Daily Bible GNT November 30 Scroll

The Example of Hagar and Sarah

Galatians 4 ²¹Let me ask those of you who want to be subject to the Law: do you not hear what the Law says? ²²It says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, the other by a free woman. ²³His son by the slave woman was born in the usual way, but his son by the free woman was born as a result of God's promise. ²⁴These things can be understood as a figure: the two women represent two covenants. The one whose children are born in slavery is Hagar, and she represents the covenant made at Mount Sinai. ²⁵Hagar, who stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, is a figure of the present city of Jerusalem, in slavery with all its people. ²⁶But the heavenly Jerusalem is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷For the scripture says,

"Be happy, you childless woman!

Shout and cry with joy, you who never felt the pains of childbirth!

For the woman who was deserted will have more children

than the woman whose husband never left her."

²⁸Now, you, my friends, are God's children as a result of his promise, just as Isaac was. ²⁹At that time the son who was born in the usual way persecuted the one who was born because of God's Spirit; and it is the same now. ³⁰But what does the scripture say? It says, "Send the slave woman and her son away; for the son of the slave woman will not have a part of the father's property along with the son of the free woman." ³¹So then, my friends, we are not the children of a slave woman but of a free woman.

Punishment, Repentance, and Hope

Lamentations 3 I am one who knows what it is to be punished by God.

He drove me deeper and deeper into darkness

And beat me again and again with merciless blows.

⁴He has left my flesh open and raw, and has broken my bones.

⁵

He has shut me in a prison of misery and anguish.

⁶

He has forced me to live in the stagnant darkness of death.

⁷He has bound me in chains; I am a prisoner with no hope of escape.

⁸

I cry aloud for help, but God refuses to listen;

⁹

I stagger as I walk; stone walls block me wherever I turn.

¹⁰He waited for me like a bear; he pounced on me like a lion.

¹¹

He chased me off the road, tore me to pieces, and left me.

¹²

He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.

¹³He shot his arrows deep into my body.

¹⁴

People laugh at me all day long; I am a joke to them all.

¹⁵

Bitter suffering is all he has given me for food and drink.

¹⁶He rubbed my face in the ground and broke my teeth on rocks.

¹⁷

I have forgotten what health and peace and happiness are.

¹⁸

I do not have much longer to live; my hope in the LORD is gone.

¹⁹The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison.

²⁰

I think of it constantly, and my spirit is depressed.

²¹

Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing:

²²The LORD's unfailing love and mercy still continue,

²³

Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.

²⁴

The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.

²⁵The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him,

²⁶

So it is best for us to wait in patience--to wait for him to save us--

²⁷

And it is best to learn this patience in our youth.

²⁸When we suffer, we should sit alone in silent patience;

²⁹

We should bow in submission, for there may still be hope.

³⁰

Though beaten and insulted, we should accept it all.

³¹The Lord is merciful and will not reject us forever.

³²

He may bring us sorrow, but his love for us is sure and strong.

³³

He takes no pleasure in causing us grief or pain.

³⁴The Lord knows when our spirits are crushed in prison;

³⁵

He knows when we are denied the rights he gave us;

³⁶

When justice is perverted in court, he knows.

³⁷The will of the Lord alone is always carried out.

³⁸

Good and evil alike take place at his command.

³⁹

Why should we ever complain when we are punished for our sin?

⁴⁰Let us examine our ways and turn back to the LORD.

⁴¹

Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray,

⁴²

"We have sinned and rebelled, and you, O LORD, have not forgiven us.

⁴³"You pursued us and killed us; your mercy was hidden by your anger,

⁴⁴

By a cloud of fury too thick for our prayers to get through.

⁴⁵

You have made us the garbage dump of the world.

⁴⁶"We are insulted and mocked by all our enemies.

⁴⁷

We have been through disaster and ruin; we live in danger and fear.

⁴⁸

My eyes flow with rivers of tears at the destruction of my people.

⁴⁹"My tears will pour out in a ceaseless stream

⁵⁰

Until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees us.

⁵¹

My heart is grieved when I see what has happened to the women of the city.

⁵²"I was trapped like a bird by enemies who had no cause to hate me.

⁵³

They threw me alive into a pit and closed the opening with a stone.

⁵⁴

Water began to close over me, and I thought death was near.

⁵⁵"From the bottom of the pit, O LORD, I cried out to you,

⁵⁶

And when I begged you to listen to my cry, you heard.

⁵⁷

You answered me and told me not to be afraid.

⁵⁸"You came to my rescue, Lord, and saved my life.

⁵⁹

Judge in my favor; you know the wrongs done against me.

⁶⁰

You know how my enemies hate me and how they plot against me.

⁶¹"You have heard them insult me, O LORD; you know all their plots.

⁶²

All day long they talk about me and make their plans.

⁶³

From morning till night they make fun of me.

⁶⁴"Punish them for what they have done, O LORD;

⁶⁵

Curse them and fill them with despair!

⁶⁶

Hunt them down and wipe them off the earth!"

Jerusalem after Its Fall

Lamentations 4 Our glittering gold has grown dull;

the stones of the Temple lie scattered in the streets.

²Zion's young people were as precious to us as gold,

but now they are treated like common clay pots.

³Even a mother wolf will nurse her cubs,

but my people are like ostriches, cruel to their young.

⁴They let their babies die of hunger and thirst;

children are begging for food that no one will give them.

⁵People who once ate the finest foods die starving in the streets;

those raised in luxury are pawing through garbage for food.

⁶My people have been punished even more than the inhabitants of Sodom,

which met a sudden downfall at the hands of God.

⁷Our princes were undefiled and pure as snow,

vigorous and strong, glowing with health.

⁸Now they lie unknown in the streets, their faces blackened in death;

their skin, dry as wood, has shriveled on their bones.

⁹Those who died in the war were better off than those who died later,

who starved slowly to death, with no food to keep them alive.

¹⁰The disaster that came to my people brought horror;

loving mothers boiled their own children for food.

¹¹The LORD turned loose the full force of his fury;

he lit a fire in Zion that burned it to the ground.

¹²No one anywhere, not even rulers of foreign nations,

believed that any invader could enter Jerusalem's gates.

¹³But it happened, because her prophets sinned and her priests were guilty

of causing the death of innocent people.

¹⁴Her leaders wandered through the streets as though blind,

so stained with blood that no one would touch them.

¹⁵"Get away!" people shouted. "You're defiled! Don't touch me!"

So they wandered from nation to nation, welcomed by no one.

¹⁶The LORD had no more concern for them; he scattered them himself.

He showed no regard for our priests and leaders.

¹⁷For help that never came, we looked until we could look no longer.

We kept waiting for help from a nation that had none to give.

¹⁸The enemy was watching for us; we could not even walk in the streets.

Our days were over; the end had come.

¹⁹Swifter than eagles swooping from the sky, they chased us down.

They tracked us down in the hills; they took us by surprise in the desert.

²⁰They captured the source of our life, the king the LORD had chosen,

the one we had trusted to protect us from every invader.

²¹Laugh on, people of Edom and Uz; be glad while you can.

Your disaster is coming too; you too will stagger naked in shame.

²²Zion has paid for her sin; the LORD will not keep us in exile any longer.

But Edom, the LORD will punish you; he will expose your guilty acts.

In Praise of God the Savior

Psalm 146 Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD, my soul!

²I will praise him as long as I live;

I will sing to my God all my life.

³Don't put your trust in human leaders;

no human being can save you.

⁴When they die, they return to the dust;

on that day all their plans come to an end.

⁵Happy are those who have the God of Jacob to help them

and who depend on the LORD their God,

⁶

the Creator of heaven, earth, and sea,

and all that is in them.

He always keeps his promises;

⁷

he judges in favor of the oppressed

and gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets prisoners free

⁸

and gives sight to the blind.

He lifts those who have fallen;

he loves his righteous people.

⁹He protects the strangers who live in our land;

he helps widows and orphans,

but takes the wicked to their ruin.

¹⁰The LORD is king forever.

Your God, O Zion, will reign for all time.

Praise the LORD!

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.