a little-bit or when the translation was so loosely done it went very far from the original Holy Writings. The Good News Bible, which also presented a version for the ‘modern man’ is such a Bible translation were too much liberty is taken, but which manage to continue to exist until today.
The Liberator (2006) a retelling of the life of Jesus based on the gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, could find perhaps a prolonged life because of the Lacey Theatre Company toured shows based on this book in 2007 and 2008, and extracts also being performed in “St David’s Praise” (31 May 2008, St David’s Hall in Cardiff).
Titlepage and dedication from a 1612-1613 King James Bible, printed by Robert Barker. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Coming closer to the 400th birthday of the publication of the Authorised King James version, several companies also started bringing new King James Versions, whilst others found it time to not only update the language but to restore the names and present the words like it would be linguistic right.
Some of the new King James versions around the turn of the century did not alter the language much, like the minor very conservative update of the King James Version, the 21st Century King James Version bible, which stays true to the Textus Receptus and does not delete Bible passages based on Alexandrian Greek manuscripts. Obsolete and certain archaic words are eliminated but further it preserves the traditional Biblical language, making it possible to have all those using a King James Bible to follow easily. The 21st Century King James Version has also been released in an edition with the Apocrypha and without the unusual formatting; this is known as the Third Millennium Bible.
Having taken 7 years to complete the New King James Version (NKJV) already commissioned in 1975, published by HarperCollins (a subsidiary of News Corp), conceived by Arthur Farstad with 130 biblical scholars, pastors, and theologians, alters the language more significantly from the 1611 King James Version, but still trying to retain the purity and stylistic beauty of the original.
The exceptionally rich and accurate translation of the Holy Scripture became first available in 1982 but got more in the picture around the 400th birthday of the original KJV, also receiving some new study edition.
The NKJV claiming to be “more accurate” because it leaves untranslated words like “Gehenna,” “Hades” and “Sheol” is misleading the people and has the only reason not to bump some church-member’s head. They choose for security not to knock against those who keep insistently wrong teachings of having gehenna/hades/sheol being a place of doom, the hell, where so called sinners would be penalised for their sins, instead of an abode of the dead, the grave/tomb. For that reason also many present bibles are afraid to print the Divine Name of God (יהוה) where it stood in the original writings, because also there people would come clearly to see about whom is been spoken and soon would come to see the difference between Jehovah God and Jehovah God His only begotten beloved son, יהושׁע Jeshua, where all of those KJV’s print Jesus.
But some of the newer versions restored the names. By them avoiding, where most trinitarians loved to see “Lord“, having titles placed instead of the original names, using the names of the people makes it much clearer for the bible reader about whom is been spoken, and as such mistaking one person fro the other is avoided. This way the Restored Name Versions and the New European Version are King James versions which haven taken up the old way of presenting God’s Name like it was in the original King James version, to leave no doubt when is spoken about the God of gods or about the son of God.
For the English Bible translations God’s Divine Name was already in the William Tyndale Bible of 1530 and in the King James Version in 1611. The excuse of avoiding the risk of taking God’s name (יהוה/YHWH) in vain, according to devout Christians was not necessary any more, because Jeshua liberated us from the curse of sin and restored the relationship between God and man. After the sacrifice of God‘s only begotten son, man does not have to be afraid any more to come up to God and speak to Him using His Sacred Name. Being convinced of the restored relationship and feeling that we as children of God not only may use His Name but should spread His Name, several Sacred Name Bibles started seeing the light.
When we look at the original texts and see how frequent that Divine Name appears, and hear how God speaks about His Name, we should comprehend its importance. The Tetragrammaton occurs 6,828 times in the Hebrew text (BHK and BHS). This is confirmed by the Theologisches Handwörterbuch zum Alten Testament, Vol. I, edited by E. Jenni and C. Westermann, 3rd ed., Munich and Zurich, 1978, cols. 703, 704. The New World Translation renders the Tetragrammaton as “Jehovah” in all occurrences.
The knowledge of the correct pronunciation of God’s name was there at the time of Christ, as it was heard at least by the high priest until 70 CE and respectively its utterance was common practice until at least the 1st century CE, but Hebrew speaking people can and do read the name in some groups as well as the majority of Messianic Jews who also accept that the relationship between God and man is restored by the Mashiah or Messiah.
The Jerusalem Bible: Reader’s Edition Hardcover – Abridged, February 15, 2000
Though throughout history there have been several versions which used God’s Name Jehovah or placed Yahweh for the Tetragrammaton, like The Jerusalem Bible (JB or TJB) (translated from the French La Bible de Jérusalem of 1956, revived and updated in 1973), first introduced to the English-speaking public at the time when the fear for the users of God’s Name (the Jehovah Witnesses started growing) in 1966 and published by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a Catholic Bible, it includes the traditional 73 books found in most English translations until the mid 19th century: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonical books as the Old Testament, and the 27 books shared by all Christians as the New Testament. It also contains copious footnotes and introductions. It is the basis of the Lectionary for Mass used in Catholic worship throughout England, Wales, and the majority of the English-speaking world outside the United States and Canada, though the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has approved other translations for conditional liturgical use.
The New American Bible (With the Revised Book of Psalms and the Revised New Testament) New American Bible Revised ed. Edition by World Bible Publishing St
For the dioceses of the United States and the Philippines the New American Bible (NAB) Catholic Bible translation first published in 1970 is used, also being approved by the Episcopal Church in the United States. The spelling of proper names found in this edition departs from the ones found in older Catholic Bible versions, such as the Douay, and instead adopts those commonly found in Protestant Bibles.
The Revised New American Bible (RNAB) had the traditional phraseology — absent from the 1970 edition — restored to the New Testament, and having several non-traditional gender-neutral terms incorporated in its 1986 version. The New Testament was almost completely revised, and bears a much closer resemblance to the 1941 Confraternity version, as opposed to the much more periphrastic 1970 NAB NT. In 1991 the Book of Psalms was amended to introduce the use of extensive gender-neutral language. The last update is from 2011, including the newly revised Old Testament and re-revised Psalms, and the revised New Testament from the second edition.
Several English people did not like it that God’s Name was printed and would have preferred the Name of God be left unpronounced, or substituted with Lord or another title. In 1985, the English translation was completely updated. This new translation — known as the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) — was freshly translated from the original languages and not tied to any French translation any-more (except indirectly, as it maintained many of the stylistic and interpretive choices of the French Jerusalem Bible).
When the the Catholic Truth Society in 2007 published the CTS New Catholic Bible, consisting of the original 1966 Jerusalem Bible text, prepared by the faculty of the Dominican Biblical School in Jerusalem, on the basis of the Hebrew and Greek and revised to match its use in lectionaries throughout most English-speaking countries, in conformity with the directives of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and the Pontifical Biblical Commission the name “Yahweh” was replaced by “the LORD” throughout the Old Testament, which frequently departs from the traditional Masoretic text, and the Psalms have been completely replaced by the 1963 Grail Psalter. The revised text is accompanied by new introductions, and textual and liturgical notes, supplemented as needed with material from the notes to the New Jerusalem Bible.
(Hebrew names are also used where possible for annual festival days, as well as being used, minimally, for ambiguous words).
For many english people accustomed to the KJV order of books it may demand some adaptation to come used to the original order of the Tanakh (Old Covenant Scriptures) which is restored according to the order of the Hebrew Scriptures, i.e. Torah, Neviim, Kethuvim. In the newer versions the New Covenant Writings (Brit Chadasha / New Testament), its allusions to the Tanakh are printed in Bold, and cross referenced to the Tanakh (Old Covenant Scriptures).
Dr. Chris J. Koster, with the aid and support of other scholars and textual experts from both Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds in different parts of the world, was the original translator for the South African and English version. He formed the ISR so that it could continue the work, even after his death (+4 May 1995). At the ISR, which also publishes the Hebraic Roots Version Scriptures (HRV), the board of directors is now overseeing the on-going work of translation and revision. It was around the time of his death that brother Marcus Ampe got to know him and his work and asked if he could make a Dutch version of the work. He had requested the version in Afrikaans, but never got it. The text fragments from 1993/1995 he got and 1998 had some little differences with the 2009 and 2010 versions. (At the moment in the ecclesia we use the 1998 and 2010 version, next to the NWT and the Bible Students Reference bible.) Because of his daily work and Marcus Ampe writing for several websites the translation-work got very much slowed down, also by his work on the Christadelphian modules for the Online Bible program.
Don Esposito, Senior Elder of the Congregation of YHWH Jerusalem, for his Hebrew Roots Version used the original names of our Creator, but presented it from the Paleo Hebrew as YAHWEH (יהוה HWHY/YHWH), and for God’s Son, our Saviour he used Yahshua (יהושׁע Yeshua/Jeshua in modern spelling), throughout. Because there was no letter J at that time he kept to the Y. Though than you also could say there did not exist a letter u and still should use the v or also for the w one still should, in that instance use, the vv. We do know also in the Catholic Imprimatur Bibles from the 1950ies there was written Yehowah, but in later prints this became modernised to Jehovah. The “New Testament” portion is titled “The Ketuvim Netzarim” (“Writings of the Nazarenes”) and is also a Messianic Sacred Name Edition and is translated from the original Aramaic and Hebrew. The NT books are also in the original manuscript order (The Gospels; Acts; James, 1&2 Peter; 1,2,3 John, Jude; Pauline Epistles; Revelation) but the titles of the books are their Hebraic names. The HRV also divides the books into two sections The B’sorah (Goodnews) and The Sh’lukhim (Emissaries).
The HRV Complete Bible is by many considered to be the first complete Messianic Study Bible.
Further there where Ted Ramp, President of Halleluyah Scriptures Inc. (Incorporated Dec. 6, 2012) – Fort Wayne, IN, Robin Ramp, Secretary of Halleluyah Scriptures Inc. , Erik Klausner, Marilyn Nave and Nance Whitaker who seem to have broken with Deborah (Debra) and Ken Allen and their the Halleluyhah Scriptures.
This has taken years of research as it is not always obvious that English words are derived from pagan deities. Much diligent research has been done into assuring that there are no pagan words used to describe our wonderful Father and His Son and as such we also do not find the false name of the Messiah which was given in the 4th century to the rabbi, but which is now the common name, Jesus, coming from Issou or Hail Zeus. In this version all paganism and names of false gods that have traditionally been used in translation when pertaining to the the Father, His Son and His people have been avoided, and in many cases retain a Hebrew transliteration if the word is linked to paganism, though we do find some words which are still presented like a name, like Satan, though in the Name Meaning guidebook they print it right giving the reading the real English word ‘adversary’. The reason they probably did not translate it this way in their translation is perhaps some of their translators do want to believe in a devilish figure, called ‘Satan‘ instead of heaving any adversary being called so.
Although the English language is replete with words derived from pagan deities, this translation has attempted to remove most, if not all of these words when attributed to the Almighty, His Son or His people. Problem for translators is that certain words or Hebrew terms have no comparison in English.
HalleluYah Scriptures chose to retain the Hebrew term “qodesh” for ‘holy’ or ‘set-apart’ (for we are qodesh and not Set apart from Him), and removed all occurrences of the word “set” in obedience to the Word (Exodus 23:13, Josiah 23:7, Psalms 16:4). eg.
qodesh vs set-apart*
Qadosh One vs Set-apart One*
qodeshi vs set-apart one*
qodeshim vs set-apart ones*
qodeshah vs set apartness*
put vs set*
depart vs set* out
lit vs set* (on fire)
In the HalleluYah Scriptures you may find Ruaḥ ha’Qodesh vs Set-apart Spirit, Ruaḥ vs Spirit and Ruaḥoth vs Spirits.
For the Messiah/Mashiah/Masschiah, to maintain the Hebrew origin of many words borrowed from the Greek texts, HalleluYah Scriptures used the Hebrew words in the following Mashiaḥ vs Messiah, Mashiaḥiyim vs Messianic, talmidim vs taught ones, Gĕy-Hinnom vs Gehenna, Shabbath vs Sabbath and Shabbathoth vs Sabbat.
Because the title Master is linked etymologically with the goddess Maia through the common root word “Meg” the original Hebrew form of Adonai used in the Hebrew scrolls is used as the title for the Almighty. Some people teach that Adon is a pagan word based on the greek false god Adonis. But the Hebrew is the original form where as Adonis is just a copy used for wicked means. It does not mean the word Adonai is pagan.
HalleluYah Scriptures uses the words on the left.
Pesaḥ vs Passover
Matstsoth vs Unleavened Bread
Shaḇuoth vs Weeks
Yom Teruah vs Trumpets
Yom Kippurim vs Atonement
Sukkoth vs Booths
Yoḇĕl vs Jubilee
LIFE vs. HAI
Although there are a few situations where the context or root word may be translated with an ‘added’ word, HalleluYah Scriptures chose to remove as many as physically possible while maintaining a coherent translation. Space does not permit the number of italicized words that were removed and/or reworded, but amounts to well over 80% from the total of added words.
In many cases this required re-writing an entire verse to conform with the original language and this was not an easy job taking many months. The HalleluYah Scriptures translation team are working on the other 20% of added words and will make the changes in following print runs when completed.
This will aid many people who do not believe that our Saviour was the promised Redeemer of Yisrael/Israel. This book will prove without a shadow of a doubt that Jeshua (Jesus Christ) is the Saviour.
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You may visit the HalleluYah Scriptures web site and read more about this important project that has touched and changed thousands of lives forever. http://www.Halleluyahscriptures.com
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No Footnotes, No Explanatory References, No Doctrines of Man! Just the Word of YHWH…
HalleluYah Scriptures Paralell Hebrew Bible & Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled New Book
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The Christadelphians have also some projects where a restored name version is sent out to those who want to read the word of God, so that it can be as a lamp to man’s feet and a light to our path, Psalms 119:105; 2 Peter 1:19. They have “The Scriptures” with the tetragrammaton and God’s Name Jehovah in it, but also distribute two older King James versions (with Jehovah) and a new King James version with the (transcribed) name Yahweh in it.
New European Version of the Bible with commentary
The New European Version of the Bible is a remediation of the King James Version into modern English, correcting some glaring issues in translation here and there. The NEV Bible is published in hard copy with a brief commentary on a few verses from each chapter, printed at the bottom of each page. At the back of the volume, there is a reduced version of the book Bible Basics. There is also an online version provided which has a dedicated page for each chapter of the Bible. On each page there is the Bible text, basic commentaries and links to other resources relevant to that chapter. There is also a “Deeper commentary” tab on each chapter. This gives some deeper insights on some Old Testament chapters; and in the New Testament, this tab connects to the New European Commentary. This is an in-depth, verse by verse commentary on the entire New Testament.
Duncan Heaster
Duncan Heaster
The NEV is published by Carelinks Ministries who say to pray earnestly that this Bible and the distribution of it will play a part in the spreading of the Gospel worldwide before Christ returns. Though also for this editor we must give a warning.
They say they are Christadelphian, but out of experience we have found that they do not take on a Christian attitude, namely not willing to share brotherly love with each other. We do have the impression it is more a cult organisation around one ex-communicate Christadelphian preacher, Duncan Heaster who has written over 20 books and having edited “Gospel News” magazine for over 20 years, has a team of followers round him, who do a lot of great work, but once people get baptised in their organisation they do not want them to have contact with others. They do not want their members to share with other Christadelphians or Bible students. So please if you order a copy by them and would become interested in what they teach and want to get baptised, never forget those who brought you into contact with them.
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Free Bible Distribution, New European Version Free Bible with commentary
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Preceding articles:
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #1 Pre King James Bible
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #2 King James Bible versions
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #3 Women and versions
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #4 Steps to the women’s bibles
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #5 Further steps to women’s bibles
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #6 Revisions of revisions
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #7 Jewish versions
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #8 Selective Bibles and selective people
Building up the spirit of the soul
A fact of History or just a fancy Story
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Bible Students, Bible study, Christadelphian, God Jehovah Yahweh (English), History, Jesus Christ, Jeshua Messiah, Religion, Video, Word of God
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