Thematic Bible: Agency


Thematic Bible



For God gives his word in one way, even in two, and man is not conscious of it: In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep comes on men, while they take their rest on their beds; Then he makes his secrets clear to men, so that they are full of fear at what they see; read more.
In order that man may be turned from his evil works, and that pride may be taken away from him; To keep back his soul from the underworld, and his life from destruction. Pain is sent on him as a punishment, while he is on his bed; there is no end to the trouble in his bones; He has no desire for food, and his soul is turned away from delicate meat; His flesh is so wasted away, that it may not be seen, and his bones. ... And his soul comes near to the underworld, and his life to the angels of death. If now there may be an angel sent to him, one of the thousands which there are to be between him and God, and to make clear to man what is right for him; And if he has mercy on him, and says, Let him not go down to the underworld, I have given the price for his life: Then his flesh becomes young again, and he comes back to the days of his early strength; He makes his prayer to God, and he has mercy on him; he sees God's face with cries of joy; he gives news of his righteousness to men; He makes a song, saying, I did wrong, turning from the straight way, but he did not give me the reward of my sin. He kept my soul from the underworld, and my life sees the light in full measure. Truly, God does all these things to man, twice and three times, Keeping back his soul from the underworld, so that he may see the light of life.

You have made clear your strength even out of the mouths of babies at the breast, because of those who are against you; so that you may put to shame the cruel and violent man.


You are the salt of the earth; but if its taste goes from the salt, how will you make it salt again? it is then good for nothing but to be put out and crushed under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A town put on a hill may be seen by all. And a burning light is not put under a vessel, but on its table; so that its rays may be shining on all who are in the house. read more.
Even so let your light be shining before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

And he will go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, turning the hearts of fathers to their children, and wrongdoers to the way of righteousness; to make ready a people whose hearts have been turned to the Lord.

And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were working with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Have no fear; from this time forward you will be a fisher of men.




For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honour, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: read more.
So that no flesh might have glory before God.


Which may be seen in the good news of the glory of the great God, which was given into my care.




I will be to him a father and he will be to me a son: if he does wrong, I will give him punishment with the rod of men and with the blows of the children of men;


And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me to put the holy oil on you and to make you king over his people, over Israel: so give ear now to the words of the Lord. The Lord of armies says, I will give punishment to Amalek for what he did to Israel, fighting against him on the way when Israel came out of Egypt. Go now and put Amalek to the sword, putting to the curse all they have, without mercy: put to death every man and woman, every child and baby at the breast, every ox and sheep, camel and ass. read more.
And Saul sent for the people and had them numbered in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to the town of Amalek, and took up his position in the valley secretly. And Saul said to the Kenites, Go away, take yourselves out from among the Amalekites, or destruction will overtake you with them: for you were kind to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. So the Kenites went away from among the Amalekites. And Saul made an attack on the Amalekites from Havilah on the road to Shur, which is before Egypt. He took Agag, king of the Amalekites, prisoner, and put all the people to the sword without mercy. But Saul and the people did not put Agag to death, and they kept the best of the sheep and the oxen and the fat beasts and the lambs, and whatever was good, not desiring to put them to the curse: but everything which was bad and of no use they put to the curse. Then the Lord said to Samuel, It is no longer my pleasure for Saul to be king; for he is turned back from going in my ways, and has not done my orders. And Samuel was very sad, crying to the Lord in prayer all night. And early in the morning he got up and went to Saul; and word was given to Samuel that Saul had come to Carmel and put up a pillar, and had gone from there down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, May the blessing of the Lord be with you: I have done what was ordered by the Lord. And Samuel said, What then is this sound of the crying of sheep and the noise of oxen which comes to my ears? And Saul said, They have taken them from the Amalekites: for the people have kept the best of the sheep and of the oxen as an offering to the Lord your God; all the rest we have given up to destruction. Then Samuel said to Saul, Say no more! Let me give you word of what the Lord has said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on. And Samuel said, Though you may seem little to yourself, are you not head of the tribes of Israel? for the Lord with the holy oil made you king over Israel, And the Lord sent you on a journey and said, Go and put to the curse those sinners, the Amalekites, fighting against them till every one is dead. Why then did you not do the orders of the Lord, but by violently taking their goods did evil in the eyes of the Lord?

And he got up and went into the house; then he put the holy oil on his head and said to him, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, I have made you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. You are to see that the family of Ahab your master is cut off, so that I may take from Jezebel payment for the blood of my servants the prophets, and for the blood of all the servants of the Lord.

Has it not come to your ears how I did it long before, purposing it in times long past? Now I have given effect to my design, so that by you strong towns might be turned into masses of broken walls. This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field and the green plant, like grass on the house-tops.

Now by the purpose of God, Ahaziah's journey to see Jehoram was the cause of his downfall: for when he came there, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu, the son of Nimshi, who had been marked out by the Lord for the destruction of the family of Ahab.


Ho! Assyrian, the rod of my wrath, the instrument of my punishment! I will send him against a nation of wrongdoers, and against the people of my wrath I will give him orders, to take their wealth in war, crushing them down like the dust in the streets.

They come from a far country, from the farthest part of heaven, even the Lord and the instruments of his wrath, with destruction for all the land.

See, I will make you like a new grain-crushing instrument with teeth, crushing the mountains small, and making the hills like dry stems.

And it will come about, that if any nation does not become a servant to this same Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and does not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, then I will send punishment on that nation, says the Lord, by the sword and need of food and by disease, till I have given them into his hands.

You are my fighting axe and my instrument of war: with you the nations will be broken; with you kingdoms will be broken; With you the horse and the horseman will be broken; with you the war-carriage and he who goes in it will be broken; With you man and woman will be broken; with you the old man and the boy will be broken; with you the young man and the virgin will be broken; read more.
With you the keeper of sheep with his flock will be broken, and with you the farmer and his oxen will be broken, and with you captains and rulers will be broken.


Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain