[su_accordion][su_spoiler title=”Author’s Note” style=”fancy”]My neighbor and I are writing short columns for our monthly ward (congregation) newsletter, focusing on the Old Testament and related scripture in 2014. Here’s one of my “short takes,” as previously published there..[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Read with Your Mind
- Slow down. We’re to learn and experience, not check a box or win a race. Read aloud sometimes, to force yourself to slow down and make sense of words and syntax.
- Consult footnotes for different shades of meanings in Hebrew and insights from the Joseph Smith Translation (JST).
- Other books of scripture are the best commentaries on the Old Testament. See how Old Testament passages are quoted and explained elsewhere in scripture.
- Use Bible maps and the Bible Dictionary to put people and events in historical and geographical context.
- If you don’t know a word, look it up. (This will not always help. King James’ English is centuries older than your dictionary.)
- Remember, we’re reading a translation. No translation – no human language, really – is perfect.
Read with Your Heart
- The people in the Old Testament are real people leading real lives in the present tense. Put yourself in their shoes. Consider how your own experience might be like theirs.
Read with the Spirit
- Ask prayerfully for insight and understanding when you read. Gratefully welcome the Spirit when it comes and any insight it communicates. When it doesn’t come, study and ponder anyway.
