Daily Bible GNT April 08 Scroll

The Resurrection
(Mark 16.1-10; Luke 24.1-12; John 20.1-10)

Matthew 28 After the Sabbath, as Sunday morning was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. ²Suddenly there was a violent earthquake; an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled the stone away, and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards were so afraid that they trembled and became like dead men.

⁵The angel spoke to the women. "You must not be afraid," he said. "I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; he has been raised, just as he said. Come here and see the place where he was lying. ⁷Go quickly now, and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from death, and now he is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him!' Remember what I have told you."

⁸So they left the tomb in a hurry, afraid and yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

⁹Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Peace be with you." They came up to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. ¹⁰"Do not be afraid," Jesus said to them. "Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."

The Report of the Guard

¹¹While the women went on their way, some of the soldiers guarding the tomb went back to the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. ¹²The chief priests met with the elders and made their plan; they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers ¹³and said, "You are to say that his disciples came during the night and stole his body while you were asleep. ¹⁴And if the Governor should hear of this, we will convince him that you are innocent, and you will have nothing to worry about."

¹⁵The guards took the money and did what they were told to do. And so that is the report spread around by the Jews to this very day.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples
(Mark 16.14-18; Luke 24.36-49; John 20.19-23; Acts 1.6-8)

¹⁶The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷When they saw him, they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted. ¹⁸Jesus drew near and said to them, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age."

The People's Disobedience

Deuteronomy 9 "Listen, people of Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River and occupy the land belonging to nations greater and more powerful than you. Their cities are large, with walls that reach the sky. ²The people themselves are tall and strong; they are giants, and you have heard it said that no one can stand against them. ³But now you will see for yourselves that the LORD your God will go ahead of you like a raging fire. He will defeat them as you advance, so that you will drive them out and destroy them quickly, as he promised.

⁴"After the LORD your God has driven them out for you, do not say to yourselves that he brought you in to possess this land because you deserved it. No, the LORD is going to drive these people out for you because they are wicked. ⁵It is not because you are good and do what is right that the LORD is letting you take their land. He will drive them out because they are wicked and because he intends to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ⁶You can be sure that the LORD is not giving you this fertile land because you deserve it. No, you are a stubborn people.

⁷"Never forget how you made the LORD your God angry in the desert. From the day that you left Egypt until the day you arrived here, you have rebelled against him. ⁸Even at Mount Sinai you made the LORD angry--angry enough to destroy you. ⁹I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets on which was written the covenant that the LORD had made with you. I stayed there forty days and nights and did not eat or drink anything. ¹⁰Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written with his own hand what he had said to you from the fire on the day that you were gathered there at the mountain. ¹¹Yes, after those forty days and nights the LORD gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written the covenant.

¹²"Then the LORD said to me, 'Go down the mountain at once, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have become corrupt and have done evil. They have already turned away from what I commanded them to do, and they have made an idol for themselves.'

¹³"The LORD also said to me, 'I know how stubborn these people are. ¹⁴Don't try to stop me. I intend to destroy them so that no one will remember them any longer. Then I will make you the father of a nation larger and more powerful than they are.'

¹⁵"So I turned and went down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets on which the covenant was written. Flames of fire were coming from the mountain. ¹⁶I saw that you had already disobeyed the command that the LORD your God had given you, and that you had sinned against him by making yourselves a metal idol in the form of a bull-calf. ¹⁷So there in front of you I threw the stone tablets down and broke them to pieces. ¹⁸Then once again I lay face downward in the LORD's presence for forty days and nights and did not eat or drink anything. I did this because you had sinned against the LORD and had made him angry. ¹⁹I was afraid of the LORD's fierce anger, because he was furious enough to destroy you; but once again the LORD listened to me. ²⁰The LORD was also angry enough with Aaron to kill him, so I prayed for Aaron at the same time. ²¹I took that sinful thing that you had made--that metal bull-calf--and threw it into the fire. Then I broke it in pieces, ground it to dust, and threw the dust into the stream that flowed down the mountain.

²²"You also made the LORD your God angry when you were at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth Hattaavah. ²³And when he sent you from Kadesh Barnea with orders to go and take possession of the land that he was giving you, you rebelled against him; you did not trust him or obey him. ²⁴Ever since I have known you, you have rebelled against the LORD.

²⁵"So I lay face downward in the LORD's presence those forty days and nights, because I knew that he was determined to destroy you. ²⁶And I prayed, 'Sovereign LORD, don't destroy your own people, the people you rescued and brought out of Egypt by your great strength and power. ²⁷Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and do not pay any attention to the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of this people. ²⁸Otherwise, the Egyptians will say that you were unable to take your people into the land that you had promised them. They will say that you took your people out into the desert to kill them, because you hated them. ²⁹After all, these are the people whom you chose to be your own and whom you brought out of Egypt by your great power and might.'

Moses Receives the Commandments Again
(Exodus 34.1-10)

Deuteronomy 10 "Then the LORD said to me, 'Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and make a wooden Box to put them in. Come up to me on the mountain, ²and I will write on those tablets what I wrote on the tablets that you broke, and then you are to put them in the Box.'

³"So I made a Box of acacia wood and cut two stone tablets like the first ones and took them up the mountain. ⁴Then the LORD wrote on those tablets the same words that he had written the first time, the Ten Commandments that he gave you when he spoke from the fire on the day you were gathered at the mountain. The LORD gave me the tablets, ⁵and I turned and went down the mountain. Then, just as the LORD had commanded, I put them in the Box that I had made--and they have been there ever since."

( ⁶ The Israelites set out from the wells that belonged to the people of Jaakan, and went to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar succeeded him as priest. ⁷From there they went to Gudgodah and then on to Jotbathah, a well-watered place. ⁸At the mountain the LORD appointed the men of the tribe of Levi to be in charge of the Covenant Box, to serve him as priests, and to pronounce blessings in his name. And these are still their duties. ⁹That is why the tribe of Levi received no land as the other tribes did; what they received was the privilege of being the LORD's priests, as the LORD your God promised.)

¹⁰"I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time. The LORD listened to me once more and agreed not to destroy you. ¹¹Then he told me to go and lead you, so that you could take possession of the land that he had promised to give to your ancestors.

What God Demands

¹²"Now, people of Israel, listen to what the LORD your God demands of you: Worship the LORD and do all that he commands. Love him, serve him with all your heart, ¹³and obey all his laws. I am giving them to you today for your benefit. ¹⁴To the LORD belong even the highest heavens; the earth is his also, and everything on it. ¹⁵But the LORD's love for your ancestors was so strong that he chose you instead of any other people, and you are still his chosen people. ¹⁶So then, from now on be obedient to the LORD and stop being stubborn. ¹⁷The LORD your God is supreme over all gods and over all powers. He is great and mighty, and he is to be obeyed. He does not show partiality, and he does not accept bribes. ¹⁸He makes sure that orphans and widows are treated fairly; he loves the foreigners who live with our people, and gives them food and clothes. ¹⁹So then, show love for those foreigners, because you were once foreigners in Egypt. ²⁰Have reverence for the LORD your God and worship only him. Be faithful to him and make your promises in his name alone. ²¹Praise him--he is your God, and you have seen with your own eyes the great and astounding things that he has done for you. ²²When your ancestors went to Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Job 8

Bildad

^1-2Are you finally through with your windy speech?

³God never twists justice;

he never fails to do what is right.

⁴Your children must have sinned against God,

and so he punished them as they deserved.

⁵But turn now and plead with Almighty God;

⁶

if you are so honest and pure,

then God will come and help you

and restore your household as your reward.

⁷All the wealth you lost will be nothing

compared with what God will give you then.

⁸Look for a moment at ancient wisdom;

consider the truths our ancestors learned.

⁹Our life is short, we know nothing at all;

we pass like shadows across the earth.

¹⁰But let the ancient wise people teach you;

listen to what they had to say:

¹¹"Reeds can't grow where there is no water;

they are never found outside a swamp.

¹²If the water dries up, they are the first to wither,

while still too small to be cut and used.

¹³Godless people are like those reeds;

their hope is gone, once God is forgotten.

¹⁴They trust a thread--a spider's web.

¹⁵

If they lean on a web, will it hold them up?

If they grab for a thread, will it help them stand?"

¹⁶Evil people sprout like weeds in the sun,

like weeds that spread all through the garden.

¹⁷Their roots wrap around the stones

and hold fast to every rock.

¹⁸But then pull them up--

no one will ever know they were there.

¹⁹Yes, that's all the joy evil people have;

others now come and take their places.

²⁰But God will never abandon the faithful

or ever give help to evil people.

²¹He will let you laugh and shout again,

²²

but he will bring disgrace on those who hate you,

and the homes of the wicked will vanish.

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.