Daily Bible CEV November 20 Scroll

Wives and Husbands

1 Peter 3 If you are a wife, you must put your husband first. Even if he opposes our message, you will win him over by what you do. No one else will have to say anything to him, ²because he will see how you honor God and live a pure life. ³Don't depend on things like fancy hairdos or gold jewelry or expensive clothes to make you look beautiful. ⁴Be beautiful in your heart by being gentle and quiet. This kind of beauty will last, and God considers it very special.

⁵Long ago those women who worshiped God and put their hope in him made themselves beautiful by putting their husbands first. ⁶For example, Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her true children, if you do right and don't let anything frighten you.

⁷If you are a husband, you should be thoughtful of your wife. Treat her with honor, because she isn't as strong as you are, and she shares with you in the gift of life. Then nothing will stand in the way of your prayers.

Suffering for Doing Right

⁸Finally, all of you should agree and have concern and love for each other. You should also be kind and humble. ⁹Don't be hateful and insult people just because they are hateful and insult you. Instead, treat everyone with kindness. You are God's chosen ones, and he will bless you. The Scriptures say,

¹⁰"Do you really love life? Do you want to be happy?

Then stop saying cruel things and quit telling lies.

¹¹Give up your evil ways and do right,

as you find and follow the road that leads to peace.

¹²The Lord watches over everyone who obeys him,

and he listens to their prayers.

But he opposes everyone who does evil."

¹³Can anyone really harm you for being eager to do good deeds? ¹⁴Even if you have to suffer for doing good things, God will bless you. So stop being afraid and don't worry about what people might do. ¹⁵Honor Christ and let him be the Lord of your life.

Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope. ¹⁶Give a kind and respectful answer and keep your conscience clear. This way you will make people ashamed for saying bad things about your good conduct as a follower of Christ. ¹⁷You are better off to obey God and suffer for doing right than to suffer for doing wrong.

¹⁸Christ died once for our sins.

An innocent person died for those who are guilty.

Christ did this to bring you to God,

when his body was put to death

and his spirit was made alive.

¹⁹Christ then preached to the spirits that were being kept in prison. ²⁰They had disobeyed God while Noah was building the boat, but God had been patient with them. Eight people went into that boat and were brought safely through the flood.

²¹Those flood waters were like baptism that now saves you. But baptism is more than just washing your body. It means turning to God with a clear conscience, because Jesus Christ was raised from death. ²²Christ is now in heaven, where he sits at the right side of God. All angels, authorities, and powers are under his control.

Learn a Lesson from the Rechabites

Jeremiah 35 When Jehoiakim was king of Judah, the LORD told me, ²"Go to the Rechabite clan and invite them to meet you in one of the side rooms of the temple. When they arrive, offer them a drink of wine."

³So I went to Jaazaniah, the leader of the clan, and I invited him and all the men of his clan. ⁴I brought them into the temple courtyard and took them upstairs to a room belonging to the prophets who were followers of Hanan son of Igdaliah. It was next to a room belonging to some of the officials, and that room was over the one belonging to Maaseiah, a priest who was one of the high officials in the temple.

⁵I set out some large bowls full of wine together with some cups, and then I said to the Rechabites, "Have some wine!"

⁶But they answered:

No! The ancestor of our clan, Jonadab son of Rechab, made a rule that we must obey. He said, "Don't ever drink wine ⁷or build houses or plant crops and vineyards. Instead, you must always live in tents and move from place to place. If you obey this command, you will live a long time."

^8-10Our clan has always obeyed Jonadab's command. To this very day, we and our wives and sons and daughters don't drink wine or build houses or plant vineyards or crops. And we have lived in tents, ¹¹except now we have to live inside Jerusalem because Nebuchadnezzar has taken over the countryside with his army from Babylonia and Syria.

^12-13Then the LORD told me to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:

I, the LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel, want you to learn a lesson ¹⁴from the Rechabite clan. Their ancestor Jonadab told his descendants never to drink wine, and to this very day they have obeyed him. But I have spoken to you over and over, and you haven't obeyed me! ¹⁵You refused to listen to my prophets, who kept telling you, "Stop doing evil and worshiping other gods! Start obeying the LORD, and he will let you live in this land he gave your ancestors."

¹⁶The Rechabites have obeyed the command of their ancestor Jonadab, but you have not obeyed me, ¹⁷your God. I am the LORD All-Powerful, and I warned you about the terrible things that would happen to you if you did not listen to me. You have ignored me, so now disaster will strike you. I, the LORD, have spoken.

The LORD Makes a Promise to the Rechabites

¹⁸Then the LORD told me to say to the Rechabite clan:

I am the LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel. You have obeyed your ancestor Jonadab, ¹⁹so I promise that your clan will be my servants and will never die out.

King Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah's First Scroll

Jeremiah 36 During the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD said to me, "Jeremiah, ²since the time Josiah was king, I have been speaking to you about Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Now, get a scroll and write down everything I have told you, ³then read it to the people of Judah. Maybe they will stop sinning when they hear what terrible things I plan for them. And if they turn to me, I will forgive them."

⁴I sent for Baruch son of Neriah and asked him to help me. I repeated everything the LORD had told me, and Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll. ⁵Then I said,

Baruch, the officials refuse to let me go into the LORD's temple, ⁶so you must go instead. Wait for the next holy day when the people of Judah come to the temple to pray and to go without eating. Then take this scroll to the temple and read it aloud. ⁷The LORD is furious, and if the people hear how he is going to punish them, maybe they will ask to be forgiven.

^8-10In the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim was king, the leaders set a day when everyone who lived in Jerusalem or who was visiting here had to pray and go without eating. So Baruch took the scroll to the upper courtyard of the temple. He went over to the side of the courtyard and stood in a covered area near New Gate, where he read the scroll aloud.

This covered area belonged to Gemariah, one of the king's highest officials. ¹¹Gemariah's son Micaiah was there and heard Baruch read what the LORD had said. ¹²When Baruch finished reading, Micaiah went down to the palace. His father Gemariah was in the officials' room, meeting with the rest of the king's officials, including Elishama, Delaiah, Elnathan, and Zedekiah. ¹³Micaiah told them what he had heard Baruch reading to the people. ¹⁴Then the officials sent Jehudi and Shelemiah to tell Baruch, "Bring us that scroll."

When Baruch arrived with the scroll, ¹⁵the officials said, "Please sit down and read it to us," which he did. ¹⁶After they heard what was written on the scroll, they were worried and said to each other, "The king needs to hear this!" Turning to Baruch, they asked, ¹⁷"Did someone tell you what to write on this scroll?"

¹⁸"Yes, Jeremiah did," Baruch replied. "I wrote down just what he told me."

¹⁹The officials said, "You and Jeremiah must go into hiding, and don't tell anyone where you are."

^20-22The officials put the scroll in Elishama's room and went to see the king, who was in one of the rooms where he lived and worked during the winter. It was the ninth month of the year, so there was a fire burning in the fireplace, and the king was sitting nearby. After the officials told the king about the scroll, he sent Jehudi to get it. Then Jehudi started reading the scroll to the king and his officials. ^23-25But every time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king would tell him to cut them off with his penknife and throw them in the fire. Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, but he ignored them, and soon there was nothing left of it.

The king and his servants listened to what was written on the scroll, but they were not afraid, and they did not tear their clothes in sorrow.

²⁶The king told his son Jerahmeel to take Seraiah and Shelemiah and to go arrest Baruch and me. But the LORD kept them from finding us.

Jeremiah's Second Scroll

²⁷I had told Baruch what to write on that first scroll, but King Jehoiakim had burned it. So the LORD told me ²⁸to get another scroll and write down everything that had been on the first one. ²⁹Then he told me to say to King Jehoiakim:

Not only did you burn Jeremiah's scroll, you had the nerve to ask why he had written that the king of Babylonia would attack and ruin the land, killing all the people and even the animals. ³⁰So I, the LORD, promise that you will be killed and your body thrown out on the ground. The sun will beat down on it during the day, and the frost will settle on it at night. And none of your descendants will ever be king of Judah. ³¹You, your children, and your servants are evil, and I will punish all of you. I warned you and the people of Judah and Jerusalem that I would bring disaster, but none of you have listened. So now you are doomed!

³²After the LORD finished speaking to me, I got another scroll and gave it to Baruch. Then I told him what to write, so this second scroll would contain even more than was on the scroll Jehoiakim had burned.

Psalm 136
God's Love Never Fails

¹Praise the LORD! He is good.

God's love never fails.

²Praise the God of all gods.

God's love never fails.

³Praise the Lord of lords.

God's love never fails.

⁴Only God works great miracles.

God's love never fails.

⁵With wisdom he made the sky.

God's love never fails.

⁶The Lord stretched the earth over the ocean.

God's love never fails.

⁷He made the bright lights in the sky.

God's love never fails.

⁸He lets the sun rule each day.

God's love never fails.

⁹He lets the moon and the stars rule each night.

God's love never fails.

¹⁰God struck down the first-born in every Egyptian family.

God's love never fails.

¹¹He rescued Israel from Egypt.

God's love never fails.

¹²God used his great strength and his powerful arm.

God's love never fails.

¹³He split the Red Sea apart.

God's love never fails.

¹⁴The Lord brought Israel safely through the sea.

God's love never fails.

¹⁵He destroyed the Egyptian king and his army there.

God's love never fails.

¹⁶The Lord led his people through the desert.

God's love never fails.

¹⁷Our God defeated mighty kings.

God's love never fails.

¹⁸And he killed famous kings.

God's love never fails.

¹⁹One of them was Sihon, king of the Amorites.

God's love never fails.

²⁰Another was King Og of Bashan.

God's love never fails.

²¹God took away their land.

God's love never fails.

²²He gave their land to Israel, the people who serve him.

God's love never fails.

²³God saw the trouble we were in.

God's love never fails.

²⁴He rescued us from our enemies.

God's love never fails.

²⁵He gives food to all who live.

God's love never fails.

²⁶Praise God in heaven!

God's love never fails.

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.