Cause Before Symptom

Part Thirteen – Examination of Ezra: Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox and King James

Ezra is not a story of restoration achieved, but of restoration constrained. The exile has already done its work, judgment has already fallen, and return is permitted only under strict covenant order. In both the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox witness and the King James Bible, the book is textually close by design, reflecting a shared concern with legitimacy, law, priesthood, and obedience rather than narrative drama. This examination therefore treats Ezra as a governance text rather than a comparison-heavy one, reading scripture aloud only where wording alters authority, inclusion, or covenant boundaries. What emerges is a picture of mercy without permissiveness: God allows return, but only through alignment. Ezra stands as the gatekeeper of restoration, ensuring that what is rebuilt does not recreate the conditions that led to exile, and preparing the listener for the point where textual divergence becomes audible again in the books that follow.
Ezra, EthiopianCanon, EthiopianTewahedo, GeezScripture, KingJamesBible, BiblicalComparison, ScriptureStudy, PostExilicIsrael, Restoration, Covenant, DivineAuthority, BiblicalDiscernment, TextualComparison, OldTestament, BibleStudy, ChristianTheology

Part Twelve – Examination of 1 & 2 Chronicles: Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox and King James

1st & 2nd Chronicles are examined not as a continuation of Kings, but as a deliberate act of remembrance written for a people who have already endured loss. Where Kings explains how collapse unfolded, Chronicles preserves what must survive collapse so restoration can ever be possible. The same history is retold with restraint, omission, and focus, emphasizing identity, worship, priesthood, and covenant continuity rather than political failure. In both the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox tradition and the King James Bible, Chronicles does not argue with earlier accounts; it re-weights them. This examination therefore listens for function rather than novelty, reading scripture aloud only where wording, emphasis, or omission itself changes how God’s patience, presence, and purpose are heard. What emerges is not contradiction, but coherence: a theology shaped for return, where memory guards hope and obedience is re-centered as the path forward after judgment has already done its work.
FirstChronicles, SecondChronicles, EthiopianCanon, EthiopianTewahedo, GeezScripture, KingJamesBible, BiblicalComparison, ScriptureStudy, OldTestament, Chronicles, Genealogy, Priesthood, TempleWorship, CovenantMemory, ExileAndReturn, DivineCharacter, BiblicalDiscernment, TextualComparison, BibleStudy, ChristianTheology

Part Eleven – Examination of 1 & 2 Kings: Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox and King James

First Kings is examined as a disciplined listening exercise rather than a verse-by-verse retelling. In the English Ethiopian edition being used here, First Kings often reads very close to the King James Bible, especially in the opening chapters and many narrative stretches. Because of that, this examination will not pretend differences are present where they are not. Verses that are functionally identical are intentionally omitted, and side-by-side reading will only occur when a difference is plainly audible and materially changes how timing, agency, restraint, warning, or covenant emphasis is heard. Where the wording is essentially the same, the focus will shift from lexical contrast to structural function—how warning, delay, silence, and consequence operate across the narrative—so the listener is not asked to “trust” interpretation in place of text. This keeps the method honest and keeps scripture, when read, carrying real evidentiary weight.
Second Kings continues without resetting the tension established in First Kings, and in the English Ethiopian edition being used here, large portions of Second Kings also track closely with the King James Bible. That closeness is treated as a finding, not a problem to hide, and it shapes the method. Only passages that show a clear, audible divergence in wording or framing will be read side by side. Where the texts are essentially identical, the examination will stay restrained and will focus on the narrative mechanics that both witnesses preserve: repeated warning, delayed consequence, the layered withdrawal of protection, and exile as culmination rather than surprise. The aim is not to manufacture differences, but to let the few that genuinely exist carry weight, and to treat the many convergences as part of what this comparison is revealing.
FirstKings, SecondKings, EthiopianCanon, EthiopianTewahedo, GeezScripture, KingJamesBible, BiblicalComparison, ScriptureStudy, OldTestament, KingsNarrative, DividedKingdom, Exile, Covenant, DivineCharacter, BiblicalDiscernment, TextualComparison, BibleStudy, ChristianTheology

Part Ten – Examination of 2 Samuel: Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox and King James

Second Samuel follows a king who was chosen through obedience into a reign that must now survive power. This examination does not present David as a hero rising, but as a man tested once authority is centralized and responsibility multiplies. The same God who restrained Israel before kingship remains unchanged as the throne is established, victories accumulate, and failure enters quietly through unchecked desire.
By reading the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox witness alongside the King James, the audience is allowed to hear how tone and cadence shape the image of God during moments of triumph, sin, repentance, and consequence. The events do not differ, but the sound of God’s response can. Where English phrasing often inclines the listener toward a God who reacts sharply to failure, the Ethiopian preserves continuity, patience, and moral clarity without emotional volatility.
Second Samuel exposes a sobering truth. Kingship does not remove consequence, repentance does not erase memory, and restoration does not return innocence. Authority remains, but it is chastened. God does not abandon David, nor does He shield him from the fruit of his actions. Through careful comparison, this book reveals that God’s character remains steady while human authority is weighed, fractured, corrected, and preserved only through humility.
This examination invites the listener to see that the real question of Second Samuel is not whether David was forgiven, but whether power can remain aligned once granted. The answer unfolds slowly, faithfully, and without spectacle, as scripture itself is allowed to speak.
SecondSamuel, EthiopianCanon, EthiopianTewahedo, KingJamesBible, BiblicalComparison, ScriptureStudy, BiblicalTheology, OldTestament, David, DavidicCovenant, Kingship, Obedience, DivineCharacter, BiblicalHermeneutics

Part Nine – Examination of 1 Samuel: Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox and King James

This examination enters the turning point where Israel moves from covenant-governed restraint into demanded kingship. First Samuel does not present a new phase of divine authority, but a revealing moment where God responds to sustained human insistence after warning, delay, and grief. By placing the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox text directly beside the King James witness, the audience is shown how wording, cadence, and sequence shape perception of God’s character before any commentary is offered.
The comparison makes clear that God does not initiate the request for a king. The people do. Scripture is allowed to testify as their demand unfolds, exposing fear of instability, desire for visible power, and comparison with surrounding nations. The Ethiopian text preserves this moment with a tone of restraint and sorrow, while the King James phrasing can sound procedural if read without attention to sequence. Hearing both side by side restores the weight of what is being asked and what is being lost.
This examination also reveals that divine allowance is not divine endorsement. God warns repeatedly, names the cost of human rule, and delays action, yet ultimately permits what the people will not release. Through direct scripture comparison, the audience is shown how patience, silence, and warning function as theological actions rather than absence or indecision. When Saul is chosen, disobedience is not treated as personal failure alone, but as structural unfitness for authority.
As the book progresses, scripture shows God’s grief without volatility and His withdrawal without abandonment. The rejection of Saul emerges as consequence, not impulse, and the quiet introduction of David restores the pattern of obedience preceding elevation. By letting both canons speak in sequence, this examination preserves the consistency of God’s character while exposing the human cost of demanding authority apart from trust.
FirstSamuel EthiopianCanon EthiopianTewahedo KingJamesBible BiblicalComparison ScriptureStudy BiblicalTheology OldTestament ArkOfTheCovenant Samuel BiblicalHermeneutics TextualCriticism Holiness Obedience DivineCharacter

Part Eight – Examination of Ruth: Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox and King James

Ruth is not a break from Judges. It is the answer Judges quietly demanded. Where Judges exposed collapse at the level of tribes, leadership, and collective memory, Ruth narrows the frame to show what covenant faithfulness looks like when almost everything else has failed. God does not speak more here. He intervenes less. And yet covenant advances more securely than it did through power, deliverers, or force.
 
This book does not explain suffering, justify famine, or resolve grief. Loss is allowed to stand without correction. Naomi’s bitterness is not rebuked. God’s silence is not filled in with commentary. What carries the story forward is not rescue, but loyalty practiced under pressure, obedience remembered without reward, and faithfulness lived in obscurity.
 
Ruth’s words are not romance. They are covenant. Her decision is not emotional attachment but binding commitment made in a moment where nothing is promised in return. The Ethiopian Tewahedo cadence preserves this sobriety, while the King James allows the listener to hear how easily obligation can be mistaken for sentiment. Side by side, the text shows how wording shapes perception without changing the act itself.
 
Provision in Ruth is ordinary. Gleaning replaces miracle. Law replaces spectacle. Righteousness is expressed through attention, restraint, and process rather than divine interruption. Boaz does not receive visions. He remembers what covenant requires and acts accordingly. Redemption unfolds publicly, legally, and patiently, with God advancing His purpose without ever announcing Himself.
 
Placed after Judges, Ruth proves something essential. God did not withdraw. Covenant did not fail. What failed in Judges was memory at scale. What endures in Ruth is obedience carried by the few when the many could not sustain it. This book stands as evidence that faithfulness does not need power to be real, and that God can move history forward through quiet loyalty when restraint is all that remains.
 
Ruth, Ethiopian Tewahedo, Ethiopian Bible, King James Bible, Canon Comparison, Scripture Comparison, Geez, Covenant Faithfulness, Biblical Continuity, Judges To Kings, Kinsman Redeemer, Biblical Lineage, Gods Character, Biblical History, Old Testament Study, Textual Comparison, Cause Before Symptom, James Carner

Part Seven – Examination of Judges: Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox and King James

What follows is not a story about a violent God or a failed people. It is a record of what happens when covenant is inherited without being remembered, and when freedom is received without discipline to sustain it. Nothing new is introduced here. Everything that unfolds has already been warned about, named, and permitted long before it appears.
 
Judges does not describe God changing posture. It reveals what becomes visible when restraint is no longer reinforced by obedience. Deliverance still comes, mercy still interrupts collapse, and cries are still heard, but the ground underneath those cries is thin. Relief replaces repentance, and memory fades faster each time peace returns.
 
What unravels in this record is not leadership alone, but reference. When authority is no longer anchored in covenant, everyone becomes their own measure. What feels right replaces what was commanded, and sincerity begins to masquerade as faithfulness. The absence that defines this era is not God’s presence, but remembered obedience.
 
The repetition is deliberate. The cycles are not punishment escalating, but exposure deepening. The same failure is allowed to surface again and again until it can no longer be mistaken for accident or misunderstanding. This is not cruelty. It is patience that refuses to lie about consequence.
 
Judges stands as a mirror held steady, not a verdict shouted in anger. It shows what happens when a people cannot carry freedom without structure, mercy without memory, or inheritance without formation. Nothing here is meant to terrify. It is meant to be seen, clearly and without excuse.
 
Judges, Ethiopian Bible, Ethiopian Orthodox, Tewahedo, Geʽez, Biblical Truth, Scripture Comparison, King James Bible, Bible Study, Biblical Theology, Old Testament, Covenant, Divine Mercy, Gods Character, Biblical History, Christian Discernment, Faith And Truth, Scripture Explained, Cause Before Symptom, James Carner

Part Six – Examination of Joshua: Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox and King James

Joshua is not a book about God becoming violent. It is a book about promise becoming reality, and about what happens when faith must move from belief into action. The same events appear in both the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox record and the King James Bible, but the way those events are voiced can determine whether Joshua is heard as a story of divine rage and conquest, or as a measured completion of covenant governed by order, restraint, warning, and mercy.
 
This book stands at a critical threshold. Moses has died. The law has been spoken. Memory has been secured. What remains is obedience lived under pressure, in a land already marked by long-standing judgment and long-standing patience. Joshua does not introduce a new divine posture. It carries forward what was already declared, revealing whether judgment unfolds impulsively or within limits that preserve continuity, choice, and accountability.
 
Joshua contains battles, destruction, and loss, but it also contains pauses, inclusion, covenant honor, internal correction, and repeated calls to remember. Rahab is spared. Oaths are kept even when inconvenient. Excess is restrained. Land is apportioned carefully rather than seized recklessly. The narrative itself resists being reduced to holy violence when the language is allowed to speak in sequence.
 
This examination exists because Joshua has often been used to portray God as angry, volatile, and indiscriminate. When the wording is heard carefully, especially alongside the Ethiopian canonical tradition, a different picture emerges: judgment that is bounded, mercy that is active within consequence, and a God who remains consistent with everything He revealed before the Jordan was crossed.
 
Joshua ultimately asks whether obedience in the land is driven by fear of God’s wrath or trust in God’s faithfulness. How the language carries command, victory, failure, and covenant renewal determines whether readers learn to associate God with domination or with faithful governance under severe conditions.
 
This episode slows Joshua down so it can be heard as it was meant to be heard: not as justification for violence, but as testimony that promise, once given, will be fulfilled without God abandoning restraint, mercy, or covenant integrity—even when judgment must occur.
 
Joshua, Ethiopian Bible, Tewahedo Orthodox, King James Bible, Geʽez, Scripture Comparison, Biblical Translation, God’s Character, Covenant Faithfulness, Biblical Discernment, Old Testament, Hebrew Scriptures, Faith and Obedience, Mercy and Judgment, Ancient Scripture

How the Bible Traveled: Why We Don’t Have Geʽez in English

Scripture did not arrive in English from the source. It arrived through history, through stewardship, and through explanation. What was preserved in Geʽez was never meant to be exported, and what most of us have worked from was the closest faithful access available, Amharic, carrying the meaning of an older, sealed record.
This does not expose failure or deception. It exposes reality. The Ethiopian tradition protected its sacred language so meaning would not drift, and later generations explained that language so people could live by it. English entered this chain very late, receiving what had already been carried forward with care.
Scripture never moved through history in a straight line. It moved through people, places, and languages, each serving a purpose for the time they were given. What the West received was shaped by Rome, Latin, and later English tradition. What Ethiopia preserved was shaped by early Christianity, Greek and Semitic sources, and a sacred language that was never meant to change once it was set.
Geʽez was not preserved to be easy. It was preserved to be faithful. It was treated as a sealed record, held steady so meaning would not shift with generations. When people could no longer speak it, it was not replaced. It was explained. Amharic arose to help people understand what was already written, not to rewrite it or stand in its place.
English entered this story after decisions had already been made and records had already been preserved. That distance does not mean truth was lost, but it does mean layers were added, and those layers matter. Confusion only appears when every language is expected to serve the same role.
When explanation is mistaken for origin, and teaching is mistaken for record, the ground feels unstable. When each language is placed back where it belongs, the ground holds again. What remains is not suspicion, but clarity. God was not careless with His word. He was patient with it.
Geez, Ethiopian Orthodox, Ethiopian Canon, Biblical Translation, Church History, Scripture Preservation, Ancient Christianity, Bible Languages, Faith and Translation, Christian Discernment, Cause Before Symptom, Truth and Tradition

Part Five - Examination of Deuteronomy: Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox and King James

Deuteronomy is not repetition caused by delay or failure. It is repetition born of urgency, love, and the knowledge that a people about to enter inheritance are more vulnerable than they were in bondage. Moses speaks knowing he will not cross the Jordan, and his words are shaped by the weight of that knowledge. This book exists to secure covenant memory before freedom reshapes identity, because a people who forget how they were saved will eventually redefine freedom in ways that destroy them.
This examination places the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox record alongside the King James Bible to listen carefully to how Moses’ final witness is carried through language. The events, commands, and warnings remain the same, but the tone can determine whether Deuteronomy is heard as a book of fear and threat, or as a faithful shepherd’s last counsel meant to preserve life. The question is not whether obedience matters, but whether obedience is sustained through intimidation or through remembered relationship and chosen trust.
Deuteronomy contains love, warning, blessing, consequence, failure, and return. It commands the heart, not just behavior. It anticipates rebellion before it occurs and provides a path back before exile ever happens. The book insists that the word is near, that the choice is real, and that life and death are not abstractions but outcomes shaped by covenant alignment. When the language preserves sequence and intention, discipline is heard as guidance and warning as mercy. When tone hardens, the same words can sound like a courtroom sentence rather than a father’s plea.
This episode exists to slow Deuteronomy down and let it speak as it was intended to be heard: not as a threat hanging over God’s people, but as a final act of care meant to keep covenant from collapsing under fear, prosperity, or forgetfulness. Deuteronomy does not teach believers to hide from God when they fail. It teaches them to remember, to return, and to choose life, because the Lord Himself is their life.
Deuteronomy, Ethiopian Bible, Tewahedo Orthodox, King James Bible, Geʽez, Biblical Comparison, Scripture Study, Biblical Discernment, Covenant, Choose Life, Faith and Obedience, God’s Character, Biblical Theology, Ancient Scripture, Christian Teaching