Scripture Memory: PSALM 27

Psalm 27. It’s a good one, and I am committing it to memory for the month of July 2014. Care to join me?  My feeling is that 14 verses in a month is manageable on a day by day basis, and if I focus on reviewing and adding a single verse each day, then the whole thing will have been studied mid-month, allowing for the back half of July to serve for review. I have pasted the text in full below:

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me

to eat up my flesh,

my adversaries and foes,

it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,

my heart shall not fear;

though war arise against me,

yet I will be confident.

One thing have I asked of the Lord,

that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter

in the day of trouble;

he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;

he will lift me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up

above my enemies all around me,

and I will offer in his tent

sacrifices with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;

be gracious to me and answer me!

You have said, “Seek my face.”

My heart says to you,

“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

Hide not your face from me.

Turn not your servant away in anger,

O you who have been my help.

Cast me not off; forsake me not,

O God of my salvation!

For my father and my mother have forsaken me,

but the Lord will take me in.

Teach me your way, O Lord,

and lead me on a level path

because of my enemies.

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;

for false witnesses have risen against me,

and they breathe out violence.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living!

Wait for the Lord;

be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the Lord!

I think it’s a worthwhile, mid-summer endeavor (as if I did not have enough of those already), and I would love for you to join me in doing so. There’s not a prize, but if you’d be willing to join me in this endeavor, I’d be very glad to hear from you throughout the month, either via Facebook or E-mail at cj@3lcpublishing.com.

“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

A Personal Milestone...

Friends,

I have to share the following with you. I cannot tell you how meaningful the below link is to me. The library at my alma mater, Biola University, now has Stronghold listed in their catalog. It may have taken a year for all of the sorting to be completed, but it's there for students and faculty to read.

I am overwhelmed by this.

Stronghold is a manifestation of my sanctification, a true reflection of my journey from a man lost in addiction to a man pursuing integrity. I believe the work is proof of Christ at work in my life. Without the Holy Spirit ever-drawing me nearer to God's Throne, without Christ's salvation, and without the Father's steadfast love and patience, I never would have written this novel nor pursued it's publication. Now, it's available at a place I deeply love, at a library that served me immensely during my time at the college (far more as a staff member than a student, but that's my own fault).

I couldn't help it, I even took a screen shot of this link.

Really full of thanks to the Lord right now. And to all of you for your continued support,

C

Feeling Humbled by a Proverb a Day

Studying Scriptures humbles me, especially when those Scriptures are the words of Christ. Or Proverbs. I am often humbled by the book of Proverbs.  And April’s been a humbling month.

Each day I’ve taken time to read through a single chapter of the book of Proverbs in the ESV, highlighting verses that struck a chord with my soul. Some of these I sent into the Twittersphere. Some I considered throughout the day. My study has been cursory—an initial reading, a few re-readings thereafter, and some reflection when the book was closed. In May, I hope to go through the verses I highlighted, looking for themes. Eventually, I’d like to compare and contrast the words of Proverbs with those of Christ’s teachings in the Gospels, just to see how they align. 

The Pursuit of Wisdom

During the month of April, I am reading (and re-reading) a single Proverb from the Scriptures each day, then writing a verse or short passage from each chapter that I want to dedicate to memory at some point in the future.

I’m amazed at how much value is not only in each Proverb itself but also the short stanzas that make each chapter. The content is devastatingly convicting, so much so that last week I told my mother, “nothing makes me feel more foolish than engaging the wisdom of the ancients”, and I meant it.   

Replaying Songs of Scripture

I have spoken of the way music and melody have helped me better memorize Scripture.

Here's why it's so cool.

Scripture Memory and A Song of the Heart: Isaiah 40: 9-18

Sometimes this is how The Lord works: 

Thursday morning, I stumbled upon a tweet from a young man who was a child the last time I saw him 10 years ago. His tweet contained a reference to Isaiah 40:1-2, and I have provided the passage below, via the ESV: 

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

2 aSpeak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and cry to her

that bher warfare1 is ended,

that her iniquity is pardoned,

that she has received from the Lord's hand

double for all her sins.

Scripture Memory: Lamentations 3:21-42

In a recent post about holding to hope, I referenced my attempts to memorize Lamentations 3:21-42, and today I have included the passage for you all. I cannot tell you the number times I have recited it to myself in the last few weeks, in part or in full, and how often its truth has provided relief, peace, and focus. The passage is truly wonderful, but I need not speak for it. Read below and you will see what I mean:

November ReRuns: Scripture Memory Revisited

Hi all,

In lieu of having the time or energy to put a real post together (I am fighting an illness and trying to be ship-shape before flying across the country Friday), I decided the best thing I could do on the blog was to direct you to posts about the value of Scripture memory, any of which would be more thoughtful than what I could cull together in what limited time I have today.

Scripture is the heart of God put to the page, and he invites us to write it on our hearts through memorization. Below are a few of the passages I have memorized over the last year. If you missed any of these posts, they are worth the read.

Scripture Memory: John 11:35

The shortest verse in the Bible is one of great value to me.

The context leading to it in John 11 is as follows (and worth clicking the link to read in full): Christ's friend, Lazarus, died while Christ was teaching elsewhere. After Lazarus' passing, his sisters, Mary and Martha, alongside and others in the community, grieved his loss and buried him. Upon Christ's hearing of his friend's death, he returned to the home of Lazarus' grieving sisters, both of whom independently said to Christ, "My Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." To this Christ asked them to take him to the grave of his friend, and he wept, before raising Lazarus from the dead in the presence of many witnesses, whose belief in Christ grew as a result of the miraculous event.

"Jesus wept."

The sentence is about as short as sentences can be, and I find it odd that the independent clause, such as it is, stands alone in the passage. Of course, when I consider it from a writer's perspective, the concept of setting the two words apart as their own verse makes sense for two reasons. The first is that in our Bible's, verse demarcation often forces us to pause during study. Though we know the original text was provided in more of an interrupted format (and I tend to memorize that way as well), the chapter and verse structure of modern Bibles in the west lead us to separate and underscore key ideas by their contextualization and separation. Additionally, the verse offers us a truly wonderful picture of Christ, if we approach the verse NOT as a solitary thought, but a summation of his emotional character, given who we know he is.

Those who have read the Gospel of John to this point know that Christ has claimed to be the Messiah. He has informed the crowds that he is "The way, the truth, and the life". He has spoken the immortal (and, oft, misquoted) words, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free," in reference to himself. He has provided the most well-known verse in the Bible, John 3:16. The doctrine of who Christ is and who claimed to be are well documented in John to this point.

And then we place that knowledge alongside John 11:35. Christ is God's son, the Messiah, the Truth by which men will be freed from their sinful lives. He has great power that he has already displayed, and he is assured that with God the Father, all things are possible.

Given this, he could have approached the mourners with a stoic attitude that all was well and, in fact, good. He could have rebuked them for their lack of faith in his absence. He could have immediately raised Lazarus so as to give those grieving all they wanted at that very moment. Instead, he paused, listened, and wept. He wept.

I do not believe that he wept for Lazarus; I believe he knew full well that Lazarus would be among them all soon. I think he wept for those around him, those grieving over the painful sting of death on this world. According to John, all the world was made through Christ (John 1), and that world was good and without the emotional pangs of death. To be among his Creation and see the toll that its brokenness takes led him to tears. He hurt for those who were hurting; he cried with them because they cried.

Christ was a man of compassion, of mercy, of gentleness, of kindness, and of meekness. Christ was a man of love. In two words the Gospel of John encapsulates Christ's deep resounding empathy with mankind, for he not only died for us but hurts with us and for us, and he died so that we may, in time, join him in a paradise where such grief, turmoil, and anguish are no more.

John 11:35.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Inclusion of this translation does not imply endorsement of this author's thoughts by the copyright holders. 

Just some thoughts on Scripture...

A major part of my spiritual walk is Scripture Memory (as if you couldn't tell from the blog, right?). After Christ himself, Scripture is the Lord's most concrete revelation of his character and love toward mankind. Scripture in the Holy Canon shows us God's personhood not through a single lens but through a library of experiences and narratives; the 66 books provide us with a veritable literary buffet showcasing the beauty of the Lord through stories about him, messages from him, and praises toward him.

The Bible is a gift to mankind from God himself, and it is a book that continues to be read daily by millions, gradually changing them from their inside depravity to outward gracious living; and be assured, this is the result of engaging the Scriptures well. If one reads them without a deep desire to understand them, one simply won't. This is not to say that the Bible is a "magic book" or codex hiding meaning to all but a chosen few. On the contrary, the Bible is a book that is accessible to those willing to understand it (it's a "he who has ears to hear, let him hear" sort of thing, not unlike much of human art). The Bible is an extended collection of love letters from God, telling us that he loves mankind, why he loves mankind, and how he loves mankind, not because of mankind's virtue but God's own grace and mercy. For all the misinterpretation that happens (and it does), the Bible is a beautiful work.

In my first novel, Stronghold, I focus extensively on the Bible as the Sword used by The Believer in his battle against sin. He clings to it for security in the midst of tumult, he uses it to vanquish demons who assail him, and he spends time honing his relationship to it. Of course, that's merely in his fantasy. In the real world, he uses the Bible in direct defense against temptation, reading through the Psalms aloud in the midst of battling his deep desire to sin. This portion of the text comes directly from a personal experience of mine. The Psalms from which I read have been presented within a different order and volume within the novel, but the experience described in the pages is still true to the event.

The night in question is, in fact, one of the most poignant memories in my spiritual life. Few other times have I experienced God's nearness and deliverance so vividly. The act of reading the worship, confessions, and supplications of fellow believers filled me with a powerful sense of connecting with not only the Lord himself but the Psalms themselves, experiencing them as they were intended.

What's more, the Psalms I read were not random.  They were Psalms I had jotted into a notebook during a read through the Chronological NIV earlier in the year--meaning that I read them not as they were usually presented in the single book of Psalms but spread throughout Scriptural stories when they were written. I just so happened to read far enough in the chronological Bible to reach them, and I had just so happened to write them for memorization. Months before the evening in question, the groundwork for the Psalms I would read that night was laid. Quite a story.

That being said, if you are reading the Scriptures now and if you are studying, memorizing, and engaging them with a deep desire to understand and be changed, be confident in your efforts. The Lord could be preparing your heart today to hold fast in a situation five months from now, one that you cannot foresee or predict but will be distinctly affected by your studies and how you are putting the Word of the Lord in your heart in the present. You never know how God is working, but he always is.

Stay in the Scriptures. Adore them. And be blessed.

Thanks for reading all,
C

PS - This post was bordering on overly long already, so I didn't want to toss this in the middle of it, but if you're interested, here are the original Psalms through which I read in 2011, presented in an unabridged early draft of Stronghold.

“Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak, O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled. …but I have trust in your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. …To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in you. Let me not be ashamed; let not my enemies triumph over me. Turn yourself to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted. …Lord, all my desire is before you; and my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart pants, my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes, it has gone from me. …For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin. …Do not forsake me, O Lord, O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, My Salvation. …Do not withhold your tender mercies from me, O Lord; Let your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me. For innumerable enemies have surrounded me. …Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to you. When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. …For you are my hope. O Lord God, you are my trust from my youth. …O God, do not be far from me, O My God, make haste to help me. …O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.  You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. …For you formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. …but my eyes are upon you, O God the Lord; in you I take refuge. Do not leave my soul destitute. …I spread out my hands to you; my soul longs for You like a thirsty land. … Answer me speedily, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, lest I be like those who go down in to the pit. Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, for in You do I trust; cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift my soul to you. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; in You, I take shelter. Teach me to do you well, for you are my God; your spirit is good. Lead me in the land of Uprightness. Revive me, O Lord, for your name’s sake! For you righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. …As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. …For a day in your court is better than a thousand. I would rather be doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.  …In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul. …I will set nothing wicked before me eyes; I will hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.”

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Inclusion of this translation does not imply endorsement of this author's thoughts by the copyright holders. 

Scripture Memory: Nahum 1:2-7.

In the last week, I memorized Nahum 1:2-7, a passage that will surely prove unpopular in modern American culture yet leads the believer to a place of peace, to an affirmation that proper justice will be mediated by the Lord, at the proper time and in the proper way--and that justice will be real and visceral and terrifying. As translated into the ESV, the passage reads as follows:

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; 
the Lord is avenging and wrathful; 
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. 
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. 
His way is in the whirlwind and storm, 
and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 
He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; 
he dries up all the rivers; Bashon and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. 
The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. 
Who can stand before his indignation? 
Who can endure the heat of his anger? 
His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him. 
The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

Not a long passage (though not a short one, either) but a powerful one. 'Jealous', 'avenging', 'wrathful'--these are not our usual adjectives for the Lord, but they are real and true. And they are a strong reminder for those of us who call him father to maintain an earnest honor and reverent fear before him. The world is hard; we believe we are entitled to more than we have received. We grow in indignation over the way things unfold, and we carry discontentment over this and that. Well, perhaps you don't, but I do--almost daily, at least, far too regularly.

But a passage like this silences my malcontented and arrogant heart. These words stop me in my tracks. They remind me, fiercely, of the God who oversees the human narrative, and who knows all from the dawn to dusk, well into the night and until the dawn anew. These words strike at the sinner's heart. They are good words. Yes, they are hard and, perhaps, frightening; but sometimes even those of us who are in the kingdom need a harsh reminder of who we serve and how blessed we are to be his adopted sons and daughters rather than his enemies.

Praise be to God that he is slow to anger, and rich in mercy, and abounding in steadfast love (Joel 2:11-13).

Thanks for reading,
C

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Inclusion of this translation does not imply endorsement of this author's thoughts by the copyright holders. 

Isaiah 25:1. Just memorize this right now. You will not regret it.

"O Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you, I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and true." --Isaiah 25:1, ESV (See other translations here)

I stumbled upon this verse in my Bible Memorization notebook the day I started my new job. Having copied it into the book nearly a year earlier, I had also forgotten it was there. Tucked between other passages to be added to my heart's Bible at some point, the short verse had gone unnoticed; and now, as I was about to embark on a new endeavor--one that frightened me far more than I had imagined it would--I rediscovered the short words of wisdom and praise, which led to my spending the bus ride into the city focused on them in worship.

Over the next few days, as I become somewhat overwhelmed and inundated with new tasks, facts, and concepts, the verse continued to have an effect on me. I made it part of my morning routine along with checking messages and brewing coffee. I brought it to the forefront of my mind in private, following this or that assignment or instruction, and by week's end, I had it cemented into my memory.

To be honest, the greatest aspect of the verse is in its simplicity. The verse includes neither requests nor confessions. Its goal is praise: plain and simple. When one is inundated, stressed, overwhelmed or afraid, a renewal of praise to God is perhaps the single greatest action that one can take to regain his or her peace. While the world around us can be chaotic and uncertain, praise centers our lives on someone true, unchanging, and marvelous--one who does "wonderful things". When our minds are fixed upon God, the cares of this world seem less pressing, the stressors of the day carry less severity, and ultimately we remember that the world revolves around his plans, not ours. And his plans are indeed faithful and true.

That being said, I exhort you all to memorize Isaiah 25:1. Cherish it and return to it the rest of your days, speak it unto God in heaven, and I believe that in turn His Holy Spirit will breathe a sigh of relief and renewal into your heart, mind, and soul.

Know you are blessed and loved this week, and thank you again for stopping at the blog!
C.J.

MEMORIZATION: Isaiah 58:6-12

You know why I love the Old Testament? God. Sound obvious, right? But I'm serious. Within our modern Western culture, the Old Testament gets a very bad rep. God alone knows how often Leviticus is placed on the chopping block and the creation account of Genesis is made the butt of a joke. In the midst of this cultural assault against portions of the Biblical narrative, Christians may be tempted to distance themselves from the larger first portion of the Bible.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, please do not fall into this trap. Neglecting the Old Testament is a snare of the devil. The heart of God is evident and on display in the first 39 books of our Bible, and even as we might wrestle with meaning and essence of passages, we cannot fail to embrace what we believe to be God's holy, inspired word. 

What do I mean when I speak of the Old Testament's revealing God's heart? Well, throughout the prophets specifically, the Lord speaks of what he values and loves. And it is overwhelmingly beautiful and good and beyond the heart of man. His heart is not one that turns from destitution and brokenness. No, he looks at it, focuses on it, and moves in compassion (or calls members of his church to move on his behalf). 

Over the last several months, I have been posting Scripture passages I had memorized, and through them I learned a great deal regarding the Lord's character toward his creation. Look at his words spoken through the Prophet Isaiah to his people in Israel (Isa 58:6-12):

Is this not the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, 

to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, 

and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the poor homeless into your house; 

when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; 

your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; 

you shall cry and he will say 'Here I am'.

If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, 

then shall your light rise in the darkness and your glom be as the noonday.

And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in the scorched places 

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 

Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; 

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach, 

the restorer of the streets to dwell in. 

I am sure that numerous portions of Scripture exist that show the Lord's heart and character to an even greater degree, but even in the one I have shared above, is not his heart obvious? Do you not see a beautiful, loving God in this passage--a God who wants for those who know him to love like he loves, to hurt for whom he hurts, to give as he gives. Who is Jehovah, that he should love us--his fallen, broken, shiftless creatures. But he does, and his love is so clear, not only in this passage but others from the prophets that I have shared on this blog (see Hosea 6 and Joel 2). 

That being said, beware the influence of shifting, modern sensibilities. Do not let them pull you away from the gift of the Old Testament, from its truth and virtue. Be bold in your loving pursuit of wisdom and knowledge through God's revelation. The Lord will bless you with a greater love of himself, which is the greatest gift for which any of us can hope.

Thanks for reading, 

C.J. 

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Inclusion of this translation does not imply endorsement of this author's thoughts by the copyright holders. 

Scripture Memory: Psalm 51

Sin is an aspect of life with which we all need to contend. Humans are fallible; they commit wrongs. They hurt each other with intent, and they hurt God without remorse. We do these things because we are born into brokenness, internally within our souls and externally within the world around us. For some individuals, this is not a problem. This is just the way things are.

For me, this is hard. I hate my sin, both the thoughts and the actions. I hate to hurt others; I hate to hurt to God, and I hate that I do both so flippantly and so often. Though I strive for excellence, though I long to live righteously, my sinful heart continues to show how badly I am in need of God's grace and mercy. 

This reality leads me to Psalm 51 time and time and time again. In the past month, I've dedicated this Psalm to memory (again, in song, which I will refrain from sharing for the benefit of your ears), and I have had to sing it in confession on more than one day since cementing it in my mind. Psalm 51 is a Psalm of David following his lusting toward Bathsheba, taking her as his wife, and murdering her husband Uriah. Despite the egregious actions and events leading to this psalm's composition, the text itself is beautiful: 

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy 

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions, 

and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words 

and blameless in your judgement.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, 

and in sin did my mother conceive me. 

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, 

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; 

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

Let me hear joy and gladness; 

let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 

Hide your face from my sins, 

and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

 and renew a right spirit within me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation 

and uphold me with a willing spirit. 

Then I will reach trangressors your ways, 

and sinners will return to you. 

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, 

O God of my salvation, 

and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 

O Lord, open my lips, 

and my mouth will declare your praise. 

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; 

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; 

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; 

build up the walls of Jerusalem; 

then will you delight in right sacrifices, 

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; 

then bulls will be offered on your altar. 

I could dissect and deconstruct this psalm for pages, but I won't today. I will simply leave you with a question. Does your sin wound you to your core like it wounded David? Granted, David wrote this after some truly despicable deeds: lust, adultery, and murder. His sins were grievous and had horrific consequences. But ours do also, perhaps not to the same degree but certainly to some degree. His sin led him into grief, contrition, and utter brokenness before God. Where does your sin lead you? 

“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”