Daily Bible GNT November 12 Scroll

Paul's Letter to
PHILEMON

¹From Paul, a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy--

To our friend and fellow worker Philemon, ²and the church that meets in your house, and our sister Apphia, and our fellow soldier Archippus:

³May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Philemon's Love and Faith

⁴Brother Philemon, every time I pray, I mention you and give thanks to my God. ⁵For I hear of your love for all of God's people and the faith you have in the Lord Jesus. ⁶My prayer is that our fellowship with you as believers will bring about a deeper understanding of every blessing which we have in our life in union with Christ. ⁷Your love, dear brother, has brought me great joy and much encouragement! You have cheered the hearts of all of God's people.

A Request for Onesimus

⁸For this reason I could be bold enough, as your brother in Christ, to order you to do what should be done. ⁹But because I love you, I make a request instead. I do this even though I am Paul, the ambassador of Christ Jesus, and at present also a prisoner for his sake. ¹⁰So I make a request to you on behalf of Onesimus, who is my own son in Christ; for while in prison I have become his spiritual father. ¹¹At one time he was of no use to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me.

¹²I am sending him back to you now, and with him goes my heart. ¹³I would like to keep him here with me, while I am in prison for the gospel's sake, so that he could help me in your place. ¹⁴However, I do not want to force you to help me; rather, I would like for you to do it of your own free will. So I will not do anything unless you agree.

¹⁵It may be that Onesimus was away from you for a short time so that you might have him back for all time. ¹⁶And now he is not just a slave, but much more than a slave: he is a dear brother in Christ. How much he means to me! And how much more he will mean to you, both as a slave and as a brother in the Lord!

¹⁷So, if you think of me as your partner, welcome him back just as you would welcome me. ¹⁸If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to my account. ¹⁹Here, I will write this with my own hand: I, Paul, will pay you back. (I should not have to remind you, of course, that you owe your very self to me.) ²⁰So, my brother, please do me this favor for the Lord's sake; as a brother in Christ, cheer me up!

²¹I am sure, as I write this, that you will do what I ask--in fact I know that you will do even more. ²²At the same time, get a room ready for me, because I hope that God will answer the prayers of all of you and give me back to you.

Final Greetings

²³Epaphras, who is in prison with me for the sake of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings, ²⁴and so do my co-workers Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke.

²⁵May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

The Broken Jar

Jeremiah 19 The LORD told me to go and buy a clay jar. He also told me to take some of the elders of the people and some of the older priests, ²and to go through Potsherd Gate out to Hinnom Valley. There I was to proclaim the message that he would give me. ³The LORD told me to say, "Kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem, listen to what I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, have to say. I am going to bring such a disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will be stunned. ⁴I am going to do this because the people have abandoned me and defiled this place by offering sacrifices here to other gods--gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known anything about. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people, ⁵and they have built altars for Baal in order to burn their children in the fire as sacrifices. I never commanded them to do this; it never even entered my mind. ⁶So then, the time will come when this place will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom Valley. Instead, it will be known as Slaughter Valley. ⁷In this place I will frustrate all the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will let their enemies triumph over them and kill them in battle. I will give their corpses to the birds and the wild animals as food. ⁸I will bring such terrible destruction on this city that everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. ⁹The enemy will surround the city and try to kill its people. The siege will be so terrible that the people inside the city will eat one another and even their own children."

¹⁰Then the LORD told me to break the jar in front of those who had gone with me ¹¹and to tell them that the LORD Almighty had said, "I will break this people and this city, and it will be like this broken clay jar that cannot be put together again. People will bury their dead even in Topheth because there will be nowhere else to bury them. ¹²I promise that I will make this city and its inhabitants like Topheth. ¹³The houses of Jerusalem, the houses of the kings of Judah, and indeed all the houses on whose roofs incense has been burned to the stars and where wine has been poured out as an offering to other gods--they will all be as unclean as Topheth."

¹⁴Then I left Topheth, where the LORD had sent me to proclaim his message. I went and stood in the court of the Temple and told all the people ¹⁵that the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, "I am going to bring on this city and on every nearby town all the punishment that I said I would, because you are stubborn and will not listen to what I say."

Jeremiah's Conflict with Pashhur the Priest

Jeremiah 20 When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, who was the chief officer of the Temple, heard me proclaim these things, ²he had me beaten and placed in chains near the upper Benjamin Gate in the Temple. ³The next morning, after Pashhur had released me from the chains, I said to him, "The LORD did not name you Pashhur. The name he has given you is 'Terror Everywhere.' ⁴The LORD himself has said, 'I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to your friends, and you will see them all killed by the swords of their enemies. I am going to put all the people of Judah under the power of the king of Babylonia; he will take some away as prisoners to his country and put others to death. ⁵I will also let their enemies plunder all the wealth of this city and seize all its possessions and property, even the treasures of the kings of Judah, and carry everything off to Babylonia. ⁶As for you, Pashhur, you and all your family will also be captured and taken off to Babylonia. There you will die and be buried, along with all your friends to whom you have told so many lies.'"

Jeremiah Complains to the LORD

⁷LORD, you have deceived me,

and I was deceived.

You are stronger than I am,

and you have overpowered me.

Everyone makes fun of me;

they laugh at me all day long.

⁸Whenever I speak, I have to cry out

and shout, "Violence! Destruction!"

LORD, I am ridiculed and scorned all the time

because I proclaim your message.

⁹But when I say, "I will forget the LORD

and no longer speak in his name,"

then your message is like a fire

burning deep within me.

I try my best to hold it in,

but can no longer keep it back.

¹⁰I hear everybody whispering,

"Terror is everywhere!

So let's report him to the authorities!"

Even my close friends wait for my downfall.

"Perhaps he can be tricked," they say;

"then we can catch him and get revenge."

¹¹But you, LORD, are on my side, strong and mighty,

and those who persecute me will fail.

They will be disgraced forever,

because they cannot succeed.

Their disgrace will never be forgotten.

¹²But, Almighty LORD, you test people justly;

you know what is in their hearts and minds.

So let me see you take revenge on my enemies,

for I have placed my cause in your hands.

¹³Sing to the LORD!

Praise the LORD!

He rescues the oppressed from the power of evil people.

¹⁴Curse the day I was born!

Forget the day my mother gave me birth!

¹⁵Curse the one who made my father glad

by bringing him the news,

"It's a boy! You have a son!"

¹⁶May he be like those cities

that the LORD destroyed without mercy.

May he hear cries of pain in the morning

and the battle alarm at noon,

¹⁷

for not killing me before I was born.

Then my mother's womb would have been my grave.

¹⁸Why was I born?

Was it only to have trouble and sorrow,

to end my life in disgrace?

The Reward of Obedience to the LORD

Psalm 128 Happy are those who obey the LORD,

who live by his commands.

²Your work will provide for your needs;

you will be happy and prosperous.

³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in your home,

and your children will be like young olive trees around your table.

⁴A man who obeys the LORD

will surely be blessed like this.

⁵May the LORD bless you from Zion!

May you see Jerusalem prosper

all the days of your life!

⁶May you live to see your grandchildren!

Peace be with Israel!

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.