Politics & Economics

Is It Enough Yet?

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I suppose there are crazy things going on all the time, but there seems to be a concentration of them happening all at once. Every day brings news of more layoffs, and I wonder how many people will be unemployed before the spiral stops – and of course, I wonder if I will be among them. Meanwhile, more and more Ponzi schemes and other financial wrongdoing is being unearthed daily. Stewards of funds are being revealed as thieves, and countless reckless investors are finding out that the investments they gleefully thought were too good to be true, actually were.

The chorus of condemnation and accusations of greed that were trotted out by all the politicians and their media hacks against “Wall Street types” during the campaigns have been inconspicuously replaced by hand wringing over the fate of the “Main Street victims” who in fact acted just like their Wall Street counterparts in an irresponsible quest for a quick and cheap buck. And the government’s response to all this has been to throw “bailout” money at every squeaky wheel with political connections, meaning that the rest of us get to pay for the profligate spending of others, instead of being able to keep our savings. What are the odds that someone will eventually get angry about this?

It might help the cause that the “bailout” plans call for things like nine-figure sums of money for Nancy Pelosi’s “Family Planning” crusade, even if she couldn’t come up with a coherent justification for the outlay if her life depended on it (it saves the states money down the road? Where exactly is the state supposed to get its money if its citizens are being murdered in the womb?). Meanwhile, the anti-child theme is intensified with the President’s putting aside of the Mexico City policy, freeing baby exterminators to push their brutal abortion “solution” around the world with American tax receipts.

American culture has been immoral, in many ways, for a long time, and none of this is really new. But it’s too often too easy to look beyond the day-to-day prevalence of an enabling immorality when the end result is a comfortable living. I wonder if maybe the difficult character of these days might give sufficient moral energy to enough of us, that an adequately forceful cry of “enough already” might actually be raised to a point of carrying some political weight? Could it be that the time is finally ripe for some serious opposition to the status quo to arise?

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Politics & Economics

Most Private Family Matters

Posted on by John W Gillis / 1 Comment

Being not only the day after the day after President Obama’s inauguration, but also the anniversary of the dreadful Roe v. Wade decision, I was thinking quite a bit today about the abortion problem. Being well aware of his earlier statement to Planned Parenthood that could be interpreted to mean that the first thing he would do after obtaining the Presidential office would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, I’ve been warily eyeballing some news sources for the past couple days, waiting to see if the President picks up on the theme. Not that I think it likely too soon – I just can’t imagine the President wanting to roil the waters at this time – but I have little doubt the Congress will drop the bill on his desk for signature in the not-too-distant future, leaving him no choice but to deal with it. And his world will change that day, one way or another.

From what I can gather, he made no mention of it today. releasing instead a canned remark on Roe v. Wade that made the remarkable claim that the decision “stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters.”

Last I knew, Mr. Obama was quite supportive of governmental intrusion into the very heart of the family itself through the issuance of licenses of marriage and certificates of divorce, as well as of intrusive governmental oversight of the welfare of children (even to the point of the government taking child custody if it deems it appropriate), and intrusive government oversight of the quality of domestic relations between husbands and wives in the form of applying laws relating to domestic abuse, and intrusive governmental oversight of family finances, in the forms of both establishing and enforcing alimony and child support arrangements, and in the a priori prioritization of massive family expenditures through taxation, and of course – last but hardly least – government control of the education of children.

But perhaps Mr. Obama is suggesting that these other things are private family matters of a lesser sort, as opposed to the killing of children, which qualifies as being a most private family matter – and that therefore he knows to draw the line of governmental intrusion at the killing, because – Ba’al knows – we can’t have governmental interference in the killing of children, except perhaps to pay for it with the money of those who find it morally outrageous.

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Politics & Economics

Inaugural Symbolism & Real Power

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All the fawning that’s fit to publish…

It’s been a rather surreal two days, focused around the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of these United States. The people around me all seemed to be grounded rather normally, but every time I’ve braved the elements and exposed myself to the mainstream media, it’s as if somebody (me? them?) has entered another world.

I’ve stayed far away from TV for the most part, but I was walking through the living room last night while my wife had MSNBC playing, and I heard popular historian Ken Burns tell Keith Olberman that, if MLK’s “I have a dream” and Lincoln’s Gettysburg address speeches were 10’s, he would rate Obama’s inaugural address an 11. Aside from vanquishing whatever professional respect I might have had for this made-for-TV intellectual, it was just plain embarrassing. Obama – at his best – is vacuous compared to either of those two men, and from all other accounts, the inaugural speech was not even vintage Obama.

Meanwhile, the Boston Globe’s web site today offered the following tease for an inauguration-related “human interest” story:

Residents were frozen in place yesterday, spellbound by the unifying spectacle on their televisions.

The unifying spectacle? I appreciate that a lot of people are excited about what happened yesterday, but a victory party on the part of those who feel they have won – as much of a spectacle as it may be – hardly constitutes a unifying moment. Unification would seem to require the establishment of some sort of common ground among adversaries, not a simple reversal of political fortune. Those of us, for instance, who see the current abortion holocaust as the gravest moral evil this nation has ever perpetrated (and there is no small number of us) are horrified at the prospect of this man becoming President, because of the positions he has taken and has pledged to maintain on matters of the most profoundly serious social morality. I hardly feel like part of the party today, and I’m surely not alone in that.

Beyond the social politics and other policy storm winds of Obama, there is another element to the hoopla which I find deeply disturbing. At one point today, I clicked through a few links and was browsing a forum discussing The Event, when a commenter opined that The Event was of almost unprecedented historical importance, because a Black man had been elected President of the U.S.A. He then instructed those who disagree with him to “stop being such haters.” Now, I am getting so completely fed up with the relentless insults coming from such narrow minded left wingers and their media allies, accusing anyone who disagrees with them of “hating,” that I almost lost my cool. But beyond the insipidity of the casual smearing, I think there is an even more perverse intellectual error going on in this person’s thinking, and it is representative of what I see all around me today.

To a certain extent, I can understand the excitement around the symbolism of a Black man being elected President – especially among those considerably older than me. Having been born in 1960, I don’t really remember the Civil Rights movement of the mid-fifties to mid-sixties. I was somewhat aware of the “Black Power” movement that came a bit later, but I came of age during the era of Equal Opportunity laws and Affirmative Action; a time when “the Black man” clearly became the worst enemy of his own people. Those with longer memories, who remember the systematic mistreatment and the struggle for basic justice and respect (and especially those who experienced it), will understandably place more importance on the symbolism of Obama’s ascent to the Presidency, but I think there is a serious danger in allowing symbolism to overshadow reality, such as we are witnessing in the media’s interpretation of the Obama “spectacle.”

After all, “a Black man” was not elected President, Barack Obama was. If Colin Powell had been elected President, I would be a much happier camper today. If Alan Keyes had been elected President, I would be happier still. Somehow, I think the Boston Globe would not find itself spellbound by the unifying spectacle. Symbols do not get elected to public office, men and women do, and who those men and women are is of far greater import than what they are. I’m glad the United States has come to the point where a Black man can get himself elected President, but it fills me with a certain shame that the Black man we chose is one who embraces such misanthropic, unjust, and outright evil policies. Not because he is Black, but because – whether out of political expediency or a genuine but perverted moral conviction – he is committed to a radical support of a policy that involves the extermination of “undesirable” human beings. I couldn’t care less what color he is, and I’m disappointed that so many people do care – and apparently care intensely.

But regardless of the motivations behind Obama’s support – and I have no doubt that it is quite complex – there remains this tendency to focus on the symbolic at the expense of the real. Politics is prone to this, of course, and Obama himself was shown to be a master of substituting symbolic language for substantive argument or suggestion during the campaign. Television in particular thrives on it, being as it is so poorly suited for intelligent discourse.

As much as I wish people would reject Barack Obama’s politics, and as much as I admire those of Alan Keyes, I genuinely hope that the “spellbound” folks celebrating this inauguration would have been far less enthusiastic if it were Keyes being sworn in, because budgets and policies succeed the inauguration, and these things are crafted by men and women, not symbols. I genuinely hope they’re naively celebrating a misguided policy direction change, and are not precipitating a dangerously mindless accretion of the power of public sovereignty and devotion to a symbolic vessel. That, indeed, would be nothing but the most primitive form of idolatry, as Moses very clearly told his people many, many years ago. We do not need to go there.

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Bible Study Tools

QuickVerse Bible Software Review: Searching

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This is the first installment in a series I plan to write, performing a side-by-side assessment of WORDsearch, Logos, QuickVerse, and Pradis.

QuickVerse has two tools for searching Biblical text: an Analytical Greek search tool designed to work with a morphologically tagged Greek NT module, and a general search tool used for searching English language Bible, as well as all other books – including user-created books. The most recent versions of QV introduce a couple other specialized searching tools I’ll discuss below.

The Search Dialog:

The general search tool has three modes (selectable from a drop-down): Text, Phrase, and Verse Reference. Newer versions of QuickVerse have a fourth mode, Text in Titles, which was an optional parameter to Text mode searches in version 11, and which I never found any use for.

The dialog box includes a pop-up keyboard for “typing” with mouse clicks in various languages. Recent search terms can be recalled in the search box, but associated parameters (even including search mode) are not likewise recalled, limiting the usefulness of this time-saving feature.

There is no facility to search for Strong’s codes as such, but you can search Strong’s-tagged books with a text search for a code, such as for G2588.

Search Logic:

Text searches allow for combining words using the Boolean operators AND, OR, XOR, and NOT. An implicit OR is supplied if there is no operator between two terms (personally, I think programs should instead AND terms by default, so that using more search terms narrows results rather than expanding them, but that is just a preference). Operators must be entered in ALL CAPS, or by using logical symbols (&, |, X, !). There’s a pick button for those who want to stop typing and use the mouse to input the operators between words.

There is no NEAR operator, but the Search dialog includes a drop-down box where the user selects whether the Boolean logic is applied against terms within the same verse, the same chapter, or the same book. This is a poor substitute for a NEAR operator, and I can’t imagine wanting to search for two words, but only if they exist in the same book!

Terms can be grouped in parentheses for greater control, and both * and ? wildcards are accepted. Regular expressions are not supported.

Setting Scope:

Selecting the target books to search is done via an expandable tree control which shows the entire library – including User Books. Multiple books – including multiple Bibles – can be searched simultaneously.

Setting a filter for Bible ranges is done via a drop-down text box. The only default range options are All, Old Testament, and New Testament, but you can type your own search ranges into the box, and recently defined custom ranges are added to the selectable options in the drop-down. Creating a search range for non-contiguous books is no problem (e.g. manually enter {Luke, Acts} to search only within Luke and Acts while ignoring John).

Extra-biblical text within Bibles (e.g. marginal notes and comments) cannot be searched, although – as noted below – book introductions cannot be excluded.

One peculiar search scope feature is an optional check box to limit the search to “Jesus words only” – a red-letter search, so to speak. I know for a fact that some people find this an important feature, though it strikes me as lending itself too easily to problematic views of Biblical inspiration and/or Christology.

Phrase Search:

Phrase Search mode takes all the text entered in the search box, and attempts to find the exact phrase within the selected books. This is “phrase searching for dummies,” an unfortunate approach that seriously limits phrase search functionality. Allowing the use of enclosing double-quotes in a Text search would be a much more robust solution.

Verse Reference:

In Verse Reference mode, the tool is actually a cross-reference lookup tool. In theory (and according to the Help file), this tool will not “search” Bibles for the verse arguments you give it, but is rather designed to search other types of books for occasions where the verse is mentioned in the text. In practice, I find that the tool can be used to retrieve the requested verses from every Bible in my library except the NAB. Not sure whether to file this under bug or feature.

This tool will accept multiple verses and/or ranges as arguments. References must be entered in a very specific format, using a colon (:) between the chapter and verse numbers. Also, a space must be placed between the leading number and the book name for books like 1 Jn (1Jn will not be understood). It can be tedious to have to abide by this nomenclature, but I’m sure you adapt to it if you use QV all the time.

Nice Special Features:

Search terms can be chosen from a word list that is available from the Search dialog, showing all words in each book selected as a search target.

Text searches include an option to search for related word forms, meaning that a search for {love} would return results for love, loves, loved, lover, loving, lovely, beloved, unloved, etc.

Another very neat option is the thesaurus search, which will include in results words with like or related meaning, even if they are not related lexically.

Analytical Greek Search:

The Analytical Greek search tool works with an available UBS4 text tagged with the Friberg morphology. Like the general tool, it supports Boolean operators, Bible ranges, and has word lists and a pop-up keyboard. It also has a morphology chart where you can select the grammatical parameters you want to search for or filter on. There are options to search lemma, and to exactly match diacritical marks, as well as to take everything entered as a single phrase term. This tool is quite serviceable. Unfortunately, there is no corresponding tool (or text) with which to perform analytical searching of the Hebrew.

New Searching Widgets:

Version 12 (2008) introduced a nice annotation search widget that will search all your annotations. Version 13 (2009) introduces a “Subject Search” feature which I haven’t seen yet, but will presumably function much like Topics searches in other programs.

Accuracy:

In the absence of wildcards, search will find only exact word matches (i.e. a search for {eat} will not return any hits on meat or heat, etc.). I think this is the right approach.

Text mode does not recognize strings entered within double-quotes as phrases, but instead treats each of the words as distinct search terms (placing an implicit OR between them). Because only Text mode supports multiple search terms, it is therefore not possible to perform a search such as {“Christ Jesus” AND became}, although you can always break the phrase apart into single words joined with AND logic: {Christ AND Jesus AND became}, which will produce close to the same results.

Searches against Biblical texts will return hits found in book introductions and prefaces, with, unfortunately, no way to limit the search to only the actual Bible text. You’d think an outfit that provided an option to search “red words only” might provide an option to search “inspired words only!”

Searches on words chosen from a word list sometimes return no results, even when searching against the entire library – which is a bit odd.

Performance:

Search performance is good on normal Text mode searches against a small number of books – often returning more or less immediately. Introducing some of the advanced options slowed things down somewhat – as expected. A search for {beauty} against 10 Bibles took about 3 seconds, but took about 7 seconds when doing a thesaurus search, and about 6 seconds when doing a related word forms search (and about 10 seconds when combining both features).

Introducing wildcards or multiple Boolean operators also began to drag down QuickVerse a bit, and it struggled somewhat searching a large number of books. Searching 10 Bibles for {gentile} took about 3 seconds – as expected. But this should be compared to my benchmark, WORDsearch, which performed the identical search in under 1 second.

Against the same Bibles, QuickVerse took six seconds to search for {gentile AND (God OR Lord)}, whereas WORDsearch took about 1 second.

Searching those same Bibles for {war* AND Lord AND House} took QuickVerse about 15 seconds, while WORDsearch again took about 1 second.

Searching a collection of about 125 books for the expression {war AND Lord} took QuickVerse 30 seconds, whereas WORDsearch performed the search against a similar number of books in about 4 seconds.

Verse Reference searches can be excruciatingly slow. The program seems to take forever to scan the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK) in particular, but struggles with many commentaries. The verse ref search is the kind of function that a user would be inclined to execute against the entire library. But if you did that, you could probably take the dog for a walk while waiting for it to return.

I removed TSK and a couple other books that seemed particularly problematic, and then ran the Verse Reference search for {Matt 24:22} against a collection of 15 books. The search took 1 minute and 40 seconds. Again for comparison, the same search against the exact same set of books in WORDsearch took less than 1 second.

In spite of these criticisms of search performance, it’s important to keep in mind that the majority of users will make the majority of their searches against one or perhaps a few Bibles, using simple search parameters – and QuickVerse will handle that fine.

Strengths in this area:

Word lists; fuzzy search features (thesaurus and word forms); XOR and NOT Boolean operators.

Weaknesses in this area:

Lack of Hebrew analytical search capability; lack of phrase support in multi-term text expression searches; lack of ability to search only Biblical text; overall searching performance.

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Bible Study Tools

Reviewing Bible Study Software

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One of my main goals for this site when I launched it last year was to provide assessments and comparisons of some of the Bible Study programs on the market – assessments based on what the various programs allow users to do, and how well they support those things, rather than focusing on the books available in different libraries.

I haven’t gotten very far to date, having started and stopped several times, and with course work looming on the horizon for me, my schedule is not going to be getting any looser. Given that, it seems like it’s now or never to get it going. I’ve decided to take an approach of publishing my results incrementally on the blog as I go through the process. I’m hoping this approach will provide me a little extra incentive to get through the job.

I’ll begin by focusing on the four commercial programs I currently have installed: WORDsearch, Logos, QuickVerse, and Pradis. Later on, I may add some or all of the other commercial, library-oriented programs to the mix (Accordance, PC Study Bible, PocketBible for Windows), but only if I can get evaluation copies – as I’m satisfied with the programs I’ve already made investments in, and don’t see the value in spending more money just to provide a public review of the other products.

I also hope to be able to provide evaluations of the programs I call text-oriented (BibleWorks, Bibloi, GRAMCORD), but this is also unlikely unless I can manage to get eval copies. I’m probably more likely to invest in one of these as a licensed study platform after evaluation, but that’s neither here nor there at this juncture.

As for the cohort of free programs out there, I may provide some comparative analysis later on, but it is not a priority – seeing that people can easily download and evaluate each one themselves. It would be nice if someone did the work of comparing them, and publishing the results, I’m just not sure that person will be me.

At least for starters, my plan is to evaluate each of the four programs more or less side-by-side, following the outline of evaluation criteria I published here. I’ll publish posts for each application’s evaluation at each stage of the eval process, beginning with the Core program functions – specifically: searching.

Church

More on Richard John Neuhaus

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I don’t often post just to provide links to content elsewhere on the web, but I’ll make an exception for this. The good folks over at First Things yesterday reposted a remarkable personal essay Fr. Richard John Neuhaus had published in the April 2002 edition of the magazine, on the matter of his conversion to Catholicism. It’s a powerful piece made all the more poignant by his recent passing – in fact, the hovering presence of his death really hammers home just how sound his thinking was. I had all I could do yesterday to resist spamming all my friends with links to the essay – and I do that even less frequently than I post pass-along links on my blog. The essay is that good.

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Church

RJN: R.I.P.

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RJN1 The Catholic Church in America lost another of her intellectual giants today. The Rev. Fr. Richard John Neuhaus died this morning, at age 72. Of course, I never met the man, and I’m not sure I would have known what to say to him had I met him, but I feel as if I have lost a friend. An old acquaintance from my adolescence was buried this morning, and perhaps that makes me think a bit about mortality, yet this priest and writer whom I never met dies, and I feel a piece of me torn away.

Surely, it is vain of me to cultivate these feelings – who am I to lay some sort of claim to this man’s memory? But I have been deeply influenced by Fr. Neuhaus since I began to read him. In a sense – even though he never so much as knew that I existed – I knew RJN better than I know many people I encounter each day. Such is the power of the word to make our humanity present to each other.

I don’t recall exactly when I first became aware of Fr. Neuhaus – it wasn’t very long ago, unfortunately. My earliest copy of First Things is the August/September issue from 2002. What an excitement it’s been every month, to delve into the great conversation taking place on those pages. I can’t say if I first read him in FT, or if I began reading FT after encountering him elsewhere. But I can say that I used to disagree with him a lot more than I do now. He has grown on me, and likely refined my thinking significantly. Other writers have changed my thinking more quickly, but few have sunk in as thoroughly, it seems.

His death represents the second loss of a major thinker in the American Catholic church within the past month, following the death of Avery Cardinal Dulles on December 12th. Converts, both of them, and very different in the ways they contributed to the intellectual life of the Church. It really seems we can’t afford such losses right about now, but it is the Lord’s work they’ve performed, after all. And contrary to published reports, God is not dead. I guess the rest of us somehow need to step it up a bit, though I trust the Lord will raise up others with genuine capacity to fill the void.

It seems only fitting that, even in his death, RJN would get the last word in, and so it is: here.

Rest in peace, you familiar stranger, you cantankerous wizard, you deft debunker of twaddle. Thank you for everything. Your wit, your intelligence, and your passion for truth will be sorely missed.

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Blogging

Why MaybeToday?

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I was listening to a lecture by Peter Kreeft a while back, and he observed that time is the stuff of which life is made – time is life. People often say that time is money, but that’s an understatement. Kreeft is right: time is life.

This isn’t meant to suggest that time is a metaphysical necessity, or that there can be no such thing as eternal life. Rather, it means that the life we each possess – our life – is ultimately a very precise allotment of time, and that each sunrise brings us one day closer to death. Time is really all we have, and the whole content of our lives is an answer to the question: What did you do with your time?

Life is a timed test, where you don’t know how long the time is.

Like any test, it’s not enough to answer the questions; you have to somehow come up with the right answers. The right use of time is not just about avoiding procrastination, as important as that is. It’s about prudence, in all its aspects. I couldn’t tell you how many times I have found myself, in life, paddling furiously downstream to nowhere (sometimes quite effectively), just to realize that I’d only distanced myself all the more from the source I sought – and still seek. Time, in a sense, down the drain.

From my youth, I have been especially intrigued by the notions of time, of hope, and of reality. These three ideas have dominated my mental life in many respects. Perhaps I will find the opportunity to explore the relationships between them within these pages before too long, but Kreeft’s observation jolted me to the realization that the hope which lives in me – for all the lip service I may give it – has been subject to a rather systematic marginalization for much of my life, in deference to a kind of practical expediency – and even a heart attack at age 46 didn’t manage to seriously shake it free.

Hope is absolutely essential to sanity for anyone who seeks the truth, for anyone with a hunger to embrace reality, because reality has two very distinct faces. Reality is God, which we consider Beatitude, but reality is also the mess we live in – as well as God’s judgment on that mess. Hope is the reaching from brokenness to promise that climbs the ladder of reality, if you will. And it is hope that allows us to break free from captivity to anxiety and fear, to embrace – and realize – the promise of beatitude in our life.

The great Christian hope is in the return of Jesus Christ to earth, both to judge it, and to fully manifest the new creation. That return may happen today, or it may happen some day long from now – but we are not truly Christian if we do not expect that day, and indeed “wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” And yet, for each of us, we live our own allotment of time – and we know not what time is ours, but our time, too, may come today, and there’s no good reason we should be any less joyfully expectant of the advent of our own end time.

I haven’t met a lot of people that embrace such a joyful readiness for death. In truth, most of us just don’t feel ready for it, and – speaking for myself – I know that’s because I have not lived my life – that is, I have not spent my time – prudently enough. It seems to me that there is only one right time to start changing that: today.

I was beginning yet another long commute home in a miserable winter rain storm one night last year, when the thought came to me that I needed to make a decision on exactly what to do about a rather complicated computer-related situation I had waiting for me at home – which included choosing a domain name for a web site I was planning. My initial reaction was to say “Maybe tomorrow,” but – with Peter Kreeft’s wisdom in the back of my mind – I immediately thought better of that, and said: “No, maybe today.”

There’s really no better time to get on with life – reaching for the promise – and it’s entirely possible that there will be no other time at all. Maranatha!

Uttering...

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Scripture

Magi From the East

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magi-2 Being Epiphany, it’s time for my annual consideration of the story of the Magi. About 15 years ago, I was engaged in a series of discussions on various Biblical readings, and I came to see this story in a somewhat unusual light.

Tradition takes this story as a harbinger of the universality of the salvation offered in Christ, seeing the magi as the first gentiles to come to Christ. It’s a powerful interpretation, and I certainly accept that it is how the Church reads the story, but I haven’t always been convinced that was Matthew’s original intent.

I’m satisfied with how the Church uses this passage in her liturgy, but I still think it might be useful to consider this story from an alternative – hopefully complimentary – interpretation: the possibility of the magi in Matthew’s story not having been pagan gentiles, but rather members of the house of Israel returning from afar (both physically and spiritually) to Jerusalem, at the advent of the Messiah.

Matthew undoubtedly sees the Messiah ultimately in universal terms, but it does not seem consistent with his story to place gentiles as the first to recognize and offer homage to the King of the Jews. In Mt 10.5-24, Jesus sends his disciples out, but only to the house of Israel “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.” (Mt 10.5). It is only after his resurrection that Jesus sends the remaining disciples out to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28.19). As Paul also ceaselessly observed, the Gospel was to go first to the Jews, and then to the gentiles. Can we really be so certain that Matthew is telling us that the good news of the birth of the messiah came first to gentiles?

The Magi came “from the east” (Mt 2.1), but that is precisely where both Judah and Israel had been exiled to, hundreds of years earlier. Although Matthew makes no mention of it, it seems perfectly reasonable to suppose that these Magi were the descendants of either exiled Jews or Israelites. The fact that they come to Jerusalem asking for “the king of the Jews” (as if “the Jews” were a third party) would tend to argue against them being Judahites, but would not be a peculiar phrase if they were descended from the tribes of the old northern kingdom.

We tend to have a “We Three Kings of Orient Are” view of these people because of later nativity traditions, but the Bible has them as magi, a term with strong religious connotations that would have referred to people who played roles ostensibly similar to the role of the prophet in Israelite religion, except that they used divination and magical arts to “obtain” the divine word – in stark contrast to Yahwistic practices. Yet these magi, in this case, use their astronomical/astrological arts to perceive the birth of Christ.

The term Magi, or a derivative, is used in the New Testament to refer to two other people: Elymas Bar-Jesus in Acts 13:6-11 & Simon Magus in Acts 8:9-24. Elymas was a Jew, and Simon a Samaritan, and so quite possibly of at least of mixed Israelite descent – and from a Torah-bound people, regardless. These passages are of great help in understanding what kind of people Matthew is referring to, even putting aside the question of their racial origin. I fail to see the theological significance of making such practitioners the primary heralds of the nativity of the Son of God if indeed they are simply pagan magicians. But if they are Israelites, then we can see in the passage a foretaste of the fulfilling of the messianic promise.

While the messianic promise certainly seemed to involve the nations, at least in a subservient role, it was primarily about the restoration of Israel, of sons that shall “come from afar” (Isa 60.4), and of the final turning toward God of Israel. The “gifts” that the magi offered to Jesus have long been associated in Christian tradition with his ministry of priest (frankincense, for sacrifice), prophet (myrrh, for burial anointing) and king (royal gold), but these things could also have been part of the common stock-in-trade of the professional magi. For instance, I understand that myrrh ink was used to write magical charms. Seen as tools of the trade, these offerings can be understood not only as gifts of homage from the magi to the Christ, but also as a declaration of disassociation from former practices: they acknowledged Jesus as Lord and threw away, or offered up as it were, their magic and astrology; they repented, and returned to YHWH through the coming of the Messiah. Now, that makes theological sense.

We know there were many Jews who had stayed behind “in the East” – in Babylon – or who migrated to Persia after Cyrus. And there were, of course, the Israelites who vanished as a people in those very regions, yet who surely survived as occupants in the land. I wonder if it was to a group of one of these peoples that the Lord spoke to in a dream (Mt 2:12), after their repentance?

Matthew’s purpose in his gospel was to demonstrate that the advent of Jesus would signal the restoration of Israel through a spiritual rebirth, by means of repentance and adherence to Torah (even if a radical, interiorized adherence), creating a community of “sons of God” to bring the (universal) salvation forth from the Cross to “all nations.”

Regardless of Matthew’s genuine concern for the Gentiles, I think we can see that his primary positioning of Jesus is as a Torah teacher, within the tradition of the Hebrew Prophets, i.e., as one calling for the reformation of the life of the community in conformity to a genuine understanding of Torah, opposing a meaningless ritualistic or legalistic perversion of it. And no other gospel writer comes close to displaying Matthew’s concern for defining Jesus as the son of David, right from the first verse. This is the Jewish Messiah.

Understanding these magi as gentile, unfortunately, finds the Gospel, in a very real sense, moving from the Gentiles to the Jews, which does not seem to me to be at all consistent with the overall Biblical witness (which this writer is so sensitive to). This gospel states very strongly that salvation comes through true fulfillment of Torah (cf. Mat 5:17f; 7:21; 15:3; 19:17 etc.), not through the circumventing or “abolishing” of it. Through faith, yes, but that faith is strictly manifested in fulfillment of God’s will (cf. Mat 12:50), which finds its perfection (just as the Torah finds its fulfillment) in the Passion of Christ.

The inclusion of the Gentiles in the plan of salvation is effected at Golgotha, after all, not Bethlehem (cf. Mat 10:5-6, 28:19-20).

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Bible Study Tools

The HCSB 2nd Edition and the Tetragrammaton

Posted on by John W Gillis / 9 Comments

In between disasters and duties, I’ve been spending a bit more time looking at the new 2nd edition HCSB this week. Perhaps the most significant change from the first version is the greatly increased tendency to transliterate the Tetragrammaton (Yahweh), instead of following the standard practice among English translations of rendering it as LORD in small caps. Among major English translations, only the ASV (“Jehovah”) and the JB/NJB (“Yahweh”) have used a transliteration more than occasionally.

Curiously, the HCSB does not transliterate consistently, as the other translations had done (for reference, the other translations used the transliteration close to 7,000 times; the HCSB used the transliteration 78 times in the first edition, and uses it 495 times in the 2nd edition, if my search results can be trusted). The HCSB instead takes a more interpretive approach, transliterating whenever the usage suggests an emphasis on the word specifically as God’s name.

I have some misgivings about this approach – and I must admit that I am not crazy either about the ASV/JB-type approach of consistently transliterating, which I wouldn’t be very comfortable reading to a congregation. However, I’d like to think about it a little more before opining on the matter.

Nonetheless, this movement further in the direction of transliteration of the Tetragrammaton is clearly a significant part of the thinking behind the HCSB update, so I’d like to put it out there for anyone who might be interested in investigating exactly what they’ve done. There are 451 verses in the HCSB 2nd Edition that contain the word “Yahweh,” and that is too many for me to post here, so I will narrow the comparison down to the five books of the Torah.

The 2nd edition has 131 occurrences in 114 verses, whereas the 1st edition had just 13 occurrences in 12 verses. The table below is output from WORDsearch search results in the 2nd edition, and I have highlighted in yellow those 12 verse numbers where the 1st edition also transliterated:

HCSB 2nd Edition – Search results for: Yahweh –

(see yellow for verses that had “Yahweh” in 1st Edition)

Book

Description

Context

HCSB

Ge 4:26
The Line of Cain

26 A son was born to Seth also, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of •Yahweh.

HCSB

Ge 12:8
The Call of Abram

8 From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to •Yahweh there, and he called on the name of Yahweh.

HCSB

Ge 13:4
Abram and Lot Separate

4 to the site where he had built the altar. And Abram called on the name of •Yahweh there.

HCSB

Ge 14:22
Melchizedek’s Blessing

22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand in an oath to •Yahweh, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

HCSB

Ge 21:33
Abraham’s Covenant with Abimelech

33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of •Yahweh, the Everlasting God.

HCSB

Ge 26:25
The Lord Appears to Isaac

25 So he built an altar there, called on the name of •Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. Isaac’s slaves also dug a well there.

HCSB

Ex 3:15
Moses and the Burning Bush

15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: •Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.

HCSB

Ex 3:16
Moses and the Burning Bush

16 “Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt.

HCSB

Ex 3:18
Moses and the Burning Bush

18 They will listen to what you say. Then you, along with the elders of Israel, must go to the king of Egypt and say to him: Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God.

HCSB

Ex 4:5
Miraculous Signs for Moses

5 “This will take place,” He continued, “so they will believe that •Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

HCSB

Ex 4:22
Moses’ Return to Egypt

22 Then you will say to Pharaoh: This is what Yahweh says: Israel is My firstborn son.

HCSB

Ex 5:1
Moses Confronts Pharaoh

1 Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what •Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Let My people go, so that they may hold a festival for Me in the wilderness.”

HCSB

Ex 5:2
Moses Confronts Pharaoh

2 But Pharaoh responded, “Who is Yahweh that I should obey Him by letting Israel go? I do not know ?anything about? Yahweh, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”

HCSB

Ex 5:3
Moses Confronts Pharaoh

3 Then they answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God, or else He may strike us with plague or sword.”

HCSB

Ex 6:2
God Promises Freedom

2 Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am •Yahweh.

HCSB

Ex 6:3
God Promises Freedom

3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as •God Almighty, but I did not reveal My name Yahweh to them.

HCSB

Ex 6:6
God Promises Freedom

6 “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am Yahweh, and I will deliver you from the forced labor of the Egyptians and free you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment.

HCSB

Ex 6:7
God Promises Freedom

7 I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am Yahweh your God, who delivered you from the forced labor of the Egyptians.

HCSB

Ex 6:8
God Promises Freedom

8 I will bring you to the land that I swore, to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am Yahweh.”

HCSB

Ex 6:29
Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh

29 He said to him, “I am Yahweh; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I am telling you.”

HCSB

Ex 7:5
Chapter 7

5 The Egyptians will know that I am •Yahweh when I stretch out My hand against Egypt, and bring out the Israelites from among them.”

HCSB

Ex 7:16
The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

16 Tell him: Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness, but so far you have not listened.

HCSB

Ex 7:17
The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

17 This is what Yahweh says: Here is how you will know that I am Yahweh. Watch. I will strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood.

HCSB

Ex 8:1
The Second Plague: Frogs

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him: This is what •Yahweh says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

HCSB

Ex 8:8
The Second Plague: Frogs

8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Ask Yahweh to remove the frogs from me and my people. Then I will let the people go and they can sacrifice to Yahweh.”

HCSB

Ex 8:10
The Second Plague: Frogs

10 “Tomorrow,” he answered. Moses replied, “As you have said, so you may know there is no one like Yahweh our God,

HCSB

Ex 8:20
The Fourth Plague: Swarms of Flies

20 The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when you see him going out to the water. Tell him: This is what Yahweh says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

HCSB

Ex 8:22
The Fourth Plague: Swarms of Flies

22 But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people are living; no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, Yahweh, am in the land.

HCSB

Ex 9:1
The Fifth Plague: Death of Livestock

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him: This is what •Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

HCSB

Ex 9:13
The Seventh Plague: Hail

13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh. Tell him: This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

HCSB

Ex 9:27
The Seventh Plague: Hail

27 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. “I have sinned this time,” he said to them. “Yahweh is the Righteous One, and I and my people are the •guilty ones.

HCSB

Ex 9:28
The Seventh Plague: Hail

28 Make an appeal to Yahweh. There has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t need to stay any longer.”

HCSB

Ex 9:29
The Seventh Plague: Hail

29 Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will extend my hands to Yahweh. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know the earth belongs to Yahweh.

HCSB

Ex 9:30
The Seventh Plague: Hail

30 But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear Yahweh ?our? God.”

HCSB

Ex 10:2
The Eighth Plague: Locusts

2 and so that you may tell your son and grandson how severely I dealt with the Egyptians and performed miraculous signs among them, and you will know that I am •Yahweh.”

HCSB

Ex 10:3
The Eighth Plague: Locusts

3 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may worship Me.

HCSB

Ex 10:7
The Eighth Plague: Locusts

7 Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long must this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, so that they may worship Yahweh their God. Don’t you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?”

HCSB

Ex 10:8
The Eighth Plague: Locusts

8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship Yahweh your God,” Pharaoh said. “But exactly who will be going?”

HCSB

Ex 10:9
The Eighth Plague: Locusts

9 Moses replied, “We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds because we must hold Yahweh’s festival.”

HCSB

Ex 10:10
The Eighth Plague: Locusts

10 He said to them, “May Yahweh be with you if I ?ever? let you and your families go! Look out—you are planning evil.

HCSB

Ex 10:11
The Eighth Plague: Locusts

11 No, only the men may go and worship Yahweh, for that is what you have been asking for.” And they were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.

HCSB

Ex 10:16
The Eighth Plague: Locusts

16 Pharaoh urgently sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you.

HCSB

Ex 10:17
The Eighth Plague: Locusts

17 Please forgive my sin once more and make an appeal to Yahweh your God, so that He will take this death away from me.”

HCSB

Ex 10:24
The Ninth Plague: Darkness

24 Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship Yahweh. Even your families may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.”

HCSB

Ex 10:25
The Ninth Plague: Darkness

25 Moses responded, “You must also let us have sacrifices and •burnt offerings to prepare for Yahweh our God.

HCSB

Ex 10:26
The Ninth Plague: Darkness

26 Even our livestock must go with us; not a hoof will be left behind because we will take some of them to worship Yahweh our God. We will not know what we will use to worship Yahweh until we get there.”

HCSB

Ex 11:4
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

4 So Moses said, “This is what •Yahweh says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt,

HCSB

Ex 11:7
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

7 But against all the Israelites, whether man or beast, not ?even? a dog will snarl, so that you may know that Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

HCSB

Ex 12:12
Instructions for the Passover

12 “I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn ?male? in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am •Yahweh; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt.

HCSB

Ex 12:31
The Exodus

31 He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites, and go, worship Yahweh as you have asked.

HCSB

Ex 14:4
Chapter 14

4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am •Yahweh.” So the Israelites did this.

HCSB

Ex 14:18
Escape through the Red Sea

18 The Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I receive glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

HCSB

Ex 14:25
Escape through the Red Sea

25 He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and made them drive with difficulty. “Let’s get away from Israel,” the Egyptians said, “because Yahweh is fighting for them against Egypt!”

HCSB

Ex 15:3
Israel’s Song

3 The Lord is a warrior; •Yahweh is His name.

HCSB

Ex 15:26
Water Provided

26 He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals you.”

HCSB

Ex 16:12
Manna and Quail Provided

12 “I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am •Yahweh your God.”

HCSB

Ex 18:11
Jethro’s Visit

11 Now I know that •Yahweh is greater than all gods, because ?He did wonders? when the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel.”,

HCSB

Ex 20:2
The Ten Commandments

2 I am •Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

HCSB

Ex 20:5
The Ten Commandments

5 You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin, to the third and fourth ?generations? of those who hate Me,

HCSB

Ex 20:7
The Ten Commandments

7 Do not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, because Yahweh will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name.

HCSB

Ex 20:10
The Ten Commandments

10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates.

HCSB

Ex 20:11
The Ten Commandments

11 For Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

HCSB

Ex 20:12
The Ten Commandments

12 Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you.

HCSB

Ex 29:46
Instructions about Consecration

46 And they will know that I am •Yahweh their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them. I am Yahweh their God.

HCSB

Ex 31:13
Observing the Sabbath

13 “Tell the Israelites: You must observe My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you will know that I am •Yahweh who sets you apart.

HCSB

Ex 33:19
The Lord’s Glory

19 He said, “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name •Yahweh before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

HCSB

Ex 34:5
New Stone Tablets

5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed ?His? name •Yahweh.

HCSB

Ex 34:6
New Stone Tablets

6 Then the Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth,

HCSB

Ex 34:14
Covenant Obligations

14 You are never to bow down to another god because Yahweh, being jealous by nature, is a jealous God.

HCSB

Lev 18:21
Prohibited Pagan Practices

21 “You are not to make any of your children pass through ?the fire? to •Molech. Do not profane the name of your God; I am •Yahweh.

HCSB

Lev 19:12
Laws of Holiness

12 You must not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God; I am •Yahweh.

HCSB

Lev 21:6
The Holiness of the Priests

6 They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they present the fire offerings to Yahweh, the food of their God, and they must be holy.

HCSB

Lev 22:2
Priests and Their Food

2 “Tell Aaron and his sons to deal respectfully with the holy offerings of the Israelites that they have consecrated to Me, so they do not profane My holy name; I am •Yahweh.

HCSB

Lev 22:31
Acceptable Sacrifices

31 “You are to keep My commands and do them; I am Yahweh.

HCSB

Lev 24:16
A Case of Blasphemy

16 Whoever blasphemes the name of •Yahweh is to be put to death; the whole community must stone him. If he blasphemes the Name, he is to be put to death, whether the foreign resident or the native.

HCSB

Nu 6:24
The Priestly Blessing

24 May •Yahweh bless you and protect you;

HCSB

Nu 6:25
The Priestly Blessing

25 may Yahweh make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;

HCSB

Nu 6:26
The Priestly Blessing

26 may Yahweh look with favor on you and give you peace.,

HCSB

Nu 15:41
Tassels for Remembrance

41 I am •Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am Yahweh your God.”

HCSB

Nu 36:2
The Inheritance of Zelophehad’s Daughters

2 They said, “•Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites. My lord was further commanded by Yahweh to give our brother Zelophehad’s inheritance to his daughters.

HCSB

Dt 1:11
Leaders for the Tribes

11 May •Yahweh, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more, and bless you as He promised you.

HCSB

Dt 1:21
Israel’s Disobedience at Kadesh-barnea

21 See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

HCSB

Dt 4:1
Call to Obedience

1 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land •Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

HCSB

Dt 5:6
The Ten Commandments

6 I am •Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

HCSB

Dt 5:9
The Ten Commandments

9 You must not bow down to them or worship them, because I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin to the third and fourth ?generations? of those who hate Me,

HCSB

Dt 5:11
The Ten Commandments

11 Do not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, because Yahweh will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name.

HCSB

Dt 5:12
The Ten Commandments

12 Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as Yahweh your God has commanded you.

HCSB

Dt 5:14
The Ten Commandments

14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the foreigner who lives within your gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do.

HCSB

Dt 5:15
The Ten Commandments

15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why Yahweh your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

HCSB

Dt 5:16
The Ten Commandments

16 Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and so that you may prosper in the land Yahweh your God is giving you.

HCSB

Dt 6:3
The Greatest Commandment

3 Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow ?them?, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because •Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.

HCSB

Dt 6:4
The Greatest Commandment

4 “Listen, Israel: Yahweh is our God; Yahweh is One.,

HCSB

Dt 6:13
Remembering God through Obedience

13 Fear Yahweh your God, worship Him, and take ?your? oaths in His name.

HCSB

Dt 7:9
Israel to Destroy Idolatrous Nations

9 Know that •Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands.

HCSB

Dt 10:8
The Covenant Renewed

8 “At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before •Yahweh to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as it is today.

HCSB

Dt 10:20
What God Requires

20 You are to fear Yahweh your God and worship Him. Remain faithful to Him and take oaths in His name.

HCSB

Dt 12:1
The Chosen Place of Worship

1 “Be careful to follow these statutes and ordinances in the land that •Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days you live on the earth.

HCSB

Dt 12:5
The Chosen Place of Worship

5 Instead, you must turn to the place Yahweh your God chooses from all your tribes to put His name for His dwelling and go there.

HCSB

Dt 12:11
The Chosen Place of Worship

11 then Yahweh your God will choose the place to have His name dwell. Bring there everything I command you: your burnt offerings, sacrifices, offerings of the tenth, personal contributions, and all your choice offerings you vow to the Lord.

HCSB

Dt 12:21
Slaughtering Animals to Eat

21 If the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want.

HCSB

Dt 14:23
A Tenth for the Lord

23 You are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, in the presence of •Yahweh your God at the place where He chooses to have His name dwell, so that you will always learn to •fear the Lord your God.

HCSB

Dt 14:24
A Tenth for the Lord

24 But if the distance is too great for you to carry it, since the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far away from you and since the Lord your God has blessed you,

HCSB

Dt 16:2
The Festival of Passover

2 Sacrifice to •Yahweh your God a Passover animal from the herd or flock in the place where the Lord chooses to have His name dwell.

HCSB

Dt 16:6
The Festival of Passover

6 You must only sacrifice the Passover animal at the place where Yahweh your God chooses to have His name dwell. ?Do this? in the evening as the sun sets at the ?same? time ?of day? you departed from Egypt.

HCSB

Dt 16:11
The Festival of Weeks

11 Rejoice before Yahweh your God in the place where He chooses to have His name dwell—you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow among you.

HCSB

Dt 18:5
Provisions for the Levites

5 For •Yahweh your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes to stand and minister in His name from now on.

HCSB

Dt 18:7
Provisions for the Levites

7 he may serve in the name of Yahweh his God like all his fellow Levites who minister there in the presence of the Lord.

HCSB

Dt 21:5
Unsolved Murders

5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for •Yahweh your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and ?case of? assault.

HCSB

Dt 26:2
Giving the Firstfruits

2 you must take some of the first of all the land’s produce that you harvest from the land •Yahweh your God is giving you and put ?it? in a container. Then go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to have His name dwell.

HCSB

Dt 26:7
Giving the Firstfruits

7 So we called out to Yahweh, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our cry and saw our misery, hardship, and oppression.

HCSB

Dt 27:3
The Law Written on Stones

3 Write all the words of this law on the stones after you cross to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as •Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

HCSB

Dt 28:58
Curses for Disobedience

58 “If you are not careful to obey all the words of this law, which are written in this scroll, by •fearing this glorious and awesome name—•Yahweh, your God—

HCSB

Dt 29:25
Abandoning the Covenant

25 Then people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of •Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which He had made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.

HCSB

Dt 32:3
Chapter 32

3 For I will proclaim •Yahweh’s name. Declare the greatness of our God!
, ,