Seeds of Faith

Seeds of faith é uma página criada no blog para edificar a sua fé e ajudá-lo na prática da língua inglesa.

No início de cada texto, você encontrará as seguintes orientações pré-leitura:

- a passagem na qual o texto se baseia;

- o nível de inglês requerido para a leitura (level)

- o número de palavras chaves/entradas (headwords)

Ao final, uma lista com vocabulário básico (basic vocabulary) facilitará a compreensão do texto.

Todo o material é produzido pela Pra. Roberta de C. Barabás, formada em Língua e Literatura Inglesas pela PUC- SP, pós-graduada em Educação com Enfoque em Aprendizagem e Linguagem. Aprimoramento em Neurociências em curso.

Jesus Calms a Storm

Bible short story based on Mark 4.35-41

Level – Intermediate

Headwords – 75

  As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Come with me. Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 

  They left the ¹ crowd and took Jesus with them in a boat. There were also other boats with them. Suddenly, a very bad wind came up on the lake. High waves started ² splashing into the boat, and it began to fill with water. It was about to sink. Jesus was in the back part of the boat sleeping with his head on a ³ pillow.

  The disciples woke him up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care about us? We’re going 4 to drown!”

  Jesus got up and ordered the wind and the waves to be quiet. He said, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind stopped 5 blowing. No more waves. Everything was calm.

  Jesus then asked his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Don't you have any faith?" They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this man? 6 Even the wind and the water obey him!”

Basic Vocabulary

1 Crowd – multidão

2 Splashing – espirrando, molhando

3 Pillow – travesseiro, almofada

4 To drown – submergir, afogar

5 To Blow – soprar

6 Even – até mesmo

God Chooses Joshua to Lead Israel

Bible short story based on Joshua 1. 1-9 

Level - High- intermediate 

Headwords – 95 

  After the death of Moses, God´s servant, God spoke to Joshua, Moses' assistant. He said, “My servant Moses is dead. Now ¹ get ready to cross the Jordan River with these people to the land I am giving to all of you. Wherever you go, I will give you that land. I will give you every place where you ² set foot, just as I promised Moses. 

  All the land from the desert in the south to Lebanon in the north will be yours. All the land from the Euphrates in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west will be yours, ³ as well as all the land of the Hittites. It´s all yours. 

Nobody will be able 4 to defeat you all the days of your life. In the same way I was with Moses, I will be with you. I will never leave you. I will never forget you. 5 Strength! Courage! You must lead these people 6 to inherit the land that I promised to give their fathers. Be strong and very courageous. You must obey all the teachings my servant Moses gave you. If you follow his teachings exactly, you will be successful in everything you do. 

  Always remember what is written in that 7 book of law. Speak about that book and study it day and night, making sure you obey everything that is written there. Then you will succeed. Strength! Courage! Be strong and very courageous.    Do not be afraid, because I will be with you wherever you go.” 

Basic Vocabulary

1 To get ready – preparar-se 

2 To set – colocar 

3 As well as – bem como 

4 To defeat – derrotar 

5 Strength – força 

6 To inherit – herdar 

7 Book of law – livro da lei

God Calls Moses

Bible short story based on Exodus 3.1-10

Level – High- intermediate

Headwords –100

  Moses took care of Jethro´s  1 flock, his father-in-law, the   2 priest of Midian. One day he decided  ³to lead the flock across the desert to a mountain called Horeb, the mountain of God. There Moses saw the angel of the Lord in a 4burning 5bush.

  Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but it was not burning up. "What's going on here? I can't believe this! Why doesn't the bush burn up?”, he asked himself. So he decided to go closer to the bush and check it.

  When the Lord saw Moses coming near the bush, He called him by name, and Moses answered, "Yes, here I am."

  Then God said, “Do not come near. 6Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

  Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, “I have seen the suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their 7cry because of the men who make them work. I have seen how cruel the Egyptians are to them. I know about their 8pain.  I have come down to save my people from the Egyptians. I will bring my people out of Egypt into a country where there is good land, rich with milk and honey. I will give them the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. I have heard the cry of the people of Israel. So now I am sending you to Pharaoh. Go! Lead my people out of Egypt.”

Basic Vocabulary

1 Flock – rebanho

2 Priest – sacerdote

3 To lead – conduzir, liderar

4 Burning – ardente

5 Bush – arbusto(sarça)

6 Take off – tirar

7 Cry – clamor

8 Pain – dor

The Fight With God

Bible short story based on Genesis 32. 22-31

Level –  Intermediate

Headwords – 95

 After a long time, Jacob was ¹on his way to meet his brother Esau again. During the night, Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two concubines, and his eleven children, and crossed  the Jabbok River. After he had sent his family across the river, he sent across everything he had, but he stayed behind, alone.

 Then a man came and ²fought with him until the sun ³came up. When the man saw that he could not defeat Jacob, he touched Jacob’s leg and ⁴put it out of joint.

 The man said to Jacob, “Let me go. It´s morning.” But Jacob replied,  “ I won´t let you go ⁵ unless you bless me.” And the man said to him, “What is your name?”

 “Jacob,” he answered.

 The man said, “Your name is no longer Jacob. Your name will now be Israel, because you have fought with God and with people, and you have won.”

 Jacob asked him, “And what´s your name?”

 But the man said, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed Jacob there.

 Jacob named that place Peniel – God´s Face – because, he said, “I saw God face to face, but my life was saved.”

 The sun came up as he left Peniel, ⁶ limping because of his ⁷hip. 

Basic Vocabulary

¹ On his way – a caminho

² Fought – lutou

³ Came up – apareceu, surgiu

⁴ Put it out of joint – deslocar

⁵ Unless – a menos que

⁶ Limping – mancar, coxear

⁷ Hip – quadril

God´s Promise to Abram

Bible short story based on Genesis 15.1- 6

Level – beginner

Headwords – 80

  Abram had a vision and heard the Lord say to him, “Abram, do not be afraid. I will protect you and give you a great ¹reward.”

  But Abram said, “Lord God, there is nothing you can give me that will make me happy, because I have no son. My only  ²heir is Eliezer of Damascus, my servant. He  will get everything I own.” Then the Lord spoke to Abram and said, “Your servant will not  ³inherit your  ⁴wealth. You will have a son who will be your heir.”

  The Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky. Count  the stars. Can you do it?  Your family will be like that.”

  And Abram believed the Lord, and God counted him as ⁵righteous because of his  ⁶faith.

Basic Vocabulary

¹ Reward – recompensa, galardão

²  Heir – herdeiro

³  Inherit – herdar

⁴  Wealth – riqueza

⁵  Righteous – justo
⁶  Faith – fé

The Tower of Babel

Bible short story based on Genesis 11.1- 9

Level – beginner

Headwords – 100

  There was a time when the ¹whole world had only one language. Everyone used the same words. Then people migrated to the East, and found a ²plain in Shinar. They decided to stay there to live. They said to each other, “Let’s make ³bricks and bake them in the fire.” They used these bricks as ⁴stones, and they used  ⁵tar as  ⁶mortar.  They also said, “Let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches to the sky. Then we will be famous. This will keep us together.

  When the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, He said, “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. This is only the beginning of what they can do. Now all they plan to do will be possible for them. Let’s go down and confuse their language, so they will not understand each other.”

  So the Lord sent them  ⁷everywhere over the earth. And they stopped building the city. That is the place where the Lord confused the language of the whole world, and sent the people everywhere over the earth. That is why it is called Babel.

Basic Vocabulary

¹Whole  –  inteiro

² Plain –  planície

³Bricks –  tijolos

⁴Stones – pedras

⁵Tar – piche

⁶ Mortar –  argamassa

⁷Everywhere –  por toda a parte