Daily Bible GNT April 22 Scroll

The Conversion of Saul
(Acts 22.6-16; 26.12-18)

Acts 9 In the meantime Saul kept up his violent threats of murder against the followers of the Lord. He went to the High Priest ²and asked for letters of introduction to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he should find there any followers of the Way of the Lord, he would be able to arrest them, both men and women, and bring them back to Jerusalem.

³As Saul was coming near the city of Damascus, suddenly a light from the sky flashed around him. ⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?"

⁵"Who are you, Lord?" he asked.

"I am Jesus, whom you persecute," the voice said. ⁶"But get up and go into the city, where you will be told what you must do."

⁷The men who were traveling with Saul had stopped, not saying a word; they heard the voice but could not see anyone. ⁸Saul got up from the ground and opened his eyes, but could not see a thing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. ⁹For three days he was not able to see, and during that time he did not eat or drink anything.

¹⁰There was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. He had a vision, in which the Lord said to him, "Ananias!"

"Here I am, Lord," he answered.

¹¹The Lord said to him, "Get ready and go to Straight Street, and at the house of Judas ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying, ¹²and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and place his hands on him so that he might see again."

¹³Ananias answered, "Lord, many people have told me about this man and about all the terrible things he has done to your people in Jerusalem. ¹⁴And he has come to Damascus with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who worship you."

¹⁵The Lord said to him, "Go, because I have chosen him to serve me, to make my name known to Gentiles and kings and to the people of Israel. ¹⁶And I myself will show him all that he must suffer for my sake."

¹⁷So Ananias went, entered the house where Saul was, and placed his hands on him. "Brother Saul," he said, "the Lord has sent me--Jesus himself, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here. He sent me so that you might see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." ¹⁸At once something like fish scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he was able to see again. He stood up and was baptized; ¹⁹and after he had eaten, his strength came back.

Saul Preaches in Damascus

Saul stayed for a few days with the believers in Damascus. ²⁰He went straight to the synagogues and began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God.

²¹All who heard him were amazed and asked, "Isn't he the one who in Jerusalem was killing those who worship that man Jesus? And didn't he come here for the very purpose of arresting those people and taking them back to the chief priests?"

²²But Saul's preaching became even more powerful, and his proofs that Jesus was the Messiah were so convincing that the Jews who lived in Damascus could not answer him.

²³After many days had gone by, the Jews met together and made plans to kill Saul, ²⁴but he was told of their plan. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him. ²⁵But one night Saul's followers took him and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

The People of Israel Cross the Jordan

Joshua 3 The next morning Joshua and all the people of Israel got up early, left the camp at Acacia, and went to the Jordan, where they camped while waiting to cross it. ²Three days later the leaders went through the camp ³and told the people, "When you see the priests carrying the Covenant Box of the LORD your God, break camp and follow them. ⁴You have never been here before, so they will show you the way to go. But do not get near the Covenant Box; stay about half a mile behind it."

⁵Joshua told the people, "Purify yourselves, because tomorrow the LORD will perform miracles among you." ⁶Then he told the priests to take the Covenant Box and go with it ahead of the people. They did as he said.

⁷The LORD said to Joshua, "What I do today will make all the people of Israel begin to honor you as a great man, and they will realize that I am with you as I was with Moses. ⁸Tell the priests carrying the Covenant Box that when they reach the river, they must wade in and stand near the bank."

⁹Then Joshua said to the people, "Come here and listen to what the LORD your God has to say. ¹⁰As you advance, he will surely drive out the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. You will know that the living God is among you ¹¹when the Covenant Box of the Lord of all the earth crosses the Jordan ahead of you. ¹²Now choose twelve men, one from each of the tribes of Israel. ¹³When the priests who carry the Covenant Box of the LORD of all the earth put their feet in the water, the Jordan will stop flowing, and the water coming downstream will pile up in one place."

^14-15It was harvest time, and the river was in flood.

When the people left the camp to cross the Jordan, the priests went ahead of them, carrying the Covenant Box. As soon as the priests stepped into the river, ¹⁶the water stopped flowing and piled up, far upstream at Adam, the city beside Zarethan. The flow downstream to the Dead Sea was completely cut off, and the people were able to cross over near Jericho. ¹⁷While the people walked across on dry ground, the priests carrying the LORD's Covenant Box stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan until all the people had crossed over.

Memorial Stones Are Set Up

Joshua 4 When the whole nation had crossed the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, ²"Choose twelve men, one from each tribe, ³and command them to take twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests were standing. Tell them to carry these stones with them and to put them down where you camp tonight."

⁴Then Joshua called the twelve men he had chosen, ⁵and he told them, "Go into the Jordan ahead of the Covenant Box of the LORD your God. Each one of you take a stone on your shoulder, one for each of the tribes of Israel. ⁶These stones will remind the people of what the LORD has done. In the future, when your children ask what these stones mean to you, ⁷you will tell them that the water of the Jordan stopped flowing when the LORD's Covenant Box crossed the river. These stones will always remind the people of Israel of what happened here."

⁸The men followed Joshua's orders. As the LORD had commanded Joshua, they took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, one for each of the tribes of Israel, carried them to the camping place, and put them down there. ⁹Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, where the priests carrying the Covenant Box had stood. (Those stones are still there.) ¹⁰The priests stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything had been done that the LORD ordered Joshua to tell the people to do. This is what Moses had commanded.

The people hurried across the river. ¹¹When they were all on the other side, the priests with the LORD's Covenant Box went on ahead of the people. ¹²The men of the tribes of Reuben and Gad and of half the tribe of Manasseh, ready for battle, crossed ahead of the rest of the people, as Moses had told them to do. ¹³In the presence of the LORD about forty thousand men ready for war crossed over to the plain near Jericho. ¹⁴What the LORD did that day made the people of Israel consider Joshua a great man. They honored him all his life, just as they had honored Moses.

¹⁵Then the LORD told Joshua ¹⁶to command the priests carrying the Covenant Box to come up out of the Jordan. ¹⁷Joshua did so, ¹⁸and when the priests reached the riverbank, the river began flowing once more and flooded its banks again.

¹⁹The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal, east of Jericho. ²⁰There Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan. ²¹And he said to the people of Israel, "In the future, when your children ask you what these stones mean, ²²you will tell them about the time when Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground. ²³Tell them that the LORD your God dried up the water of the Jordan for you until you had crossed, just as he dried up the Red Sea for us. ²⁴Because of this everyone on earth will know how great the LORD's power is, and you will honor the LORD your God forever."
Joshua 5 All the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the Mediterranean Sea heard that the LORD had dried up the Jordan until the people of Israel had crossed it. They became afraid and lost their courage because of the Israelites.

The Third Dialogue
(22.1--27.23)

Job 22

Eliphaz

^1-2Is there anyone, even the wisest,

who could ever be of use to God?

³Does your doing right benefit God,

or does your being good help him at all?

⁴It is not because you stand in awe of God

that he reprimands you and brings you to trial.

⁵No, it's because you have sinned so much;

it's because of all the evil you do.

⁶To make a brother repay you the money he owed,

you took away his clothes and left him nothing to wear.

⁷You refused water to those who were tired,

and refused to feed those who were hungry.

⁸You used your power and your position

to take over the whole land.

⁹You not only refused to help widows,

but you also robbed and mistreated orphans.

¹⁰So now there are pitfalls all around you,

and suddenly you are full of fear.

¹¹It has grown so dark that you cannot see,

and a flood overwhelms you.

¹²Doesn't God live in the highest heavens

and look down on the stars, even though they are high?

¹³And yet you ask, "What does God know?

He is hidden by clouds--how can he judge us?"

¹⁴You think the thick clouds keep him from seeing,

as he walks on the dome of the sky.

¹⁵Are you determined to walk in the paths

that evil people have always followed?

¹⁶Even before their time had come,

they were washed away by a flood.

¹⁷These are the ones who rejected God

and believed that he could do nothing to them.

¹⁸And yet it was God who made them prosperous--

I can't understand the thoughts of the wicked.

¹⁹Good people are glad and the innocent laugh

when they see the wicked punished.

²⁰All that the wicked own is destroyed,

and fire burns up anything that is left.

²¹Now, Job, make peace with God

and stop treating him like an enemy;

if you do, then he will bless you.

²²Accept the teaching he gives;

keep his words in your heart.

²³Yes, you must humbly return to God

and put an end to all the evil

that is done in your house.

²⁴Throw away your gold;

dump your finest gold in the dry stream bed.

²⁵Let Almighty God be your gold,

and let him be silver, piled high for you.

²⁶Then you will always trust in God

and find that he is the source of your joy.

²⁷When you pray, he will answer you,

and you will keep the vows you made.

²⁸You will succeed in all you do,

and light will shine on your path.

²⁹God brings down the proud

and saves the humble.

³⁰He will rescue you if you are innocent,

if what you do is right.

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.