Daily Bible GNT April 26 Scroll

Peter's Report to the Church at Jerusalem

Acts 11 The apostles and the other believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ²When Peter went to Jerusalem, those who were in favor of circumcising Gentiles criticized him, saying, ³"You were a guest in the home of uncircumcised Gentiles, and you even ate with them!" ⁴So Peter gave them a complete account of what had happened from the very beginning:

⁵"While I was praying in the city of Joppa, I had a vision. I saw something coming down that looked like a large sheet being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it stopped next to me. ⁶I looked closely inside and saw domesticated and wild animals, reptiles, and wild birds. ⁷Then I heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat!' ⁸But I said, 'Certainly not, Lord! No ritually unclean or defiled food has ever entered my mouth.' ⁹The voice spoke again from heaven, 'Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean.' ¹⁰This happened three times, and finally the whole thing was drawn back up into heaven. ¹¹At that very moment three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying. ¹²The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitation. These six fellow believers from Joppa accompanied me to Caesarea, and we all went into the house of Cornelius. ¹³He told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, 'Send someone to Joppa for a man whose full name is Simon Peter. ¹⁴He will speak words to you by which you and all your family will be saved.' ¹⁵And when I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them just as on us at the beginning. ¹⁶Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' ¹⁷It is clear that God gave those Gentiles the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; who was I, then, to try to stop God!"

¹⁸When they heard this, they stopped their criticism and praised God, saying, "Then God has given to the Gentiles also the opportunity to repent and live!"

Joshua Defeats Jabin and His Allies

Joshua 11 When the news of Israel's victories reached King Jabin of Hazor, he sent word to King Jobab of Madon, to the kings of Shimron and Achshaph, ²and to the kings in the hill country in the north, in the Jordan Valley south of Lake Galilee, in the foothills, and on the coast near Dor. ³He also sent word to the Canaanites on both sides of the Jordan, to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, as well as to the Hivites who lived at the foot of Mount Hermon in the land of Mizpah. ⁴They came with all their soldiers--an army with as many men as there are grains of sand on the seashore. They also had many horses and chariots. ⁵All of these kings joined forces and came together and set up camp at Merom Brook to fight against Israel.

⁶The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them. By this time tomorrow I will have killed all of them for Israel. You are to cripple their horses and burn their chariots." ⁷So Joshua and all his men attacked them by surprise at Merom Brook. ⁸The LORD gave the Israelites victory over them; the Israelites attacked and pursued them as far north as Misrephoth Maim and Sidon, and as far east as the valley of Mizpah. The fight continued until none of the enemy was left alive. ⁹Joshua did to them what the LORD had commanded: he crippled their horses and burned their chariots.

¹⁰Joshua then turned back, captured Hazor and killed its king. (At that time Hazor was the most powerful of all those kingdoms.) ¹¹They put everyone there to death; no one was left alive, and the city was burned.

¹²Joshua captured all these cities and their kings, putting everyone to death, just as Moses, the LORD's servant, had commanded. ¹³However, the Israelites did not burn any of the cities built on mounds, except Hazor, which Joshua did burn. ¹⁴The people of Israel took all the valuables and livestock from these cities and kept them for themselves. But they put every person to death; no one was left alive. ¹⁵The LORD had given his commands to his servant Moses, Moses had given them to Joshua, and Joshua obeyed them. He did everything that the LORD had commanded Moses.

The Territory Taken by Joshua

¹⁶Joshua captured all the land--the hill country and foothills, both north and south, all the area of Goshen and the dry country south of it, as well as the Jordan Valley. ^17-18The territory extended from Mount Halak in the south near Edom, as far as Baalgad in the north, in the valley of Lebanon south of Mount Hermon. Joshua was at war with the kings of this territory for a long time, but he captured them all and put them to death. ¹⁹The only city that made peace with the people of Israel was Gibeon, where some of the Hivites lived. All the others were conquered in battle. ²⁰The LORD had made them determined to fight the Israelites, so that they would be condemned to total destruction and all be killed without mercy. This was what the LORD had commanded Moses.

²¹At this time Joshua went and destroyed the race of giants called the Anakim who lived in the hill country--in Hebron, Debir, Anab, and in all the hill country of Judah and Israel. Joshua completely destroyed them and their cities. ²²None of the Anakim were left in the land of Israel; a few, however, were left in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.

²³Joshua captured the whole land, as the LORD had commanded Moses. Joshua gave it to the Israelites as their own and divided it into portions, one for each tribe.

So the people rested from war.

The Kings Defeated by Moses

Joshua 12 The people of Israel had already conquered and occupied the land east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley up the Jordan Valley and as far north as Mount Hermon. They defeated two kings. ²One was Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled at Heshbon. His kingdom included half of Gilead: from Aroer (on the edge of the Arnon Valley) and from the city in the middle of that valley, as far as the Jabbok River, the border of Ammon; ³it included the Jordan Valley from Lake Galilee south to Beth Jeshimoth (east of the Dead Sea) and on toward the foot of Mount Pisgah.

⁴They also defeated King Og of Bashan, who was one of the last of the Rephaim; he ruled at Ashtaroth and Edrei. ⁵His kingdom included Mount Hermon, Salecah, and all of Bashan as far as the boundaries of Geshur and Maacah, as well as half of Gilead, as far as the territory of King Sihon of Heshbon.

⁶These two kings were defeated by Moses and the people of Israel. Moses, the LORD's servant, gave their land to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to half the tribe of Manasseh, to be their possession.

The Kings Defeated by Joshua

⁷Joshua and the people of Israel defeated all the kings in the territory west of the Jordan, from Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak in the south near Edom. Joshua divided this land among the tribes and gave it to them as a permanent possession. ⁸This portion included the hill country, the western foothills, the Jordan Valley and its foothills, the eastern slopes, and the dry country in the south. This land had been the home of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹The people of Israel defeated the kings of the following cities: Jericho, Ai (near Bethel), ¹⁰Jerusalem, Hebron, ¹¹Jarmuth, Lachish, ¹²Eglon, Gezer, ¹³Debir, Geder, ¹⁴Hormah, Arad, ¹⁵Libnah, Adullam, ¹⁶Makkedah, Bethel, ¹⁷Tappuah, Hepher, ¹⁸Aphek, Lasharon, ¹⁹Madon, Hazor, ²⁰Shimron Meron, Achshaph, ²¹Taanach, Megiddo, ²²Kedesh, Jokneam (in Carmel), ²³Dor (on the coast), Goiim (in Galilee ), ²⁴and Tirzah--thirty-one kings in all.

Job 26

Job

^1-2What a big help you are to me--

poor, weak man that I am!

³You give such good advice

and share your knowledge with a fool like me!

⁴Who do you think will hear all your words?

Who inspired you to speak like this?

[Bildad]

⁵The spirits of the dead tremble

in the waters under the earth.

⁶The world of the dead lies open to God;

no covering shields it from his sight.

⁷God stretched out the northern sky

and hung the earth in empty space.

⁸It is God who fills the clouds with water

and keeps them from bursting with the weight.

⁹He hides the full moon behind a cloud.

¹⁰He divided light from darkness

by a circle drawn on the face of the sea.

¹¹When he threatens the pillars that hold up the sky,

they shake and tremble with fear.

¹²It is his strength that conquered the sea;

by his skill he destroyed the monster Rahab.

¹³It is his breath that made the sky clear,

and his hand that killed the escaping monster.

¹⁴But these are only hints of his power,

only the whispers that we have heard.

Who can know how truly great God is?

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.