I’m reading the Bible in the English Standard Version after nearly three decades of using the New International Version. I recommend reading the Bible in a different translation at some point in your life. You’ll read the same stories with fresh eyes. You’ll find new insights because of a change in wording, even if the Greek or Hebrew word is the same. For example, in my reading of Exodus this morning, I loved the simplicity of Exodus 2:25. The people are crying out to God because of their slavery and oppression and Egypt. And we read this:
God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
That’s it. That is all. God saw and God knew. I just love that. I love that we can trust that God sees and God knows everything concerning us. Other translations say that God saw and was concerned, that God saw and took notice, or that God acknowledged the Israelites. All of these ideas come through for me in the simplicity of “and God knew.”