Daily Bible GNT June 17 Scroll

Jesus and Beelzebul
(Matthew 12.22-32; Luke 11.14-23; 12.10)

Mark 3²⁰Then Jesus went home. Again such a large crowd gathered that Jesus and his disciples had no time to eat. ²¹When his family heard about it, they set out to take charge of him, because people were saying, "He's gone mad!"

²²Some teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem were saying, "He has Beelzebul in him! It is the chief of the demons who gives him the power to drive them out."

²³So Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴If a country divides itself into groups which fight each other, that country will fall apart. ²⁵If a family divides itself into groups which fight each other, that family will fall apart. ²⁶So if Satan's kingdom divides into groups, it cannot last, but will fall apart and come to an end.

²⁷"No one can break into a strong man's house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.

²⁸"I assure you that people can be forgiven all their sins and all the evil things they may say. ²⁹But whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, because he has committed an eternal sin." ( ³⁰Jesus said this because some people were saying, "He has an evil spirit in him.")

Jesus' Mother and Brothers
(Matthew 12.46-50; Luke 8.19-21)

³¹Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside the house and sent in a message, asking for him. ³²A crowd was sitting around Jesus, and they said to him, "Look, your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, and they want you."

³³Jesus answered, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" ³⁴He looked at the people sitting around him and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does what God wants is my brother, my sister, my mother."

Nathan's Message to David
(1 Chronicles 17.1-15)

2 Samuel 7 King David was settled in his palace, and the LORD kept him safe from all his enemies. ²Then the king said to the prophet Nathan, "Here I am living in a house built of cedar, but God's Covenant Box is kept in a tent!"

³Nathan answered, "Do whatever you have in mind, because the LORD is with you." ⁴But that night the LORD said to Nathan, ⁵"Go and tell my servant David that I say to him, 'You are not the one to build a temple for me to live in. ⁶From the time I rescued the people of Israel from Egypt until now, I have never lived in a temple; I have traveled around living in a tent. ⁷In all my traveling with the people of Israel I never asked any of the leaders that I appointed why they had not built me a temple made of cedar.'

⁸"So tell my servant David that I, the LORD Almighty, say to him, 'I took you from looking after sheep in the fields and made you the ruler of my people Israel. ⁹I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have defeated all your enemies as you advanced. I will make you as famous as the greatest leaders in the world. ^10-11I have chosen a place for my people Israel and have settled them there, where they will live without being oppressed any more. Ever since they entered this land, they have been attacked by violent people, but this will not happen again. I promise to keep you safe from all your enemies and to give you descendants. ¹²When you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will make one of your sons king and will keep his kingdom strong. ¹³He will be the one to build a temple for me, and I will make sure that his dynasty continues forever. ¹⁴I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him as a father punishes his son. ¹⁵But I will not withdraw my support from him as I did from Saul, whom I removed so that you could be king. ¹⁶You will always have descendants, and I will make your kingdom last forever. Your dynasty will never end.'"

¹⁷Nathan told David everything that God had revealed to him.

David's Prayer of Thanksgiving
(1 Chronicles 17.16-27)

¹⁸Then King David went into the Tent of the LORD's presence, sat down and prayed, "Sovereign LORD, I am not worthy of what you have already done for me, nor is my family. ¹⁹Yet now you are doing even more, Sovereign LORD; you have made promises about my descendants in the years to come. And you let a man see this, Sovereign LORD! ²⁰What more can I say to you! You know me, your servant. ²¹It was your will and purpose to do this; you have done all these great things in order to instruct me. ²²How great you are, Sovereign LORD! There is none like you; we have always known that you alone are God. ²³There is no other nation on earth like Israel, whom you rescued from slavery to make them your own people. The great and wonderful things you did for them have spread your fame throughout the world. You drove out other nations and their gods as your people advanced, the people whom you set free from Egypt to be your own. ²⁴You have made Israel your own people forever, and you, LORD, have become their God.

²⁵"And now, LORD God, fulfill for all time the promise you made about me and my descendants, and do what you said you would. ²⁶Your fame will be great, and people will forever say, 'The LORD Almighty is God over Israel.' And you will preserve my dynasty for all time. ²⁷LORD Almighty, God of Israel! I have the courage to pray this prayer to you, because you have revealed all this to me, your servant, and have told me that you will make my descendants kings.

²⁸"And now, Sovereign LORD, you are God; you always keep your promises, and you have made this wonderful promise to me. ²⁹I ask you to bless my descendants so that they will continue to enjoy your favor. You, Sovereign LORD, have promised this, and your blessing will rest on my descendants forever."

David's Military Victories
(1 Chronicles 18.1-17)

2 Samuel 8 Some time later King David attacked the Philistines again, defeated them, and ended their control over the land.

²Then he defeated the Moabites. He made the prisoners lie down on the ground and put two out of every three of them to death. So the Moabites became his subjects and paid taxes to him.

³Then he defeated the king of the Syrian state of Zobah, Hadadezer son of Rehob, as Hadadezer was on his way to restore his control over the territory by the upper Euphrates River. ⁴David captured seventeen hundred of his cavalry and twenty thousand of his foot soldiers. He kept enough horses for a hundred chariots and crippled all the rest.

⁵When the Syrians of Damascus sent an army to help King Hadadezer, David attacked it and killed twenty-two thousand men. ⁶Then he set up military camps in their territory, and they became his subjects and paid taxes to him. The LORD made David victorious everywhere. ⁷David captured the gold shields carried by Hadadezer's officials and took them to Jerusalem. ⁸He also took a great quantity of bronze from Betah and Berothai, cities ruled by Hadadezer.

⁹King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated all of Hadadezer's army. ¹⁰So he sent his son Joram to greet King David and congratulate him for his victory over Hadadezer, against whom Toi had fought many times. Joram took David presents made of gold, silver, and bronze. ¹¹King David dedicated them for use in worship, along with the silver and gold he took from the nations he had conquered-- ¹²Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek--as well as part of the loot he had taken from Hadadezer.

¹³David became even more famous when he returned from killing eighteen thousand Edomites in Salt Valley. ¹⁴He set up military camps throughout Edom, and the people there became his subjects. The LORD made David victorious everywhere.

¹⁵David ruled over all of Israel and made sure that his people were always treated fairly and justly. ¹⁶Joab, whose mother was Zeruiah, was the commander of the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was in charge of the records; ¹⁷Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was the court secretary; ¹⁸Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of David's bodyguards; and David's sons were priests.

Nebuchadnezzar's Second Dream

Daniel 4 King Nebuchadnezzar sent the following message to the people of all nations, races, and languages in the world:

"Greetings! ²Listen to my account of the wonders and miracles which the Supreme God has shown me.

³"How great are the wonders God shows us!

How powerful are the miracles he performs!

God is king forever; he will rule for all time.

⁴"I was living comfortably in my palace, enjoying great prosperity. ⁵But I had a frightening dream and saw terrifying visions while I was asleep. ⁶I ordered all the royal advisers in Babylon to be brought to me so that they could tell me what the dream meant. ⁷Then all the fortunetellers, magicians, wizards, and astrologers were brought in, and I told them my dream, but they could not explain it to me. ⁸Then Daniel came in. (He is also called Belteshazzar, after the name of my god.) The spirit of the holy gods is in him, so I told him what I had dreamed. I said to him: ⁹Belteshazzar, chief of the fortunetellers, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that you understand all mysteries. This is my dream. Tell me what it means.

¹⁰"While I was asleep, I had a vision of a huge tree in the middle of the earth. ¹¹It grew bigger and bigger until it reached the sky and could be seen by everyone in the world. ¹²Its leaves were beautiful, and it was loaded down with fruit--enough for the whole world to eat. Wild animals rested in its shade, birds built nests in its branches, and every kind of living being ate its fruit.

¹³"While I was thinking about the vision, I saw coming down from heaven an angel, alert and watchful. ¹⁴He proclaimed in a loud voice, 'Cut the tree down and chop off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Drive the animals from under it and the birds out of its branches. ¹⁵But leave the stump in the ground with a band of iron and bronze around it. Leave it there in the field with the grass.

"'Now let the dew fall on this man, and let him live with the animals and the plants. ¹⁶For seven years he will not have a human mind, but the mind of an animal. ¹⁷This is the decision of the alert and watchful angels. So then, let all people everywhere know that the Supreme God has power over human kingdoms and that he can give them to anyone he chooses--even to those who are least important.'

¹⁸"This is the dream I had," said King Nebuchadnezzar. "Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means. None of my royal advisers could tell me, but you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you."

Daniel Explains the Dream

¹⁹At this, Daniel, who is also called Belteshazzar, was so alarmed that he could not say anything. The king said to him, "Belteshazzar, don't let the dream and its message alarm you."

Belteshazzar replied, "Your Majesty, I wish that the dream and its explanation applied to your enemies and not to you. ²⁰The tree, so tall that it reached the sky, could be seen by everyone in the world. ²¹Its leaves were beautiful, and it had enough fruit on it to feed the whole world. Wild animals rested under it, and birds made their nests in its branches.

²²"Your Majesty, you are the tree, tall and strong. You have grown so great that you reach the sky, and your power extends over the whole world. ²³While Your Majesty was watching, an angel came down from heaven and said, 'Cut the tree down and destroy it, but leave the stump in the ground. Wrap a band of iron and bronze around it, and leave it there in the field with the grass. Let the dew fall on this man, and let him live there with the animals for seven years.'

²⁴"This, then, is what it means, Your Majesty, and this is what the Supreme God has declared will happen to you. ²⁵You will be driven away from human society and will live with wild animals. For seven years you will eat grass like an ox and sleep in the open air, where the dew will fall on you. Then you will admit that the Supreme God controls all human kingdoms and that he can give them to anyone he chooses. ²⁶The angel ordered the stump to be left in the ground. This means that you will become king again when you acknowledge that God rules all the world. ²⁷So then, Your Majesty, follow my advice. Stop sinning, do what is right, and be merciful to the poor. Then you will continue to be prosperous."

²⁸All this did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar. ²⁹Only twelve months later, while he was walking around on the roof of his royal palace in Babylon, ³⁰he said, "Look how great Babylon is! I built it as my capital city to display my power and might, my glory and majesty."

³¹Before the words were out of his mouth, a voice spoke from heaven, "King Nebuchadnezzar, listen to what I say! Your royal power is now taken away from you. ³²You will be driven away from human society, live with wild animals, and eat grass like an ox for seven years. Then you will acknowledge that the Supreme God has power over human kingdoms and that he can give them to anyone he chooses."

³³The words came true immediately. Nebuchadnezzar was driven out of human society and ate grass like an ox. The dew fell on his body, and his hair grew as long as eagle feathers and his nails as long as bird claws.

Nebuchadnezzar Praises God

³⁴"When the seven years had passed," said the king, "I looked up at the sky, and my sanity returned. I praised the Supreme God and gave honor and glory to the one who lives forever.

"He will rule forever,

and his kingdom will last for all time.

³⁵He looks on the people of the earth as nothing;

angels in heaven and people on earth

are under his control.

No one can oppose his will

or question what he does.

³⁶"When my sanity returned, my honor, my majesty, and the glory of my kingdom were given back to me. My officials and my noblemen welcomed me, and I was given back my royal power with even greater honor than before.

³⁷"And now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, honor, and glorify the King of Heaven. Everything he does is right and just, and he can humble anyone who acts proudly."

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.