As we study our Bible it will be helpful for us to remember that it is the words that are inspired. Exodus 4:15, Deuteronomy 4:2 So as we read the the scripture the emphasis should not be on the chapters or the verses but the individual words. Let us begin with commonly occuring adverbs that we find in the Scripture. Before we begin, I will give a rather simple definition of an adverb. An adverb is any part of speech that modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb. Here is an example. I slowly backed the car out of the garage. The adverb in our sectence is "slowly" which modifies the verb backed. Adverbs are often a catch all catergory and there are many other ways in which they are used but we will stay with our simplistic definition so as not to be tedious. The following is a list of commonly used adverbs in the Scriptures with definitions and examples of usage.
Therefore: "For this reason or cause, referring to something previously. Consequently. In light of." Used in the Bible 1,237 times. example "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." Romans2:1 In Romans chapter one the Apostle Paul is dealing with the downward spiral into sin of the gentile world and God's judgment of it. In Romans chapter two Paul begins with therefore. God will judge the sinful gentiles, and for this cause, consequently and in light of this he will also judge those who do the same type of things but judge others.
Wherefore: (used also as a noun, synonym for "why") "For which reason. Because of this." Used in the Bible 348 times. example "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleaness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:" Romans 1:24 In Romans 1:21-23 Paul declares that when the gentile nations "knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, the became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. then He goes on to say in Romans 1:24 Wherefore (for which reason, because of this) God also gave the up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts.
Moreover: "Beyond that which is stated, besides, also, likewise." Used in the Bible 171 times. example "Elihu spake moreover, and said," Job 35:1 Elihu had been speaking to Job in chapter 34, and says to Job moreover (beyond that which he had stated earlier) "Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?"
Henceforth: "From this time forth, from now on." Used in the Bible 33 times. example "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind," Ephesians 3:17 The Apostle Paul says " This I say therefore, (In light of what I said earlier) and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth (from this time forward) walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind."
Heretofore: "Up to the present time, before this, previously." Used in the Bible 8 times. example "And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." Exodus 4:10 Here Moses is giving God an excuse as why he can not go to Egypt to be used by Him to deliver the nation of Israel and says, "unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, (I am not eloquent now, nor have I ever been eloquent) nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
Likewise: "In the same way, similarly, also, too." Used in the Bible 108 times. example "Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband." I Corinthians 7:3 Here the Apostle Paul is teaching the Corinthiam believers that just as the husband should render due benevolence to his wife, likewise (in the same way, also) the wife should render due benevolence to her husband.
Whereof: "Of which, of what or of whom." Used in the Bible 71 times. example "And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" Genesis 3:1II Here we have God questioning Adam as to how he was aware of his nakedness. The LORD asks Adam, "Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof (of which) I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?"
Wherein: "In which, in what or in where." Used in the Bible 167 times. example "And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die." Genesis 6:17 Here we have God telling Noah of His impending judgement of the Earth. The Lord says to Noah, "And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein (in which) is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die."
Herein: "In this way, place or thing." Used in the Bible 9 times. example "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." Here we have our Lord admonishing the disciples that, "Herein (In this way) is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."
The preceding adverbs are used a total of 2152 times in our Bible. We can readily see how a good, working knowledge of a few, simple definitions can help us to better understand the Word of God.
More Commonly Used Adverbs
A few more commonly used words of the Bible defined and examples given.
Thereof: "Of or concerning this, that or it. From that cause or orgin." Used in the Bible 908 times. example "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Here the Apostle Paul is admonishing the believers in Rome to, "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof (do not fulfil lusts that have there orgin in the flesh.)
Thus: " 1. In this or that manner, on this wise. 2. To this degree or extent." Used in the Bible 737 times. example 1. "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extotioners, unjust, adulteres, or unjust, adulteres, or even as this publican." Here our Lord is comparint the prayer of two men. One a Pharisee, the other a publican. The "Pharisee stood and prayed thus (in this manner) with himself." That Pharisee was praying to himself, and he left the temple the same way he came in, ungodly. example 2. "Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab. Jeremiah 48:47 Here our Lord is pronouncing His judgement on Moab and gives it extent. "Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far (to this extent) is the judgement of Moab."
Verily: "In truth, in fact or amen." Used in the Bible 140 times. example "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Here our Lord is speaking to Nicodemus and tells him, "Verily, verily, (Truly, truly) I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Howbeit: "Be that as it may, nevertheless, notwithstanding or however." Used in the Bible 64 times. example "And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I." Ruth 3:12 In this passage of scripture we have Ruth asking Boaz to perform the duty of a kinsman redeemer. Boaz accepts Ruth's invitation but warns her that, "I am thy near kinsman: howbeit (be the fact that I am your near kinsman as it may) there is a kinsman nearer than I."
As: (used also as a conjunction) adverb "To the same extent or degree; equally, like or similar" conjunction "To the same degree or quanity that" Used in the Bible 2,871 times. adverb example "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:5 Here we have the serpent is lying to Eve and telling her that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will not kill her, but that "God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as (like or equal to) gods," conjunction example "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." Here the Apostle Paul has declared to the Ephesian believers that "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as (to same degree of quanity that) he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world" Here Paul declares that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according to the same degree that God the Father has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
So: (So answers to as and it is of a great import to understand their relation, but we will deal with that later.) "In like manner or to such a degree." Used in the Bible 1689 times. example "Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so (in like manner) persecuted they the prophets which were before you." Matthew 5:12
Nevertheless: "Without regarding it, or without being prevented." Used in the Bible 97 times. example "Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them." Here we have the time when Aaron made the golden calf for the nation of Israel. God's anger is kindled against Israel and He intends to consume them when Moses makes intercession on behalf of Israel. God does not destroy Israel but tells Moses, "lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behol, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless (but without being prevented by the fact I am going to lead them into Canaan) in the day when I visit I will visit there sin upon them." The fact that God still intends to lead Israel into Canaan will not prevent the fact that they will have to suffer the consequences of their sins.
Peradventure: "Perhaps or it may be." Used in the Bible 32 times. example "In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;" II Timothy 2:25 Here the Apostle Paul is instructing Timothy to be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient. He goes on to tell Timothy "In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure (Perhaps or maybe) will give them repentance to the acknowleging of the truth;"
Personal Pronouns
It is most helpful for the serious student of the Bible to have a basic understanding of the personal pronouns of the Bible. First of all, a rather simple defintion of a personal pronoun is a noun that substitutes for a person. Here is an example. "I asked John to give the phone back to Dave when John was done with it." Now let us see that same sentence, but this time we are going to substitue a personal pronoun for the second John. "I asked John to give the phone back to Dave when he was done with it." We can easily see how this cuts down on word repition in our sentences.
Now the question arrises, Why does our Bible have the "thees, thous and thines?" The Hebrew and Koine Greek languages, which our Bible was written in, are very precise languages. In these languages, if the pronuon that is the subject of the action is plural, then the pronoun is plural. If it is singular, then the pronoun is singular. But the common English we speak is not that way. Here is an example: "You will not lie to me." Now let us suppose that the speaker in our sentece is a mother. Is she talking to one child, or many? We can not know. But, with the grammar used in our Bible we would. I will give the sentence using the grammar of the Bible. "Ye will not lie to me." I admit it sounds odd, but now we know that the mother was speaking to more than one child.
The following is a graph and some examples of commonly used pronouns in the Bible and how they are used.
Subject of action.
Object of action.
Attributes ownership.
First Person
(Whoever that is speaking.)
Singular:
Plural:
I
We
Me
Us
My, Mine
Our, Ours
Second Person
(Those to whom the person is speaking.)
Singular:
Plural:
Thou
Ye
Thee
You
Thy, Thine
You, Yours
Third Person
(Whoever the person is speaking of.)
Singular:
Plural:
He, She, It
They
Him, Her, It
Them
His, Hers, It's
Their, Theirs
Now let us apply our knowledge of these pronouns to some key Bible texts.
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3:7 We see from reading the text that when Jesus said thee, He was speaking to Nicodemus, singularly. But, when our Lord said Ye, he was speaking to more than one, He was speaking to all men of all times.
"Thou shalt not kill." Exodus 20:13 You will notice that all of the commandments were given in the second person singular. Each and every one of the nation of Israel was responsible to keep the commandments.
"Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Phillip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" John 14:9 Phillip has asked Jesus to show him the Father and Jesus replies, "Have I been so long time with you (all of the disciples) and yet hast thou (Phillip himself) not known me?
Commonly Used Prepositions
A preposition is a part of speech that shows relationship between a noun or pronoun and another word. Here is an example. The dog sat by the tree. In our preceding sentence the word by is our preposition showing the relationship of the dog and the tree. The dog was sitting by the tree. The following is a list of commonly used prepositions found in our Bible with definitions and examples of how they are used.
According: "Suitable, agreeable, in equal measure to or in accordance with." (According is also used as an adjective in our Bible meaning "as reported or stated by.) Used in the Bible in all instances 793 times. example "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; " Here the Apostle Paul is praying that the Ephesian saints would be strengthened with might by his (God's) Spirit in the inner man. Now what is the measure of this strengthening and the spiritual blessings that God bestows upon his believers? It is according (in equal measure) to His riches and not out of. J. Vernon McGee put it something like this. Now let us say that I am Bill Gates cadie and he gives me a tip at the end of the day. Now if he tips me out of his riches then he may give me a 100 dollar bill. But if he tips me according to his riches he would give me all that he has. And that is how God has blessed us. When He gave us His Son and new life He didn't hold anything back, he blessed us according to or in equal measure to His riches.
Verb Tense
Why is it that we have in our Bible words that end in "eth" and "est"? As said before, our translation of the Bible is written in a very specific way. And as with the pronouns we looked at above, we can learn much about a verb by just remembering a few simple things. First, we need a working definition of a verb. A verb is simply an action word. Consider the following: I ran, she slept, we talked, they thought, ect. All of the words in italics were verbs.
Now to understand how our Bible conjugates verbs let us use the word say in three sentences. You said nothing. (Past tense.) You say nothing. (Present tense.) You will say nothing. (Future tense.) Notice how I used the same verb say for the present tense and the future tense. But that is not so in our Bible. The scripture would read the following way. Thou said nothing. (Past tense.) Thou sayest nothing. (Present tense.) Thou shalt say nothing. (Future tense.)
The following is a graph and the verb "say" in it's various conjugations. You may substitute any other verb in it's place.
Past Tense
Present Tense
Future Tense
First Person
(When the subject is the person making the statement.)
I said, We said
I say, We say
I shall say, We shall say
Second Person
(Used when the subject of the sentence is in the audience.)
Thou said
Thou sayest
Thou shalt say
Third Person
(When the subject of the sentence is not the one making the statement or in the audience.)
He said, She said, We said
He sayeth, She sayeth, We sayeth
He shall say, She shall say, We shall say
Tho helpful, understanding the verb tense is not as necessary as understanding how pronouns are used.
Word Tense and Pluralality
As we have already establised, it is the words in our Bible that are inspired. So it is necessary that the student of the Bible pay attention to word tense and pluralality.
Word tense simply indicates when an action or state of being occured. The following is an example. I ran home yesterday. I am running home. I will run home tomorrow. As we can see, understanding the tense of the word "run" is key to our understanding the three preceding sentences. The first sentence used the past tense of the word run, which is ran, which puts the action occuring in the past. The second sentence uses the present tense running, which puts the action in the present. The third sentence uses the word run, which puts the action occuring in the future. Now let us see a practical application of word tense and how it affects the meaning of a passage of Scripture.
"Then came to [him] certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him, Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man's brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her to wife, and he died childless. And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife. And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said." Luke 20:27-39
Here we have the Sadducees attempting to entangle our Lord with a rather dubious question. Our Lord is not ensnared and goes on to justify the doctrine of the resurrection by pointing to the word tense of Exodus 3:6 where the LORD says to Moses "Moreover he said, I [am] the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God." Notice that the LORD says to Moses "I am" instead of "I was." The LORD made this statement long after the death of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and so there must be a resurrection from the dead. He uses the present tense of the word am and Jesus points out to the Sadducces that God is the God of the living, not the dead. We readily see how word tense is of utmost importance and how it can be used to discern important docrine.
Word plurality simply indicates if there is one or many. Let us consider the following sentences. Give the sandwich to my dog. Give the sandwich to my dogs. As we can see, an understanding of word plurality is key to our understanding the number of the subject "dog" in the preceding sentences. In the first sentence the word "dog" is used, indicating that I have one dog. In the second sentence the word "dogs" is used, indicating that I have more than one dog. Now let us see a practical application of word plurality, and how it affects the meaning of a passage of scripture.
"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." Galations 3:16
Here we have the apostle Paul refering to Genesis 22:18 "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." where the LORD tells Abraham that in his seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. But which seed did the LORD mean, Jesus Christ or the nation of Isarael. The Apostle Paul answers this question by pointing out the word seed in Genesis 22:18, which is singular. So we know that the LORD was refering to an individual, and not a nation. So in Christ shall the nations of the earth be blessed.
We can see by these two examples how that careful attention to word tense and plurality are of an absolute necessity for the Bible student.