Daily Bible GNT February 02 Scroll

Jesus Is Crucified
(Matthew 27.32-44; Mark 15.21-32; John 19.17-27)

Luke 23²⁶The soldiers led Jesus away, and as they were going, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon who was coming into the city from the country. They seized him, put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.

²⁷A large crowd of people followed him; among them were some women who were weeping and wailing for him. ²⁸Jesus turned to them and said, "Women of Jerusalem! Don't cry for me, but for yourselves and your children. ²⁹For the days are coming when people will say, 'How lucky are the women who never had children, who never bore babies, who never nursed them!' ³⁰That will be the time when people will say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Hide us!' ³¹For if such things as these are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

³²Two other men, both of them criminals, were also led out to be put to death with Jesus. ³³When they came to the place called "The Skull," they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. ³⁴Jesus said, "Forgive them, Father! They don't know what they are doing."

They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice. ³⁵The people stood there watching while the Jewish leaders made fun of him: "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah whom God has chosen!"

³⁶The soldiers also made fun of him: they came up to him and offered him cheap wine, ³⁷and said, "Save yourself if you are the king of the Jews!"

³⁸Above him were written these words: "This is the King of the Jews."

³⁹One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!"

⁴⁰The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, "Don't you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. ⁴¹Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong." ⁴²And he said to Jesus, "Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!"

⁴³Jesus said to him, "I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me."

The Death of Jesus
(Matthew 27.45-56; Mark 15.33-41; John 19.28-30)

^44-45It was about twelve o'clock when the sun stopped shining and darkness covered the whole country until three o'clock; and the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Father! In your hands I place my spirit!" He said this and died.

⁴⁷The army officer saw what had happened, and he praised God, saying, "Certainly he was a good man!"

⁴⁸When the people who had gathered there to watch the spectacle saw what happened, they all went back home, beating their breasts in sorrow. ⁴⁹All those who knew Jesus personally, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance to watch.

The Burial of Jesus
(Matthew 27.57-61; Mark 15.42-47; John 19.38-42)

^50-51There was a man named Joseph from Arimathea, a town in Judea. He was a good and honorable man, who was waiting for the coming of the Kingdom of God. Although he was a member of the Council, he had not agreed with their decision and action. ⁵²He went into the presence of Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁵³Then he took the body down, wrapped it in a linen sheet, and placed it in a tomb which had been dug out of solid rock and which had never been used. ⁵⁴It was Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵The women who had followed Jesus from Galilee went with Joseph and saw the tomb and how Jesus' body was placed in it. ⁵⁶Then they went back home and prepared the spices and perfumes for the body.

On the Sabbath they rested, as the Law commanded.

Joseph's Brothers Go to Egypt to Buy Grain

Genesis 42 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why don't you do something? ²I hear that there is grain in Egypt; go there and buy some to keep us from starving to death." ³So Joseph's ten half brothers went to buy grain in Egypt, ⁴but Jacob did not send Joseph's full brother Benjamin with them, because he was afraid that something might happen to him.

⁵The sons of Jacob came with others to buy grain, because there was famine in the land of Canaan. ⁶Joseph, as governor of the land of Egypt, was selling grain to people from all over the world. So Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. ⁷When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he acted as if he did not know them. He asked them harshly, "Where do you come from?"

"We have come from Canaan to buy food," they answered.

⁸Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. ⁹He remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them and said, "You are spies; you have come to find out where our country is weak."

¹⁰"No, sir," they answered. "We have come as your slaves, to buy food. ¹¹We are all brothers. We are not spies, sir, we are honest men."

¹²Joseph said to them, "No! You have come to find out where our country is weak."

¹³They said, "We were twelve brothers in all, sir, sons of the same man in the land of Canaan. One brother is dead, and the youngest is now with our father."

¹⁴"It is just as I said," Joseph answered. "You are spies. ¹⁵This is how you will be tested: I swear by the name of the king that you will never leave unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶One of you must go and get him. The rest of you will be kept under guard until the truth of what you say can be tested. Otherwise, as sure as the king lives, you are spies." ¹⁷With that, he put them in prison for three days.

¹⁸On the third day Joseph said to them, "I am a God-fearing man, and I will spare your lives on one condition. ¹⁹To prove that you are honest, one of you will stay in the prison where you have been kept; the rest of you may go and take back to your starving families the grain that you have bought. ²⁰Then you must bring your youngest brother to me. This will prove that you have been telling the truth, and I will not put you to death."

They agreed to this ²¹and said to one another, "Yes, now we are suffering the consequences of what we did to our brother; we saw the great trouble he was in when he begged for help, but we would not listen. That is why we are in this trouble now."

²²Reuben said, "I told you not to harm the boy, but you wouldn't listen. And now we are being paid back for his death." ²³Joseph understood what they said, but they did not know it, because they had been speaking to him through an interpreter. ²⁴Joseph left them and began to cry. When he was able to speak again, he came back, picked out Simeon, and had him tied up in front of them.

Joseph's Brothers Return to Canaan

²⁵Joseph gave orders to fill his brothers' packs with grain, to put each man's money back in his sack, and to give them food for the trip. This was done. ²⁶The brothers loaded their donkeys with the grain they had bought, and then they left. ²⁷At the place where they spent the night, one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey and found his money at the top of the sack. ²⁸"My money has been returned to me," he called to his brothers. "Here it is in my sack!" Their hearts sank, and in fear they asked one another, "What has God done to us?"

²⁹When they came to their father Jacob in Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them: ³⁰"The governor of Egypt spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying against his country. ³¹'We are not spies,' we answered, 'we are honest men. ³²We were twelve brothers in all, sons of the same father. One brother is dead, and the youngest is still in Canaan with our father.' ³³The man answered, 'This is how I will find out if you are honest men: One of you will stay with me; the rest will take grain for your starving families and leave. ³⁴Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but honest men; I will give your brother back to you, and you can stay here and trade.'"

³⁵Then when they emptied out their sacks, every one of them found his bag of money; and when they saw the money, they and their father Jacob were afraid. ³⁶Their father said to them, "Do you want to make me lose all my children? Joseph is gone; Simeon is gone; and now you want to take away Benjamin. I am the one who suffers!"

³⁷Reuben said to his father, "If I do not bring Benjamin back to you, you can kill my two sons. Put him in my care, and I will bring him back."

³⁸But Jacob said, "My son cannot go with you; his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. Something might happen to him on the way. I am an old man, and the sorrow you would cause me would kill me."

A Song of Praise

Psalm 33 All you that are righteous,

shout for joy for what the LORD has done;

praise him, all you that obey him.

²Give thanks to the LORD with harps,

sing to him with stringed instruments.

³Sing a new song to him,

play the harp with skill, and shout for joy!

⁴The words of the LORD are true,

and all his works are dependable.

⁵The LORD loves what is righteous and just;

his constant love fills the earth.

⁶The LORD created the heavens by his command,

the sun, moon, and stars by his spoken word.

⁷He gathered all the seas into one place;

he shut up the ocean depths in storerooms.

⁸Worship the LORD, all the earth!

Honor him, all peoples of the world!

⁹When he spoke, the world was created;

at his command everything appeared.

¹⁰The LORD frustrates the purposes of the nations;

he keeps them from carrying out their plans.

¹¹But his plans endure forever;

his purposes last eternally.

¹²Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD;

happy are the people he has chosen for his own!

¹³The LORD looks down from heaven

and sees all of us humans.

¹⁴From where he rules, he looks down

on all who live on earth.

¹⁵He forms all their thoughts

and knows everything they do.

¹⁶A king does not win because of his powerful army;

a soldier does not triumph because of his strength.

¹⁷War horses are useless for victory;

their great strength cannot save.

¹⁸The LORD watches over those who obey him,

those who trust in his constant love.

¹⁹He saves them from death;

he keeps them alive in times of famine.

²⁰We put our hope in the LORD;

he is our protector and our help.

²¹We are glad because of him;

we trust in his holy name.

²²May your constant love be with us, LORD,

as we put our hope in you.

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

These daily Bible readings from the Good News Translation (GNT), formerly the Today's English Version (TEV), are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. All BibleCard® images are copyrighted by iCreative. All rights reserved.