Daily Bible GNT November 20 Scroll

Wives and Husbands

1 Peter 3 In the same way you wives must submit yourselves to your husbands, so that if any of them do not believe God's word, your conduct will win them over to believe. It will not be necessary for you to say a word, ²because they will see how pure and reverent your conduct is. ³You should not use outward aids to make yourselves beautiful, such as the way you fix your hair, or the jewelry you put on, or the dresses you wear. ⁴Instead, your beauty should consist of your true inner self, the ageless beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of the greatest value in God's sight. ⁵For the devout women of the past who placed their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful by submitting themselves to their husbands. ⁶Sarah was like that; she obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are now her daughters if you do good and are not afraid of anything.

⁷In the same way you husbands must live with your wives with the proper understanding that they are more delicate than you. Treat them with respect, because they also will receive, together with you, God's gift of life. Do this so that nothing will interfere with your prayers.

Suffering for Doing Right

⁸To conclude: you must all have the same attitude and the same feelings; love one another, and be kind and humble with one another. ⁹Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing; instead, pay back with a blessing, because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you. ¹⁰As the scripture says,

"If you want to enjoy life

and wish to see good times,

you must keep from speaking evil

and stop telling lies.

¹¹You must turn away from evil and do good;

you must strive for peace with all your heart.

¹²For the Lord watches over the righteous

and listens to their prayers;

but he opposes those who do evil."

¹³Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, how happy you are! Do not be afraid of anyone, and do not worry. ¹⁵But have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honor him as Lord. Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, ¹⁶but do it with gentleness and respect. Keep your conscience clear, so that when you are insulted, those who speak evil of your good conduct as followers of Christ will become ashamed of what they say. ¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if this should be God's will, than for doing evil. ¹⁸For Christ died for sins once and for all, a good man on behalf of sinners, in order to lead you to God. He was put to death physically, but made alive spiritually, ¹⁹and in his spiritual existence he went and preached to the imprisoned spirits. ²⁰These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat. The few people in the boat--eight in all--were saved by the water, ²¹which was a symbol pointing to baptism, which now saves you. It is not the washing off of bodily dirt, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone to heaven and is at the right side of God, ruling over all angels and heavenly authorities and powers.

Jeremiah and the Rechabites

Jeremiah 35 When Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD said to me, ²"Go to the members of the Rechabite clan and talk to them. Then bring them into one of the rooms in the Temple and offer them some wine." ³So I took the entire Rechabite clan--Jaazaniah (the son of another Jeremiah, who was Habazziniah's son) and all his brothers and sons-- ⁴and brought them to the Temple. I took them into the room of the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah. This room was above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, an important official in the Temple, and near the rooms of the other officials. ⁵Then I placed cups and bowls full of wine before the Rechabites, and I said to them, "Have some wine."

⁶But they answered, "We do not drink wine. Our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab told us that neither we nor our descendants were ever to drink any wine. ⁷He also told us not to build houses or farm the land and not to plant vineyards or buy them. He commanded us always to live in tents, so that we might remain in this land where we live like strangers. ⁸We have obeyed all the instructions that Jonadab gave us. We ourselves never drink wine, and neither do our wives, our sons, or our daughters. ^9-10We do not build houses for homes--we live in tents--and we own no vineyards, fields, or grain. We have fully obeyed everything that our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. ¹¹But when King Nebuchadnezzar invaded the country, we decided to come to Jerusalem to get away from the Babylonian and Syrian armies. That is why we are living in Jerusalem."

^12-13Then the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, told me to go and say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, "I, the LORD, ask you why you refuse to listen to me and to obey my instructions. ¹⁴Jonadab's descendants have obeyed his command not to drink wine, and to this very day none of them drink any. But I have kept on speaking to you, and you have not obeyed me. ¹⁵I have continued to send you all my servants the prophets, and they have told you to give up your evil ways and to do what is right. They warned you not to worship and serve other gods, so that you could go on living in the land that I gave you and your ancestors. But you would not listen to me or pay any attention to me. ¹⁶Jonadab's descendants have obeyed the command that their ancestor gave them, but you people have not obeyed me. ¹⁷So now, I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, will bring on you people of Judah and of Jerusalem all the destruction that I promised. I will do this because you would not listen when I spoke to you, and you would not answer when I called you."

¹⁸Then I told the Rechabite clan that the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, "You have obeyed the command that your ancestor Jonadab gave you; you have followed all his instructions, and you have done everything he commanded you. ¹⁹So I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, promise that Jonadab son of Rechab will always have a male descendant to serve me."

Baruch Reads the Scroll in the Temple

Jeremiah 36 In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD said to me, ²"Get a scroll and write on it everything that I have told you about Israel and Judah and all the nations. Write everything that I have told you from the time I first spoke to you, when Josiah was king, up to the present. ³Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the destruction that I intend to bring on them, they will turn from their evil ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins."

⁴So I called Baruch son of Neriah and dictated to him everything that the LORD had said to me. And Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll. ⁵Then I gave Baruch the following instructions: "I am no longer allowed to go into the Temple. ⁶But I want you to go there the next time the people are fasting. You are to read the scroll aloud, so that they will hear everything that the LORD has said to me and that I have dictated to you. Do this where everyone can hear you, including the people of Judah who have come in from their towns. ⁷Perhaps they will pray to the LORD and turn from their evil ways, because the LORD has threatened this people with his terrible anger and fury." ⁸So Baruch read the LORD's words in the Temple exactly as I had told him to do.

⁹In the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah, the people fasted to gain the LORD's favor. The fast was kept by all who lived in Jerusalem and by all who came there from the towns of Judah. ¹⁰Then, while all the people were listening, Baruch read from the scroll everything that I had said. He did this in the Temple, from the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan, the court secretary. His room was in the upper court near the entrance of the New Gate of the Temple.

The Scroll Is Read to the Officials

¹¹Micaiah, the son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll what the LORD had said. ¹²Then he went to the royal palace, to the room of the court secretary, where all the officials were in session. Elishama, the court secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials were there. ¹³Micaiah told them everything that he had heard Baruch read to the people. ¹⁴Then the officials sent Jehudi (the son of Nethaniah, grandson of Shelemiah, and great-grandson of Cushi) to tell Baruch to bring the scroll that he had read to the people. Baruch brought them the scroll. ¹⁵"Sit down," they said, "and read the scroll to us." So Baruch did. ¹⁶After he had read it, they turned to one another in alarm and said to Baruch, "We must report this to the king." ¹⁷Then they asked him, "Tell us, now, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it to you?"

¹⁸Baruch answered, "Jeremiah dictated every word of it to me, and I wrote it down in ink on this scroll."

¹⁹Then they told him, "You and Jeremiah must go and hide. Don't let anyone know where you are."

The King Burns the Scroll

²⁰The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the court secretary, and went to the king's court, where they reported everything to the king. ²¹Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He took it from the room of Elishama and read it to the king and all the officials who were standing around him. ²²It was winter and the king was sitting in his winter palace in front of the fire. ²³As soon as Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king cut them off with a small knife and threw them into the fire. He kept doing this until the entire scroll was burned up. ²⁴But neither the king nor any of his officials who heard all this was afraid or showed any sign of sorrow. ²⁵Although Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, he paid no attention to them. ²⁶Then he ordered Prince Jerahmeel, together with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to arrest me and my secretary Baruch. But the LORD had hidden us.

Jeremiah Writes Another Scroll

²⁷After King Jehoiakim had burned the scroll that I had dictated to Baruch, the LORD told me ²⁸to take another scroll and write on it everything that had been on the first one. ²⁹The LORD told me to say to the king, "You have burned the scroll, and you have asked Jeremiah why he wrote that the king of Babylonia would come and destroy this land and kill its people and its animals. ³⁰So now, I, the LORD, say to you, King Jehoiakim, that no descendant of yours will ever rule over David's kingdom. Your corpse will be thrown out where it will be exposed to the sun during the day and to the frost at night. ³¹I will punish you, your descendants, and your officials because of the sins all of you commit. Neither you nor the people of Jerusalem and of Judah have paid any attention to my warnings, and so I will bring on all of you the disaster that I have threatened."

³²Then I took another scroll and gave it to my secretary Baruch, and he wrote down everything that I dictated. He wrote everything that had been on the first scroll and similar messages that I dictated to him.

A Hymn of Thanksgiving

Psalm 136 Give thanks to the LORD, because he is good;

his love is eternal.

²Give thanks to the greatest of all gods;

his love is eternal.

³Give thanks to the mightiest of all lords;

his love is eternal.

⁴He alone performs great miracles;

his love is eternal.

⁵By his wisdom he made the heavens;

his love is eternal;

⁶he built the earth on the deep waters;

his love is eternal.

⁷He made the sun and the moon;

his love is eternal;

⁸the sun to rule over the day;

his love is eternal;

⁹the moon and the stars to rule over the night;

his love is eternal.

¹⁰He killed the first-born sons of the Egyptians;

his love is eternal.

¹¹He led the people of Israel out of Egypt;

his love is eternal;

¹²with his strong hand, his powerful arm;

his love is eternal.

¹³He divided the Red Sea;

his love is eternal;

¹⁴he led his people through it;

his love is eternal;

¹⁵but he drowned the king of Egypt and his army;

his love is eternal.

¹⁶He led his people through the desert;

his love is eternal.

¹⁷He killed powerful kings;

his love is eternal;

¹⁸he killed famous kings;

his love is eternal;

¹⁹Sihon, king of the Amorites;

his love is eternal;

²⁰and Og, king of Bashan;

his love is eternal.

²¹He gave their lands to his people;

his love is eternal;

²²he gave them to Israel, his servant;

his love is eternal.

²³He did not forget us when we were defeated;

his love is eternal;

²⁴he freed us from our enemies;

his love is eternal.

²⁵He gives food to every living creature;

his love is eternal.

²⁶Give thanks to the God of heaven;

his love is eternal.

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.