Daily Bible CEV November 26 Scroll

GALATIANS

Galatians 1 ^1-2From the apostle Paul and from all the Lord's followers with me.

I was chosen to be an apostle by Jesus Christ and by God the Father, who raised him from death. No mere human chose or appointed me to this work.

To the churches in Galatia.

³I pray that God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace! ⁴Christ obeyed God our Father and gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins to rescue us from this evil world. ⁵God will be given glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Only True Message

⁶I am shocked that you have so quickly turned from God, who chose you because of his wonderful kindness. You have believed another message, ⁷when there is really only one true message. But some people are causing you trouble and want to make you turn away from the good news about Christ. ⁸I pray that God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from our message to you! It doesn't matter if that person is one of us or an angel from heaven. ⁹I have said it before, and I will say it again. I hope God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from what you have already believed.

¹⁰I am not trying to please people. I want to please God. Do you think I am trying to please people? If I were doing that, I would not be a servant of Christ.

How Paul Became an Apostle

¹¹My friends, I want you to know that no one made up the message I preach. ¹²It wasn't given or taught to me by some mere human. My message came directly from Jesus Christ when he appeared to me.

¹³You know how I used to live as a Jew. I was cruel to God's church and even tried to destroy it. ¹⁴I was a much better Jew than anyone else my own age, and I obeyed every law that our ancestors had given us. ¹⁵But even before I was born, God had chosen me. He was kind and had decided ¹⁶to show me his Son, so that I would announce his message to the Gentiles. I didn't talk this over with anyone. ¹⁷I didn't say a word, not even to the men in Jerusalem who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went at once to Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.

¹⁸Three years later I went to visit Peter in Jerusalem and stayed with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹The only other apostle I saw was James, the Lord's brother. ²⁰And in the presence of God I swear I am telling the truth.

²¹Later, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²²But no one who belonged to Christ's churches in Judea had ever seen me in person. ²³They had only heard that the one who had been cruel to them was now preaching the message that he had once tried to destroy. ²⁴And because of me, they praised God.

What the LORD Says about the Philistines

Jeremiah 47 Before the king of Egypt attacked the town of Gaza, the LORD told me to say to the Philistines:

²I, the LORD, tell you that your land will be flooded

with an army from the north.

It will destroy your towns and sweep you away,

moaning and screaming.

³When you hear the thunder of horses and chariots,

your courage will vanish,

and parents will abandon their own children.

⁴You refugees from Crete, your time has now come,

and I will destroy you.

None of you will be left to help the cities

of Tyre and Sidon.

^*5The Anakim who survive in Gaza and Ashkelon

will mourn for you by shaving their heads

and sitting in silence.

⁶You ask how long will I continue

to attack you with my sword,

then you tell me to put it away and leave you alone.

⁷But how can my sword rest, when I have commanded it

to attack Ashkelon and the seacoast?

What the LORD Says about Moab

Jeremiah 48 The LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel, told me to say to the nation of Moab:

The town of Nebo is doomed;

Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced,

and even its fortress will be left in ruins.

²No one honors you, Moab.

In Heshbon, enemies make plans to end your life.

My sword will leave only silence

in your town named "Quiet."

³The people of Horonaim will cry for help,

as their town is attacked and destroyed.

⁴Moab will be shattered! Your children will sob

⁵and cry on their way up to the town of Luhith;

on the road to Horonaim they will tell of disasters.

⁶Run for your lives!

Head into the desert like a wild donkey.

⁷You thought you could be saved by your power and wealth,

but you will be captured along with your god Chemosh,

his priests, and officials.

⁸Not one of your towns will escape destruction.

I have told your enemies, "Wipe out the valley

and the flatlands of Moab.

⁹Spread salt on the ground to kill the crops.

Leave its towns in ruins, with no one living there.

¹⁰I want you to kill the Moabites, and if you let them escape,

I will put a curse on you."

¹¹Moab, you are like wine left to settle undisturbed,

never poured from jar to jar.

And so, your nation continues to prosper and improve.

¹²But now, I will send enemies to pour out the wine

and smash the jars!

¹³Then you will be ashamed,

because your god Chemosh cannot save you,

just as Bethel could not help the Israelites.

¹⁴You claim that your soldiers are strong and brave.

¹⁵But I am the LORD, the all-powerful King,

and I promise that enemies will overpower your towns.

Even your best warriors will die in the battle.

¹⁶

It won't be long now-- disaster will hit Moab!

¹⁷I will order the nearby nations to mourn for you and say,

"Isn't it sad? Moab ruled others,

but now its glorious power has been shattered."

¹⁸People in the town of Dibon, you will be honored no more,

so have a seat in the dust.

Your walls will be torn down when the enemies attack.

¹⁹You people of Aroer, go wait beside the road,

and when refugees run by, ask them, "What happened?"

²⁰They will answer, "Moab has been defeated!

Weep with us in shame.

Tell everyone at the Arnon River

that Moab is destroyed."

^*21I will punish every town that belongs to Moab,

but especially Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath, ²²Dibon, Nebo,

Beth-Diblathaim, ²³

Kiriathaim, Beth-Gamul, Beth-Meon,

²⁴

Kerioth, and Bozrah.

²⁵My decision is final-- your army will be crushed,

and your power broken.

²⁶People of Moab, you claim to be stronger than I am.

Now I will tell other nations to make you drunk

and to laugh while you collapse in your own vomit.

²⁷You made fun of my people and treated them like criminals

caught in the act.

²⁸Now you must leave your towns and live like doves

in the shelter of cliffs and canyons.

²⁹I know about your pride, and how you strut and boast.

³⁰

But I also know bragging will never save you.

³¹So I will cry and mourn for Moab

and its town of Kir-Heres.

³²People of Sibmah, you were like a vineyard

heavy with grapes,

and with branches reaching north to the town of Jazer

and west to the Dead Sea.

But you have been destroyed, and so I will weep for you,

as the people of Jazer weep for the vineyards.

³³Harvest celebrations are gone

from the orchards and farms of Moab.

There are no happy shouts from people making wine.

³⁴Weeping from Heshbon

can be heard as far as Elealeh and Jahaz;

cries from Zoar are heard in Horonaim

and Eglath-Shelishiyah.

And Nimrim Creek has run dry.

³⁵I will get rid of anyone

who burns incense to the gods of Moab

or offers sacrifices at their shrines.

I, the LORD, have spoken.

³⁶In my heart I moan for Moab,

like a funeral song played on a flute.

I mourn for the people of the town of Kir-Heres,

because their wealth is gone.

^*37The people of Moab mourn on the rooftops

and in the streets.

Men cut off their beards, people shave their heads;

they make cuts on their hands and wear sackcloth.

³⁸And it's all because I, the LORD, have shattered Moab

like a jar that no one wants.

³⁹Moab lies broken! Listen to its people cry

as they turn away in shame.

Other nations are horrified at what happened,

but still they laugh.

⁴⁰Moab, an enemy swoops down

like an eagle spreading its wings over your land.

⁴¹Your cities and fortresses will be captured,

and your warriors gripped by fear.

⁴²You are finished as a nation,

because you dared oppose me, the LORD.

⁴³Terror, pits, and traps are waiting for you.

⁴⁴If you are terrified and run,

you will fall into a pit;

and if you crawl out of the pit,

you'll get caught in a trap.

The time has come for you to be punished.

⁴⁵Near the city of Heshbon, where Sihon once ruled,

tired refugees stand in shadows

cast by the flames of their burning city.

Soon, the towns on other hilltops,

where those warlike people live,

will also go up in smoke.

⁴⁶People of Moab, you worshiped Chemosh, your god,

but now you are done for,

and your children are prisoners in a foreign country.

⁴⁷Yet someday, I will bring your people back home.

I, the LORD, have spoken.

Psalm 142
[A special psalm and a prayer by David when he was in the cave.]
A Prayer for Help

¹I pray to you, LORD. I beg for mercy.

²I tell you all of my worries and my troubles,

and whenever I feel low, you are there to guide me.

A trap has been hidden along my pathway.

⁴Even if you look, you won't see anyone

who cares enough to walk beside me.

There is no place to hide, and no one who really cares.

⁵I pray to you, LORD! You are my place of safety,

and you are my choice in the land of the living.

Please answer my prayer. I am completely helpless.

⁶Help! They are chasing me, and they are too strong.

⁷

Rescue me from this prison, so I can praise your name.

And when your people notice

your wonderful kindness to me,

they will rush to my side.

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.