Daily Bible CEV May 19 Scroll

Paul's Defense before Agrippa

Acts 26 Agrippa told Paul, "You may now speak for yourself."

Paul stretched out his hand and said:

²King Agrippa, I am glad for this chance to defend myself before you today on all these charges that my own people have brought against me. ³You know a lot about our religious customs and the beliefs that divide us. So I ask you to listen patiently to me.

^4-5All the Jews have known me since I was a child. They know what kind of life I have lived in my own country and in Jerusalem. And if they were willing, they could tell you that I was a Pharisee, a member of a group that is stricter than any other. ⁶Now I am on trial because I believe the promise God made to our people long ago.

⁷Day and night our twelve tribes have earnestly served God, waiting for his promised blessings. King Agrippa, because of this hope, some of their leaders have brought charges against me. ⁸Why should any of you doubt that God raises the dead to life?

⁹I once thought that I should do everything I could to oppose Jesus from Nazareth. ¹⁰I did this first in Jerusalem, and with the authority of the chief priests I put many of God's people in jail. I even voted for them to be killed. ¹¹I often had them punished in our meeting places, and I tried to make them give up their faith. In fact, I was so angry with them, that I went looking for them in foreign cities.

¹²King Agrippa, one day I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and permission of the chief priests. ¹³About noon I saw a light brighter than the sun. It flashed from heaven on me and on everyone traveling with me. ¹⁴We all fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice say to me in Aramaic, "Saul, Saul, why are you so cruel to me? It's foolish to fight against me!"

¹⁵"Who are you?" I asked.

Then the Lord answered, "I am Jesus! I am the one you are so cruel to. ¹⁶Now stand up. I have appeared to you, because I have chosen you to be my servant. You are to tell others what you have learned about me and what I will show you later."

¹⁷The Lord also said, "I will protect you from the Jews and from the Gentiles that I am sending you to. ¹⁸I want you to open their eyes, so that they will turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then their sins will be forgiven, and by faith in me they will become part of God's holy people."

Naomi Makes Plans for Ruth

Ruth 3 One day, Naomi said to Ruth:

It's time I found you a husband, who will give you a home and take care of you.

²You have been picking up grain alongside the women who work for Boaz, and you know he is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be threshing the grain. ³Now take a bath and put on some perfume, then dress in your best clothes. Go where he is working, but don't let him see you until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴Watch where he goes to spend the night, then when he is asleep, lift the cover and lie down at his feet. He will tell you what to do.

⁵Ruth answered, "I'll do whatever you say." ⁶She went out to the place where Boaz was working and did what Naomi had told her.

⁷After Boaz finished eating and drinking and was feeling happy, he went over and fell asleep near the pile of grain. Ruth slipped over quietly. She lifted the cover and lay down near his feet.

⁸In the middle of the night, Boaz suddenly woke up and was shocked to see a woman lying at his feet. ⁹"Who are you?" he asked.

"Sir, I am Ruth," she answered, "and you are the relative who is supposed to take care of me. So spread the edge of your cover over me."

¹⁰Boaz replied:

The LORD bless you! This shows how truly loyal you are to your family. You could have looked for a younger man, either rich or poor, but you didn't. ¹¹Don't worry, I'll do what you have asked. You are respected by everyone in town.

¹²It's true that I am one of the relatives who is supposed to take care of you, but there is someone who is an even closer relative. ¹³Stay here until morning, then I will find out if he is willing to look after you. If he isn't, I promise by the living God to do it myself. Now go back to sleep until morning.

¹⁴Ruth lay down again, but she got up before daylight, because Boaz did not want anyone to know she had been there. ¹⁵Then he told her to spread out her cape. And he filled it with a lot of grain and placed it on her shoulder.

When Ruth got back to town, ¹⁶Naomi asked her what had happened, and Ruth told her everything. ¹⁷She also said, "Boaz gave me this grain, because he didn't want me to come back without something for you."

¹⁸Naomi replied, "Just be patient and don't worry about what will happen. He won't rest until everything is settled today!"

Ruth and Boaz Get Married

Ruth 4 In the meanwhile, Boaz had gone to the meeting place at the town gate and was sitting there when the other close relative came by. So Boaz invited him to come over and sit down, and he did. ²Then Boaz got ten of the town leaders and also asked them to sit down. After they had sat down, ³he said to the man:

Naomi has come back from Moab and is selling the land that belonged to her husband Elimelech. ⁴I am telling you about this, since you are his closest relative and have the right to buy the property. If you want it, you can buy it now. These ten men and the others standing here can be witnesses. But if you don't want the property, let me know, because I am next in line.

The man replied, "I will buy it!"

⁵"If you do buy it from Naomi," Boaz told him, "you must also marry Ruth. Then if you have a son by her, the property will stay in the family of Ruth's first husband."

⁶The man answered, "If that's the case, I don't want to buy it! That would make problems with the property I already own. You may buy it yourself, because I cannot."

⁷To make a sale legal in those days, one person would take off a sandal and give it to the other. ⁸So after the man had agreed to let Boaz buy the property, he took off one of his sandals and handed it to Boaz.

⁹Boaz told the town leaders and everyone else:

All of you are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi the property that belonged to Elimelech and his two sons, Chilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰You are also witnesses that I have agreed to marry Mahlon's widow Ruth, the Moabite woman. This will keep the property in his family's name, and he will be remembered in this town.

¹¹The town leaders and the others standing there said:

We are witnesses to this. And we pray that the LORD will give your wife many children, just as he did Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob. May you be a rich man in the tribe of Ephrath and an important man in Bethlehem. ¹²May the children you have by this young woman make your family as famous as the family of Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah.

¹³Boaz married Ruth, and the LORD blessed her with a son. ¹⁴After his birth, the women said to Naomi:

Praise the LORD! Today he has given you a grandson to take care of you. We pray that the boy will grow up to be famous everywhere in Israel. ¹⁵He will make you happy and take care of you in your old age, because he is the son of your daughter-in-law. And she loves you more than seven sons of your own would love you.

¹⁶Naomi loved the boy and took good care of him. ¹⁷The neighborhood women named him Obed, but they called him "Naomi's Boy."

When Obed grew up he had a son named Jesse, who later became the father of King David. ^18-22Here is a list of the ancestors of David: Jesse, Obed, Boaz, Salmon, Nahshon, Amminadab, Ram, Hezron, and Perez.

Psalm 48
[A song and a psalm for the people of Korah.]
The City of God

¹The LORD God is wonderful! He deserves all praise

in the city where he lives.

His holy mountain, ²beautiful and majestic,

brings joy to all on earth.

Mount Zion, truly sacred, is home for the Great King.

³God is there to defend it

and has proved to be its protector.

⁴Kings joined forces to attack the city,

⁵but when they saw it,

they were terrified and ran away.

⁶They trembled all over like women giving birth

⁷

or like seagoing ships wrecked by eastern winds.

⁸We had heard about it, and now we have seen it

in the city of our God, the LORD All-Powerful.

This is the city that God will let stand forever.

⁹Our God, here in your temple we think about your love.

¹⁰You are famous and praised everywhere on earth,

as you win victories with your powerful arm.

¹¹Mount Zion will celebrate, and all Judah will be glad,

because you bring justice.

¹²Let's walk around Zion and count its towers.

¹³

We will see its strong walls and visit each fortress.

Then you can say to future generations,

¹⁴"Our God is like this forever and will always guide us."

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.