Daily Bible CEV November 11 Scroll

Doing Helpful Things

Titus 3 Remind your people to obey the rulers and authorities and not to be rebellious. They must always be ready to do something helpful ²and not say cruel things or argue. They should be gentle and kind to everyone. ³We used to be stupid, disobedient, and foolish, as well as slaves of all sorts of desires and pleasures. We were evil and jealous. Everyone hated us, and we hated everyone.

⁴God our Savior showed us how good and kind he is.

⁵He saved us because of his mercy,

and not because of any good things that we have done.

God washed us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

He gave us new birth and a fresh beginning.

⁶

God sent Jesus Christ our Savior to give us his Spirit.

⁷Jesus treated us much better than we deserve.

He made us acceptable to God

and gave us the hope of eternal life.
⁸This message is certainly true.

These teachings are useful and helpful for everyone. I want you to insist that the people follow them, so that all who have faith in God will be sure to do good deeds. ⁹But don't have anything to do with stupid arguments about ancestors. And stay away from disagreements and quarrels about the Law of Moses. Such arguments are useless and senseless.

¹⁰Warn troublemakers once or twice. Then don't have anything else to do with them. ¹¹You know that their minds are twisted, and their own sins show how guilty they are.

Personal Instructions and Greetings

¹²I plan to send Artemas or Tychicus to you. After he arrives, please try your best to meet me at Nicopolis. I have decided to spend the winter there.

¹³When Zenas the lawyer and Apollos get ready to leave, help them as much as you can, so they won't have need of anything.

¹⁴Our people should learn to spend their time doing something useful and worthwhile.

¹⁵Greetings to you from everyone here. Greet all of our friends who share in our faith.

I pray that the Lord will be kind to all of you!

The LORD Will Punish Judah

The LORD said:
Jeremiah 17 People of Judah, your sins cannot be erased.

They are written on your hearts like words chiseled in stone

or carved on the corners of your altars.

^*2One generation after another has set up pagan altars

and worshiped the goddess Asherah

everywhere in your country--

on hills and mountains, and under large trees.

³So I'll take everything you own, including your altars,

and give it all to your enemies.

⁴You will lose the land that I gave you,

and I will make you slaves in a foreign country,

because you have made my anger

blaze up like a fire that won't stop burning.

Trust the LORD

⁵I, the LORD, have put a curse on those who turn from me

and trust in human strength.

⁶They will dry up like a bush in salty desert soil,

where nothing can grow.

⁷But I will bless those who trust me.

⁸They will be like trees growing beside a stream--

trees with roots that reach down to the water,

and with leaves that are always green.

They bear fruit every year

and are never worried by a lack of rain.

⁹You people of Judah are so deceitful

that you even fool yourselves, and you can't change.

¹⁰But I know your deeds and your thoughts,

and I will make sure you get what you deserve.

¹¹You cheated others, but everything you gained

will fly away, like birds hatched from stolen eggs.

Then you will discover what fools you are.

Jeremiah Prays to the LORD

¹²Our LORD, your temple is a glorious throne

that has stood on a mountain from the beginning.

¹³You are a spring of water giving Israel life and hope.

But if the people reject what you have told me,

they will be swept away like words written in dust.

¹⁴You, LORD, are the one I praise.

So heal me and rescue me!

Then I will be completely well and perfectly safe.

¹⁵The people of Judah say to me,

"Jeremiah, you claimed to tell us what the LORD has said.

So why hasn't it come true?"

¹⁶Our LORD, you chose me to care for your people,

and that's what I have done.

You know everything I have said, and I have never once

asked you to punish them.

¹⁷I trust you for protection in times of trouble,

so don't frighten me.

¹⁸Keep me from failure and disgrace,

but make my enemies fail and be disgraced.

Send destruction to make their worst fears come true.

Resting on the Sabbath

^19-20The LORD said:

Jeremiah, stand at each city gate in Jerusalem, including the one the king uses, and speak to him and everyone else. Tell them I have said:

I am the LORD, so pay attention. ^21-24If you value your lives, don't do any work on the Sabbath. Don't carry anything through the city gates or through the door of your house, or anywhere else. Keep the Sabbath day sacred!

I gave this command to your ancestors, but they were stubborn and refused to obey or to be corrected. But if you obey, ²⁵then Judah and Jerusalem will always be ruled by kings from David's family. The king and his officials will ride through these gates on horses or in chariots, and the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be with them. There will always be people living in Jerusalem, ²⁶and others will come here from the nearby villages, from the towns of Judah and Benjamin, from the hill country and the foothills to the west, and from the Southern Desert. They will bring sacrifices to please me and to give me thanks, as well as offerings of grain and incense.

²⁷But if you keep on carrying things through the city gates on the Sabbath and keep treating it as any other day, I will set fire to these gates and burn down the whole city, including the fortresses.

Jeremiah Goes to the Pottery Shop

Jeremiah 18 The LORD told me, ²"Go to the pottery shop, and when you get there, I will tell you what to say to the people."

³I went there and saw the potter making clay pots on his pottery wheel. ⁴And whenever the clay would not take the shape he wanted, he would change his mind and form it into some other shape.

⁵Then the LORD told me to say:

⁶People of Israel, I, the LORD, have power over you, just as a potter has power over clay. ⁷If I threaten to uproot and shatter an evil nation ⁸and that nation turns from its evil, I will change my mind.

⁹If I promise to make a nation strong, ¹⁰but its people start disobeying me and doing evil, then I will change my mind and not help them at all.

¹¹So listen to me, people of Judah and Jerusalem! I have decided to strike you with disaster, and I won't change my mind unless you stop sinning and start living right.

¹²But I know you won't listen. You might as well answer, "We don't care what you say. We have made plans to sin, and we are going to be stubborn and do what we want!"

¹³So I, the LORD, command you to ask the nations, and find out if they have ever heard of such a horrible sin as what you have done.

¹⁴The snow on Lebanon's mountains never melts away,

and the streams there never run dry.

¹⁵But you, my people, have turned from me

to burn incense to worthless idols.

You have left the ancient road to follow an unknown path

where you stumble over idols.

¹⁶Your land will be ruined, and every passerby

will look at it with horror and make insulting remarks.

¹⁷When your enemies attack, I will scatter you like dust

blown by an eastern wind.

Then, on that day of disaster,

I will turn my back on you.

The Plot against Jeremiah

¹⁸Some of the people said, "Let's get rid of Jeremiah! We will always have priests to teach us God's laws, as well as wise people to give us advice, and prophets to speak the LORD's messages. So, instead of listening to Jeremiah any longer, let's accuse him of a crime."

Jeremiah Prays about His Enemies

¹⁹Please, LORD, answer my prayer.

Make my enemies stop accusing me of evil.

²⁰I tried to help them, but they are paying me back

by digging a pit to trap me.

I even begged you not to punish them.

²¹But now I am asking you to let their children starve

or be killed in war.

Let women lose their husbands and sons

to disease and violence.

²²These people have dug pits and set traps for me, LORD.

Make them scream in fear when you send enemy troops

to attack their homes.

²³You know they plan to kill me.

So get angry and punish them!

Don't ever forgive their terrible crimes.

Psalm 127
[A song by Solomon for worship.]
Only the LORD Can Bless a Home

¹Without the help of the LORD

it is useless to build a home or to guard a city.

²It is useless to get up early and stay up late

in order to earn a living.

God takes care of his own, even while they sleep.

³Children are a blessing and a gift from the LORD.

⁴Having a lot of children

to take care of you in your old age

is like a warrior with a lot of arrows.

⁵The more you have, the better off you will be,

because they will protect you

when your enemies attack with arguments.

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.