Daily Bible GNT November 26 Scroll

Paul's Letter to the
GALATIANS

Galatians 1 From Paul, whose call to be an apostle did not come from human beings or by human means, but from Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from death. ²All the believers who are here join me in sending greetings to the churches of Galatia:

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

⁴In order to set us free from this present evil age, Christ gave himself for our sins, in obedience to the will of our God and Father. ⁵To God be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

The One Gospel

⁶I am surprised at you! In no time at all you are deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ, and are accepting another gospel. ⁷Actually, there is no "other gospel," but I say this because there are some people who are upsetting you and trying to change the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel that is different from the one we preached to you, may he be condemned to hell! ⁹We have said it before, and now I say it again: if anyone preaches to you a gospel that is different from the one you accepted, may he be condemned to hell!

¹⁰Does this sound as if I am trying to win human approval? No indeed! What I want is God's approval! Am I trying to be popular with people? If I were still trying to do so, I would not be a servant of Christ.

How Paul Became an Apostle

¹¹Let me tell you, my friends, that the gospel I preach is not of human origin. ¹²I did not receive it from any human being, nor did anyone teach it to me. It was Jesus Christ himself who revealed it to me.

¹³You have been told how I used to live when I was devoted to the Jewish religion, how I persecuted without mercy the church of God and did my best to destroy it. ¹⁴I was ahead of most other Jews of my age in my practice of the Jewish religion, and was much more devoted to the traditions of our ancestors.

¹⁵But God in his grace chose me even before I was born, and called me to serve him. And when he decided ¹⁶to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the Gentiles, I did not go to anyone for advice, ¹⁷nor did I go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went at once to Arabia, and then I returned to Damascus. ¹⁸It was three years later that I went to Jerusalem to obtain information from Peter, and I stayed with him for two weeks. ¹⁹I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord's brother.

²⁰What I write is true. God knows that I am not lying!

²¹Afterward I went to places in Syria and Cilicia. ²²At that time the members of the churches in Judea did not know me personally. ²³They knew only what others were saying: "The man who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith that he once tried to destroy!" ²⁴And so they praised God because of me.

The LORD's Message about Philistia

Jeremiah 47 Before the king of Egypt attacked Gaza, the LORD spoke to me about Philistia. ²He said:

"Look! Waters are rising in the north

and will rush like a river in flood.

They will cover the land and everything on it,

cities and the people who live there.

People will call out for help;

everyone on earth will cry bitterly.

³They will hear the hoofbeats of horses,

the clatter of chariots,

the rumble of wheels.

Parents will not turn back for their children;

their hands will hang limp at their sides.

⁴The time has come to destroy Philistia,

to cut off from Tyre and Sidon

all the help that remains.

I, the LORD, will destroy the Philistines,

all who came from the shores of Crete.

⁵Great sorrow has come to the people of Gaza,

and Ashkelon's people are silent.

How long will the rest of Philistia mourn?

⁶You cry out, 'Sword of the LORD!

How long will you go on slashing?

Go back to your scabbard,

stay there and rest!'

⁷But how can it rest,

when I have given it work to do?

I have commanded it to attack Ashkelon

and the people who live on the coast."

The Destruction of Moab

Jeremiah 48 This is what the LORD Almighty said about Moab:

"Pity the people of Nebo--

their town is destroyed!

Kiriathaim is captured,

its mighty fortress torn down,

and its people put to shame;

the splendor of Moab is gone.

The enemy have captured Heshbon

and plot to destroy the nation of Moab.

The town of Madmen will be silenced;

armies will march against it.

³The people of Horonaim cry out,

'Violence! Destruction!'

⁴"Moab has been destroyed;

listen to the children crying.

⁵Hear the sound of their sobs

along the road up to Luhith,

the cries of distress

on the way down to Horonaim.

⁶'Quick, run for your lives!' they say.

'Run like a wild desert donkey!'

⁷"Moab, you trusted in your strength and your wealth,

but now even you will be conquered;

your god Chemosh will go into exile,

along with his princes and priests.

⁸Not a town will escape the destruction;

both valley and plain will be ruined.

I, the LORD, have spoken.

⁹Set up a tombstone for Moab;

it will soon be destroyed.

Its towns will be left in ruins,

and no one will live there again."

( ¹⁰ Curse those who do not do the LORD's work with all their heart! Curse those who do not slash and kill!)

The Cities of Moab Are Destroyed

¹¹The LORD said, "Moab has always lived secure and has never been taken into exile. Moab is like wine left to settle undisturbed and never poured from jar to jar. Its flavor has never been ruined, and it tastes as good as ever.

¹²"So now, the time is coming when I will send people to pour Moab out like wine. They will empty its wine jars and break them in pieces. ¹³Then the Moabites will be disillusioned with their god Chemosh, just as the Israelites were disillusioned with Bethel, a god in whom they trusted.

¹⁴"Men of Moab, why do you claim to be heroes,

brave soldiers tested in war?

¹⁵Moab and its cities are destroyed;

its finest young men have been slaughtered.

I am the king, the LORD Almighty,

and I have spoken.

¹⁶Moab's doom approaches;

its ruin is coming soon.

¹⁷"Mourn for that nation, you that live nearby,

all of you that know its fame.

Say, 'Its powerful rule has been broken;

its glory and might are no more.'

¹⁸You that live in Dibon,

come down from your place of honor

and sit on the ground in the dust;

Moab's destroyer is here

and has left its forts in ruins.

¹⁹You that live in Aroer,

stand by the road and wait;

ask those who are running away,

find out from them what has happened.

²⁰'Moab has fallen,' they will answer,

'weep for it; it is disgraced.

Announce along the Arnon River

that Moab is destroyed!'

²¹"Judgment has come on the cities of the plateau: on Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath, ²²Dibon, Nebo, Beth Diblathaim, ²³Kiriathaim, Bethgamul, Bethmeon, ²⁴Kerioth, and Bozrah. Judgment has come on all the cities of Moab, far and near. ²⁵Moab's might has been crushed; its power has been destroyed. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Moab Will Be Humbled

²⁶The LORD said, "Make Moab drunk, because it has rebelled against me. Moab will roll in its own vomit, and people will laugh. ²⁷Moab, remember how you made fun of the people of Israel? You treated them as though they had been caught with a gang of robbers.

²⁸"You people who live in Moab, leave your towns! Go and live on the cliffs! Be like the dove that makes its nest in the sides of a ravine. ²⁹Moab is very proud! I have heard how proud, arrogant, and conceited the people are, how much they think of themselves. ³⁰I, the LORD, know of their arrogance. Their boasts amount to nothing, and the things they do will not last. ³¹And so I will weep for everyone in Moab and for the people of Kir Heres. ³²I will cry for the people of Sibmah, even more than for the people of Jazer. City of Sibmah, you are like a vine whose branches reach across the Dead Sea and go as far as Jazer. But now your summer fruits and your grapes have been destroyed. ³³Happiness and joy have been taken away from the fertile land of Moab. I have made the wine stop flowing from the wine presses; there is no one to make the wine and shout for joy.

³⁴"The people of Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, and their cry can be heard as far as Jahaz; it can be heard by the people in Zoar, and it is heard as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah. Even Nimrim Brook has dried up. ³⁵I will stop the people of Moab from making burnt offerings at their places of worship and from offering sacrifices to their gods. I, the LORD, have spoken.

³⁶"So my heart mourns for Moab and for the people of Kir Heres, like someone playing a funeral song on a flute, because everything they owned is gone. ³⁷All of them have shaved their heads and cut off their beards. They have all made gashes on their hands, and everyone is wearing sackcloth. ³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in all its public squares there is nothing but mourning, because I have broken Moab like a jar that no one wants. ³⁹Moab has been shattered! Cry out! Moab has been disgraced. It is in ruins, and all the surrounding nations make fun of it. I, the LORD, have spoken."

No Escape for Moab

⁴⁰The LORD has promised that a nation will swoop down on Moab like an eagle with its outspread wings, ⁴¹and the towns and fortresses will be captured. On that day Moab's soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labor. ⁴²Moab will be destroyed and will no longer be a nation, because it rebelled against me. ⁴³Terror, pits, and traps are waiting for the people of Moab. The LORD has spoken. ⁴⁴Whoever tries to escape the terror will fall into the pits, and whoever climbs out of the pits will be caught in the traps, because the LORD has set the time for Moab's destruction. ⁴⁵Helpless refugees try to find protection in Heshbon, the city that King Sihon once ruled, but it is in flames. Fire has burned up the frontiers and the mountain heights of the war-loving people of Moab. ⁴⁶Pity the people of Moab! The people who worshiped Chemosh have been destroyed, and their sons and daughters have been taken away as prisoners.

⁴⁷But in days to come the LORD will make Moab prosperous again. All of this is what the LORD has said will happen to Moab.

A Prayer for Help

Psalm 142 I call to the LORD for help;

I plead with him.

²I bring him all my complaints;

I tell him all my troubles.

³When I am ready to give up,

he knows what I should do.

In the path where I walk,

my enemies have hidden a trap for me.

⁴When I look beside me,

I see that there is no one to help me,

no one to protect me.

No one cares for me.

⁵LORD, I cry to you for help;

you, LORD, are my protector;

you are all I want in this life.

⁶Listen to my cry for help,

for I am sunk in despair.

Save me from my enemies;

they are too strong for me.

⁷Set me free from my distress;

then in the assembly of your people I will praise you

because of your goodness to me.

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.