Daily Bible GNT January 03 Scroll

Love for Enemies
(Matthew 5.38-48; 7.12a)

Luke 6 ²⁷"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹If anyone hits you on one cheek, let him hit the other one too; if someone takes your coat, let him have your shirt as well. ³⁰Give to everyone who asks you for something, and when someone takes what is yours, do not ask for it back. ³¹Do for others just what you want them to do for you.

³²"If you love only the people who love you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners love those who love them! ³³And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners do that! ³⁴And if you lend only to those from whom you hope to get it back, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount! ³⁵No! Love your enemies and do good to them; lend and expect nothing back. You will then have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God. For he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked. ³⁶Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.

Judging Others
(Matthew 7.1-5)

³⁷"Do not judge others, and God will not judge you; do not condemn others, and God will not condemn you; forgive others, and God will forgive you. ³⁸Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands--all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you."

³⁹And Jesus told them this parable: "One blind man cannot lead another one; if he does, both will fall into a ditch. ⁴⁰No pupils are greater than their teacher; but all pupils, when they have completed their training, will be like their teacher.

⁴¹"Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but pay no attention to the log in your own eye? ⁴²How can you say to your brother, 'Please, brother, let me take that speck out of your eye,' yet cannot even see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit
(Matthew 7.16-20; 12.33-35)

⁴³"A healthy tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a poor tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴Every tree is known by the fruit it bears; you do not pick figs from thorn bushes or gather grapes from bramble bushes. ⁴⁵A good person brings good out of the treasure of good things in his heart; a bad person brings bad out of his treasure of bad things. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

The Two House Builders
(Matthew 7.24-27)

⁴⁶"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and yet don't do what I tell you? ⁴⁷Anyone who comes to me and listens to my words and obeys them--I will show you what he is like. ⁴⁸He is like a man who, in building his house, dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. The river flooded over and hit that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹But anyone who hears my words and does not obey them is like a man who built his house without laying a foundation; when the flood hit that house it fell at once--and what a terrible crash that was!"

Human Wickedness

Genesis 6 When people had spread all over the world, and daughters were being born, ²some of the heavenly beings saw that these young women were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked. ³Then the LORD said, "I will not allow people to live forever; they are mortal. From now on they will live no longer than 120 years." ⁴In those days, and even later, there were giants on the earth who were descendants of human women and the heavenly beings. They were the great heroes and famous men of long ago.

⁵When the LORD saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all the time, ⁶he was sorry that he had ever made them and put them on the earth. He was so filled with regret ⁷that he said, "I will wipe out these people I have created, and also the animals and the birds, because I am sorry that I made any of them." ⁸But the LORD was pleased with Noah.

Noah

^9-10This is the story of Noah. He had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Noah had no faults and was the only good man of his time. He lived in fellowship with God, ¹¹but everyone else was evil in God's sight, and violence had spread everywhere. ¹²God looked at the world and saw that it was evil, for the people were all living evil lives.

¹³God said to Noah, "I have decided to put an end to all people. I will destroy them completely, because the world is full of their violent deeds. ¹⁴Build a boat for yourself out of good timber; make rooms in it and cover it with tar inside and out. ¹⁵Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. ¹⁶Make a roof for the boat and leave a space of 18 inches between the roof and the sides. Build it with three decks and put a door in the side. ¹⁷I am going to send a flood on the earth to destroy every living being. Everything on the earth will die, ¹⁸but I will make a covenant with you. Go into the boat with your wife, your sons, and their wives. ^19-20Take into the boat with you a male and a female of every kind of animal and of every kind of bird, in order to keep them alive. ²¹Take along all kinds of food for you and for them." ²²Noah did everything that God commanded.

The Flood

Genesis 7 The LORD said to Noah, "Go into the boat with your whole family; I have found that you are the only one in all the world who does what is right. ²Take with you seven pairs of each kind of ritually clean animal, but only one pair of each kind of unclean animal. ³Take also seven pairs of each kind of bird. Do this so that every kind of animal and bird will be kept alive to reproduce again on the earth. ⁴Seven days from now I am going to send rain that will fall for forty days and nights, in order to destroy all the living beings that I have made." ⁵And Noah did everything that the LORD commanded.

⁶Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came on the earth. ⁷He and his wife, and his sons and their wives, went into the boat to escape the flood. ⁸A male and a female of every kind of animal and bird, whether ritually clean or unclean, ⁹went into the boat with Noah, as God had commanded. ¹⁰Seven days later the flood came.

¹¹When Noah was six hundred years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month all the outlets of the vast body of water beneath the earth burst open, all the floodgates of the sky were opened, ¹²and rain fell on the earth for forty days and nights. ¹³On that same day Noah and his wife went into the boat with their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. ¹⁴With them went every kind of animal, domestic and wild, large and small, and every kind of bird. ¹⁵A male and a female of each kind of living being went into the boat with Noah, ¹⁶as God had commanded. Then the LORD shut the door behind Noah.

¹⁷The flood continued for forty days, and the water became deep enough for the boat to float. ¹⁸The water became deeper, and the boat drifted on the surface. ¹⁹It became so deep that it covered the highest mountains; ²⁰it went on rising until it was about twenty-five feet above the tops of the mountains. ²¹Every living being on the earth died--every bird, every animal, and every person. ²²Everything on earth that breathed died. ²³The LORD destroyed all living beings on the earth--human beings, animals, and birds. The only ones left were Noah and those who were with him in the boat. ²⁴The water did not start going down for a hundred and fifty days.

Morning Prayer for Help

Psalm 3 I have so many enemies, LORD,

so many who turn against me!

²They talk about me and say,

"God will not help him."

³But you, O LORD, are always my shield from danger;

you give me victory

and restore my courage.

⁴I call to the LORD for help,

and from his sacred hill he answers me.

⁵I lie down and sleep,

and all night long the LORD protects me.

⁶I am not afraid of the thousands of enemies

who surround me on every side.

⁷Come, LORD! Save me, my God!

You punish all my enemies

and leave them powerless to harm me.

⁸Victory comes from the LORD--

may he bless his people.

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

These daily Bible readings from the Good News Translation (GNT), formerly the Today's English Version (TEV), are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. All BibleCard® images are copyrighted by iCreative. All rights reserved.