Daily Bible GNT January 15 Scroll

Riches in Heaven
(Matthew 6.19-21)

Luke 12 ³²"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom. ³³Sell all your belongings and give the money to the poor. Provide for yourselves purses that don't wear out, and save your riches in heaven, where they will never decrease, because no thief can get to them, and no moth can destroy them. ³⁴For your heart will always be where your riches are.

Watchful Servants

³⁵"Be ready for whatever comes, dressed for action and with your lamps lit, ³⁶like servants who are waiting for their master to come back from a wedding feast. When he comes and knocks, they will open the door for him at once. ³⁷How happy are those servants whose master finds them awake and ready when he returns! I tell you, he will take off his coat, have them sit down, and will wait on them. ³⁸How happy they are if he finds them ready, even if he should come at midnight or even later! ³⁹And you can be sure that if the owner of a house knew the time when the thief would come, he would not let the thief break into his house. ⁴⁰And you, too, must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him."

The Faithful or the Unfaithful Servant
(Matthew 24.45-51)

⁴¹Peter said, "Lord, does this parable apply to us, or do you mean it for everyone?"

⁴²The Lord answered, "Who, then, is the faithful and wise servant? He is the one that his master will put in charge, to run the household and give the other servants their share of the food at the proper time. ⁴³How happy that servant is if his master finds him doing this when he comes home! ⁴⁴Indeed, I tell you, the master will put that servant in charge of all his property. ⁴⁵But if that servant says to himself that his master is taking a long time to come back and if he begins to beat the other servants, both the men and the women, and eats and drinks and gets drunk, ⁴⁶then the master will come back one day when the servant does not expect him and at a time he does not know. The master will cut him in pieces and make him share the fate of the disobedient.

⁴⁷"The servant who knows what his master wants him to do, but does not get himself ready and do it, will be punished with a heavy whipping. ⁴⁸But the servant who does not know what his master wants, and yet does something for which he deserves a whipping, will be punished with a light whipping. Much is required from the person to whom much is given; much more is required from the person to whom much more is given.

Jesus the Cause of Division
(Matthew 10.34-36)

⁴⁹"I came to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰I have a baptism to receive, and how distressed I am until it is over! ⁵¹Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the world? No, not peace, but division. ⁵²From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. ⁵³Fathers will be against their sons, and sons against their fathers; mothers will be against their daughters, and daughters against their mothers; mothers-in-law will be against their daughters-in-law, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law."

Understanding the Time
(Matthew 16.2, 3)

⁵⁴Jesus said also to the people, "When you see a cloud coming up in the west, at once you say that it is going to rain--and it does. ⁵⁵And when you feel the south wind blowing, you say that it is going to get hot--and it does. ⁵⁶Hypocrites! You can look at the earth and the sky and predict the weather; why, then, don't you know the meaning of this present time?

Settle with Your Opponent
(Matthew 5.25, 26)

⁵⁷"Why do you not judge for yourselves the right thing to do? ⁵⁸If someone brings a lawsuit against you and takes you to court, do your best to settle the dispute before you get to court. If you don't, you will be dragged before the judge, who will hand you over to the police, and you will be put in jail. ⁵⁹There you will stay, I tell you, until you pay the last penny of your fine."

God Commands Abraham to Offer Isaac

Genesis 22 Some time later God tested Abraham; he called to him, "Abraham!" And Abraham answered, "Yes, here I am!"

²"Take your son," God said, "your only son, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. There on a mountain that I will show you, offer him as a sacrifice to me."

³Early the next morning Abraham cut some wood for the sacrifice, loaded his donkey, and took Isaac and two servants with him. They started out for the place that God had told him about. ⁴On the third day Abraham saw the place in the distance. ⁵Then he said to the servants, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there and worship, and then we will come back to you."

⁶Abraham made Isaac carry the wood for the sacrifice, and he himself carried a knife and live coals for starting the fire. As they walked along together, ⁷Isaac spoke up, "Father!"

He answered, "Yes, my son?"

Isaac asked, "I see that you have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?"

⁸Abraham answered, "God himself will provide one." And the two of them walked on together.

⁹When they came to the place which God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰Then he picked up the knife to kill him. ¹¹But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!"

He answered, "Yes, here I am."

¹²"Don't hurt the boy or do anything to him," he said. "Now I know that you honor and obey God, because you have not kept back your only son from him."

¹³Abraham looked around and saw a ram caught in a bush by its horns. He went and got it and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴Abraham named that place "The LORD Provides." And even today people say, "On the LORD's mountain he provides."

¹⁵The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time, ¹⁶"I make a vow by my own name--the LORD is speaking--that I will richly bless you. Because you did this and did not keep back your only son from me, ¹⁷I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies. ¹⁸All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants--all because you obeyed my command." ¹⁹Abraham went back to his servants, and they went together to Beersheba, where Abraham settled.

The Descendants of Nahor

²⁰Some time later Abraham learned that Milcah had borne eight children to his brother Nahor: ²¹Uz the first-born, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, ²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel, ²³Rebecca's father. Milcah bore these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham's brother. ²⁴Reumah, Nahor's concubine, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

What God Requires

Psalm 15 LORD, who may enter your Temple?

Who may worship on Zion, your sacred hill?

²Those who obey God in everything

and always do what is right,

whose words are true and sincere,

and who do not slander others.

They do no wrong to their friends

nor spread rumors about their neighbors.

⁴They despise those whom God rejects,

but honor those who obey the LORD.

They always do what they promise,

no matter how much it may cost.

⁵They make loans without charging interest

and cannot be bribed to testify against the innocent.

Whoever does these things will always be secure.

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.