I've been absent a few days, but here's something that jumped out at me the other day during my reading time:

A little back-story first.  Last fall I invited a few friends to join me weekly for a Bible "discussion".  We just chose something that we are all interested in and gather on Monday mornings to discuss over a cup of coffee.   We've recently been studying the minor prophets.  Hosea has been completed, along with watching a video afterwards.  This past Monday we discussed the book of Joel.  While reading that, I came upon a passage that sounded very familiar, yet not quite right.

4:9 -10   Proclaim this among the nations:  Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors!'

             Let all the fighting men approach and attack.

             Hammer your plow-blades into swords and your pruning-knives into spears.

             Let the weak say, "I am strong."

That seemed backwards to me until I realized that in this verse, they are preparing for war not peace.  Where as in Isaiah 2:4, is the more familiar line:    "He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples.  Then they will hammer their swords into plow-blades and their spears into pruning knives;  nations will not raise swords at each other, and they will no longer war".

For me, this was a new discovery.   I hope that hearing this has in some way blessed you this day.

That's all for now.  JO