Daily Bible Readings July 31, 2015

John 6:1-21Common English Bible (CEB)

Feeding of the five thousand

6 After this Jesus went across the Galilee Sea (that is, the Tiberias Sea). 2 A large crowd followed him, because they had seen the miraculous signs he had done among the sick. 3 Jesus went up a mountain and sat there with his disciples. 4 It was nearly time for Passover, the Jewish festival.

5 Jesus looked up and saw the large crowd coming toward him. He asked Philip, “Where will we buy food to feed these people?” 6 Jesus said this to test him, for he already knew what he was going to do.

7 Philip replied, “More than a half year’s salary[a] worth of food wouldn’t be enough for each person to have even a little bit.”

8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, 9 “A youth here has five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that for a crowd like this?”

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there. They sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Then Jesus took the bread. When he had given thanks, he distributed it to those who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, each getting as much as they wanted. 12 When they had plenty to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces, so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves that had been left over by those who had eaten.

14 When the people saw that he had done a miraculous sign, they said, “This is truly the prophet who is coming into the world.” 15 Jesus understood that they were about to come and force him to be their king, so he took refuge again, alone on a mountain.

Jesus walks on water

16 When evening came, Jesus’ disciples went down to the lake. 17 They got into a boat and were crossing the lake to Capernaum. It was already getting dark and Jesus hadn’t come to them yet. 18 The water was getting rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When the wind had driven them out for about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water. He was approaching the boat and they were afraid. 20 He said to them, “I Am.[b] Don’t be afraid.” 21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and just then the boat reached the land where they had been heading.

Footnotes:

1. John 6:7 Or two hundred denaria
2. John 6:20 Or It is I.

Common English Bible (CEB), used with permission

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Daily Bible Readings July 30, 2015

Ephesians 3:14-21Common English Bible (CEB)

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians

14 This is why I kneel before the Father. 15 Every ethnic group in heaven or on earth is recognized by him. 16 I ask that he will strengthen you in your inner selves from the riches of his glory through the Spirit. 17 I ask that Christ will live in your hearts through faith. As a result of having strong roots in love,18 I ask that you’ll have the power to grasp love’s width and length, height and depth, together with all believers. 19 I ask that you’ll know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God.

20 Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; 21 glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always. Amen.

Common English Bible (CEB), used with permission

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Daily Bible Readings July 29, 2015

Psalm 14 Common English Bible (CEB)

Psalm 14

For the music leader. Of David.

14 Fools say in their hearts, There is no God.
    They are corrupt and do evil things;
    not one of them does anything good.

2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humans
    to see if anyone is wise,
    to see if anyone seeks God,
        
        Everyone is corrupt.
        No one does good—
        not even one person!

4 Are they dumb, all these evildoers,
    devouring my people
    like they are eating bread
        but never calling on the Lord?

5 Count on it:[a] they will be in utter panic
    because God is with the righteous generation.
6 You evildoers may humiliate
    the plans of those who suffer,
        but the Lord is their refuge.

7 Let Israel’s salvation come out of Zion!
        When the Lord changes
        his people’s circumstances for the better,
        Jacob will rejoice;
        Israel will celebrate!

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 14:5 Or There they will be; cf 53:5

Common English Bible (CEB), used with permission

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Daily Bible Readings July 28, 2015

2 Samuel 11:1-15Common English Bible (CEB)

David and Bathsheba

11 In the spring,[a] when kings[b] go off to war, David sent Joab, along with his servants and all the Israelites, and they destroyed the Ammonites, attacking the city of Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

2 One evening, David got up from his couch and was pacing back and forth on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. 3 David sent someone and inquired about the woman. The report came back: “Isn’t this Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers to get her. When she came to him, he had sex with her. (Now she had been purifying herself after her monthly period.) Then she returned home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David.

“I’m pregnant,” she said.

6 Then David sent a message to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked about the welfare of Joab and the army and how the battle was going. 8 Then David told Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”

Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 However, Uriah slept at the palace entrance with all his master’s servants. He didn’t go down to his own house. 10 David was told, “Uriah didn’t go down to his own house,” so David asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just returned from a journey? Why didn’t you go home?”

11 “The chest and Israel and Judah are all living in tents,” Uriah told David. “And my master Joab and my master’s troops are camping in the open field. How[c] could I go home and eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? I swear on your very life,[d] I will not do that!”

12 Then David told Uriah, “Stay here one more day. Tomorrow I’ll send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. The next day 13 David called for him, and he ate and drank, and David got him drunk. In the evening Uriah went out to sleep in the same place, alongside his master’s servants, but he did not go down to his own home.

14 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 He wrote in the letter, “Place Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle, and then pull back from him so that he will be struck down and die.”

Footnotes:

1. 2 Samuel 11:1 Or At the turn of the year
2. 2 Samuel 11:1 LXX, Tg, Vulg; MT messengers
3. 2 Samuel 11:11 LXXL; MT lacks How.
4. 2 Samuel 11:11 Or I swear on your life and your soul’s life; cf LXX

Common English Bible (CEB), used with permission

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Daily Bible Readings July 27, 2015

Genesis 4:1-8Common English Bible (CEB)

Cain and Abel

4 The man Adam knew his wife Eve intimately. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have given life to[a] a man with the Lord’s help.” 2 She gave birth a second time to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel cared for the flocks, and Cain farmed the fertile land.

3 Some time later, Cain presented an offering to the Lord from the land’s crops 4 while Abel presented his flock’s oldest offspring with their fat. TheLord looked favorably on Abel and his sacrifice 5 but didn’t look favorably on Cain and his sacrifice. Cain became very angry and looked resentful. 6 TheLord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why do you look so resentful? 7 If you do the right thing, won’t you be accepted? But if you don’t do the right thing, sin will be waiting at the door ready to strike! It will entice you, but you must rule over it.”

8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[b] When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 4:1 Or created; Heb sounds similar to Cain.
2. Genesis 4:8 LXX, Syr, Vulg, Sam; MT lacks Let’s go out to the field.

Matthew 20:1-16Common English Bible (CEB)

Workers in the vineyard

20 “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² After he agreed with the workers to pay them a denarion,^[a] he sent them into his vineyard.

³ “Then he went out around nine in the morning and saw others standing around the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I’ll pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ And they went.

“Again around noon and then at three in the afternoon, he did the same thing. ⁶ Around five in the afternoon he went and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you just standing around here doing nothing all day long?’

⁷ “‘Because nobody has hired us,’ they replied.

“He responded, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and moving on finally to the first.’ ⁹ When those who were hired at five in the afternoon came, each one received a denarion. ¹⁰ Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarion. ¹¹ When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner,¹² ‘These who were hired last worked one hour, and they received the same pay as we did even though we had to work the whole day in the hot sun.’

¹³ “But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I did you no wrong. Didn’t I agree to pay you a denarion? ¹⁴  Take what belongs to you and go. I want to give to this one who was hired last the same as I give to you. ¹⁵  Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you resentful because I’m generous?’ ¹⁶  So those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last.”

Footnotes:

1. Matthew 20:2 A denarion was a typical day’s wage.

Common English Bible (CEB), used with permission

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Daily Bible Readings July 26, 2015

Genesis 3:1-7Common English Bible (CEB)

Knowledge, not eternal life

3 The snake was the most intelligent[a] of all the wild animals that the LordGod had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat from any tree in the garden?”

2 The woman said to the snake, “We may eat the fruit of the garden’s trees3 but not the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t touch it, or you will die.’”

4 The snake said to the woman, “You won’t die! 5 God knows that on the day you eat from it, you will see clearly and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was beautiful with delicious food and that the tree would provide wisdom, so she took some of its fruit and ate it, and also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.7 Then they both saw clearly and knew that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made garments for themselves.

Philippians 2:3-11Common English Bible (CEB)

3 Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. 4 Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. 5 Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:

6 Though he was in the form of God,
        he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
7 But he emptied himself
        by taking the form of a slave
        and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
        
        even death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God highly honored him
        and gave him a name above all names,
10     so that at the name of Jesus everyone
        in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow
        
            Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Common English Bible (CEB), used with permission

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Daily Bible Readings July 25, 2015

Genesis 3:1-7Common English Bible (CEB)

Knowledge, not eternal life

3 The snake was the most intelligent[a] of all the wild animals that the LordGod had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat from any tree in the garden?”

2 The woman said to the snake, “We may eat the fruit of the garden’s trees3 but not the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t touch it, or you will die.’”

4 The snake said to the woman, “You won’t die! 5 God knows that on the day you eat from it, you will see clearly and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was beautiful with delicious food and that the tree would provide wisdom, so she took some of its fruit and ate it, and also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.7 Then they both saw clearly and knew that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made garments for themselves.

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 3:1 Heb sounds like naked.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Philippians 2:3-11Common English Bible (CEB)

3 Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. 4 Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. 5 Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:

6 Though he was in the form of God,
        he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
7 But he emptied himself
        by taking the form of a slave
        and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
        
        even death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God highly honored him
        and gave him a name above all names,
10     so that at the name of Jesus everyone
        in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow
        
            Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Common English Bible (CEB), used with permission

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible