Daily Bible GNT December 04 Scroll

Paul's Letter to the
EPHESIANS

Ephesians 1 From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus--

To God's people in Ephesus, who are faithful in their life in union with Christ Jesus:

²May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

³Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. ⁴Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him.

Because of his love ⁵God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children--this was his pleasure and purpose. ⁶Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son! ⁷For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, ⁸which he gave to us in such large measure!

In all his wisdom and insight ⁹God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ. ¹⁰This plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head.

¹¹All things are done according to God's plan and decision; and God chose us to be his own people in union with Christ because of his own purpose, based on what he had decided from the very beginning. ¹²Let us, then, who were the first to hope in Christ, praise God's glory!

¹³And you also became God's people when you heard the true message, the Good News that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put his stamp of ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit he had promised. ¹⁴The Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised his people, and this assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are his. Let us praise his glory!

Paul's Prayer

¹⁵For this reason, ever since I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God's people, ¹⁶I have not stopped giving thanks to God for you. I remember you in my prayers ¹⁷and ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and reveal God to you, so that you will know him. ¹⁸I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people, ¹⁹and how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world. ²¹Christ rules there above all heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords; he has a title superior to all titles of authority in this world and in the next. ²²God put all things under Christ's feet and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things. ²³The church is Christ's body, the completion of him who himself completes all things everywhere.

Ezekiel Acts Out the Siege of Jerusalem

Ezekiel 4 God said, "Mortal man, get a brick, put it in front of you, and scratch lines on it to represent the city of Jerusalem. ²Then, to represent a siege, put trenches, earthworks, camps, and battering rams all around it. ³Take an iron pan and set it up like a wall between you and the city. Face the city. It is under siege, and you are the one besieging it. This will be a sign to the nation of Israel.

^4-5"Then lie down on your left side, and I will place on you the guilt of the nation of Israel. For 390 days you will stay there and suffer because of their guilt. I have sentenced you to one day for each year their punishment will last. ⁶When you finish that, turn over on your right side and suffer for the guilt of Judah for forty days--one day for each year of their punishment.

⁷"Fix your eyes on the siege of Jerusalem. Shake your fist at the city and prophesy against it. ⁸I will tie you up so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until the siege is over.

⁹"Now take some wheat, barley, beans, peas, millet, and spelt. Mix them all together and make bread. That is what you are to eat during the 390 days you are lying on your left side. ¹⁰You will be allowed eight ounces of bread a day, and it will have to last until the next day. ¹¹You will also have a limited amount of water to drink, two cups a day. ¹²You are to build a fire out of dried human excrement, bake bread on the fire, and eat it where everyone can see you."

¹³The LORD said, "This represents the way the Israelites will have to eat food which the Law forbids, when I scatter them to foreign countries."

¹⁴But I replied, "No, Sovereign LORD! I have never defiled myself. From childhood on I have never eaten meat from any animal that died a natural death or was killed by wild animals. I have never eaten any food considered unclean."

¹⁵So God said, "Very well. I will let you use cow dung instead, and you can bake your bread on that."

¹⁶And he added, "Mortal man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread for Jerusalem. The people there will be distressed and anxious as they measure out the food they eat and the water they drink. ¹⁷They will run out of bread and water; they will be in despair, and they will waste away because of their sins."

Ezekiel Cuts His Hair

Ezekiel 5 The LORD said, "Mortal man, take a sharp sword and use it to shave off your beard and all your hair. Then weigh the hair on scales and divide it into three parts. ²Burn up a third of it in the city when the siege is over. Take another third and chop it up with your sword as you move around outside the city. Scatter the remaining third to the winds, and I will pursue it with my sword. ³Keep back a few hairs and wrap them in the hem of your clothes. ⁴Then take a few of them out again, throw them in the fire, and let them burn up. From them fire will spread to the whole nation of Israel."

⁵The Sovereign LORD said, "Look at Jerusalem. I put her at the center of the world, with other countries all around her. ⁶But Jerusalem rebelled against my commands and showed that she was more wicked than the other nations, more disobedient than the countries around her. Jerusalem rejected my commands and refused to keep my laws. ⁷Now listen, Jerusalem, to what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying. By not obeying my laws or keeping my commands, you have caused more trouble than the nations around you. You have followed the customs of other nations. ⁸And so I, the Sovereign LORD, am telling you that I am your enemy. I will pass judgment on you where all the nations can see it. ⁹Because of all the things you do that I hate, I will punish Jerusalem as I have never done before and will never do again. ¹⁰As a result, parents in Jerusalem will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter in every direction any who are left alive.

¹¹"Therefore, as I am the living God--this is the word of the Sovereign LORD--because you defiled my Temple with all the evil, disgusting things you did, I will cut you down without mercy. ¹²A third of your people will die from sickness and hunger in the city; a third will be cut down by swords outside the city; and I will scatter the last third to the winds and pursue them with a sword.

¹³"You will feel all the force of my anger and rage until I am satisfied. When all this happens, you will be convinced that I, the LORD, have spoken to you because I am outraged at your unfaithfulness. ¹⁴Everyone from the nations around you who passes by will sneer at you and keep their distance.

¹⁵"When I am angry and furious with you and punish you, all the nations around you will be terrified. They will look at you with disgust and make fun of you. ¹⁶I will cut off your supply of food and let you starve. You will feel the pains of hunger like sharp arrows sent to destroy you. ¹⁷I will send hunger and wild animals to kill your children, and will send sickness, violence, and war to kill you. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Praise the LORD!

Psalm 150 Praise the LORD!

Praise God in his Temple!

Praise his strength in heaven!

²Praise him for the mighty things he has done.

Praise his supreme greatness.

³Praise him with trumpets.

Praise him with harps and lyres.

⁴Praise him with drums and dancing.

Praise him with harps and flutes.

⁵Praise him with cymbals.

Praise him with loud cymbals.

⁶Praise the LORD, all living creatures!

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.