Daily Bible CEV November 04 Scroll

1 Timothy 5

²¹In the presence of God and Christ Jesus and their chosen angels, I order you to follow my instructions! Be fair with everyone, and don't have any favorites.

²²Don't be too quick to accept people into the service of the Lord by placing your hands on them.

Don't sin because others do, but stay close to God.

²³Stop drinking only water. Take a little wine to help your stomach trouble and the other illnesses you always have.

²⁴Some people get caught in their sins right away, even before the time of judgment. But other people's sins don't show up until later. ²⁵It is the same with good deeds. Some are easily seen, but none of them can be hidden.
1 Timothy 6 If you are a slave, you should respect and honor your owner. This will keep people from saying bad things about God and about our teaching. ²If any of you slaves have owners who are followers, you should show them respect. After all, they are also followers of Christ, and he loves them. So you should serve and help them the best you can.

False Teaching and True Wealth

These are the things you must teach and tell the people to do. ³Anyone who teaches something different disagrees with the correct and godly teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴Those people who disagree are proud of themselves, but they don't really know a thing. Their minds are sick, and they like to argue over words. They cause jealousy, disagreements, unkind words, evil suspicions, ⁵and nasty quarrels. They have wicked minds and have missed out on the truth.

These people think religion is supposed to make you rich. ⁶And religion does make your life rich, by making you content with what you have. ⁷We didn't bring anything into this world, and we won't take anything with us when we leave. ⁸So we should be satisfied just to have food and clothes. ⁹People who want to be rich fall into all sorts of temptations and traps. They are caught by foolish and harmful desires that drag them down and destroy them. ¹⁰The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much that they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.

Fighting a Good Fight for the Faith

¹¹Timothy, you belong to God, so keep away from all these evil things. Try your best to please God and to be like him. Be faithful, loving, dependable, and gentle. ¹²Fight a good fight for the faith and claim eternal life. God offered it to you when you clearly told about your faith, while so many people listened. ¹³Now I ask you to make a promise. Make it in the presence of God, who gives life to all, and in the presence of Jesus Christ, who openly told Pontius Pilate about his faith. ¹⁴Promise to obey completely and fully all that you have been told until our Lord Jesus Christ returns.

¹⁵The glorious God is the only Ruler,

the King of kings and Lord of lords.

At the time that God has already decided,

he will send Jesus Christ back again.

¹⁶Only God lives forever!

And he lives in light that no one can come near.

No human has ever seen God or ever can see him.

God will be honored,

and his power will last forever. Amen.

¹⁷Warn the rich people of this world not to be proud or to trust in wealth that is easily lost. Tell them to have faith in God, who is rich and blesses us with everything we need to enjoy life. ¹⁸Instruct them to do as many good deeds as they can and to help everyone. Remind the rich to be generous and share what they have. ¹⁹This will lay a solid foundation for the future, so that they will know what true life is like.

²⁰Timothy, guard what God has placed in your care! Don't pay any attention to that godless and stupid talk that sounds smart but really isn't. ²¹Some people have even lost their faith by believing this talk.

I pray that the Lord will be kind to all of you!

Sin and Shame

Jeremiah 3 The LORD said to the people of Israel:

If a divorced woman marries,

can her first husband ever marry her again?

No, because this would pollute the land.

But you have more gods than a prostitute has lovers.

Why should I take you back?

²Just try to find one hilltop where you haven't gone

to worship other gods by having sex.

You sat beside the road like a robber in ambush,

except you offered yourself to every passerby.

Your sins of unfaithfulness have polluted the land.

³So I, the LORD, refused to let the spring rains fall.

But just like a prostitute, you still have no shame

for what you have done.

⁴You call me your father or your long-lost friend;

⁵you beg me to stop being angry,

but you won't stop sinning.

The LORD Asks Israel To Come Back to Him

⁶When Josiah was king, the LORD said:

Jeremiah, the kingdom of Israel was like an unfaithful wife who became a prostitute on the hilltops and in the shade of large trees. ^7-8I knew that the kingdom of Israel had been unfaithful and committed many sins, yet I still hoped she might come back to me. But she didn't, so I divorced her and sent her away.

Her sister, the kingdom of Judah, saw what happened, but she wasn't worried in the least, and I watched her become unfaithful like her sister. ⁹The kingdom of Judah wasn't sorry for being a prostitute, and she didn't care that she had made both herself and the land unclean by worshiping idols of stone and wood. ¹⁰And worst of all, the people of Judah pretended to come back to me. ¹¹Even the people of Israel were honest enough not to pretend.

¹²Jeremiah, shout toward the north:

Israel, I am your LORD-- come back to me!

You were unfaithful and made me furious,

but I am merciful, and so I will forgive you.

¹³Just admit that you rebelled

and worshiped foreign gods

under large trees everywhere.

¹⁴You are unfaithful children, but you belong to me.

Come home!

I'll take one or two of you from each town and clan

and bring you to Zion.

¹⁵Then I'll appoint wise rulers who will obey me,

and they will care for you like shepherds.

¹⁶You will increase in numbers, and there will be no need

to remember the sacred chest or to make a new one.

¹⁷The whole city of Jerusalem will be my throne.

All nations will come here to worship me,

and they will no longer follow their stubborn, evil hearts.

¹⁸Then, in countries to the north,

you people of Judah and Israel will be reunited,

and you will return to the land I gave your ancestors.

¹⁹I have always wanted to treat you as my children

and give you the best land, the most beautiful on earth.

I wanted you to call me "Father" and not turn from me.

²⁰But instead, you are like a wife

who broke her wedding vows.

You have been unfaithful to me.

I, the LORD, have spoken.

The People Confess Their Sins

The LORD said:

²¹Listen to the noise on the hilltops!

It's the people of Israel, weeping and begging me

to answer their prayers.

They forgot about me and chose the wrong path.

²²I will tell them, "Come back, and I will cure you

of your unfaithfulness."

They will answer, "We will come back, because you

are the LORD our God.

²³On hilltops, we worshiped idols and made loud noises,

but it was all for nothing-- only you can save us.

²⁴Since the days of our ancestors when our nation was young,

that shameful god Baal has taken our crops and livestock,

our sons and daughters.

²⁵We have rebelled against you just like our ancestors,

and we are ashamed of our sins."

How Israel Can Return to the LORD

Jeremiah 4 The LORD said:

Israel, if you really want to come back to me,

get rid of those disgusting idols.

²Make promises only in my name, and do what you promise!

Then all nations will praise me, and I will bless them.

³People of Jerusalem and Judah, don't be so stubborn!

Your hearts have become hard,

like unplowed ground where thornbushes grow.

⁴With all your hearts, keep the agreement I made with you.

But if you are stubborn and keep on sinning,

my anger will burn like a fire that cannot be put out.

Disaster Is Coming

The LORD said:

^*5"Sound the trumpets, my people. Warn the people of Judah,

'Run for your lives! ⁶Head for Jerusalem

or another walled town!'

"Jeremiah, tell them I'm sending disaster from the north.

⁷

An army will come out, like a lion from its den.

It will destroy nations and leave your towns empty

and in ruins."

⁸Then I said to the people of Israel, "Put on sackcloth!

Mourn and cry out, 'The LORD is still angry with us.' "

⁹The LORD said,

"When all this happens, the king and his officials,

the prophets and the priests

will be shocked and terrified."

¹⁰I said, "You are the LORD God. So why have you fooled everyone, especially the people of Jerusalem? Why did you promise peace, when a knife is at our throats?"

The Coming Disaster

^11-12When disaster comes, the LORD will tell you people of Jerusalem,

"I am sending a windstorm from the desert--

not a welcome breeze.

And it will sweep you away

as punishment for your sins.

¹³Look! The enemy army swoops down like an eagle;

their cavalry and chariots race faster

than storm clouds blown by the wind."

Then you will answer,

"We are doomed!"

¹⁴But Jerusalem, there is still time for you to be saved.

Wash the evil from your hearts

and stop making sinful plans,

¹⁵before a message of disaster arrives

from the hills of Ephraim and the town of Dan.

^16-17The LORD said,

"Tell the nations that my people have rebelled against me.

And so an army will come from far away

to surround Jerusalem and the towns of Judah.

I, the LORD, have spoken.

¹⁸"People of Judah, your hearts will be in pain,

but it's your own fault that you will be punished."

Jeremiah's Vision of the Coming Punishment

¹⁹I can't stand the pain! My heart pounds,

as I twist and turn in agony.

I hear the signal trumpet and the battle cry of the enemy,

and I cannot be silent.

²⁰I see the enemy defeating us time after time,

leaving everything in ruins.

Even my own home is destroyed in a moment.

²¹

How long will I see enemy flags and hear their trumpets?

²²I heard the LORD say, "My people ignore me.

They are foolish children who do not understand

that they will be punished.

All they know is how to sin."

²³After this, I looked around.

The earth was barren, with no form of life.

The sun, moon, and stars had disappeared.

²⁴The mountains were shaking; ²⁵no people could be seen,

and all the birds had flown away.

²⁶Farmland had become a desert, and towns were in ruins.

The LORD's fierce anger had done all of this.

The Death of Jerusalem

^27-28The LORD said:

I have made my decision, and I won't change my mind.

This land will be destroyed, although not completely.

The sky will turn dark, and the earth will mourn.

²⁹Enemy cavalry and archers shout their battle cry.

People run for their lives

and try to find safety among trees and rocks.

Every town is empty.

³⁰Jerusalem, your land has been wiped out.

But you act like a prostitute

and try to win back your lovers, who now hate you.

You can put on a red dress, gold jewelry, and eye shadow,

but it's no use-- your lovers are out to kill you!

³¹I heard groaning and crying.

Was it a woman giving birth to her first child?

No, it was Jerusalem.

She was gasping for breath and begging for help.

"I'm dying!" she said. "They have murdered me."

Psalm 120
[A song for worship.]
A Prayer for the LORD's Help

¹When I am in trouble, I pray,

"Come and save me, LORD, from deceitful liars!"

³What punishment is fitting for you deceitful liars?

⁴

Your reward should be sharp and flaming arrows!

⁵But I must live as a foreigner among the people of Meshech

and in the tents of Kedar.

⁶I have spent too much time

living among people who hate peace.

⁷I am in favor of peace, but when I speak of it,

all they want is war.

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.