Zechariah 6:1-6 annotated

Zechariah 6:1-6 (NJB)

In the second year of Darius, in the eighth month, the word of Yahweh was addressed to the prophet Zechariah (son of Berechiah), son of Iddo, as follows, Yahweh was deeply angry with your ancestors. So say this to them, "Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Return to me -- Yahweh Sabaoth declares -- and I will return to you, says Yahweh Sabaoth. Do not be like your ancestors when the prophets in the past cried to them: Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Turn Back from your evil ways and evil deeds -- they would not listen or pay attention to me -- Yahweh declares. Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live for ever?  But did not my words and statutes, with which I had charged my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors just the same?" ' So they repented and said, 'Yahweh Sabaoth has treated us as he resolved to do, and as our ways and deeds deserved.'

Return, pay attention, and repented= שׁוּב= shuwb

to return, turn back; repent; turn; to restore, refresh, repair; recall, recompense, recover; reverse; turn about; to turn oneself; restore

evil= רַע = ra`

bad; disagreeable; malignant; giving pain, unhappiness, misery; unkind (vicious in disposition); wicked (ethically); evil((-favouredness); deformed; badness, especially in an ethical sense; malice

listen= שָׁמַע= shama`

to hear, listen to, obey; give heed; yield to; to obey, be obedient; to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc....); consent, consider

pay attention= קָשַׁב= qashab

to hear, be attentive, heed, incline (of ears), attend (of ears), hearken, pay attention, listen; hearken; to attend to anything

Joel 2:12-17 annotated

Joel 2:12-17 (NJB)

'But now -- declares Yahweh- come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning.' Tear  your hearts and not your clothes, and come back to Yahweh your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, and he relents about inflicting disaster. ¹⁴Who knows if he will not come back, relent and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a libation to be presented to Yahweh your God?

¹⁵Blow the ram's-horn in Zion! Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, ¹⁶call the people together, summon the community, assemble the elders, gather the children, even infants at the breast! Call the bridegroom from his bedroom and the bride from her bower! ¹⁷Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, stand weeping between portico and altar, saying, 'Spare your people, Yahweh! Do not expose your heritage to the contempt, to the sarcasm of the nations! Why give the peoples cause to say, "Where is their God?" ' 

come back= שׁוּב= shuwb

to return, turn back; to turn back (to God), repent; turn back (from evil); to restore, refresh, repair; recall, recompense, recover; reverse; turn about; to turn oneself; restore

all= כֹּל = kol

all, the whole of; totality, everything; all, any or every; of all kinds, every sort; altogether

heart and hearts= לֵבָב = lebab

inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding; mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory; inclination, resolution, determination (of will); seat of appetites; seat of emotions and passions; mode of thinking and acting; will and purpose; intellect

fasting=צוֹם= tsowm; from tsuwm = צוּם

to cover over (the mouth); “the primary idea lies in the mouth being shut;” to abstain from food, fast; 

weeping= בְּכִי = Bĕkiy

to make a great lamentation

mourning= מִסְפֵּד = micped

wailing; a lamentation

tear= קָרַע = qara`

tear in pieces; rend asunder; to rend, literally or figuratively

gracious= חַנּוּן = channuwn

merciful, benignant 

compassionate= רַחוּם = rachuwm; from רָחַם = racham

to love, love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion; pity; to love; to behold with tenderest affection; the primary idea seems to be in cherishing, soothing, and in a gentle emotion of the mind

faithful love= חֶסֶד = checed

goodness, kindness, faithfulness; mercy, pity; benevolence; grace, favor

weeping= בָּכָה = bakah

bewail, cry, shed tears; to weep (in grief, humiliation); make lamentation; mourn

Jeremiah 29:12-14 annotated

Jeremiah 29:12-14 (NJB)

When you call to me and come and pray to me, I shall listen to you. When you search for me, you will find me; when you search wholeheartedly for me, I shall let you find me (Yahweh declares. I shall restore your fortunes and gather you in from all the nations and wherever I have driven you, Yahweh declares. I shall bring you back to the place from which I exiled you).

call= קָרָא = qara'

to call unto, cry (for help); the idea of accosting a person met; cried out aloud; call upon

come= הָלַךְ = halak

to go; proceed, move; enter; follow; go along; to go with, have intercourse with; to go after; pursue; to follow ant manner of life; to go forward in anything

pray= פָּלַל= palal

to intervene, interpose, pray; to intercede; intreat; make supplication

listen= שָׁמַע= shama`

to hear, listen to; to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention ....); consider

search= בָּקַשׁ= baqash

to seek, require, desire, exact, request; to seek to find; to seek the face; to ask, request; to search out; to strive after:—ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire; to examine; to entreat, to supplicate

search= דָּרַשׁ= darash

to resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require; to seek deity in prayer and worship; to practice, study, follow, seek with application; to follow (for pursuit or search); diligently, inquire, make inquisition; to learn, to study: frequent; apply oneself; to take care for

find= מָצָא= matsa'

secure, acquire, get (thing sought); to meet, encounter; to detect; to be in the possession of; to cause to find, attain; to receive; to wish to find; to be acquired by

wholeheartedly= כֹּל = kol

all, the whole of; totality, everything; all, any or every; of all kinds, every sort; altogether

restore= שׁוּב= shuwb

to return, turn back; to restore, refresh, repair; to bring back, make requital, pay (as recompense); the idea of return to the starting point; cease; convert; rescue, restore, retrieve; reverse; take back; withdraw; to turn oneself; revoke, make void

gather= קָבַץ= qabats

to gather, assemble; collect; congregate

2 Chronicles 7:13-15 annotated

2 Chronicles 7:13-15 (NJB)

If  ... I send pestilence  among my people,if my people who bear my name humble themselves,and pray and seek my presence and turn from their wicked ways, then I will listen from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their country. Now and for the future my eyes are open and my ears attentive to prayer offered in this place

pestilence= דֶּבֶר= deber

plague

humble= כָּנַע= kana`

submit oneself; bow down; be subdued, be brought down, be low, be under, be brought into subjection; to bend the knee; to be low, depressed in spirit 

pray= פָּלַל= palal

to intervene, interpose, pray; to intercede; intreat; make supplication

seek= בָּקַשׁ= baqash

to seek, require, desire, exact, request; to seek to find; to seek the face; to ask, request; to search out; to strive after:—ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire; to examine; to entreat, to supplicate

presence= פָּנִים= paniym

face; person; countenance

turn, restore= שׁוּב= shuwb

to return, turn back; to restore, refresh, repair; to bring back, make requital, pay (as recompense); the idea of return to the starting point; cease; convert; rescue, restore, retrieve; reverse; take back; withdraw; to turn oneself; revoke, make void

wicked= רַע= ra`

bad, evil; malignant; giving pain, unhappiness, misery; unkind (vicious in disposition); wicked (ethically); evil((-favouredness); deformed; badness, especially in an ethical sense; malice

listen= שָׁמַע = shama`

to hear, listen to; to hear with attention or interest, listen to; give heed; to hear intelligently; give ear; to understand things heard; 

prayer= תְּפִלָּה= tĕphillah

intercession, supplication; entreaty; hymn, sacred song

forgive= סָלַח= calach

to forgive, pardon; spare; to show oneself gentle

Deuteronomy 4:29-31 annotated

Deuteronomy 4:29-31 (NJB)

If, however, from there you start searching  once more for Yahweh your God, and if you search  for him honestly and sincerely, you will find  him. You will suffer; everything I have said will befall you, but in the final days you will return to Yahweh your God and listen  to his voice. For Yahweh your God is a merciful God and will not desert or destroy you or forget the covenant which he made on oath with your ancestors.

searching= בָּקַשׁ= baqash

to seek, require, desire, exact, request; to seek to find; to seek the face; to ask, request; to search out; to strive after:—ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire; to examine; to entreat, to supplicate

search= דָּרַשׁ= darash

to resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require; to seek deity in prayer and worship; to practice, study, follow, seek with application; to follow (for pursuit or search); diligently, inquire, make inquisition; to learn, to study: frequent; apply oneself; to take care for

honestly and sincerely= כֹּל= kol

all, the whole of; totality, everything; any or every; altogether

find= מָצָא= matsa'

secure, acquire, get (thing sought); to meet, encounter; to detect; to be in the possession of; to cause to find, attain; to receive; to wish to find; to be acquired by

suffer= צַר= tsar

straits, distress; a tight place (usually figuratively, i.e. trouble); anguish, distress; trouble; sorrow, tribulation

return= שׁוּב= shuwb

to return, turn back; to turn back (to God), repent; turn back (from evil); to restore, refresh, repair; recall, recompense, recover; reverse; turn about; to turn oneself; restore

listen= שָׁמַע= shama`

to hear, listen to, obey; give heed; yield to; to obey, be obedient; to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc....); consent, consider

merciful= רַחוּם= rachuwm; from racham=  רָחַם

to love, love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion; pity; cherishing

John 13:12-17 annotated

John 13:12-17 (NJB)

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments again he went back to the table. 'Do you understand', he said, 'what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you must wash each other's feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you. 'In all truth I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, no messenger is greater than the one who sent him.' Now that you know this, blessed are you if you behave accordingly.

understand= γινώσκω = ginōskō

to be taking in knowledge, to come to know, recognize, understand, or to understand completely;in its past tenses it frequently means to know in the sense of realizing; indicates a relation between the person "knowing" and the object known; in this respect, what is "known" is of value or importance to the one who knows; suggests approval and bears the meaning to be approved;to know by observation and experience

example= ὑπόδειγμα = hypodeigma

an example for imitation; that which is shown; representation, figure, copy; an exhibit for imitation or warning (figuratively, specimen, adumbration); a sign suggestive of anything

Romans 15:1-6 annotated

Romans 15:1-6 (NJB)

It is for us who are strong to bear with the susceptibilities of the weaker ones, and not please ourselves. Each of us must consider his neighbour's good, so that we support one another. Christ did not indulge his own feelings, either; indeed, as scripture says: The insults of those who insult you fall on me. And all these things which were written so long ago were written so that we, learning perseverance and the encouragement which the scriptures give, should have hope. Now the God of perseverance and encouragement give you all the same purpose, following the example of Christ Jesus, so that you may together give glory to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one heart.

bear= βαστάζω = bastazo

to bear what is burdensome;to take up; carry; to sustain, i.e. uphold, support; endure

consider= ἀρέσκω = aresko

to render service, doing so evilly in one's own interests; to accommodate one's self to the opinions desires and interests of others

good= ἀγαθός = agathos

benefit; beneficial in its effect;useful, salutary; pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy; upright, free from guile; benevolent, kind, generous,beneficent;convenience, advantage

support= οἰκοδομή = oikodome

edify; build up; the act of one who promotes another's growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, holiness; what contributes to edification, or augments wisdom, etc.

perseverance= ὑπομονή = hypomone

patience; remaining under; steadfastness, constancy, endurance; the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings; cheerful (or hopeful) endurance

encouragement= παράκλησις = paraklesis

calling to one's side; an exhortation, or consolation, comfort;encouragement with alleviation of grief; that which affords comfort or refreshment

hope= ἐλπίς = elpis

favorable and confident expectation; to anticipate, usually with pleasure; joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation

1 Corinthians 1-:23-34, 52-15:1 annotated

1 Corinthians 10:23-24, 32-15:1 (NJB)

'Everything is permissible'; maybe so, but not everything does good. True, everything is permissible, but not everything builds people up. Nobody should be looking for selfish advantage, but everybody for someone else's.

***

Never be a cause for offence, either to Jews or to Greeks or to the Church of God, just as I try to accommodate everybody in everything, not looking for my own advantage, but for the advantage of everybody else, so that they may be saved. Take me as your pattern, just as I take Christ for mine.

good, advantage= συμφέρω =symphero

to bring together; to be an advantage, profitable, expedient (not merely 'convenient'); to carry with others; to collect or contribute in order to help; to bear together or at the same time

builds people up= οἰκοδομέω = oikodomeo

used metaphorically, in the sense of "edifying," promoting the spiritual growth and development of character of believers, by teaching or by example, suggesting such spiritual progress as the result of patient labor; to build (up from the foundation); to restore by building, to rebuild, repair; by action, instruction, exhortation, comfort, promot[ing] the Christian wisdom of others and help them to live a correspondent life

looking for= ζητέω = zeteo

to seek after, endeavor;inquire for; metaphorically, to "seek" by thinking, to "seek" how to do something;strive after, desire; to seek (i. e. in order to find out) by thinking, meditating, reasoning; to inquire into

someone else's= ἕτερος = heteros

the other; another: i.e. one not of the same nature, form, class, kind, different; any other person whatever, stands for 'the other affected by the action in question'

Never be a cause for offence=ἀπρόσκοπος = aproskopos

not causing to stumble; refraining from doing anything to lead astray; not leading others to sin by one's mode of life; inoffensive

accommodate= ἀρέσκω = aresko

to be pleasing to, be acceptable to; to endeavor to please; to render service;to accommodate one's self to the opinions desires and interests of others

saved= σῴζω = sozo

to heal; to make whole; the idea is that of saving from disease and its effects; restoration to health; material and temporal deliverance from danger, suffering, etc.; to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction; to preserve one who is in danger of destruction, to save or rescue; to make well, heal, restore to health;to bring safe forth from

Matthew 11:28-30 annotated

Matthew 11:28-30 (NJB)

Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.  Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.

Come= δεῦτε = deute

Follow; come hither, come here, come; interjection, come!, come now! 

to= πρός = pros

to, towards, with; motion towards, accession to, or nearness; the goal ... toward which a movement is directed; metaphorically, of mental direction, with words denoting desires and emotions of the mind;it is used of close proximity; the relation or close connection entered (or to be entered) into by one person with another; at, near, hard by, denoting close local proximity

rest= ἀναπαύω = anapauō

to cause or permit one to cease from any movement or labour in order to recover and collect his strength; indicative of unnecessary, self-indulgent relaxation; to refresh; an agricultural term, e.g., of giving land "rest" by sowing light crops upon it; to keep quiet, of calm and patient expectation; take ease

Shoulder= αἴρω = airō

to raise up, to lift, to take upon oneself and carry what has been raised; hoisting up; lift; draw up; to bear; to raise from the ground; to bear away what has been raised, carry off

yoke= ζυγός = zygos

serving to couple two things together; a coupling

learn= μανθάνω = manthanō

to increase one's knowledge; to learn by inquiry, or observation; to ascertain; to learn by use and practice, to acquire the habit of, be accustomed to; be informed; to understand

gentle= πραΰς = prays

mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness

humble= ταπεινός = tapeinos

that which is low, and does not rise far from the ground; deferring servilely to others

easy= χρηστός = chrēstos

fit for use, able to be used; good, virtuous, mild, pleasant; kind, gracious; manageable; kind, benevolent; useful

light= ἐλαφρός =elaphros

light in weight, easy to bear