God responds to our complaint about His response to our question

God responds to our complaint about His response to our question. The answer does matter to us. At least, it should. It may tell us something about what happens to us when, not if, we do the same thing.

I need to put a side note in here. The AI check of my grammar, spelling, and such flagged the use of the word “may”. It’s apparently a weasel word, indicating a lack of confidence. But here’s the thing about my choice of “may”. “May” is the correct word! We can’t always judge an event from what happened in the past.

To us, God’s not predictable. Not because God is capricious and inconsistent. Not at all. However, God is beyond our understanding. Therefore, it’s not that God isn’t sure how He would react. Rather, it’s our lack of full knowledge on any situation that prevents us from always knowing how God will respond to something.

So, three lessons come from this. 1) God is consistent. 2) We don’t know everything. 3) AI isn’t always right.
BTW – if you notice the airplane in the sky in the image, it’s proof AI isn’t always right!

I need to put a note in here about the Divine Justice explanation above. The summary was AI generated. The idea that “evil is ultimately addressed through faith” requires an explanation. It’s not technically wrong, but it’s only truly correct if we understand the point of view from which it is derived.

I asked the AI engine how it came to that conclusion. Since it generally comes up with responses based on how people think, I didn’t just dismiss the statement without knowing where it came from. Here’s why it came to that conclusion:

The concept of evil being ultimately addressed through faith comes from the central theological theme in the article: God’s sovereignty and justice.

In Habakkuk’s dialogue with God, he wrestles with the reality of evil, questioning why injustice seems to prevail. God responds by assuring Habakkuk that judgment will come at the appointed time, even if it seems delayed from a human perspective. This aligns with the broader biblical message that evil is not ignored but dealt with according to God’s perfect timing—sometimes through historical events, sometimes through spiritual conviction, and ultimately in divine judgment.

A key verse from Habakkuk, Habakkuk 2:4 says, “but the righteous will live by his faith.” This verse underscores that faith is the way believers navigate the tension between seeing evil in the world and trusting that God’s justice will prevail. It suggests that rather than being overcome by doubt, believers are called to trust in God’s plan, knowing that He will address and rectify wrongdoing in His own way.

This theme carries over into the New Testament, where faith is repeatedly highlighted as the means by which believers endure trials and remain steadfast, even in the face of evil.

So, it’s not that our faith that addresses evil. God addresses evil. But it’s our faith in God’s ability and promise to deal with evil that allows us to know that evil will ultimately be addressed – by God.

Watch and wait

When we left Habakkuk in part 3 of the series, He just responded to God’s answer from his initial question about how long God was going to allow evil to exist on the earth. In other words, Habakkuk’s complaint about God’s response to Habakkuk’s earlier complaint.

At the end of Habakkuk’s response to God, he closed with this:

Hab 2:1 I will stand at my watch
and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

The LORD’S Answer – to Habakkuk’s second complaint

And so, let’s see how God responded.

If anything, the first two verses of God’s response appear to be contradictory, multi-layered, and at best, confusing.

Check it out:

Hab 2:2 Then the LORD replied:
“Write down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald may run with it.

Hab 2:3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.

Do you see what I mean?

Revelations – visions – they’re complicated. If they’re too far in the future, they’re also incredibly difficult, if not impossible to understand. Take the final book of the Bible as an example. Two thousand years later, we still don’t understand the events John described in the Book of Revelation.

And yet, Habakkuk is supposed to put it to words, on tablets no less, and make it plain. How? Put the words on a tablet. Maybe more than one. But not so many that someone can’t run with them and tell people what’s on them.

And then it gets really confusing. The revelation from God is about the future. The end, actually. It’s going to be a while before that time will come. So wait for it. But remember, it won’t delay?

And, by the way, wasn’t this about the destruction of the northern kingdom and how Judah was going to follow in their footsteps, so to speak? When we get to the next series of verses, the description doesn’t necessarily fit with what we may have expected. So, what’s really happening here?

I wish I could give you an exact answer to that. However, the dates are somewhat murky, as is the analysis of history that took place so long ago. More than 2500 years ago.

A history lesson of the times in that area of the world Habakkuk lived in

With that in mind, here’s one explanation of what was going.

Habakkuk, Book of. Eighth book of the Minor Prophets in the OT.

Author. Little is known about the prophet Habakkuk apart from information that may be gained from the Book of Habakkuk itself. In 1:1 and 3:1 he is called a prophet, a spokesman for God to his fellow Israelites.
…
The book portrays Habakkuk as a man of deep moral sensitivity who rebelled at the injustice that characterized the society of his day.

Well, that doesn’t tell us anything new at all, does it? Let’s hope for more in what follows.

Date. Although it is difficult to date the prophecy of Habakkuk precisely, several clues to its date appear in the text. In 1:5, 6 the prophet refers to the Chaldeans whom God is “rousing.” (Note: in the NIV the term used is “raising up”. Raising up –  can be either God allowing something to take place or God stepping in and making something happen.  The intent of the original Hebrew was that the determination of the meaning came from the context.”  The Chaldeans were originally a group of loosely organized tribes who occupied a large portion of the Assyrian Empire. They were a constant source of trouble to their Assyrian lords. Eventually, the Chaldeans successfully rebelled against the Assyrian power, placing Nabopolassar on the throne (625–605 BC). The Chaldeans then ruled all of Babylonia, establishing the Babylonian empire and inaugurating a period of extensive expansion. Because the Chaldeans came to power about 625 BC, many scholars think that the prophecy of Habakkuk was written shortly before that time. The book would have been written, then, within the reign of Josiah (640–609 BC). Habakkuk 1:6 does not necessarily refer to the initial rise of the Chaldeans. Their reputation was already established as warlike and cruel, for the prophet described them as “bitter and hasty”; they “seize habitations not their own,” and “their horsemen come from afar” (1:6–8). Their reputation for military prowess seems to fit best with a time after the battle of Carchemish (605 BC), when Nebuchadnezzar II defeated the Egyptians and established the Babylonians as an important world power. It is also possible that their reputation was gained from the Babylonian conquest of Nineveh in 612 BC.

The northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in or around 722 BC. About 100 years before Habakkuk’s prophecy.

The term “rousing” need not imply that the Chaldeans were being raised up on the scene of world history as a new nation. The term may also signify the concept of “stirring up,” indicating that God was preparing the already powerful Babylonians to be a tool of his wrath against the kingdom of Judah.

This whole thing about Babylonians and Chaldeans can be a bit confusing. Given the history above, who exactly invaded the southern kingdom of Judah? For that, let’s turn to an AI summary of the people involved and some context within Habakkuk:

That certainly helps. We definitely need a scorecard to keep up with the players.

Here’s a bit of social context as well:

The social conditions in Habakkuk’s day seem to fit best with a time after the death of Judah’s king Josiah in 609 BC. Josiah’s reign was characterized by far-reaching religious reforms, initiated by the discovery of the Book of the Law during renovations in the temple (2 Kgs 22:8). Habakkuk describes his society as filled with “destruction and violence” (1:3). An unfair judicial system led to oppression of the righteous (v 4). Such conditions contradict the national reforms initiated by Josiah. It thus seems best to date Habakkuk’s ministry between 608 and 605 BC, early in the reign of Jehoiakim (609–598 BC).

And here’s some more historical background:

Background. The historical period inaugurated by King Josiah’s death was one of the most bitter in the history of the kingdom of Judah. In 612 BC. the Babylonians destroyed the Assyrian city of Nineveh, and in two years they eliminated the last vestiges of formal Assyrian rule in Mesopotamia. The Egyptians, who had been allies of the Assyrians, sought to solidify their hold on the western portion of the former Assyrian Empire. They marched to Carchemish, an important city on the Euphrates River, where they were opposed by Josiah, who died in that battle.

The Egyptians placed Jehoiakim on the throne in place of Jehoahaz, the rightful successor of Josiah. Jehoiakim was an Egyptian vassal, and the land of Judah was forced to pay heavy tribute, its independence gone forever.

The faith of many people might understandably have begun to falter in that time. The religious reforms under Josiah had resulted not in national blessing, but in the loss of their freedom. The tenor of society had changed from one of relative stability to one of oppression and violence (see Jer 22:17).

In 604 BC. the Babylonians advanced into the Syro-Palestinian area, encountering only weak resistance. At that time Jehoiakim transferred his allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar, who continued his advance to the south. When Pharaoh Neco’s army challenged the invaders, both sides suffered heavy losses and Nebuchadnezzar retreated to Babylon. The vacillating Jehoiakim then transferred his loyalty to Egypt. In 598 BC. the Babylonians advanced again to Syro-Palestine, beginning a campaign that led to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

Given all this, one may wonder what value derives from this book? We don’t know things for certain. Their world was different from ours. So, what can we get from it?

I hope what you read below solidifies the kinds of things we looked at in the earlier portions of this series. There’s always something for us when we read God’s Word. The thing is, we need the help of the Holy Spirit, an open mind, and an open heart to be able to learn what that is.

Purpose and Theological Teaching. The main purpose of Habakkuk’s prophecy is to explain what a godly person’s attitude should be toward the presence of evil in the world. It also addresses the nature of God’s justice in punishing moral evil.

The teaching of the book is set forth in an interesting pattern of crucial questions by the prophet about God’s activity in history. His questions may reflect deep doubts and concerns, or they may be a literary device for reflecting the questions that people in his society were asking. In the psalm at the end of the book, the prophet shows that he has reached an understanding of God’s purposes, and he rests in utter submission to God. One of the prophet’s chief problems was the seeming inactivity of God, as evil continued unpunished. God’s answer was that he does punish evil in his own time and with his chosen instruments. The world is not an arena in which evil continually triumphs. History testifies to the fall of tyrants and wicked nations. The godly person thus interprets history in terms of faith, trusting God and affirming God’s righteous rule in the world.

The Book of Habakkuk does not explain why God has allowed evil in the world. It does affirm that a righteous person will see God’s activity in history through the eyes of faith. Chapter 3 eloquently expresses that theme as Habakkuk looks at history and recounts all God’s gracious activity on behalf of his people.

One of the most important theological concepts in the book is that of God’s sovereign activity in history. Habakkuk affirms God’s control of all history and demonstrates that even the godless nations are subject to his control. Their rise and fall is determined not by the fortuitous course of events but by God.  ¹McComiskey, T. E. (1988). Habakkuk, Book Of. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, pp. 906–908). Baker Book House.

Now, what did God’s opening words to Habakkuk mean?

Let’s take a quick look at the opening verses again:

Hab 2:2 Then the LORD replied:
“Write down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald may run with it.

Hab 2:3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.

write down the revelation

OK – Habakkuk is supposed to write down a revelation. But what does that mean?

For instance, what is the revelation? Is it what God already said? Or is it something God’s going to say, like immediately after this statement?

And what is a “revelation”? Many Christians probably think of a revelation as a vision, as in the Book of Revelation when John was given a vision. But the Hebrew words here generally have to do with spoken words. Most people assume that, since the text says “God replied”, or else we just read words with quotes around them.

But that’s in our English Bibles. This is one time where the assumption from our own language lines up with the intent/context of the original Hebrew words.

As for when the “revelation” took place, the Hebrew word, grammatically, doesn’t specify timing. However, the context indicates that it’s God’s response to Habakkuk’s first complaint. The one about – where are you God and when are you going to do something about the awful condition of the people in this world?

Does it matter? Well, yes, for a couple reasons. First, because it’s always nice to know what’s important. In these verses, it’s the revelation. What God told Habakkuk was about to happen. So we’re going back to that original complaint.

make it plain on tablets

As for the command to make it plain, that seems easy enough. People were most likely up on current events and knew there was always the danger of being attacked.

As to whether or not they knew what God has in mind, I have to say they don’t have a clue.

As such, making the situation plain isn’t going to be easy.

But, it gets worse.

God said to make it plain on a tablet. Tablets weren’t that big. They weren’t iPads or Google or Samsung tablets that held megabytes of text someone could scroll through.

You might be thinking, it must be a scroll. That way some explanation or further description could be added to help make things plain. These days, we probably also assume there’s an FAQ – frequently asked questions section.

Sorry – that’s not it.

Here’s some background on both scrolls and tablets from that period of time – about 700 BC”

So, a scroll could hold up to 15,000 words. That seems like more than enough space to make God’s revelation to Habakkul plain enough for most people.

But the tablet? There’s no room for error, let alone additional explanatory information. You can get a few hundred words, I usually think of that as being about 300 +/- words. Well, we have to look at the Hebrew version of this book to see just how much room it’s going to take up that little tablet.

Yes, we’ve just about reached the limit. There’s barely enough room to contain God’s words to Habakkuk, let alone have space to explain those words.

make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it

Here’s the catch. Here’s why a small tablet must be what God intended.

make it plain on tablets
so that a herald may run with it

God wants Habakkuk to write down His revelation and then give it to others so they may “run with it”! There are some implications to running with it.

Implications that, honestly, I never thought of before getting this far in my study/writing.

In this context, the Hebrew word that we read as “herald” is Any person carrying a message for another person, according to The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.

Therefore, Habakkuk could add little, if anything, to the tablet, beyond God’s own words. He didn’t deliver the message himself, so if anything was required to make it plain, it had to be told to the herald before sending them off.

BTW, there’s nothing to indicate the herald, as sometimes happened, was an angel. For all appearances, it was a person. Or maybe people. The Hebrew word is singular, which means either there was only one herald, or maybe there was more than one but they traveled alone.

run with it

Finally, we come across the word translated as “run”. While it may not have been literally to tun, it at least had the intent that something was to be done with speed. After all, there were lots of people to reach and not a lot of time, depending on what some of the later words mean.

In any case, it certainly rules out someone reading a 15,000 word scroll while people standard and listen. Plus, how many people would listen to that many words and not have at least some questions? Questions imply answers, and both imply anything but speedy accomplishment of the task. If a person averaged about 200-250 words per minute – not at all slow – it would take about an hour to read a 15,000 word scroll. Add in travel time and it’s very slow.

So, the herald was to get the message out by running around with a scroll and quickly reading it. At that 200-250 word per minute speed, the herald didn’t have to do much beyond switching to a slow jog and then get back to running as he went through a village.

When will the events in the revelation take place?

For the revelation awaits an appointed time

When it’s time. Although the timing, as often happens with God. is anything but clear.

it speaks of the end

But the end of what? The Northern Kingdom has already been conquered. The Southern Kingdom is a mess. Or, is this the End, as in the book of Revelation kind of End?

and will not prove false.

Nothing God said ever did or ever will prove false.

It will come

Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.

This is another of those, like Revelation (the book) that will come when it comes. When God determines it’s time. It won’t come a moment later. Or a moment earlier. And once it begins to take place, it will unfold as God determines it needs to.

So, as Habakkuk already said,

Hab 2:1 I will stand at my watch
and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

The difference is that this time, those who heard the words of the Herald, understood them, and took them to heart, will watch. And they will see how God carries out His promise to do something about the evil in the world.

What’s going to happen when God carries out His response to Habakkuk?

The earlier segments of this series went over God’s response to Habakkuk. What follows in the remainder of Chapter 2 is more about that. Reasons behind both Habakkuk’s complaint about evil and God’s response to evil.

Since this series is about the overall question of “God, where are You?” I’m not going to go deeper into those verses here. They pretty much speak for themselves, if you’ve read the earlier portions.

They were words those who took heed of the herald’s words would’ve understood.

And they are today, words that a true follower of Jesus should also be descriptive of the world around us. Specific instances, such as references to Lebanon, aren’t the point. The hearts and minds of people today, and how they are so much in line with the people God spoke of back then, they are the point. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

That is, except for the reality that God doesn’t change. God still cannot and does not tolerate evil.

For us today, this maybe is a good place to stop. And then turn to the book I’ve referenced so often in this series. The Book of Revelation.

While scholars are undecided as to whether “the end” in Habakkuk was the end of the Southern Kingdom or the end of the world, or both, is up for debate.

But clearly, Revelation the book is The End for people in this world.

Even though I’m not going to go through it, I do encourage you to read and to think about the remainder of this chapter.

Hab 2:4 “See, he is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous will live by his faith—

Hab 2:5 indeed, wine betrays him;
he is arrogant and never at rest.
Because he is as greedy as the grave
and like death is never satisfied,
he gathers to himself all the nations
and takes captive all the peoples.

Hab 2:6 “Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying,
“ ‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods
and makes himself wealthy by extortion!
How long must this go on?’

Hab 2:7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise?
Will they not wake up and make you tremble?
Then you will become their victim.

Hab 2:8 Because you have plundered many nations,
the peoples who are left will plunder you.
For you have shed man’s blood;
you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

Hab 2:9 “Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain
to set his nest on high,
to escape the clutches of ruin!

Hab 2:10 You have plotted the ruin of many peoples,
shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.

Hab 2:11 The stones of the wall will cry out,
and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.

Hab 2:12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed
and establishes a town by crime!

Hab 2:13 Has not the LORD Almighty determined
that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire,
that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?

Hab 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea.

Hab 2:15 “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors,
pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk,
so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.

Hab 2:16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory.
Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed !
The cup from the LORD’S right hand is coming around to you,
and disgrace will cover your glory.

Hab 2:17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
and your destruction of animals will terrify you.
For you have shed man’s blood;
you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

Hab 2:18 “Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it?
Or an image that teaches lies?
For he who makes it trusts in his own creation;
he makes idols that cannot speak.

Hab 2:19 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’
Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’
Can it give guidance?
It is covered with gold and silver;
there is no breath in it.

Hab 2:20 But the LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him.”

Conclusion – God responds to our complaint about His response to our question

There’s also a third chapter to Habakkuk. The entire chapter is included below, but the only thing I need for “God where are you?” are the first two verses”

Habakkuk’s Prayer

Hab 3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.

Hab 3:2 LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

Yes, it reminds one a bit of Job’s closing prayer.

But I want to point out something else.

When, hopefully when and not if, you read the Book of Revelation, you’ll read something like this:

The Trumpets

…
Rev 9:20 The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Do you know why I included those 2 verses?

They can be a huge problem. They also lead to the way to avoid that huge problem.

But, the bigger problem is that too many people don’t know about them. Or don’t understand them. Maybe don’t want to understand them.

Here’s the thing. The people in the Southern Kingdom, it’s not like they didn’t know what was right and what was wrong. They were God’s chosen people. They certainly had the means and opportunity to know. But they didn’t. Their priority was to do the things that other people did. Worship other gods. Do things they knew were wrong.

If you’re reading this online, you also have the opportunity to know those same things. Good and evil are both available on this platform. We decide which we want to make our priority.

Other people though, they don’t know. They don’t have access to the same things you’re reading now. Yes, Romans 1:18 says they can know. But it’s supposed to be part of the life of a true follower of Jesus to help spread the word to those who don’t know. To help explain things to those who don’t understand.

I can’t tell you how many times I read things in the Bible, like Abraham and Jacob, and wondered what kind of God worked with people like them? Now, I’m glad He did. It means He’ll work with me too, not just perfect people – who don’t exist anyway.

But my point is, that’s just one more thing that hasn’t changed from Habakkuk’s time until the end. We’re so stuck on doing what we want, assuming God’s not all that bothered by all the rotten stuff we do, and He’ll still let us into Heaven even though we really didn’t care about Him while we were alive.

You may remember what I wrote above. God cannot and will not tolerate evil. We, of course, are going to think and do all sorts of evil. That’s why we need to repent. Over and over and over. We need to ask forgiveness and then ask for help from the Holy Spirit to try to do better.

But at some point, when we don’t do that time after time after time, we’ll reach a point where we just flat out won’t.

The people in Habakkuk’s time and place had a chance to listen to, understand, and heed the herald(s) spreading God’s revelation to Habakkuk.

The people in our time and place have a chance to listen to, understand, and heed God’s Word in the Book of Revelation.

In Habakkuk’s time, presumably some did and some didn’t. But judgment came nonetheless.

In our time, presumably some will listen and some won’t. Judgement will come nonetheless. And we’ve already been told that when it does, at some point, no one will repent anymore.

So please, don’t wait until it’s too late.

What’s next?

So, what’s next? For me, I promised to try to write up a take on Revelation that views our relationship with Jesus as seen through the book. Or not. Part one is already written and published. It’s at What is the book of Revelation in the Bible?

Here’s chapter three of Habakkuk:

Habakkuk’s Prayer

Hab 3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.

Hab 3:2 LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

Hab 3:3 God came from Teman,
the Holy One from Mount Paran.

Selah

His glory covered the heavens
and his praise filled the earth.

Hab 3:4 His splendor was like the sunrise;
rays flashed from his hand,
where his power was hidden.

Hab 3:5 Plague went before him;
pestilence followed his steps.

Hab 3:6 He stood, and shook the earth;
he looked, and made the nations tremble.
The ancient mountains crumbled
and the age-old hills collapsed.
His ways are eternal.

Hab 3:7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress,
the dwellings of Midian in anguish.

Hab 3:8 Were you angry with the rivers, O LORD?
Was your wrath against the streams?
Did you rage against the sea
when you rode with your horses
and your victorious chariots?

Hab 3:9 You uncovered your bow,
you called for many arrows.

Selah

You split the earth with rivers;

Hab 3:10 the mountains saw you and writhed.
Torrents of water swept by;
the deep roared
and lifted its waves on high.

Hab 3:11 Sun and moon stood still in the heavens
at the glint of your flying arrows,
at the lightning of your flashing spear.

Hab 3:12 In wrath you strode through the earth
and in anger you threshed the nations.

Hab 3:13 You came out to deliver your people,
to save your anointed one.
You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness,
you stripped him from head to foot.

Selah

Hab 3:14 With his own spear you pierced his head
when his warriors stormed out to scatter us,
gloating as though about to devour
the wretched who were in hiding.

Hab 3:15 You trampled the sea with your horses,
churning the great waters.

Hab 3:16 I heard and my heart pounded,
my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
and my legs trembled.
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
to come on the nation invading us.

Hab 3:17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

Hab 3:18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Hab 3:19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.

Footnotes

• 1
  McComiskey, T. E. (1988). Habakkuk, Book Of. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, pp. 906–908). Baker Book House.