Daily Bible CEV April 08 Scroll

Jesus Is Alive
(Mark 16.1-8; Luke 24.1-12; John 20.1-10)

Matthew 28 The Sabbath was over, and it was almost daybreak on Sunday when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. ²Suddenly a strong earthquake struck, and the Lord's angel came down from heaven. He rolled away the stone and sat on it. ³The angel looked as bright as lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards shook from fear and fell down, as though they were dead.

⁵The angel said to the women, "Don't be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was nailed to a cross. ⁶He isn't here! God has raised him to life, just as Jesus said he would. Come, see the place where his body was lying. ⁷Now hurry! Tell his disciples that he has been raised to life and is on his way to Galilee. Go there, and you will see him. That is what I came to tell you."

⁸The women were frightened and yet very happy, as they hurried from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them and greeted them. They went near him, held on to his feet, and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said, "Don't be afraid! Tell my followers to go to Galilee. They will see me there."

Report of the Guard

¹¹While the women were on their way, some soldiers who had been guarding the tomb went into the city. They told the chief priests everything that had happened. ¹²So the chief priests met with the leaders and decided to bribe the soldiers with a lot of money. ¹³They said to the soldiers, "Tell everyone that Jesus' disciples came during the night and stole his body while you were asleep. ¹⁴If the governor hears about this, we will talk to him. You won't have anything to worry about." ¹⁵The soldiers took the money and did what they were told. The people of Judea still tell each other this story.

What Jesus' Followers Must Do
(Mark 16.14-18; Luke 24.36-49; John 20.19-23; Acts 1.6-8)

¹⁶Jesus' eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus had told them to meet him. ¹⁷They saw him and worshiped him, but some of them doubted.

¹⁸Jesus came to them and said:

I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! ¹⁹Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.

Why the LORD Will Help Israel

Moses said:
Deuteronomy 9 Israel, listen to me! You will soon cross the Jordan River and go into the land to force out the nations that live there. They are more powerful than you are, and the walls around their cities reach to the sky. ²Some of these nations are descendants of the Anakim. You know how tall and strong they are, and you've heard that no one can defeat them in battle. ³But the LORD your God has promised to go ahead of you, like a raging fire burning everything in its path. So when you attack your enemies, it will be easy for you to destroy them and take their land.

^4-6After the LORD helps you wipe out these nations and conquer their land, don't think he did it because you are such good people. You aren't good--you are stubborn! No, the LORD is going to help you, because the nations that live there are evil, and because he wants to keep the promise he made to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

When Israel Made an Idol
(Exodus 32)

Moses said to Israel:

⁷Don't ever forget how you kept rebelling and making the LORD angry the whole time you were in the desert. You rebelled from the day you left Egypt until the day you arrived here.

⁸At Mount Sinai you made the LORD so angry that he was going to destroy you. ^9-11It happened during those forty days and nights that I was on the mountain, without anything to eat or drink. He had told me to come up there so he could give me the agreement he made with us. And this agreement was actually the same Ten Commandments he had announced to you when he spoke from the fire on the mountain. The LORD had written them on two flat stones with his own hand. But after giving me the two stones, ¹²he said:

Moses, hurry down the mountain to those people you led out of Egypt. They have already disobeyed me and committed the terrible sin of making an idol.

¹³I've been watching the Israelites, and I've seen how stubborn and rebellious they are. ¹⁴So don't try to stop me! I am going to wipe them out, and no one on earth will remember they ever lived. Then I will let your descendants become an even bigger and more powerful nation than Israel.

Moses said:
¹⁵Fire was raging on the mountaintop as I went back down, carrying the two stones with the commandments on them. ¹⁶I saw how quickly you had sinned and disobeyed the LORD your God. There you were, worshiping the metal idol you had made in the shape of a calf. ¹⁷So I threw down the two stones and smashed them before your very eyes.
^18-20I bowed down at the place of worship and prayed to the LORD, without eating or drinking for forty days and nights. You had committed a terrible sin by making that idol, and the LORD hated what you had done. He was angry enough to destroy all of you and Aaron as well. So I prayed for you and Aaron as I had done before, and this time the LORD answered my prayers.
²¹It was a sin for you to make that idol, so I threw it into the fire to melt it down. Then I took the lump of gold, ground it into powder, and threw the powder into the stream flowing down the mountain.
²²You also made the LORD angry when you were staying at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-Hattaavah. ²³Then at Kadesh-Barnea the LORD said, "I am giving you the land, so go ahead and take it!" But since you didn't trust the LORD, you rebelled and disobeyed his command. ²⁴In fact, you've rebelled against the LORD for as long as he has known you.
²⁵After you had made the idol in the shape of a calf, the LORD said he was going to destroy you. So I bowed down in front of the sacred tent for forty days and nights, ²⁶and I prayed:

Our LORD, please don't wipe out your people. You used your great power to rescue them from Egypt and to make them your very own. ²⁷Israel's ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob obeyed you faithfully. Think about them, and not about Israel's stubbornness, evil, and sin. ²⁸If you destroy your people, the Egyptians will say, "The LORD promised to give Israel land, but he wasn't powerful enough to keep his promise. In fact, he hated them so much that he took them into the desert and killed them." ²⁹But you, our LORD, chose the people of Israel to be your own, and with your mighty power you rescued them from Egypt.

The Second Set of Commandments
(Exodus 34.1-10)

Moses said to the people:
Deuteronomy 10 The LORD told me to chisel out two flat stones, just like the ones he had given me earlier. He also commanded me to make a wooden chest, then come up the mountain and meet with him. ²He told me that he would write the same words on the new stones that he had written on the ones I broke, and that I could put these stones in this sacred chest.

³So I made a chest out of acacia wood, and I chiseled two flat stones like the ones I broke. Then I carried the stones up the mountain, ⁴where the LORD wrote the Ten Commandments on them, just as he had done the first time. The commandments were exactly what he had announced from the fire, when you were gathered at the mountain.

After the LORD returned the stones to me, ⁵I took them down the mountainside and put them in the chest, just as he had commanded. And they are still there.

Aaron Died
(Numbers 20.22-29)

Moses said to Israel:

⁶Later we set up camp at the wells belonging to the descendants of Jaakan. Then we moved on and camped at Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar became the priest. ⁷Next, we camped at Gudgodah and then at Jotbathah, where there are flowing streams.

The Levites Were Appointed To Carry the Chest

Moses said to Israel:

⁸After I put the two stones in the sacred chest, the LORD chose the tribe of Levi, not only to carry the chest, but also to serve as his priests at the place of worship and to bless the other tribes in his name. And they still do these things. ⁹The LORD promised that he would always provide for the tribe of Levi, and that's why he won't give them any land, when he divides it among the other tribes.

The LORD Answered the Prayers of Moses
(Exodus 34.9, 10, 27-29)

Moses said to Israel:

¹⁰When I had taken the second set of stones up the mountain, I spent forty days and nights there, just as I had done before. Once again, the LORD answered my prayer and did not destroy you. ¹¹Instead, he told me, "Moses, get ready to lead the people into the land that I promised their ancestors."

What the LORD Wants

Moses said:

¹²People of Israel, what does the LORD your God want from you? The LORD wants you to respect and follow him, to love and serve him with all your heart and soul, ¹³and to obey his laws and teachings that I am giving you today. Do this, and all will go well for you.

¹⁴Everything belongs to the LORD your God, not only the earth and everything on it, but also the sky and the highest heavens. ¹⁵Yet the LORD loved your ancestors and wanted them to belong to him. So he chose them and their descendants rather than any other nation, and today you are still his people.

¹⁶Remember your agreement with the LORD and stop being so stubborn. ¹⁷The LORD your God is more powerful than all other gods and lords, and his tremendous power is to be feared. His decisions are always fair, and you cannot bribe him to change his mind. ¹⁸The LORD defends the rights of orphans and widows. He cares for foreigners and gives them food and clothing. ¹⁹And you should also care for them, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

²⁰Respect the LORD your God, serve only him, and make promises in his name alone. ²¹Offer your praises to him, because you have seen him work such terrifying miracles for you.

²²When your ancestors went to live in Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But the LORD has blessed you, and now there are more of you than there are stars in the sky.

Bildad's First Speech

How Long Will You Talk?

Job 8 Bildad from Shuah said:

²How long will you talk and keep saying nothing?

Does God All-Powerful stand in the way of justice?

⁴He made your children pay for their sins.

⁵

So why don't you turn to him ⁶and start living right?

Then he will decide to rescue and restore you

to your place of honor.

⁷Your future will be brighter by far than your past.

Our Ancestors Were Wise

⁸Our ancestors were wise, so learn from them.

⁹Our own time has been short, like a fading shadow,

and we know very little.

¹⁰But they will instruct you with great understanding.

¹¹Papyrus reeds grow healthy only in a swamp,

¹²and if the water dries up,

they die sooner than grass.

¹³Such is the hopeless future of all who turn from God

¹⁴and trust in something as frail as a spider's web--

¹⁵

they take hold and fall because it's so flimsy.

¹⁶Sinful people are like plants with spreading roots

and plenty of sun and water.

¹⁷They wrap their roots tightly around rocks.

¹⁸But once they are pulled up, they have no more place;

¹⁹

their life slips away, and other plants grow there.

²⁰We know God doesn't reject an innocent person

or help a sinner.

²¹And so, he will make you happy

and give you something to smile about.

²²But your evil enemies will be put to shame

and disappear forever.

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.