Genesis 1:21 Continued

I have managed to get that first part of verse 21 memorized:

And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly


But, though I started memorizing the next bit today, I lost most of it! I left, for one thing, the wings off the birds, and that just will not do. Let's go with the King James Version (decidedly, by the way, the most eloquent one):

after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

I am resolved, also, to move forward with my memorization of the other books of the Bible. I've been hovering myself, over verse 12 for a while now. Exodus 1:12. I've been messing up the first phrase there:

But the more they afflicted them

That's correct. I was just saying "But the more they were afflicted"

It makes a difference. One version makes you think a bit more about who is doing the afflicting. And therefore the consequence of their action, since what follows says how the direct object of the sentence (them, or the people of the children of Israel) responds to the bad behavior of the subject (the Egyptians and afflicting). The other version makes you simply think of a people who is bearing a difficult burden, they are mistreated and abused. It does keep their response, to multiply and grow. In the end what you think about the situation is at least slightly affected, or mine is. It says 'hey Egyptians, wake up, this isn't working! Think outside the box already'.

Instead, of course, the Egyptians just keep it up. "And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour".

It's not like your trainer at the gym or your math teacher or coach. They want them controlled, unable to prosper, to not be any sort of threat or concern or worry for them. It's a national security issue, plain and simple, and basic economics. Keeping order, etc. Still. It's sad to think how many lives opened and closed and no one saw a better way to live with their fears and dangers and enemies. They didn't have a lot of the luxuries we have today to help them be better people. So, it does seem we could do a bit better the world over. Even countries that are so poor have more than people had then.