003: Genesis 5-6; Job 3; Mark 2

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.

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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.

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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.”