Bible reading | A People for His Name

Spanish Bible Reading Report 6.13.14

June 13, 2014

By day 164 of 2014, I have read 493 total chapters in the Reina Valera this year!

Books completed – Genesis; Exodus; Psalms; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Isaiah; Matthew; John; Galatians; 1 & 2 Thessalonians; James; 1 & 2 & 3 John; Jude (426 total chapters)
Other reading – Leviticus 1-7; Job 1-25; Jeremiah 1-5; Mark 1-8; Acts 1-19; 1 Cor. 13-15 (67 total chapters)
Chapters read – OT – 386; NT – 107; Total – 493

I praise God for my continuing progress with this project!

In Bible reading, Spanish

Spanish Bible Reading Report 5.14.14

May 14, 2014

Books completed – Genesis; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Isaiah; Galatians; 1 & 2 Thessalonians; James; 1 & 2 & 3 John; Jude (186 total chapters)
Other reading – Exodus 1-29; Job 1-5; Psalms 1-134; Matthew 1-26; John 1-12; Acts 1-10; 15; 1 Cor. 13-15 (220 total chapters)
Chapters read – OT – 327; NT – 79; Total – 406

I praise the Lord for His grace in getting this far in this project!

In Bible reading, Spanish

Spanish Bible Reading Report 4.12.14

April 12, 2014

After 102 days in 2014, I am only a couple chapters behind (304 chapters completed instead of 306 [for reading 3 chapters a day]) in my Bible reading for the year in the Reina Valera:

Books completed – Genesis; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Galatians; 1 & 2 Thessalonians; James; Jude (113 total chapters)
Other reading – Exodus 1-12; Psalms 1-102; Isaiah 1-50; Matthew 1-17; John 1-5; Acts 10, 15; 1 Cor. 13-15 (191 total chapters)
Chapters read – OT – 257; NT – 47; Total – 304

I praise the Lord for His grace in getting this far in this project!

In Bible reading, Spanish

A Milestone in My Spanish Bible Reading!

March 20, 2014

Tonight, I read 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians in the Reina Valera and probably understood the grammar and syntax of more than 90% of what I read! This marks the first time that I have read whole books of the Bible in Spanish in one day, and it also is the first time that I have read 9 chapters in Spanish in one day.

I praise and thank God for the good progress that He is allowing me to make in my reading and understanding of the Spanish Bible!

In Bible reading, Spanish

Spanish Bible Reading Report 3.14.14

March 14, 2014

After 72 days in 2014, I am slightly behind (214 chapters completed instead of 219) in my Bible reading for the year in the Reina Valera:

Books completed – Galatians; James; Proverbs (42 total chapters)
Other reading – Genesis 1-46; Psalms 1-72; Isaiah 1-36; Ecclesiastes 1-9; Matthew 1-9 (172 total chapters)
Chapters read – OT -194; NT – 20; Total – 214

Lord willing, I will soon catch back up and still finish on time.

In Bible reading, Spanish

Spanish Bible Reading Report 2.12.14

February 12, 2014

After 43 days in 2014, I am still on track to finish reading through the Reina Valera this year!

Books completed – Galatians; James
Other reading – Genesis 1-36; Psalms 1-43; Proverbs 1-26; Isaiah 1-25
Chapters read – OT -130; NT – 11; Total – 141

Bendito sea Jehová para siempre. Amén, y Amén (Salmos 89:52).

In Bible reading, Spanish

Spanish Bible Reading Report 1.12.14

January 12, 2014

My Bible reading goal for this year is to read through the whole Bible in Spanish. So far, after 12 days, I have read 40 chapters in the Reina Valera (R60).

Reading the Bible through in another language like Spanish is for me similar to reading a commentary on the Bible in some respects because the translational choices sometimes bring out conceptual links between passages and concepts that I have not seen from reading the English Bible.

For example, compare how the prohibition against lusting after the evil woman/strange woman (Prov. 6:24-25) reads in English versus Spanish:

Pro 6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. ²⁵ Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

^R60Pro 6:24 Para que te guarden de la mala mujer, De la blandura de la lengua de la mujer extraña. ²⁵ No codicies su hermosura en tu corazón, Ni ella te prenda con sus ojos;

Webster’s Comprehensive Spanish-English Dictionary provides “to covet” as the definition of codiciar (the verb used in the R60 in the first statement in verse 25). Reading that, Exodus 20:17 came to mind, so I checked and found that the R60 uses the same verb there as it does in Proverbs 6:25:

Exo 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

^R60Exo 20:17 No codiciarás la casa de tu prójimo, no codiciarás la mujer de tu prójimo, ni su siervo, ni su criada, ni su buey, ni su asno, ni cosa alguna de tu prójimo.

Exodus 20:17 specifically prohibits coveting “thy neighbour’s wife.” The larger context of Proverbs 6:24-25 warns about lusting after the beauty of an evil strange woman and going into one’s neighbor’s wife:

Pro 6:29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

^R60Pro 6:29 Así es el que se llega a la mujer de su prójimo; No quedará impune ninguno que la tocare.

The use of codiciar in both Exodus 20:17 and Proverbs 6:25 brings out that lusting for illicit physical relations with your neighbor’s wife is a key aspect of what characterizes the sinful coveting that God prohibits concerning her. In this way, reading the R60 helped me to see a key connection between important passages that I do not rember specifically linking before.

In Bible reading, Spanish

In Appreciation of Electronic Bible Study Tools

October 26, 2013

This morning, I began researching all that Scripture teaches about evil spirits. As I worked on generating a list of every verse pertaining to this subject, I was struck anew by just how invaluable electronic Bible study has been for me over the years.

Previous Use of Electronic Bible Study Tools

I have used electronic Bible study tools over the years to study at great length what the Bible teaches about numerous subjects, such as health, evangelism, head coverings, judgment, prayer, the Holy Spirit, eschatology, and music. Without these tools, I would not have been able to study these subjects to the extent that I have and certainly would never have been able to study in-depth so many diverse subjects in the same amount of time.

I have also used these tools to do a vast amount of original language study of various subjects. In fact, my dissertation work would have been impossible to do without these tools because it involved very complex study of biblical Hebrew and Greek that I would not have been able to do just by using ordinary original language tools.

Current Research about the Biblical Teaching about Evil Spirits

This morning, I searched for every occurrence of words that start with the string of letters devil (to do this search in BibleWorks7 [BW7], you would search on devil*). Using the Verse List Manager, I then created a verse list from that search and examined all the verses.

I did these additional searches and made verse lists for each one:

evil spirit*; familiar; tempter; Satan; serpent*; ‘prince of; unclean spirit*; dragon*; principal*

I briefly examined all the verses that these searches produced and generated a master list of 232 verses from them. Scanning through this list makes clear that Scripture has much to say about this important subject and its profound ramifications for every believer.

The Blessing of These Invaluable Tools

In a matter of minutes, I was able to study a subject with a breadth that would have taken many hours to do without the use of BW7. I plan to study these verses much more in the weeks to come and hope to write several articles based on that research, especially in connection with my ongoing study of the role of fallen spirits in the Golden Calf incident.

I praise and thank God for blessing us with invaluable electronic Bible study tools such as BW7 and heartily recommend their use!

In Bible reading, Biblical Languages, CCM

Through the Bible in 2013!

October 22, 2013

Yesterday, I finished reading through the Bible in 2013. I praise God for giving me the opportunity to read all of His Word one more time!

Although I had hoped to read the entire Bible in Spanish in 2013, I did not have end up doing so. I also did not end up having any other special Bible reading project this year that concerned going through the Bible or some major section of it in some unusual way.

Having immersed myself in Psalms last year, I actually found it difficult for the first half of this year to read much in the Psalms. Thankfully, in recent months, I was able to read the book and again be ministered to greatly by doing so.

Although I did not have any special project, I did intensively study many passages about music this year. I continue to have a strong desire to address the CCM issue as thoroughly as possible from a biblical standpoint.

More than any other passage, I have focused on Exodus 32 this year and have profited immensely from doing so. I am still studying the passages about the Golden Calf incident and anticipate writing some more articles on that subject (my six previous articles about the incident are listed in point 11 in this post).

As the Lord leads, I think that I may try again in 2014 to read the entire Bible in Spanish and English.

In Bible reading

The New Testament Tower

October 17, 2013

An important part of reading the Bible is to know the books of the Bible in order so that you can quickly find the book(s) from which you would like to read. Here is a novel way to learn in order the names of the books of the New Testament.

A. Learn the names of the books in groups

I have put the books of the NT into 8 groups of books and pictured them as rooms on 8 floors in a tower.

1. The four guys of the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

2. The A.R.C.C. books (pronounced “ark”) – Acts, Romans, First Corinthians, and Second Corinthians

3. The G.E.P.C. books (General Electric personal computer) – Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians

4. The 4T network – First Thessalonians, Second Thessalonians, First Timothy, and Second Timothy

5. The TPHJ (teepee full of Hebrew’s jam) – Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, and James

6. The 2P books – First Peter and Second Peter

7. The 4J books – First John, Second John, Third John, and Jude

8. Revelation

B. Learn these two sentences to memorize these groups in order

1. The four guys of the Gospels in an ARCC used a GE PC to connect to the 4T network.

2. They saw a TP full of Hebrews’ jam made from 2 P’s, 4 J’s, and an R.

To help you solidify your learning of the order of the books in this way, say the sentences while you look at the New Testament Tower, which has the 8 groups in order from the bottom of the tower to the top.

In Bible reading

Archives For Bible reading

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Previous Use of Electronic Bible Study Tools

Current Research about the Biblical Teaching about Evil Spirits

The Blessing of These Invaluable Tools

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A. Learn the names of the books in groups

B. Learn these two sentences to memorize these groups in order

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