Daily Bible CEV January 10 Scroll

The Work of the Seventy-Two Followers

Luke 10 Later the Lord chose seventy-two other followers and sent them out two by two to every town and village where he was about to go. ²He said to them:

A large crop is in the fields, but there are only a few workers. Ask the Lord in charge of the harvest to send out workers to bring it in. ³Now go, but remember, I am sending you like lambs into a pack of wolves. ⁴Don't take along a moneybag or a traveling bag or sandals. And don't waste time greeting people on the road. ⁵As soon as you enter a home, say, "God bless this home with peace." ⁶If the people living there are peace-loving, your prayer for peace will bless them. But if they are not peace-loving, your prayer will return to you. ⁷Stay with the same family, eating and drinking whatever they give you, because workers are worth what they earn. Don't move around from house to house.

⁸If the people of a town welcome you, eat whatever they offer. ⁹Heal their sick and say, "God's kingdom will soon be here!"

¹⁰But if the people of a town refuse to welcome you, go out into the street and say, ¹¹"We are shaking the dust from our feet as a warning to you. And you can be sure that God's kingdom will soon be here!" ¹²I tell you that on the day of judgment the people of Sodom will get off easier than the people of that town!

The Unbelieving Towns
(Matthew 11.20-24)

¹³You people of Chorazin are in for trouble! You people of Bethsaida are also in for trouble! If the miracles that took place in your towns had happened in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have turned to God long ago. They would have dressed in sackcloth and put ashes on their heads. ¹⁴On the day of judgment the people of Tyre and Sidon will get off easier than you will. ¹⁵People of Capernaum, do you think you will be honored in heaven? Well, you will go down to hell!

¹⁶My followers, whoever listens to you is listening to me. Anyone who says "No" to you is saying "No" to me. And anyone who says "No" to me is really saying "No" to the one who sent me.

The Return of the Seventy-Two

¹⁷When the seventy-two followers returned, they were excited and said, "Lord, even the demons obeyed when we spoke in your name!"

¹⁸Jesus told them:

I saw Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. ¹⁹I have given you the power to trample on snakes and scorpions and to defeat the power of your enemy Satan. Nothing can harm you. ²⁰But don't be happy because evil spirits obey you. Be happy that your names are written in heaven!

God's Promise to Abraham

Genesis 17 Abram was ninety-nine years old when the LORD appeared to him again and said, "I am God All-Powerful. If you obey me and always do right, ²I will keep my solemn promise to you and give you more descendants than can be counted." ³Abram bowed with his face to the ground, and God said:

^4-5I promise that you will be the father of many nations. That's why I now change your name from Abram to Abraham. ⁶I will give you a lot of descendants, and in the future they will become great nations. Some of them will even be kings.

⁷I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God. ⁸I will give you and them the land in which you are now a foreigner. I will give the whole land of Canaan to your family forever, and I will be their God.

⁹Abraham, you and all future members of your family must promise to obey me. ^10-11As the sign that you are keeping this promise, you must circumcise every man and boy in your family. ^12-13From now on, your family must circumcise every baby boy when he is eight days old. You must even circumcise any man or boy you have as a slave, both those born in your homes and those you buy from foreigners. This will be a sign that my promise to you will last forever. ¹⁴Any man who isn't circumcised hasn't kept his promise to me and cannot be one of my people.

¹⁵Abraham, your wife's name will now be Sarah instead of Sarai. ¹⁶I will bless her, and you will have a son by her. She will become the mother of nations, and some of her descendants will even be kings.

¹⁷Abraham bowed with his face to the ground and thought, "I am almost a hundred years old. How can I become a father? And Sarah is ninety. How can she have a child?" So he started laughing. ¹⁸Then he asked God, "Why not let Ishmael inherit what you have promised me?"

¹⁹But God answered:

No! You and Sarah will have a son. His name will be Isaac, and I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants.

²⁰I have heard what you asked me to do for Ishmael, and so I will also bless him with many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make his family a great nation. ²¹But your son Isaac will be born about this time next year, and the promise I am making to you and your family will be for him and his descendants forever.

²²God finished speaking to Abraham and then left.

^23-27On that same day Abraham obeyed God by circumcising Ishmael. Abraham was also circumcised, and so were all other men and boys in his household, including his servants and slaves. He was ninety-nine years old at the time, and his son Ishmael was thirteen.

Psalm 10
A Prayer for Help

¹Why are you far away, LORD?

Why do you hide yourself when I am in trouble?

²Proud and brutal people hunt down the poor.

But let them get caught by their own evil plans!

³The wicked brag about their deepest desires.

Those greedy people hate and curse you, LORD.

⁴The wicked are too proud to turn to you

or even think about you.

⁵They are always successful,

though they can't understand your teachings,

and they keep sneering at their enemies.

⁶In their hearts they say, "Nothing can hurt us!

We'll always be happy and free from trouble."

⁷They curse and tell lies, and all they talk about

is how to be cruel or how to do wrong.

⁸They hide outside villages,

waiting to strike and murder some innocent victim.

⁹They are hungry lions hiding in the bushes,

hoping to catch some helpless passerby.

They trap the poor in nets and drag them away.

¹⁰They crouch down and wait to grab a victim.

¹¹

They say, "God can't see! He's got on a blindfold."

¹²Do something, LORD God,

and use your powerful arm to help those in need.

¹³The wicked don't respect you.

In their hearts they say, "God won't punish us!"

¹⁴But you see the trouble and the distress,

and you will do something.

The poor can count on you, and so can orphans.

¹⁵Now break the arms of all merciless people.

Punish them for doing wrong and make them stop.

¹⁶Our LORD, you will always rule,

but nations will vanish from the earth.

¹⁷You listen to the longings of those who suffer.

You offer them hope,

and you pay attention to their cries for help.

¹⁸You defend orphans and everyone else in need,

so that no one on earth can terrify others again.

These daily Bible readings from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. BibleCard® images copyright iCreative. All rights reserved.