🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(12/30/25)[Prayer]

The Holy Scriptures (NIV) | 12/30/25 | left that other site

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🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(12/30/25)[Prayer]

Countdown To The New Year

Matthew 2:19-23

The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Oh LORD,

Our God,

How Excellent is Your Name over All The Earth!

For You Alone Are Worthy,

You Alone Are LORD,

You Alone Are The King of the Universe!

Ancient of Days,

You Are The One True God of Abraham,

and We Praise and Worship You with Our Whole Heart,

Soul, Mind, and Spirit!

Let all that has been Concealed
Be Revealed.

Father, We Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem,
According To Your Will and Promise.
We Pray That You Will Forgive The Sins
of Our Own Nation,
and Lead us all to Godly Repentance.
Create in Us Clean Hearts, Oh LORD,
and Renew a Right Spirit Within Us.

This we Pray Together,
As We Await Your Messiah,
Blessed Be He,
To Set Up His Kingdom,
And Make All Things Right.

”The Greatest Of these Is Love.”

If you would like to be on or off the Daily Ping List, please let me know.

ML/LTOS

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Countdown To The New Year

Matthew 2:19-23

The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

________________________

Most people look at Scripture in a very serious and dour manner. Scripture IS serious, of course, but like Life in general, there are some humorous moments that can be easily missed when reading a Translation. The following story took place 45 years ago, when I read Matthew for the first time (in the New American Standard Translation, but it could have been any good English translation, as it "works" in Hebrew.)

The first time I read the Gospel of Matthew, I was amazed to see so many Old Testament quotes. At the time, the prevailing thought was that the New Testament was Christian and the Old Testament was Jewish. And yet, here I was, only in the second chapter, and we have seen quotes from Micah and Isaiah, and a list of "Begats" that would have made any Torah Scholar proud. I eagerly looked up the references, and there they were. It would seem that the Bible is not two books, but ONE.

I hit a roadblock when I came to this line:

"So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene."

Where in the OT did it say that The Messiah would be a Nazarene? There were no references or footnotes, so it seemed that even the translators were stumped. I dragged out the STRONG'S Concordance and looked up "Nazarene" in the Old Testament. The closest thing was a word that meant "branch". At the time, I had no idea that "The Branch" was yet another name for The Messiah, and appeared in the writings of several Prophets, most notably Isaiah and Zechariah.

So, essentially, Matthew was making a very educated play-on-words (what we now call a "pun") on the name of the town where Jesus grew up. This is the first of many word-plays in the New Testament. Since the New Testament was written in Greek, there are Greek puns in it as well as Hebrew puns.

Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

”Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3 NIV)

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

!עם ישראל חי
(The Spirit of Israel Lives!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ML/LTOS

[wasmv80]

Upon a decision of Augustus Caesar [Flavius Josephus: “War of the Jews” Chapters 2-3], King Herod the Great was succeeded by his oldest son, Archelaus Herod [4 BC - 6 AD].

Judea continued enroute toward increasingly tumultuous times [Flavius Josephus: “War of the Jews” Chapter 4].

Neither Archelaus Herod, nor any future successor of King Herod the Great, would be declared an official “King” by Rome, but habit and wanting personal protection caused many people in and around Judea, to refer to the Roman “client kings” as “King” [the last being “King Agrippa II”].

Regarding Jesus in Egypt [Matthew 2 13–23]: Joseph got the word from God, to return to the land of Israel; but Archelaus Herod was in charge, and because of “the mess” in Judea and cruelty by Archelaus Herod, Joseph was afraid - yet he received word again from God, to alter course and take his family to the region of Galilee and Nazareth.

Antipas Herod, younger brother of Archelaus Herod, was the Roman “client king” of Galilee - an inheritance after the death of King Herod the Great.

Augustus Caesar dismissed Archelaus Herod [6 AD - for cruelty and poor performance] . . . replacing Archelaus Herod with brother Antipas Herod, who became the next Herodian dynasty member to be the Roman Empire “client king” for Judea [6 AD - 39 AD, Antipas Herod was then dismissed by Caligula Caesar].

Footnote: Malthace, 4th wife of the deceased King Herod the Great, died in Rome during 4 BC, while her sons were contesting the estate.

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Thanks for the background info on the “Herod Family”.

Flavius Josephus was an interesting character. We have a lot of information from that period of History from his writings.

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, wasmv80, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

”Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3 NIV)

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

!עם ישראל חי
(The Spirit of Israel Lives!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ML/LTOS

[etabeta]

Joining in prayer. God bless.

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, Etabeta, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

”Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3 NIV)

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

!עם ישראל חי
(The Spirit of Israel Lives!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ML/LTOS

[norsky]

Amen to your prayer of our nations. Elijah gave pretty good pun too with the show down with the false prophets ‘god’

[redryder_90]

Amen

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Indeed! I remember laughing out loud when I read that Bible story for the first time.

I Laughed when I read this one too:(LTOS PARAPHRASE:)

Pharisee: Where did you get your authoruty?

Jesus: I’ll ask you a question first. Was John the Baptist under God’s Authority, or was he acting on his own?

Pharisee: (Thinking...If I say ‘God”, Jesus will say ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But If I say he was acting on his own, the people will riot’)

I’m not gonna say by whose authority.

Jesus: OK. I won’t answer YOUR question EITHER!

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, norsky, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

”Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3 NIV)

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

!עם ישראל חי
(The Spirit of Israel Lives!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ML/LTOS

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, redryder_90, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

”Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3 NIV)

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

!עם ישראל חי
(The Spirit of Israel Lives!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ML/LTOS

[NEWwoman]

Amen, left that other site

Joining in prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem and for our beloved America.

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, NEWwoman, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

”Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3 NIV)

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

!עם ישראל חי
(The Spirit of Israel Lives!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ML/LTOS

[DarthVader]

Amen!!! <>< (NOTE:We must pray this daily from here on out. Getting obvious now!)

Psalm 91

1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,*
2 will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.’
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence;
4 he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
or the arrow that flies by day,
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge,*
the Most High your dwelling-place,
10 no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder,
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

14 Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.
15 When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble,
I will rescue them and honour them.

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, DarthVader, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

”Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3 NIV)

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

!עם ישראל חי
(The Spirit of Israel Lives!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ML/LTOS