GN-DBRP_004 GEN.7 GEN.8 JOB.4 MRK.3

Most people find out about the DBRP through the YouVersion Bible reading app on their smart device. If you are one who has found out about these podcasts through some other means (like via iTunes), then I want to make you aware that the Bible app created by YouVersion.com is wonderful. You can subscribe to the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan within the app, then reading along with these daily podcasts is very easy. Just start your episode using the DBRP app or your podcast player, then start the YouVersion Bible app and activate the Reading Plan.

GENESIS 7-8:
In Genesis 5, we heard the overview of the descendants of Adam and Eve up to Noah. In chapter 6, Noah was further introduced. Also the reason for the flood was explained.

JOB 4:
In chapter 3 Job cursed the day he was born and expressed his deep misery.

Remember that in the speeches of Job’s three friends we will see a mixture of truth and error. In particular, we should not follow Eliphaz’s example in today’s chapter. The Bible tells us repeatedly that we are not to trust or listen to communication from spirits. We will read the second chapter of Eliphaz’ response tomorrow.

MARK 3:
In Mark 2, Jesus shocked his listeners by first forgiving a paralyzed man’s sins before actually healing the man’s body. And in three other events in chapter 2 we can see the beginnings of the conflict between Jesus and the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees. 

———————

Be curious! When you find something in the Bible that brings up a question, there usually are good answers. Check out the Shovels page at http://dailybiblereading.info.

I invite you to share the treasures you find, and your questions with the Digging Deeper Daily online community. See the Sharing Together page at dailybiblereading.info.

 

GNT Translation notes:
Job 4:17 “Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God
   or be pure before his Creator? [Of course not!]
19 Do you think he will trust a creature of clay [like you],
   a thing of dust that can be crushed like a moth?
====
Mrk. 3:9 and Judas [the man from Cariot//Iscariot], who betrayed Jesus.
22 Some teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem were saying, “He has Beelzebul in him! It is the chief of the demons who gives him the power to drive [demons//them] out.”
27 “No one can break into a strong man's house [like Satan’s dominion] and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.
[Many times the rhetorical questions of Jesus can be misunderstood, and in many languages it is better to translate them as statements, as I have done here:]
33 Jesus answered, “[I’ll tell you who my mother is. And I will show you who my brothers are!//Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?]”

 

NLT Translation notes:
Job 4:6 How come//Doesn’t] your reverence for God [doesn't/0] give you confidence?
[Perhaps you place too much confidence in your own integrity.//Doesn’t your life of integrity give you hope?]
[Translation note: I have interpreted the two questions in v6 as rebuking rhetorical questions and translated them as statements. See the not at the end of Mark 3.]
====
Mrk. 3:10 He had healed many people that day, so all the [other/0] sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him.
23 Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. [It is not possible that Satan would drive out his own demons.”//“How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked.]
33 Jesus  replied, [“Let me show you the kind of people whom I regard as my mother and brothers!”// “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?]
[In verse 23, Jesus was not asking a real question. He was using a rhetorical question to open the topic he was going to teach about. In our translations in Indonesia, we frequently changed Jesus' rhetorical questions to statements. This is because in many languages (and really even in English) people do not use rhetorical questions as their topic sentence at the beginning of a teaching. So if we didn't change such questions to statements, our readers would wrongly think that Jesus was unsure about what He was talking about and that He often started by asking his audience for advice.]

Check out this episode!

NL-DBRP_004 GEN.7 GEN.8 JOB.4 MRK.3

Most people find out about the DBRP through the YouVersion Bible reading app on their smart device. If you are one who has found out about these podcasts through some other means (like via iTunes), then I want to make you aware that the Bible app created by YouVersion.com is wonderful. You can subscribe to the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan within the app, then reading along with these daily podcasts is very easy. Just start your episode using the DBRP app or your podcast player, then start the YouVersion Bible app and activate the Reading Plan.

GENESIS 7-8:
In Genesis 5, we heard the overview of the descendants of Adam and Eve up to Noah. In chapter 6, Noah was further introduced. Also the reason for the flood was explained.

JOB 4:
In chapter 3 Job cursed the day he was born and expressed his deep misery.

Remember that in the speeches of Job’s three friends we will see a mixture of truth and error. In particular, we should not follow Eliphaz’s example in today’s chapter. The Bible tells us repeatedly that we are not to trust or listen to communication from spirits. We will read the second chapter of Eliphaz’ response tomorrow.

MARK 3:
In Mark 2, Jesus shocked his listeners by first forgiving a paralyzed man’s sins before actually healing the man’s body. And in three other events in chapter 2 we can see the beginnings of the conflict between Jesus and the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees. 

———————

Be curious! When you find something in the Bible that brings up a question, there usually are good answers. Check out the Shovels page at http://dailybiblereading.info.

I invite you to share the treasures you find, and your questions with the Digging Deeper Daily online community. See the Sharing Together page at dailybiblereading.info.

GNT Translation notes:
Job 4:17 “Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God
   or be pure before his Creator? [Of course not!]
19 Do you think he will trust a creature of clay [like you],
   a thing of dust that can be crushed like a moth?
====
Mrk. 3:9 and Judas [the man from Cariot//Iscariot], who betrayed Jesus.
22 Some teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem were saying, “He has Beelzebul in him! It is the chief of the demons who gives him the power to drive [demons//them] out.”
27 “No one can break into a strong man's house [like Satan’s dominion] and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.
[Many times the rhetorical questions of Jesus can be misunderstood, and in many languages it is better to translate them as statements, as I have done here:]
33 Jesus answered, “[I’ll tell you who my mother is. And I will show you who my brothers are!//Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?]”

 

NLT Translation notes:
Job 4:6 How come//Doesn’t] your reverence for God [doesn't/0] give you confidence?
[Perhaps you place too much confidence in your own integrity.//Doesn’t your life of integrity give you hope?]
[Translation note: I have interpreted the two questions in v6 as rebuking rhetorical questions and translated them as statements. See the not at the end of Mark 3.]
====
Mrk. 3:10 He had healed many people that day, so all the [other/0] sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him.
23 Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. [It is not possible that Satan would drive out his own demons.”//“How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked.]
33 Jesus  replied, [“Let me show you the kind of people whom I regard as my mother and brothers!”// “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?]
[In verse 23, Jesus was not asking a real question. He was using a rhetorical question to open the topic he was going to teach about. In our translations in Indonesia, we frequently changed Jesus' rhetorical questions to statements. This is because in many languages (and really even in English) people do not use rhetorical questions as their topic sentence at the beginning of a teaching. So if we didn't change such questions to statements, our readers would wrongly think that Jesus was unsure about what He was talking about and that He often started by asking his audience for advice.]

Check out this episode!

DBRP-NEWS_003_Anyone_confused?

Hey, Everyone!

I am thrilled by what is happening at the beginning of this year! Welcome to all of you new listeners! I’m praying for all of you!

Some people read the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan using the Youversion/Bible.com reading app, and some people listen to the Daily Bible Reading podcasts which follow the same plan. And some people read along while they listen. This podcast is mainly to help people who want to both listen and read along. I hope that I can clear up some confusion with this podcast.

One person wrote to say that her podcasts didn’t end with a prayer. All of the DBRP end with a prayer. Evidently she was listening to the recordings that are bundled with many versions in the Youversion app itself. Both the GNT and the NLT already have recordings bundled into the reading app. Those recordings are played by hitting the triangular play button at the bottom and center of each Chapter window. If you play those recordings, you won’t hear my short introductory comments before each chapter and there will be no prayer at the end of the NT passage. (The advantage of the bundled recordings is that they are consistently great quality!) Youversion has graciously allowed me to link my podcast recordings on the Devotional Content page, and I put them at the very top right hand side of those pages. However, for most people using smart devices, the Youversion reading app won’t allow you to both read along and listen using those links. If you leave the player page that pops up when you click on that link, the audio stops playing. Using those links only works for people who are visiting Bible.com on a computer. They can Ctrl-click on those links and the audio will open and can be played in a new tab, and you can still go back to the prior tab to read along.

For some listeners not into all this new technology, I realize that my last explanation would be hard to follow. If you want, you can read what I said in the episode notes attached to this podcast. So bottom line: Here’s the easiest thing for most people using any kind of smart device:

1. Figure out what application you will use for listening to the podcasts. Information is found by scrolling down the home page at dailybiblereading.info. I hope that whatever app you use allows you to see the full episode notes. Most of the time, you’ll just want to listen as I read those notes, but there are times when having them available to refer to will be helpful.
2. Every day, I recommend that you open the listening app first, and choose your next episode/day number.
3. Then while the podcast intro is playing, start the Youversion/Bible.com reading app and open the Digging Deeper reading plan to the day number you’re listening to.

2017 is the first year where I have released two podcasts every day. Choose the dominantly yellow icon for the GNT podcasts that were first released in 2016. Choose the dark blue icon for the NLT podcasts which were first recorded in 2014 and tweaked in 2015. Several other kinds of podcasts that I release in the same space will have different colored icons.

There’s another little wrinkle: I knew that I wanted to improve the quality of some NLT series, especially those that come out in the first 5 weeks of the year. If you are one of those special people who started listening to the NLT series in 2016, please continue to use the listening app you have been using and searching for the series with the names that start with 2015DBRP. All the links for the GNT in the Youversion reading app should work. The links in the Youversion reading app will only work for 2017 re-releases of the NLT series. In other words, on January 3, the links inside the Youversion app will only be good for days 1, 2, and 3. Edition 4 won't be available until the 4th.

I’m so encouraged by the growth in our Digging Deeper Facebook group in these last two days! This is only the second year for this group, and I already see some sharing that goes beyond what we saw last year. Several people have shared questions that don’t have easy answers. Some have been vulnerable in what they have shared, and one or two have said that they are looking to the group to encourage them to be consistent in reading God’s Word. We need to add a few moderators for this group. Moderators have the power to delete inappropriate posts, although this has seldom been necessary. Mostly, moderators approve people who want to join the group. I hope that moderators will be people who are spiritually mature. They might be called upon to make connections to others who can give appropriate counselling help for people who express the need for such help. Of course, such personal matters should be handled in private messages, not group posts. If you will be visiting the Facebook group regularly and would like to function as a moderator, please send a private Facebook message to me (philip.c.fields).

As you may already know, Gale and I are with Pioneer Bible Translators, and the focus of our work is in Indonesia. Right now the urgent task at hand is revisions to the Plain Indonesian New Testament that must be completed by mid-February so that printing might start in March. Our translation team is also working on drafting the Old Testament. I normally make two 7-week-long trips to Indonesia each year, one in the spring and one in the fall. I have been doing that since the year 2000. The trip that I scheduled for February-March may not happen this year. I would appreciate prayers for God’s will concerning that trip. Please especially pray for my part in the NT revisions. The other key person to pray for in that is Balazi, (who is recently married, and) who is the coordinator of our translation team. I’ll tell you more another time. Thanks for your prayers!

May the Lord bless ya’ll ‘real good’ this year!

Check out this episode!

GN-DBRP_003 GEN.5 GEN.6 JOB.3 MRK.2

Hey, you who are following the Daily Bible Reading Podcast, if you have time to share with others of us, please join our online community. You can join the group at any time. Please share the verse-pictures you create within the YouVersion Bible app, or share how God is working in you through His Word this year. If you have only started to follow Christ, we provide a way to ask questions which can be asked and answered privately. If you are mature in Christ, consider helping moderate our community. For instructions on how to join us, please see the Sharing Together page at dailybiblereading.info.

GENESIS 5-6:
In chapter 3 of Genesis, the Lord gave his judgment against the serpent. God talked about the woman’s offspring (which is a collective singular noun) when speaking to the serpent, and said, “her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's[c] heel.” This is the very first prophecy looking forward to a Messiah and Redeemer who will crush Satan’s head. Just before that, there is another picture worth noting: God provided clothes for the man and woman made from animal skins. This is the first hint of the sacrificial system that prefigures Christ.

JOB 3:
Today we read Job’s first speech. In the Bible— and especially in Job and the Psalms, we find out that God thoroughly understands and takes into account the fact that humans suffer. This is shown in the fact that such deep expressions of suffering are found in God’s Word— right from the earliest writings.

MARK 2:
Yesterday in the second half of Mark 1, we read of Jesus miraculously healing people in Capernaum, and his refusing to stay only there. He preached and cast out demons all over the region of Galilee. The healing of the man with leprosy is notable because of the exchange between Jesus and that man, and also the results of the man’s not following Jesus’ instructions.

 

———————

How can you get more out of your Bible reading this year? My top advice is to SLOW DOWN! The readings in this plan take around 20 minutes if read aloud. If you read silently, you might finish in only 10 minutes. But if you skim through like that, you won’t retain very much! I suggest these two ways to slow down:

1. Read out loud to yourself. Read expressively. When you find that your first attempt didn’t quite have the right intonation, go back and read the sentence again. Take time to think about— and pray about, what you have just read.
2. Read along while listening to the Daily Bible Reading Podcast. This will definitely slow you down. And one extra advantage is that each podcast ends with a short prayer that is aimed at helping you apply what you have just read.

The landing page at http://dailybiblereading.info gives various ways to conveniently listen to the podcasts using any kind of smart device.

GNT Translation notes:
Job 3:19 Everyone is there (in the world of the dead), the famous and the unknown,
   and slaves at last are free.

====

Mrk. 2:5 Seeing how much [they believed in him (or, that Jesus could heal the man)//faith they had], Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” [I will make this modification frequently and will explain it soon in the translation notes.]
15 Later on Jesus was having a meal in Levi's house.[a] [Many tax collectors and other outcasts were//A large number of tax collectors and other outcasts was] following Jesus, and many of them joined him and his disciples at the table.
18 On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting. … [This makes it sound like they were friends and doing this together. So in Indonesia we translated like this: 18 On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist were fasting, and the Pharisees were fasting also.]
[In most languages of the world— and really even in English, it is ungrammatical to talk of oneself in the third person using ‘he/his or a title. I will consistently modify most places like this one to show that Jesus was talking about himself. I do this partly because many second-language speakers of English listen to these podcasts, and it also makes the meaning clearer even for native English speakers.]
28 So [I— as the Son of Man, am// the Son of Man is] Lord even of the Sabbath.”

 

NLT Translation notes:
Mrk. 2:5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, [PET: I have forgiven your sins.//your sins are forgiven.]”
[I will occasionally quote from the PET, which is the Plain English Translation. That is the English translation that matches our Plain Indonesian Translation (TSI). The PET was first created as part of the checking process for the TSI, and some parts have been published because so many Indonesians desire to learn English.]
9 [PET: Certainly you will have difficulty accepting that I said to this paralyzed man, ‘I have forgiven your sins.’ Will it be easier for you to accept it if I say to him, ‘Get up, pick up your mattress and go home’?//Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? ]
10 So I will prove to you that [I, the Son of Man have//the Son of Man has] the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said,
18 Once when John’s disciples were fasting and the
Pharisees were [also] fasting, some people came to Jesus and
asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples
and the Pharisees do?”
[The translation should not give the impression that the two groups
were joining together to fast.]
28 So [I,] the Son of Man [am/is] Lord, even over the Sabbath!”

Check out this episode!

NL-DBRP_003 GEN.5 GEN.6 JOB.3 MRK.2

Hey, you who are following the Daily Bible Reading Podcast, if you have time to share with others of us, please join our online community. You can join the group at any time. Please share the verse-pictures you create within the YouVersion Bible app, or share how God is working in you through His Word this year. If you have only started to follow Christ, we provide a way to ask questions which can be asked and answered privately. If you are mature in Christ, consider helping moderate our community. For instructions on how to join us, please see the Sharing Together page at dailybiblereading.info.

GENESIS 5-6:
In chapter 3 of Genesis, the Lord gave his judgment against the serpent. God talked about the woman’s offspring (which is a collective singular noun) when speaking to the serpent, and said, “her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's[c] heel.” This is the very first prophecy looking forward to a Messiah and Redeemer who will crush Satan’s head. Just before that, there is another picture worth noting: God provided clothes for the man and woman made from animal skins. This is the first hint of the sacrificial system that prefigures Christ.

JOB 3:
Today we read Job’s first speech. In the Bible— and especially in Job and the Psalms, we find out that God thoroughly understands and takes into account the fact that humans suffer. This is shown in the fact that such deep expressions of suffering are found in God’s Word— right from the earliest writings.

MARK 2:
Yesterday in the second half of Mark 1, we read of Jesus miraculously healing people in Capernaum, and his refusing to stay only there. He preached and cast out demons all over the region of Galilee. The healing of the man with leprosy is notable because of the exchange between Jesus and that man, and also the results of the man’s not following Jesus’ instructions.

 

———————

How can you get more out of your Bible reading this year? My top advice is to SLOW DOWN! The readings in this plan take around 20 minutes if read aloud. If you read silently, you might finish in only 10 minutes. But if you skim through like that, you won’t retain very much! I suggest these two ways to slow down:

1. Read out loud to yourself. Read expressively. When you find that your first attempt didn’t quite have the right intonation, go back and read the sentence again. Take time to think about— and pray about, what you have just read.
2. Read along while listening to the Daily Bible Reading Podcast. This will definitely slow you down. And one extra advantage is that each podcast ends with a short prayer that is aimed at helping you apply what you have just read.

The landing page at http://dailybiblereading.info gives various ways to conveniently listen to the podcasts using any kind of smart device.

GNT Translation notes:
Job 3:19 Everyone is there (in the world of the dead), the famous and the unknown,
   and slaves at last are free.

====

Mrk. 2:5 Seeing how much [they believed in him (or, that Jesus could heal the man)//faith they had], Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” [I will make this modification frequently and will explain it soon in the translation notes.]
15 Later on Jesus was having a meal in Levi's house.[a] [Many tax collectors and other outcasts were//A large number of tax collectors and other outcasts was] following Jesus, and many of them joined him and his disciples at the table.
18 On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting. … [This makes it sound like they were friends and doing this together. So in Indonesia we translated like this: 18 On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist were fasting, and the Pharisees were fasting also.]
[In most languages of the world— and really even in English, it is ungrammatical to talk of oneself in the third person using ‘he/his or a title. I will consistently modify most places like this one to show that Jesus was talking about himself. I do this partly because many second-language speakers of English listen to these podcasts, and it also makes the meaning clearer even for native English speakers.]
28 So [I— as the Son of Man, am// the Son of Man is] Lord even of the Sabbath.”

 

NLT Translation notes:
Mrk. 2:5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, [PET: I have forgiven your sins.//your sins are forgiven.]”
[I will occasionally quote from the PET, which is the Plain English Translation. That is the English translation that matches our Plain Indonesian Translation (TSI). The PET was first created as part of the checking process for the TSI, and some parts have been published because so many Indonesians desire to learn English.]
9 [PET: Certainly you will have difficulty accepting that I said to this paralyzed man, ‘I have forgiven your sins.’ Will it be easier for you to accept it if I say to him, ‘Get up, pick up your mattress and go home’?//Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? ]
10 So I will prove to you that [I, the Son of Man have//the Son of Man has] the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said,
18 Once when John’s disciples were fasting and the
Pharisees were [also] fasting, some people came to Jesus and
asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples
and the Pharisees do?”
[The translation should not give the impression that the two groups
were joining together to fast.]
28 So [I,] the Son of Man [am/is] Lord, even over the Sabbath!”

Check out this episode!

GN-DBRP_002 GEN.3 GEN.4 JOB.2 MRK.1.29-45

For more information about the features of this reading plan, please see the ‘About the DDD plan’ page at http://dailybiblereading .info.

You will note that I read most Bible names phonetically— rather than the using normal English pronunciation. This means that the letter A will have a consistent sound ‘ah’ and the letter I will be pronounced ‘ee’. This happens to match Indonesian pronunciations, and that of many other languages. This also makes the pronunciation more like that of the source languages, Hebrew and Greek.

GENESIS 3-4:
In chapter 2 of Genesis, we saw that Eve was created and introduced to Adam. And the pair at the end of the chapter were “naked and not embarrassed/unashamed.” As I said in yesterday’s introduction, I have seen first-hand in my work in Indonesia that when a people group misunderstands and twists the story in Genesis 1-3, it will have far-reaching consequences for their lives. In the case of the Orya people, twisting the story of the fall caused much suffering and misery among families.

JOB 2:
At the close of chapter 1 of Job, Job had lost virtually everything he had, including his possessions, livestock, and children. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”

MARK 1b:
Mark does not specifically identify himself as the author, but the church fathers unanimously say that the John Mark mentioned several times in the New Testament was the author. Mark was a companion of Peter, so the eyewitness content in this book is that of Peter. It is also thought that Mark wrote this account before or shortly after Peter’s martyrdom in Rome— which happened somewhere between 64-67 AD. This is certainly the first written Gospel, and it could have been written earlier than the earliest of Paul’s letters. Tradition says that Mark wrote this Gospel in Rome. That would help to explain why Mark gives background information to some Jewish customs that would have been unknown to his Roman readers, and why he doesn’t include teachings of Jesus which were based on the Jewish Scriptures and religion. Instead he tells us the plain story of Jesus and his miracles, so that the reader finds out who Jesus is.

Yesterday in chapter 1 of Mark, Jesus was baptized by John, called his first disciples, and cast out an evil spirit from a man in a synagogue.

 

GNT Translation note:
Gen. 3:15 I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel.”
[Verse 15 has several translational difficulties. When you find a place where you would like to understand why translation differ, I recommend looking at Lumina.bible.org and reading  the notes to the NET.]

 

NLT Translation notes:
Mrk 1:34 So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. [Because//But because] the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.
38 But Jesus replied, “[No. ]We must go on to other towns
as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.”

Check out this episode!

NL-DBRP_002 GEN.3 GEN.4 JOB.2 MRK.1.29-45

For more information about the features of this reading plan, please see the ‘About the DDD plan’ page at http://dailybiblereading .info.

You will note that I read most Bible names phonetically— rather than the using normal English pronunciation. This means that the letter A will have a consistent sound ‘ah’ and the letter I will be pronounced ‘ee’. This happens to match Indonesian pronunciations, and that of many other languages. This also makes the pronunciation more like that of the source languages, Hebrew and Greek.

GENESIS 3-4:
In chapter 2 of Genesis, we saw that Eve was created and introduced to Adam. And the pair at the end of the chapter were “naked and not embarrassed/unashamed.” As I said in yesterday’s introduction, I have seen first-hand in my work in Indonesia that when a people group misunderstands and twists the story in Genesis 1-3, it will have far-reaching consequences for their lives. In the case of the Orya people, twisting the story of the fall caused much suffering and misery among families.

JOB 2:
At the close of chapter 1 of Job, Job had lost virtually everything he had, including his possessions, livestock, and children. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”

MARK 1b:
Mark does not specifically identify himself as the author, but the church fathers unanimously say that the John Mark mentioned several times in the New Testament was the author. Mark was a companion of Peter, so the eyewitness content in this book is that of Peter. It is also thought that Mark wrote this account before or shortly after Peter’s martyrdom in Rome— which happened somewhere between 64-67 AD. This is certainly the first written Gospel, and it could have been written earlier than the earliest of Paul’s letters. Tradition says that Mark wrote this Gospel in Rome. That would help to explain why Mark gives background information to some Jewish customs that would have been unknown to his Roman readers, and why he doesn’t include teachings of Jesus which were based on the Jewish Scriptures and religion. Instead he tells us the plain story of Jesus and his miracles, so that the reader finds out who Jesus is.

Yesterday in chapter 1 of Mark, Jesus was baptized by John, called his first disciples, and cast out an evil spirit from a man in a synagogue.

 

GNT Translation note:
Gen. 3:15 I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel.”
[Verse 15 has several translational difficulties. When you find a place where you would like to understand why translation differ, I recommend looking at Lumina.bible.org and reading  the notes to the NET.]

 

NLT Translation notes:
Mrk 1:34 So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. [Because//But because] the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.
38 But Jesus replied, “[No. ]We must go on to other towns
as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.”

Check out this episode!