Daily Bible GNT January 29 Scroll

The Widow's Offering
(Mark 12.41-44)

Luke 21 Jesus looked around and saw rich people dropping their gifts in the Temple treasury, ²and he also saw a very poor widow dropping in two little copper coins. ³He said, "I tell you that this poor widow put in more than all the others. ⁴For the others offered their gifts from what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, gave all she had to live on."

Jesus Speaks of the Destruction of the Temple
(Matthew 24.1, 2; Mark 13.1, 2)

⁵Some of the disciples were talking about the Temple, how beautiful it looked with its fine stones and the gifts offered to God. Jesus said, ⁶"All this you see--the time will come when not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one will be thrown down."

Troubles and Persecutions
(Matthew 24.3-14; Mark 13.3-13)

⁷"Teacher," they asked, "when will this be? And what will happen in order to show that the time has come for it to take place?"

⁸Jesus said, "Watch out; don't be fooled. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time has come!' But don't follow them. ⁹Don't be afraid when you hear of wars and revolutions; such things must happen first, but they do not mean that the end is near."

¹⁰He went on to say, "Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. ¹¹There will be terrible earthquakes, famines, and plagues everywhere; there will be strange and terrifying things coming from the sky. ¹²Before all these things take place, however, you will be arrested and persecuted; you will be handed over to be tried in synagogues and be put in prison; you will be brought before kings and rulers for my sake. ¹³This will be your chance to tell the Good News. ¹⁴Make up your minds ahead of time not to worry about how you will defend yourselves, ¹⁵because I will give you such words and wisdom that none of your enemies will be able to refute or contradict what you say. ¹⁶You will be handed over by your parents, your brothers, your relatives, and your friends; and some of you will be put to death. ¹⁷Everyone will hate you because of me. ¹⁸But not a single hair from your heads will be lost. ¹⁹Stand firm, and you will save yourselves.

Jesus Speaks of the Destruction of Jerusalem
(Matthew 24.15-21; Mark 13.14-19)

²⁰"When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that it will soon be destroyed. ²¹Then those who are in Judea must run away to the hills; those who are in the city must leave, and those who are out in the country must not go into the city. ²²For those will be 'The Days of Punishment,' to make come true all that the Scriptures say. ²³How terrible it will be in those days for women who are pregnant and for mothers with little babies! Terrible distress will come upon this land, and God's punishment will fall on this people. ²⁴Some will be killed by the sword, and others will be taken as prisoners to all countries; and the heathen will trample over Jerusalem until their time is up.

The Coming of the Son of Man
(Matthew 24.29-31; Mark 13.24-27)

²⁵"There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the roar of the sea and the raging tides. ²⁶People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. ²⁷Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory. ²⁸When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near."

The Lesson of the Fig Tree
(Matthew 24.32-35; Mark 13.28-31)

²⁹Then Jesus told them this parable: "Think of the fig tree and all the other trees. ³⁰When you see their leaves beginning to appear, you know that summer is near. ³¹In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the Kingdom of God is about to come.

³²"Remember that all these things will take place before the people now living have all died. ³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The Need to Watch

³⁴"Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you ³⁵like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth. ³⁶Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man."

³⁷Jesus spent those days teaching in the Temple, and when evening came, he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives. ³⁸Early each morning all the people went to the Temple to listen to him.

Judah and Tamar

Genesis 38 About that time Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah, who was from the town of Adullam. ²There Judah met a young Canaanite woman whose father was named Shua. He married her, ³and she bore him a son, whom he named Er. ⁴She became pregnant again and bore another son and named him Onan. ⁵Again she had a son and named him Shelah. Judah was at Achzib when the boy was born.

⁶For his first son Er, Judah got a wife whose name was Tamar. ⁷Er's conduct was evil, and it displeased the LORD, so the LORD killed him. ⁸Then Judah said to Er's brother Onan, "Go and sleep with your brother's widow. Fulfill your obligation to her as her husband's brother, so that your brother may have descendants." ⁹But Onan knew that the children would not belong to him, so when he had intercourse with his brother's widow, he let the semen spill on the ground, so that there would be no children for his brother. ¹⁰What he did displeased the LORD, and the LORD killed him also. ¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Return to your father's house and remain a widow until my son Shelah grows up." He said this because he was afraid that Shelah would be killed, as his brothers had been. So Tamar went back home.

¹²After some time Judah's wife died. When he had finished the time of mourning, he and his friend Hirah of Adullam went to Timnah, where his sheep were being sheared. ¹³Someone told Tamar that her father-in-law was going to Timnah to shear his sheep. ¹⁴So she changed from the widow's clothes she had been wearing, covered her face with a veil, and sat down at the entrance to Enaim, a town on the road to Timnah. As she well knew, Judah's youngest son Shelah was now grown up, and yet she had not been given to him in marriage.

¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, because she had her face covered. ¹⁶He went over to her at the side of the road and said, "All right, how much do you charge?" (He did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.)

She said, "What will you give me?"

¹⁷He answered, "I will send you a young goat from my flock."

She said, "All right, if you will give me something to keep as a pledge until you send the goat."

¹⁸"What shall I give you as a pledge?" he asked.

She answered, "Your seal with its cord and the walking stick you are carrying." He gave them to her. Then they had intercourse, and she became pregnant. ¹⁹Tamar went home, took off her veil, and put her widow's clothes back on.

²⁰Judah sent his friend Hirah to take the goat and get back from the woman the articles he had pledged, but Hirah could not find her. ²¹He asked some men at Enaim, "Where is the prostitute who was here by the road?"

"There has never been a prostitute here," they answered.

²²He returned to Judah and said, "I couldn't find her. The men of the place said that there had never been a prostitute there."

²³Judah said, "Let her keep the things. We don't want people to laugh at us. I did try to pay her, but you couldn't find her."

²⁴About three months later someone told Judah, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has been acting like a whore, and now she is pregnant."

Judah ordered, "Take her out and burn her to death."

²⁵As she was being taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law: "I am pregnant by the man who owns these things. Look at them and see whose they are--this seal with its cord and this walking stick."

²⁶Judah recognized them and said, "She is in the right. I have failed in my obligation to her--I should have given her to my son Shelah in marriage." And Judah never had intercourse with her again.

²⁷When the time came for her to give birth, it was discovered that she was going to have twins. ²⁸While she was in labor, one of them put out an arm; the midwife caught it, tied a red thread around it, and said, "This one was born first." ²⁹But he pulled his arm back, and his brother was born first. Then the midwife said, "So this is how you break your way out!" So he was named Perez. ³⁰Then his brother was born with the red thread on his arm, and he was named Zerah.

The Voice of the LORD in the Storm

Psalm 29 Praise the LORD, you heavenly beings;

praise his glory and power.

²Praise the LORD's glorious name;

bow down before the Holy One when he appears.

³The voice of the LORD is heard on the seas;

the glorious God thunders,

and his voice echoes over the ocean.

⁴The voice of the LORD is heard

in all its might and majesty.

⁵The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars,

even the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes the mountains of Lebanon jump like calves

and makes Mount Hermon leap like a young bull.

⁷The voice of the LORD makes the lightning flash.

⁸His voice makes the desert shake;

he shakes the desert of Kadesh.

⁹The LORD's voice shakes the oaks

and strips the leaves from the trees

while everyone in his Temple shouts, "Glory to God!"

¹⁰The LORD rules over the deep waters;

he rules as king forever.

¹¹The LORD gives strength to his people

and blesses them with peace.

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.