Daily Bible CEV January 18 Scroll

Jesus Heals a Sick Man

Luke 14 One Sabbath, Jesus was having dinner in the home of an important Pharisee, and everyone was carefully watching Jesus. ²All of a sudden a man with swollen legs stood up in front of him. ³Jesus turned and asked the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses, "Is it right to heal on the Sabbath?" ⁴But they did not say a word.

Jesus took hold of the man. Then he healed him and sent him away. ⁵Afterwards, Jesus asked the people, "If your son or ox falls into a well, wouldn't you pull him out right away, even on the Sabbath?" ⁶There was nothing they could say.

How To Be a Guest

⁷Jesus saw how the guests had tried to take the best seats. So he told them:

⁸When you are invited to a wedding feast, don't sit in the best place. Someone more important may have been invited. ⁹Then the one who invited you will come and say, "Give your place to this other guest!" You will be embarrassed and will have to sit in the worst place.

¹⁰When you are invited to be a guest, go and sit in the worst place. Then the one who invited you may come and say, "My friend, take a better seat!" You will then be honored in front of all the other guests. ¹¹If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.

¹²Then Jesus said to the man who had invited him:

When you give a dinner or a banquet, don't invite your friends and family and relatives and rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return, and you will be paid back. ¹³When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴They cannot pay you back. But God will bless you and reward you when his people rise from death.

The Great Banquet
(Matthew 22.1-10)

¹⁵After Jesus had finished speaking, one of the guests said, "The greatest blessing of all is to be at the banquet in God's kingdom!"

¹⁶Jesus told him:

A man once gave a great banquet and invited a lot of guests. ¹⁷When the banquet was ready, he sent a servant to tell the guests, "Everything is ready! Please come."

¹⁸One guest after another started making excuses. The first one said, "I bought some land, and I've got to look it over. Please excuse me."

¹⁹Another guest said, "I bought five teams of oxen, and I need to try them out. Please excuse me."

²⁰Still another guest said, "I have just gotten married, and I can't be there."

²¹The servant told his master what happened, and the master became so angry that he said, "Go as fast as you can to every street and alley in town! Bring in everyone who is poor or crippled or blind or lame."

²²When the servant returned, he said, "Master, I've done what you told me, and there is still plenty of room for more people."

²³His master then told him, "Go out along the back roads and fence rows and make people come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴Not one of the guests I first invited will get even a bite of my food!"

Abraham Marries Keturah

Genesis 25 Abraham married Keturah, ²and they had six sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³Later, Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan, and when Dedan grew up, he had three sons: Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴Midian also had five sons: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah.

^5-6While Abraham was still alive, he gave gifts to the sons of Hagar and Keturah. He also sent their sons to live in the east far from his son Isaac, and when Abraham died, he left everything to Isaac.

The Death of Abraham

^7-8Abraham died at the ripe old age of one hundred seventy-five. ^9-10His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him east of Hebron in Machpelah Cave that was part of the field Abraham had bought from Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. Abraham was buried there beside his wife Sarah. ¹¹God blessed Isaac after this, and Isaac moved to a place called "The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me."

Ishmael's Descendants

¹²Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar, the slave woman of Sarah. ¹³Ishmael had twelve sons, in this order: Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶Each of Ishmael's sons was a tribal chief, and a village was named after each of them.

^17-18Ishmael had settled in the land east of his brothers, and his sons settled everywhere from Havilah to Shur, east of Egypt on the way to Asshur. Ishmael was one hundred thirty-seven when he died.

The Birth of Esau and Jacob

¹⁹Isaac was the son of Abraham, ²⁰and he was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel. She was also the sister of Laban, the Aramean from northern Syria.

Almost twenty years later, ²¹Rebekah still had no children. So Isaac asked the LORD to let her have a child, and the LORD answered his prayer.

²²Before Rebekah gave birth, she knew she was going to have twins, because she could feel them inside her, fighting each other. She thought, "Why is this happening to me?" Finally, she asked the LORD why her twins were fighting, ²³and he told her:

"Your two sons will become two separate nations.

The younger of the two will be stronger,

and the older son will be his servant."

²⁴When Rebekah gave birth, ²⁵the first baby was covered with red hair, so he was named Esau. ²⁶The second baby grabbed on to his brother's heel, so they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

Esau Sells His Rights as the First-Born Son

²⁷As Jacob and Esau grew older, Esau liked the outdoors and became a good hunter, while Jacob settled down and became a shepherd. ²⁸Esau would take the meat of wild animals to his father Isaac, and so Isaac loved him more, but Jacob was his mother's favorite son.

²⁹One day, Jacob was cooking some stew, when Esau came home hungry ³⁰and said, "I'm starving to death! Give me some of that red stew right now!" That's how Esau got the name "Edom."

³¹Jacob replied, "Sell me your rights as the first-born son."

³²"I'm about to die," Esau answered. "What good will those rights do me?"

³³But Jacob said, "Promise me your birthrights, here and now!" And that's what Esau did. ³⁴Jacob then gave Esau some bread and some of the bean stew, and when Esau had finished eating and drinking, he just got up and left, showing how little he thought of his rights as the first-born.

Psalm 18
[For the music leader. A psalm by David, the LORD's servant. David sang this to the LORD after the LORD had rescued him from his enemies, but especially from Saul.]
David's Song of Thanks

¹I love you, LORD God, and you make me strong.

²You are my mighty rock, my fortress, my protector,

the rock where I am safe, my shield,

my powerful weapon, and my place of shelter.

³I praise you, LORD!

I prayed, and you rescued me from my enemies.

⁴Death had wrapped its ropes around me,

and I was almost swallowed by its flooding waters.

⁵Ropes from the world of the dead had coiled around me,

and death had set a trap in my path.

⁶I was in terrible trouble when I called out to you,

but from your temple you heard me

and answered my prayer.

⁷The earth shook and shivered,

and the mountains trembled down to their roots.

You were angry ⁸and breathed out smoke.

Scorching heat and fiery flames

spewed from your mouth.

⁹You opened the heavens like curtains,

and you came down with storm clouds under your feet.

¹⁰You rode on the backs of flying creatures

and swooped down with the wind as wings.

¹¹Darkness was your robe; thunderclouds filled the sky,

hiding you from sight.

¹²Hailstones and fiery coals lit up the sky in front of you.

¹³LORD Most High, your voice thundered from the heavens,

as hailstones and fiery coals poured down like rain.

¹⁴You scattered your enemies with arrows of lightning.

¹⁵You roared at the sea,

and its deepest channels could be seen.

You snorted, and the earth shook to its foundations.

¹⁶You reached down from heaven,

and you lifted me from deep in the ocean.

¹⁷You rescued me from enemies,

who were hateful and too powerful for me.

¹⁸On the day disaster struck, they came and attacked,

but you defended me.

¹⁹When I was fenced in,

you freed and rescued me because you love me.

²⁰You are good to me, LORD, because I do right,

and you reward me because I am innocent.

²¹I do what you want and never turn to do evil.

²²I keep your laws in mind

and never look away from your teachings.

²³I obey you completely and guard against sin.

²⁴You have been good to me because I do right;

you have rewarded me

for being innocent by your standards.

²⁵You are always loyal to your loyal people,

and you are faithful to the faithful.

²⁶With all who are sincere, you are sincere,

but you treat the unfaithful as their deeds deserve.

²⁷You rescue the humble,

but you put down all who are proud.

²⁸You, the LORD God, keep my lamp burning

and turn darkness to light.

²⁹You help me defeat armies and capture cities.

³⁰Your way is perfect, LORD, and your word is correct.

You are a shield for those who run to you for help.

³¹You alone are God!

Only you are a mighty rock.

³²You give me strength and guide me right.

³³You make my feet run as fast as those of a deer,

and you help me stand on the mountains.

³⁴You teach my hands to fight

and my arms to use a bow of bronze.

³⁵You alone are my shield. Your right hand supports me,

and by coming to help me, you have made me famous.

³⁶You clear the way for me, and now I won't stumble.

³⁷I kept chasing my enemies,

until I caught them and destroyed them.

³⁸I stuck my sword through my enemies,

and they were crushed under my feet.

³⁹You helped me win victories,

and you forced my attackers to fall victim to me.

⁴⁰You made my enemies run, and I killed them.

⁴¹They cried out for help, but no one saved them;

they called out to you, but there was no answer.

⁴²I ground them to dust blown by the wind,

and I poured them out like mud in the streets.

⁴³You rescued me from stubborn people,

and you made me the leader of foreign nations,

who are now my slaves.

⁴⁴They obey and come crawling.

⁴⁵They have lost all courage,

and from their fortresses, they come trembling.

⁴⁶You are the living LORD! I will praise you.

You are a mighty rock.

I will honor you for keeping me safe.

⁴⁷You took revenge for me,

and you put nations in my power.

⁴⁸You protected me from violent enemies

and made me much greater than all of them.

⁴⁹I will praise you, LORD,

and I will honor you among the nations.

⁵⁰You give glorious victories to your chosen king.

Your faithful love for David

and for his descendants will never end.

These daily Bible readings from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. BibleCard® images copyright iCreative. All rights reserved.