Daily Bible GNT December 24 Scroll

The Birth of John the Baptist

Luke 1 ⁵⁷The time came for Elizabeth to have her baby, and she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸Her neighbors and relatives heard how wonderfully good the Lord had been to her, and they all rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹When the baby was a week old, they came to circumcise him, and they were going to name him Zechariah, after his father. ⁶⁰But his mother said, "No! His name is to be John."

⁶¹They said to her, "But you don't have any relative with that name!" ⁶²Then they made signs to his father, asking him what name he would like the boy to have.

⁶³Zechariah asked for a writing pad and wrote, "His name is John." How surprised they all were! ⁶⁴At that moment Zechariah was able to speak again, and he started praising God. ⁶⁵The neighbors were all filled with fear, and the news about these things spread through all the hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶Everyone who heard of it thought about it and asked, "What is this child going to be?" For it was plain that the Lord's power was upon him.

Zechariah's Prophecy

⁶⁷John's father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he spoke God's message:

⁶⁸"Let us praise the Lord, the God of Israel!

He has come to the help of his people and has set them free.

⁶⁹He has provided for us a mighty Savior,

a descendant of his servant David.

⁷⁰He promised through his holy prophets long ago

⁷¹

that he would save us from our enemies,

from the power of all those who hate us.

⁷²He said he would show mercy to our ancestors

and remember his sacred covenant.
^73-74With a solemn oath to our ancestor Abraham

he promised to rescue us from our enemies

and allow us to serve him without fear,

⁷⁵so that we might be holy and righteous before him

all the days of our life.

⁷⁶"You, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High God.

You will go ahead of the Lord

to prepare his road for him,

⁷⁷to tell his people that they will be saved

by having their sins forgiven.

⁷⁸Our God is merciful and tender.

He will cause the bright dawn of salvation to rise on us

⁷⁹

and to shine from heaven on all those who live in the dark shadow of death,

to guide our steps into the path of peace."

⁸⁰The child grew and developed in body and spirit. He lived in the desert until the day when he appeared publicly to the people of Israel.

God's Punishment of Edom

Ezekiel 35 The LORD spoke to me. ²"Mortal man," he said, "denounce the country of Edom. ³Tell the people what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying:

"I am your enemy, mountains of Edom!

I will make you a desolate wasteland.

⁴I will leave your cities in ruins

And your land desolate;

Then you will know that I am the LORD.

⁵"You were Israel's constant enemy and let her people be slaughtered in the time of her disaster, the time of final punishment for her sins. ⁶So then--as surely as I, the Sovereign LORD, am the living God--death is your fate, and you cannot escape it. You are guilty of murder, and murder will follow you. ⁷I will make the hill country of Edom a wasteland and kill everyone who travels through it. ⁸I will cover the mountains with corpses, and the bodies of those who are killed in battle will cover the hills and valleys. ⁹I will make you desolate forever, and no one will live in your cities again. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

¹⁰"You said that the two nations, Judah and Israel, together with their lands, belonged to you and that you would possess them, even though I, the LORD, was their God. ¹¹So then, as surely as I, the Sovereign LORD, am the living God, I will pay you back for your anger, your jealousy, and your hate toward my people. They will know that I am punishing you for what you did to them. ¹²Then you will know that I, the LORD, heard you say with contempt that the mountains of Israel were desolate and that they were yours to devour. ¹³I have heard the wild, boastful way you have talked against me."

¹⁴The Sovereign LORD says, "I will make you so desolate that the whole world will rejoice at your downfall, ¹⁵just as you rejoiced at the devastation of Israel, my own possession. The mountains of Seir, yes, all the land of Edom, will be desolate. Then everyone will know that I am the LORD."

God's Blessing on Israel

Ezekiel 36 The LORD said, "Mortal man, speak to the mountains of Israel and tell them to listen to the message which I, ²the Sovereign LORD, have for them: Israel's enemies gloated and said, 'Now those ancient hills are ours!'

³"Prophesy, then, and announce what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying. When the neighboring nations captured and plundered the mountains of Israel, everyone made fun of Israel. ⁴So now listen to what I, the Sovereign LORD, say to you mountains and hills, to you brooks and valleys, to you places that were left in ruins, and to you deserted cities which were plundered and mocked by all the surrounding nations.

⁵"I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken out in the heat of my anger against the surrounding nations, and especially against Edom. With glee and contempt they captured my land and took possession of its pastures.

⁶"So prophesy to the land of Israel; tell the mountains, hills, brooks, and valleys what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying in jealous anger because of the way the nations have insulted and humiliated them. ⁷I, the Sovereign LORD, solemnly promise that the surrounding nations will be humiliated. ⁸But on the mountains of Israel the trees will again grow leaves and bear fruit for you, my people Israel. You are going to come home soon. ⁹I am on your side, and I will make sure that your land is plowed again and crops are planted on it. ¹⁰I will make your population grow. You will live in the cities and rebuild everything that was left in ruins. ¹¹I will make people and cattle increase in number. There will be more of you than ever before, and you will have many children. I will let you live there as you used to live, and I will make you more prosperous than ever. Then you will know that I am the LORD. ¹²I will bring you, my people Israel, back to live again in the land. It will be your own land, and it will never again let your children starve.

¹³"I, the Sovereign LORD, say: It is true that people say that the land eats people and that it robs the nation of its children. ¹⁴But from now on it will no longer eat people and rob you of your children. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. ¹⁵The land will no longer have to listen to the nations making fun of it or see the peoples sneer at it. The land will no longer rob the nation of its children. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken."

Israel's New Life

¹⁶The LORD spoke to me. ¹⁷"Mortal man," he said, "when the Israelites were living in their land, they defiled it by the way they lived and acted. I regarded their behavior as being as ritually unclean as a woman is during her monthly period. ¹⁸I let them feel the force of my anger because of the murders they had committed in the land and because of the idols by which they had defiled it. ¹⁹I condemned them for the way they lived and acted, and I scattered them through foreign countries. ²⁰Wherever they went, they brought disgrace on my holy name, because people would say, 'These are the people of the LORD, but they had to leave his land.' ²¹That made me concerned for my holy name, since the Israelites brought disgrace on it everywhere they went.

²²"Now then, give the Israelites the message that I, the Sovereign LORD, have for them: What I am going to do is not for the sake of you Israelites, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have disgraced in every country where you have gone. ²³When I demonstrate to the nations the holiness of my great name--the name you disgraced among them--then they will know that I am the LORD. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. I will use you to show the nations that I am holy. ²⁴I will take you from every nation and country and bring you back to your own land. ²⁵I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you. ²⁶I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. ²⁷I will put my spirit in you and will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you. ²⁸Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹I will save you from everything that defiles you. I will command the grain to be plentiful, so that you will not have any more famines. ³⁰I will increase the yield of your fruit trees and your fields, so that there will be no more famines to disgrace you among the nations. ³¹You will remember your evil conduct and the wrongs that you committed, and you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your sins and your iniquities. ³²Israel, I want you to know that I am not doing all this for your sake. I want you to feel the shame and disgrace of what you are doing. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken."

³³The Sovereign LORD says, "When I make you clean from all your sins, I will let you live in your cities again and let you rebuild the ruins. ³⁴Everyone who used to walk by your fields saw how overgrown and wild they were, but I will let you farm them again. ³⁵Everyone will talk about how this land, which was once a wilderness, has become like the Garden of Eden, and how the cities which were torn down, looted, and left in ruins, are now inhabited and fortified. ³⁶Then the neighboring nations that have survived will know that I, the LORD, rebuild ruined cities and replant waste fields. I, the LORD, have promised that I would do this--and I will."

³⁷The Sovereign LORD says, "I will once again let the Israelites ask me for help, and I will let them increase in numbers like a flock of sheep. ³⁸The cities that are now in ruins will then be as full of people as Jerusalem was once full of the sheep which were offered as sacrifices at a festival. Then they will know that I am the LORD."

The Prophet Condemns the People's Sins

Isaiah 59 Don't think that the LORD is too weak to save you or too deaf to hear your call for help! ²It is because of your sins that he doesn't hear you. It is your sins that separate you from God when you try to worship him. ³You are guilty of lying, violence, and murder.

⁴You go to court, but you do not have justice on your side. You depend on lies to win your case. You carry out your plans to hurt others. ^5-6The evil plots you make are as deadly as the eggs of a poisonous snake. Crush an egg, out comes a snake! But your plots will do you no good--they are as useless as clothing made of cobwebs! ⁷You are always planning something evil, and you can hardly wait to do it. You never hesitate to murder innocent people. You leave ruin and destruction wherever you go, ⁸and no one is safe when you are around. Everything you do is unjust. You follow a crooked path, and no one who walks that path will ever be safe.

The People Confess Their Sin

⁹The people say, "Now we know why God does not save us from those who oppress us. We hope for light to walk by, but there is only darkness, ¹⁰and we grope about like blind people. We stumble at noon, as if it were night, as if we were in the dark world of the dead. ¹¹We are frightened and distressed. We long for God to save us from oppression and wrong, but nothing happens.

¹²"LORD, our crimes against you are many. Our sins accuse us. We are well aware of them all. ¹³We have rebelled against you, rejected you, and refused to follow you. We have oppressed others and turned away from you. Our thoughts are false; our words are lies. ¹⁴Justice is driven away, and right cannot come near. Truth stumbles in the public square, and honesty finds no place there. ¹⁵There is so little honesty that those who stop doing evil find themselves the victims of crime."

The LORD Prepares to Rescue His People

The LORD has seen this, and he is displeased that there is no justice. ¹⁶He is astonished to see that there is no one to help the oppressed. So he will use his own power to rescue them and to win the victory. ¹⁷He will wear justice like a coat of armor and saving power like a helmet. He will clothe himself with the strong desire to set things right and to punish and avenge the wrongs that people suffer. ¹⁸He will punish his enemies according to what they have done, even those who live in distant lands. ¹⁹From east to west everyone will fear him and his great power. He will come like a rushing river, like a strong wind.

²⁰The LORD says to his people, "I will come to Jerusalem to defend you and to save all of you that turn from your sins. ²¹And I make a covenant with you: I have given you my power and my teachings to be yours forever, and from now on you are to obey me and teach your children and your descendants to obey me for all time to come."

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.