Daily Bible GNT November 01 Scroll

Leaders in the Church

1 Timothy 3 This is a true saying: If a man is eager to be a church leader, he desires an excellent work. ²A church leader must be without fault; he must have only one wife, be sober, self-controlled, and orderly; he must welcome strangers in his home; he must be able to teach; ³he must not be a drunkard or a violent man, but gentle and peaceful; he must not love money; ⁴he must be able to manage his own family well and make his children obey him with all respect. ⁵For if a man does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of the church of God? ⁶He must be mature in the faith, so that he will not swell up with pride and be condemned, as the Devil was. ⁷He should be a man who is respected by the people outside the church, so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the Devil's trap.

Helpers in the Church

⁸Church helpers must also have a good character and be sincere; they must not drink too much wine or be greedy for money; ⁹they should hold to the revealed truth of the faith with a clear conscience. ¹⁰They should be tested first, and then, if they pass the test, they are to serve. ¹¹Their wives also must be of good character and must not gossip; they must be sober and honest in everything. ¹²A church helper must have only one wife, and be able to manage his children and family well. ¹³Those helpers who do their work well win for themselves a good standing and are able to speak boldly about their faith in Christ Jesus.

The Great Secret

¹⁴As I write this letter to you, I hope to come and see you soon. ¹⁵But if I delay, this letter will let you know how we should conduct ourselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. ¹⁶No one can deny how great is the secret of our religion:

He appeared in human form,

was shown to be right by the Spirit,

and was seen by angels.

He was preached among the nations,

was believed in throughout the world,

and was taken up to heaven.

The Assyrians Threaten Jerusalem
(2 Kings 18.13-27; 2 Chronicles 32.1-19)

Isaiah 36 In the fourteenth year that Hezekiah was king of Judah, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ²Then he ordered his chief official to go from Lachish to Jerusalem with a large military force to demand that King Hezekiah surrender. The official occupied the road where the cloth makers work, by the ditch that brings water from the upper pool. ³Three Judeans came out to meet him: the official in charge of the palace, Eliakim son of Hilkiah; the court secretary, Shebna; and the official in charge of the records, Joah son of Asaph. ⁴The Assyrian official told them that the emperor wanted to know what made King Hezekiah so confident. ⁵He demanded, "Do you think that words can take the place of military skill and might? Who do you think will help you rebel against Assyria? ⁶You are expecting Egypt to help you, but that would be like using a reed as a walking stick--it would break and would jab your hand. That is what the king of Egypt is like when anyone relies on him."

⁷The Assyrian official went on, "Or will you tell me that you are relying on the LORD your God? It was the LORD's shrines and altars that Hezekiah destroyed when he told the people of Judah and Jerusalem to worship at one altar only. ⁸I will make a bargain with you in the name of the emperor. I will give you two thousand horses if you can find that many riders. ⁹You are no match for even the lowest ranking Assyrian official, and yet you expect the Egyptians to send you chariots and horsemen. ¹⁰Do you think I have attacked your country and destroyed it without the LORD's help? The LORD himself told me to attack it and destroy it."

¹¹Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah told the official, "Speak Aramaic to us. We understand it. Don't speak Hebrew; all the people on the wall are listening."

¹²He replied, "Do you think you and the king are the only ones the emperor sent me to say all these things to? No, I am also talking to the people who are sitting on the wall, who will have to eat their excrement and drink their urine, just as you will."

¹³Then the official stood up and shouted in Hebrew, "Listen to what the emperor of Assyria is telling you. ¹⁴He warns you not to let Hezekiah deceive you. Hezekiah can't save you. ¹⁵And don't let him persuade you to rely on the LORD. Don't think that the LORD will save you and that he will stop our Assyrian army from capturing your city. ¹⁶Don't listen to Hezekiah! The emperor of Assyria commands you to come out of the city and surrender. You will all be allowed to eat grapes from your own vines and figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own wells-- ¹⁷until the emperor resettles you in a country much like your own, where there are vineyards to give wine and there is grain for making bread. ¹⁸Don't let Hezekiah fool you into thinking that the LORD will rescue you. Did the gods of any other nations save their countries from the emperor of Assyria? ¹⁹Where are they now, the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Did anyone save Samaria? ²⁰When did any of the gods of all these countries ever save their country from our emperor? Then what makes you think the LORD can save Jerusalem?"

²¹The people kept quiet, just as King Hezekiah had told them to; they did not say a word. ²²Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah tore their clothes in grief and went and reported to the king what the Assyrian official had said.

The King Asks Isaiah's Advice
(2 Kings 19.1-7)

Isaiah 37 As soon as King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes in grief, put on sackcloth, and went to the Temple of the LORD. ²He sent Eliakim, the official in charge of the palace, Shebna, the court secretary, and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They also were wearing sackcloth. ³This is the message which he told them to give to Isaiah: "Today is a day of suffering; we are being punished and are in disgrace. We are like a woman who is ready to give birth, but is too weak to do it. ⁴The Assyrian emperor has sent his chief official to insult the living God. May the LORD your God hear these insults and punish those who spoke them. So pray to God for those of our people who survive."

⁵When Isaiah received King Hezekiah's message, ⁶he sent back this answer: "The LORD tells you not to let the Assyrians frighten you by their claims that he cannot save you. ⁷The LORD will cause the emperor to hear a rumor that will make him go back to his own country, and the LORD will have him killed there."

The Assyrians Send Another Threat
(2 Kings 19.8-19)

⁸The Assyrian official learned that the emperor had left Lachish and was fighting against the nearby city of Libnah; so he went there to consult him. ⁹Word reached the Assyrians that the Egyptian army, led by King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, was coming to attack them. When the emperor heard this, he sent a letter to King Hezekiah ¹⁰of Judah to tell him: "The god you are trusting in has told you that you will not fall into my hands, but don't let that deceive you. ¹¹You have heard what an Assyrian emperor does to any country he decides to destroy. Do you think that you can escape? ¹²My ancestors destroyed the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and killed the people of Betheden who lived in Telassar, and none of their gods could save them. ¹³Where are the kings of the cities of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?"

¹⁴King Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went to the Temple, placed the letter there in the presence of the LORD, ¹⁵and prayed, ¹⁶"Almighty LORD, God of Israel, seated above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world. You created the earth and the sky. ¹⁷Now, LORD, hear us and look at what is happening to us. Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult you, the living God. ¹⁸We all know, LORD, that the emperors of Assyria have destroyed many nations, made their lands desolate, ¹⁹and burned up their gods--which were no gods at all, only images of wood and stone made by human hands. ²⁰Now, LORD our God, rescue us from the Assyrians, so that all the nations of the world will know that you alone are God."

Isaiah's Message to the King
(2 Kings 19.20-37)

²¹Then Isaiah sent a message telling King Hezekiah that in answer to the king's prayer ²²the LORD had said, "The city of Jerusalem laughs at you, Sennacherib, and makes fun of you. ²³Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing? You have been disrespectful to me, the holy God of Israel. ²⁴You sent your servants to boast to me that with all your chariots you had conquered the highest mountains of Lebanon. You boasted that there you cut down the tallest cedars and the finest cypress trees, and that you reached the deepest parts of the forests. ²⁵You boasted that you dug wells and drank water in foreign lands, and that the feet of your soldiers tramped the Nile River dry.

²⁶"Have you never heard that I planned all this long ago? And now I have carried it out. I gave you the power to turn fortified cities into piles of rubble. ²⁷The people who lived there were powerless; they were frightened and stunned. They were like grass in a field or weeds growing on a roof when the hot east wind blasts them.

²⁸"But I know everything about you, what you do and where you go. I know how you rage against me. ²⁹I have received the report of that rage and that pride of yours, and now I will put a hook through your nose and a bit in your mouth and will take you back by the same road you came."

³⁰Then Isaiah said to King Hezekiah, "Here is a sign of what will happen. This year and next you will have only wild grain to eat, but the following year you will be able to plant grain and harvest it, and plant vines and eat grapes. ³¹Those in Judah who survive will flourish like plants that send roots deep into the ground and produce fruit. ³²There will be people in Jerusalem and on Mount Zion who will survive, because the LORD Almighty is determined to make this happen.

³³"And this is what the LORD has said about the Assyrian emperor: 'He will not enter this city or shoot a single arrow against it. No soldiers with shields will come near the city, and no siege mounds will be built around it. ³⁴He will go back by the same road he came, without entering this city. I, the LORD, have spoken. ³⁵I will defend this city and protect it, for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David.'"

³⁶An angel of the LORD went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead! ³⁷Then the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh. ³⁸One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords and then escaped to the land of Ararat. Another of his sons, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as emperor.

Love for the Law of the LORD

Psalm 119⁹⁷How I love your law!

I think about it all day long.

⁹⁸Your commandment is with me all the time

and makes me wiser than my enemies.

⁹⁹I understand more than all my teachers,

because I meditate on your instructions.

¹⁰⁰I have greater wisdom than those who are old,

because I obey your commands.

¹⁰¹I have avoided all evil conduct,

because I want to obey your word.

¹⁰²I have not neglected your instructions,

because you yourself are my teacher.

¹⁰³How sweet is the taste of your instructions--

sweeter even than honey!

¹⁰⁴I gain wisdom from your laws,

and so I hate all bad conduct.

Light from the Law of the LORD

¹⁰⁵Your word is a lamp to guide me

and a light for my path.

¹⁰⁶I will keep my solemn promise

to obey your just instructions.

¹⁰⁷My sufferings, LORD, are terrible indeed;

keep me alive, as you have promised.

¹⁰⁸Accept my prayer of thanks, O LORD,

and teach me your commands.

¹⁰⁹I am always ready to risk my life;

I have not forgotten your law.

¹¹⁰The wicked lay a trap for me,

but I have not disobeyed your commands.

¹¹¹Your commandments are my eternal possession;

they are the joy of my heart.

¹¹²I have decided to obey your laws

until the day I die.

Safety in the Law of the LORD

¹¹³I hate those who are not completely loyal to you,

but I love your law.

¹¹⁴You are my defender and protector;

I put my hope in your promise.

¹¹⁵Go away from me, you sinful people.

I will obey the commands of my God.

¹¹⁶Give me strength, as you promised, and I shall live;

don't let me be disappointed in my hope!

¹¹⁷Hold me, and I will be safe,

and I will always pay attention to your commands.

¹¹⁸You reject everyone who disobeys your laws;

their deceitful schemes are useless.

¹¹⁹You treat all the wicked like rubbish,

and so I love your instructions.

¹²⁰Because of you I am afraid;

I am filled with fear because of your judgments.

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.