Daily Bible GNT December 18 Scroll

Paul's Letter to the
COLOSSIANS

Colossians 1 From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy--

²To God's people in Colossae, who are our faithful friends in union with Christ:

May God our Father give you grace and peace.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

³We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. ⁴For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all God's people. ⁵When the true message, the Good News, first came to you, you heard about the hope it offers. So your faith and love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven. ⁶The gospel keeps bringing blessings and is spreading throughout the world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard about the grace of God and came to know it as it really is. ⁷You learned of God's grace from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is Christ's faithful worker on our behalf. ⁸He has told us of the love that the Spirit has given you.

⁹For this reason we have always prayed for you, ever since we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. ¹⁰Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God. ^11-12May you be made strong with all the strength which comes from his glorious power, so that you may be able to endure everything with patience. And with joy give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to have your share of what God has reserved for his people in the kingdom of light. ¹³He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son, ¹⁴by whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.

The Person and Work of Christ

¹⁵Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things. ¹⁶For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him. ¹⁷Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place. ¹⁸He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body's life. He is the first-born Son, who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things. ¹⁹For it was by God's own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God. ²⁰Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son's blood on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.

²¹At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. ²²But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence. ²³You must, of course, continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation, and must not allow yourselves to be shaken from the hope you gained when you heard the gospel. It is of this gospel that I, Paul, became a servant--this gospel which has been preached to everybody in the world.

Prophecy against Ammon

Ezekiel 25 The LORD spoke to me. ²"Mortal man," he said, "denounce the country of Ammon. ³Tell them to listen to what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: You were delighted to see my Temple profaned, to see the land of Israel devastated, to see the people of Judah go into exile. ⁴Because you were glad, I will let the tribes from the eastern desert conquer you. They will set up their camps in your country and settle there. They will eat the fruit and drink the milk that should have been yours. ⁵I will turn the city of Rabbah into a place to keep camels, and the whole country of Ammon will become a place to keep sheep, so that you will know I am the LORD.

⁶"This is what the Sovereign LORD is saying: You clapped your hands and jumped for joy. You despised the land of Israel. ⁷Because you did, I will hand you over to other nations who will rob you and plunder you. I will destroy you so completely that you will not be a nation any more or have a country of your own. Then you will know that I am the LORD."

Prophecy against Moab

⁸The Sovereign LORD said, "Because Moab has said that Judah is like all the other nations, ⁹I will let the cities that defend the border of Moab be attacked, including even the finest cities--Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim. ¹⁰I will let the tribes of the eastern desert conquer Moab, together with Ammon, so that Moab will no longer be a nation. ¹¹I will punish Moab, and they will know that I am the LORD."

Prophecy against Edom

¹²The Sovereign LORD said, "The people of Edom took cruel revenge on Judah, and that revenge has brought lasting guilt on Edom. ¹³Now I announce that I will punish Edom and kill every person and animal there. I will make it a wasteland, from the city of Teman to the city of Dedan, and the people will be killed in battle. ¹⁴My people Israel will take revenge on Edom for me, and they will make Edom feel my furious anger. Edom will know what it means to be the object of my revenge." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

Prophecy against Philistia

¹⁵The Sovereign LORD said, "The Philistines have taken cruel revenge on their agelong enemies and destroyed them in their hate. ¹⁶And so I am announcing that I will attack the Philistines and wipe them out. I will destroy everyone left living there on the Philistine Plain. ¹⁷I will punish them severely and take full revenge on them. They will feel my anger. Then they will know that I am the LORD."

Prophecy against Tyre

Ezekiel 26 On the first day of the . . . month of the eleventh year of our exile, the LORD spoke to me. ²"Mortal man," he said, "this is what the people in the city of Tyre are cheering about. They shout, 'Jerusalem is shattered! Her commercial power is gone! She won't be our rival any more!'

³"Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: I am your enemy, city of Tyre. I will bring many nations to attack you, and they will come like the waves of the sea. ⁴They will destroy your city walls and tear down your towers. Then I will sweep away all the dust and leave only a bare rock. ⁵Fishermen will dry their nets on it, there where it stands in the sea. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. The nations will plunder Tyre, ⁶and with their swords they will kill those who live in her towns on the mainland. Then Tyre will know that I am the LORD."

⁷The Sovereign LORD says, "I am going to bring the greatest king of all--King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia--to attack Tyre. He will come from the north with a huge army, with horses and chariots and with cavalry. ⁸Those who live in the towns on the mainland will be killed in the fighting. The enemy will dig trenches, build earthworks, and make a solid wall of shields against you. ⁹They will pound in your walls with battering rams and tear down your towers with iron bars. ¹⁰The clouds of dust raised by their horses will cover you. The noise of their horses pulling wagons and chariots will shake your walls as they pass through the gates of the ruined city. ¹¹Their cavalry will storm through your streets, killing your people with their swords. Your mighty pillars will be thrown to the ground. ¹²Your enemies will help themselves to your wealth and merchandise. They will pull down your walls and shatter your luxurious houses. They will take the stones and wood and all the rubble, and dump them into the sea. ¹³I will put an end to all your songs, and I will silence the music of your harps. ¹⁴I will leave only a bare rock where fishermen can dry their nets. The city will never be rebuilt. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken."

¹⁵The Sovereign LORD has this to say to the city of Tyre: "When you are being conquered, the people who live along the coast will be terrified at the screams of those who are slaughtered. ¹⁶All the kings of the seafaring nations will come down from their thrones. They will take off their robes and their embroidered clothes and sit trembling on the ground. They will be so terrified at your fate that they will not be able to stop trembling. ¹⁷They will sing this funeral song for you:

The famous city is destroyed!

Her ships have been swept from the seas.

The people of this city ruled the seas

And terrified all who lived on the coast.

¹⁸Now, on the day it has fallen,

The islands are trembling,

And their people are shocked at such destruction."

¹⁹The Sovereign LORD says: "I will make you as desolate as ruined cities where no one lives. I will cover you with the water of the ocean depths. ²⁰I will send you down to the world of the dead to join the people who lived in ancient times. I will make you stay in that underground world among eternal ruins, keeping company with the dead. As a result you will never again be inhabited and take your place in the land of the living. ²¹I will make you a terrifying example, and that will be the end of you. People may look for you, but you will never be found." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 53 The people reply,

"Who would have believed what we now report?

Who could have seen the LORD's hand in this?

²It was the will of the LORD that his servant

grow like a plant taking root in dry ground.

He had no dignity or beauty

to make us take notice of him.

There was nothing attractive about him,

nothing that would draw us to him.

³We despised him and rejected him;

he endured suffering and pain.

No one would even look at him--

we ignored him as if he were nothing.

⁴"But he endured the suffering that should have been ours,

the pain that we should have borne.

All the while we thought that his suffering

was punishment sent by God.

⁵But because of our sins he was wounded,

beaten because of the evil we did.

We are healed by the punishment he suffered,

made whole by the blows he received.

⁶All of us were like sheep that were lost,

each of us going his own way.

But the LORD made the punishment fall on him,

the punishment all of us deserved.

⁷"He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly;

he never said a word.

Like a lamb about to be slaughtered,

like a sheep about to be sheared,

he never said a word.

⁸He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die,

and no one cared about his fate.

He was put to death for the sins of our people.

⁹He was placed in a grave with those who are evil,

he was buried with the rich,

even though he had never committed a crime

or ever told a lie."

¹⁰The LORD says,

"It was my will that he should suffer;

his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness.

And so he will see his descendants;

he will live a long life,

and through him my purpose will succeed.

¹¹After a life of suffering, he will again have joy;

he will know that he did not suffer in vain.

My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased,

will bear the punishment of many

and for his sake I will forgive them.

¹²And so I will give him a place of honor,

a place among the great and powerful.

He willingly gave his life

and shared the fate of evil men.

He took the place of many sinners

and prayed that they might be forgiven."

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.