Re: post 301 ... that strawman has more holes in it than a head of swiss cheese.
NIV Exodus 5:6-23
6. That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and foremen in charge of the people:
7. "You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw.
8. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, `Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'
9. Make the work harder for the men so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies."
10. Then the slave drivers and the foremen went out and said to the people, "This is what Pharaoh says: `I will not give you any more straw.
11. Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.'"
12. So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw.
13. The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, "Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw."
14. The Israelite foremen appointed by Pharaoh's slave drivers were beaten and were asked, "Why didn't you meet your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?"
15. Then the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: "Why have you treated your servants this way?
16. Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, `Make bricks!' Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people."
17. Pharaoh said, "Lazy, that's what you are--lazy! That is why you keep saying, `Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.'
18. Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks."
19. The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, "You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day."
20. When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them,
21. and they said, "May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."
22. Moses returned to the LORD and said, "O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me?
23. Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all."
NIV Judges 19:19
19. We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves your servants--me, your maidservant, and the young man with us. We don't need anything."
NIV 1 Kings 4:28-29
28. They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses.
29. God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.
NIV Job 21:18
18. How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?
NIV Job 41:27-28
27. Iron he treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.
28. Arrows do not make him flee; slingstones are like chaff to him.
NIV Isaiah 5:21-24
21. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
22. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks,
23. who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.
24. Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
NIV Isaiah 11:7
7. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
NIV Isaiah 25:10
10. The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be trampled under him as straw is trampled down in the manure.
NIV Isaiah 33:11
11. You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you.
NIV Isaiah 65:25
25. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD.
NIV Jeremiah 23:28
28. Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?" declares the LORD.
NIV 1 Corinthians 3:11-16
11. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,
13. his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.
14. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
15. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
16. Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
Thanks for those words ... I'm not sure of your point ... but that's ok. I still liked those verses. What I mostly liked about them was that there was very little .. "do as I say or believe in me or else" tripe in them. The stuff that Khepra and L Christian sent me was full of threats and extortion. In the verses you sent me the theme was "straw" and straw appeared in pretty much each verse. In the verses that Khepra and L.Christian sent, the two words that constantly appeared were "death" and "offend /offense". See the difference ????