Daily Bible CEV November 08 Scroll

2 Timothy 4 When Christ Jesus comes as king, he will be the judge of everyone, whether they are living or dead. So with God and Christ as witnesses, I command you ²to preach God's message. Do it willingly, even if it isn't the popular thing to do. You must correct people and point out their sins. But also cheer them up, and when you instruct them, always be patient. ³The time is coming when people won't listen to good teaching. Instead, they will look for teachers who will please them by telling them only what they are itching to hear. ⁴They will turn from the truth and eagerly listen to senseless stories. ⁵But you must stay calm and be willing to suffer. You must work hard to tell the good news and to do your job well.

⁶Now the time has come for me to die. My life is like a drink offering being poured out on the altar. ⁷I have fought well. I have finished the race, and I have been faithful. ⁸So a crown will be given to me for pleasing the Lord. He judges fairly, and on the day of judgment he will give a crown to me and to everyone else who wants him to appear with power.

Personal Instructions

⁹Come to see me as soon as you can. ¹⁰Demas loves the things of this world so much that he left me and went to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus has gone to Dalmatia. ¹¹Only Luke has stayed with me.

Mark can be very helpful to me, so please find him and bring him with you. ¹²I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.

¹³When you come, bring the coat I left at Troas with Carpus. Don't forget to bring the scrolls, especially the ones made of leather.

¹⁴Alexander, the metalworker, has hurt me in many ways. But the Lord will pay him back for what he has done. ¹⁵Alexander opposes what we preach. You had better watch out for him.

¹⁶When I was first put on trial, no one helped me. In fact, everyone deserted me. I hope it won't be held against them. ¹⁷But the Lord stood beside me. He gave me the strength to tell his full message, so that all Gentiles would hear it. And I was kept safe from hungry lions. ¹⁸The Lord will always keep me from being harmed by evil, and he will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. Praise him forever and ever! Amen.

Final Greetings

¹⁹Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and to the family of Onesiphorus.

²⁰Erastus stayed at Corinth.

Trophimus was sick when I left him at Miletus.

²¹Do your best to come before winter.

Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, and Claudia send you their greetings, and so do the rest of the Lord's followers.

²²I pray that the Lord will bless your life and will be kind to you.

Judah Has Broken the LORD's Agreement

Jeremiah 11 ^1-3The LORD God told me to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:

I, the LORD, am warning you that I will put a curse on anyone who doesn't keep the agreement I made with Israel. So pay attention to what it says. ⁴My commands haven't changed since I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, a nation that seemed like a blazing furnace where iron ore is melted. I told your ancestors that if they obeyed my commands, I would be their God, and they would be my people. ⁵Then I did what I had promised and gave them this wonderful land, where you now live.

"Yes, LORD," I replied, "that's true."

⁶Then the LORD told me to say to everyone on the streets of Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah:

Pay attention to the commands in my agreement with you. ⁷Ever since I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I have been telling your people to obey me. But you and your ancestors ⁸have always been stubborn. You have refused to listen, and instead you have done whatever your sinful hearts have desired.

You have not kept the agreement we made, so I will make you suffer every curse that goes with it.

⁹The LORD said to me:

Jeremiah, the people of Judah and Jerusalem are plotting against me. ¹⁰They have sinned in the same way their ancestors did, by turning from me and worshiping other gods. The northern kingdom of Israel broke the agreement I made with your ancestors, and now the southern kingdom of Judah has done the same.

¹¹Here is what I've decided to do. I will bring suffering on the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and no one will escape. They will beg me to help, but I won't listen to their prayers. ^12-13Then they will offer sacrifices to their other gods and ask them for help. After all, the people of Judah have more gods than towns, and more altars for Baal than there are streets in Jerusalem. But those gods won't be able to rescue the people of Judah from disaster.

¹⁴Jeremiah, don't pray for these people or beg me to rescue them. If you do, I won't listen, and I certainly won't listen if they pray!

¹⁵Then the LORD told me to say to the people of Judah:

You are my chosen people,

but you have no right to be here in my temple,

doing such terrible things.

The sacrifices you offer me won't protect you from disaster,

so stop celebrating.

¹⁶Once you were like an olive tree covered with fruit.

But soon I will send a noisy mob

to break off your branches and set you on fire.

¹⁷I am the LORD All-Powerful. You people of Judah were like a tree that I had planted, but you have made me angry by offering sacrifices to Baal, just as the northern kingdom did. And now I'm going to pull you up by the roots.

The Plot To Kill Jeremiah

^*18Some people plotted to kill me.

And like a lamb being led to the butcher,

I knew nothing about their plans.

¹⁹But then the LORD told me that they had planned

to chop me down like a tree-- fruit and all--

so that no one would ever remember me again.

²⁰I prayed, "LORD All-Powerful,

you always do what is right, and you know every thought.

So I trust you to help me and to take revenge."

²¹Then the LORD said:

Jeremiah, some men from Anathoth say they will kill you, if you keep on speaking for me. ²²But I will punish them. Their young men will die in battle, and their children will starve to death. ²³And when I am finished, no one from their families will be left alive.

Jeremiah Complains to the LORD

Jeremiah 12 Whenever I complain to you, LORD,

you are always fair.

But now I have questions about your justice.

Why is life easy for sinners? Why are they successful?

²You plant them like trees;

you let them prosper and produce fruit.

Yet even when they praise you, they don't mean it.

³But you know, LORD, how faithful I've always been,

even in my thoughts.

So drag my enemies away and butcher them like sheep!

⁴How long will the ground be dry

and the pasturelands parched?

The birds and animals are dead and gone.

And all of this happened because the people are so sinful.

They even brag, "God can't see the sins we commit."

The LORD Answers Jeremiah

⁵Jeremiah, if you get tired in a race against people,

how can you possibly run against horses?

If you fall in open fields, what will happen in the forest

along the Jordan River?

⁶Even your own family has turned against you.

They act friendly, but don't trust them.

They're out to get you, and so is everyone else.

The LORD Is Furious with His People

⁷I loved my people and chose them as my very own.

But now I will reject them

and hand them over to their enemies.

⁸My people have turned against me

and roar at me like lions.

That's why I hate them.

⁹My people are like a hawk

surrounded and attacked by other hawks.

Tell the wild animals to come and eat their fill.

¹⁰My beautiful land is ruined

like a field or a vineyard trampled by shepherds

and stripped bare by their flocks.

¹¹Every field I see lies barren, and no one cares.

¹²A destroying army marches along desert roads

and attacks everywhere.

They are my deadly sword; no one is safe from them.

¹³My people, you planted wheat,

but because I was furious, I let only weeds grow.

You wore yourselves out for nothing!

The LORD Will Have Pity on Other Nations

¹⁴The LORD said:

I gave this land to my people Israel, but enemies around it have attacked and robbed it. So I will uproot them from their own countries just as I will uproot Judah from its land. ¹⁵But later, I will have pity on these nations and bring them back to their own lands. ¹⁶They once taught my people to worship Baal. But if they admit I am the only true God, and if they let my people teach them how to worship me, these nations will also become my people. ¹⁷However, if they don't listen to me, I will uproot them from their lands and completely destroy them. I, the LORD, have spoken.

Psalm 124
[A song by David for worship.]
Thanking the LORD for Victory

¹The LORD was on our side! Let everyone in Israel say:

"The LORD was on our side!

Otherwise, the enemy attack ³would have killed us all,

because it was furious.

⁴We would have been swept away

in a violent flood ⁵of high and roaring waves."

⁶Let's praise the LORD!

He protected us from enemies who were like wild animals,

⁷

and we escaped like birds from a hunter's torn net.

⁸The LORD made heaven and earth,

and he is the one who sends us help.

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.