Daily Bible CEV February 11 Scroll

A Better Promise

Hebrews 8 What I mean is that we have a high priest who sits at the right side of God's great throne in heaven. ²He also serves as the priest in the most holy place inside the real tent there in heaven. This tent of worship was set up by the Lord, not by humans.

³Since all priests must offer gifts and sacrifices, Christ also needed to have something to offer. ⁴If he were here on earth, he would not be a priest at all, because here the Law appoints other priests to offer sacrifices. ⁵But the tent where they serve is just a copy and a shadow of the real one in heaven. Before Moses made the tent, he was told, "Be sure to make it exactly like the pattern you were shown on the mountain!" ⁶Now Christ has been appointed to serve as a priest in a much better way, and he has given us much assurance of a better agreement.

⁷If the first agreement with God had been all right, there would not have been any need for another one. ⁸But the Lord found fault with it and said,

"I tell you the time will come,

when I will make a new agreement

with the people of Israel and the people of Judah.

⁹It won't be like the agreement

that I made with their ancestors,

when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt.

They broke their agreement with me,

and I stopped caring about them!

¹⁰"But now I tell the people of Israel

this is my new agreement:

'The time will come when I, the Lord,

will write my laws on their minds and hearts.

I will be their God, and they will be my people.

¹¹Not one of them will have to teach another

to know me, their Lord.'

"All of them will know me,

no matter who they are.

¹²I will treat them with kindness,

even though they are wicked.

I will forget their sins."

¹³When the Lord talks about a new agreement, he means that the first one is out of date. And anything that is old and useless will soon disappear.

Moses and Aaron Go to the King of Egypt

Exodus 5 Moses and Aaron went to the king of Egypt and told him, "The LORD God says, 'Let my people go into the desert, so they can honor me with a celebration there.' "

²"Who is this LORD and why should I obey him?" the king replied. "I refuse to let you and your people go!"

³They answered, "The LORD God of the Hebrews, has appeared to us. Please let us walk three days into the desert where we can offer sacrifices to him. If you don't, he may strike us down with terrible troubles or with war."

^4-5The king said, "Moses and Aaron, why are you keeping these people from working? Look how many you are keeping from doing their work. Now everyone get back to work!"

⁶That same day the king gave orders to his slave bosses and to the men directly in charge of the Israelite slaves. He told them:

⁷Don't give the slaves any more straw to put in their bricks. Force them to find their own straw wherever they can, ⁸but they must make the same number of bricks as before. They are lazy, or else they would not beg me to let them go and sacrifice to their God. ⁹Make them work so hard that they won't have time to listen to these lies.

¹⁰The slave bosses and the men in charge of the slaves went out and told them, "The king says he will not give you any more straw. ¹¹Go and find your own straw wherever you can, but you must still make as many bricks as before."

¹²The slaves went all over Egypt, looking for straw. ¹³But the slave bosses were hard on them and kept saying, "Each day you have to make as many bricks as you did when you were given straw." ¹⁴The bosses beat the men in charge of the slaves and said, "Why didn't you force the slaves to make as many bricks yesterday and today as they did before?"

¹⁵Finally, the men in charge of the slaves went to the king and said, "Why are you treating us like this? ¹⁶No one brings us any straw, but we are still ordered to make the same number of bricks. We are beaten with whips, and your own people are to blame."

¹⁷The king replied, "You are lazy--nothing but lazy! That's why you keep asking me to let you go and sacrifice to your LORD. ¹⁸Get back to work! You won't be given straw, but you must still make the same number of bricks."

¹⁹The men knew they were in deep trouble when they were ordered to make the same number of bricks each day. ²⁰After they left the king, they went to see Moses and Aaron, who had been waiting for them. ²¹Then the men said, "We hope the LORD will punish both of you for making the king and his officials hate us. Now they even have an excuse to kill us."

The LORD's Promise to Moses

²²Moses left them and prayed, "Our LORD, why have you brought so much trouble on your people? Is that why you sent me here? ²³Ever since you told me to speak to the king, he has caused nothing but trouble for these people. And you haven't done a thing to help."
Exodus 6 The LORD God told Moses:

Soon you will see what I will do to the king. Because of my mighty power, he will let my people go, and he will even chase them out of his country.

²My name is the LORD. ³But when I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I came as God All-Powerful and did not use my name. ⁴I made an agreement and promised them the land of Canaan, where they were living as foreigners. ⁵Now I have seen how the people of Israel are suffering because of the Egyptians, and I will keep my promise.

⁶Here is my message for Israel: "I am the LORD! And with my mighty power I will punish the Egyptians and free you from slavery. ⁷I will accept you as my people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I was the one who rescued you from the Egyptians. ⁸I will bring you into the land that I solemnly promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and it will be yours. I am the LORD!"

⁹When Moses told this to the Israelites, they were too discouraged and mistreated to believe him.

¹⁰Then the LORD told Moses ¹¹to demand that the king of Egypt let the Israelites leave. ¹²But Moses replied, "I'm not a powerful speaker. If the Israelites won't listen to me, why should the king of Egypt?" ¹³But the LORD sent Aaron and Moses with a message for the Israelites and for the king; he also ordered Aaron and Moses to free the people from Egypt.

Family Record of Aaron and Moses

¹⁴The following men were the heads of their ancestral clans:

The sons of Reuben, Jacob's oldest son, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

¹⁵The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

¹⁶Levi lived to be one hundred thirty-seven; his sons were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹⁷Gershon's sons were Libni and Shimei.

¹⁸Kohath lived to be one hundred thirty-three; his sons were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

¹⁹Merari's sons were Mahli and Mushi. All of the above were from the Levi tribe.

²⁰Amram lived to be one hundred thirty-seven. He married his father's sister Jochebed, and they had two sons, Aaron and Moses.

²¹Izhar's sons were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.

²²Uzziel's sons were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

²³Aaron married Elisheba. She was the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon; they had four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

²⁴Korah's sons were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph.

²⁵Aaron's son Eleazar married one of Putiel's daughters, and their son was Phinehas. This ends the list of those who were the heads of clans in the Levi tribe.

²⁶The LORD had commanded Aaron and Moses to lead every family and tribe of Israel out of Egypt, ²⁷and so they ordered the king of Egypt to set the people of Israel free.

How Proverbs Can Be Used

Proverbs 1 These are the proverbs of King Solomon of Israel,

the son of David.

²Proverbs will teach you wisdom and self-control

and how to understand sayings with deep meanings.

³You will learn what is right and honest and fair.

⁴From these, an ordinary person can learn to be smart,

and young people can gain knowledge and good sense.

⁵If you are already wise, you will become even wiser.

And if you are smart, you will learn to understand

⁶

proverbs and sayings, as well as words of wisdom

and all kinds of riddles.

⁷Respect and obey the LORD!

This is the beginning of knowledge.

Only a fool rejects wisdom and good advice.

Warnings against Bad Friends

⁸My child, obey the teachings of your parents,

⁹and wear their teachings as you would a lovely hat

or a pretty necklace.

¹⁰Don't be tempted by sinners or listen ¹¹when they say,

"Come on! Let's gang up and kill somebody,

just for the fun of it!

¹²They're well and healthy now,

but we'll finish them off once and for all.

¹³We'll take their valuables

and fill our homes with stolen goods.

¹⁴If you join our gang, you'll get your share."

¹⁵Don't follow anyone like that or do what they do.

¹⁶They are in a big hurry to commit some crime,

perhaps even murder.

¹⁷They are like a bird that sees the bait,

but ignores the trap.

¹⁸They gang up to murder someone,

but they are the victims.

¹⁹The wealth you get from crime robs you of your life.

Wisdom Speaks

²⁰Wisdom shouts in the streets wherever crowds gather.

²¹She shouts in the marketplaces and near the city gates

as she says to the people,

²²"How much longer will you enjoy being stupid fools?

Won't you ever stop sneering and laughing at knowledge?

²³

Listen as I correct you and tell you what I think.

²⁴You completely ignored me and refused to listen;

²⁵you rejected my advice and paid no attention

when I warned you.

²⁶"So when you are struck by some terrible disaster,

²⁷or when trouble and distress surround you like a whirlwind,

I will laugh and make fun.

²⁸You will ask for my help, but I won't listen;

you will search, but you won't find me.

²⁹No, you would not learn,

and you refused to respect the LORD.

³⁰You rejected my advice and paid no attention

when I warned you.

³¹"Now you will eat the fruit of what you have done,

until you are stuffed full with your own schemes.

³²Sin and self-satisfaction bring destruction and death

to stupid fools.

³³But if you listen to me, you will be safe and secure

without fear of disaster."

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.