Hardcore Bible

Copyright

Cover: Mystic Heart

Hardcore Bible

by Volker Schunck

Published by Volker Schunck

1. Auflage 2016

Copyright 2016 Volker Schunck

hellovolker.wordpress.com

Smashwords License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form.

The used translation of this bible is The World English Bible (WEB) provided by biblegateway.com. The name World English Bible is trademarked. The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. It is is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament. - Thank you guys for your work! - I replaced the literally expressed Tetragram of God’s name with Adonaj.

If you enjoyed this book, please return to your favorite ebook retailer to discover other works by me. Thank you for your support!

I believe in God, emptiness and life, who made us out of love.

One with the universe, he is not absorbed by it.

Who is free, because his spirit blows where he wants.

One with Christ, we see his fullness.

I believe in Christ, God’s real human, who frees us.

One with God, he was light in darkness.

Who was crucified, because darkness hates light.

One with God, he lives in his light.

I believe in God, spirit and life, who comforts us.

One with God, we become real humans.

Who is in us, therefore we are light in darkness.

One with God, we live in his light.

Table of Contents

Copyright, Table of Contents, About me, Prologue; Preface, God and his Folk, Creation; Fall of Man, Deluge§; Abraham; Moses; Exodus from Egypt§; Israel in the Desert; At Mount Sinai; King David§; The Temple§; Elijah§; Saving of Jerusalem§; Carried away from Jerusalem; Mission of Isaiah; Israel’s Unfaithfulness; God’s Faithfulness; Recommencement in Jerusalem; Hope to God’s Kingdom of Peace; Jonah§, Jesus Christ; The Beginnings; Jesus: His Message; Forgiveness of Sins; The Good Samaritan; Lost Son; The Good Sheperd; Way, Truth, Life; Doomsday; Commission of the Disciples; God loves us; Peace with God; Jesus' Way; »My Body for you«; Healings and Miracles; Jesus: Allegories and Parables; Christian Basic Texts; The Ten Commandments; The greatest Commandment; Love for Enemies; »One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism«; The Armor of God; The Fruits of the Spirit; Gratefulness; Christ our Life; »What you didn’t do to these Least«; Right Lifestyle; Peace with God; The Logos; Way and Truth - Peace of Jesus; High Priestly Prayer of Jesus; Baptism; Last Supper; Resurrection; Parousia of Jesus; God makes everything new; God’s Realm of Peace; Also important Texts; Famous Psalms; Christian Celebrations; Christmas; Passion; Easter; Ascension; Pentecost

About me

I live in Dresden, Germany. I was a merchant and then I studied theology - without degree. Through my engagement with Zen I became aware of the Christian mysticism. Meanwhile I go my own way. Believe is not a thinking but a being. It is important to me, not to live lost in thought, but to live aware and intensely.

My Christian faith and my experiences in meditation influence my everyday life, in which I try to be attentive. My books arise from this spirit too.

Table of Contents§

Prologue

We don’t have - like our ancestors - with the bible the absolute truth in our hands, but have to orientate ourselves along the red thread that runs through the history of Christianity, whose best were often stigmatized by the church as heretics, up to Jesus of Nazareth, whose message we have in broken jugs and shredded papyri in hands.

Nevertheless we do believe in him who was executed. Who was ahead of the times. Who is ahead of our times. Whose words enlighten like light sparks every dark night. Whose deeds became to legends. Whose heart embraces the world.

We believe, yes, why actually?

Because Christ dwells in his love in us.

Table of Contents

Preface

The Bible is for me the most important book in my life. If it didn’t exist I hardly know something about Jesus in whom God showed us his heart. Maybe you can call the bible the constitution of the Christians. So important is it for their faith.

We ask with Luther: Which scriptures do point to Christ? Which scriptures do express the essence of the christian faith? But that doesn’t mean that only the New Testament is important for the Christians. Oh no! The roots of the christian faith are grounded in the Jewish faith. Therefore it is important to know the scriptures of the Old Testament as well.

I collected here these scriptures which generate the basics of the christian faith. But the bible has a lot more what is worth to read.

That the bible touches our hearts!

All the best, Volker

Table of Contents§

God and his Folk

Creation

Genesis 1-2

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3 God said, Let there be light, and there was light. 4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 God said, Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 God called the expanse sky. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9 God said, Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. 10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. God saw that it was good. 11 God said, Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth; and it was so. 12 The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14 God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 God said, Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky. 21 God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. 23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 God said, Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind; and it was so. 25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

26 God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27 God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them. God said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 29 God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. 30 To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food; and it was so.

31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

2 The heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished. 2 On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work of creation which he had done.

4 This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Adonaj God made the earth and the heavens. 5 No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Adonaj God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground, 6 but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Adonaj God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8 Adonaj God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground Adonaj God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became the source of four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon: it flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 and the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are also there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the same river that flows through the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel. This is the one which flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 Adonaj God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. 16 Adonaj God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.

18 Adonaj God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him. 19 Out of the ground Adonaj God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature became its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 Adonaj God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Adonaj God made a woman from the rib which had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.

Psalm 104

104 Bless Adonaj, my soul.

Adonaj, my God, you are very great.

You are clothed with honor and majesty.

2 He covers himself with light as with a garment.

He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.

3 He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot.

He walks on the wings of the wind.

4 He makes his messengers winds;

his servants flames of fire.

5 He laid the foundations of the earth,

that it should not be moved forever.

6 You covered it with the deep as with a cloak.

The waters stood above the mountains.

7 At your rebuke they fled.

At the voice of your thunder they hurried away.

8 The mountains rose,

the valleys sank down,

to the place which you had assigned to them.

9 You have set a boundary that they may not pass over;

that they don’t turn again to cover the earth.

10 He sends springs into the valleys.

They run among the mountains.

11 They give drink to every animal of the field.

The wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 The birds of the sky nest by them.

They sing among the branches.

13 He waters the mountains from his rooms.

The earth is filled with the fruit of your works.

14 He causes the grass to grow for the livestock,

and plants for man to cultivate,

that he may produce food out of the earth:

15 wine that makes glad the heart of man,

oil to make his face to shine,

and bread that strengthens man’s heart.

16 Adonaj’s trees are well watered,

the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted;

17 where the birds make their nests.

The stork makes its home in the cypress trees.

18 The high mountains are for the wild goats.

The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

19 He appointed the moon for seasons.

The sun knows when to set.

20 You make darkness, and it is night,

in which all the animals of the forest prowl.

21 The young lions roar after their prey,

and seek their food from God.

22 The sun rises, and they steal away,

and lay down in their dens.

23 Man goes out to his work,

to his labor until the evening.

24 Adonaj, how many are your works!

In wisdom have you made them all.

The earth is full of your riches.

25 There is the sea, great and wide,

in which are innumerable living things,

both small and large animals.

26 There the ships go,

and leviathan, whom you formed to play there.

27 These all wait for you,

that you may give them their food in due season.

28 You give to them; they gather.

You open your hand; they are satisfied with good.

29 You hide your face: they are troubled;

you take away their breath: they die, and return to the dust.

30 You send out your Spirit and they are created.

You renew the face of the ground.

31 Let Adonaj’s glory endure forever.

Let Adonaj rejoice in his works.

32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles.

He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to Adonaj as long as I live.

I will sing praise to my God while I have any being.

34 Let your meditation be sweet to him.

I will rejoice in Adonaj.

35 Let sinners be consumed out of the earth.

Let the wicked be no more.

Bless Adonaj, my soul.

Praise Adonaj!

Psalm 139

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

139 Adonaj, you have searched me,

and you know me.

2 You know my sitting down and my rising up.

You perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down,

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word on my tongue,

but, behold, Adonaj, you know it altogether.

5 You hem me in behind and before.

You laid your hand on me.

6 This knowledge is beyond me.

It’s lofty.

I can’t attain it.

7 Where could I go from your Spirit?

Or where could I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there.

If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the dawn,

and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10 Even there your hand will lead me,

and your right hand will hold me.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me;

the light around me will be night";

12 even the darkness doesn’t hide from you,

but the night shines as the day.

The darkness is like light to you.

13 For you formed my inmost being.

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I will give thanks to you,

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Your works are wonderful.

My soul knows that very well.

15 My frame wasn’t hidden from you,

when I was made in secret,

woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my body.

In your book they were all written,

the days that were ordained for me,

when as yet there were none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

How vast is their sum!

18 If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand.

When I wake up, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would kill the wicked.

Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 For they speak against you wickedly.

Your enemies take your name in vain.

21 Adonaj, don’t I hate those who hate you?

Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred.

They have become my enemies.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart.

Try me, and know my thoughts.

24 See if there is any wicked way in me,

and lead me in the everlasting way.

Job 38-39

38 Then Adonaj answered Job out of the whirlwind,

2 "Who is this who darkens counsel

by words without knowledge?

3 Brace yourself like a man,

for I will question you, then you answer me!

4 "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Declare, if you have understanding.

5 Who determined its measures, if you know?

Or who stretched the line on it?

6 Whereupon were its foundations fastened?

Or who laid its cornerstone,

7 when the morning stars sang together,

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 "Or who shut up the sea with doors,

when it broke out of the womb,

9 when I made clouds its garment,

and wrapped it in thick darkness,

10 marked out for it my bound,

set bars and doors,

11 and said, ‘Here you may come, but no further.

Here your proud waves shall be stayed?’

12 "Have you commanded the morning in your days,

and caused the dawn to know its place;

13 that it might take hold of the ends of the earth,

and shake the wicked out of it?

14 It is changed as clay under the seal,

and presented as a garment.

15 From the wicked, their light is withheld.

The high arm is broken.

16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea?

Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

18 Have you comprehended the earth in its width?

Declare, if you know it all.

19 "What is the way to the dwelling of light?

As for darkness, where is its place,

20 that you should take it to its bound,

that you should discern the paths to its house?

21 Surely you know, for you were born then,

and the number of your days is great!

22 Have you entered the treasuries of the snow,

or have you seen the treasures of the hail,

23 which I have reserved against the time of trouble,

against the day of battle and war?

24 By what way is the lightning distributed,

or the east wind scattered on the earth?

25 Who has cut a channel for the flood water,

or the path for the thunderstorm;

26 To cause it to rain on a land where no man is;

on the wilderness, in which there is no man;

27 to satisfy the waste and desolate ground,

to cause the tender grass to grow?

28 Does the rain have a father?

Or who fathers the drops of dew?

29 Out of whose womb came the ice?

The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it?

30 The waters become hard like stone,

when the surface of the deep is frozen.

31 "Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades,

or loosen the cords of Orion?

32 Can you lead the constellations out in their season?

Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?

Can you establish its dominion over the earth?

34 "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,

That abundance of waters may cover you?

35 Can you send out lightnings, that they may go?

Do they report to you, ‘Here we are?’

36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts?

Or who has given understanding to the mind?

37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom?

Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky,

38 when the dust runs into a mass,

and the clods of earth stick together?

39 "Can you hunt the prey for the lioness,

or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40 when they crouch in their dens,

and lie in wait in the thicket?

41 Who provides for the raven his prey,

when his young ones cry to God,

and wander for lack of food?

39 "Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth?

Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?

2 Can you number the months that they fulfill?

Or do you know the time when they give birth?

3 They bow themselves, they bear their young.

They end their labor pains.

4 Their young ones become strong.

They grow up in the open field.

They go out, and don’t return again.

5 "Who has set the wild donkey free?

Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,

6 Whose home I have made the wilderness,

and the salt land his dwelling place?

7 He scorns the tumult of the city,

neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.

8 The range of the mountains is his pasture,

He searches after every green thing.

9 "Will the wild ox be content to serve you?

Or will he stay by your feeding trough?

10 Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness?

Or will he till the valleys after you?

11 Will you trust him, because his strength is great?

Or will you leave to him your labor?

12 Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed,

and gather the grain of your threshing floor?

13 "The wings of the ostrich wave proudly;

but are they the feathers and plumage of love?

14 For she leaves her eggs on the earth,

warms them in the dust,

15 and forgets that the foot may crush them,

or that the wild animal may trample them.

16 She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers.

Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,

17 because God has deprived her of wisdom,

neither has he imparted to her understanding.

18 When she lifts up herself on high,

she scorns the horse and his rider.

19 "Have you given the horse might?

Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?

20 Have you made him to leap as a locust?

The glory of his snorting is awesome.

21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength.

He goes out to meet the armed men.

22 He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed,

neither does he turn back from the sword.

23 The quiver rattles against him,

the flashing spear and the javelin.

24 He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage,

neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

25 As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, ‘Aha!’

He smells the battle afar off,

the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26 "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,

and stretches her wings toward the south?

27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up,

and makes his nest on high?

28 On the cliff he dwells, and makes his home,

on the point of the cliff, and the stronghold.

29 From there he spies out the prey.

His eyes see it afar off.

30 His young ones also suck up blood.

Where the slain are, there he is."

Table of Contents

Fall of Man

Genesis 3

3 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Adonaj God had made. He said to the woman, Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’

2 The woman said to the serpent, We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, 3 but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’

4 The serpent said to the woman, You won’t surely die, 5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. 7 Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves. 8 They heard Adonaj God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Adonaj God among the trees of the garden.

9 Adonaj God called to the man, and said to him, Where are you?

10 The man said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 God said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?

12 The man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.

13 Adonaj God said to the woman, What have you done?

The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

14 Adonaj God said to the serpent,

"Because you have done this,

you are cursed above all livestock,

and above every animal of the field.

You shall go on your belly

and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

15 I will put hostility between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring.

He will bruise your head,

and you will bruise his heel."

16 To the woman he said,

"I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth.

In pain you will bear children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

and he will rule over you."

17 To Adam he said,

"Because you have listened to your wife’s voice,

and ate from the tree,

about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’

the ground is cursed for your sake.

You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.

18 It will yield thorns and thistles to you;

and you will eat the herb of the field.

19 By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken.