Daily Bible CEV February 06 Scroll

This Great Way of Being Saved

Hebrews 2 We must give our full attention to what we were told, so that we won't drift away. ²The message spoken by angels proved to be true, and all who disobeyed or rejected it were punished as they deserved. ³So if we refuse this great way of being saved, how can we hope to escape? The Lord himself was the first to tell about it, and people who heard the message proved to us that it was true. ⁴God himself showed that his message was true by working all kinds of powerful miracles and wonders. He also gave his Holy Spirit to anyone he chose to.

The One Who Leads Us To Be Saved

⁵We know that God did not put the future world under the power of angels. ⁶Somewhere in the Scriptures someone says to God,

"What makes you care about us humans?

Why are you concerned for weaklings such as we?

⁷You made us lower than the angels for a while.

Yet you have crowned us with glory and honor.

⁸

And you have put everything under our power!"

God has put everything under our power and has not left anything out of our power. But we still don't see it all under our power. ⁹What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels. Because of God's wonderful kindness, Jesus died for everyone. And now that Jesus has suffered and died, he is crowned with glory and honor!

¹⁰Everything belongs to God, and all things were created by his power. So God did the right thing when he made Jesus perfect by suffering, as Jesus led many of God's children to be saved and to share in his glory. ¹¹Jesus and the people he makes holy all belong to the same family. That is why he isn't ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. ¹²He even said to God,

"I will tell them your name and sing your praises

when they come together to worship."

¹³He also said,

"I will trust God."

Then he said,

"Here I am with the children

God has given me."

¹⁴We are people of flesh and blood. That is why Jesus became one of us. He died to destroy the devil, who had power over death. ¹⁵But he also died to rescue all of us who live each day in fear of dying. ¹⁶Jesus clearly did not come to help angels, but he did come to help Abraham's descendants. ¹⁷He had to be one of us, so that he could serve God as our merciful and faithful high priest and sacrifice himself for the forgiveness of our sins. ¹⁸And now that Jesus has suffered and was tempted, he can help anyone else who is tempted.

Genesis 46 ²⁸Jacob had sent his son Judah ahead of him to ask Joseph to meet them in Goshen. ²⁹So Joseph got in his chariot and went to meet his father. When they met, Joseph hugged his father around the neck and cried for a long time. ³⁰Jacob said to Joseph, "Now that I have seen you and know you are still alive, I am ready to die."

³¹Then Joseph said to his brothers and to everyone who had come with them:

I must go and tell the king that you have arrived from Canaan. ³²I will tell him that you are shepherds and that you have brought your sheep, goats, cattle, and everything else you own. ³³The king will call you in and ask what you do for a living. ³⁴When he does, be sure to say, "We are shepherds. Our families have always raised sheep." If you tell him this, he will let you settle in the region of Goshen.

Joseph wanted them to say this to the king, because the Egyptians did not like to be around anyone who raised sheep.
Genesis 47 ^1-2Joseph took five of his brothers to the king and told him, "My father and my brothers have come from Canaan. They have brought their sheep, goats, cattle, and everything else they own to the region of Goshen."

Then he introduced his brothers to the king, ³who asked them, "What do you do for a living?"

"Sir, we are shepherds," was their answer. "Our families have always raised sheep. ⁴But in our country all the pastures are dried up, and our sheep have no grass to eat. So we, your servants, have come here. Please let us live in the region of Goshen."

⁵The king said to Joseph, "It's good that your father and brothers have arrived. ⁶I will let them live anywhere they choose in the land of Egypt, but I suggest that they settle in Goshen, the best part of our land. I would also like for your finest shepherds to watch after my own sheep and goats."

⁷Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and introduced him to the king. Jacob gave the king his blessing, ⁸and the king asked him, "How old are you?"

⁹Jacob answered, "I have lived only a hundred thirty years, and I have had to move from place to place. My parents and my grandparents also had to move from place to place. But they lived much longer, and their life was not as hard as mine." ¹⁰Then Jacob gave the king his blessing once again and left. ¹¹Joseph obeyed the king's orders and gave his father and brothers some of the best land in Egypt near the city of Rameses. ¹²Joseph also provided food for their families.

A Famine in Egypt

¹³The famine was bad everywhere in Egypt and Canaan, and the people were suffering terribly. ¹⁴So Joseph sold them the grain that had been stored up, and he put the money in the king's treasury. ¹⁵But when everyone had run out of money, the Egyptians came to Joseph and demanded, "Give us more grain! If you don't, we'll soon be dead, because our money's all gone."

¹⁶"If you don't have any money," Joseph answered, "give me your animals, and I'll let you have some grain." ¹⁷From then on, they brought him their horses and donkeys and their sheep and goats in exchange for grain.

Within a year Joseph had collected every animal in Egypt. ¹⁸Then the people came to him and said:

Sir, there's no way we can hide the truth from you. We are broke, and we don't have any more animals. We have nothing left except ourselves and our land. ¹⁹Don't let us starve and our land be ruined. If you'll give us grain to eat and seed to plant, we'll sell ourselves and our land to the king. We'll become his slaves.

²⁰The famine became so severe that Joseph finally bought every piece of land in Egypt for the king ²¹and made everyone the king's slaves, ²²except the priests. The king gave the priests a regular food allowance, so they did not have to sell their land. ²³Then Joseph said to the people, "You and your land now belong to the king. I'm giving you seed to plant, ²⁴but one-fifth of your crops must go to the king. You can keep the rest as seed or as food for your families."

²⁵"Sir, you have saved our lives!" they answered. "We are glad to be slaves of the king." ²⁶Then Joseph made a law that one-fifth of the harvest would always belong to the king. Only the priests did not lose their land.

Jacob Becomes an Old Man

²⁷The people of Israel made their home in the land of Goshen, where they became prosperous and had large families. ²⁸Jacob himself lived there for seventeen years, before dying at the age of one hundred forty-seven. ²⁹When Jacob knew he did not have long to live, he called in Joseph and said, "If you really love me, you must make a solemn promise not to bury me in Egypt. ³⁰Instead, bury me in the place where my ancestors are buried."

"I will do what you have asked," Joseph answered.

³¹"Will you give me your word?" Jacob asked.

"Yes, I will," Joseph promised. After this, Jacob bowed down and prayed at the head of his bed.

Psalm 37
[By David.]
Trust the LORD

¹Don't be annoyed by anyone who does wrong,

and don't envy them.

²They will soon disappear like grass without rain.

³Trust the LORD and live right!

The land will be yours, and you will be safe.

⁴Do what the LORD wants,

and he will give you your heart's desire.

⁵Let the LORD lead you and trust him to help.

⁶Then it will be as clear as the noonday sun

that you were right.

⁷Be patient and trust the LORD.

Don't let it bother you when all goes well for those

who do sinful things.

⁸Don't be angry or furious. Anger can lead to sin.

⁹All sinners will disappear,

but if you trust the LORD, the land will be yours.

¹⁰Sinners will soon disappear, never to be found,

¹¹but the poor will take the land

and enjoy a big harvest.

¹²Merciless people make plots against good people

and snarl like animals,

¹³but the Lord laughs and knows

their time is coming soon.

¹⁴The wicked kill with swords and shoot arrows

to murder the poor and the needy

and all who do right.

¹⁵But they will be killed by their own swords,

and their arrows will be broken.

¹⁶It is better to live right and be poor

than to be sinful and rich.

¹⁷The wicked will lose all of their power,

but the LORD gives strength

to everyone who is good.

¹⁸Those who obey the LORD are daily in his care,

and what he has given them will be theirs forever.

¹⁹They won't be in trouble when times are bad,

and they will have plenty when food is scarce.

²⁰Wicked people are enemies of the LORD

and will vanish like smoke from a field on fire.

²¹An evil person borrows and never pays back;

a good person is generous and never stops giving.

²²Everyone the LORD blesses will receive the land;

everyone the LORD curses will be destroyed.

²³If you do what the LORD wants,

he will make certain each step you take is sure.

²⁴The LORD will hold your hand,

and if you stumble, you still won't fall.

²⁵As long as I can remember,

good people have never been left helpless,

and their children have never gone begging for food.

²⁶They gladly give and lend,

and their children turn out good.

²⁷If you stop sinning and start doing right,

you will keep living and be secure forever.

²⁸The LORD loves justice,

and he won't ever desert his faithful people.

He always protects them,

but destroys the children of the wicked.

²⁹God's people will own the land and live here forever.

³⁰Words of wisdom come

when good people speak for justice.

³¹They remember God's teachings,

and they never take a wrong step.

³²The wicked try to trap and kill good people,

³³but the LORD is on their side,

and he will defend them when they are on trial.

³⁴Trust the LORD and follow him.

He will give you the land,

and you will see the wicked destroyed.

³⁵I have seen brutal people abuse others

and grow strong like trees in rich soil.

³⁶Suddenly they disappeared!

I looked, but they were gone and no longer there.

³⁷Think of the bright future waiting

for all the families of honest

and innocent and peace-loving people.

³⁸But not a trace will be left

of the wicked or their families.

³⁹The LORD protects his people,

and they can come to him in times of trouble.

⁴⁰The LORD helps them and saves them from the wicked

because they run to him.

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.