Daily Bible CEV February 19 Scroll

MATTHEW

The Ancestors of Jesus
(Luke 3.23-38)

Matthew 1 Jesus Christ came from the family of King David and also from the family of Abraham. And this is a list of his ancestors. ^2-6aFrom Abraham to King David, his ancestors were:

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and his brothers (Judah's sons were Perez and Zerah, and their mother was Tamar), Hezron;

Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz (his mother was Rahab), Obed (his mother was Ruth), Jesse, and King David.

^6b-11From David to the time of the exile in Babylonia, the ancestors of Jesus were:

David, Solomon (his mother had been Uriah's wife), Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram;

Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, and Jehoiachin and his brothers.

^12-16From the exile to the birth of Jesus, his ancestors were:

Jehoiachin, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim;

Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, and Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

¹⁷There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David. There were also fourteen from David to the exile in Babylonia and fourteen more to the birth of the Messiah.

The Birth of Jesus
(Luke 2.1-7)

¹⁸This is how Jesus Christ was born. A young woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph from King David's family. But before they were married, she learned that she was going to have a baby by God's Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Joseph was a good man and did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he decided to quietly call off the wedding.

²⁰While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, "Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. ²¹Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

²²So the Lord's promise came true, just as the prophet had said, ²³"A virgin will have a baby boy, and he will be called Immanuel," which means "God is with us."

²⁴After Joseph woke up, he and Mary were soon married, just as the Lord's angel had told him to do. ²⁵But they did not sleep together before her baby was born. Then Joseph named him Jesus.

The Ten Commandments
(Deuteronomy 5.1-21)

Exodus 20 God said to the people of Israel:

²I am the LORD your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.

³Do not worship any god except me.

⁴Do not make idols that look like anything in the sky or on earth or in the ocean under the earth. ⁵Don't bow down and worship idols. I am the LORD your God, and I demand all your love. If you reject me, I will punish your families for three or four generations. ⁶But if you love me and obey my laws, I will be kind to your families for thousands of generations.

⁷Do not misuse my name. I am the LORD your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name.

⁸Remember that the Sabbath Day belongs to me. ⁹You have six days when you can do your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day of each week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day--not you, your children, your slaves, your animals, or the foreigners who live in your towns. ¹¹In six days I made the sky, the earth, the oceans, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That's why I made the Sabbath a special day that belongs to me.

¹²Respect your father and your mother, and you will live a long time in the land I am giving you.

¹³Do not murder.

¹⁴Be faithful in marriage.

¹⁵Do not steal.

¹⁶Do not tell lies about others.

¹⁷Do not want anything that belongs to someone else. Don't want anyone's house, wife or husband, slaves, oxen, donkeys or anything else.

The People Are Afraid
(Deuteronomy 5.23-33)

¹⁸The people trembled with fear when they heard the thunder and the trumpet and saw the lightning and the smoke coming from the mountain. They stood a long way off ¹⁹and said to Moses, "If you speak to us, we will listen. But don't let God speak to us, or we will die!"

²⁰"Don't be afraid!" Moses replied. "God has come only to test you, so that by obeying him you won't sin." ²¹But when Moses went near the thick cloud where God was, the people stayed a long way off.

Idols and Altars

²²The LORD told Moses to say to the people of Israel:

With your own eyes, you saw me speak to you from heaven. ²³So you must never make idols of silver or gold to worship in place of me.

²⁴Build an altar out of earth, and offer on it your sacrifices of sheep, goats, and cattle. Wherever I choose to be worshiped, I will come down to bless you. ²⁵If you ever build an altar for me out of stones, do not use any tools to chisel the stones, because that would make the altar unfit. ²⁶And don't build an altar that requires steps; you might expose yourself when you climb up.

Hebrew Slaves
(Deuteronomy 15.12-18)

Exodus 21 The LORD gave Moses the following laws for his people:

²If you buy a Hebrew slave, he must remain your slave for six years. But in the seventh year you must set him free, without cost to him. ³If he was single at the time you bought him, he alone must be set free. But if he was married at the time, both he and his wife must be given their freedom. ⁴If you give him a wife, and they have children, only the man himself must be set free; his wife and children remain the property of his owner.

⁵But suppose the slave loves his wife and children so much that he won't leave without them. ⁶Then he must stand beside either the door or the doorpost at the place of worship, while his owner punches a small hole through one of his ears with a sharp metal rod. This makes him a slave for life.

⁷A young woman who was sold by her father doesn't gain her freedom in the same way that a man does. ⁸If she doesn't please the man who bought her to be his wife, he must let her be bought back. He cannot sell her to foreigners; this would break the contract he made with her. ⁹If he selects her as a wife for his son, he must treat her as his own daughter.

¹⁰If the man later marries another woman, he must continue to provide food and clothing for the one he bought and to treat her as a wife. ¹¹If he fails to do any of these things, she must be given her freedom without cost.

Murder and Other Violent Crimes

The LORD said:

¹²Death is the punishment for murder. ¹³But if you did not intend to kill someone, and I, the LORD, let it happen anyway, you may run for safety to a place that I have set aside. ¹⁴If you plan in advance to murder someone, there's no escape, not even by holding on to my altar. You will be dragged off and killed.

¹⁵Death is the punishment for attacking your father or mother.

¹⁶Death is the punishment for kidnapping. If you sell the person you kidnapped, or if you are caught with that person, the penalty is death.

¹⁷Death is the punishment for cursing your father or mother.

¹⁸Suppose two of you are arguing, and you hit the other with either a rock or your fist, without causing a fatal injury. If the victim has to stay in bed, ¹⁹and later has to use a stick when walking outside, you must pay for the loss of time and do what you can to help until the injury is completely healed. That's your only responsibility.

²⁰Death is the punishment for beating to death any of your slaves. ²¹However, if the slave lives a few days after the beating, you are not to be punished. After all, you have already lost the services of that slave who was your property.

²²Suppose a pregnant woman suffers a miscarriage as the result of an injury caused by someone who is fighting. If she isn't badly hurt, the one who injured her must pay whatever fine her husband demands and the judges approve. ²³But if she is seriously injured, the payment will be life for life, ²⁴eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵burn for burn, cut for cut, and bruise for bruise.

²⁶If you hit one of your slaves and cause the loss of an eye, the slave must be set free. ²⁷The same law applies if you knock out a slave's tooth--the slave goes free.

²⁸A bull that kills someone with its horns must be killed and its meat destroyed, but the owner of the bull isn't responsible for the death.

²⁹Suppose you own a bull that has been in the habit of attacking people, but you have refused to keep it fenced in. If that bull kills someone, both you and the bull must be put to death by stoning. ³⁰However, you may save your own life by paying whatever fine is demanded. ³¹This same law applies if the bull gores someone's son or daughter. ³²If the bull kills a slave, you must pay the slave owner thirty pieces of silver for the loss of the slave, and the bull must be killed by stoning.

³³Suppose someone's ox or donkey is killed by falling into an open pit that you dug or left uncovered on your property. ³⁴You must pay for the dead animal, and it becomes yours.

³⁵If your bull kills someone else's, yours must be sold. Then the money from your bull and the meat from the dead bull must be divided equally between you and the other owner.

³⁶If you refuse to fence in a bull that is known to attack others, you must pay for any animal it kills, but the dead animal will belong to you.

Wisdom Gives a Feast

Proverbs 9 Wisdom has built her house with its seven columns.

²She has prepared the meat and set out the wine.

Her feast is ready.

³She has sent her servant women

to announce her invitation from the highest hills:

⁴"Everyone who is ignorant or foolish is invited!

⁵

All of you are welcome to my meat and wine.

⁶If you want to live, give up your foolishness

and let understanding guide your steps."

True Wisdom

⁷Correct a worthless bragger,

and all you will get are insults and injuries.

⁸Any bragger you correct will only hate you.

But if you correct someone who has common sense,

you will be loved.

⁹If you have good sense,

instruction will help you to have even better sense.

And if you live right,

education will help you to know even more.

¹⁰Respect and obey the LORD!

This is the beginning of wisdom.

To have understanding, you must know the Holy God.

¹¹I am Wisdom.

If you follow me, you will live a long time.

¹²Good sense is good for you,

but if you brag, you hurt yourself.

A Foolish Invitation

¹³Stupidity is reckless, senseless, and foolish.

¹⁴She sits in front of her house

and on the highest hills in the town.

¹⁵She shouts to everyone who passes by,

¹⁶

"If you are stupid, come on inside!"

And to every fool she says,

¹⁷"Stolen water tastes best,

and the food you eat in secret tastes best of all."

¹⁸None who listen to Stupidity understand

that her guests are as good as dead.

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.