Daily Bible CEV December 18 Scroll

COLOSSIANS

Colossians 1 From Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from Timothy, who is also a follower.

²To God's people who live in Colossae and are faithful followers of Christ.

I pray that God our Father will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!

A Prayer of Thanks

³Each time we pray for you, we thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴We have heard of your faith in Christ and of your love for all of God's people, ⁵because what you hope for is kept safe for you in heaven. You first heard about this hope when you believed the true message, which is the good news.

⁶The good news is spreading all over the world with great success. It has spread in that same way among you, ever since the first day you learned the truth about God's wonderful kindness ⁷from our good friend Epaphras. He works together with us for Christ and is a faithful worker for you. ⁸He is also the one who told us about the love that God's Spirit has given you.

The Person and Work of Christ

⁹We have not stopped praying for you since the first day we heard about you. In fact, we always pray that God will show you everything he wants you to do and that you may have all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. ¹⁰Then you will live a life that honors the Lord, and you will always please him by doing good deeds. You will come to know God even better. ¹¹His glorious power will make you patient and strong enough to endure anything, and you will be truly happy.

¹²I pray that you will be grateful to God for letting you have part in what he has promised his people in the kingdom of light. ¹³God rescued us from the dark power of Satan and brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son, ¹⁴who forgives our sins and sets us free.

¹⁵Christ is exactly like God, who cannot be seen.

He is the first-born Son, superior to all creation.

¹⁶Everything was created by him,

everything in heaven and on earth,

everything seen and unseen,

including all forces and powers,

and all rulers and authorities.

All things were created by God's Son,

and everything was made for him.

¹⁷God's Son was before all else,

and by him everything is held together.

¹⁸He is the head of his body, which is the church.

He is the very beginning, the first to be raised from death,

so that he would be above all others.

¹⁹God himself was pleased to live fully in his Son.

²⁰And God was pleased for him to make peace

by sacrificing his blood on the cross,

so that all beings in heaven and on earth

would be brought back to God.

²¹You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things. ²²But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. ²³But you must stay deeply rooted and firm in your faith. You must not give up the hope you received when you heard the good news. It was preached to everyone on earth, and I myself have become a servant of this message.

Judgment on Ammon

Ezekiel 25 The LORD God said:

²Ezekiel, son of man, condemn the people of Ammon ³and tell them:

You celebrated when my temple was destroyed, when Israel was defeated, and when my people were taken away as prisoners. ⁴Now I am going to let you be conquered by tribes from the eastern desert. They will set up their camps in your land and eat your fruit and drink your milk. ⁵Your capital city of Rabbah will be nothing but pastureland for camels, and the rest of the country will be pastures for sheep. Then you will know that I am the LORD God.

⁶You hated Israel so much that you clapped and shouted and celebrated. ⁷And so I will hand you over to enemies who will rob you. I will completely destroy you. There won't be enough of your people left to be a nation ever again, and you will know that I, the LORD, have done these things.

Judgment on Moab

⁸The LORD God said, "The people of Moab thought Judah was no different from any other nation. ⁹So I will let Moab's fortress towns along its border be attacked, including Beth-Jeshimoth, Baal-Meon, and Kiriathaim. ¹⁰The same eastern desert tribes that invade Ammon will invade Moab, and just as Ammon will be forgotten forever, ¹¹Moab will be punished. Then the people there will know that I am the LORD."

Judgment on Edom

¹²The LORD God then said, "The people of Edom are guilty of taking revenge on Judah. ¹³So I will punish Edom by killing all its people and livestock. It will be an empty wasteland all the way from Teman to Dedan. ¹⁴I will send my own people to take revenge on the Edomites by making them feel my fierce anger. And when I punish them, they will know that I am the LORD God."

Judgment on Philistia

¹⁵The LORD God said, "The cruel Philistines have taken revenge on their enemies over and over and have tried to destroy them. ¹⁶Now it's my turn to treat the Philistines as my enemies and to kill everyone living in their towns along the seacoast. ¹⁷In my fierce anger, I will take revenge on them. And when I punish them, they will know that I am the LORD."

Judgment on the City of Tyre

Ezekiel 26 Eleven years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, the LORD spoke to me on the first day of the month. He said:

²Ezekiel, son of man, the people of the city of Tyre have celebrated Jerusalem's defeat by singing,

"Jerusalem has fallen! It used to be powerful,

a center of trade.

Now the city is shattered, and we will take its place."

³Because the people of Tyre have sung that song, I have the following warning for them: I am the LORD God, and I am now your enemy! I will send nations to attack you, like waves crashing against the shore. ⁴They will tear down your city walls and defense towers. I will sweep away the ruins until all that's left of you is a bare rock, ⁵where fishermen can dry their nets along the coast. I promise that you will be robbed ⁶and that the people who live in your towns along the coast will be killed. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

⁷King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia is the world's most powerful king, and I will send him to attack you. He will march from the north with a powerful army, including horses and chariots and cavalry troops. ⁸First, he will attack your towns along the coast and kill the people who live there. Then he will build dirt ramps up to the top of your city walls and set up rows of shields around you. ⁹He will command some of his troops to use large wooden poles to beat down your walls, while others use iron rods to knock down your watchtowers. ¹⁰He will have so many horses that the dust they stir up will seem like a thick fog. And as his chariots and cavalry approach, even the walls will shake, especially when he proudly enters your ruined city. ¹¹His troops will ride through your streets, killing people left and right, and your strong columns will crumble to the ground. ¹²The troops will steal your valuable possessions; they will break down your walls, and crush your expensive houses. Then the stones and wood and all the remains will be dumped into the sea. ¹³You will have no reason to sing or play music on harps, ¹⁴because I will turn you into a bare rock where fishermen can dry their nets. And you will never rebuild your city. I, the LORD God, make this promise.

¹⁵The people of the nations up and down the coast will shudder when they hear your screams and moans of death. ¹⁶The kings will step down from their thrones, then take off their royal robes and fancy clothes, and sit on the ground, trembling. They will be so shocked at the news of your defeat that they will shake in fear ¹⁷and sing this funeral song:

"The great city beside the sea is destroyed!

Its people once ruled the coast

and terrified everyone there.

¹⁸But now Tyre is in ruins, and the people on the coast

stare at it in horror and tremble in fear."

¹⁹I, the LORD God, will turn you into a ghost-town. The ocean depths will rise over you ²⁰and carry you down to the world of the dead, where you will join people of ancient times and towns ruined long ago. You will stay there and never again be a city filled with people. ²¹You will die a horrible death! People will come looking for your city, but it will never be found. I, the LORD, have spoken.

What God's Servant Did for Us

Isaiah 53 Has anyone believed us or seen the mighty power

of the LORD in action?

²Like a young plant or a root that sprouts in dry ground,

the servant grew up obeying the LORD.

He wasn't some handsome king.

Nothing about the way he looked made him attractive to us.

³He was hated and rejected;

his life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering.

No one wanted to look at him. We despised him and said,

"He is a nobody!"

⁴He suffered and endured great pain for us,

but we thought his suffering was punishment from God.

⁵He was wounded and crushed because of our sins;

by taking our punishment, he made us completely well.

⁶All of us were like sheep that had wandered off.

We had each gone our own way,

but the LORD gave him the punishment we deserved.

⁷He was painfully abused, but he did not complain.

He was silent like a lamb being led to the butcher,

as quiet as a sheep having its wool cut off.

⁸He was condemned to death without a fair trial.

Who could have imagined what would happen to him?

His life was taken away because of the sinful things

my people had done.

⁹He wasn't dishonest or violent,

but he was buried in a tomb of cruel and rich people.

¹⁰The LORD decided his servant would suffer as a sacrifice

to take away the sin and guilt of others.

Now the servant will live to see his own descendants.

He did everything the LORD had planned.

¹¹By suffering, the servant will learn the true meaning

of obeying the LORD.

Although he is innocent, he will take the punishment

for the sins of others,

so that many of them will no longer be guilty.

¹²The LORD will reward him with honor and power

for sacrificing his life.

Others thought he was a sinner,

but he suffered for our sins

and asked God to forgive 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.