Daily Bible GNT February 04 Scroll

The Walk to Emmaus
(Mark 16.12, 13)

Luke 24 ¹³On that same day two of Jesus' followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and they were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. ¹⁵As they talked and discussed, Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them; ¹⁶they saw him, but somehow did not recognize him. ¹⁷Jesus said to them, "What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?"

They stood still, with sad faces. ¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have been happening there these last few days?"

¹⁹"What things?" he asked.

"The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth," they answered. "This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. ²⁰Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. ²¹And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened. ²²Some of the women of our group surprised us; they went at dawn to the tomb, ²³but could not find his body. They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive. ²⁴Some of our group went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they did not see him."

²⁵Then Jesus said to them, "How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! ²⁶Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?" ²⁷And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets.

²⁸As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther; ²⁹but they held him back, saying, "Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark." So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰He sat down to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. ³²They said to each other, "Wasn't it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?"

³³They got up at once and went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven disciples gathered together with the others ³⁴and saying, "The Lord is risen indeed! He has appeared to Simon!"

³⁵The two then explained to them what had happened on the road, and how they had recognized the Lord when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples
(Matthew 28.16-20; Mark 16.14-18; John 20.19-23; Acts 1.6-8)

³⁶While the two were telling them this, suddenly the Lord himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

³⁷They were terrified, thinking that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸But he said to them, "Why are you alarmed? Why are these doubts coming up in your minds? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet, and see that it is I myself. Feel me, and you will know, for a ghost doesn't have flesh and bones, as you can see I have."

⁴⁰He said this and showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹They still could not believe, they were so full of joy and wonder; so he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" ⁴²They gave him a piece of cooked fish, ⁴³which he took and ate in their presence.

⁴⁴Then he said to them, "These are the very things I told you about while I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the Psalms had to come true."

⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶and said to them, "This is what is written: the Messiah must suffer and must rise from death three days later, ⁴⁷and in his name the message about repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹And I myself will send upon you what my Father has promised. But you must wait in the city until the power from above comes down upon you."

Jesus Is Taken Up to Heaven
(Mark 16.19, 20; Acts 1.9-11)

⁵⁰Then he led them out of the city as far as Bethany, where he raised his hands and blessed them. ⁵¹As he was blessing them, he departed from them and was taken up into heaven. ⁵²They worshiped him and went back into Jerusalem, filled with great joy, ⁵³and spent all their time in the Temple giving thanks to God.

The Missing Cup

Genesis 44 Joseph commanded the servant in charge of his house, "Fill the men's sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's money in the top of his sack. ²Put my silver cup in the top of the youngest brother's sack, together with the money for his grain." He did as he was told. ³Early in the morning the brothers were sent on their way with their donkeys. ⁴When they had gone only a short distance from the city, Joseph said to the servant in charge of his house, "Hurry after those men. When you catch up with them, ask them, 'Why have you paid back evil for good? ⁵Why did you steal my master's silver cup? It is the one he drinks from, the one he uses for divination. You have committed a serious crime!'"

⁶When the servant caught up with them, he repeated these words. ⁷They answered him, "What do you mean, sir, by talking like this? We swear that we have done no such thing. ⁸You know that we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found in the top of our sacks. Why then should we steal silver or gold from your master's house? ⁹Sir, if any one of us is found to have it, he will be put to death, and the rest of us will become your slaves."

¹⁰He said, "I agree; but only the one who has taken the cup will become my slave, and the rest of you can go free." ¹¹So they quickly lowered their sacks to the ground, and each man opened his sack. ¹²Joseph's servant searched carefully, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. ¹³The brothers tore their clothes in sorrow, loaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.

¹⁴When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there. They bowed down before him, ¹⁵and Joseph said, "What have you done? Didn't you know that a man in my position could find you out by practicing divination?"

¹⁶"What can we say to you, sir?" Judah answered. "How can we argue? How can we clear ourselves? God has uncovered our guilt. All of us are now your slaves and not just the one with whom the cup was found."

¹⁷Joseph said, "Oh, no! I would never do that! Only the one who had the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go back safe and sound to your father."

Judah Pleads for Benjamin

¹⁸Judah went up to Joseph and said, "Please, sir, allow me to speak with you freely. Don't be angry with me; you are like the king himself. ¹⁹Sir, you asked us, 'Do you have a father or another brother?' ²⁰We answered, 'We have a father who is old and a younger brother, born to him in his old age. The boy's brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother's children still alive; his father loves him very much.' ²¹Sir, you told us to bring him here, so that you could see him, ²²and we answered that the boy could not leave his father; if he did, his father would die. ²³Then you said, 'You will not be admitted to my presence again unless your youngest brother comes with you.'

²⁴"When we went back to our father, we told him what you had said. ²⁵Then he told us to return and buy a little food. ²⁶We answered, 'We cannot go; we will not be admitted to the man's presence unless our youngest brother is with us. We can go only if our youngest brother goes also.' ²⁷Our father said to us, 'You know that my wife Rachel bore me only two sons. ²⁸One of them has already left me. He must have been torn to pieces by wild animals, because I have not seen him since he left. ²⁹If you take this one from me now and something happens to him, the sorrow you would cause me would kill me, as old as I am.'

^30-31"And now, sir," Judah continued, "if I go back to my father without the boy, as soon as he sees that the boy is not with me, he will die. His life is wrapped up with the life of the boy, and he is so old that the sorrow we would cause him would kill him. ³²What is more, I pledged my life to my father for the boy. I told him that if I did not bring the boy back to him, I would bear the blame all my life. ³³And now, sir, I will stay here as your slave in place of the boy; let him go back with his brothers. ³⁴How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I cannot bear to see this disaster come upon my father."

A Prayer for Help

Psalm 35 Oppose those who oppose me, LORD,

and fight those who fight against me!

²Take your shield and armor

and come to my rescue.

³Lift up your spear and war ax

against those who pursue me.

Promise that you will save me.

⁴May those who try to kill me

be defeated and disgraced!

May those who plot against me

be turned back and confused!

⁵May they be like straw blown by the wind

as the angel of the LORD pursues them!

⁶May their path be dark and slippery

while the angel of the LORD strikes them down!

⁷Without any reason they laid a trap for me

and dug a deep hole to catch me.

⁸But destruction will catch them before they know it;

they will be caught in their own trap

and fall to their destruction!

⁹Then I will be glad because of the LORD;

I will be happy because he saved me.

¹⁰With all my heart I will say to the LORD,

"There is no one like you.

You protect the weak from the strong,

the poor from the oppressor."

¹¹Evil people testify against me

and accuse me of crimes I know nothing about.

¹²They pay me back evil for good,

and I sink in despair.

¹³But when they were sick, I dressed in mourning;

I deprived myself of food;

I prayed with my head bowed low,

¹⁴

as I would pray for a friend or a brother.

I went around bent over in mourning,

as one who mourns for his mother.

¹⁵But when I was in trouble, they were all glad

and gathered around to make fun of me;

strangers beat me

and kept striking me.

¹⁶Like those who would mock a cripple,

they glared at me with hate.

¹⁷How much longer, Lord, will you just look on?

Rescue me from their attacks;

save my life from these lions!

¹⁸Then I will thank you in the assembly of your people;

I will praise you before them all.

¹⁹Don't let my enemies, those liars,

gloat over my defeat.

Don't let those who hate me for no reason

smirk with delight over my sorrow.

²⁰They do not speak in a friendly way;

instead they invent all kinds of lies about peace-loving people.

²¹They accuse me, shouting,

"We saw what you did!"

²²But you, O LORD, have seen this.

So don't be silent, Lord;

don't keep yourself far away!

²³Rouse yourself, O Lord, and defend me;

rise up, my God, and plead my cause.

²⁴You are righteous, O LORD, so declare me innocent;

don't let my enemies gloat over me.

²⁵Don't let them say to themselves,

"We are rid of him!

That's just what we wanted!"

²⁶May those who gloat over my suffering

be completely defeated and confused;

may those who claim to be better than I am

be covered with shame and disgrace.

²⁷May those who want to see me acquitted

shout for joy and say again and again,

"How great is the LORD!

He is pleased with the success of his servant."

²⁸Then I will proclaim your righteousness,

and I will praise you all day long.

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.