Daily Bible GNT December 12 Scroll

Paul's Letter to the
PHILIPPIANS

Philippians 1 From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus--

To all God's people in Philippi who are in union with Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and helpers:

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

Paul's Prayer for His Readers

³I thank my God for you every time I think of you; ⁴and every time I pray for you all, I pray with joy ⁵because of the way in which you have helped me in the work of the gospel from the very first day until now. ⁶And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus. ⁷You are always in my heart! And so it is only right for me to feel as I do about you. For you have all shared with me in this privilege that God has given me, both now that I am in prison and also while I was free to defend the gospel and establish it firmly. ⁸God is my witness that I tell the truth when I say that my deep feeling for you all comes from the heart of Christ Jesus himself.

⁹I pray that your love will keep on growing more and more, together with true knowledge and perfect judgment, ¹⁰so that you will be able to choose what is best. Then you will be free from all impurity and blame on the Day of Christ. ¹¹Your lives will be filled with the truly good qualities which only Jesus Christ can produce, for the glory and praise of God.

Individual Responsibility

Ezekiel 18 The LORD spoke to me ²and said, "What is this proverb people keep repeating in the land of Israel?

'The parents ate the sour grapes,

But the children got the sour taste.'

³"As surely as I am the living God," says the Sovereign LORD, "you will not repeat this proverb in Israel any more. ⁴The life of every person belongs to me, the life of the parent as well as that of the child. The person who sins is the one who will die.

⁵"Suppose there is a truly good man, righteous and honest. ⁶He doesn't worship the idols of the Israelites or eat the sacrifices offered at forbidden shrines. He doesn't seduce another man's wife or have intercourse with a woman during her period. ⁷He doesn't cheat or rob anyone. He returns what a borrower gives him as security; he feeds the hungry and gives clothing to the naked. ⁸He doesn't lend money for profit. He refuses to do evil and gives an honest decision in any dispute. ⁹Such a man obeys my commands and carefully keeps my laws. He is righteous, and he will live," says the Sovereign LORD.

¹⁰"Then suppose this man has a son who robs and kills, who does any of these things ¹¹that the father never did. He eats sacrifices offered at forbidden shrines and seduces other men's wives. ¹²He cheats the poor, he robs, he keeps what a borrower gives him as security. He goes to pagan shrines, worships disgusting idols, ¹³and lends money for profit. Will he live? No, he will not. He has done all these disgusting things, and so he will die. He will be to blame for his own death.

¹⁴"Now suppose this second man has a son. He sees all the sins his father practiced, but does not follow his example. ¹⁵He doesn't worship the idols of the Israelites or eat the sacrifices offered at forbidden shrines. He doesn't seduce another man's wife ¹⁶or oppress anyone or rob anyone. He returns what a borrower gives him as security. He feeds the hungry and gives clothing to the naked. ¹⁷He refuses to do evil and doesn't lend money for profit. He keeps my laws and obeys my commands. He will not die because of his father's sins, but he will certainly live. ¹⁸His father, on the other hand, cheated and robbed and always did evil to everyone. And so he died because of the sins he himself had committed.

¹⁹"But you ask, 'Why shouldn't the son suffer because of his father's sins?' The answer is that the son did what was right and good. He kept my laws and followed them carefully, and so he will certainly live. ²⁰It is the one who sins who will die. A son is not to suffer because of his father's sins, nor a father because of the sins of his son. Good people will be rewarded for doing good, and evil people will suffer for the evil they do.

²¹"If someone evil stops sinning and keeps my laws, if he does what is right and good, he will not die; he will certainly live. ²²All his sins will be forgiven, and he will live, because he did what is right. ²³Do you think I enjoy seeing evil people die?" asks the Sovereign LORD. "No, I would rather see them repent and live.

²⁴"But if a righteous person stops doing good and starts doing all the evil, disgusting things that evil people do, will he go on living? No! None of the good he did will be remembered. He will die because of his unfaithfulness and his sins.

²⁵"But you say, 'What the Lord does isn't right.' Listen to me, you Israelites. Do you think my way of doing things isn't right? It is your way that isn't right. ²⁶When a righteous person stops doing good and starts doing evil and then dies, he dies because of the evil he has done. ²⁷When someone evil stops sinning and does what is right and good, he saves his life. ²⁸He realizes what he is doing and stops sinning, so he will certainly not die, but go on living. ²⁹And you Israelites say, 'What the Lord does isn't right.' You think my way isn't right, do you? It is your way that isn't right.

³⁰"Now I, the Sovereign LORD, am telling you Israelites that I will judge each of you by what you have done. Turn away from all the evil you are doing, and don't let your sin destroy you. ³¹Give up all the evil you have been doing, and get yourselves new minds and hearts. Why do you Israelites want to die? ³²I do not want anyone to die," says the Sovereign LORD. "Turn away from your sins and live."

Judgment on Babylon

Isaiah 47 The LORD says,

"Babylon, come down from your throne,

and sit in the dust on the ground.

You were once like a virgin, a city unconquered,

but you are soft and delicate no longer!

You are now a slave!

²Turn the millstone! Grind the flour!

Off with your veil! Strip off your fine clothes!

Lift up your skirts to cross the streams!

³People will see you naked;

they will see you humbled and shamed.

I will take vengeance, and no one will stop me."

⁴The holy God of Israel sets us free--

his name is the LORD Almighty.

⁵The LORD says to Babylon,

"Sit in silence and darkness;

no more will they call you the queen of nations!

⁶I was angry with my people;

I treated them as no longer mine:

I put them in your power,

and you showed them no mercy;

even the aged you treated harshly.

⁷You thought you would always be a queen,

and did not take these things to heart

or think how it all would end.

⁸"Listen to this, you lover of pleasure,

you that think you are safe and secure.

You claim you are as great as God--

that there is no one else like you.

You thought that you would never be a widow

or suffer the loss of your children.

⁹But in a moment, in a single day,

both of these things will happen.

In spite of all the magic you use,

you will lose your husband and children.

¹⁰"You felt sure of yourself in your evil;

you thought that no one could see you.

Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray,

and you said to yourself, 'I am God--

there is no one else like me.'

¹¹Disaster will come upon you,

and none of your magic can stop it.

Ruin will come on you suddenly--

ruin you never dreamed of !

¹²Keep all your magic spells and charms;

you have used them since you were young.

Perhaps they will be of some help to you;

perhaps you can frighten your enemies.

¹³You are powerless in spite of the advice you get.

Let your astrologers come forward and save you--

those people who study the stars,

who map out the zones of the heavens

and tell you from month to month

what is going to happen to you.

¹⁴"They will be like bits of straw,

and a fire will burn them up!

They will not even be able to save themselves--

the flames will be too hot for them,

not a cozy fire to warm themselves by.

¹⁵That is all the good they will do you--

those astrologers you've consulted all your life.

They all will leave you and go their own way,

and none will be left to save you."

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.