Daily Bible GNT April 11 Scroll

Peter's Message

Acts 2 ¹⁴Then Peter stood up with the other eleven apostles and in a loud voice began to speak to the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, listen to me and let me tell you what this means. ¹⁵These people are not drunk, as you suppose; it is only nine o'clock in the morning. ¹⁶Instead, this is what the prophet Joel spoke about:

¹⁷'This is what I will do in the last days, God says:

I will pour out my Spirit on everyone.

Your sons and daughters will proclaim my message;

your young men will see visions,

and your old men will have dreams.

¹⁸Yes, even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will proclaim my message.

¹⁹I will perform miracles in the sky above

and wonders on the earth below.

There will be blood, fire, and thick smoke;

²⁰

the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will turn red as blood,

before the great and glorious Day of the Lord comes.

²¹And then, whoever calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.'

²²"Listen to these words, fellow Israelites! Jesus of Nazareth was a man whose divine authority was clearly proven to you by all the miracles and wonders which God performed through him. You yourselves know this, for it happened here among you. ²³In accordance with his own plan God had already decided that Jesus would be handed over to you; and you killed him by letting sinful men crucify him. ²⁴But God raised him from death, setting him free from its power, because it was impossible that death should hold him prisoner. ²⁵For David said about him,

'I saw the Lord before me at all times;

he is near me, and I will not be troubled.

²⁶And so I am filled with gladness,

and my words are full of joy.

And I, mortal though I am,

will rest assured in hope,

²⁷because you will not abandon me in the world of the dead;

you will not allow your faithful servant to rot in the grave.

²⁸You have shown me the paths that lead to life,

and your presence will fill me with joy.'

²⁹"My friends, I must speak to you plainly about our famous ancestor King David. He died and was buried, and his grave is here with us to this very day. ³⁰He was a prophet, and he knew what God had promised him: God had made a vow that he would make one of David's descendants a king, just as David was. ³¹David saw what God was going to do in the future, and so he spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah when he said,

'He was not abandoned in the world of the dead;

his body did not rot in the grave.'
³²God has raised this very Jesus from death, and we are all witnesses to this fact. ³³He has been raised to the right side of God, his Father, and has received from him the Holy Spirit, as he had promised. What you now see and hear is his gift that he has poured out on us. ³⁴For it was not David who went up into heaven; rather he said,

'The Lord said to my Lord:

Sit here at my right side

³⁵until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet.'

³⁶"All the people of Israel, then, are to know for sure that this Jesus, whom you crucified, is the one that God has made Lord and Messiah!"

³⁷When the people heard this, they were deeply troubled and said to Peter and the other apostles, "What shall we do, brothers?"

³⁸Peter said to them, "Each one of you must turn away from your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven; and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For God's promise was made to you and your children, and to all who are far away--all whom the Lord our God calls to himself."

⁴⁰Peter made his appeal to them and with many other words he urged them, saying, "Save yourselves from the punishment coming on this wicked people!" ⁴¹Many of them believed his message and were baptized, and about three thousand people were added to the group that day. ⁴²They spent their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers.

Life among the Believers

⁴³Many miracles and wonders were being done through the apostles, and everyone was filled with awe. ⁴⁴All the believers continued together in close fellowship and shared their belongings with one another. ⁴⁵They would sell their property and possessions, and distribute the money among all, according to what each one needed. ⁴⁶Day after day they met as a group in the Temple, and they had their meals together in their homes, eating with glad and humble hearts, ⁴⁷praising God, and enjoying the good will of all the people. And every day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.

The Seventh Year
(Leviticus 25.1-7)

Deuteronomy 15 "At the end of every seventh year you are to cancel the debts of those who owe you money. ²This is how it is to be done. Each of you who has lent money to any Israelite is to cancel the debt; you must not try to collect the money; the LORD himself has declared the debt canceled. ³You may collect what a foreigner owes you, but you must not collect what any of your own people owe you.

⁴"The LORD your God will bless you in the land that he is giving you. Not one of your people will be poor ⁵if you obey him and carefully observe everything that I command you today. ⁶The LORD will bless you, as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any; you will have control over many nations, but no nation will have control over you.

⁷"If in any of the towns in the land that the LORD your God is giving you there are Israelites in need, then do not be selfish and refuse to help them. ⁸Instead, be generous and lend them as much as they need. ⁹Do not refuse to lend them something, just because the year when debts are canceled is near. Do not let such an evil thought enter your mind. If you refuse to make the loan, they will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be held guilty. ¹⁰Give to them freely and unselfishly, and the LORD will bless you in everything you do. ¹¹There will always be some Israelites who are poor and in need, and so I command you to be generous to them.

The Treatment of Slaves
(Exodus 21.1-11)

¹²"If any Israelites, male or female, sell themselves to you as slaves, you are to release them after they have served you for six years. When the seventh year comes, you must let them go free. ¹³When you set them free, do not send them away empty-handed. ¹⁴Give to them generously from what the LORD has blessed you with--sheep, grain, and wine. ¹⁵Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God set you free; that is why I am now giving you this command.

¹⁶"But your slave may not want to leave; he may love you and your family and be content to stay. ¹⁷Then take him to the door of your house and there pierce his ear; he will then be your slave for life. Treat your female slave in the same way. ¹⁸Do not be resentful when you set slaves free; after all, they have served you for six years at half the cost of hired servants. Do this, and the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.

The First-Born Cattle and Sheep

¹⁹"Set aside for the LORD your God all the first-born males of your cattle and sheep; don't use any of these cattle for work and don't shear any of these sheep. ²⁰Each year you and your family are to eat them in the LORD's presence at the one place of worship. ²¹But if there is anything wrong with the animals, if they are crippled or blind or have any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice them to the LORD your God. ²²You may eat such animals at home. All of you, whether ritually clean or unclean, may eat them, just as you eat deer or antelope. ²³But do not use their blood for food; instead, you must pour it out on the ground like water.

The Passover
(Exodus 12.1-20)

Deuteronomy 16 "Honor the LORD your God by celebrating Passover in the month of Abib; it was on a night in that month that he rescued you from Egypt. ²Go to the one place of worship and slaughter there one of your sheep or cattle for the Passover meal to honor the LORD your God. ³When you eat this meal, do not eat bread prepared with yeast. For seven days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, as you did when you had to leave Egypt in such a hurry. Eat this bread--it will be called the bread of suffering--so that as long as you live you will remember the day you came out of Egypt, that place of suffering. ⁴For seven days no one in your land is to have any yeast in the house; and the meat of the animal killed on the evening of the first day must be eaten that same night.

^5-6"Slaughter the Passover animals at the one place of worship--and nowhere else in the land that the LORD your God will give you. Do it at sunset, the time of day when you left Egypt. ⁷Boil the meat and eat it at the one place of worship; and the next morning return home. ⁸For the next six days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, and on the seventh day assemble to worship the LORD your God, and do no work on that day.

The Harvest Festival
(Exodus 34.22; Leviticus 23.15-21)

⁹"Count seven weeks from the time that you begin to harvest the grain, ¹⁰and then celebrate the Harvest Festival, to honor the LORD your God, by bringing him a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing he has given you. ¹¹Be joyful in the LORD's presence, together with your children, your servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. Do this at the one place of worship. ¹²Be sure that you obey these commands; do not forget that you were slaves in Egypt.

The Festival of Shelters
(Leviticus 23.33-43)

¹³"After you have threshed all your grain and pressed all your grapes, celebrate the Festival of Shelters for seven days. ¹⁴Enjoy it with your children, your servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. ¹⁵Honor the LORD your God by celebrating this festival for seven days at the one place of worship. Be joyful, because the LORD has blessed your harvest and your work.

¹⁶"All the men of your nation are to come to worship the LORD three times a year at the one place of worship: at Passover, Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Shelters. Each man is to bring a gift ¹⁷as he is able, in proportion to the blessings that the LORD your God has given him.

The Administration of Justice

¹⁸"Appoint judges and other officials in every town that the LORD your God gives you. These men are to judge the people impartially. ¹⁹They are not to be unjust or show partiality in their judgments; and they are not to accept bribes, for gifts blind the eyes even of wise and honest men, and cause them to give wrong decisions. ²⁰Always be fair and just, so that you will occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you and so that you will continue to live there.

²¹"When you make an altar for the LORD your God, do not put beside it a wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah. ²²And do not set up any stone pillar for idol worship; the LORD hates them.

Job 11

Zophar

^1-2Will no one answer all this nonsense?

Does talking so much put you in the right?

³Job, do you think we can't answer you?

That your mocking words will leave us speechless?

⁴You claim that what you say is true;

you claim you are pure in the sight of God.

⁵How I wish God would answer you!

⁶He would tell you there are many sides to wisdom;

there are things too deep for human knowledge.

God is punishing you less than you deserve.

⁷Can you discover the limits and bounds

of the greatness and power of God?

⁸The sky is no limit for God,

but it lies beyond your reach.

God knows the world of the dead,

but you do not know it.

⁹God's greatness is broader than the earth,

wider than the sea.

¹⁰If God arrests you and brings you to trial,

who is there to stop him?

¹¹God knows which people are worthless;

he sees all their evil deeds.

¹²Stupid people will start being wise

when wild donkeys are born tame.

¹³Put your heart right, Job. Reach out to God.

¹⁴Put away evil and wrong from your home.

¹⁵Then face the world again, firm and courageous.

¹⁶Then all your troubles will fade from your memory,

like floods that are past and remembered no more.

¹⁷Your life will be brighter than sunshine at noon,

and life's darkest hours will shine like the dawn.

¹⁸You will live secure and full of hope;

God will protect you and give you rest.

¹⁹You won't be afraid of your enemies;

many people will ask you for help.

²⁰But the wicked will look around in despair

and find that there is no way to escape.

Their one hope is that death will come.

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.