Daily Bible GNT February 08 Scroll

Jesus the Great High Priest

Hebrews 4¹⁴Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence of God--Jesus, the Son of God. ¹⁵Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. ¹⁶Let us have confidence, then, and approach God's throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.
Hebrews 5 Every high priest is chosen from his fellow-men and appointed to serve God on their behalf, to offer sacrifices and offerings for sins. ²Since he himself is weak in many ways, he is able to be gentle with those who are ignorant and make mistakes. ³And because he is himself weak, he must offer sacrifices not only for the sins of the people but also for his own sins. ⁴No one chooses for himself the honor of being a high priest. It is only by God's call that a man is made a high priest--just as Aaron was.

⁵In the same way, Christ did not take upon himself the honor of being a high priest. Instead, God said to him,

"You are my Son;

today I have become your Father."
⁶He also said in another place,

"You will be a priest forever,

in the priestly order of Melchizedek."

⁷In his life on earth Jesus made his prayers and requests with loud cries and tears to God, who could save him from death. Because he was humble and devoted, God heard him. ⁸But even though he was God's Son, he learned through his sufferings to be obedient. ⁹When he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him, ¹⁰and God declared him to be high priest, in the priestly order of Melchizedek.

Warning against Abandoning the Faith

¹¹There is much we have to say about this matter, but it is hard to explain to you, because you are so slow to understand. ¹²There has been enough time for you to be teachers--yet you still need someone to teach you the first lessons of God's message. Instead of eating solid food, you still have to drink milk. ¹³Anyone who has to drink milk is still a child, without any experience in the matter of right and wrong. ¹⁴Solid food, on the other hand, is for adults, who through practice are able to distinguish between good and evil.
Hebrews 6 Let us go forward, then, to mature teaching and leave behind us the first lessons of the Christian message. We should not lay again the foundation of turning away from useless works and believing in God; ²of the teaching about baptisms and the laying on of hands; of the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment. ³Let us go forward! And this is what we will do, if God allows.

⁴For how can those who abandon their faith be brought back to repent again? They were once in God's light; they tasted heaven's gift and received their share of the Holy Spirit; ⁵they knew from experience that God's word is good, and they had felt the powers of the coming age. ⁶And then they abandoned their faith! It is impossible to bring them back to repent again, because they are again crucifying the Son of God and exposing him to public shame.

⁷God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated. ⁸But if it grows thorns and weeds, it is worth nothing; it is in danger of being cursed by God and will be destroyed by fire.

⁹But even if we speak like this, dear friends, we feel sure about you. We know that you have the better blessings that belong to your salvation. ¹⁰God is not unfair. He will not forget the work you did or the love you showed for him in the help you gave and are still giving to other Christians. ¹¹Our great desire is that each of you keep up your eagerness to the end, so that the things you hope for will come true. ¹²We do not want you to become lazy, but to be like those who believe and are patient, and so receive what God has promised.

The Last Words of Jacob

Genesis 49 Jacob called for his sons and said, "Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the future:

²"Come together and listen, sons of Jacob.

Listen to your father Israel.

³"Reuben, my first-born, you are my strength

And the first child of my manhood,

The proudest and strongest of all my sons.

⁴You are like a raging flood,

But you will not be the most important,

For you slept with my concubine

And dishonored your father's bed.

⁵"Simeon and Levi are brothers.

They use their weapons to commit violence.

⁶I will not join in their secret talks,

Nor will I take part in their meetings,

For they killed people in anger

And they crippled bulls for sport.

⁷A curse be on their anger, because it is so fierce,

And on their fury, because it is so cruel.

I will scatter them throughout the land of Israel.

I will disperse them among its people.

⁸"Judah, your brothers will praise you.

You hold your enemies by the neck.

Your brothers will bow down before you.

⁹Judah is like a lion,

Killing his victim and returning to his den,

Stretching out and lying down.

No one dares disturb him.

¹⁰Judah will hold the royal scepter,

And his descendants will always rule.

Nations will bring him tribute

And bow in obedience before him.

¹¹He ties his young donkey to a grapevine,

To the very best of the vines.

He washes his clothes in blood-red wine.

¹²His eyes are bloodshot from drinking wine,

His teeth white from drinking milk.

¹³"Zebulun will live beside the sea.

His shore will be a haven for ships.

His territory will reach as far as Sidon.

¹⁴"Issachar is no better than a donkey

That lies stretched out between its saddlebags.

¹⁵But he sees that the resting place is good

And that the land is delightful.

So he bends his back to carry the load

And is forced to work as a slave.

¹⁶"Dan will be a ruler for his people.

They will be like the other tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan will be a snake at the side of the road,

A poisonous snake beside the path,

That strikes at the horse's heel,

So that the rider is thrown off backward.

¹⁸"I wait for your deliverance, LORD.

¹⁹"Gad will be attacked by a band of robbers,

But he will turn and pursue them.

²⁰"Asher's land will produce rich food.

He will provide food fit for a king.

²¹"Naphtali is a deer that runs free,

Who bears lovely fawns.

²²"Joseph is like a wild donkey by a spring,

A wild colt on a hillside.

²³His enemies attack him fiercely

And pursue him with their bows and arrows.

²⁴But his bow remains steady,

And his arms are made strong

By the power of the Mighty God of Jacob,

By the Shepherd, the Protector of Israel.

²⁵It is your father's God who helps you,

The Almighty God who blesses you

With blessings of rain from above

And of deep waters from beneath the ground,

Blessings of many cattle and children,

²⁶Blessings of grain and flowers,

Blessings of ancient mountains,

Delightful things from everlasting hills.

May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph,

On the brow of the one set apart from his brothers.

²⁷"Benjamin is like a vicious wolf.

Morning and evening he kills and devours."

²⁸These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he spoke a suitable word of farewell to each son.

The Death and Burial of Jacob

²⁹Then Jacob commanded his sons, "Now that I am going to join my people in death, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰at Machpelah east of Mamre in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought this cave and field from Ephron for a burial ground. ³¹That is where they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; that is where they buried Isaac and his wife Rebecca; and that is where I buried Leah. ³²The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. Bury me there." ³³When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he lay back down and died.
Genesis 50 Joseph threw himself on his father, crying and kissing his face. ²Then Joseph gave orders to embalm his father's body. ³It took forty days, the normal time for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

⁴When the time of mourning was over, Joseph said to the king's officials, "Please take this message to the king: ⁵'When my father was about to die, he made me promise him that I would bury him in the tomb which he had prepared in the land of Canaan. So please let me go and bury my father, and then I will come back.'"

⁶The king answered, "Go and bury your father, as you promised you would."

⁷So Joseph went to bury his father. All the king's officials, the senior men of his court, and all the leading men of Egypt went with Joseph. ⁸His family, his brothers, and the rest of his father's family all went with him. Only their small children and their sheep, goats, and cattle stayed in the region of Goshen. ⁹Men in chariots and men on horseback also went with him; it was a huge group.

¹⁰When they came to the threshing place at Atad east of the Jordan, they mourned loudly for a long time, and Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for seven days. ¹¹When the citizens of Canaan saw those people mourning at Atad, they said, "What a solemn ceremony of mourning the Egyptians are holding!" That is why the place was named Abel Mizraim.

¹²So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them; ¹³they carried his body to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah east of Mamre in the field which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground. ¹⁴After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him for the funeral.

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

¹⁵After the death of their father, Joseph's brothers said, "What if Joseph still hates us and plans to pay us back for all the harm we did to him?" ¹⁶So they sent a message to Joseph: "Before our father died, ¹⁷he told us to ask you, 'Please forgive the crime your brothers committed when they wronged you.' Now please forgive us the wrong that we, the servants of your father's God, have done." Joseph cried when he received this message.

¹⁸Then his brothers themselves came and bowed down before him. "Here we are before you as your slaves," they said.

¹⁹But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid; I can't put myself in the place of God. ²⁰You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened. ²¹You have nothing to fear. I will take care of you and your children." So he reassured them with kind words that touched their hearts.

The Death of Joseph

²²Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father's family; he was a hundred and ten years old when he died. ²³He lived to see Ephraim's children and grandchildren. He also lived to receive the children of Machir son of Manasseh into the family. ²⁴He said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." ²⁵Then Joseph asked his people to make a vow. "Promise me," he said, "that when God leads you to that land, you will take my body with you." ²⁶So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of a hundred and ten. They embalmed his body and put it in a coffin.

The Confession of a Sufferer

Psalm 39 I said, "I will be careful about what I do

and will not let my tongue make me sin;

I will not say anything

while evil people are near."

²I kept quiet, not saying a word,

not even about anything good!

But my suffering only grew worse,

and I was overcome with anxiety.

The more I thought, the more troubled I became;

I could not keep from asking:

⁴"LORD, how long will I live?

When will I die?

Tell me how soon my life will end."

⁵How short you have made my life!

In your sight my lifetime seems nothing.

Indeed every living being is no more than a puff of wind,

⁶

no more than a shadow.

All we do is for nothing;

we gather wealth, but don't know who will get it.

⁷What, then, can I hope for, Lord?

I put my hope in you.

⁸Save me from all my sins,

and don't let fools make fun of me.

⁹I will keep quiet, I will not say a word,

for you are the one who made me suffer like this.

¹⁰Don't punish me any more!

I am about to die from your blows.

¹¹You punish our sins by your rebukes,

and like a moth you destroy what we love.

Indeed we are no more than a puff of wind!

¹²Hear my prayer, LORD,

and listen to my cry;

come to my aid when I weep.

Like all my ancestors

I am only your guest for a little while.

¹³Leave me alone so that I may have some happiness

before I go away and am no more.

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.