Daily Bible GNT December 29 Scroll

The Temptation of Jesus
(Matthew 4.1-11; Mark 1.12, 13)

Luke 4 Jesus returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit into the desert, ²where he was tempted by the Devil for forty days. In all that time he ate nothing, so that he was hungry when it was over.

³The Devil said to him, "If you are God's Son, order this stone to turn into bread."

⁴But Jesus answered, "The scripture says, 'Human beings cannot live on bread alone.'"

⁵Then the Devil took him up and showed him in a second all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶"I will give you all this power and all this wealth," the Devil told him. "It has all been handed over to me, and I can give it to anyone I choose. ⁷All this will be yours, then, if you worship me."

⁸Jesus answered, "The scripture says, 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only him!'"

⁹Then the Devil took him to Jerusalem and set him on the highest point of the Temple, and said to him, "If you are God's Son, throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰For the scripture says, 'God will order his angels to take good care of you.' ¹¹It also says, 'They will hold you up with their hands so that not even your feet will be hurt on the stones.'"

¹²But Jesus answered, "The scripture says, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

¹³When the Devil finished tempting Jesus in every way, he left him for a while.

Jesus Begins His Work in Galilee
(Matthew 4.12-17; Mark 1.14, 15)

¹⁴Then Jesus returned to Galilee, and the power of the Holy Spirit was with him. The news about him spread throughout all that territory. ¹⁵He taught in the synagogues and was praised by everyone.

Jesus Is Rejected at Nazareth
(Matthew 13.53-58; Mark 6.1-6)

¹⁶Then Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath he went as usual to the synagogue. He stood up to read the Scriptures ¹⁷and was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written,

¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set free the oppressed

¹⁹

and announce that the time has come

when the Lord will save his people."

²⁰Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. All the people in the synagogue had their eyes fixed on him, ²¹as he said to them, "This passage of scripture has come true today, as you heard it being read."

²²They were all well impressed with him and marveled at the eloquent words that he spoke. They said, "Isn't he the son of Joseph?"

²³He said to them, "I am sure that you will quote this proverb to me, 'Doctor, heal yourself.' You will also tell me to do here in my hometown the same things you heard were done in Capernaum. ²⁴I tell you this," Jesus added, "prophets are never welcomed in their hometown. ²⁵Listen to me: it is true that there were many widows in Israel during the time of Elijah, when there was no rain for three and a half years and a severe famine spread throughout the whole land. ²⁶Yet Elijah was not sent to anyone in Israel, but only to a widow living in Zarephath in the territory of Sidon. ²⁷And there were many people suffering from a dreaded skin disease who lived in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha; yet not one of them was healed, but only Naaman the Syrian."

²⁸When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were filled with anger. ²⁹They rose up, dragged Jesus out of town, and took him to the top of the hill on which their town was built. They meant to throw him over the cliff, ³⁰but he walked through the middle of the crowd and went his way.

The Use of the East Gate

Ezekiel 44 The man led me to the outer gate at the east side of the Temple area. The gate was closed, ²and the LORD said to me, "This gate will stay closed and will never be opened. No human being is allowed to use it, because I, the LORD God of Israel, have entered through it. It is to remain closed. ³The ruling prince, however, may go there to eat a holy meal in my presence. He is to enter and leave the gateway through the entrance room at the inner end."

Rules for Admission to the Temple

⁴Then the man took me through the north gate to the front of the Temple. As I looked, I saw that the Temple of the LORD was filled with the dazzling light of his presence. I threw myself face downward on the ground, ⁵and the LORD said to me, "Mortal man, pay attention to everything you see and hear. I am going to tell you the rules and regulations for the Temple. Note carefully which persons are allowed to go in and out of the Temple, and which persons are not allowed.

⁶"Tell those rebellious people of Israel that I, the Sovereign LORD, will no longer tolerate the disgusting things that they have been doing. ⁷They have profaned my Temple by letting uncircumcised foreigners, people who do not obey me, enter the Temple when the fat and the blood of the sacrifices are being offered to me. So my people have broken my covenant by all the disgusting things they have done. ⁸They have not taken charge of the sacred rituals in my Temple, but instead have put foreigners in charge.

⁹"I, the Sovereign LORD, declare that no uncircumcised foreigner, no one who disobeys me, will enter my Temple, not even a foreigner who lives among the people of Israel."

The Levites Are Excluded from the Priesthood

¹⁰The LORD said to me, "I am punishing those Levites who, together with the rest of the people of Israel, deserted me and worshiped idols. ¹¹They may serve me in the Temple by taking charge of the gates and by performing the work of the Temple. They may kill the animals which the people offer for burnt offerings and for sacrifices, and they are to be on duty to serve the people. ¹²But because they conducted the worship of idols for the people of Israel and in this way led the people into sin, I, the Sovereign LORD, solemnly swear that they must be punished. ¹³They are not to serve me as priests or to go near anything that is holy to me or to enter the Most Holy Place. This is the punishment for the disgusting things they have done. ¹⁴I am assigning to them the menial work that is to be done in the Temple."

The Priests

¹⁵The Sovereign LORD said, "Those priests belonging to the tribe of Levi who are descended from Zadok, however, continued to serve me faithfully in the Temple when the rest of the people of Israel turned away from me. So now they are the ones who are to serve me and come into my presence to offer me the fat and the blood of the sacrifices. ¹⁶They alone will enter my Temple, serve at my altar, and conduct the Temple worship. ¹⁷When they enter the gateway to the inner courtyard of the Temple, they are to put on linen clothing. They must not wear anything made of wool when they are on duty in the inner courtyard or in the Temple. ¹⁸So that they won't perspire, they are to wear linen turbans and linen trousers, but no belt. ¹⁹Before they go to the outer courtyard where the people are, they must first take off the clothes they wore on duty in the Temple and leave them in the holy rooms. They are to put on other clothing in order to keep their sacred clothing from harming the people.

²⁰"Priests must neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long. They are to keep it a proper length. ²¹Priests must not drink any wine before going into the inner courtyard. ²²No priest may marry a divorced woman; he is to marry only an Israelite virgin or the widow of another priest.

²³"The priests are to teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is not, and between what is ritually clean and what is not. ²⁴When a legal dispute arises, the priests are to decide the case according to my laws. They are to keep the religious festivals according to my rules and regulations, and they are to keep the Sabbaths holy.

²⁵"A priest is not to become ritually unclean by touching a corpse, unless it is one of his parents, one of his children or a brother or an unmarried sister. ²⁶After he has become clean again, he must wait seven days ²⁷and then go into the inner courtyard of the Temple and offer a sacrifice for his purification, so that he can serve in the Temple again. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken.

²⁸"The priests have the priesthood as their share of what I have given Israel to be handed down from one generation to another. They are not to hold property in Israel; I am all they need. ²⁹The grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the repayment offerings will be the priests' food, and they are to receive everything in Israel that is set apart for me. ³⁰The priests are to have the best of all the first harvest and of everything else that is offered to me. Each time the people bake bread, they are to give the priests the first loaf as an offering, and my blessing will rest on their homes. ³¹The priests must not eat any bird or animal that dies a natural death or is killed by another animal."

The LORD's Portion of the Country

Ezekiel 45 When the land is divided to give each tribe a share, one part is to be dedicated to the LORD. It is to be 10 miles long by 8 miles wide. The entire area will be holy. ²In this area there is to be a square plot of land for the Temple, 840 feet on each side, entirely surrounded by an open space 84 feet wide. ³Half of this area, a section 10 miles by 4 miles, is to be measured off; it will contain the Temple, the holiest place of all. ⁴It will be a holy part of the country, set aside for the priests who serve the LORD in his Temple. It will contain their houses and the section of land for the Temple. ⁵The other half of the area is to be set aside as the possession of the Levites, who do the work in the Temple. There will be towns there for them to live in.

⁶Next to the holy area, another section, 10 miles long and 2 miles wide, is to be set aside for a city where any of the people of Israel may live.

Land for the Prince

⁷Land is also to be set aside for the ruling prince. From the west boundary of the holy area it will extend west to the Mediterranean Sea; and from the east boundary it will extend to the eastern border of the country, so that its length will be the same as the length of one of the areas allotted to the tribes of Israel. ⁸This area will be the share the ruling prince will have in the land of Israel, so that he will no longer oppress the people, but will let the rest of the country belong to the tribes of Israel.

Rules for the Prince

⁹The Sovereign LORD said, "You have sinned too long, you rulers of Israel! Stop your violence and oppression. Do what is right and just. You must never again drive my people off their land. I, the Sovereign LORD, am telling you this.

¹⁰"Everyone must use honest weights and measures:

¹¹"The ephah for dry measure is to be equal to the bath for liquid measure. The standard is the homer. The resulting measures are as follows:

1 homer = 10 ephahs = 10 baths

¹²"Your weights are to be as follows:

20 gerahs = 1 shekel

60 shekels = 1 mina

^13-15"This is the basis on which you are to make your offerings:

Wheat: 1/60th of your harvest

Barley: 1/60th of your harvest

Olive oil: 1/100th of the yield of your trees
(Measure it by the bath: 10 baths = 1 homer = 1 kor.)

Sheep: 1 sheep out of every 200 from the meadows of Israel

"You are to bring grain offerings, animals to be burned whole, and animals for fellowship offerings, so that your sins will be forgiven. I, the Sovereign LORD, command it.

¹⁶"All the people of the land must take these offerings to the ruling prince of Israel. ¹⁷It will be his duty to provide the animals to be burned whole, the grain offerings, and the wine offerings for the whole nation of Israel at the New Moon Festivals, the Sabbaths, and the other festivals. He is to provide the sin offerings, the grain offerings, the offerings to be burned whole, and the fellowship offerings, to take away the sins of the people of Israel."

The Festivals
(Exodus 12.1-20; Leviticus 23.33-43)

¹⁸The Sovereign LORD said, "On the first day of the first month you are to sacrifice a bull without any defects and purify the Temple. ¹⁹The priest will take some of the blood of this sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, on the four corners of the altar, and on the posts of the gateways to the inner courtyard. ²⁰On the seventh day of the month you are to do the same thing on behalf of anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance. In this way you will keep the Temple holy.

²¹"On the fourteenth day of the first month you will begin the celebration of the Passover Festival. For seven days everyone will eat bread made without yeast. ²²On the first day of the festival the ruling prince must offer a bull as a sacrifice for his sins and for those of all the people. ²³On each of the seven days of the festival he is to sacrifice to the LORD seven bulls and seven rams without any defects and burn them whole. He is also to sacrifice a male goat each day as a sin offering. ²⁴For each bull and each ram that is sacrificed, there is to be an offering of half a bushel of grain and three quarts of olive oil.

²⁵"For the Festival of Shelters, which begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the prince will offer on each of the seven days the same sacrifice for sin, the same offerings to be burned whole, and the same offerings of grain and olive oil."

Isaiah 64 Why don't you tear the sky open and come down? The mountains would see you and shake with fear. ²They would tremble like water boiling over a hot fire. Come and reveal your power to your enemies, and make the nations tremble at your presence! ³There was a time when you came and did terrifying things that we did not expect; the mountains saw you and shook with fear. ⁴No one has ever seen or heard of a God like you, who does such deeds for those who put their hope in him. ⁵You welcome those who find joy in doing what is right, those who remember how you want them to live. You were angry with us, but we went on sinning; in spite of your great anger we have continued to do wrong since ancient times. ⁶All of us have been sinful; even our best actions are filthy through and through. Because of our sins we are like leaves that wither and are blown away by the wind. ⁷No one turns to you in prayer; no one goes to you for help. You have hidden yourself from us and have abandoned us because of our sins.

⁸But you are our father, LORD. We are like clay, and you are like the potter. You created us, ⁹so do not be too angry with us or hold our sins against us forever. We are your people; be merciful to us. ¹⁰Your sacred cities are like a desert; Jerusalem is a deserted ruin, ¹¹and our Temple, the sacred and beautiful place where our ancestors praised you, has been destroyed by fire. All the places we loved are in ruins. ¹²LORD, are you unmoved by all this? Are you going to do nothing and make us suffer more than we can endure?

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.