December 27th, 2025

Because of the significant holiday this past Thursday, the title for this Sunday is the First Sunday after Christmas. This year the appointed Gospel Reading for this Sunday is Matthew 2:13-23. This is the only year it is not Luke 2:22-40, when Jesus is presented in the temple. With the current writings of this website, we are going through the Gospel according to John, a small section at a time, not skipping anything, and presenting each section with a particularly unique EXTREMELY literal translation of the text.

If you are familiar with what that means, you may skip this paragraph and the next one. The reasoning behind such a translation is that it reminds the person reading this that this is important information, and some of the information may not be too clear. And it may have been that way with some of the first people to read the so-called “Bible” when it first came out. Having some help may be helpful. (With my Sunday schedule, I am not able to lead a Bible study on Sunday morning, and this website is meant to help take the place of such a thing. Members can, therefore, contact me at other times with questions or thoughts regarding the text.)

Here are the details regarding this EXTREMELY literal translation: The words with hyphens occur when more than one English word is used to describe a single word of the ancient Greek. And possibly the most difficult thing to deal with is that the order of the words below is also the same order that is in the ancient Greek. In general, the verbs appear slightly earlier in the sentence than we have in English. The verbs are in such a special form that they do not need the subject before them in the sentence, as we have in English. And generally speaking, the earlier in the sentence, the more important the word is. But sometimes the last word could be important as well. And although it should be somewhat obvious, it should be mentioned that a word which is repeated is important. And although there are no examples of historical presents with this small section of scripture (the last section had a LOT of them), it should also be mentioned that the verbs in capital letters are designed to show something more than just a “vividness”. These special verbs of this account may be connected to the living creature of the LORD’s throne, the eagle (see Ezekiel 1).

This is the text after Jesus had completed his first “sign”. (And I do not think it a coincidence that the Jews below are talking about wanting to see a sign.) As promised, what follows is an EXTREMELY literal translation of John 2:12-25:

After  this  he-went-down  into  Capernaum,  he,  and  the  mother  of-him,  and  the  brothers  of-him,  and  the  disciples  of-him,  and  there  they-remained,  not  many  days.  And  near  was  the  Pascha  of-the  Jews,  and  he-went-up  into  Jerusalem,  the  Jesus. 

 And  he-found  in  the  temple,  the-ones  selling  oxen  and  sheep  and  doves,  and  the  coin-changers  sitting.  And  having-made a-lash  out-of  ropes,  all  he-threw-out,  out-of  the  temple,  both  the  sheep  and  the  oxen,  and  of-the  money-changers,  he-poured-out  the  coins,  and  the  tables  he-over-turned,  and  to-the-ones,  the  doves  selling,  he-said,  “Take  these-things  from-here;  not  do-make  the  house  of-the  Father  of-me  a-house  of-emporium.”

They-remembered,  the  disciples  of-him,  that  having-been-written  it-is,  “The  zeal  of-the  house  of-you,  it-will-eat-up  me.”

Therefore,  they-answered,  the  Jews,  and  they-said  to-him,  “What  sign  do-you-show  to-us,  that  these-things  you-are-doing?”

He-answered,  Jesus,  and  he-said  to-them,  “Destroy  the  temple,  this,  and  in  tris  days,  I-will-raise  it.”

Therefore,  they-said,  the  Jews,  “In-forty  and  hex  years  it-was-built,  the  temple,  this,  and  you,  in  tris  days,  you-will-raise  it?”  Now  that-one  was-speaking  about  the  temple  of-the  body  of-him.  Therefore,  when  he-was-raised  out-of  dead-ones,  they-remembered,  the  disciples  of-him,  that  this  he-was-saying,  and  they-believed  the  Graph  and  the  word  which  he-said,  the  Jesus.
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Now  as  he-was  in  the  Jerusalem,  in  the  Pascha  in  the  Feast,  many  believed  into  the  name  of-him,  beholding  of-him  the  signs  which  he-was-doing.  Now  he,  Jesus,  not  did-he-believe  himself  to-them,  because  the  him,  to-know  everyone,  and  that  no  need  he-had  in-order-that  anyone  should-witness  concerning  the  man;  for  he,  he-knew  what  was  in  the  man.