Daily Bible GNT November 08 Scroll

2 Timothy 4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and because he is coming to rule as King, I solemnly urge you ²to preach the message, to insist upon proclaiming it (whether the time is right or not), to convince, reproach, and encourage, as you teach with all patience. ³The time will come when people will not listen to sound doctrine, but will follow their own desires and will collect for themselves more and more teachers who will tell them what they are itching to hear. ⁴They will turn away from listening to the truth and give their attention to legends. ⁵But you must keep control of yourself in all circumstances; endure suffering, do the work of a preacher of the Good News, and perform your whole duty as a servant of God.

⁶As for me, the hour has come for me to be sacrificed; the time is here for me to leave this life. ⁷I have done my best in the race, I have run the full distance, and I have kept the faith. ⁸And now there is waiting for me the victory prize of being put right with God, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day--and not only to me, but to all those who wait with love for him to appear.

Personal Words

⁹Do your best to come to me soon. ¹⁰Demas fell in love with this present world and has deserted me, going off to Thessalonica. Crescens went to Galatia, and 2 Timothy to Dalmatia. ¹¹Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he can help me in the work. ¹²I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. ¹³When you come, bring my coat that I left in Troas with Carpus; bring the books too, and especially the ones made of parchment.

¹⁴Alexander the metalworker did me great harm; the Lord will reward him according to what he has done. ¹⁵Be on your guard against him yourself, because he was violently opposed to our message.

¹⁶No one stood by me the first time I defended myself; all deserted me. May God not count it against them! ¹⁷But the Lord stayed with me and gave me strength, so that I was able to proclaim the full message for all the Gentiles to hear; and I was rescued from being sentenced to death. ¹⁸And the Lord will rescue me from all evil and take me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

Final Greetings

¹⁹I send greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and to the family of Onesiphorus. ²⁰Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus in Miletus, because he was sick. ²¹Do your best to come before winter.

Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, and Claudia send their greetings, and so do all the other Christians.

²²The Lord be with your spirit.

God's grace be with you all.

Jeremiah and the Covenant

Jeremiah 11 The LORD said to me, ²"Listen to the terms of the covenant. Tell the people of Judah and of Jerusalem ³that I, the LORD God of Israel, have placed a curse on everyone who does not obey the terms of this covenant. ⁴It is the covenant I made with their ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, the land that was like a blazing furnace to them. I told them to obey me and to do everything that I had commanded. I told them that if they obeyed, they would be my people and I would be their God. ⁵Then I would keep the promise I made to their ancestors that I would give them the rich and fertile land which they now have."

I said, "Yes, LORD."

⁶Then the LORD said to me, "Go to the cities of Judah and to the streets of Jerusalem. Proclaim my message there and tell the people to listen to the terms of the covenant and to obey them. ⁷When I brought their ancestors out of Egypt, I solemnly warned them to obey me, and I have kept on warning the people until this day. ⁸But they did not listen or obey. Instead, everyone continued to be as stubborn and evil as ever. I had commanded them to keep the covenant, but they refused. So I brought on them all the punishments described in it."

⁹Then the LORD said to me, "The people of Judah and of Jerusalem are plotting against me. ¹⁰They have gone back to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to do what I said; they have worshiped other gods. Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant that I made with their ancestors. ¹¹So now I, the LORD, warn them that I am going to bring destruction on them, and they will not escape. And when they cry out to me for help, I will not listen to them. ¹²Then the people of Judah and of Jerusalem will go to the gods to whom they offer sacrifices and will cry out to them for help. But those gods will not be able to save them when this destruction comes. ¹³The people of Judah have as many gods as they have cities, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem have set up as many altars for sacrifices to that disgusting god Baal as there are streets in the city. ¹⁴Jeremiah, don't pray to me or plead with me on behalf of these people. When they are in trouble and call to me for help, I will not listen to them."

¹⁵The LORD says, "The people I love are doing evil things. What right do they have to be in my Temple? Do they think they can prevent disaster by making promises and by offering animal sacrifices? Will they then rejoice? ¹⁶I once called them a leafy olive tree, full of beautiful fruit; but now, with a roar like thunder I will set its leaves on fire and break its branches.

¹⁷"I, the LORD Almighty, planted Israel and Judah; but now I threaten them with disaster. They have brought this on themselves because they have done wrong; they have made me angry by offering sacrifices to Baal."

A Plot against Jeremiah's Life

¹⁸The LORD informed me of the plots that my enemies were making against me. ¹⁹I was like a trusting lamb taken out to be killed, and I did not know that it was against me that they were planning evil things. They were saying, "Let's chop down the tree while it is still healthy; let's kill him so that no one will remember him any more."

²⁰Then I prayed, "Almighty LORD, you are a just judge; you test people's thoughts and feelings. I have placed my cause in your hands; so let me watch you take revenge on these people."

²¹The people of Anathoth wanted me killed, and they told me that they would kill me if I kept on proclaiming the LORD's message. ²²So the LORD Almighty said, "I will punish them! Their young men will be killed in war; their children will die of starvation. ²³I have set a time for bringing disaster on the people of Anathoth, and when that time comes, none of them will survive."

Jeremiah Questions the LORD

Jeremiah 12 "LORD, if I argued my case with you,

you would prove to be right.

Yet I must question you about matters of justice.

Why are the wicked so prosperous?

Why do dishonest people succeed?

²You plant them, and they take root;

they grow and bear fruit.

They always speak well of you,

yet they do not really care about you.

³But, LORD, you know me;

you see what I do

and how I love you.

Drag these evil people away like sheep to be butchered;

guard them until it is time for them to be slaughtered.

⁴How long will our land be dry,

and the grass in every field be withered?

Animals and birds are dying

because of the wickedness of our people,

people who say, 'God doesn't see what we are doing.'"

⁵The LORD said,

"Jeremiah, if you get tired racing against people,

how can you race against horses?

If you can't even stand up in open country,

how will you manage in the jungle by the Jordan?

⁶Even your relatives, members of your own family, have betrayed you;

they join in the attacks against you.

Do not trust them, even though they speak friendly words."

The LORD's Sorrow because of His People

⁷The LORD says,

"I have abandoned Israel;

I have rejected my chosen nation.

I have given the people I love

into the power of their enemies.

⁸My chosen people have turned against me;

like a lion in the forest

they have roared at me,

and so I hate them.

⁹My chosen people are like a bird

attacked from all sides by hawks.

Call the wild animals

to come and join in the feast!

¹⁰Many foreign rulers have destroyed my vineyard;

they have trampled down my fields;

they have turned my lovely land into a desert.

¹¹They have made it a wasteland;

it lies desolate before me.

The whole land has become a desert,

and no one cares.

¹²Across all the desert highlands

people have come to plunder.

I have sent war to destroy the entire land;

no one can live in peace.

¹³My people planted wheat, but gathered weeds;

they have worked hard, but got nothing for it.

Because of my fierce anger

their crops have failed."

The LORD's Promise to Israel's Neighbors

¹⁴The LORD says, "I have something to say about Israel's neighbors who have ruined the land I gave to my people Israel. I will take those wicked people away from their countries like an uprooted plant, and I will rescue Judah from them. ¹⁵But after I have taken them away, I will have mercy on them; I will bring each nation back to its own land and to its own country. ¹⁶If with all their hearts they will accept the religion of my people and will swear, 'As the LORD lives'--as they once taught my people to swear by Baal--then they will also be a part of my people and will prosper. ¹⁷But if any nation will not obey, then I will completely uproot it and destroy it. I, the LORD, have spoken."

God the Protector of His People

Psalm 124 What if the LORD had not been on our side?

Answer, O Israel!

²"If the LORD had not been on our side

when our enemies attacked us,

³then they would have swallowed us alive

in their furious anger against us;

⁴then the flood would have carried us away,

the water would have covered us,

⁵

the raging torrent would have drowned us."

⁶Let us thank the LORD,

who has not let our enemies destroy us.

⁷We have escaped like a bird from a hunter's trap;

the trap is broken, and we are free!

⁸Our help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

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.