Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: touch, feel, sense of touch, tactile sense, tactility, contact, using one's hands, sensation, sense, suspicion, sneaking suspicion, notion, inkling, hunch, fancy, apprehension, presentiment, premonition, foreboding, love, care, affection, fondness, tenderness, warmth, warmness, emotion, sentiment, emotional state, compassion, sympathy, empathy, fellow feeling, understanding, concern, solicitude, solicitousness, tender-heartedness, brotherly love, sensibilities, sensitivities, self-esteem, ego, pride, opinion, belief, view, impression, intuition, instinct, estimation, guess, theory, hypothesis, thought, way of thinking, point of view, atmosphere, ambience, aura, air, mood, climate, character, overtone, undertone, tenor, spirit, quality, flavour, colour, aptitude, knack, flair, bent, talent, gift, skill, art, trick, faculty, ability, propensity, inclination, sensitive, warm, warm-hearted, tender, tender-hearted, caring, soft-hearted, sympathetic, compassionate, empathetic, responsive, receptive, intuitive, thoughtful

Antonyms: bad feeling, acrimony, animosity, animus, antagonism, antipathy, aversion, bitterness, detestation, disgust, dislike, disrelish, enmity, friction, grievances, grudges, hatred, hostility, loathing, malevolence, malice

Showing 2776 to 2800 of 4947 results

2776. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 11:1-31

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... contrast between men and women is unique in this book and the parallelism is wanting: the good should gain, but the ruthless should lose (only, in the NIV, is not present in the Hebrew, but it is employed also in the REB to convey the sense). The text is disturbed, as the four lines in the LXX suggest (see Additional Notes). Others think that the kind-hearted woman wins respect without effort, in contrast to a man’s ruthless pursuit of wealth. 11:17 Antithetic and juxtapositional. The contrast is between ...

2777. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 16:1-33

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... to God. The NIV, with many others, makes a sweeping claim for divine causality; nothing escapes God, even what seem to be an exception, the wicked. The day of disaster designates any catastrophe in this life, including death. Disaster should be understood in the sense of due retribution or punishment. See also Sirach 29:21, 34. 16:5 Synthetic and progressive. The LORD detests is the usual NIV translation of “an abomination to the Lord.” The spirit of this proverb is found throughout the OT (cf. 6:17 ...

2778. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 18:1-24

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... of the source of wisdom in verse 4b (cf. NRSV). However, the relationship could be synonymous if deep waters is taken to mean “inexhaustible” and the words are presumed to be wise. In 20:5, “deep waters” seems to be used in a favorable sense. It is also possible to understand words as the subject, followed by three predicates (cf. NJPS), since there is no connective between a and b. See the Additional Notes. 18:5 Antithetic. The verse recommends impartiality in judgment. See 17:15 for the thought ...

2779. Oppression, Toil, Friendlessness

Ecclesiastes 4:1-12

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... joy usually include affirmation of pleasure in one’s work suggests that overall Qohelet would reject the fool who folds his hands, whether or not his behavior is self-destructive. 4:7–12 Loneliness, community, and family come together in these verses. It makes no sense for a loner to work so hard as to deprive oneself of enjoyment. The reader may wonder whether the change in 4:8 from third to first person indicates that Qohelet is quoting the person without son or brother or whether instead it suggests ...

2780. Wisdom

Ecclesiastes 7:1--8:1

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... and adjectives), while wisdom in 7:23 is grammatically feminine (taking a feminine pronoun and adjective). Qohelet is unable to achieve wisdom because all of existence (including but not limited to wisdom) is beyond human grasp. 7:25 The scheme of things: “Sum” is another sense of Hb. ?ešbôn. 7:28 While I was still searching but not finding: The Hb. begins with the multipurpose particle ?a šer, which may relate the phrase to either what precedes or what follows. It is possible to read this verse as a ...

2781. Obey the King

Ecclesiastes 8:2-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... : The Hb. is reminiscent of 3:1, 16–17; all the major words in this clause occur there. 8:8 Over the wind to contain it: As the NIV footnote indicates, the Hb. rûa? can mean either “wind” or “breath.” If the latter is the correct sense, it indicates lack of control over life and death. 8:10 Buried: A slight emendation yields “approach,” which better fits the context. 8:11 Sentence: The word used, pitg?m, is a Persian loanword. Here it may refer either to the judicial sentence for a crime or ...

2782. A Common Destiny for All

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... evoked, feel like an oasis in the midst of the emptiness that surrounds and threatens. This is an invitation to be accepted while it is available. Throughout this section, the Hebrew hebel (NIV meaningless) may have the primary sense of “brief” or “transient.” While a secondary sense of “meaningless” is no doubt present for the reader by means of association with other uses in the book, the emphasis is nonetheless on the brevity of life. The recognition of this enables the reader to take the ...

2783. How Beautiful You Are

Song of Songs 4:1-16

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... which begins, “Gather ye rose-buds while ye may” and reminds the virgins that they, like flowers, are at their peak for only a short time. 4:13 An orchard: With the following list of fruits and spices, there is a sense that the woman is overwhelmingly fruitful, fragrant, and luxuriant. The sense of bounty is emphasized by the variety of plants listed in vv. 13–14. With a realization that the list is inadequate, a kind of “etc.” is placed at the end (all the finest spices). 5:1 I have come . . . I ...

2784. I Have Come Into My Garden

Song of Songs 5:1-16

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... extended simile of the wa?f. “Washed in milk” could refer to the whites of the eyes or to a glistening quality. It evokes a sense of luxury. The phrase “mounted like jewels” could be an image of a statue with jewels inlaid for eyes. Murphy suggests that only the ... is about eyes, and that the word for “teeth” has dropped out of the second half (Song, p. 166). Indeed, it makes sense to think of milky white teeth and their careful placement. It would be natural also to discuss teeth with other parts ...

2785. Judgment Against Evil Kings

Jeremiah 22:1-30, Jeremiah 23:1-8

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... essence, these oracles cover the post-Josianic kings who ruled during the period of Jeremiah’s prophetic activity. 22:1 God instructs Jeremiah to go to the palace in order to deliver a judgment oracle against the kings of Judah. This move makes sense, of course, because the recipient of judgment is more likely to hear the oracle this way. However, it is also clearly dangerous for Jeremiah because an offended king could turn against the prophet easily and powerfully. 22:2 The oracle is addressed primarily ...

2786. Freedom for Slaves

Jeremiah 34:8-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... all is reported. They just changed their minds and enslaved them again. It is possible to imagine a scenario that would make some sense of this. We know, for instance, that the Babylonians temporarily withdrew their siege of Jerusalem because of reports that the Egyptians were coming ... the army of the king of Babylon as the tool of this devastating destruction. They have withdrawn, probably fueling a false sense of optimism in Jerusalem, but they will be back and will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can ...

2787. How Deserted Lies the City

Lamentations 1:1-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... . The poet then remarks that the splendor has departed from the Daughter of Zion. Zion is the mountain made sacred by the presence of the temple. “Daughter” is sometimes used with geographical terms to indicate those areas that are in some sense dependent on the named geographical location. In that case, the Daughter of Zion would be a reference to Jerusalem and its surrounding villages. Referring to Jerusalem as the Daughter of Zion also effectively communicates a kind of intimacy and concern for ...

2788. How the Lord has Covered the Daughter of Zion

Lamentations 2:1-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... garden is laid waste. But the idea is that God destroys his own dwelling (the temple) as if it were a booth in a garden. 2:13 The poet asks, What can I say for you? The verb “say” comes from ʿwd that has a specific legal sense. From this word comes the noun ʿed (“witness”). In other words, the poet struggles to find the words to provide testimony on Jerusalem’s behalf. 2:14 The poet describes the prophet’s visions as false and worthless (tafel). Such a translation derives from tafelI. There is ...

2789. Remember, O Lord, What Has Happened to Us

Lamentations 5:1-22

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

... out of suffering (see especially Ps. 126, which is a postexilic psalm). 5:16 Zion had been enthroned among the nations because of God’s blessing upon it. It was king. But because of its sin, its royal status has been removed. In another more literal sense, the crown has also fallen from the head of God’s people. With the Babylonian defeat of Judah, the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, was deposed, and not replaced. 5:17–18 The poet’s description of the suffering of God’s people and the devastation ...

2790. Nineveh to Fall

Nahum 2:1-13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... of the Masoretes’ chapter division where chapter 2 begins with what English translations treat as the last verse in chapter 1 (see the additional note on 1:15). One could imagine that the picture describes something happening before the prophet’s eyes, and in a sense it does so, but it has not yet actually happened; it takes place before the prophet’s inner eye. Nahum shares a vision with us. The fact that the event is literally future becomes explicit in the last verse. 2:1–2 The first two verses ...

2791. The Lord Promises to Bless Jerusalem

Zechariah 8:1-23

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... in memory of the judgment on Jerusalem and will replace fast days with festivals. The context of the answer in Zechariah 7–8 implies that this transformation had not yet taken place in the fourth year of Darius. The verb is imperfect, with a future sense. Would it occur when the temple building was completed, or at some later time, when Jerusalem will be filled with God’s people living there unafraid and with peoples from the whole world who will come there in search of God? (See the introduction to ...

2792. Judgment on Israel's Enemies

Zechariah 9:1-8

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... sentence of verse 5 may indicate a lack of inhabitants (yshb, “sit, dwell”), as in the NIV, Ashkelon will be deserted, or a lack of royal rule (yshb, “sit on a throne, rule”). The latter interpretation is close to the previous sentence and makes more sense in the context of verses 5–7. Why should Ashkelon alone be emptied and excluded from the remnant in verse 7? 9:6 Foreigners is a euphemistic rendering of mamzer, “one born of an illicit sexual union” (Deut. 23:2). Both this noun and the verb ...

2793. Jacob Loved, Esau Hated

Malachi 1:1-5

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... for evidence: “How have you loved us?” The divine word points Malachi’s audience back to a time before they became a nation, to the story of their eponymous ancestor Jacob and his twin brother Esau (Gen. 25:19–34). God loved Jacob in the sense of choice, or election. Before the twins were born an oracle granted to their mother Rebekah revealed that the younger one, Jacob, would be stronger than his older brother, who would serve him (Gen. 25:23). God had hated Esau by choosing Jacob to carry the ...

2794. The Vision of Obadiah

Obadiah 1:1-21

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... I have separated them here simply to emphasize the contrast between Edom’s day and God’s. Verses 15 and 16 are connected rhetorically with verse 14 by kî, “for,” an important word that the NIV has omitted from the beginning of both verses 15 and 16. Thus, the sense is: Edom should not have betrayed Judah, for or because the day of the Lord is near, and because it will be judged along with all the nations on that day. The concept of the day of the LORD had its roots in the wars fought by Israel’s ...

2795. The Word Became Flesh

John 1:1-18

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... a life of their own, but genuine history, telescoped into a sentence or two but waiting to be developed and expanded in the remainder of the Gospel. Jesus came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him (v. 11). In the immediate sense his own country was Israel and his own people the Jews. Israel and Judaism were the stage on which the drama of his public ministry was played out. Yet the prologue has just mentioned the world three times within two lines. The context strongly suggests that in ...

2796. Jesus' First Disciples

John 1:35-42, John 1:43-51

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... , are alternate ways of saying that Jesus is the Messiah (cf. vv. 41, 45). The designation of Israel’s anointed king as God’s son goes back to Psalm 2:6–7. The Gospel writer knows that Jesus is the Son of God in a more profound sense than Nathanael could have understood (cf. 1:14, 18), yet he allows Nathanael (like John the Baptist) to speak for the Christian community. Nathanael’s Son of God and King of Israel anticipate the Gospel writer’s hope that all his readers “may believe that Jesus is ...

2797. Jesus Changes Water to Wine

John 2:1-11

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... him (v. 11). For the narrator, the disciples’ place within the story proper is taken by the servants to whom Mary said, “Do whatever he tells you” (v. 5), and who alone, we are told, knew where the good wine had come from (v. 9). In a sense these servants represent not only the first four disciples but everyone who knows where Jesus comes from and does what he commands. As soon as the miracle story has been told, attention centers on the disciples and their response. The purpose of the miracle is to ...

2798. Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

John 3:1-21

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... cf. 1:51). 3:3, 7 Born again: The word for again (Gr. an?then) could also be translated “from above” (cf 3:31). The rebirth of which Jesus speaks is in fact a birth from God (1:13) or from the realm of the Spirit, and in that sense “from above,” but Nicodemus’ answer focuses simply on the fact that it is a second birth. Its divine character remains to be spelled out in vv. 5–8. 3:5 Water and the Spirit: It is impossible to tell grammatically whether water and Spirit are two distinct elements or ...

2799. Jesus Heals the Official’s Son

John 4:43-54

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... :20/Luke 9:58), and the point of verse 44 is that he must not wear out his welcome by remaining too long at Sychar. To stay in a place more than two days is to make it his patris and to have no honor there. His patris in this sense turns out finally to be Jerusalem, the place where prophets traditionally are dishonored and killed (cf. Luke 13:33!), but this application is outside the scope of the present passage. In Galilee, Jesus is welcomed by people who had seen the things he had done in Jerusalem at the ...

2800. Jesus Teaches at the Feast

John 7:14-24

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... 14–8:59 becomes apparent once it is recognized that 8:1–11 is the record of a separate incident and not an original part of John’s Gospel. Only by ignoring these verses and moving from 7:52 to 8:12 without a break can the reader sense how closely chapters 7 and 8 go together. Jesus’ temple ministry is presented in the form of one long discourse, even though it is probably assumed to have been given over a period of several days during the Feast of Tabernacles, and even though the material comprising ...

Showing results