Daily Bible CEV November 30 Scroll

Hagar and Sarah

Galatians 4 ²¹Some of you would like to be under the rule of the Law of Moses. But do you know what the Law says? ²²In the Scriptures we learn that Abraham had two sons. The mother of one of them was a slave, while the mother of the other one had always been free. ²³The son of the slave woman was born in the usual way. But the son of the free woman was born because of God's promise.

²⁴All of this has another meaning as well. Each of the two women stands for one of the agreements God made with his people. Hagar, the slave woman, stands for the agreement that was made at Mount Sinai. Everyone born into her family is a slave. ²⁵Hagar also stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and for the present city of Jerusalem. She and her children are slaves.

²⁶But our mother is the city of Jerusalem in heaven above, and she isn't a slave. ²⁷The Scriptures say about her,

"You have never had children, but now you can be glad.

You have never given birth, but now you can shout.

Once you had no children,

but now you will have more children

than a woman who has been married for a long time."

²⁸My friends, you were born because of this promise, just as Isaac was. ²⁹But the child who was born in the natural way made trouble for the child who was born because of the Spirit. The same thing is happening today. ³⁰The Scriptures say, "Get rid of the slave woman and her son! He won't be given anything. The son of the free woman will receive everything." ³¹My friends, we are children of the free woman and not of the slave.

There Is Still Hope

The Prophet Speaks:
Lamentations 3 I have suffered much because God was angry.

²He chased me into a dark place,

where no light could enter.

³I am the only one he punishes over and over again,

without ever stopping.

⁴God caused my skin and flesh to waste away,

and he crushed my bones.

⁵He attacked and surrounded me with hardships and trouble;

⁶

he forced me to sit in the dark like someone long dead.

⁷God built a fence around me that I cannot climb over,

and he chained me down.

⁸Even when I shouted and prayed for help,

he refused to listen.

⁹God put big rocks in my way

and made me follow a crooked path.

¹⁰God was like a bear or a lion waiting in ambush for me;

¹¹

he dragged me from the road, then tore me to shreds.

¹²God took careful aim and shot his arrows

¹³

straight through my heart.

¹⁴I am a joke to everyone--

no one ever stops making fun of me.

¹⁵God has turned my life sour.

¹⁶He made me eat gravel and rubbed me in the dirt.

¹⁷

I cannot find peace or remember happiness.

¹⁸I tell myself, "I am finished!

I can't count on the LORD to do anything for me."

¹⁹Just thinking of my troubles and my lonely wandering

makes me miserable.

²⁰That's all I ever think about, and I am depressed.

²¹

Then I remember something that fills me with hope.

²²The LORD's kindness never fails!

If he had not been merciful,

we would have been destroyed.

²³The LORD can always be trusted

to show mercy each morning.

²⁴Deep in my heart I say, "The LORD is all I need;

I can depend on him!"

²⁵The LORD is kind to everyone who trusts and obeys him.

²⁶

It is good to wait patiently for the LORD to save us.

²⁷When we are young, it is good to struggle hard

²⁸and to sit silently alone,

if this is what the LORD intends.

²⁹Being rubbed in the dirt can teach us a lesson;

³⁰

we can also learn from insults and hard knocks.

³¹The Lord won't always reject us!

³²He causes a lot of suffering,

but he also has pity because of his great love.

³³The Lord doesn't enjoy sending grief or pain.

³⁴Don't trample prisoners under your feet

³⁵

or cheat anyone out of what is rightfully theirs.

God Most High sees everything, ³⁶and he knows

when you refuse to give someone a fair trial.

³⁷No one can do anything without the Lord's approval.

³⁸Good and bad each happen

at the command of God Most High.

³⁹We're still alive! We shouldn't complain

when we are being punished for our sins.

⁴⁰Instead, we should think about the way we are living,

and turn back to the LORD.

⁴¹When we lift our hands in prayer to God in heaven,

we should offer him our hearts and say,

⁴²"We've sinned! We've rebelled against you,

and you haven't forgiven us!

⁴³Anger is written all over you,

as you pursue and slaughter us without showing pity.

⁴⁴You are behind a wall of clouds that blocks out our prayers.

⁴⁵You allowed nations to treat us like garbage;

⁴⁶

our enemies curse us.

⁴⁷We are terrified and trapped, caught and crushed."

⁴⁸My people are destroyed!

Tears flood my eyes, ⁴⁹and they won't stop

⁵⁰

until the LORD looks down from heaven and helps.

⁵¹I am horrified when I see what enemies have done

to the young women of our city.

⁵²No one had reason to hate me,

but I was hunted down like a bird.

⁵³Then they tried to kill me by tossing me into a pit

and throwing stones at me.

⁵⁴Water covered my head--

I thought I was gone.

⁵⁵From the bottom of the pit, I prayed to you, LORD.

⁵⁶

I begged you to listen. "Help!" I shouted. "Save me!"

You answered my prayer ⁵⁷and came when I was in need.

You told me, "Don't worry!"

⁵⁸

You rescued me and saved my life.

⁵⁹You saw them abuse me, LORD, so make things right.

⁶⁰You know every plot they have made against me.

⁶¹

Yes, you know their insults and their evil plans.

⁶²All day long they attack with words and whispers.

⁶³No matter what they are doing,

they keep on mocking me.

⁶⁴Pay them back for everything they have done, LORD!

⁶⁵

Put your curse on them and make them suffer.

⁶⁶Get angry and go after them

until not a trace is left under the heavens.

The Punishment of Jerusalem

The Prophet Speaks:
Lamentations 4 The purest gold is ruined and has lost its shine;

jewels from the temple lie scattered in the streets.

²These are Zion's people, worth more than purest gold;

yet they are counted worthless like dishes of clay.

³Even jackals nurse their young,

but my people are like ostriches that abandon their own.

⁴Babies are so thirsty that their tongues

are stuck to the roof of the mouth.

Children go begging for food, but no one gives them any.

⁵All who ate expensive foods lie starving in the streets;

those who grew up in luxury now sit on trash heaps.

⁶My nation was punished worse than the people of Sodom,

whose city was destroyed in a flash

without the help of human hands.

⁷The leaders of Jerusalem were purer than snow

and whiter than milk;

their bodies were healthy and glowed like jewels.

⁸Now they are blacker than tar, and no one recognizes them;

their skin clings to their bones and is drier than firewood.

⁹Being killed with a sword is better

than slowly starving to death.

¹⁰Life in the city is so bad that loving mothers

have boiled and eaten their own children.

¹¹The LORD was so fiercely angry

that he burned the city of Zion to the ground.

¹²Not a king on this earth or the people of any nation

believed enemies could break through her gates.

¹³Jerusalem was punished because her prophets and her priests

had sinned and caused the death of innocent victims.

¹⁴Yes, her prophets and priests were covered with blood;

no one would come near them,

as they wandered from street to street.

¹⁵Instead, everyone shouted, "Go away! Don't touch us!

You're filthy and unfit to belong to God's people!"

So they had to leave and become refugees.

But foreign nations told them, "You can't stay here!"

¹⁶The LORD is the one who sent them scattering,

and he has forgotten them.

No respect or kindness will be shown

to the priests or leaders.

¹⁷Our eyes became weary, hopelessly looking for help

from a nation that could not save us.

¹⁸Enemies hunted us down on every public street.

Our time was up; our doom was near.

¹⁹They swooped down faster than eagles from the sky.

They hunted for us in the hills

and set traps to catch us out in the desert.

²⁰The LORD's chosen leader was our hope for survival!

We thought he would keep us safe

somewhere among the nations,

but even he was caught

in one of their traps.

²¹You people of Edom can celebrate now!

But your time will come to suffer

and stagger around naked.

²²The people of Zion have paid for their sins,

and the Lord will soon let them return home.

But, people of Edom, you will be punished,

and your sins exposed.

Psalm 146
Shout Praises to the LORD

¹Shout praises to the LORD!

With all that I am, I will shout his praises.

²I will sing

and praise the LORD God for as long as I live.

³You can't depend on anyone, not even a great leader.

⁴Once they die and are buried,

that will be the end of all their plans.

⁵The LORD God of Jacob blesses everyone

who trusts him and depends on him.

⁶God made heaven and earth;

he created the sea and everything else.

God always keeps his word.

⁷

He gives justice to the poor and food to the hungry.

The LORD sets prisoners free ⁸and heals blind eyes.

He gives a helping hand to everyone who falls.

The LORD loves good people ⁹and looks after strangers.

He defends the rights of orphans and widows,

but destroys the wicked.

¹⁰The LORD God of Zion will rule forever!

Shout praises to the LORD!

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