Bible verse by verse

[_Dr. Shades]

Hi LittleNipper,

What is the purpose of this exercise?

[_LittleNipper]

Hi LittleNipper,

What is the purpose of this exercise?

It is to get people to read the Bible for themselves and perhaps question what they were told it says or means. So far I've had a few claim that the Bible is not true, but I really have not found any who disagree with the interpretations. This should get even more interesting as we get to the Psalms and Proverbs and the books of prophecy. Apparently there are a couple of people following this thread. Everybody could use more exercise!

[_ludwigm]

Hi LittleNipper,

What is the purpose of this exercise?

Our (may I use this word? someway it fits) database seems to be overloaded?
I know, everybody is welcomed. Every opinion is welcomed."Therefore, do not "de-invite" anyone or suggest that they go elsewhere." but enough is enough...


The versions of the Bible are available on thousands sites of internet.
There is the wonderful invention, the link.

Somebody (no, this is not the moderator-red, only a doppelganger of it) should whisper to LittleNipper's ear, that one link to a NIV (or whatever) site does the task. As the last comment of this Guinness-worth thread.

[_LittleNipper]

I feel that to read along with someone is far more encouraging and enlightening than simply reading alone. At least there is a chance to interact with someone else who actually fully believes this book as opposed to skimming/skipping over what some might term "dull" spots (for the sake of saying that they read the "entire" Book). Which I find most are stretching the truth... I also chose a version to decipher that most have little knowledge of (Young's Literal Translation). And then others can --- indeed see that various translations do support each other extremely well ---- as they may make comparisons with their own preferred version.

[_LittleNipper]

2 Chronicles 2:1-18 So Solomon now plans to build the temple dedicated to the Lord, and a palace to live in. Solomon using the census of his father David had taken numbered 153,600 immigrants. He chose from these the 70,000 to haul, 80,000 to cut stones in the mountains, and 3,600 to supervise. Solomon sent word to King Huram of Tyre, asking for cut cedar lumber --- as David had done to build his own house. Now Solomon is preparing to construct the very large and beautiful temple for the Lord God. There special perfume will be burned before Him. The holy bread will be there all the time. Burnt offerings will be given morning and evening, on Days of Rest, on new moons, and during the special suppers of the Lord our God with eternal ramifications. Since the highest heavens are not big enough to contain God, Solomon realizes that what his is about to build is nothing more than a perfume box.

However, Solomon asks Huran to send him a highly trained multitalented professional --- able to work with gold, silver, brass, iron, and purple, red and blue cloth who knows how to carve anything. This individual will be working with the able men in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David enlisted. Solomon also asks for cedar, cypress and algum trees from Lebanon. Solomon will send his own workers to help those of Huram in the process. Somomon will provide to Huram's tree cutters, 200,000 baskets of ground grain, 200,000 baskets of barley, 200,000 bottles of wine, and 200,000 bottles of oil.”

King Huram of Tyre answered by letter to Solomon, “The Lord has made you king over His people because He loves them.” Huram said, “Honor and thanks be to the Lord, the God of Israel. He has made heaven and earth. And He has given King David a wise son. Wisdom and understanding have been given to David’s son who will build a house for the Lord and a house for himself. I am sending Huram-abi, an highly qualified man. He is the son of a Danite woman and a Tyrian father."

Huram-abi is able to do as Solomon wishes and will work with the men who were selected by David. Solomon will send the grain, barley, oil and wine. The King of Tyre will have cut whatever trees needed in Lebanon, and deliver this by ship to Joppa. Solomon will have this transported to Jerusalem.

Solomon using the census of his father David had taken numbered 153,600 immigrants. He chose from these the 70,000 to haul, 80,000 to cut stones in the mountains, and 3,600 to supervise.

Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

1 And Solomon saith to build a house for the name of Jehovah, and a house for his kingdom,

2 and Solomon numbereth seventy thousand men bearing burden, and eighty thousand men hewing in the mountain, and overseers over them -- three thousand and six hundred.

3 And Solomon sendeth unto Huram king of Tyre, saying, `When thou hast dealt with David my father, then thou dost send to him cedars to build for him a house to dwell in;

4 lo, I am building a house to the name of Jehovah my God, to sanctify [it] to Him, to make perfume before Him, perfume of spices, and a continual arrangement, and burnt-offerings at morning and at evening, at sabbaths, and at new moons, and at appointed seasons of Jehovah our God; to the age this [is] on Israel.

5 `And the house that I am building [is] great, for greater [is] our God than all gods;

6 and who doth retain strength to build to Him a house, for the heavens, even the heavens of the heavens, do not contain Him? and who [am] I that I do build to Him a house, except to make perfume before Him?

7 `And now, send to me a wise man to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and knowing to grave gravings with the wise men who [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father prepared;

8 and send to me cedar-trees, firs, and algums from Lebanon, for I have known that thy servants know to cut down trees of Lebanon, and lo, my servants [are] with thy servants,

9 even to prepare for me trees in abundance, for the house that I am building [is] great and wonderful.

10 `And lo, to hewers, to those cutting the trees, I have given beaten wheat to thy servants, cors twenty thousand, and barley, cors twenty thousand, and wine, baths twenty thousand, and oil, baths twenty thousand.'

11 And Huram king of Tyre saith in writing, and sendeth unto Solomon: `In the love of Jehovah to His people He hath given thee king over them.'

12 And Huram saith, `Blessed [is] Jehovah, God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, knowing wisdom and understanding, who doth build a house for Jehovah, and a house for his kingdom.

13 `And now, I have sent a wise man having understanding, of Huram my father,

14 (son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father a man of Tyre), knowing to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stones, and in wood, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson, and to grave any graving, and to devise any device that is given to him, with thy wise men, and the wise men of my lord David thy father.

15 `And, now, the wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, as my lord said, let him send to his servants,

16 and we -- we cut trees out of Lebanon, according to all thy need, and bring them in to thee -- floats by sea, to Joppa, and thou dost take them up to Jerusalem.'

17 And Solomon numbereth all the men, the sojourners who [are] in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father numbered them, and they are found a hundred and fifty thousand, and three thousand, and six hundred;

18 and he maketh of them seventy thousand burden-bearers, and eighty thousand hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers, to cause the people to work.

[_maklelan]

I feel that to read along with someone is far more encouraging and enlightening than simply reading alone. At least there is a chance to interact with someone else who actually fully believes this book as opposed to skimming/skipping over what some might term "dull" spots (for the sake of saying that they read the "entire" Book). Which I find most are stretching the truth... I also chose a version to decipher that most have little knowledge of (Young's Literal Translation). And then others can --- indeed see that various translations do support each other extremely well ---- as they may make comparisons with their own preferred version.

Actually I've shown repeatedly that the versions often don't agree on controversial and theological critical passages, and often none approximate the meaning of the text or its original sense. I don't recall you ever directly engaging any of those concerns, though.

[_maklelan]

I believe the Bible is true and that what the Bible has to say concerning right and wrong is absolute.

So when the psalm blesses the one who crushes the skulls of babies against rocks, you believe that is God telling you in absolute terms that murdering infants is right, provided they are not of your faith?

I'd like a direct and honest answer to this very sincere and serious question.

[_LittleNipper]

I feel that to read along with someone is far more encouraging and enlightening than simply reading alone. At least there is a chance to interact with someone else who actually fully believes this book as opposed to skimming/skipping over what some might term "dull" spots (for the sake of saying that they read the "entire" Book). Which I find most are stretching the truth... I also chose a version to decipher that most have little knowledge of (Young's Literal Translation). And then others can --- indeed see that various translations do support each other extremely well ---- as they may make comparisons with their own preferred version.

Actually I've shown repeatedly that the versions often don't agree on controversial and theological critical passages, and often none approximate the meaning of the text or its original sense. I don't recall you ever directly engaging any of those concerns, though.

Actually, you have not. You have merely eluded that there maybe interpretive variables between some particular verses. However, the Bible is the sum of its parts and not one verse. ALL verses (particularly those with difficulties) need to be interpreted in light of each other and not as an entity unto itself. And the Bible certainly is not at the mercy of modern interpretation or additional non-biblical text/literature.

[_LittleNipper]

I believe the Bible is true and that what the Bible has to say concerning right and wrong is absolute.

So when the psalm blesses the one who crushes the skulls of babies against rocks, you believe that is God telling you in absolute terms that murdering infants is right, provided they are not of your faith?

I'd like a direct and honest answer to this very sincere and serious question.

This Psalm was written from David's anguish, not from God's perspective. David wrote it as an expression of his frustrated desire for revenge against the murderous Babylonians, who had destroyed Jerusalem and had killed many of the Israelite babies by dashing their heads against rocks.

David and the rest of Israel lived in a time when justice was seen as "an eye for an eye". He wanted the Babylonians to feel what the Israelites had felt. However, Jesus spotlights God's perspective coming with a higher law of forgiveness. David was upset. and God allowed this expression to show human emotion and not as a demonstration of God's love. As for God not caring about the murder of babies, Jesus said that a person who harms a little one would be better off hanging a stone around his neck and throwing himself into the sea. When you read, context is generally important.

David's son Solomon once ordered a baby to be cut in half. Did he actually do it? No, he wanted the real mother to have her baby returned to her. And Solomon did this with a threat to divide the baby. The real mother pleading to rather give her baby away than to have it killed. No one imagines that judges today should be threatening to cut babies in half and use the Bible as their excuse. They would be taking the verses out of context.

God gave us the Bible to study to find out its deep meaning and not simply laid out on a silver platter. Example: Is the verse about being baptized for the dead a command to get baptized for dead relatives, or is it in fact a declaration to people who would practice such a thing all the while questioning eternal life? I believe the deeper intent would be far less superficial...

[_LittleNipper]

2 Chronicles 3:1-17 Solomon began to construct the temple at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to his father, at the spot that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Construction commenced the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign. These are the proportions Solomon was instructed in building the temple. Some ninety feet long and thirty feet wide. The porch in front would stretched the width of the building, that is, some thirty feet; and it was thirty feet high. Solomon had it covered within with pure gold.

And the greater house he had covered with fir, which he overlaid with fine gold, and decorated in palm trees and chains. Solomon has the house garnished with precious stones for beauty: and gold of Parvaim.

Solomon encrusted the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls, and the doors, with gold; and decorated with cherubims on the walls. Solomon has the most holy house, Within the Temple, at one end, was the most sacred room—the Holy of Holies—thirty feet square. This too was overlaid with the finest gold. Twenty-six-ounce gold nails were used amounting to fifty shekels of gold. The upper rooms were covered with pure gold. Within the Holy of Holies, Solomon placed two sculptured statues of cherubim and had them covered with gold. They stood on the floor facing the outer room, with wings stretched wing tip to wing tip spanning the room, from wall to wall. Across the entrance to this room he placed a drape of blue purple, and crimson finespun linen, decorated with cherubim.

At the front of the Temple were two pillars 52½ feet high, topped by a 7½-foot capital flaring out to the roof. One the length was the same as the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. Solomon had made chains decorations, as in the Holy of Holies, and applied to the tops of the pillars; along with on hundred pomegranates on the chains. Solomon had the pillars lifted before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the right hand pillar Jachin, and the one on the left Boaz.


Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

1 And Solomon beginneth to build the house of Jehovah, in Jerusalem, in the mount of Moriah, where He appeared to David his father, in the place that David had prepared, in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite,

2 and he beginneth to build in the second [day], in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

3 And [in] these hath Solomon been instructed to build the house of God: The length [in] cubits by the former measure [is] sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

4 As to the porch that [is] on the front, the length [is] by the front of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height a hundred and twenty, and he overlayeth it within with pure gold.

5 And the large house he hath covered with fir-trees, and he doth cover it with good gold, and causeth to ascend on it palms and chains,

6 and he overlayeth the house with precious stone for beauty, and the gold [is] gold of Parvaim,

7 and he covereth the house, the beams, the thresholds, and its walls, and its doors, with gold, and hath graved cherubs on the walls.

8 And he maketh the most holy house: its length [is] by the front of the breadth of the house twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits, and he covereth it with good gold, to six hundred talents;

9 and the weight of the nails [is] fifty shekels of gold, and the upper chambers he hath covered with gold.

10 And he maketh in the most holy house two cherubs, image work, and he overlayeth them with gold;

11 as to the wings of the cherubs, their length [is] twenty cubits, the wing of the one [is] five cubits, touching the wall of the house, and the other wing [is] five cubits, touching the wing of the other cherub.

12 And the wing of the other cherub [is] five cubits touching the wall of the house, and the other wing [is] five cubits, adhering to the wing of the other cherub.

13 The wings of these cherubs are spreading forth twenty cubits, and they are standing on their feet and their faces [are] inward.

14 And he maketh the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and causeth cherubs to go up on it.

15 And he maketh at the front of the house two pillars, thirty and five cubits in length, and the ornament that [is] on their heads five cubits.

16 And he maketh chains in the oracle, and putteth on the heads of the pillars, and maketh a hundred pomegranates, and putteth on the chains.

17 And he raiseth up the pillars on the front of the temple, one on the right, and one on the left, and calleth the name of that on the right Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.