Daily Bible GNT July 13 Scroll

Christ the Power and the Wisdom of God

1 Corinthians 1 ¹⁸For the message about Christ's death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God's power. ¹⁹The scripture says,

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise

and set aside the understanding of the scholars."
²⁰So then, where does that leave the wise? or the scholars? or the skillful debaters of this world? God has shown that this world's wisdom is foolishness!

²¹For God in his wisdom made it impossible for people to know him by means of their own wisdom. Instead, by means of the so-called "foolish" message we preach, God decided to save those who believe. ²²Jews want miracles for proof, and Greeks look for wisdom. ²³As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles; ²⁴but for those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, this message is Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For what seems to be God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and what seems to be God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

²⁶Now remember what you were, my friends, when God called you. From the human point of view few of you were wise or powerful or of high social standing. ²⁷God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and he chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful. ²⁸He chose what the world looks down on and despises and thinks is nothing, in order to destroy what the world thinks is important. ²⁹This means that no one can boast in God's presence. ³⁰But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus, and God has made Christ to be our wisdom. By him we are put right with God; we become God's holy people and are set free. ³¹So then, as the scripture says, "Whoever wants to boast must boast of what the Lord has done."

The Death of Jeroboam's Son

1 Kings 14 At that time King Jeroboam's son Abijah got sick. ²Jeroboam said to his wife, "Disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you, and go to Shiloh, where the prophet Ahijah lives, the one who said I would be king of Israel. ³Take him ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey. Ask him what is going to happen to our son, and he will tell you."

⁴So she went to Ahijah's home in Shiloh. Old age had made Ahijah blind. ⁵The LORD had told him that Jeroboam's wife was coming to ask him about her son, who was sick. And the LORD told Ahijah what to say.

When Jeroboam's wife arrived, she pretended to be someone else. ⁶But when Ahijah heard her coming in the door, he said, "Come in. I know you are Jeroboam's wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have bad news for you. ⁷Go and tell Jeroboam that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to him: 'I chose you from among the people and made you the ruler of my people Israel. ⁸I took the kingdom away from David's descendants and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who was completely loyal to me, obeyed my commands, and did only what I approve of. ⁹You have committed far greater sins than those who ruled before you. You have rejected me and have aroused my anger by making idols and metal images to worship. ¹⁰Because of this I will bring disaster on your dynasty and will kill all your male descendants, young and old alike. I will get rid of your family; they will be swept away like dung. ¹¹Any members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and any who die in the open country will be eaten by vultures. I, the LORD, have spoken.'"

¹²And Ahijah went on to say to Jeroboam's wife, "Now go back home. As soon as you enter the town, your son will die. ¹³All the people of Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He will be the only member of Jeroboam's family who will be properly buried, because he is the only one with whom the LORD, the God of Israel, is pleased. ¹⁴The LORD is going to place a king over Israel who will put an end to Jeroboam's dynasty. ¹⁵The LORD will punish Israel, and she will shake like a reed shaking in a stream. He will uproot the people of Israel from this good land which he gave to their ancestors, and he will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have aroused his anger by making idols of the goddess Asherah. ¹⁶The LORD will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and led the people of Israel into sin."

¹⁷Jeroboam's wife went back to Tirzah. Just as she entered her home, the child died. ¹⁸The people of Israel mourned for him and buried him, as the LORD had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.

The Death of Jeroboam

¹⁹Everything else that King Jeroboam did, the wars he fought and how he ruled, are all recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel. ²⁰Jeroboam ruled as king for twenty-two years. He died and was buried, and his son Nadab succeeded him as king.

King Rehoboam of Judah
(2 Chronicles 11.5 --12.15)

²¹Solomon's son Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen from all the territory of Israel as the place where he was to be worshiped. Rehoboam's mother was Naamah from Ammon.
²²The people of Judah sinned against the LORD and did more to arouse his anger against them than all their ancestors had done. ²³They built places of worship for false gods and put up stone pillars and symbols of Asherah to worship on the hills and under shady trees. ²⁴Worst of all, there were men and women who served as prostitutes at those pagan places of worship. The people of Judah practiced all the shameful things done by the people whom the LORD had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced into the country.
²⁵In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. ²⁶He took away all the treasures in the Temple and in the palace, including the gold shields Solomon had made. ²⁷To replace them, King Rehoboam made bronze shields and entrusted them to the officers responsible for guarding the palace gates. ²⁸Every time the king went to the Temple, the guards carried the shields and then returned them to the guardroom.
²⁹Everything else that King Rehoboam did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. ³⁰During all this time Rehoboam and Jeroboam were constantly at war with each other. ³¹Rehoboam died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City and his son Abijah succeeded him as king.

The Locusts as a Warning of the Day of the LORD

Joel 2 Blow the trumpet; sound the alarm

on Zion, God's sacred hill.

Tremble, people of Judah!

The day of the LORD is coming soon.

²It will be a dark and gloomy day,

a black and cloudy day.

The great army of locusts advances

like darkness spreading over the mountains.

There has never been anything like it,

and there never will be again.

³Like fire they eat up the plants.

In front of them the land is like the Garden of Eden,

but behind them it is a barren desert.

Nothing escapes them.

⁴They look like horses;

they run like war-horses.

⁵As they leap on the tops of the mountains,

they rattle like chariots;

they crackle like dry grass on fire.

They are lined up like a great army ready for battle.

⁶As they approach, everyone is terrified;

every face turns pale.

⁷They attack like warriors;

they climb the walls like soldiers.

They all keep marching straight ahead

and do not change direction

⁸

or get in each other's way.

They swarm through defenses,

and nothing can stop them.

⁹They rush against the city;

they run over the walls;

they climb up the houses

and go in through the windows like thieves.

¹⁰The earth shakes as they advance;

the sky trembles.

The sun and the moon grow dark,

and the stars no longer shine.

¹¹The LORD thunders commands to his army.

The troops that obey him

are many and mighty.

How terrible is the day of the LORD!

Who will survive it?

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.