Daily Bible GNT February 11 Scroll

Jesus Our High Priest

Hebrews 8 The whole point of what we are saying is that we have such a High Priest, who sits at the right of the throne of the Divine Majesty in heaven. ²He serves as high priest in the Most Holy Place, that is, in the real tent which was put up by the Lord, not by human hands.

³Every high priest is appointed to present offerings and animal sacrifices to God, and so our High Priest must also have something to offer. ⁴If he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer the gifts required by the Jewish Law. ⁵The work they do as priests is really only a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. It is the same as it was with Moses. When he was about to build the Sacred Tent, God told him, "Be sure to make everything according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain." ⁶But now, Jesus has been given priestly work which is superior to theirs, just as the covenant which he arranged between God and his people is a better one, because it is based on promises of better things.

⁷If there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, there would have been no need for a second one. ⁸But God finds fault with his people when he says,

"The days are coming, says the Lord,

when I will draw up a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

⁹It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors

on the day I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt.

They were not faithful to the covenant I made with them,

and so I paid no attention to them.

¹⁰Now, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel

in the days to come, says the Lord:

I will put my laws in their minds

and write them on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

¹¹None of them will have to teach their friends

or tell their neighbors,

'Know the Lord.'

For they will all know me,

from the least to the greatest.

¹²I will forgive their sins

and will no longer remember their wrongs."
¹³By speaking of a new covenant, God has made the first one old; and anything that becomes old and worn out will soon disappear.

Moses and Aaron before the King of Egypt

Exodus 5 Then Moses and Aaron went to the king of Egypt and said, "The LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'Let my people go, so that they can hold a festival in the desert to honor me.'"

²"Who is the LORD?" the king demanded. "Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD; and I will not let Israel go."

³Moses and Aaron replied, "The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us. Allow us to travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God. If we don't do so, he will kill us with disease or by war."

⁴The king said to Moses and Aaron, "What do you mean by making the people neglect their work? Get those slaves back to work! ⁵You people have become more numerous than the Egyptians. And now you want to stop working!"

⁶That same day the king commanded the Egyptian slave drivers and the Israelite foremen: ⁷"Stop giving the people straw for making bricks. Make them go and find it for themselves. ⁸But still require them to make the same number of bricks as before, not one brick less. They don't have enough work to do, and that is why they keep asking me to let them go and offer sacrifices to their God! ⁹Make them work harder and keep them busy, so that they won't have time to listen to a pack of lies."

¹⁰The slave drivers and the Israelite foremen went out and said to the Israelites, "The king has said that he will not supply you with any more straw. ¹¹He says that you must go and get it for yourselves wherever you can find it, but you must still make the same number of bricks." ¹²So the people went all over Egypt looking for straw. ¹³The slave drivers kept trying to force them to make the same number of bricks every day as they had made when they were given straw. ¹⁴The Egyptian slave drivers beat the Israelite foremen, whom they had put in charge of the work. They demanded, "Why aren't you people making the same number of bricks that you made before?"

¹⁵Then the foremen went to the king and complained, "Why do you do this to us, Your Majesty? ¹⁶We are given no straw, but we are still ordered to make bricks! And now we are being beaten. It is your people that are at fault."

¹⁷The king answered, "You are lazy and don't want to work, and that is why you ask me to let you go and offer sacrifices to the LORD. ¹⁸Now get back to work! You will not be given any straw, but you must still make the same number of bricks." ¹⁹The foremen realized that they were in trouble when they were told that they had to make the same number of bricks every day as they had made before.

²⁰As they were leaving, they met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them. ²¹They said to Moses and Aaron, "The LORD has seen what you have done and will punish you for making the king and his officers hate us. You have given them an excuse to kill us."

Moses Complains to the LORD

²²Then Moses turned to the LORD again and said, "Lord, why do you mistreat your people? Why did you send me here? ²³Ever since I went to the king to speak for you, he has treated them cruelly. And you have done nothing to help them!"
Exodus 6 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you are going to see what I will do to the king. I will force him to let my people go. In fact, I will force him to drive them out of his land."

God Calls Moses

²God spoke to Moses and said, "I am the LORD. ³I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as Almighty God, but I did not make myself known to them by my holy name, the LORD. ⁴I also made my covenant with them, promising to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they had lived as foreigners. ⁵Now I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have remembered my covenant. ⁶So tell the Israelites that I say to them, 'I am the LORD; I will rescue you and set you free from your slavery to the Egyptians. I will raise my mighty arm to bring terrible punishment upon them, and I will save you. ⁷I will make you my own people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the LORD your God when I set you free from slavery in Egypt. ⁸I will bring you to the land that I solemnly promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as your own possession. I am the LORD.'" ⁹Moses told this to the Israelites, but they would not listen to him, because their spirit had been broken by their cruel slavery.

¹⁰Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹¹"Go and tell the king of Egypt that he must let the Israelites leave his land."

¹²But Moses replied, "Even the Israelites will not listen to me, so why should the king? I am such a poor speaker."

¹³The LORD commanded Moses and Aaron: "Tell the Israelites and the king of Egypt that I have ordered you to lead the Israelites out of Egypt."

The Family Record of Moses and Aaron

¹⁴Reuben, Jacob's first-born, had four sons: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; they were the ancestors of the clans that bear their names. ¹⁵Simeon had six sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; they were the ancestors of the clans that bear their names. ¹⁶Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; they were the ancestors of the clans that bear their names. Levi lived 137 years. ¹⁷Gershon had two sons: Libni and Shimei, and they had many descendants. ¹⁸Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years. ¹⁹Merari had two sons: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of Levi with their descendants.

²⁰Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years. ²¹Izhar had three sons: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. ²²Uzziel also had three sons: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

²³Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon; she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²⁴Korah had three sons: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; they were the ancestors of the divisions of the clan of Korah. ²⁵Eleazar, Aaron's son, married one of Putiel's daughters, who bore him Phinehas. These were the heads of the families and the clans of the tribe of Levi.

²⁶Aaron and Moses were the ones to whom the LORD said, "Lead the tribes of Israel out of Egypt." ²⁷They were the men who told the king of Egypt to free the Israelites.

The Value of Proverbs

Proverbs 1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David and king of Israel.

²Here are proverbs that will help you recognize wisdom and good advice, and understand sayings with deep meaning. ³They can teach you how to live intelligently and how to be honest, just, and fair. ⁴They can make an inexperienced person clever and teach young people how to be resourceful. ⁵These proverbs can even add to the knowledge of the wise and give guidance to the educated, ⁶so that they can understand the hidden meanings of proverbs and the problems that the wise raise.

Advice to the Young

⁷To have knowledge, you must first have reverence for the LORD. Stupid people have no respect for wisdom and refuse to learn.

⁸My child, pay attention to what your father and mother tell you. ⁹Their teaching will improve your character as a handsome turban or a necklace improves your appearance.

¹⁰My child, when sinners tempt you, don't give in. ¹¹Suppose they say, "Come on; let's find someone to kill! Let's attack some innocent people for the fun of it! ¹²They may be alive and well when we find them, but they'll be dead when we're through with them! ¹³We'll find all kinds of riches and fill our houses with loot! ¹⁴Come and join us, and we'll all share what we steal."

¹⁵My child, don't go with people like that. Stay away from them. ¹⁶They can't wait to do something bad. They're always ready to kill. ¹⁷It does no good to spread a net when the bird you want to catch is watching, ¹⁸but people like that are setting a trap for themselves, a trap in which they will die. ¹⁹Robbery always claims the life of the robber--this is what happens to anyone who lives by violence.

Wisdom Calls

²⁰Listen! Wisdom is calling out in the streets and marketplaces, ²¹calling loudly at the city gates and wherever people come together:

²²"Foolish people! How long do you want to be foolish? How long will you enjoy making fun of knowledge? Will you never learn? ²³Listen when I reprimand you; I will give you good advice and share my knowledge with you. ²⁴I have been calling you, inviting you to come, but you would not listen. You paid no attention to me. ²⁵You have ignored all my advice and have not been willing to let me correct you. ²⁶So when you get into trouble, I will laugh at you. I will make fun of you when terror strikes-- ²⁷when it comes on you like a storm, bringing fierce winds of trouble, and you are in pain and misery. ²⁸Then you will call for wisdom, but I will not answer. You may look for me everywhere, but you will not find me. ²⁹You have never had any use for knowledge and have always refused to obey the LORD. ³⁰You have never wanted my advice or paid any attention when I corrected you. ³¹So then, you will get what you deserve, and your own actions will make you sick. ³²Inexperienced people die because they reject wisdom. Stupid people are destroyed by their own lack of concern. ³³But whoever listens to me will have security. He will be safe, with no reason to be afraid."

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.