NL-Day005 Genesis 9-10; Job 5; Mark 4:1-25

Choose a good Bible version for your reading this year!
I recommend that you choose a good meaning-based translation for your Bible reading this year, not one of the literal versions. I recommend that you use a literal version whenever you have time for in-depth study, but not for your daily devotional reading. Here’s the difference:

The advantage of a literal translation is that it gives you a word-for-word view into the _form_ of the original. The disadvantage of literal translations is that they cannot give you the _meaning_ in clear and natural English.

The advantage of a meaning-based translation is that it gives you the meaning of the text in clear, natural English. The disadvantage of the meaning-based translation is that they cannot show you the word-for-word form of the original text.

We need both kinds of translations! Use both kinds when you are doing in-depth study. But for devotional reading, my top choices are the New Living Translation and the Good News Bible. These meaning-based translations will help you be successful in reading the Bible in a year, because the text is so much easier to understand.  Both have good scholarly backing and are reliable.

I don’t recommend using a paraphrase like The Message. The popular NIV is halfway between literal and meaning-based. (This means that you cannot immediately know if a verse is translated literally or more freely based on meaning.) One of the most popular literal translations these days is the English Standard Version. My advice is to NOT use the ESV for your devotional reading unless you have time for reading the notes in your study Bible.

GENESIS 9-10:
In chapter 8 the flood receded. After everyone came out of the boat, Noah made a sacrifice.

JOB 5:
In chapter 4 Eliphaz implied that Job’s guilt was the reason he was being punished:
“Stop and think! Do the innocent die?
When have the upright been destroyed?
8 NLT My experience shows that those who plant trouble
and cultivate evil will harvest the same.

MARK 4:
In chapter 3 we have seen that opposition to Jesus was mounting from the Jewish religious leaders. They were already plotting to kill him and saying he performed miracles by the power of Satan.

I want to comment briefly about the sin of blaspheming or reviling the Holy Spirit that we heard about at the end of chapter 3. Some people worry about whether they have done this and committed the unforgivable sin. Note the context here. The experts in the Law were saying the Jesus was working by the power of _Satan_. But Jesus was working by the power of the _Holy Spirit_. A person in a frame of mind like those Law experts will never repent. So Jesus was warning them, because they were mighty close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit by what they were saying about Jesus. I want you to know this: If you worry about whether in some past time you have blasphemed the Holy Spirit, then you haven’t! If you are the kind of person who feels sorrow for sins already committed and are ready to repent of sin, then you have never blasphemed the Holy Spirit, nor are you likely to ever do so.

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NLT Translation notes:
Mrk. 4:6 But the plant[s/0] soon wilted under the hot sun, and since [they/it] didn’t have deep roots, [they/it] died.
[Seed is a collective noun, so the plants should be plural, even though Greek is singular, referring back to 'seed'.]
11 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the
secret[s/0] of the Kingdom of God.
[Even though the word 'mystery' is singular in Greek, it is more natural in English to use plural 'secrets'. One mystery can contain many secrets. Jesus is opening the possibility of his disciples understanding many things that were previously unrevealed to mankind. He is not saying he has given them just one secret.]
13 Then Jesus said to them, [“How could you fail to understand the meaning of that parable? If so, you will be hopeless at understanding all my other parables!”//“If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?”]
[Some translations translate this verse as two rhetorical questions. Jesus is using the RQ as a mild rebuke. When we do rebuking RQs in English, I think we tend to make them shorter.]
22 [Similarly/For] everything that is hidden [now/0] will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light.
[Greek has a 'gar' connector here which is often translated as 'for'. But 22 is not a REASON for 21, but instead is showing the point of similarity with 21.]

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.