Daily Bible GNT April 12 Scroll

A Lame Beggar Is Healed

Acts 3 One day Peter and John went to the Temple at three o'clock in the afternoon, the hour for prayer. ²There at the Beautiful Gate, as it was called, was a man who had been lame all his life. Every day he was carried to the gate to beg for money from the people who were going into the Temple. ³When he saw Peter and John going in, he begged them to give him something. ⁴They looked straight at him, and Peter said, "Look at us!" ⁵So he looked at them, expecting to get something from them. ⁶But Peter said to him, "I have no money at all, but I give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I order you to get up and walk!" ⁷Then he took him by his right hand and helped him up. At once the man's feet and ankles became strong; ⁸he jumped up, stood on his feet, and started walking around. Then he went into the Temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God. ⁹The people there saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰and when they recognized him as the beggar who had sat at the Beautiful Gate, they were all surprised and amazed at what had happened to him.

Peter's Message in the Temple

¹¹As the man held on to Peter and John in Solomon's Porch, as it was called, the people were amazed and ran to them. ¹²When Peter saw the people, he said to them, "Fellow Israelites, why are you surprised at this, and why do you stare at us? Do you think that it was by means of our own power or godliness that we made this man walk? ¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has given divine glory to his Servant Jesus. But you handed him over to the authorities, and you rejected him in Pilate's presence, even after Pilate had decided to set him free. ¹⁴He was holy and good, but you rejected him, and instead you asked Pilate to do you the favor of turning loose a murderer. ¹⁵You killed the one who leads to life, but God raised him from death--and we are witnesses to this. ¹⁶It was the power of his name that gave strength to this lame man. What you see and know was done by faith in his name; it was faith in Jesus that has made him well, as you can all see.

¹⁷"And now, my friends, I know that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was due to your ignorance. ¹⁸God announced long ago through all the prophets that his Messiah had to suffer; and he made it come true in this way. ¹⁹Repent, then, and turn to God, so that he will forgive your sins. If you do, ²⁰times of spiritual strength will come from the Lord, and he will send Jesus, who is the Messiah he has already chosen for you. ²¹He must remain in heaven until the time comes for all things to be made new, as God announced through his holy prophets of long ago. ²²For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people. You are to obey everything that he tells you to do. ²³Anyone who does not obey that prophet shall be separated from God's people and destroyed.' ²⁴And all the prophets who had a message, including Samuel and those who came after him, also announced what has been happening these days. ²⁵The promises of God through his prophets are for you, and you share in the covenant which God made with your ancestors. As he said to Abraham, 'Through your descendants I will bless all the people on earth.' ²⁶And so God chose his Servant and sent him to you first, to bless you by making every one of you turn away from your wicked ways."

Deuteronomy 17 "Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God cattle or sheep that have any defects; the LORD hates this.

²"Suppose you hear that in one of your towns some men or women have sinned against the LORD and broken his covenant ³by worshiping and serving other gods or the sun or the moon or the stars, contrary to the LORD's command. ⁴If you hear such a report, then investigate it thoroughly. If it is true that this evil thing has happened in Israel, ⁵then take them outside the town and stone them to death. ⁶However, they may be put to death only if two or more witnesses testify against them; they are not to be put to death if there is only one witness. ⁷The witnesses are to throw the first stones, and then the rest of the people are to stone them; in this way you will get rid of this evil.

⁸"It may be that some cases will be too difficult for the local judges to decide, such as certain cases of property rights or of bodily injury or those cases that involve a distinction between murder and manslaughter. When this happens, go to the one place of worship chosen by the LORD your God, ⁹and present your case to the levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time, and let them decide the case. ¹⁰They will give their decision, and you are to do exactly as they tell you. ¹¹Accept their verdict and follow their instructions in every detail. ¹²Anyone who dares to disobey either the judge or the priest on duty is to be put to death; in this way you will remove this evil from Israel. ¹³Then everyone will hear of it and be afraid, and no one else will dare to act in such a way.

Instructions concerning a King

¹⁴"After you have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is going to give you and have settled there, then you will decide you need a king like all the nations around you. ¹⁵Be sure that the man you choose to be king is the one whom the LORD has chosen. He must be one of your own people; do not make a foreigner your king. ¹⁶The king is not to have a large number of horses for his army, and he is not to send people to Egypt to buy horses, because the LORD has said that his people are never to return there. ¹⁷The king is not to have many wives, because this would make him turn away from the LORD; and he is not to make himself rich with silver and gold. ¹⁸When he becomes king, he is to have a copy of the book of God's laws and teachings made from the original copy kept by the levitical priests. ¹⁹He is to keep this book near him and read from it all his life, so that he will learn to honor the LORD and to obey faithfully everything that is commanded in it. ²⁰This will keep him from thinking that he is better than other Israelites and from disobeying the LORD's commands in any way. Then he will reign for many years, and his descendants will rule Israel for many generations.

The Share of the Priests

Deuteronomy 18 "The priestly tribe of Levi is not to receive any share of land in Israel; instead, they are to live on the offerings and other sacrifices given to the LORD. ²They are to own no land, as the other tribes do; their share is the privilege of being the LORD's priests, as the LORD has promised.

³"Whenever cattle or sheep are sacrificed, the priests are to be given the shoulder, the jaw, and the stomach. ⁴They are to receive the first share of the grain, wine, olive oil, and wool. ⁵The LORD chose from all your tribes the tribe of Levi to serve him as priests forever.

⁶"Any Levite who wants to may come from any town in Israel to the one place of worship ⁷and may serve there as a priest of the LORD his God, like the other Levites who are serving there. ⁸He is to receive the same amount of food as the other priests, and he may keep whatever his family sends him.

Warning against Pagan Practices

⁹"When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, don't follow the disgusting practices of the nations that are there. ¹⁰Don't sacrifice your children in the fires on your altars; and don't let your people practice divination or look for omens or use spells ¹¹or charms, and don't let them consult the spirits of the dead. ¹²The LORD your God hates people who do these disgusting things, and that is why he is driving those nations out of the land as you advance. ¹³Be completely faithful to the LORD."

The Promise to Send a Prophet

¹⁴Then Moses said, "In the land you are about to occupy, people follow the advice of those who practice divination and look for omens, but the LORD your God does not allow you to do this. ¹⁵Instead, he will send you a prophet like me from among your own people, and you are to obey him.

¹⁶"On the day that you were gathered at Mount Sinai, you begged not to hear the LORD speak again or to see his fiery presence any more, because you were afraid you would die. ¹⁷So the LORD said to me, 'They have made a wise request. ¹⁸I will send them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will tell him what to say, and he will tell the people everything I command. ¹⁹He will speak in my name, and I will punish anyone who refuses to obey him. ²⁰But if any prophet dares to speak a message in my name when I did not command him to do so, he must die for it, and so must any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods.'

²¹"You may wonder how you can tell when a prophet's message does not come from the LORD. ²²If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and what he says does not come true, then it is not the LORD's message. That prophet has spoken on his own authority, and you are not to fear him.

Job 12

Job

^1-2Yes, you are the voice of the people.

When you die, wisdom will die with you.

³But I have as much sense as you have;

I am in no way inferior to you;

everyone knows all that you have said.

⁴Even my friends laugh at me now;

they laugh, although I am righteous and blameless;

but there was a time when God answered my prayers.

⁵You have no troubles, and yet you make fun of me;

you hit someone who is about to fall.

⁶But thieves and godless people live in peace,

though their only god is their own strength.

⁷Even birds and animals have much they could teach you;

⁸

ask the creatures of earth and sea for their wisdom.

⁹All of them know that the LORD's hand made them.

¹⁰It is God who directs the lives of his creatures;

everyone's life is in his power.

¹¹But just as your tongue enjoys tasting food,

your ears enjoy hearing words.

^12-13Old people have wisdom,

but God has wisdom and power.

Old people have insight;

God has insight and power to act.

¹⁴When God tears down, who can rebuild,

and who can free those God imprisons?

¹⁵Drought comes when God withholds rain;

floods come when he turns water loose.

¹⁶God is strong and always victorious;

both deceived and deceiver are in his power.

¹⁷He takes away the wisdom of rulers

and makes leaders act like fools.

¹⁸He dethrones kings and makes them prisoners;

¹⁹

he humbles priests and men of power.

²⁰He silences those who are trusted,

and takes the wisdom of old people away.

²¹He disgraces those in power

and puts an end to the strength of rulers.

²²He sends light to places dark as death.

²³He makes nations strong and great,

but then he defeats and destroys them.

²⁴He makes their leaders foolish

and lets them wander confused and lost;

²⁵

they grope in the dark and stagger like drunkards.

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.