In the second century Marcion of Sinope wrote a book called the Antitheses. It did one thing: it set the god of the Law beside the words of Jesus and let the texts disagree in their own words. The church burned it. It survives only in the quotations of the men who wrote against it.
Here are twelve pairs in that spirit, from the new printing of MOLT, and a thirteenth added since. The King James text, unaltered. Where it prints LORD, the Hebrew has the name YHVH, shown in brackets. Each pair ends with a one-line verdict. Read them side by side. Then decide.
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD [YHVH] do all these things.”Isaiah 45:7 against
“For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”Luke 6:43
YHVH makes evil. Jesus says good can’t.
#I“And again the anger of the LORD [YHVH] was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.”2 Samuel 24:1 against
“And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.”1 Chronicles 21:1
Same story. Second draft: it was Satan.
#II“Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD [YHVH].”Ezekiel 20:25–26 against
“And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.”Jeremiah 7:31
He ordered it. Then said he never did.
#III“And the LORD [YHVH] sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.”Numbers 21:6 against
“If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?”Luke 11:11
YHVH sends snakes. Jesus: what father would?
#IV“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”Genesis 3:16 against
“And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.”Luke 13:12
YHVH curses women. Jesus frees one.
#V“And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.”2 Kings 1:10 against
“And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.”Luke 9:54–55
Elijah calls down fire. Jesus says no.
#VI“And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD [YHVH]. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.”2 Kings 2:23–24 against
“But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”Luke 18:16
YHVH: bears for kids. Jesus: let the kids come.
#VII“And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.”Leviticus 15:25 against
“Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. … And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.”Luke 8:44, 48
Don’t touch her. She touched him. Healed.
#VIII“All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.”Leviticus 13:46 against
“And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.”Luke 5:13
YHVH exiles the sick. Jesus touches them.
#IX“Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s [YHVH’s], and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. … She returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed.”Judges 11:31, 39 against
“And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise.”Luke 8:54
Jephthah burns his daughter. Jesus raises one.
#X“And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.”Judges 19:29 against
“And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”Luke 7:50
Cut into twelve pieces. Sent home in peace.
#XI“If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.”Deuteronomy 22:28–29 against
“It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”Luke 17:2
YHVH’s law: marry your rapist. Jesus: millstone.
#XII“And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: … Every raven after his kind;”Leviticus 11:13, 15 against
“Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them.”Luke 12:24
YHVH: an abomination. Jesus: God feeds it.
In Genesis the birds were blessed (1:22) and everything made was “very good” (1:31). Even Tertullian, writing against Marcion, granted that the law pronounced “unclean certain animals which were once blessed” (Against Marcion 2.18). Added November 2026; not among the twelve printed in MOLT.
#XIIIJesus gave the test himself: “every tree is known by his own fruit” (Luke 6:44). Marcion began there. These pairs are not a verdict on any people; they are about a figure in a text, and the account they belong to ends with everyone restored, the maker of this world included.
If you were raised under that god, the verses never stayed on the page. Seeing the contradiction settles the argument. It does not take out the flinch. That is what the practice is for.
Marcion of Sinope's lost book, the Antitheses (second century), set the god of the Law beside the words of Jesus and let the texts disagree; it survives only in the quotations of its opponents, chiefly Tertullian's Against Marcion. The first twelve plates are the author's own selection in that spirit, printed in the November 2026 printing of MOLT; the thirteenth was added online that same month. Every verse is the King James text.
Where the King James Version prints LORD in capitals, the Hebrew has the divine name YHVH. The brackets make visible what the English hides.
No. It counts gods in a text; it never counts against a people. The Hebrew scriptures belong to the Jewish tradition and the rabbis read them correctly on their own terms. Every hard sentence here is about a figure in a text, and the account ends in the restoration of everyone.
YHVH HA-SATAN makes the case verse by verse; MOLT prints all twelve plates; Practice One is the free practice that goes with them.