Tanakh English

Jacob and Solomon were polygamists. Tamar and Rahab were prostitutes. What are polygamists and prostitutes doing on the pages of holy scripture? And God told the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute. What about Cain - did he really marry his sister? Abraham did, and he was also a polygamist. Lot offered his daughters up for rape, David committed adultery (or rape?), and the Bible calls both men righteous. Love, Old Testament style, was bizarre.

In this vivid new interpretation of Genesis, former Episcopal priest John R. Coats looks at the ancient text and its characters in a new light, as stories about people whose day-to-day concerns, triumphs, and failures are not unlike our own. In fact, understanding the people and stories of Genesis can help you understand your own life, family, and colleagues.

This book explores the concept of prophecy in Judaism as defined by two great figures of Jewish history. Moses Maimonides and Abraham Joshua Heschel are two influential scholars who have impacted the many streams of Judaism. A simplistic dichotomy could be made between their two perspectives labeling Maimonides as a rational philosopher and Heschel as a mystical one. Both the study of Jewish prophecy and the approaches of both of the scholars are complex topics, but not impossible to decipher. The nature of revelation is also part of this discussion.

We are imperfect, but we are perfectly loved because we are God’s child. He wants to heals our hurts, remove our shame, and calm our fears. Like Mephibosheth, we don’t need to hide in a low place like Lo-debar, because our king wants to raise us high.

In Ephesians 3:9, the Apostle Paul instructed the followers of Christ “to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery.” Here is Tom Barnes’ answer to those instructions.

Tikva Frymer-Kensky shows listeners how a seemingly minor story in the first book of Samuel can teach them key lessons to dramatically improve their lives. Saul, abandoned by God, approaches a medium in the village of Endor to call up the spirit of Samuel. Though Saul had outlawed her craft, she helped him when he promised her safety. And after Samuel prophesied Saul’s death, she showed the shaken king hospitality.

Before Harriet Tubman or Martin Luther King was identified with Moses, African Americans identified those who challenged racial oppression in America with Samson. In Black Samson: The Untold Story of an American Icon, Nyasha Junior and Jeremy Schipper tell the story of how this biblical character became an icon of African American literature.

In this lively reading of Ecclesiastes, Doug Wilson reveals its powerful lessons of vanity, joy, celebration, and the sovereignty of God.

On a visit to Jerusalem, Bruce Feiler has a revelation: the stories of the Bible occurred in real places, places he could visit today. So he sets out on a perilous 10,000 mile journey retracing the greatest stories ever told.

Jewish Law and Identity is second in the Hermit Kingdom Studies in Christianity and Judaism, an academic monograph series in Hebrew, Jewish, and Early Christian Studies. This audiobook contains nine academic essays relating to the theme of Jewish law and identity. All the academic essays in the book discuss Jewish law and identity in a creative, and groundbreaking way in light of the most recent research trends.

Jimmy Carter has been teaching Sunday school ever since he was a young midshipman in Annapolis. In later years he conducted religious services on submarines on which he served, and he even led the occasional class in Washington while he was president. For the last 25 years, President Carter has taught the adult Bible study at his church in Plains, where several hundred visitors join him each Sunday to understand the wisdom of the Bible and apply it to their lives.

Nuzi, Women's Rights and Hurrian Ethnicity And Other Academic Essays is the first book in the Hermit Kingdom Studies in Identity and Society series. The academic research publication series seeks to examine the question of identity and its relation to society. The research publication project promotes creative new approaches to thinking about identity as well as a combination of traditional academic methodologies.

The Bible tells us that Satan was thrown out of heaven: "And there was a war in heaven; And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan" - Revelation 12:7-9

We have collected stories of his coming to earth from numerous ancient accounts. We have gathered scientific evidence of his coming to earth. Satan was indeed thrown out of the heavens. We have the proof. Satan caused great evil on earth. We have come to know him as the personification of all evil.

According to polls, less than half of all Americans can even name more than four of them. For most of us, agnostics and faithful alike, they have been relegated to the level of a symbol, their teachings all but forgotten. In Western life today, the Ten Commandments are everywhere - except where we need them most. In The Ten Commandments, David Hazony offers a powerful new look at our most venerable moral text.

America's Book shows how the Bible decisively shaped American national history even as that history influenced the use of Scripture. It explores the rise of a strongly Protestant Bible civilization in the early United States that was then fractured by debates over slavery, contested by growing numbers of non-Protestant Americans, and torn apart by the Civil War.

Anybody can explain to you what certain passages of the Bible mean and how they apply to your daily life. However, not too often do you see it in a simple language that the average, common, 9-to-5 person can understand. The best part is, though, that the perspective comes not from a theologian or minister like other Christian books, but from an average Joe, or in this case, Jake, who happened to be inspired to write something for the average person.

Think ancient scriptures are all ancient history? Not anymore! This unique audiobook shows how the Old Testament still applies to modern times. Whether you're reading about Moses's management styles, Ruth as an immigrant, or how Saul might have reacted to social media, this scripture study guide brings the Old Testament to life and proves there's still a lot to learn from those ancient prophets.

Was God being ironic in commanding Eve not to eat fruit from the tree of wisdom? Carolyn J. Sharp suggests that many stories in the Hebrew Scriptures may be ironically intended. Deftly interweaving literary theory and exegesis, Sharp illumines the power of the unspoken in a wide variety of texts from the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Writings. She argues that reading with irony in mind creates a charged and open rhetorical space in the texts.

In biblical times, culture was all about patriarchs. A person’s ancestors were identified by the fathers, marriages were arranged when girls were 12 years old, and when they became women, they were rarely seen. They only had worth if they were married and a mother. In this study, you will learn how the stories of biblical women relate to us today. All of the women have one thing in common: Jesus. By listening to their stories, you will learn why as believers, it is imperative to remember that God extends grace to all.

Some people believe questioning the Bible, the direction God is going, or even God himself, is blasphemy. Some think it’s a sign of disbelief. Daniel Thornton is one such man. He believes his son, Rusty Thornton, is lost without God and takes him to a faraway place in the early 1950s near Spicewood, Texas, where he would never come in contact with people. He has an old King James Version of the Bible and began to try and cure his son’s affliction of skepticism.