Yesterday in Genesis 9-10, we heard the story of Noah's drunkenness and his curse on Canaan because of it (which wasn't very fair since it was his father Ham who actually caused the offense to Noah). Then we heard about Noah's descendants.
Translation notes:
4Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches [into/0] the sky.
https://www.bible.com/bible/116/gen.11.nlt
In Eliphaz' speech he said something that James will tell us later:
17 “But consider the joy of those corrected by God!
Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin.
The ‘when you sin’ part is a bit different from what James says, but otherwise the idea is the same.
https://www.bible.com/bible/116/job.6
Chapter 4 is the parable chapter of Mark. We will repeat some of what we read yesterday in Mark 4. We start reading in verse 21.
Translation notes:
26 Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God [can be
illustrated as being like when//is like] a farmer [0/who] scatters seed on the ground.
It bothers me grammatically to say that a 'kingdom' is like a 'farmer'. The king might be like a farmer, both being people. Jesus' illustration shows that the whole package is what is like the Kingdom of God, including farmer, seed, time for growing, and harvest.
30 Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God?
What story should I use to illustrate it? 31 [God's Kingdom can be compared to//It is like] a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds,
40 Then he [said to/asked] them, “[What a bunch of cowards you are! It is clear that you don't believe fully in me!”//Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”]
I have treated these rhetorical questions as statements. In English it seems a bit silly to ask “Why are you afraid?” Jesus' question is a rebuke (and we can debate how strong a rebuke was intended). The second RQ is also a rebuke.
Note that I will often change 'faith' to 'fully believe'. This might be a good illustration of why the English word 'faith' is often misunderstood. 1) People often have forgotten that the root meaning of 'faith' is
'believe'— having the same Greek root word. 2) When one uses an abstract noun like 'faith' we loose the object— in this case the Person who is being believed. Note that 'faith' does not have the
a vague root meaning like 'endurance' or 'ability to live without fear', which might be assumed by some readers. Such words almost always end up placing 'faith' in ourselves. This is very wrong. What faith means here is placing trust 100% in Jesus.
41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “[Wow, what kind of man is this Jesus?!//Who is this man?]”3 they [said to//asked] each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”
The disciples had not forgotten Jesus' name! This translation is as suggested by Deibler.
https://www.bible.com/bible/116/mrk.4
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