Saturday, February 28, 2015

2015DBRP_060 Lev15-16 Ps18 Luke12a


Yesterday we heard about sacrifices following the healing of skin diseases and after getting rid of house mildew. This chapter is about defiling bodily discharges.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/lev.15.nlt

 

Here in Psalm 18 we find a psalm that reveals Davids intimacy with God. Even though he frequently refers to himself, we see that God— and not himself, is the center of his spiritual life.

 

Translation notes:

34 He trains my hands for battle;

he strengthens my arm [so that I can draw back a

bronze bow of bronze//to draw a bronze bow.]

41 They called for help, but no one came to their rescue.

They even cried to [you, LORD, but you//the LORD, but he] refused to answer.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/psa.18

 

We turn for the first time to Luke 12. Jesus definitely gained enemies by his teaching at the end of chapter 11, which was against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and religious experts.

 

Translation notes:

6 “What is the price of five sparrows— [maybe/0] two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them.

 

8 “I tell you the truth, everyone who [says publicly here on earth 'I am a follower of Jesus', I, the Son of Manc will also acknowledge them as my followers in the presence of God’s angels.//acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels.]

 

9 But [those who deny me here on earth, saying they are not my disciple, I will also say that they are not my disciples in the presence of God’s angels.//anyone who denies me here on earth will be denied before God’s angels.]

 

10 Anyone who speaks against [me,/0] the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

 

16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a [very/0]

fertile farm that produced fine crops.

“[You lucky guy//My friend], you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

 

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very

night. Then who will get everything you have [hoarded up for yourself/worked for]?’

 

See the footnote in the NET for this verse.

 

28 And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you [— you my friends with so little faith!!//Why do you have so little faith?]

 

Here I let the word ‘faith’ stand. Maybe like this, following my normal pattern: “— you my friends who so weakly believe that the Father will help you.” Note that using ‘believe’ kind of requires that the translator add an object. Some readers will feel that this is going too far, but translators routinely do this in languages which don’t have any abstract nouns, or in situations like this for languages like Indonesian and English.

 

40 You also must be ready all the time, for [I—/0] the Son of Man, will come when least expected.”

 

46 The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut [that evil//the] servant in pieces and banish him with the unfaithful.

 

52 From now on families will be split apart, three

in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three

against. [As the Scripture says,//0]

 

54 Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, “When you

see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, ‘Here

comes a [rain/0]  shower.’ And you are right.

 

56 You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs

of the earth and sky, [so why can't you figure out how to interpret the signs of the present time?!//but you don’t know how to interpret the present times.]

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/luk.12


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Friday, February 27, 2015

2015DBRP_060BackInJakarta


Thanks for listening to this special edition podcast! I arrived back in Jakarta from Papua around noon yesterday.

 

Mrs. Y. sells yellow rice starting at 6 in the morning, under the big mango tree just a short walk from where I was staying in Papua. Yellow rice with a little chicken and a boiled egg is my favorite breakfast in Indonesia. Y grew up Islamic, but married a guy who (sadly) is only nominally Christian. Then she became a real Christian through reading her husband's Bible. Her mother, who lives close in the neighborhood, has disowned her. I gave her three of our smaller books, one to give to her pastor. As I came up the next morning, she was reading in chapter 6 of Revelation.

IMG_1342diffC.png

 

What she said about the Plain Indonesian translation is what so many have told me: I understand this! It doesn’t use hard-to-understand words.

IMG_134r7.jpg

 

Updated apps are out for Android and iDevices. I am told that the Apple app has neat new features that people love. However the updated Android app is not really much than the old one. If you update your app, give plenty of time for the episode list to be downloaded. It took me several times pressing the refresh button before I got my list back. If you have problems, please don’t write to me, but use the Contact button. This will get the information directly to the person who can help.

 

If you have joined the DBRPodcasts only recently, it may be harder with some podcast manager apps (including our own app) to listen to the podcasts starting at 001 and moving forward. You can always search for the day number you want at our web site. If any of you have a good app that helps in sequential listening starting with earlier episodes, please let me know via the Send a message link.

 

Here’s a couple of pictures of my team members in Sentani. Since Gale and I cannot live all the time in Indonesia, it has been wonderful that Jim and Judi Olson have been my partners. Jim wears many hats, and one of them is helping our team with accounting. Judi works many hours translating, checking drafts, or preparing Bible study materials. In particular these days, she is helping a team translating into the Lepki language. Imagine starting a project like that being close to my age!

IMG_1358r.jpg

While I was there, we focused on translating Ps 3, 13, and 23, and all of Ruth.

 

Paula (on the right) will be administering the team work flow in drafting, editing and checking Old Testament passages. Serli, the newest team applicant, is not pictured.

 

Rima (on the left) has been coming every work day without pay ever since November to take our on-line Bible translation course! That's dedication! All these ladies can only work 2-3 hours per day because they can only work when their kids are in school. In the last months Rima and Paula sometimes couldn't do anything because the Internet was down. I saw this as we tried to work on some shared googledocs. You're stuck if you get the dreaded yellow ‘Connecting …’ notice. 15 minutes later, the little circle is still spinning, and it says it is still connecting. Of course, one can edit documents offline, but the resources we need for Bible translation can only be accessed online. (You can see some of those resources under the Shovels heading at the DBRP web site.)

IMG_1364r.jpg

There is only one way our team in Papua can get really good Internet service, and that is with a satellite Internet system. The cost for the equipment is $2300, and after that it costs $200 monthly. If any of you would like to help with the equipment cost, there are instructions for giving a one-time gift via a bank card at the end of the Our Story page at dailybiblereading.info.

 

Upon arrival here in Jakarta, Daniel (our organization’s office manager) was excited to show me that he has been translating the book of Daniel. He’s gotten all the way up to chapter 2, verse 9. This seems to be a change of heart for Daniel. Previously he thought he might just help with editing. I think Daniel might discover that he has talents he did not know about!

 

My close friend Boas (Mesak’s father from my last report) saw me off at the airport in Sentani yesterday morning. He reported that the Orya college age youth have set the date for the next retreat to be Apr1-4. They set up an organizing committee and decided that all the committee members will put in the equivalent of $25 seed money. In their money and economy, this is like giving several hundred dollars, or a significant part of their monthly income. This is the largest amount they have ever committed together to contribute to a project like this. Boas said their motivation is simply to spread the Gospel, and that they are planning to have retreats progressively moving through each of the next five southern Orya villages until they go beyond the Orya area! I gave a camera to Boas so that I will get pictures of what's happening.

 

Thanks for praying for me and Gale at home. She says she’s doing OK and its snowing now. Please pray that Indonesian Christians will catch the vision for supporting God's work just like the Orya people have.

 

Stay joined to the Lord, and may He bless you "real good".


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2015DBRP_059 Lev14 Ps17 Luke11b


After hearing about the serious skin diseases yesterday, today we hear of the regulations if someone is healed from one. Note that these regulations were probably almost never done— until perhaps when Jesus caused a wave of men who had been healed to come with offerings.

 

Note that our modern translations use either ‘serious skin disease’ or ‘contagious skin disease’ instead of calling these ‘leprosy’ as in older translations. Leprosy— also called Hanson’s Disease, is a very different disease from the ones described in Scripture.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/lev.14.nlt

 

We turn to Psalm 17, one of those penned by David. Olsen quotes Spurgeon commenting on this psalm: “David would never have been [called] a man after God's own heart if he had not been a man of prayer. He was a master in the sacred art of supplication.”

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/psa.17

 

Yesterday in the first half of Luke 11, Jesus taught about prayer, and persistence in prayer, and taught refuting those who slandered him saying that he worked by the power of Satan. Jesus also taught that demons can leave on their own, but spiritual vacuum will result in more demons than before.

 

Translation notes:

2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:a

“Father, [PET: Our Father, may everyone honor You as the Holy God.//may your name be keptYou always be regarded as holy.]

May your Kingdom come soon.

 

As in many other places, 'name' is a metonymy for all of God. It is not just the name of God that Jesus wants us to hold as holy, but the whole Person of God as well.

 

21-22 [PET: “Satan can be illustrated as a strong home owner who— fully armed, always guards his house. He trusts in his weapons to keep all his possessions safe, and to defeat the One who opposes him— which is Me. But I'm stronger than he is! When I attack him, I will certainly defeat him, take all of his weapons, carry away his possessions and distribute them according to My will. //

//21 For when a strong man like Satan is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe—22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings. ]

 

44Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.” [So also your defiling corruption is hidden and contagious.//0]

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/luk.11


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Thursday, February 26, 2015

2015DBRP_058 Lev13 Ps16 Luke11a


Yesterday in Lev. 11-12, we learned the animals considered clean and edible, and those that are considered unclean and detestable. Then we heard about the sacrifices for purification after a woman gives birth.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/lev.13.nlt

 

We turn to Psalm 16. E.C. Olsen says that the Old Testament is like a sun dail. “It is not difficult to read the hour marks on a sun-dial. Anybody can read them and at any time, but one can only tell time when the sun shines upon the sun-dial. Thus, while the Bible is the Word of God and can be read by all at any time, only the man who has received the Lord Jesus Christ is able to tell divine time by the Bible. It is only as the “Son” sines upon the pages of Scripture, particularly the Old Testament, that we are able to understand, to see and to appreciate that Christ is to be found on every page of Scripture.” With the Son shining on it, we see that this is a Messianic psalm.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/psa.16

 

We turn for the first time to Luke 11. Yesterday in 10b, Jesus agreed with a law expert in the most important commandments, but taught the man the meaning of who is one's neighbor. And Jesus visited Martha and Mary.

 

Translation notes:

2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:

“Father, [PET: Our Father, may everyone honor You as the Holy God.//may your name be kept holy//may You always be regarded as holy.]

May your Kingdom come soon.

 

As in many other places, 'name' is a metonymy for all of God. It is not just the name of God that Jesus wants us to hold as holy, but the whole Person of God as well.

 

21-22 [PET: “Satan can be illustrated as a strong home owner who— fully armed, always guards his house. He trusts in his weapons to keep all his possessions safe, and to defeat the One who opposes him— which is Me. But I'm stronger than he is! When I attack him, I will certainly defeat him, take all of his weapons, carry away his possessions and distribute them according to My will. //

//21 For when a strong man like Satan is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe—22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings. ]

 

44Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.” [So also your defiling corruption is hidden and contagious.//0]

 

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/luk.11


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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

2015DBRP_057 Lev11-12 Ps15 Luke10b


Yesterday in Leviticus, Aaron and his sons started their work, and the glory of the Lord was revealed. But right after that Nadab and Abihu died because they offered an unauthorized kind of fire to the Lord.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/lev.11.nlt

 

We turn to Psalm 15, which is a psalm showing the kind of people who will be welcomed into God's presence.

 

Translation notes:

3 Those who refuse to gossip

or [to/0] harm their neighbors

or [to/0] speak evil of their friends.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/psa.15

 

We turn for the second time to Luke 10. Yesterday in the first half of the chapter, Jesus sent the 72 disciples out ahead of Him with interesting instructions. A worker will be given his pay as he trusts in the Lord to provide it. And there were strong words for the villages which received most of Jesus' miracles.

 

Translation notes:

5 “Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’ 6 If those who live there are [people who desire God's peace//peaceful], the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you.

 

23 Then when they were alone, he turned to the disciples

and said, “Blessed are [your eyes because of what you have been allowed to see.// “Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen.]

 

24 I tell you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you [have been seeing//see], but they didn’t [get to//0] see it. And they longed to hear what you [have been hearing//hear], but they didn’t [get to//0] hear it.”

 

29 The man wanted to justify his [life-style//actions], so he

asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

 

36 “Now which of [those/these] three would you say was a

neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus

asked.

 

37 The man replied, “The one who  showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now [you also//0] go and do the same.”

 

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/luk.10


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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

2015DBRP_056 Lev9-10 Ps14 Luke10a


Yesterday in Leviticus, we heard more regulations for the priests (mainly), and then heard the story of the ordination ceremony that Moses performed for Aaron and his sons.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/lev.9.nlt

 

Psalm 14 is a messianic psalm. It shows us what God sees when He looks at this world.

 

Translation notes:

7 Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel?

When the LORD restores his people,

Jacob['s people/0] will shout with joy, and all Israel will

rejoice.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/psa.14

 

In yesterday's conclusion of Luke 9, Jesus came down from the mountain to find a crowd, and he healed a demon possessed boy. Jesus predicted his death, and talked about the cost of being his disciples.

 

Translation notes:

5 “Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’ 6 If those who live there are [people who desire God's peace//peaceful], the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you.

 

23 Then when they were alone, he turned to the disciples

and said, “Blessed are [your eyes because of what you have been allowed to see.// “Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen.]

 

24 I tell you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you [have been seeing//see], but they didn’t [get to//0] see it. And they longed to hear what you [have been hearing//hear], but they didn’t [get to//0] hear it.”

 

29 The man wanted to justify his [life-style//actions], so he

asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

 

36 “Now which of [those/these] three would you say was a

neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus

asked.

 

37 The man replied, “The one who  showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now [you also//0] go and do the same.”

 

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/luk.10


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Monday, February 23, 2015

2015DBRP_055 Lev7-8 Ps13 Luke9b


We begin with Leviticus 7. Yesterday we heard about sin and guilt offerings and about the ordination offering for priests.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/lev.7.nlt

 

Turning now to Psalm 13, David starts by crying out “How long?” and ends with a note of praise. We can be thankful for his difficult experiences which give us in these Psalms.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/psa.13

 

Yesterday we heard of Jesus sending out his disciples, and afterward the feeding of the 5,000. Peter rightly declared what position Jesus was filling. Jesus predicted his death. He said that some standing there would not die before seeing the Kingdom of God, and perhaps he meant his three disciples who saw the transfiguration, because His kingship was clearly foreshadowed there.

 

Translation notes:

18 One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his

disciples were with him, and he asked them, “[According to the crowds, whose position am I ministering in?”/ /According to what the people are saying, whose position am I apparently filling?”//Who do people say I am?”]

 

In English, the answer to “Who do people say I am?” would be “Jesus”— his name. This is a case where one has to use more words than the original to capture the same intent.

 

19 “Well,” they replied, “some say the position of John

the Baptist, some say [taking Elijah's place//Elijah], and others say you are one of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead.”

 

20 Then he asked them, “But [whose place do you say

I am filling?”//who do you say I am?”]

 

21 Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone [about this//who he was].

 

22 “[I, the//The] Son of Man must suffer many terrible

things,”he said. “[I/He] will be rejected by the elders, the

leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. [I/He] will be killed, but on the third day [I/he] will be raised from the dead.”

 

23 Then he said to the crowd, “[PET  Everyone who wants to follow Me has to leave his own self interests and follow Me every day, thinking like this, I will keep following the Lord even to the point of death— even death by crucifixion!’//If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.]

 

44 “Listen to me and remember what I say. [I, the Son of Man am//The Son of Man is] going to be betrayed into the hands of [my/his] enemies.”

 

58 But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds

have nests, but [I,/0] the Son of Man, has no place even to lay [my/his] head.”

 

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/luk.9


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