Congratulations on starting TODAY on a life-transforming journey! The Digging Deeper Daily plan will help you be successful in your commitment to read the whole Bible in a year. The unique order of the readings— together with the brief devotional notes, will help you see the various threads that unify the message of the Old and the New Testaments. I hope these notes will help you remember what you have read the day before, and hint at the deep and incredibly rich treasures in God’s Word. But the most satisfying treasures that you find this year will be the ones you dig to discover for yourself! Check out the ‘Shovels’ page of dailybiblereading.info for tools to help you go deeper in your study. Please also check out our free dedicated listening apps for your smart device by searching for the DailyBibleReading podcast in the app store or play store.

GENESIS 1-2:
The first five books of the Bible are the Jewish Torah, and the Bible refers to them collectively as ‘the Law’. Many other books in the Bible attribute the authorship of these five books to Moses. Genesis is the foundational book of the whole Bible. When we were in our first Bible translation project among the Orya in Papua, Indonesia, I witnessed how getting a little detail of the foundation wrong (such as, how the first sin happened) can wreck the whole building that is being constructed. This book of Genesis tells us what God wants us to know about the beginning of our world, the beginning of sin, mankind’s rebellion against God, and who God and Satan are.

JOB 1:
The story of Job is set in the period of the patriarch Abraham, and it takes place in the land of the East. What I did not realize until recently is that signs indicate that this book was written at a later time and almost certainly by an Israelite. By the author writing that Job was “the richest man in the East”, it places the author in the West, in the land of Israel. The author frequently uses the name of ‘Yahweh’, which I think would not have been done in Abraham’s time— which was long before God’s name was revealed to Moses at the burning bush. The author was a highly educated man. All of the book— except the first two chapters, are in exquisite poetry. The author displays an in-depth knowledge of mythology, the constellations, and the current wisdom concerning the world— including the underworld and traits of exotic animals. I might as well say it: The philosophy of this book is worthy of Solomon.

Whoever he is, the author displays incredible wisdom. One would expect an ancient book that is didactic in nature to end with a neat answer that sums up the author’s opinion. Or one would expect an ancient author to create a debate where the hero is totally right and the other speakers are clearly wrong. Instead, all the human speakers in the book of Job mix truth and error. It is a mark of inspired wisdom that in the end, the book of Job leaves us still pondering and searching for some answers.

MARK 1a:
Due to the 400 word limit for the YouVersion Devotional Content pages, the introduction to Mark is given on Day 2.

GNT Translation notes:
1 This is the Good News about [Christ Jesus//Jesus Christ], the Son of God.

[The order in Greek here is ‘Jesus Christ’, and sometimes the Greek puts the order the other way around. I will consistently read ‘Christ Jesus’. Here is the reason I do this: Although it has become natural for us to say ‘Jesus Christ’, it is actually against English grammar. ‘Christ’ is a title. And in English, titles (such as president, doctor, or ambassador) always come first. The reason why I point this out is this: I have found people who think that ‘Christ’ is Jesus’ last name. The title ‘Christ’ (from Greek) means exactly the same thing as Messiah (from Hebrew). Both mean ‘anointed one’.

You will notice that I read many Bible names in a strange way. I read them with a more phonetic pronunciation— which in fact, is more like how the Indonesian language and many others read them. This allows me to be more consistent in my pronunciation, and it also happens to be more like the Hebrew and Greek pronunciations. English pronunciations for some names is quite far from the source language pronunciations. An example from today is the name Isaiah, which I pronounce as ‘Yesayah’.]

6 John wore clothes made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food [included//was] locusts and wild honey.

For more information about the features of this reading plan, please see the ‘ReadMe’ PDF file linked in the header of http://dailygntbiblereading .info.

You will note that I read most Bible names phonetically— rather than the using normal English pronunciation. This means that the letter A will have a consistent sound ‘ah’ and the letter I will be pronounced ‘ee’. This happens to match Indonesian pronunciations and that of many other languages. This also makes the pronunciation more like that of the source languages, Hebrew and Greek.

GENESIS 3-4:
In chapter 2 of Genesis, we saw that Eve was created and introduced to Adam. And the pair at the end of the chapter were “naked and not embarrassed/unashamed.” As I said in yesterday’s introduction, I have seen first-hand in my work in Indonesia that when a people group misunderstands and twists the story in Genesis 1-3, it will have far-reaching consequences for their lives. In the case of the Orya people, twisting the story of the fall caused much suffering and misery among families.

JOB 2:
At the close of chapter 1 of Job, Job had lost virtually everything he had, including his possessions, livestock, and children. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”

MARK 1b:
Mark does not specifically identify himself as the author, but the church fathers unanimously say that the John Mark mentioned several times in the New Testament was the author. Mark was a companion of Peter, so the eyewitness content in this book is that of Peter.

I previously held a view based on internal evidence and made popular in the 20th century that Mark was the first Gospel to be written, with Matthew and Luke using Mark’s record as a resource. But now I think that the testimony of the church fathers is more likely to be true: Matthew and Luke were written before this Gospel, and Mark transcribed what Peter taught about the life of Jesus, either shortly before or after Peter’s martyrdom in Rome— which happened somewhere between 64-67 AD. 

If Mark wrote this account in Rome, that would help to explain why he gives background information to some Jewish customs that would have been unknown to his Roman readers, and why he doesn’t include teachings of Jesus which were based on the Jewish Scriptures and religion. Instead he tells us the plain story of Jesus and his miracles, so that the reader finds out who Jesus is.

Yesterday in chapter 1 of Mark, Jesus was baptized by John, called his first disciples, and cast out an evil spirit from a man in a synagogue.

GNT Translation note:
Gen. 3:15 I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel.”

[Verse 15 has several translational difficulties. When you find a place where you would like to understand why translation differ, I recommend looking at Lumina.bible.org and reading  the notes to the NET.]

GENESIS 5-6:
In chapter 3 of Genesis, the Lord gave his judgment against the serpent. God talked about the woman’s offspring (which is a collective singular noun) when speaking to the serpent, and said, “her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's[c] heel.” This is the very first prophecy looking forward to a Messiah and Redeemer who will crush Satan’s head. Just before that, there is another picture worth noting: God provided clothes for the man and woman made from animal skins. This is the first hint of the sacrificial system that prefigures Christ.

JOB 3:
Today we read Job’s first speech. In the Bible— and especially in Job and the Psalms, we find out that God thoroughly understands and takes into account the fact that humans suffer. This is shown in the fact that such deep expressions of suffering are found in God’s Word— right from the earliest writings.

MARK 2:
Yesterday in the second half of Mark 1, we read of Jesus miraculously healing people in Capernaum, and his refusing to stay only there. He preached and cast out demons all over the region of Galilee. The healing of the man with leprosy is notable because of the exchange between Jesus and that man, and also the results of the man’s not following Jesus’ instructions.

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How can you get more out of your Bible reading this year? My top advice is to SLOW DOWN! The readings in this plan take around 20 minutes if read aloud. If you read silently, you might finish in only 10 minutes. But if you skim through like that, you won’t retain very much! I suggest these two ways to slow down:

1. Read out loud to yourself. Read expressively. When you find that your first attempt didn’t quite have the right intonation, go back and read the sentence again. Take time to think about— and pray about, what you have just read.
2. Read along while listening to the Daily Bible Reading Podcast. This will definitely slow you down. And one extra advantage is that each podcast ends with a short prayer that is aimed at helping you apply what you have just read.

The landing page at http://dailybiblereading.info gives various ways to conveniently listen to the podcasts using any kind of smart device.

GNT Translation notes:
Job 3:19 Everyone is there (in the world of the dead), the famous and the unknown, and slaves at last are free.

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Mrk. 2:5 Seeing how much [they believed in him (or, that Jesus could heal the man)//faith they had], Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” [I will make this modification frequently and will explain it soon in the translation notes.]

15 Later on Jesus was having a meal in Levi's house.[a] [Many tax collectors and other outcasts were//A large number of tax collectors and other outcasts was] following Jesus, and many of them joined him and his disciples at the table.

18 On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting. … [This makes it sound like they were friends and doing this together. So in Indonesia we translated like this: 18 On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist were fasting, and the Pharisees were fasting also.]

[In most languages of the world— and really even in English, it is ungrammatical to talk of oneself in the third person using ‘he/his or a title. I will consistently modify most places like this one to show that Jesus was talking about himself. I do this partly because many second-language speakers of English listen to these podcasts, and it also makes the meaning clearer even for native English speakers.]

28 So [I— as the Son of Man, am// the Son of Man is] Lord even of the Sabbath.”

GENESIS 7-8:
In Genesis 5, we heard the overview of the descendants of Adam and Eve up to Noah. In chapter 6, Noah was further introduced. Also the reason for the flood was explained.

JOB 4:
In chapter 3 Job cursed the day he was born and expressed his deep misery.

Remember that in the speeches of Job’s three friends we will see a mixture of truth and error. In particular, we should not follow Eliphaz’s example in today’s chapter. The Bible tells us repeatedly that we are not to trust or listen to communication from spirits. We will read the second chapter of Eliphaz’ response tomorrow.

MARK 3:
In Mark 2, Jesus shocked his listeners by first forgiving a paralyzed man’s sins before actually healing the man’s body. And in three other events in chapter 2 we can see the beginnings of the conflict between Jesus and the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees.

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Be curious! When you find something in the Bible that brings up a question, there usually are good answers. Check out the Shovels page at http://dailybiblereading.info.

 I invite you to share the treasures you find, and your questions with the Digging Deeper Daily online community. See the Sharing Together page at dailybiblereading.info.

GNT Translation notes:

Job 4:17 “Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God
   or be pure before his Creator? [Of course not!]
19 Do you think he will trust a creature of clay [like you],
  a thing of dust that can be crushed like a moth?

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Mrk. 3:19 and Judas [the man from Cariot//Iscariot], who betrayed Jesus.

22 Some teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem were saying, “He has Beelzebul in him! It is the chief of the demons who gives him the power to drive [demons//them] out.”

27 “No one can break into a strong man's house [like Satan’s dominion] and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.

[Many times the rhetorical questions of Jesus can be misunderstood, and in many languages it is better to translate them as statements, as I have done here:]

33 Jesus answered, “[I’ll tell you who my mother is. And I will show you who my brothers are!//Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?]”

GENESIS 11-12:
Yesterday in Genesis 9-10, we heard the story of Noah's drunkenness and his curse on Canaan because of it (which really wasn't very fair since it was his father Ham who actually caused the offense to Noah while he was drunk, and because Ham also had other sons). After that, however, we heard about Noah's descendants.

JOB 6:
In chapter 5 of Job, Eliphaz continued to imply that Job had sinned:

Job 5:6 NLT Evil does not grow in the soil,
   nor does trouble grow out of the ground.
7 No indeed! We bring trouble on ourselves,
   as surely as sparks fly up from a fire.

Eliphaz’ main point in that chapter was that Job would be forgiven and blessed if he repented, as he said in v. 17-18:

17 Happy is the person whom God corrects!
   Do not resent it when he rebukes you.
18 God bandages the wounds he makes;
   his hand hurts you, and his hand heals.

There is truth in what Eliphaz says, and a similar statement to verse
17 is found in James 1.

MARK 4b:

Chapter 4 is the parable chapter of Mark, and today we read the second half. The Parable about the Different Kinds of Soil is in all three synoptic Gospels— which are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. That parable holds deep meaning that one never really grows out of. Each time you hear it, new facets come to light, and every believer should meditate on what kind of soil they are most like at the present time.

This is a good place to note this: Rhetorical questions were often used by Jesus to start a new topic in his teaching, and at the end of chapter 4, he used two rhetorical questions to give a mild rebuke to the disciples. In many of the world’s languages, people don’t use rhetorical questions for starting a new topic, but most languages seem to use questions for rebuking.