Dear Church Family,

If you didn’t get a chance to join us during our Facebook Live prayer time Sunday afternoon, please mark your calendar for the next one, which will be the first Sunday of the month at 5 pm. It is a great time of sharing our hearts and lifting up our concerns to the LORD. Thank you for praying for our trips to Juarez and Eastern Europe, as well as our students at camp this week in Crockett, TX. We had some 120 there.

Also, I want to thank you for praying about giving to Texans on Mission for the flood relief and to help with our Preschool renovation.  Well, I have another interesting devotional I read this week. Hope it encourages you:

Bible translations are wonderful gifts of God to us, but even the best translation cannot bring out all the nuances of the original language. Nor can translations use the same English word, on every occasion, to represent the original Hebrew or Greek word.

‎For instance, the Hebrew verb דבק (davaq) is rendered cleave, cling, stick, hold fast, keep close, joined, pursue closely, and adhere in English Bibles. This is fine. This is how translation works. The drawback is that sometimes, when the word is used in a similar context, and a play on words is intended, the translation renders it into two or even three different English words. Then the connection is easily missed.

In Deuteronomy ⁦‪28:21‬⁩ and 28:60, two of the curses that will befall Israel if they are unfaithful to the covenant are that pestilence will “stick” to them and the diseases of Egypt will “cling” to them (ESV). In Hebrew, both verbs are דבק.

‎In contrast, in Deuteronomy ⁦‪30:20‬⁩, after summing up the curses and blessings, Moses says that Israel is to “hold fast” to Yahweh. Once more, this is the verb דבק. In the ESV translation of these chapters, the same Hebrew verb is rendered three different ways in English (stick, cling, hold fast), thereby depriving the English reader of understanding that a clear contrast is being set up: “Either דבק (stick to) Yahweh or the curses will דבק (stick to) you.”

‎Whether you know Hebrew or not, you all know a verse where this verb occurs: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and דבק to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. ⁦‪2:24‬⁩). He shall hold fast to her, cleave to her, stick to her, and she to him. In fact, in modern Hebrew, the noun form דֶּבֶק  (devek) refers to glue or adhesive.

‎Just as a husband and wife דבק to one another, so the Lord calls us to דבק to him, even as he has דבק to us in Christ.

Press on,

Mark