Daily Bible CEV December 20 Scroll

Christ Brings New Life

Colossians 2 ²⁰You died with Christ. Now the forces of the universe don't have any power over you. Why do you live as if you had to obey such rules as, ²¹"Don't handle this. Don't taste that. Don't touch this."? ²²After these things are used, they are no longer good for anything. So why be bothered with the rules that humans have made up? ²³Obeying these rules may seem to be the smart thing to do. They appear to make you love God more and to be very humble and to have control over your body. But they don't really have any power over our desires.
Colossians 3 You have been raised to life with Christ. Now set your heart on what is in heaven, where Christ rules at God's right side. ²Think about what is up there, not about what is here on earth. ³You died, which means that your life is hidden with Christ, who sits beside God. ⁴Christ gives meaning to your life, and when he appears, you will also appear with him in glory.

⁵Don't be controlled by your body. Kill every desire for the wrong kind of sex. Don't be immoral or indecent or have evil thoughts. Don't be greedy, which is the same as worshiping idols. ⁶God is angry with people who disobey him by doing these things. ⁷And that is exactly what you did, when you lived among people who behaved in this way. ⁸But now you must stop doing such things. You must quit being angry, hateful, and evil. You must no longer say insulting or cruel things about others. ⁹And stop lying to each other. You have given up your old way of life with its habits.

¹⁰Each of you is now a new person. You are becoming more and more like your Creator, and you will understand him better. ¹¹It doesn't matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, or if you are circumcised or not. You may even be a barbarian or a Scythian, and you may be a slave or a free person. Yet Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

¹²God loves you and has chosen you as his own special people. So be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient. ¹³Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you. ¹⁴Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together.

¹⁵Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace. So let the peace that comes from Christ control your thoughts. And be grateful. ¹⁶Let the message about Christ completely fill your lives, while you use all your wisdom to teach and instruct each other. With thankful hearts, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. ¹⁷Whatever you say or do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks to God the Father because of him.

Judgment on the King of Egypt

Ezekiel 29 Ten years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, the LORD spoke to me on the twelfth day of the tenth month. He said:

²Ezekiel, son of man, condemn the king of Egypt. Tell him and his people ³that I am saying:

King of Egypt, you were like a giant crocodile lying in a river. You acted as though you owned the Nile and made it for yourself. But now I, the LORD God, am your enemy! ⁴I will put a hook in your jaw and pull you out of the water, and all the fish in your river will stick to your scaly body. ⁵I'll throw you and the fish into the desert, and your body will fall on the hard ground. You will be left unburied, and wild animals and birds will eat your flesh. ⁶Then everyone in Egypt will know that I am the LORD.

You and your nation refused to help the people of Israel and were nothing more than a broken stick. ⁷When they reached out to you for support, you broke in half, cutting their arms and making them fall.

⁸So I, the LORD God, will send troops to attack you, king of Egypt. They will kill your people and livestock, ⁹until your land is a barren desert. Then you will know that I have done these things.

You claimed that you made the Nile River and control it. ¹⁰Now I am turning against you and your river. Your nation will be nothing but an empty wasteland all the way from the town of Migdol in the north to Aswan in the south, and as far as the border of Ethiopia. ¹¹No human or animal will even dare travel through Egypt, because no sign of life will be found there for forty years. ¹²It will be the most barren place on earth. Every city in Egypt will lie in ruins during those forty years, and I will scatter your people throughout the nations of the world.

¹³Then after those forty years have passed, I will bring your people back from the places where I scattered them. ¹⁴They will once again live in their homeland in southern Egypt. But they will be a weak kingdom ¹⁵and won't ever be strong enough to rule nations, as they did in the past. ¹⁶My own people Israel will never again depend on your nation. In fact, when the Israelites remember what happened to you Egyptians, they will realize how wrong they were to turn to you for help. Then the Israelites will know that I, the LORD God, did these things.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia Will Conquer Egypt

¹⁷Twenty-seven 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 first month. He said:

¹⁸King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia has attacked the city of Tyre. He forced his soldiers to carry so many heavy loads that their heads were rubbed bald, and their shoulders were red and sore. Nebuchadnezzar and his army still could not capture the city. ¹⁹So now I will hand over the nation of Egypt to him. He will take Egypt's valuable treasures and give them to his own troops. ²⁰Egypt will be his reward, because he and his army have been following my orders. I, the LORD God, have spoken.

²¹Ezekiel, when Egypt is defeated, I will make the people of Israel strong, and I will give you the power to speak to them. Then they will know that I, the LORD, have done these things.

Egypt Will Be a Barren Desert

Ezekiel 30 The LORD said:

²Ezekiel, son of man, tell the people of Egypt that I am saying:

Cry out in despair,

because you will soon be punished!

That will be a time of darkness and doom

for all nations.

⁴Your own nation of Egypt will be attacked,

and Ethiopia will suffer.

You will be killed in battle,

and your land will be robbed and left in ruins.

⁵Soldiers hired from Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, Arabia, Kub, as well as from Israel, will die in that battle. ⁶All of your allies will be killed, and your proud strength will crumble. People will die from Migdol in the north to Aswan in the south. I, the LORD, have spoken.

⁷Your nation of Egypt will be the most deserted place on earth, and its cities will lie in complete ruin. ⁸I will set fire to your land, and anyone who defended your nation will die. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

⁹On the same day I destroy Egypt, I will send messengers to the Ethiopians to announce their coming destruction. They think they are safe, but they will be terrified.

¹⁰Your Egyptian army is very strong, but I will send King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia to completely defeat that army. ¹¹He and his cruel troops will invade and destroy your land and leave your dead bodies piled everywhere.

¹²I will dry up the Nile River, then sell the land to evil buyers. I will send foreigners to turn your entire nation into a barren desert. I, the LORD, have spoken.

Egypt's Proud Cities Will Lie in Ruins

The LORD said to the people of Egypt:

¹³All the idols and images you Egyptians worship in the city of Memphis will be smashed. No one will be left to rule your nation, and terror will fill the land. ¹⁴The city of Pathros will be left in ruins, and Zoan will be burned to the ground. Thebes, your capital city, will also be destroyed! ¹⁵The fortress city of Pelusium will feel my fierce anger, and all the troops stationed at Thebes will be slaughtered.

¹⁶I will set fire to your nation of Egypt! The city of Pelusium will be in anguish. Thebes will fall, and the people of Memphis will live in constant fear. ¹⁷The young soldiers in the cities of Heliopolis and Bubastis will die in battle, and the rest of the people will be taken prisoner. ¹⁸You were so proud of your nation's power, but when I crush that power and kill that pride, darkness will fall over the city of Tahpanhes. A dark, gloomy cloud will cover the land as you are being led away into captivity. ¹⁹When I'm through punishing Egypt, you will know that I am the LORD.

Egypt's King Is Powerless

²⁰Eleven years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, the LORD spoke to me on the seventh day of the first month. He said:

²¹Ezekiel, son of man, I, the LORD, have defeated the king of Egypt! I broke his arm, and no one has wrapped it or put it in a sling, so that it could heal and get strong enough to hold a sword. ²²So tell him that I am now his worst enemy. I will break both his arms--the good one and the broken one! His sword will drop from his hand forever, ²³and I will scatter the Egyptians all over the world.

^24-25I will strengthen the power of Babylonia's king and give him my sword to use against Egypt. I will also make the wounded king of Egypt powerless, and he will moan in pain and die in front of the Babylonian king. Then everyone on earth will know that I am the LORD. ²⁶I will force the Egyptians to live as prisoners in foreign nations, and they will know that I, the LORD, have punished them.

The LORD's Invitation

Isaiah 55 If you are thirsty, come and drink water!

If you don't have any money, come, eat what you want!

Drink wine and milk without paying a cent.

²Why waste your money on what really isn't food?

Why work hard for something that doesn't satisfy?

Listen carefully to me,

and you will enjoy the very best foods.

³Pay close attention! Come to me and live.

I will promise you the eternal love and loyalty

that I promised David.

⁴I made him the leader and ruler of the nations;

he was my witness to them.

⁵You will call out to nations you have never known.

And they have never known you,

but they will come running because I am the LORD,

the holy God of Israel, and I have honored you.

God's Words Are Powerful

⁶Turn to the LORD! He can still be found.

Call out to God! He is near.

⁷Give up your crooked ways and your evil thoughts.

Return to the LORD our God.

He will be merciful and forgive your sins.

⁸The LORD says: "My thoughts and my ways

are not like yours.

⁹Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,

my thoughts and my ways are higher than yours.

¹⁰"Rain and snow fall from the sky.

But they don't return without watering the earth

that produces seeds to plant and grain to eat.

¹¹That's how it is with my words.

They don't return to me without doing everything

I send them to do."

God's People Will Celebrate

¹²When you are set free, you will celebrate

and travel home in peace.

Mountains and hills will sing as you pass by,

and trees will clap.

¹³Cypress and myrtle trees will grow in fields

once covered by thorns.

And then those trees will stand as a lasting witness

to the glory of the LORD.

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.