Daily Bible GNT December 02 Scroll

The Spirit and Human Nature

Galatians 5 ¹⁶What I say is this: let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. ¹⁷For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do. ¹⁸If the Spirit leads you, then you are not subject to the Law.

¹⁹What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions; ²⁰in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups; ²¹they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before: those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God.

²²But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires. ²⁵The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives. ²⁶We must not be proud or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.

The Book of
EZEKIEL

EZEKIEL'S FIRST VISION OF GOD (1.1--7.27)

God's Throne

Ezekiel 1 On the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year, I, Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, was living with the Jewish exiles by the Chebar River in Babylonia. The sky opened, and I saw a vision of God. ( ²It was the fifth year since King Jehoiachin had been taken into exile.) ³There in Babylonia beside the Chebar River, I heard the LORD speak to me, and I felt his power.

⁴I looked up and saw a windstorm coming from the north. Lightning was flashing from a huge cloud, and the sky around it was glowing. Where the lightning was flashing, something shone like bronze. ⁵At the center of the storm I saw what looked like four living creatures in human form, ⁶but each of them had four faces and four wings. ⁷Their legs were straight, and they had hoofs like those of a bull. They shone like polished bronze. ⁸In addition to their four faces and four wings, they each had four human hands, one under each wing. ⁹Two wings of each creature were spread out so that the creatures formed a square, with their wing tips touching. When they moved, they moved as a group without turning their bodies.

¹⁰Each living creature had four different faces: a human face in front, a lion's face at the right, a bull's face at the left, and an eagle's face at the back. ¹¹Two wings of each creature were raised so that they touched the tips of the wings of the creatures next to it, and their other two wings were folded against their bodies. ¹²Each creature faced all four directions, and so the group could go wherever they wished, without having to turn.

¹³Among the creatures there was something that looked like a blazing torch, constantly moving. The fire would blaze up and shoot out flashes of lightning. ¹⁴The creatures themselves darted back and forth with the speed of lightning.

¹⁵As I was looking at the four creatures I saw four wheels touching the ground, one beside each of them. ¹⁶All four wheels were alike; each one shone like a precious stone, and each had another wheel intersecting it at right angles, ¹⁷so that the wheels could move in any of the four directions. ¹⁸The rims of the wheels were covered with eyes. ¹⁹Whenever the creatures moved, the wheels moved with them, and if the creatures rose up from the earth, so did the wheels. ²⁰The creatures went wherever they wished, and the wheels did exactly what the creatures did, because the creatures controlled them. ²¹So every time the creatures moved or stopped or rose in the air, the wheels did exactly the same.

²²Above the heads of the creatures there was something that looked like a dome made of dazzling crystal. ²³There under the dome stood the creatures, each stretching out two wings toward the ones next to it and covering its body with the other two wings. ²⁴I heard the noise their wings made in flight; it sounded like the roar of the sea, like the noise of a huge army, like the voice of Almighty God. When they stopped flying, they folded their wings, ²⁵but there was still a sound coming from above the dome over their heads.

²⁶Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne made of sapphire, and sitting on the throne was a figure that looked like a human being. ²⁷The figure seemed to be shining like bronze in the middle of a fire. It shone all over with a bright light ²⁸that had in it all the colors of the rainbow. This was the dazzling light which shows the presence of the LORD.

A Call for the Universe to Praise God

Psalm 148 Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD from heaven,

you that live in the heights above.

²Praise him, all his angels,

all his heavenly armies.

³Praise him, sun and moon;

praise him, shining stars.

⁴Praise him, highest heavens,

and the waters above the sky.

⁵Let them all praise the name of the LORD!

He commanded, and they were created;

⁶

by his command they were fixed in their places forever,

and they cannot disobey.

⁷Praise the LORD from the earth,

sea monsters and all ocean depths;

⁸lightning and hail, snow and clouds,

strong winds that obey his command.

⁹Praise him, hills and mountains,

fruit trees and forests;

¹⁰all animals, tame and wild,

reptiles and birds.

¹¹Praise him, kings and all peoples,

princes and all other rulers;

¹²young women and young men,

old people and children too.

¹³Let them all praise the name of the LORD!

His name is greater than all others;

his glory is above earth and heaven.

¹⁴He made his nation strong,

so that all his people praise him--

the people of Israel, so dear to him.

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.