Dictionary: Face
Synonyms: countenance, physiognomy, profile, features, expression, facial expression, look, appearance, air, manner, bearing, guise, cast, aspect, impression, grimace, scowl, wry face, wince, frown, glower, smirk, pout, moue, side, flank, vertical, surface, plane, facet, wall, elevation, dial, display, (outward) appearance, nature, image, front, show, act, false front, facade, exterior, mask, masquerade, pretence, charade, pose, illusion, smokescreen, veneer, camouflage, respect, honour, esteem, regard, admiration, approbation, acclaim, approval, favour, appreciation, popularity, estimation, veneration, awe, reverence, deference, recognition, prestige, standing, status, dignity, glory, kudos, cachet, effrontery, audacity, nerve, gall, brazenness, brashness, shamelessness, look out on, front on to, look towards, be facing, have/afford/command a view of, look over/across, open out over, look on to, overlook, give on to, give over, be opposite (to), accept, come to accept, become reconciled to, reconcile oneself to, reach an acceptance (of), get used to, become accustomed to, adjust to, accommodate oneself to, acclimatize oneself to, be confronted by, be faced with, encounter, experience, come into contact with, run into, come across, meet, come up against, be forced to contend with, beset, worry, distress, cause trouble to, trouble, bother, confront, burden, brave, face up to, meet head-on, dare, defy, oppose, resist, withstand, cover, clad, skin, overlay, dress, pave, put a facing on, laminate, inlay, plate, coat, line
Antonyms: dodge, fear, back, give way, back down, dodge, avoid, throw in the towel, withdraw, cave in, retreat, succumb to, lay down one's arms, throw in the sponge, defer, submit, escape, bashfulness, shun, evade, elude
Showing 651 to 675 of 4981 results
651. Favoritism Forbidden
James 2:1-13, James 2:14-26
Understanding Series
Peter H. Davids
... this verse has disappeared. Two other positions have merit. One argues that the voice is favorable to James and restates his position of 2:17: “You (claim to) have faith, and I (you admit) have works. Show me your ‘faith’ apart from your works (you cannot, naturally), and I will show you my faith by means of my works” (see further J. B. Mayor, James, pp. 124–25, 135–37). In that case the voice merges back into James’ voice in v. 20 or 21. Grammatically this is possible, but the stumbling block ...
Understanding Series
Peter H. Davids
... behavior to the inner problem when he demands: Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Again a ritual term from the Old Testament is selected (cf. Exod. 19:10), but the defilement now is not outward (e.g., from having touched a dead body) but inward. The nature of the purification necessary appears in the term double-, the same term found in 1:8, meaning, not a person consciously hiding his or her real motives but one who has divided motives. On the one hand, they wish to follow Christ and be good Christians ...
Understanding Series
Norman Hillyer
... and guilty, is elaborated in this verse by means of language soaked with terms from the Suffering Servant passage of Isaiah 53 (LXX). Yet Peter sends his readers no signal that he is about to quote from the OT. That Peter weaves Isaiah’s words so naturally into what he writes suggests that the passage must have been the subject of much meditation on Peter’s part as he pondered the meaning of the death of Christ. He has so absorbed the prophet’s message that it has molded his own thinking. Furthermore ...
Understanding Series
Norman Hillyer
... along with the crowd” away from the true Christian way of life. The same verb is used of the defection of Barnabas in Gal. 2:13. Error (planē): erroneous teaching or, more aggressively, a deliberate leading astray. Lawless (athesmos): one who breaks the law of nature and conscience in order to gratify lust. The term appears in the NT only here and in 2:7 (regarding the Sodomites). See Turner, pp. 254–55. Fall (ekpiptein): The verb is used of shipwreck in Acts 27:26, 29. Secure position (stērigmos): a ...
Understanding Series
James K. Bruckner
... God was present here and spoke directly to Moses. The flame was not God, but was rather the visual part of the message. It created heat and light, but it did not consume the bush. Speculation about the physical phenomenon of the fire (whether it was natural gasses, the sun setting behind a red-leafed or berried bush, etc.) is beside the point. Rather, this miracle hints at the pillar of fire of God’s presence in the exodus and the fire of the “dwelling” (Shekinah) glory that would later descend on the ...
656. Jephthah
Jud 10:6–11:40
Understanding Series
Cheryl A. Brown
... 10:6 Jephthah’s story begins with the stereotypic opening statement we have already encountered many times (2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1): The Israelites increasingly did evil in the eyes of the LORD. The remainder of the verse details the nature of the evil. It is described in language we have come to expect—idolatry, which fundamentally is unfaithfulness to the covenant relationship, as underscored in the last part of the verse: The Israelites forsook the LORD. The Israelites no longer served the Lord, but ...
Understanding Series
Leslie C. Allen
... need to be added, and the lack of numbers in verse 2a also needs to be taken into account. With women and children, there would have been a total of about 5,000 in the returning party. Many of the clans of the earlier list in Nehemiah 7/Ezra 2 naturally reappear here—eleven of them. Relatives were to be reunited. The new clan of Joab (v. 9) represents a later subdivision of the large clan of “Pahath-Moab” (see Neh. 7:11 = Ezra 2:6). In the case of the clan of Adonikam (v. 13), no relatives were left ...
Understanding Series
Timothy S. Laniak
... to the injustice of a bypassed promotion. After all, chapter 6 will make it clear that the king was remiss in not rewarding Mordecai at this time. When he does honor him, it is with a great deal of royal honor. When Haman dies, Mordecai is the natural successor. But these are not the motives stated in chapter 3. The narrator makes it clear that ethnicity is the basis for Mordecai’s refusal. The servants point out Mordecai’s behavior to Haman to see if he could get away with it (literally, “to see if ...
659. Let Him Kiss Me
Song of Songs 1:1-17
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Huwiler
... those of royal horses. The verse also points forward to verse 11, which continues the jewelry image. On first reading, it is natural to assume (as do the NIV translators) that the man, who is the likely speaker in 1:9, now describes the ... and 6:9. The image incorporates softness, color, and an association of doves with love. In verses 16c–17, the lovers are in a natural setting, which raises the possibility that they do not have a house of their own. The verdant bed pushes interpretation in this direction, ...
660. I Am a Rose of Sharon
Song of Songs 2:1-17
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Huwiler
... making a comparison. Our wall: “Our” has been taken variously to refer to the woman and her mother (the man is visiting her at her family home) or, more playfully, to the woman and the lover (in which case the house language may be used in reference to a natural setting, as in 1:16c–17). 2:10 My lover spoke and said to me: This introductory line marks what follows as the woman’s rendition of the man’s speech; thus NIV is correct in keeping her as the speaker through verse 13. With me: There is no ...
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Achtemeier
... , working God’s will in the world, until God’s kingdom comes. The word of God, which according to the Bible is always an active, effective force (cf. Isa. 55:10–11), may work independently of any human agency. For example, the word of God sustains all the processes of nature (cf. Gen. 1; Matt. 6:25–33; Col. 1:17). But God also uses human beings as the mediators of his word, and so, the word of the Lord came to Hosea (italics added). The fact that not much is told us about Hosea—who is not called a ...
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Achtemeier
... in particulars—by dealing with one people or, in the case of the NT, with one Man. And the revelation given through the particular becomes assurance and pledge for the universal. Such is the case with this pivotal passage in Hosea. Here is revealed to us the nature of the Lord of the universe. 11:1–4 Verse 1 tells us that God adopted Israel as his son in the exodus from Egypt. Thus the delivery from slavery was not only a liberation, but an incorporation of the people Israel into the family of God ...
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Achtemeier
... a lesson from the beasts and to cry to God as the animals of the field cry to their Lord. The prophet therefore composes a prayer for the priests to pray on the day of repentance, verse 19. But the fire mentioned in the prayer is not a natural manifestation of the drought—some commentators have believed that the dry fields have simply ignited by spontaneous combustion. No, fire is associated throughout the OT with God’s judgment (Isa. 47:14; 66:15–16; Jer. 4:4; 5:14, etc.), and the priests are to lead ...
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Achtemeier
... that the exile was God’s punishment of Judah for her sins. In order to be known, God not only acts in history; God also sends prophets to interpret that history. This does not mean that God is not otherwise active in human history and in nature (so too Calvin). This verse does not imply God’s freedom is limited (contra many interpreters). Rather, verse 7 points to the means God uses in self-revelation. Verse 7 also underscores God’s incredible mercy toward his chosen people. Israel is not dealt with ...
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Achtemeier
... prophets to preach about the day of the Lord, but he was followed in the practice by Zephaniah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and Malachi. When the OT speaks of the day, it is referring not to a definite extent of time, but to a definite event in time, whose nature will be determined entirely by the Lord. It is that event which is referred to when we read the phrases, “on that day” (Amos 8:9 RSV) or “at that time.” The concept of the day of the Lord arose out of the theology of Israel’s ancient ...
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Achtemeier
... God’s word, Amos sees their true condition; they are pitiful and small. We can be grateful that God saw our real natures behind all of our equally foolish and proud claims, that God pitied us as a father pities his children and came to ... second vision was granted him in midsummer, when heat and drought lay over the land, but the judgment that he sees the Lord preparing is no natural fire. The fire of God’s wrath is a supernatural fire that can burn up even the great deep, the waters under the earth (cf. ...
Understanding Series
John Goldingay
... tet (tob, good). Verse 7b begins with vav (veyodeaʿ, [and] He cares). Verse 8b begins with kaf (kalah, an end). There are a number of alphabetical poems in the OT, though most are psalms (Lam. 1–4 are other examples). So this is an aspect of the hymn-like nature of verses 1–8 and it may support the suggestion that Nahum delivered his prophecy in the context of worship. The fact that the sequence is imperfect (the actual order in the alphabet is ʾ, b, g, d, h, v, z, kh, t, y, k) is not an indication of ...
668. Warnings and Exhortations for Jerusalem and Judah
Zephaniah 1:1-3, Zephaniah 1:4-13, Zephaniah 1:14--2:3
Understanding Series
John Goldingay
... declaration from verse 7 but adds that Yahweh’s day will be great, then repeats that it is near and further adds that it is coming quickly (as people in Isa. 5:19 in effect encouraged it to do). The succeeding verses simply go on to spell out the grim nature of this day. Yahweh’s day will be bitter, harsh, and bleak for people who experience it as they hear the loud shouting of the warrior there. It seems that Yahweh is the warrior who is shouting, as the TNIV makes explicit; so it is in Isaiah 42:13 ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... as God’s messenger and put their faith in him. They have been given the status of God’s children not by creation or natural descent but by a new and divine begetting. In the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, they have been “born again” (cf. 3:3). ... v. 14 not as the Father but as the Father’s “One and Only.” In the terms of later debates about Christ, the Word has the very nature of God, but the Word and the Father are not the same person. 1:4 In him was life: There is a question of punctuation in the ...
670. Crucified, Dead, and Buried
John 19:17-27, John 19:28-37, John 19:38-42
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... he bowed the head,” it means “his head,” so when it says, “he handed over the spirit,” it means “his spirit” (cf. the expression, “to lay down one’s life” [see note on 10:11], which places a similar emphasis on the deliberate and voluntary nature of Jesus’ death). 19:31 The day of Preparation. The word does double duty, because it was both the preparation of the Sabbath and the preparation of the Passover (see note on 19:14). The next day was to be a special Sabbath: lit., “for great ...
Understanding Series
F. F. Bruce
... from those of the Israelites. The idea that the mutilators of the flesh are Jews who have no commitment to the Christian faith (cf. E. Lohmeyer, ad loc.) may be ruled out because Paul does not use such opprobrious language in speaking of his own natural kinsfolk; moreover, there does not seem to have been any substantial Jewish community in Philippi (see pp. 4–5). As for the view of W. Schmithals (Paul and the Gnostics, pp. 65–91) that they were Jewish-Christian Gnostics, hē katatomē would have been a ...
Understanding Series
Thomas F. Johnson
... : to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded.” Love in the New Testament is unmerited, self-sacrificing, positive regard for and action on behalf of others. In the Gospel and letters of John, love is God’s essential nature (1 John 4:8, 16), and it is defined by God’s love for the world, especially in the sending of the Son for human redemption (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9–10). Self-giving love is to be seen among Jesus’ disciples (John 13:34a, 35). Jesus ...
Understanding Series
John E. Hartley
... give this land to Abram’s descendants (“seed”). He then defined the boundaries of the land to be from the river of Egypt to the . . . Euphrates. In other texts the southern boundary was the Wadi of Egypt, or the Wadi el Arish (Num. 34:5), a natural boundary in Sinai between Egypt and Canaan. In this text the river of Egypt could be this wadi or possibly the easternmost branch of the Nile. The northern boundary was the Euphrates as it dips down into Syria. Additional Notes 15:1 In Genesis God gave this ...
Understanding Series
Iain W. Provan
... . pak) of oil to anoint Saul (1 Sam. 10:1). As with the mule, a connection is firmly being made here between David and his heir. The sacred tent: Hb. simply has “the tent,” which in 2:28–30 becomes “the tent of the LORD.” It would be natural to assume, without any further clarification being given, that the tabernacle is meant (cf. Exod. 34:26; Num. 12:5, 10)—particularly since the only horned altars (cf. 1 Kgs. 1:50–51; 2:28) mentioned in Gen.–Sam. are located there, and both the ark of the ...
Understanding Series
John Goldingay
... the picture of a land’s devastation and a city’s destruction reflects calamities that came to a specific land and city, but these have become pictures of the destruction of national and city life in general when Yahweh acts. The event looks more like a natural disaster than a military defeat. Like other translations, NIV has the earth for ha’arets, which was its meaning in 23:8, 9, and 17, but in 23:1, 10, and 13 the same word meant “the land.” Here in chapter 24 KJV has “earth” thirteen ...
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