Daily Bible CEV April 14 Scroll

Peter and Others Pray for Courage

Acts 4 ²³As soon as Peter and John had been set free, they went back and told the others everything that the chief priests and the leaders had said to them. ²⁴When the rest of the Lord's followers heard this, they prayed together and said:

Master, you created heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. ²⁵And by the Holy Spirit you spoke to our ancestor David. He was your servant, and you told him to say:

"Why are all the Gentiles so furious?

Why do people make foolish plans?

²⁶The kings of earth prepare for war,

and the rulers join together

against the Lord and his Messiah."

²⁷Here in Jerusalem, Herod and Pontius Pilate got together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel. Then they turned against your holy Servant Jesus, your chosen Messiah. ²⁸They did what you in your power and wisdom had already decided would happen.

²⁹Lord, listen to their threats! We are your servants. So make us brave enough to speak your message. ³⁰Show your mighty power, as we heal people and work miracles and wonders in the name of your holy Servant Jesus.

³¹After they had prayed, the meeting place shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and bravely spoke God's message.

Sharing Possessions

³²The group of followers all felt the same way about everything. None of them claimed that their possessions were their own, and they shared everything they had with each other. ³³In a powerful way the apostles told everyone that the Lord Jesus was now alive. God greatly blessed his followers, ³⁴and no one went in need of anything. Everyone who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money ³⁵to the apostles. Then they would give the money to anyone who needed it.

^36-37Joseph was one of the followers who had sold a piece of property and brought the money to the apostles. He was a Levite from Cyprus, and the apostles called him Barnabas, which means "one who encourages others."

Unsolved Murder

Moses said to Israel:
Deuteronomy 21 Suppose the body of a murder victim is found in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you, and no one knows who the murderer is. ²The judges and other leaders from the towns around there must find out what town is the closest to where the body was found. ³The leaders from that town will go to their cattle herds and choose a young cow that has never been put to work. ^4-5They and some of the priests will take this cow to a nearby valley where there is a stream, but no crops. Once they reach the valley, the leaders will break the cow's neck.

The priests must be there, because the LORD your God has chosen them to be his special servants at the place of worship. The LORD has chosen them to bless the people in his name and to be judges in all legal cases, whether property or injury is involved.

⁶The town leaders will wash their hands over the body of the dead cow ⁷and say, "We had no part in this murder, and we don't know who did it. ^8-9But since an innocent person was murdered, we beg you, our LORD, to accept this sacrifice and forgive Israel. We are your people, and you rescued us. Please don't hold this crime against us."

If you obey the LORD and do these things, he will forgive Israel.

Marrying a Woman Taken Prisoner in War

Moses said to Israel:

¹⁰From time to time, you men will serve as soldiers and go off to war. The LORD your God will help you defeat your enemies, and you will take many prisoners. ^11-13One of these prisoners may be a beautiful woman, and you may want to marry her. But first you must bring her into your home, and have her shave her head, cut her nails, get rid of her foreign clothes, and start wearing Israelite clothes. She will mourn a month for her father and mother, then you can marry her.

¹⁴Later on, if you are not happy with the woman, you can divorce her, and she can go free. But you have slept with her as your wife, so you cannot sell her as a slave or make her into your own slave.

Rights of a First-Born Son

Moses said to Israel:

^15-17Suppose a man has two wives and loves one more than the other. The first son of either wife is the man's first-born son, even if the boy's mother is the wife the man doesn't love. Later, when the man is near death and is dividing up his property, he must give a double share to his first-born son, simply because he was the first to be born.

A Son Who Rebels

Moses said to Israel:

¹⁸A father and a mother may have a stubborn and rebellious son who refuses to obey them even after he has been punished. ¹⁹If a son is like that, his parents must drag him to the town gate, where the leaders of the town hold their meetings. ²⁰The parents will tell the leaders, "This son of ours is stubborn and never obeys. He spends all his time drinking and partying."

²¹The men of the town will stone that son to death, because they must get rid of the evil he brought into the community. Everyone in Israel will be afraid when they hear how he was punished.

The Body of a Criminal

Moses said to Israel:

²²If a criminal is put to death, and you hang the dead body on a tree, ²³you must not let it hang there overnight. Bury it the same day, because the dead body of a criminal will bring God's curse on the land. The LORD your God is giving this land to you, so don't make it unclean by leaving the bodies of executed criminals on display.

Helping Others

Moses said to Israel:
Deuteronomy 22 If you see a cow or sheep wandering around lost, take the animal back to its owner. ²If the owner lives too far away, or if you don't know who the owner is, take the animal home with you and take care of it. The owner will come looking for the animal, and then you can give it back. ³That's what you should do if you find anything that belongs to someone else. Do whatever you can to help, whether you find a cow or sheep or donkey or some clothing.

⁴Oxen and donkeys that carry heavy loads can stumble and fall, and be unable to get up by themselves. So as you walk along the road, help anyone who is trying to get an ox or donkey back on its feet.

Don't Pretend To Be the Opposite Sex

Moses said to Israel:

⁵Women must not pretend to be men, and men must not pretend to be women. The LORD your God is disgusted with people who do that.

Don't Take a Mother Bird

Moses said to Israel:

^6-7As you walk along the road, you might see a bird's nest in a tree or on the ground. If the mother bird is in the nest with either her eggs or her baby birds, you are allowed to take the baby birds or the eggs, but not the mother bird. Let her go free, and the LORD will bless you with a long and successful life.

Put a Wall around Your Flat Roof

⁸If you build a house, make sure to put a low wall around the edge of the flat roof. Then if someone falls off the roof and is killed, it won't be your fault.

Laws against Mixing Different Things

Moses said to Israel:

⁹If you plant a vineyard, don't plant any other fruit tree or crop in it. If you do plant something else there, you must bring to the place of worship everything you harvest from the vineyard.

¹⁰Don't hitch an ox and a donkey to your plow at the same time.

¹¹When you weave cloth for clothing, you can use thread made of flax or wool, but not both together. ¹²And when you make a coat, sew a tassel on each of the four corners.

When a Husband Accuses His Wife

Moses said to Israel:

¹³Suppose a man starts hating his wife soon after they are married. ¹⁴He might tell ugly lies about her, and say, "I married this woman, but when we slept together, I found out she wasn't a virgin."

¹⁵If this happens, the bride's father and mother must go to the town gate to show the town leaders the proof that the woman was a virgin. ¹⁶Her father will say, "I let my daughter marry this man, but he started hating her ¹⁷and accusing her of not being a virgin. But he is wrong, because here is proof that she was a virgin!" Then the bride's parents will show them the bed sheet from the woman's wedding night.

¹⁸The town leaders will beat the man with a whip ¹⁹because he accused his bride of not being a virgin. He will have to pay her father one hundred pieces of silver and will never be allowed to divorce her.

²⁰But if the man was right and there is no proof that his bride was a virgin, ²¹the men of the town will take the woman to the door of her father's house and stone her to death.

This woman brought evil into your community by sleeping with someone before she got married, and you must get rid of that evil by killing her.

Laws about Illegal Sex

Moses said:

²²People of Israel, if a man is caught having sex with someone else's wife, you must put them both to death. That way, you will get rid of the evil they have done in Israel.

^23-24If a man is caught in town having sex with an engaged woman who isn't screaming for help, they both must be put to death. The man is guilty of having sex with a married woman. And the woman is guilty because she didn't call for help, even though she was inside a town and people were nearby. Take them both to the town gate and stone them to death. You must get rid of the evil they brought into your community.

²⁵If an engaged woman is raped out in the country, only the man will be put to death. ²⁶Do not punish the woman at all; she has done nothing wrong, and certainly nothing deserving death. This crime is like murder, ²⁷because the woman was alone out in the country when the man attacked her. She screamed, but there was no one to help her.

²⁸Suppose a woman isn't engaged to be married, and a man talks her into sleeping with him. If they are caught, ²⁹they will be forced to get married. He must give her father fifty pieces of silver as a bride-price and can never divorce her.

³⁰A man must not marry a woman who was married to his father. This would be a disgrace to his father.

Job Continues his Prayer

Life Is Short and Sorrowful

Job 14 Life is short and sorrowful for every living soul.

We are flowers that fade and shadows that vanish.

³And so, I ask you, God, why pick on me?

⁴

There's no way a human can be completely pure.

⁵Our time on earth is brief;

the number of our days is already decided by you.

⁶Why don't you leave us alone

and let us find some happiness while we toil and labor?

When a Tree Is Chopped Down

⁷When a tree is chopped down, there is always the hope

that it will sprout again.

⁸Its roots and stump may rot, ⁹but at the touch of water,

fresh twigs shoot up.

¹⁰Humans are different-- we die, and that's the end.

¹¹

We are like streams and lakes after the water has gone;

¹²we fall into the sleep of death, never to rise again,

until the sky disappears.

¹³Please hide me, God, deep in the ground--

and when you are angry no more,

remember to rescue me.

Will We Humans Live Again?

¹⁴Will we humans live again?

I would gladly suffer and wait for my time.

¹⁵My Creator, you would want me;

you would call out, and I would answer.

¹⁶You would take care of me, but not count my sins--

¹⁷you would put them in a bag, tie it tight,

and toss them away.

¹⁸But in the real world, mountains tumble, and rocks crumble;

¹⁹streams wear away stones and wash away soil.

And you destroy our hopes!

²⁰You change the way we look, then send us away,

wiped out forever.

²¹We never live to know if our children are praised

or disgraced.

²²We feel no pain but our own, and when we mourn,

it's only for ourselves.

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.