Daily Bible CEV April 18 Scroll

Stephen's Speech

Acts 7 The high priest asked Stephen, "Are they telling the truth about you?"

²Stephen answered:

Friends, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he had moved to Haran. ³God told him, "Leave your country and your relatives and go to a land that I will show you." ⁴Then Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran.

After his father died, Abraham came and settled in this land where you now live. ⁵God didn't give him any part of it, not even a square foot. But God did promise to give it to him and his family forever, even though Abraham didn't have any children. ⁶God said that Abraham's descendants would live for a while in a foreign land. There they would be slaves and would be mistreated four hundred years. ⁷But he also said, "I will punish the nation that makes them slaves. Then later they will come and worship me in this place."

⁸God said to Abraham, "Every son in each family must be circumcised to show that you have kept your agreement with me." So when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. Later, Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons. ⁹These men were our ancestors.

Joseph was also one of our famous ancestors. His brothers were jealous of him and sold him as a slave to be taken to Egypt. But God was with him ¹⁰and rescued him from all his troubles. God made him so wise that the Egyptian king thought highly of him. The king even made Joseph governor over Egypt and put him in charge of everything he owned.

¹¹Everywhere in Egypt and Canaan the grain crops failed. There was terrible suffering, and our ancestors could not find enough to eat. ¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there for the first time. ¹³It was on their second trip that Joseph told his brothers who he was, and the king learned about Joseph's family.

¹⁴Joseph sent for his father and his relatives. In all, there were seventy-five of them. ¹⁵His father went to Egypt and died there, just as our ancestors did. ¹⁶Later their bodies were taken back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor.

¹⁷Finally, the time came for God to do what he had promised Abraham. By then the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. ¹⁸Another king was ruling Egypt, and he didn't know anything about Joseph. ¹⁹He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them. He even made them leave their babies outside, so they would die.

²⁰During this time Moses was born. He was a very beautiful child, and for three months his parents took care of him in their home. ²¹Then when they were forced to leave him outside, the king's daughter found him and raised him as her own son. ²²Moses was given the best education in Egypt. He was a strong man and a powerful speaker.

The Agreement in Moab

Deuteronomy 29 So Moses finished telling the Israelites what they had to do in order to keep the agreement the LORD was making with them in Moab, which was in addition to the one the LORD had made with them at Mount Sinai.

THE THIRD SPEECH: ISRAEL MUST KEEP ITS AGREEMENT WITH THE LORD

The LORD Is Your God

^2-3Moses called the nation of Israel together and told them:

When you were in Egypt, you saw the LORD perform great miracles that caused trouble for the king, his officials, and everyone else in the country. ^4-6He has even told you, "For forty years I, the LORD, led you through the desert, but your clothes and your sandals didn't wear out, and I gave you special food. I did these things so you would realize that I am your God."

But the LORD must give you a change of heart before you truly understand what you have seen and heard.

⁷When we first camped here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan attacked, but we defeated them. ⁸Then we captured their land and divided it among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh.

Keep the Agreement

Moses said:

⁹Israel, the LORD has made an agreement with you, and if you keep your part, you will be successful in everything you do. ^10-12Today everyone in our nation is standing here in the LORD's presence, including leaders and officials, parents and children, and even those foreigners who cut wood and carry water for us. We are at this place of worship to promise that we will keep our part of the agreement with the LORD our God.

^13-15In this agreement, the LORD promised that you would be his people and that he would be your God. He first made this promise to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and today the LORD is making this same promise to you. But it isn't just for you; it is also for your descendants.

^16-17When we lived in Egypt, you saw the Egyptians worship disgusting idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold. Then as we traveled through other nations, you saw those people worship other disgusting idols. ¹⁸So make sure that everyone in your tribe remains faithful to the LORD and never starts worshiping gods of other nations.

If even one of you worships idols, you will be like the root of a plant that produces bitter, poisonous fruit. ¹⁹You may be an Israelite and know all about the LORD's agreement with us, but he won't bless you if you rebel against him. You may think you can get away with it, but you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you. ^20-21The LORD will be furious, and instead of forgiving you, he will separate you from the other tribes. Then he will destroy you, by piling on you all the curses in The Book of God's Law, and you will be forgotten forever.

²²The LORD will strike your country with diseases and disasters. Your descendants and foreigners from distant countries will see that your land ²³has become a scorching desert of salt and sulfur, where nothing is planted, nothing sprouts, and nothing grows. It will be as lifeless as the land around the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, after the LORD became angry and destroyed them.

²⁴People from other nations will ask, "Why did the LORD destroy this country? Why was he so furious?"

²⁵And they will be given this answer:

Our ancestors worshiped the LORD, but after he brought them out of Egypt and made an agreement with them, they rejected the agreement ²⁶and decided to worship gods that had never helped them. The LORD had forbidden Israel to worship these gods, ^27-28and so he became furious and punished the land with all the curses in The Book of God's Law. Then he pulled up Israel by the roots and tossed them into a foreign country, where they still are today.

²⁹The LORD our God hasn't explained the present or the future, but he has commanded us to obey the laws he gave to us and our descendants.

The LORD Will Bring You Back

Moses said to Israel:
Deuteronomy 30 I have told you everything the LORD your God will do for you, and I've also told you the curses he will put on you if you reject him. He will scatter you in faraway countries, but when you realize that he is punishing you, ²return to him with all your heart and soul and start obeying the commands I have given to you today. ^3-4Then he will stop punishing you and treat you with kindness. He may have scattered you to the farthest countries on earth, but he will bring you back ⁵to the land that had belonged to your ancestors and make you even more successful and powerful than they ever were.

⁶You and your descendants are stubborn, but the LORD will make you willing to obey him and love him with all your heart and soul, and you will enjoy a long life.

⁷Then the LORD your God will remove the curses from you and put them on those enemies who hate and attack you.

⁸You will again obey the laws and teachings of the LORD, ⁹and he will bless you with many children, large herds and flocks, and abundant crops. The LORD will be happy to do good things for you, just as he did for your ancestors. ¹⁰But you must decide once and for all to worship him with all your heart and soul and to obey everything in The Book of God's Law.

Choose Life, Not Death

Moses said to Israel:

¹¹You know God's laws, and it isn't impossible to obey them. ¹²His commands aren't in heaven, so you can't excuse yourselves by saying, "How can we obey the LORD's commands? They are in heaven, and no one can go up to get them, then bring them down and explain them to us." ¹³And you can't say, "How can we obey the LORD's commands? They are across the sea, and someone must go across, then bring them back and explain them to us." ¹⁴No, these commands are nearby and you know them by heart. All you have to do is obey!

¹⁵Today I am giving you a choice. You can choose life and success or death and disaster. ^16-18I am commanding you to be loyal to the LORD, to live the way he has told you, and to obey his laws and teachings. You are about to cross the Jordan River and take the land that he is giving you. If you obey him, you will live and become successful and powerful.

On the other hand, you might choose to disobey the LORD and reject him. So I'm warning you that if you bow down and worship other gods, you won't have long to live.

¹⁹Right now I call the sky and the earth to be witnesses that I am offering you this choice. Will you choose for the LORD to make you prosperous and give you a long life? Or will he put you under a curse and kill you? Choose life! ²⁰Be completely faithful to the LORD your God, love him, and do whatever he tells you. The LORD is the only one who can give life, and he will let you live a long time in the land that he promised to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Bildad's Second Speech

How Long Will You Talk?

Job 18 Bildad from Shuah said:

²How long will you talk? Be sensible! Let us speak.

Or do you think that we are dumb animals?

⁴You cut yourself in anger. Will that shake the earth

or even move the rocks?

^*5The lamps of sinful people soon are snuffed out,

⁶

leaving their tents dark.

⁷Their powerful legs become weak,

and they stumble on schemes of their own doing.

^*8Before they know it, ⁹they are trapped

in a net, ¹⁰hidden along the path.

¹¹Terror strikes and pursues from every side.

¹²Starving, they run, only to meet disaster,

¹³

then afterwards to be eaten alive by death itself.

¹⁴Those sinners are dragged from the safety of their tents

to die a gruesome death.

¹⁵Then their tents and possessions are burned to ashes,

¹⁶

and they are left like trees, dried up from the roots.

¹⁷They are gone and forgotten,

¹⁸thrown far from the light into a world of darkness,

¹⁹

without any children to carry on their name.

²⁰Everyone, from east to west, is overwhelmed with horror.

²¹Such is the fate of sinners and their families

who don't know God.

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.