King James Version Bible (KJV) With Apocrypha PDF

Psalm 84 expresses human yearning for divine presence. The psalm begins with an exclamation of admiration: ‘How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!’ The term ‘tabernacles’ here refers to the sacred dwelling places of God. The psalmist’s words convey awe and reverence for the sanctuaries where God is believed to reside. This opening sets the tone for a poetic exploration of the soul’s yearning for proximity to the sacred [ … ]

The Jews – often in the Gospel of John a generic term for those who reject Christ, or those who are so muddled, contentious and sectarian among themselves that they threaten the continuity of themselves in the Law – do not reject Jesus for any good reason. They do so rather because they cling to what precious little they have, within their prison walls, and so they deliberately blind themselves to the universal, and universalizing, truth which Christ brings. Jesus knows this. Nevertheless, through justice, he must give to the Jews this additional opportunity to listen to his teaching and recognize the truth of who he is. We may imagine that Jesus is truly desperate for the people of God to put aside their differences and truly be with God [ … ]

The reading for the Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday) reflects key themes from Saint Augustine’s theology, especially his understanding of Christ as the ‘way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6). Saint Augustine frequently emphasized the journey of the soul toward God, a journey that requires divine grace to overcome sin and spiritual blindness. His doctrine of illumination—whereby human understanding is enlightened by God—resonates in this reading, as he speaks of Christ as the light that heals spiritual blindness and leads believers to truth [ … ]