Daily Bible GNT April 10 Scroll

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

Acts 2 When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers were gathered together in one place. ²Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there. ⁴They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

⁵There were Jews living in Jerusalem, religious people who had come from every country in the world. ⁶When they heard this noise, a large crowd gathered. They were all excited, because all of them heard the believers talking in their own languages. ⁷In amazement and wonder they exclaimed, "These people who are talking like this are Galileans! ⁸How is it, then, that all of us hear them speaking in our own native languages? ⁹We are from Parthia, Media, and Elam; from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia; from Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰from Phrygia and Pamphylia, from Egypt and the regions of Libya near Cyrene. Some of us are from Rome, ¹¹both Jews and Gentiles converted to Judaism, and some of us are from Crete and Arabia--yet all of us hear them speaking in our own languages about the great things that God has done!" ¹²Amazed and confused, they kept asking each other, "What does this mean?"

¹³But others made fun of the believers, saying, "These people are drunk!"

Deuteronomy 13 "Prophets or interpreters of dreams may promise a miracle or a wonder, ²in order to lead you to worship and serve gods that you have not worshiped before. Even if what they promise comes true, ³do not pay any attention to them. The LORD your God is using them to test you, to see if you love the LORD with all your heart. ⁴Follow the LORD and honor him; obey him and keep his commands; worship him and be faithful to him. ⁵But put to death any interpreters of dreams or prophets that tell you to rebel against the LORD, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. Such people are evil and are trying to lead you away from the life that the LORD has commanded you to live. They must be put to death, in order to rid yourselves of this evil.

⁶"Even your brother or your son or your daughter or the wife you love or your closest friend may secretly encourage you to worship other gods, gods that you and your ancestors have never worshiped. ⁷Some of them may encourage you to worship the gods of the people who live near you or the gods of those who live far away. ⁸But do not let any of them persuade you; do not even listen to them. Show them no mercy or pity, and do not protect them. ⁹Kill them! Be the first to stone them, and then let everyone else stone them too. ¹⁰Stone them to death! They tried to lead you away from the LORD your God, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. ¹¹Then all the people of Israel will hear what happened; they will be afraid, and no one will ever again do such an evil thing.

¹²"When you are living in the towns that the LORD your God gives you, you may hear ¹³that some worthless people of your nation have misled the people of their town to worship gods that you have never worshiped before. ¹⁴If you hear such a rumor, investigate it thoroughly; and if it is true that this evil thing did happen, ¹⁵then kill all the people in that town and all their livestock too. Destroy that town completely. ¹⁶Bring together all the possessions of the people who live there and pile them up in the town square. Then burn the town and everything in it as an offering to the LORD your God. It must be left in ruins forever and never again be rebuilt. ¹⁷Do not keep for yourselves anything that was condemned to destruction, and then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and show you mercy. He will be merciful to you and make you a numerous people, as he promised your ancestors, ¹⁸if you obey all his commands that I have given you today, and do what he requires.

A Forbidden Mourning Practice

Deuteronomy 14 "You are the people of the LORD your God. So when you mourn for the dead, don't gash yourselves or shave the front of your head, as other people do. ²You belong to the LORD your God; he has chosen you to be his own people from among all the peoples who live on earth.

Clean and Unclean Animals
(Leviticus 11.1-47)

³"Do not eat anything that the LORD has declared unclean. ⁴You may eat these animals: cattle, sheep, goats, ⁵deer, wild sheep, wild goats, or antelopes-- ⁶any animals that have divided hoofs and that also chew the cud. ⁷But no animals may be eaten unless they have divided hoofs and also chew the cud. You may not eat camels, rabbits, or rock badgers. They must be considered unclean; they chew the cud but do not have divided hoofs. ⁸Do not eat pigs. They must be considered unclean; they have divided hoofs but do not chew the cud. Do not eat any of these animals or even touch their dead bodies.

⁹"You may eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales, ¹⁰but anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales may not be eaten; it must be considered unclean.

¹¹"You may eat any clean bird. ^12-18But these are the kinds of birds you are not to eat: eagles, owls, hawks, falcons; buzzards, vultures, crows; ostriches; seagulls, storks, herons, pelicans, cormorants; hoopoes; and bats.

¹⁹"All winged insects are unclean; do not eat them. ²⁰You may eat any clean insect.

²¹"Do not eat any animal that dies a natural death. You may let the foreigners who live among you eat it, or you may sell it to other foreigners. But you belong to the LORD your God; you are his people.

"Do not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother's milk.

The Law of the Tithe

²²"Set aside a tithe--a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. ²³Then go to the one place where the LORD your God has chosen to be worshiped; and there in his presence eat the tithes of your grain, wine, and olive oil, and the first-born of your cattle and sheep. Do this so that you may learn to honor the LORD your God always. ²⁴If the place of worship is too far from your home for you to carry there the tithe of the produce that the LORD has blessed you with, then do this: ²⁵Sell your produce and take the money with you to the one place of worship. ²⁶Spend it on whatever you want--beef, lamb, wine, beer--and there, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families are to eat and enjoy yourselves.

²⁷"Do not neglect the Levites who live in your towns; they have no property of their own. ²⁸At the end of every third year bring the tithe of all your crops and store it in your towns. ²⁹This food is for the Levites, since they own no property, and for the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. They are to come and get all they need. Do this, and the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.

Job 10 I am tired of living.

Listen to my bitter complaint.

²Don't condemn me, God.

Tell me! What is the charge against me?

³Is it right for you to be so cruel?

To despise what you yourself have made?

And then to smile on the schemes of wicked people?

⁴Do you see things as we do?

⁵

Is your life as short as ours?

⁶Then why do you track down all my sins

and hunt down every fault I have?

⁷You know that I am not guilty,

that no one can save me from you.

⁸Your hands formed and shaped me,

and now those same hands destroy me.

⁹Remember that you made me from clay;

are you going to crush me back to dust?

¹⁰You gave my father strength to beget me;

you made me grow in my mother's womb.

¹¹You formed my body with bones and sinews

and covered the bones with muscles and skin.

¹²You have given me life and constant love,

and your care has kept me alive.

¹³But now I know that all that time

you were secretly planning to harm me.

¹⁴You were watching to see if I would sin,

so that you could refuse to forgive me.

¹⁵As soon as I sin, I'm in trouble with you,

but when I do right, I get no credit.

I am miserable and covered with shame.

¹⁶If I have any success at all,

you hunt me down like a lion;

to hurt me you even work miracles.

¹⁷You always have some witness against me;

your anger toward me grows and grows;

you always plan some new attack.

¹⁸Why, God, did you let me be born?

I should have died before anyone saw me.

¹⁹To go from the womb straight to the grave

would have been as good as never existing.

²⁰Isn't my life almost over? Leave me alone!

Let me enjoy the time I have left.

²¹I am going soon and will never come back--

going to a land that is dark and gloomy,

²²

a land of darkness, shadows, and confusion,

where the light itself is darkness.

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.