Synonyms: replica, copy, representation, mock-up, dummy, imitation, double, duplicate, lookalike, reproduction, prototype, stereotype, archetype, type, version, style, ideal, paragon, perfect example, specimen, perfect specimen, fashion model, supermodel, mannequin, sitter, poser, subject, artist's model, photographic model, design, mark, configuration, variety, kind, sort, original, original design, exclusive, toy, miniature, facsimile, prototypical, prototypal, archetypal, illustrative, perfect, exemplary, classic, flawless, faultless, consummate, impeccable
Antonyms: deficient, imperfect
Showing 1826 to 1850 of 2157 results
Teach the Text
Daniel J. Estes
... list some of the attributes that the hero has that are noble, and how those are amplified by the hero’s superhuman powers and responsibilities. Then note that most heroes and gods from all the ages of this world are really just bigger versions of humanity. They may have abilities, stature, powers, and longevity beyond what is natural for humans, but they are, nonetheless, governed by basically the same motives, needs, flaws, and instincts that plague humanity. Contrast this with the God of the Bible, who ...
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C. Hassell Bullock
... are doomed to wither away (Ps. 37:2; Job 18:16; 24:24). The verb “have mercy” implies God’s favor.3 The reference to “my bones” is synecdoche for the entire body. 6:3  My soul . . . how long? The word often translated by the English versions as “soul,” has a range of meanings. It can denote “life” (107:5) or occur in the place of the personal pronoun (78:50; 120:2). Sometimes it comes close to our concept of personality.4 The interrogative “How long?” occurs in several psalms (e.g ...
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C. Hassell Bullock
... 9:9; 10:1); “mortal(s)” (9:19, 20; 10:18); “Arise, Lord” (9:19; 10:12); “for ever and ever” (9:5; 10:16). On a practical matter, the combination of Psalms 9 and 10 in the Septuagint and Vulgate causes the numbers in those versions to lag one behind the Hebrew and English numbers, beginning with Psalm 10 in the Septuagint and Vulgate (which is Ps. 11 in the Hebrew and the Protestant and Jewish translations; see the sidebar “Varying Numbering of the Psalms”). Outline/Structure Psalms 9 and 10 ...
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C. Hassell Bullock
... ” (msh) is used of taking Moses out of the Nile (Exod. 2:10), probably echoing God’s mercy and power to save David like he saved Moses. 18:19  he delighted in me. Delitzsch calls this the “principal thought of the hymn.”8This is an Old Testament version of “For God so loved . . .” (John 3:16). 18:20  according to my righteousness. See also 5:4–6; 17:1–5. Note the virtual duplicate of this statement in 18:24, the thought being that the psalmist has kept the Torah, and this is the basis ...
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C. Hassell Bullock
... with Yahweh as subject.[9] Rashi comments: “It is appropriate for the Great [God] to pardon Great Iniquity.”[10] This verse may be considered the core verse of the psalm.[11] 25:12  Who, then, are those who fear the Lord? This question is another version of the question of 24:3, stated in terms of spiritual piety. The Hebrew is literally, “Who is this man who fears the Lord?” obviously pointing to “David” as the immediate answer. 25:14  The Lord confides in those who fear him. The Hebrew ...
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C. Hassell Bullock
... instructs us that this is the panorama of the kingdom of God. For example, Jesus says, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave” (Matt. 20:26–27). That’s the right-side-up version. But what if our spiritual brain did not have the capacity to turn the inverted image right-side up? It might read: “Whoever would be great among you must be rich and powerful, and whoever would be first among you must not allow anyone to get ahead ...
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C. Hassell Bullock
... Listen, my people, and I will speak . . . I am God, your God. Wilson calls this a “parody of the Shema” (“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one,” Deut. 6:4). The final declaration is the Elohistic Psalter’s version of “I am the Lord your God,” which introduces the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:2. Given the Elohistic Psalter’s preference for ’elohim (“God”) rather than YHWH (“Lord”), ’elohim replaces the tetragrammaton. The rest of the psalm, like the Ten Commandments ...
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C. Hassell Bullock
... the mere “man” (geber, from the same root, gbr) of verse 7. How are the mighty fallen! grew strong by destroying others!Literally, “he grows strong by his destruction.” “Destruction” occurs also in 52:2. Rather than “in his destruction,” the Syriac and Aramaic versions have “in his wealth,” which the RSV and NRSV follow. 52:8  But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God.Compare the bird in Psalm 84:3 that has found a home in the sanctuary. Symbolically, there is no ...
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C. Hassell Bullock
Big Idea: History repeats itself in periodic unbelief, and God’s judgment falls upon humankind, as it did in the generation of the flood. Understanding the Text Psalm 53, an adaptive version of Psalm 14, is considered by some to be an individual lament, even though it is one of those genre-defying psalms that enjoy a noble company in the Psalter. Psalm 52:1 addresses the “mighty hero,” who, in his arrogant boasts, is much like the “fool” of Psalm 53. ...
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C. Hassell Bullock
... as “who exists from eternity.” The clause “who does not change” is a difficult one. The word “change” is the word for changing garments (Gen. 45:22; see ESV).8The NIV understands the word to refer to God (but it is fem. pl.), while other versions understand it as a reference to the evildoers. The JB translates: “But God will hear me. Sovereign from the first, he will humble them; no change of heart for them, since they do not fear God.” 55:20  My companion attacks his friends; he violates ...
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C. Hassell Bullock
... 59 provides an example of the positioning of the Hebrew word hesed, incorporated in the refrain of verses 9–10a and 17 (the NIV translates hesed as “on whom I can rely”). This word is translated variously in the English versions as “love” or “unfailing love” (NIV), “loving-kindness,” “mercy,” “steadfast love,” or “faithfulness.” This term expresses the essence of God’s character more frequently than any other term in the Old Testament and describes the vital nature of God’s ...
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Ronald W. Pierce
... the message portends (1 Sam. 25:26; 2 Sam. 18:32). 4:20–21  The tree you saw, which grew large and strong. Daniel’s retelling of the “tree” portion of the vision (4:20–21) contains only minor differences from Nebuchadnezzar’s version (cf. 4:10–12). However, the “messenger” portion (4:25–26) omits significant details of the tree’s destruction, the iron and bronze fetters, the changing of the king’s mind, and his description as “the lowliest of people” (cf. 4:13–17). Daniel ...
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Ronald W. Pierce
... the Great, who united the loosely affiliated Median tribes into a kingdom. Both the Old Greek and Theodotion read “Cyrus” instead of the Masoretic Text’s “Darius” in 11:1, and Theodotion names Cyrus as the king of the events parallel to Daniel 6 in his version of Bel and the Dragon (Bel 1). Herodotus notes that the name of Persia’s founder, given to him at birth by his Median mother, was not Cyrus (Hist. 1.108–14). Darius/Cyrus was likely in his early sixties when he conquered Babylon. And the ...
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Ronald W. Pierce
... ’” and “sixty-two ‘sevens’” to make a single unit of sixty-nine “sevens.” This era extends from “the word [that] goes out” until “the Anointed One,” who is Jesus (9:25 NIV; cf. NASB, NKJV). Although the church has held some version of this view throughout its history,2there remains no consensus on four key issues: which “word . . . goes out” to begin this period, which coming of Jesus ends the sixty-nine “sevens,” when does the last “seven” occur, or what is the identity ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... a rich man – a rich man whom Jesus called a fool. But look how the parable begins, verse 15: “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” That’s the way the Revised Standard Version has it. “Be on your guard against covetousness in any shape or form. For a man’s real life in no way depends upon the number of his possessions.” Though I’m not overly fond of The Living Bible, there is a very practical and piercing edge ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... ’t miss the meaning of the parable if we notice how it begins. The reason Jesus told the parable is expressed in verse 9: “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.” The New International Version of the Bible translates the verse this way: “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable.” The New English Bible has it, “It was aimed at those who were sure of their own ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... by deliberate choice, by their sinful disobedience, they broke that relationship. One of the saddest pictures in all the Bible is that which is presented at the close of chapter 3 of the Genesis story, where God expelled them from the Garden. The Revised Standard Version says: “He drove them out.” John Steinbeck picked up that image in the title of his book, East of Eden. Instead of being a resident in the Garden, in ongoing intimate relationship with God in that paradise which God had prepared for them ...
1843. Claiming Hope
Matthew 3:1-12
Sermon
James L. Killen
... amounts of judgment and talk about what was wrong with the world. He even got on the case of Pilate, the governor -- not a very smart thing to do. He talked to people about their sins. The ritual he called people to go through was a version of the purification ritual used to bring Gentiles into the Jewish faith. You wouldn't think that would be very popular with people whose main source of self-esteem was being Jewish. Besides that, the road from Jerusalem to the Jordan River at Jericho was steep, rough ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... be bold enough to love. 1. B. A. Botkin, A Treasury of American Anecdotes (New York: Galahad Books) 2. Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (New York: Bantam Books, 1994). Cited in John Ortberg, The Me I Want To Be: Becoming God’s Best Version of You (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), p. 118. 3. Jonathan M. Cheek, Shyness (New York: Dell Publishing, 1990), pp. 23-24. 4. Gerald M. Phillips, Help for Shy People (New York: Dorset Press). 5. Rawson Associates (November 1984).
1845. Unnoticed at Your Own Party
Isaiah 35:1-10, Matthew 11:2-11, James 5:7-10
Sermon
King Duncan
W.E. Sangster once told about being invited to a party held to celebrate a wedding. He arrived late and knew nobody there except the friend who invited him. He subsequently played the role of a mere spectator to the evening’s festivities. Everyone, he noted, seemed to be in high spirits. They danced and shouted and sang and laughed and played games and indulged in all sorts of entertainment. They flung streamers across the hall, pranced around in paper caps, had much to eat and drink and generally seemed ...
1846. Cain and Abel
Genesis 4:1-26
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... me” (4:13)? Now Cain the wanderer has become Cain the city builder (4:17–24). Does this indicate that the divine penalty has been mitigated? Or is this further proof of Cain’s self-determination? The city Cain builds might even be an early version of the later “cities of refuge” to which a manslayer might flee, and hence be the protecting mark for Cain. Although out of fellowship with God, Cain is still able to multiply and fill the earth. Several of his descendants are worthy of note. Lamech ...
1847. Abraham’s Test
Genesis 22:1-24
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... used by Abraham back in 20:11. To fear God in chapter 22 means to believe his word fully and absolutely and to be loyal to his directives. In a nearby bush a ram is caught by its horns. Actually the Hebrew says “another ram.” Ancient and modern versions have missed the point when they render “a ram” or “a ram behind him.” Isaac was the first ram. Here is the second one. Abraham calls the name of this place “The Lord will provide.” The name he chooses does not draw attention to himself but to ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... event is comparable to one in David’s life. He too has many sons, but only one daughter, Tamar, who is also sexually violated (2 Samuel 13). The criminal is Shechem, son of Hamor. He is called a Hivite in verse 2. An ancient version of the Bible renders this as “Horite” (i.e., Hurrian), showing perhaps that the original settlers of Shechem were Hurrians. Jacob’s sons (but not Jacob himself) are understandably incensed. Hamor attempts to appease them with the offer of peaceful co­existence. One more ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... themselves for a maximum of six years (their land could not be used as collateral on debts since God owned the land). Since the whole nation has once been slaves in Egypt, but were redeemed by the Lord, they too must act accordingly (15:15). Some versions, such as the KJV and NIV, translate in verse 18 “double” or “twice,” but here (and in Jer. 16:18) the Hebrew word means “an equivalent,” since the slave has saved the master six years of wages. The topic of the firstborn, which was raised in ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... 10). These deathbed blessings played a key role in the Near East and were valid in a court of law even though they were given orally and often were in a poetic form, which makes their interpretation and translation quite difficult (cf. the various Bible versions for somewhat different translations of this chapter). Moses begins by likening the coming of God on Mount Sinai to a glorious sunrise (33:2), attended by myriads from his heavenly armies. Just as the Song of Moses (32:1–43) pictures a bleak future ...
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