Contemplative Bible Reading

Lamentations 1:3 (New Living Translation) She (Judah) lives among foreign nationsand has no place of rest. The writer is lamenting or mourning the fate of Judah. Hauled away from home, the Judeans live in other countries. They never rest. They mourn continuously. In what country do Christians live today? Oh, well, uh, just about every […]

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Ezekiel 33:11 (New Living Translation) 11 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die? God is speaking […]

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Hosea 13:6 (New Living Translation) 6 But when you had eaten and were satisfied,you became proud and forgot me. God is talking to the people through the prophet Hosea. God delivered the people through the desert—a dry and thirsty land. The people depended on God for daily sustenance. Once settled in a land with good […]

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Hosea 14:9 (New Living Translation) 9 Let those who are wise understand these things.Let those with discernment listen carefully.The paths of the Lord are true and right,and righteous people live by walking in them.But in those paths sinners stumble and fall. When I was a child, someone read to me The Pilgrim’s Progress. This book […]

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Psalm 19: 12-13 (New Living Translation) 12 How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?Cleanse me from these hidden faults.13 Keep your servant from deliberate sins!Don’t let them control me.Then I will be free of guiltand innocent of great sin. The writer is praying. I am only human and not all knowing. […]

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Isaiah 43:10 (New Living Translation) 10 “But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord.“You are my servant.You have been chosen to know me, believe in me,and understand that I alone am God.There is no other God—there never has been, and there never will be. This one is pretty simple. The implications are far […]

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Job 33:14-18 (New Living Translation) 14 For God speaks again and again,though people do not recognize it.15 He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night,when deep sleep falls on peopleas they lie in their beds.16 He whispers in their earsand terrifies them with warnings.17 He makes them turn from doing wrong;he keeps them from […]

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Psalm 5:9-10 (Christian Standard Bible) 9 For there is nothing reliable in what they say;destruction is within them;their throat is an open grave;they flatter with their tongues.10 Punish them, God;let them fall by their own schemes.Drive them out because of their many crimes,for they rebel against you. The writer is asking God to help battle […]

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Job 33:14 (New Living Translation) 14 For God speaks again and again,though people do not recognize it. In this sentence, Elihu is speaking to Job while Job suffers. Much of what Job’s friends say to him is incorrect and is later corrected by God. I think this phrase from Elihu is correct. Has God spoken […]

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Isaiah 43:13 (New Living Translation) 13 “From eternity to eternity I am God.No one can snatch anyone out of my hand.No one can undo what I have done.” In this section of scripture, the prophet Isaiah is relaying what God told Isaiah about God. The self-description ends with, “No one can undo what I have […]

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