Daily Bible CEV December 29 Scroll

Jesus and the Devil
(Matthew 4.1-11; Mark 1.12, 13)

Luke 4 When Jesus returned from the Jordan River, the power of the Holy Spirit was with him, and the Spirit led him into the desert. ²For forty days Jesus was tested by the devil, and during that time he went without eating. When it was all over, he was hungry.

³The devil said to Jesus, "If you are God's Son, tell this stone to turn into bread."

⁴Jesus answered, "The Scriptures say, 'No one can live only on food.' "

⁵Then the devil led Jesus up to a high place and quickly showed him all the nations on earth. ⁶The devil said, "I will give all this power and glory to you. It has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷Just worship me, and you can have it all."

⁸Jesus answered, "The Scriptures say:

'Worship the Lord your God

and serve only him!' "

⁹Finally, the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and had him stand on top of the temple. The devil said, "If you are God's Son, jump off. ^10-11The Scriptures say:

'God will tell his angels to take care of you.

They will catch you in their arms,

and you will not hurt your feet on the stones.' "

¹²Jesus answered, "The Scriptures also say, 'Don't try to test the Lord your God!' "

¹³After the devil had finished testing Jesus in every way possible, he left him for a while.

Jesus Begins His Work
(Matthew 4.12-17; Mark 1.14, 15)

¹⁴Jesus returned to Galilee with the power of the Spirit. News about him spread everywhere. ¹⁵He taught in the Jewish meeting places, and everyone praised him.

The People of Nazareth Turn against Jesus
(Matthew 13.53-58; Mark 6.1-6)

¹⁶Jesus went back to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as usual he went to the meeting place on the Sabbath. When he stood up to read from the Scriptures, ¹⁷he was given the book of Isaiah the prophet. He opened it and read,

¹⁸"The Lord's Spirit has come to me,

because he has chosen me

to tell the good news to the poor.

The Lord has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners,

to give sight to the blind, to free everyone who suffers,

¹⁹and to say, 'This is the year the Lord has chosen.' "

²⁰Jesus closed the book, then handed it back to the man in charge and sat down. Everyone in the meeting place looked straight at Jesus.

²¹Then Jesus said to them, "What you have just heard me read has come true today."

²²All the people started talking about Jesus and were amazed at the wonderful things he said. They kept on asking, "Isn't he Joseph's son?"

²³Jesus answered:

You will certainly want to tell me this saying, "Doctor, first make yourself well." You will tell me to do the same things here in my own hometown that you heard I did in Capernaum. ²⁴But you can be sure that no prophets are liked by the people of their own hometown.

²⁵Once during the time of Elijah there was no rain for three and a half years, and people everywhere were starving. There were many widows in Israel, ²⁶but Elijah was sent only to a widow in the town of Zarephath near the city of Sidon. ²⁷During the time of the prophet Elisha, many men in Israel had leprosy. But no one was healed, except Naaman who lived in Syria.

²⁸When the people in the meeting place heard Jesus say this, they became so angry ²⁹that they got up and threw him out of town. They dragged him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built, because they wanted to throw him down from there. ³⁰But Jesus slipped through the crowd and got away.

The East Gate Must Remain Closed

Ezekiel 44 The man took me back to the outer courtyard, near the east gate of the temple area. I saw that the doors to this gate were closed. ²The LORD said:

I, the LORD God of Israel, came through this gate, so it must remain closed forever! No one must ever use it. ³The ruler of Israel may come here to eat a sacrificial meal that has been offered to me, but he must use only the entrance room of this gate.

People Who Are Not Allowed in the Temple

⁴Then the man took me through the north gate to the front of the temple. I saw that the brightness of the LORD's glory had filled the temple, and I immediately bowed with my face to the ground.

⁵The LORD said:

Ezekiel, son of man, I am going to give you the laws for my temple. So pay attention and listen carefully to what kind of people are allowed to come in the temple, and what kind are not. ⁶Tell those rebellious people of Israel:

I, the LORD God, command you to stop your evil ways! ⁷My temple has been disgraced, because you have let godless, stubborn foreigners come here when sacrifices are being offered to me. You have sinned and have broken our solemn agreement. ⁸Instead of following the proper ways to worship me, you have put foreigners in charge of worship at my temple.

⁹And so I, the LORD God, say that no godless foreigner who disobeys me will be allowed in my temple. This includes any foreigner living in Israel.

The Levites Are Punished

The LORD said:

¹⁰Some of the Levites turned their backs on me and joined the other people of Israel in worshiping idols. So these Levites must be punished! ¹¹They will still be allowed to serve me as temple workers by guarding the gates and by killing the animals to be sacrificed and by helping the worshipers. ¹²But because these Levites served the people of Israel when they worshiped idols, I, the LORD God, promise that the Levites will be punished. They did not stop the Israelites from sinning, ¹³and now I will no longer let the Levites serve as my priests or come near anything sacred to me. They must suffer shame and disgrace for their disgusting sins. ¹⁴They will be responsible for all the hard work that must be done in the temple.

Rules for Priests

The LORD said:

¹⁵The priests of the Levi tribe who are descendants of Zadok the priest were faithful to me, even when the rest of the Israelites turned away. And so, these priests will continue to serve as my priests and to offer the fat and the blood of sacrifices. ¹⁶They will come into my temple, where they will offer sacrifices at my altar and lead others in worship.

¹⁷When they come to the inner courtyard, they must wear their linen priestly clothes. My priests must never wear anything made of wool when they are on duty in this courtyard or in the temple. ¹⁸Even their turbans and underwear must be made of linen to keep my priests from sweating when they work. ¹⁹And before they leave to join the other people in the outer courtyard, they must take off their priestly clothes, then place them in the sacred rooms and put on their regular clothes. That way, no one will touch their sacred clothes and be harmed.

²⁰Priests must never shave their heads when they are mourning. But they must keep their hair properly trimmed and not let it grow too long. ²¹They must not drink wine before going to the inner courtyard.

²²A priest must not marry a divorced woman; he can marry only a virgin from Israel or the widow of another priest.

²³Priests must teach my people the difference between what is sacred and what is ordinary, and between what is clean and what is unclean. ²⁴They will make decisions in difficult legal cases, according to my own laws. They must also observe the religious festivals my Law requires and must always respect the Sabbath.

²⁵Touching a dead body will make a person unclean. So a priest must not go near a dead body, unless it is one of his parents or children, or his brother or unmarried sister. ²⁶If a priest touches a dead body, he is unclean and must go through a ceremony to make himself clean. Then seven days later, ²⁷he must go to the inner courtyard of the temple and offer a sacrifice for sin. After that, he may once again serve as my priest. I, the LORD God, have spoken.

²⁸I myself will provide for my priests, and so they won't receive any land of their own. ²⁹Instead, they will receive part of the grain sacrifices, as well as part of the sacrifices for sin and sacrifices to make things right. They will also be given everything in Israel that has been completely dedicated to me. ³⁰The first part of every harvest will belong to the priests. They will also receive part of all special gifts and offerings the Israelites bring to me. And whenever any of my people bake bread, they will give their first loaf as an offering to the priests, and I will bless the homes of the people when they do this.

³¹Priests must not eat any bird or animal that dies a natural death or that has been killed by a wild animal.

The LORD's Sacred Land

The LORD said:
Ezekiel 45 When the land of Israel is divided among the twelve tribes, you must set aside an area that will belong to me. This sacred area will be eight miles long and six miles wide. ²The temple will be on a piece of land eight hundred forty feet square, and the temple will be completely surrounded by an open space eighty-four feet wide.

^3-4I will give half of my sacred land, a section eight miles long and three miles wide, to the priests who serve in the temple. Their houses will be in this half, as well as my temple, which is the most sacred place of all.

⁵I will give the other half of my land to the Levites who work in my temple, and the towns where they will live will be there.

⁶Next to my sacred land will be an area eight miles long and two miles wide. This will belong to the people of Israel and will include the city of Jerusalem.

Land for Israel's Ruler

The LORD said:

^7-8The regions west and east of my sacred land and the city of Jerusalem will belong to the ruler of Israel. He will be given the region between the western edge of my land and the Mediterranean Sea, and between the eastern edge of my land and the Jordan River. This will mean that the length of his property will be the same as the sections of land given to the tribes.

This property will belong to every ruler of Israel, so they will always be fair to my people and will let them live peacefully in the land given to their tribes.

Israel's Rulers Must Be Honest

⁹The LORD God said:

You leaders of Israel have robbed and cheated my people long enough! I want you to stop sinning and start doing what is right and fair. You must never again force my people off their own land. I, the LORD, have spoken.

¹⁰So from now on, you must use honest weights and measures. ¹¹The ephah will be the standard dry measure, and the bath will be the standard liquid measure. Their size will be based on the homer, which will equal ten ephahs or ten baths.

¹²The standard unit of weight will be the shekel. One shekel will equal twenty gerahs, and sixty shekels will equal one mina.

¹³Leaders of Israel, the people must bring you one sixtieth of their grain harvests as offerings to me. ¹⁴They will also bring one percent of their olive oil. These things will be measured according to the bath, and ten baths is the same as one homer or one cor. ¹⁵Finally, they must bring one sheep out of every two hundred from their flocks.

These offerings will be used as grain sacrifices, as well as sacrifices to please me and those to ask my blessing. I, the LORD, will be pleased with these sacrifices and will forgive the sins of my people.

¹⁶The people of Israel will bring you these offerings. ¹⁷But during New Moon Festivals, Sabbath celebrations, and other religious feasts, you leaders will be responsible for providing animals for the sacrifices, as well as the grain and wine. All these will be used for the sacrifices for sin, the grain sacrifices, the sacrifices to please me, and those to ask my blessing. I will be pleased and will forgive the sins of my people.

The Festivals
(Exodus 12.1-20; Leviticus 23.33-43)

¹⁸The LORD God said:

On the first day of the first month, a young bull that has nothing wrong with it must be offered as a sacrifice to purify the temple. ¹⁹The priest will take some blood from this sacrifice and smear it on the doorposts of the temple, as well as on the four corners of the altar and on the doorposts of the gates that lead into the inner courtyard.

²⁰The same ceremony must also be done on the seventh day of the month, so that anyone who sins accidentally or without knowing it will be forgiven, and so that my temple will remain holy.

²¹Beginning on the fourteenth day of the first month, and continuing for seven days, everyone will celebrate Passover and eat bread made without yeast. ²²On the first day, the ruler will bring a bull to offer as a sacrifice for his sins and for the sins of the people. ²³Each day of the festival he is to bring seven bulls and seven rams as sacrifices to please me, and he must bring a goat as a sacrifice for sin. These animals must have nothing wrong with them. ²⁴He will also provide twenty pounds of grain and four quarts of olive oil to be offered with each bull and each ram.

²⁵The Festival of Shelters will begin on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and will continue for seven days. On each day of this festival, the ruler will provide the same number of animals that he did each day during Passover, as well as the same amount of grain and olive oil for the sacrifices.

Isaiah 64 Rip the heavens apart! Come down, LORD;

make the mountains tremble.

²Be a spark that starts a fire causing water to boil.

Then your enemies will know who you are;

all nations will tremble because you are nearby.

³Your fearsome deeds have completely amazed us;

even the mountains shake when you come down.

⁴You are the only God ever seen or heard of

who works miracles for his followers.

⁵You help all who gladly obey and do what you want,

but sin makes you angry.

Only by your help can we ever be saved.

⁶We are unfit to worship you;

each of our good deeds is merely a filthy rag.

We dry up like leaves;

our sins are storm winds sweeping us away.

⁷No one worships in your name or remains faithful.

You have turned your back on us

and let our sins melt us away.

⁸You, LORD, are our Father.

We are nothing but clay,

but you are the potter who molded us.

⁹Don't be so furious or keep our sins

in your thoughts forever!

Remember that all of us are your people.

¹⁰Every one of your towns has turned into a desert,

especially Jerusalem.

¹¹Zion's glorious and holy temple

where our ancestors praised you

has been destroyed by fire.

Our beautiful buildings are now a pile of ruins.

¹²When you see these things, how can you just sit there

and make us suffer more?

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.