This verse concludes Jesus’ farewell discourse with his disciples and immediately precedes his prayer for himself, the disciples, and all believers in chapter 17. Jesus says that we can have peace because he will send the Holy Spirit to dwell […]

This was the response of the crippled beggar who was the beneficiary of Peter’s first miracle. It is striking that Peter’s second sermon and first miracle took place in the temple, the location of God’s presence and the forgiveness of […]

Psalm 130 is a song of lament in which the psalmist cries out to God in distress. Whereas many if not most of the psalms of lament deal equally with physical as well as spiritual concerns, here the focus is […]

The people of Israel rejoiced on the day they rebuilt the wall around the city of Jerusalem. Here as elsewhere in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah God was the source of the people’s joy. Nehemiah emphasizes that God enabled […]

This proverb is part of a large section of the book that identifies foolishness in order to contrast it with true wisdom. The consequences of foolishness are quite serious, and even have physical consequences. The previous verse states that a […]