The Lord of Hosts

I love that reading the Scriptures in Spanish makes them a little clearer and helps me understand better some things that I didn't even realize were not so clear to begin with.

When you read scriptures, you will see the phrase "The Lord of Hosts" many, many times.
1 Ne. 20: 2 (Isa. 48: 2) God of Israel is the Lord of Hosts.
2 Ne. 8: 15 (Isa. 51: 15) Lord of Hosts is my name.
2 Ne. 12: 12 (Isa. 2: 12) day of the Lord of Hosts is soon to come.
2 Ne. 15: 7 (Isa. 5: 7) vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel.
2 Ne. 15: 16 (Isa. 5: 16) the Lord of Hosts shall be exalted.
2 Ne. 19: 13 (Isa. 9: 13) people do not seek the Lord of Hosts.
2 Ne. 24: 22 (Isa. 14: 22) the Lord of Hosts will rise up against them.
2 Ne. 27: 2 all nations shall be visited of the Lord of Hosts.
Jacob 2: 30 if the Lord of Hosts will raise up seed, he will command his people.
3 Ne. 22: 5 (Isa. 54: 5) the Lord of Hosts is name of thy husband.
3 Ne. 24: 7 (Mal. 3: 7) return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts.
3 Ne. 24: 10 (Mal. 3: 10) prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts.
D&C 1: 33 Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts.
D&C 29: 9 (D&C 64: 24; D&C 133: 64; Mal. 4: 1) I will burn the wicked up, saith the Lord of Hosts.
D&C 85: 5 names of the unfaithful will not be written in book of law of God, saith the Lord of Hosts.
D&C 127: 4 you shall in nowise lose reward, saith the Lord of Hosts.
JS-H 1: 37 the wicked shall be burned, saith the Lord of Hosts.

Until reading it repeatedly in Spanish, I wouldn't have questioned that phrase. But in Spanish the word used instead of 'hosts' is ARMY. So I looked up the phrase in the Bible Dictionary, Topical Guide, and Index in English because those resources don't exist yet in Spanish. In the Topical Guide, under the phrase, it says, see also "Army".

I had thought of a 'host' as just a large group of people. Jesus Christ is the Lord of this bunch of people - a great host of people. But by reading it in Spanish I see that we aren't just a group; we are an army. We are a group of people who are fighting for the right, and the Lord of the army will prevail.

I do think it is important to remember that we are part of an active army, not just a busy group. As soldiers we need to keep fighting for right.

On Correcting our Children

I love Section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants. It has so many verses that are a wonderful guide and consolation to us in all different facets of our lives. The ones I'm thinking about today are verses 41-45:

41 No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
42 By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—
43 Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;
44 That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.
45 Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith,

I think these guidelines can help us in all our interactions with family, especially the relationship of parents to child; but also in all other interpersonal interactions.

The part that I think is most misunderstood in English is "Reproving betimes with sharpness". I've heard many general authorities explain what the "sharpness" means, but its hard to get out of our heads how it sounds to us. Much of my reproving when my children were young was done with my own kind of "sharpness".

In English the word "sharpness" is footnoted to D&C 15:1 which is God saying he speaks with "sharpness and with power", which tells me we should parent the way God does. Wouldn't it be nice if we could always reprove in the same way God would? I think that's why verse 43 also says "when moved upon by the Holy Ghost." The Spanish version of "moved upon" is "induced", which I take to mean influenced.

However, in Spanish that part somewhat clearer:
reprendiendo en el momento oportuno con severidad

So "sharpness" means "in the opportune moment. Then the Spanish uses the word "severity" which in the footnote says means "with clarity and strictness".

So what I get from it is that we should reprove in the opportune moment with clarity and strictness, when induced by the Holy Ghost. We need to be careful first of all that if we reprove someone, we are being induced to do so by the Holy Ghost, not by our own pride or anger. Then we need to do so in an opportune moment, and with clarity and strictness.

I don't have much call any more to reprove anyone but sometimes I sure feel like it anyway; I've always had a problem with saying what's on my mind. But if I can remember the part about being induced by the Holy Ghost and in the opportune moment, I can make a better difference without making someone think I'm their enemy.

I'm really not a slacker

I have to clear any doubt from all my hundreds of followers that I haven't been slacking on my scripture studies all this time that I haven't been posting. There. Now don't you all feel better?

I got called to teach the teacher development class. Yes I know the Church discontinued that official class and now the presidencies of each organization are supposed to use the manual to teach their own teachers. But in our Ward everything is done differently. I wonder if other Mexican or other-than-English-speaking Wards don't have similar problems where almost all the members are new converts and so didn't attend primary or YM/YW and also have never attended any kind of teacher development class before and have rarely ever seen a class taught the way it should be. They really need teacher development, and I'm not just talking about the newly called teachers. The Presidencies are pretty much the same. How can they teach if they've never been taught?

So I've been called and I'm supposed to teach all the teachers from all the organizations. Problem is, Primary teachers can't come during Sunday School because they are teaching. So I teach a class on Sunday for the Relief Society and Priesthood teachers and another one on Thursday for the Primary teachers. I like it that way except for having to have another night of the week taken up. Teaching in Primary is so different, that they really need their own class anyway.

So I prepare one class for the Sunday group. It takes me many, many hours, and an almost entirely different lesson for the Thursday group. That takes me many, many hours, too. I'm not trying to brag, but I have to say I am a pretty experienced teacher, and usually I can prepare a class within an hour or so, but these classes are taking way more time because I really have to consider where the teachers are, progression-wise, and I'm extremely adapting the lessons from the manual.

Adding to that, I got asked to teach a lesson for the RS birthday night program, and I'm spending a whole lot of hours on the computer preparing lessons. Everything takes me way longer in Spanish. If I find a good talk, I then have to find it in Spanish. If it didn't come out in Spanish, I have to translate it; a very laborious task.

I'm not whining. I'm not complaining. I like to study and I love teaching and I love being to hopefully make a difference in the level and effectiveness of teaching in our Ward. I just had to explain why I haven't been comparing scriptures lately.

I do have one posting, tho. I found a place where in English we are blessed that our lips can speak without guile. In Spanish, the word used instead of guile is deceit. I had to think about that one. Is guile a form of deceit? It certainly is. Speaking of someone with guile is very dishonest.

Deceit is defined as: the act or practice of deceiving; concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity.

Guile is defined as:

insidious cunning in attaining a goal; crafty or artful deception; duplicity.

—Synonyms: trickery, fraud, craft. See deceit.

So guile is a form of deceit. How interesting. I love how using 2 languages can help open up our understanding.

Multiply and replenish

Many things have been said about what it means to multiply and replenish the earth. What exactly is our command? The scripture is:

Gen. 1: 28

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be ^afruitful, and ^bmultiply, and ^creplenish the ^dearth,

First of all the word fruitful means:

1.	producing good results; beneficial; profitable.

2.	abounding in fruit, as trees or other plants; bearing fruit abundantly.

3.	producing an abundant growth, as of fruit: fruitful soil; fruitful rain.

Synonyms: productive.

So first of all, we are to to produce good, beneficial results which are abundant and be productive.

Second, we are to multiply and replenish.

Multiply is: –verb (used with object)
to make many or manifold; increase the number, quantity, etc., of
to propagate (plants)
to breed (animals)
to increase by procreation.
we need to increase and propagate. We know how to do that. We need to have children. We are not meant to be barren. Sometimes it isn't a choice, but when it is, we are to be unselfish and give children the chance to come into this world. But I think we are also supposed to multiply the things of the earth. It occurs to me that this scripture might not only be talking about having children. I think we are to multiply, propagate, breed and increase the things of the earth.

And the next word in English is replenish which means:
–verb (used with object)

1.	to make full or complete again, as by supplying what is lacking, used up, etc.: to replenish one's stock of food.

2.	to supply (a fire, stove, etc.) with fresh fuel.

3.	to fill again or anew.

However, in Spanish the word used instead of replenish is hinchar which means to make it swell. Like when you cook beans or macaroni or spaghetti, they swell to many times their original size. It isn't an exact measurement, it is growth, or increase in size.

Our command isn't just to replace ourselves; we are to make the population or the supplies of the earth bigger, larger, increased in size. I get the feeling when reading it, that it isn't just talking about how many children we should have but how we treat the earth. We are to help multiply the things of the earth, not deplete it. We are to care for and make it full or complete again, each of us through generations should be caring for the earth and helping it to be filled and anew.

Many generations have been self-serving and self-centered, not thinking about what the earth needs. We need to change our focus from what we need to what we can do to care for and increase the earth through our love of our families and our love for God, whose earth it is and whose children we bear.

Christ is our example

I haven't posted for so long because for 2 weeks I was teaching gospel doctrine and didn't have time to do translation comparisons; then Tom was in the hospital for 10 days. But now I'm back!

I love how there can be a different word used in the Spanish translation instead of the word that would be the direct translation. Even though they mean basically the same thing, it gives a little richer or fresher meaning to a scripture we've heard many times.

I'm reading 2 Nephi 31 and found a few. First is in verse 5: "And now, if the Lamb of God, he being ^aholy, should have need to be ^bbaptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, "

Righteous is defined as:

1.	characterized by uprightness or morality: a righteous observance of the law.

2.	morally right or justifiable: righteous indignation.

3.	acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous: a righteous and godly person.

In Spanish the word for righteousness is justicia, or literally translated would be justice, which is defined as:

1.	the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness: to uphold the justice of a cause.

2.	rightfulness or lawfulness, as of a claim or title; justness of ground or reason: to complain with justice.

3.	the moral principle determining just conduct.

4.	conformity to this principle, as manifested in conduct; just conduct, dealing, or treatment.

The 2 meanings are very similar, and overlap, but I think knowing righteousness also includes justice gives it a much richer meaning. Jesus wasn't just baptized to fulfil righteousness, but also rightfulnees, lawfulness, observing a moral principle determining just conduct.



Going on to verse 17 "Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me,"

The English is a little awkward here, and sometimes people don't read it right and might miss some of the meaning. In Spanish it puts "because" in the place of the first "for". So it would say, because for this cause have they been shown unto me. The meaning is the same, but it comes through a little smoother because of the Spanish translation.

The last one is in verse 18: "and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which ^cwitnesses of the ^dFather and the Son,"
The definition of witness is:

1.	to see, hear, or know by personal presence and perception: to witness an accident.

2.	to be present at (an occurrence) as a formal witness, spectator, bystander, etc.: She witnessed our wedding.

3.	to bear witness to; testify to; give or afford evidence of.

In Spanish the word used instead of witness testimonio, or testimony which is defined as:

1.	Law. the statement or declaration of a witness under oath or affirmation.

2.	evidence in support of a fact or statement; proof.

3.	open declaration or profession, as of faith.

4.	Usually, testimonies. the precepts of God.

It means basically the same thing, but I thought it was interesting enough and important to remember that when we bear our testimony, we are being a witness. It isn't just sharing feelings or experiences. We are being a witness of a truth; We are giving an affirmation in support, an open declaration of our belief in God and Christ.