… and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw […]
Why is the tribe of Dan missing in Revelation 7?
Revelation 7 lists twelve tribes from each of which came 12,000 people. However, they are not identical to the usual twelve tribes (the sons of Jacob) listed in the Old Testament. In the Revelation list, the tribe of Dan is omitted, and to make up the numbers, Manasseh is included along with Joseph. This has […]
Does a proper noun get translated or transliterated when translating from one language to another language?
Most proper nouns will be transliterated (i.e., the word is expressed in the characters of the target language). For example, the names of cities: Jerusalem = יְרוּשָׁלַיִם and Corinth = Κόρινθος. Often the transliteration is not exact. Here, the Greek word for Corinth is Korinthos and the Hebrew word for Jerusalem is Yerushalayim. These differences […]
What made Aaron’s rod bud?
God made Aaron’s rod bud — it was a miracle. In Numbers 17:5 God says: …the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you. After the rebellion in Numbers 16 (see especially Num. 16:3), […]
Is wearing gold forbidden in the Bible?
No. But the Bible does warn us not to rely on outward decoration as the source of beauty. For example Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with […]
Is there another version of Revelation?
No. There are over 300 ancient Greek manuscripts of the book of Revelation, but none that differ significantly from what is in our English Bibles. A list of the most important textual variants is given here.
What plant species are mentioned in the Bible?
It is impossible to make a definitive list of plants in the Bible because the names used are not all easily identified with particular species. There have been many attempts to create a full list of Bible plants. Some of them are listed below. A thorough review of scriptural plants is given by Włodarczyk (2007) […]
Was the earthquake in Haiti a punishment from God?
Ordinarily, when God punishes a large number of people at once in a specific area he gives plenty of prior warning about it — see, e.g., the warnings in Obadiah about God’s impending judgement on Edom. There was no such prior warning from God about the earthquake in Haiti, therefore we are safe to conclude […]
When and why was Paul struck blind?
Within a few years of Jesus’ death and resurrection Paul (who was called Saul at the time) was struck blind when he was on his way to Damascus: {3} Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. […] {8} Saul rose from the ground, […]
Genesis says that God made man to be “very good”. In that case, why was he able to sin?
In relation to the creation of humans, the phrase ‘very good’ (Gen. 1:31) does not necessarily mean ‘being unable to sin’. When God made the earth, everything was just as he intended it to be. This included making humans with the capacity to be able to make choices, including the choice between obeying or disobeying […]