Daily Bible GNT April 23 Scroll

Saul in Jerusalem

Acts 9²⁶Saul went to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples. But they would not believe that he was a disciple, and they were all afraid of him. ²⁷Then Barnabas came to his help and took him to the apostles. He explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had spoken to him. He also told them how boldly Saul had preached in the name of Jesus in Damascus. ²⁸And so Saul stayed with them and went all over Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹He also talked and disputed with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to kill him. ³⁰When the believers found out about this, they took Saul to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

³¹And so it was that the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. Through the help of the Holy Spirit it was strengthened and grew in numbers, as it lived in reverence for the Lord.

Peter in Lydda and Joppa

³²Peter traveled everywhere, and on one occasion he went to visit God's people who lived in Lydda. ³³There he met a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had not been able to get out of bed for eight years. ³⁴"Aeneas," Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ makes you well. Get up and make your bed." At once Aeneas got up. ³⁵All the people living in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶In Joppa there was a woman named Tabitha, who was a believer. (Her name in Greek is Dorcas, meaning "a deer.") She spent all her time doing good and helping the poor. ³⁷At that time she got sick and died. Her body was washed and laid in a room upstairs. ³⁸Joppa was not very far from Lydda, and when the believers in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him with the message, "Please hurry and come to us." ³⁹So Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived, he was taken to the room upstairs, where all the widows crowded around him, crying and showing him all the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made while she was alive. ⁴⁰Peter put them all out of the room, and knelt down and prayed; then he turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, get up!" She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. ⁴¹Peter reached over and helped her get up. Then he called all the believers, including the widows, and presented her alive to them. ⁴²The news about this spread all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. ⁴³Peter stayed on in Joppa for many days with a tanner of leather named Simon.

The Circumcision at Gilgal

Joshua 5 ²Then the LORD told Joshua, "Make some knives out of flint and circumcise the Israelites." ³So Joshua did as the LORD had commanded, and he circumcised the Israelites at a place called Circumcision Hill. ^4-6When the people of Israel left Egypt, all the males were already circumcised. However, during the forty years the people spent crossing the desert, none of the baby boys had been circumcised. Also, by the end of that time all the men who were of fighting age when they left Egypt had died because they had disobeyed the LORD. Just as he had sworn, they were not allowed to see the rich and fertile land that he had promised their ancestors. ⁷The sons of these men had never been circumcised, and it was this new generation that Joshua circumcised.

⁸After the circumcision was completed, the whole nation stayed in the camp until the wounds had healed. ⁹The LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have removed from you the disgrace of being slaves in Egypt." That is why the place was named Gilgal, the name it still has.

¹⁰While the Israelites were camping at Gilgal on the plain near Jericho, they observed Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month. ¹¹The next day was the first time they ate food grown in Canaan: roasted grain and bread made without yeast. ¹²The manna stopped falling then, and the Israelites no longer had any. From that time on they ate food grown in Canaan.

Joshua and the Man with a Sword

¹³While Joshua was near Jericho, he suddenly saw a man standing in front of him, holding a sword. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you one of our soldiers, or an enemy?"

¹⁴"Neither," the man answered. "I am here as the commander of the LORD's army."

Joshua threw himself on the ground in worship and said, "I am your servant, sir. What do you want me to do?"

¹⁵And the commander of the LORD's army told him, "Take your sandals off; you are standing on holy ground." And Joshua did as he was told.

The Fall of Jericho

Joshua 6 The gates of Jericho were kept shut and guarded to keep the Israelites out. No one could enter or leave the city. ²The LORD said to Joshua, "I am putting into your hands Jericho, with its king and all its brave soldiers. ³You and your soldiers are to march around the city once a day for six days. ⁴Seven priests, each carrying a trumpet, are to go in front of the Covenant Box. On the seventh day you and your soldiers are to march around the city seven times while the priests blow the trumpets. ⁵Then they are to sound one long note. As soon as you hear it, all the people are to give a loud shout, and the city walls will collapse. Then the whole army will go straight into the city."

⁶Joshua called the priests and told them, "Take the Covenant Box, and seven of you go in front of it, carrying trumpets." ⁷Then he ordered the people to start marching around the city, with an advance guard going on ahead of the LORD's Covenant Box.

^8-9So, just as Joshua had ordered, an advance guard started out ahead of the priests who were blowing trumpets; behind these came the priests who were carrying the Covenant Box, followed by a rear guard. All this time the trumpets were sounding. ¹⁰But Joshua had ordered the people not to shout, not to say a word until he gave the order. ¹¹So he had this group of men take the LORD's Covenant Box around the city one time. Then they came back to camp and spent the night there.

^12-13Joshua got up early the next morning, and for the second time the priests and soldiers marched around the city in the same order as the day before: first, the advance guard; next, the seven priests blowing the seven trumpets; then, the priests carrying the LORD's Covenant Box; and finally, the rear guard. All this time the trumpets were sounding. ¹⁴On this second day they again marched around the city one time and then returned to camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵On the seventh day they got up at daybreak and marched seven times around the city in the same way--this was the only day that they marched around it seven times. ¹⁶The seventh time around, when the priests were about to sound the trumpets, Joshua ordered the people to shout, and he said, "The LORD has given you the city! ¹⁷The city and everything in it must be totally destroyed as an offering to the LORD. Only the prostitute Rahab and her household will be spared, because she hid our spies. ¹⁸But you are not to take anything that is to be destroyed; if you do, you will bring trouble and destruction on the Israelite camp. ¹⁹Everything made of silver, gold, bronze, or iron is set apart for the LORD. It is to be put in the LORD's treasury."

²⁰So the priests blew the trumpets. As soon as the people heard it, they gave a loud shout, and the walls collapsed. Then all the army went straight up the hill into the city and captured it. ²¹With their swords they killed everyone in the city, men and women, young and old. They also killed the cattle, sheep, and donkeys.

²²Joshua then told the two men who had served as spies, "Go into the prostitute's house, and bring her and her family out, as you promised her." ²³So they went and brought Rahab out, along with her father and mother, her brothers, and the rest of her family. They took them all, family and slaves, to safety near the Israelite camp. ²⁴Then they set fire to the city and burned it to the ground, along with everything in it, except the things made of gold, silver, bronze, and iron, which they took and put in the LORD's treasury. ²⁵But Joshua spared the lives of the prostitute Rahab and all her relatives, because she had hidden the two spies that he had sent to Jericho. (Her descendants have lived in Israel to this day.)

²⁶At this time Joshua issued a solemn warning: "Anyone who tries to rebuild the city of Jericho will be under the LORD's curse.

Whoever lays the foundation will lose his oldest son;

Whoever builds the gates will lose his youngest."

²⁷So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread through the whole country.

Job 23

Job

^1-2I still rebel and complain against God;

I cannot keep from groaning.

³How I wish I knew where to find him,

and knew how to go where he is.

⁴I would state my case before him

and present all the arguments in my favor.

⁵I want to know what he would say

and how he would answer me.

⁶Would God use all his strength against me?

No, he would listen as I spoke.

⁷I am honest; I could reason with God;

he would declare me innocent once and for all.

⁸I have searched in the East, but God is not there;

I have not found him when I searched in the West.

⁹God has been at work in the North and the South,

but still I have not seen him.

¹⁰Yet God knows every step I take;

if he tests me, he will find me pure.

¹¹I follow faithfully the road he chooses,

and never wander to either side.

¹²I always do what God commands;

I follow his will, not my own desires.

¹³He never changes. No one can oppose him

or stop him from doing what he wants to do.

¹⁴He will fulfill what he has planned for me;

that plan is just one of the many he has;

¹⁵

I tremble with fear before him.
^16-17Almighty God has destroyed my courage.

It is God, not the dark, that makes me afraid--

even though the darkness has made me blind.

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.