Daily Bible CEV February 01 Scroll

Pilate Questions Jesus
(Matthew 27.1, 2, 11-14; Mark 15.1-5; John 18.28-38)

Luke 23 Everyone in the council got up and led Jesus off to Pilate. ²They started accusing him and said, "We caught this man trying to get our people to riot and to stop paying taxes to the Emperor. He also claims that he is the Messiah, our king."

³Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

"Those are your words," Jesus answered.

⁴Pilate told the chief priests and the crowd, "I don't find him guilty of anything."

⁵But they all kept on saying, "He has been teaching and causing trouble all over Judea. He started in Galilee and has now come all the way here."

Jesus Is Brought before Herod

⁶When Pilate heard this, he asked, "Is this man from Galilee?" ⁷After Pilate learned that Jesus came from the region ruled by Herod, he sent him to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸For a long time Herod had wanted to see Jesus and was very happy because he finally had this chance. He had heard many things about Jesus and hoped to see him work a miracle.

⁹Herod asked him a lot of questions, but Jesus did not answer. ¹⁰Then the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses stood up and accused him of all kinds of bad things.

¹¹Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and insulted him. They put a fine robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. ¹²That same day Herod and Pilate became friends, even though they had been enemies before this.

The Death Sentence
(Matthew 27.15-26; Mark 15.6-15; John 18.39--19.16)

¹³Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people. ¹⁴He told them, "You brought Jesus to me and said he was a troublemaker. But I have questioned him here in front of you, and I have not found him guilty of anything that you say he has done. ¹⁵Herod didn't find him guilty either and sent him back. This man doesn't deserve to be put to death! ^16-17I will just have him beaten with a whip and set free."

¹⁸But the whole crowd shouted, "Kill Jesus! Give us Barabbas!" ¹⁹Now Barabbas was in jail because he had started a riot in the city and had murdered someone.

²⁰Pilate wanted to set Jesus free, so he spoke again to the crowds. ²¹But they kept shouting, "Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!"

²²Pilate spoke to them a third time, "But what crime has he done? I have not found him guilty of anything for which he should be put to death. I will have him beaten with a whip and set free."

²³The people kept on shouting as loud as they could for Jesus to be put to death. ²⁴Finally, Pilate gave in. ²⁵He freed the man who was in jail for rioting and murder, because he was the one the crowd wanted to be set free. Then Pilate handed Jesus over for them to do what they wanted with him.

Joseph Interprets the King's Dreams

Genesis 41 Two years later the king of Egypt dreamed he was standing beside the Nile River. ²Suddenly, seven fat, healthy cows came up from the river and started eating grass along the bank. ³Then seven ugly, skinny cows came up out of the river and ⁴ate the fat, healthy cows. When this happened, the king woke up.

⁵The king went back to sleep and had another dream. This time seven full heads of grain were growing on a single stalk. ⁶Later, seven other heads of grain appeared, but they were thin and scorched by the east wind. ⁷The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven full heads. Again the king woke up, and it had only been a dream.

⁸The next morning the king was upset. So he called in his magicians and wise men and told them what he had dreamed. None of them could tell him what the dreams meant.

⁹The king's personal servant said:

Now I remember what I was supposed to do. ¹⁰When you were angry with me and your chief cook, you threw us both in jail in the house of the captain of the guard. ¹¹One night we both had dreams, and each dream had a different meaning. ¹²A young Hebrew, who was a servant of the captain of the guard, was there with us at the time. When we told him our dreams, he explained what each of them meant, ¹³and everything happened just as he said it would. I got my job back, and the cook was put to death.

¹⁴The king sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of jail. He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to the king.

¹⁵The king said to him, "I had a dream, yet no one can explain what it means. I am told that you can interpret dreams."

¹⁶"Your Majesty," Joseph answered, "I can't do it myself, but God can give a good meaning to your dreams."

¹⁷The king told Joseph:

I dreamed I was standing on the bank of the Nile River. ¹⁸I saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river, and they began feeding on the grass. ¹⁹Next, seven skinny, bony cows came up out of the river. I have never seen such terrible looking cows anywhere in Egypt. ²⁰The skinny cows ate the fat ones. ²¹But you couldn't tell it, because these skinny cows were just as skinny as they were before. Right away, I woke up.

²²I also dreamed that I saw seven heads of grain growing on one stalk. The heads were full and ripe. ²³Then seven other heads of grain came up. They were thin and scorched by a wind from the desert. ²⁴These heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told my dreams to the magicians, but none of them could tell me the meaning of the dreams.

²⁵Joseph replied:

Your Majesty, both of your dreams mean the same thing, and in them God has shown what he is going to do. ²⁶The seven good cows stand for seven years, and so do the seven good heads of grain. ²⁷The seven skinny, ugly cows that came up later also stand for seven years, as do the seven bad heads of grain that were scorched by the east wind. The dreams mean there will be seven years when there won't be enough grain.

²⁸It is just as I said--God has shown what he intends to do. ²⁹For seven years Egypt will have more than enough grain, ³⁰but that will be followed by seven years when there won't be enough. The good years of plenty will be forgotten, and everywhere in Egypt people will be starving. ³¹The famine will be so bad that no one will remember that once there had been plenty. ³²God has given you two dreams to let you know that he has definitely decided to do this and that he will do it soon.

³³Your Majesty, you should find someone who is wise and will know what to do, so that you can put him in charge of all Egypt. ³⁴Then appoint some other officials to collect one-fifth of every crop harvested in Egypt during the seven years when there is plenty. ³⁵Give them the power to collect the grain during those good years and to store it in your cities. ³⁶It can be stored until it is needed during the seven years when there won't be enough grain in Egypt. This will keep the country from being destroyed because of the lack of food.

Joseph Is Made Governor over Egypt

³⁷The king and his officials liked this plan. ³⁸So the king said to them, "No one could possibly handle this better than Joseph, since the Spirit of God is with him."

³⁹The king told Joseph, "God is the one who has shown you these things. No one else is as wise as you are or knows as much as you do. ⁴⁰I'm putting you in charge of my palace, and everybody will have to obey you. No one will be over you except me. ⁴¹You are now governor of all Egypt!"

⁴²Then the king took off his royal ring and put it on Joseph's finger. He gave him fine clothes to wear and placed a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³He also let him ride in the chariot next to his own, and people shouted, "Make way for Joseph!" So Joseph was governor of Egypt.

⁴⁴The king told Joseph, "Although I'm king, no one in Egypt is to do anything without your permission." ⁴⁵He gave Joseph the Egyptian name Zaphenath Paneah. And he let him marry Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in the city of Heliopolis. Joseph traveled all over Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty when the king made him governor, and he went everywhere for the king. ⁴⁷For seven years there were big harvests of grain. ⁴⁸Joseph collected and stored up the extra grain in the cities of Egypt near the fields where it was harvested. ⁴⁹In fact, there was so much grain that they stopped keeping record, because it was like counting the grains of sand along the beach.

⁵⁰Joseph and his wife had two sons before the famine began. ⁵¹Their first son was named Manasseh, which means, "God has let me forget all my troubles and my family back home." ⁵²His second son was named Ephraim, which means "God has made me a success in the land where I suffered."

⁵³Egypt's seven years of plenty came to an end, ⁵⁴and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was not enough food in other countries, but all over Egypt there was plenty. ⁵⁵When the famine finally struck Egypt, the people asked the king for food, but he said, "Go to Joseph and do what he tells you to do."

⁵⁶The famine became bad everywhere in Egypt, so Joseph opened the storehouses and sold the grain to the Egyptians. ⁵⁷People from all over the world came to Egypt, because the famine was severe in their countries.

Psalm 32
[A special psalm by David.]
The Joy of Forgiveness

¹Our God, you bless everyone

whose sins you forgive and wipe away.

²You bless them by saying,

"You told me your sins, without trying to hide them,

and now I forgive you."

³Before I confessed my sins, my bones felt limp,

and I groaned all day long.

⁴Night and day your hand weighed heavily on me,

and my strength was gone as in the summer heat.

⁵So I confessed my sins and told them all to you.

I said, "I'll tell the LORD each one of my sins."

Then you forgave me and took away my guilt.

⁶We worship you, Lord, and we should always pray

whenever we find out that we have sinned.

Then we won't be swept away by a raging flood.

⁷You are my hiding place! You protect me from trouble,

and you put songs in my heart

because you have saved me.

⁸You said to me, "I will point out the road

that you should follow.

I will be your teacher and watch over you.

⁹Don't be stupid like horses and mules

that must be led with ropes to make them obey."

¹⁰All kinds of troubles will strike the wicked,

but your kindness shields those who trust you, LORD.

¹¹And so your good people should celebrate and shout.

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.