Daily Bible GNT December 20 Scroll

Dying and Living with Christ

Colossians 2 ²⁰You have died with Christ and are set free from the ruling spirits of the universe. Why, then, do you live as though you belonged to this world? Why do you obey such rules as ²¹"Don't handle this," "Don't taste that," "Don't touch the other"? ²²All these refer to things which become useless once they are used; they are only human rules and teachings. ²³Of course such rules appear to be based on wisdom in their forced worship of angels, and false humility, and severe treatment of the body; but they have no real value in controlling physical passions.
Colossians 3 You have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right side of God. ²Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth. ³For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory!

The Old Life and the New

⁵You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed (for greed is a form of idolatry). ⁶Because of such things God's anger will come upon those who do not obey him. ⁷At one time you yourselves used to live according to such desires, when your life was dominated by them.

⁸But now you must get rid of all these things: anger, passion, and hateful feelings. No insults or obscene talk must ever come from your lips. ⁹Do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old self with its habits ¹⁰and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself. ¹¹As a result, there is no longer any distinction between Gentiles and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, savages, slaves, and free, but Christ is all, Christ is in all.

¹²You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. ¹⁴And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. ¹⁵The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts. ¹⁷Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father.

Prophecy against Egypt

Ezekiel 29 On the twelfth day of the tenth month of the tenth year of our exile, the LORD spoke to me. ²"Mortal man," he said, "denounce the king of Egypt. Tell him how he and all the land of Egypt will be punished. ³Say that this is what the Sovereign LORD is telling the king of Egypt: I am your enemy, you monster crocodile, lying in the river. You say that the Nile is yours and that you made it. ⁴I am going to put a hook through your jaw and make the fish in your river stick fast to you. Then I will pull you up out of the Nile, with all the fish sticking to you. ⁵I will throw you and all those fish into the desert. Your body will fall on the ground and be left unburied. I will give it to the birds and animals for food. ⁶Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the LORD."

The LORD says, "The Israelites relied on you Egyptians for support, but you were no better than a weak stick. ⁷When they leaned on you, you broke, pierced their armpits, and made them wrench their backs. ⁸Now then, I, the Sovereign LORD, am telling you that I will have troops attack you with swords, and they will kill your people and your animals. ⁹Egypt will become an empty wasteland. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

"Because you said that the Nile is yours and you made it, ¹⁰I am your enemy and the enemy of your Nile. I will make all of Egypt an empty wasteland, from the city of Migdol in the north to the city of Aswan in the south, all the way to the Ethiopian border. ¹¹No human being or animal will walk through it. For forty years nothing will live there. ¹²I will make Egypt the most desolate country in the world. For forty years the cities of Egypt will lie in ruins, ruins worse than those of any other city. I will make the Egyptians refugees. They will flee to every country and live among other peoples."

¹³The Sovereign LORD says, "After forty years I will bring the Egyptians back from the nations where I have scattered them, ¹⁴and I will let them live in southern Egypt, their original home. There they will be a weak kingdom, ¹⁵the weakest kingdom of all, and they will never again rule other nations. I will make them so unimportant that they will not be able to bend any other nation to their will. ¹⁶Israel will never again depend on them for help. Egypt's fate will remind Israel how wrong it was to rely on them. Then Israel will know that I am the Sovereign LORD."

King Nebuchadnezzar Will Conquer Egypt

¹⁷On the first day of the first month of the twenty-seventh year of our exile, the LORD spoke to me. ¹⁸"Mortal man," he said, "King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia launched an attack on Tyre. He made his soldiers carry such heavy loads that their heads were rubbed bald and their shoulders were worn raw, but neither the king nor his army got anything for all their trouble. ¹⁹So now this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: I am giving the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar. He will loot and plunder it and carry off all the wealth of Egypt as his army's pay. ²⁰I am giving him Egypt in payment for his services, because his army was working for me. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken.

²¹"When that happens, I will make the people of Israel strong and let you, Ezekiel, speak out where everyone can hear you, so that they will know that I am the LORD."

The LORD Will Punish Egypt

Ezekiel 30 The LORD spoke to me again. ²"Mortal man," he said, "prophesy and announce what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying. You are to shout these words:

A day of terror is coming!

³The day is near, the day when the LORD will act,

A day of clouds and trouble for the nations.

⁴There will be war in Egypt

And great distress in Ethiopia.

Many in Egypt will be killed;

The country will be plundered

And left in ruins.

⁵"That war will also kill the soldiers hired from Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, Arabia, Kub, and even from among my own people."

⁶The LORD says, "From Migdol in the north to Aswan in the south, all Egypt's defenders will be killed in battle. Egypt's proud army will be destroyed. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. ⁷The land will be the most desolate in the world, and its cities will be left totally in ruins. ⁸When I set fire to Egypt and all her defenders are killed, then they will know that I am the LORD.

⁹"When that day comes and Egypt is destroyed, I will send messengers in ships to arouse the unsuspecting people of Ethiopia, and they will be terrified. That day is coming!"

¹⁰The Sovereign LORD says, "I will use King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia to put an end to Egypt's wealth. ¹¹He and his ruthless army will come to devastate the land. They will attack Egypt with swords, and the land will be full of corpses. ¹²I will dry up the Nile and put Egypt under the power of evil people. Foreigners will devastate the whole country. I, the LORD, have spoken."

¹³The Sovereign LORD says, "I will destroy the idols and the false gods in Memphis. There will be no one to rule Egypt, and I will terrify all the people. ¹⁴I will make southern Egypt desolate and set fire to the city of Zoan in the north. I will punish the capital city of Thebes. ¹⁵I will let the city of Pelusium, Egypt's great fortress, feel my fury. I will destroy the wealth of Thebes. ¹⁶I will set fire to Egypt, and Pelusium will be in agony. The walls of Thebes will be broken down, and the city will be flooded. ¹⁷The young men of the cities of Heliopolis and Bubastis will die in the war, and the other people will be taken prisoner. ¹⁸Darkness will fall on Tahpanhes when I break the power of Egypt and put an end to the strength they were so proud of. A cloud will cover Egypt, and the people of all her cities will be taken prisoner. ¹⁹When I punish Egypt in this way, they will know that I am the LORD."

The Broken Power of the King of Egypt

²⁰On the seventh day of the first month of the eleventh year of our exile, the LORD spoke to me. ²¹"Mortal man," he said, "I have broken the arm of the king of Egypt. No one has bandaged it or put it in a sling so that it could heal and be strong enough to hold a sword again. ²²Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, say: I am the enemy of the king of Egypt. I am going to break both his arms--the good one and the one already broken--and the sword will fall from his hand. ²³I am going to scatter the Egyptians throughout the world. ²⁴Then I will make the arms of the king of Babylonia strong and put my sword in his hands. But I will break the arms of the king of Egypt, and he will groan and die in front of his enemy. ²⁵Yes, I will weaken him and strengthen the king of Babylonia. When I give him my sword and he points it toward Egypt, everyone will know that I am the LORD. ²⁶I will scatter the Egyptians throughout the world. Then they will know that I am the LORD."

God's Offer of Mercy

Isaiah 55 The LORD says,

"Come, everyone who is thirsty--

here is water!

Come, you that have no money--

buy grain and eat!

Come! Buy wine and milk--

it will cost you nothing!

²Why spend money on what does not satisfy?

Why spend your wages and still be hungry?

Listen to me and do what I say,

and you will enjoy the best food of all.

³"Listen now, my people, and come to me;

come to me, and you will have life!

I will make a lasting covenant with you

and give you the blessings I promised to David.

⁴I made him a leader and commander of nations,

and through him I showed them my power.

⁵Now you will summon foreign nations;

at one time they did not know you,

but now they will come running to join you!

I, the LORD your God, the holy God of Israel,

will make all this happen;

I will give you honor and glory."

⁶Turn to the LORD and pray to him,

now that he is near.

⁷Let the wicked leave their way of life

and change their way of thinking.

Let them turn to the LORD, our God;

he is merciful and quick to forgive.

⁸"My thoughts," says the LORD, "are not like yours,

and my ways are different from yours.

⁹As high as the heavens are above the earth,

so high are my ways and thoughts above yours.

¹⁰"My word is like the snow and the rain

that come down from the sky to water the earth.

They make the crops grow

and provide seed for planting and food to eat.

¹¹So also will be the word that I speak--

it will not fail to do what I plan for it;

it will do everything I send it to do.

¹²"You will leave Babylon with joy;

you will be led out of the city in peace.

The mountains and hills will burst into singing,

and the trees will shout for joy.

¹³Cypress trees will grow where now there are briers;

myrtle trees will come up in place of thorns.

This will be a sign that will last forever,

a reminder of what I, the LORD, have done."

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.