Saturday, June 30, 2018

Daily Bible Readings June 30, 2018

Galatians 5:1 Common English Bible (CEB)

5 1 Christ has set us free for freedom. Therefore, stand firm and don’t submit to the bondage of slavery again.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Galatians 5:1 in all English translations

Friday, June 29, 2018

Daily Bible Readings June 29, 2018

Mark 4:35-41 Common English Bible (CEB)

Jesus stops a storm

35 Later that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” 36 They left the crowd and took him in the boat just as he was. Other boats followed along.

37 Gale-force winds arose, and waves crashed against the boat so that the boat was swamped. 38 But Jesus was in the rear of the boat, sleeping on a pillow. They woke him up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re drowning?”

39 He got up and gave orders to the wind, and he said to the lake, “Silence! Be still!” The wind settled down and there was a great calm.40 Jesus asked them, “Why are you frightened? Don’t you have faith yet?”

41 Overcome with awe, they said to each other, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”

Common English Bible (CEB)

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Daily Bible Readings June 28, 2018

2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Common English Bible (CEB)

6 ¹Since we work together with him, we are also begging you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ²He says, I listened to you at the right time, and I helped you on the day of salvation.^[a] Look, now is the right time! Look, now is the day of salvation!

³We don’t give anyone any reason to be offended about anything so that our ministry won’t be criticized. ⁴Instead, we commend ourselves as ministers of God in every way. We did this with our great endurance through problems, disasters, and stressful situations. ⁵We went through beatings, imprisonments, and riots. We experienced hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger. ⁶We displayed purity, knowledge, patience, and generosity. We served with the Holy Spirit, genuine love, ⁷telling the truth, and God’s power. We carried the weapons of righteousness in our right hand and our left hand. ⁸We were treated with honor and dishonor and with verbal abuse and good evaluation. We were seen as both fake and real, ⁹as unknown and well known, as dying—and look, we are alive! We were seen as punished but not killed, ¹⁰as going through pain but always happy, as poor but making many rich, and as having nothing but owning everything.

Call to relationship and holiness

¹¹Corinthians, we have spoken openly to you, and our hearts are wide open. ¹²There are no limits to the affection that we feel for you. You are the ones who placed boundaries on your affection for us. ¹³But as a fair trade—I’m talking to you like you are children—open your hearts wide too.

Footnotes:

2 Corinthians 6:2 Isa 49:8

Common English Bible (CEB)

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Daily Bible Readings June 27, 2018

Psalm 9:9-20 Common English Bible (CEB)

9 The Lord is a safe place for the oppressed—
    a safe place in difficult times.
10 Those who know your name trust you
    because you have not abandoned
    any who seek you, Lord.

11 Sing praises to the Lord, who lives in Zion!
    Proclaim his mighty acts among all people!
12 Because the one who avenges bloodshed
    remembers those who suffer;
    the Lord hasn’t forgotten their cries for help.

13 Have mercy on me, Lord!
    Just look how I suffer
    because of those who hate me.
But you are the one who brings me back
    from the very gates of death

        so I can rejoice in your salvation
        in the gates of Daughter Zion.

15 The nations have fallen
    into the hole they themselves made!
    Their feet are caught
        in the very net they themselves hid!
16 The Lord is famous for the justice he has done;
    it’s his own doing that the wicked are trapped. Higgayon.[a]Selah

17 Let the wicked go straight to the grave,[b]
the same for every nation that forgets God.

18 Because the poor won’t be forgotten forever,
the hope of those who suffer won’t be lost for all time.

19 Get up, Lord! Don’t let people prevail!
Let the nations be judged before you.
20 Strike them with fear, Lord.
Let the nations know they are only human. Selah

Monday, June 25, 2018

Daily Bible Readings June 25, 2018

Galatians 5:1 Common English Bible (CEB)

5 1 Christ has set us free for freedom. Therefore, stand firm and don’t submit to the bondage of slavery again.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Galatians 5:1 in all English translations

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Daily Bible Readings June 24, 2018

Proverbs 27:7 Common English Bible (CEB)

7 Someone who is full refuses honey,
but anything bitter tastes sweet to a hungry person.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Proverbs 27:7 in all English translations

Saturday, June 23, 2018

Daily Bible Readings June 23, 2018

Proverbs 27:7 Common English Bible (CEB)

7 Someone who is full refuses honey,
but anything bitter tastes sweet to a hungry person.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Proverbs 27:7 in all English translations

Friday, June 22, 2018

Daily Bible Readings June 22, 2018

Mark 4:26-34 Common English Bible (CEB)

More parables about God’s kingdom

26 Then Jesus said, “This is what God’s kingdom is like. It’s as though someone scatters seed on the ground, 27 then sleeps and wakes night and day. The seed sprouts and grows, but the farmer doesn’t know how.28 The earth produces crops all by itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full head of grain. 29 Whenever the crop is ready, the farmer goes out to cut the grain because it’s harvesttime.”

30 He continued, “What’s a good image for God’s kingdom? What parable can I use to explain it? 31 Consider a mustard seed. When scattered on the ground, it’s the smallest of all the seeds on the earth; 32 but when it’s planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all vegetable plants. It produces such large branches that the birds in the sky are able to nest in its shade.”

33 With many such parables he continued to give them the word, as much as they were able to hear. 34 He spoke to them only in parables, then explained everything to his disciples when he was alone with them.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Daily Bible Readings June 21, 2018

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 Common English Bible (CEB)

6 So we are always confident, because we know that while we are living in the body, we are away from our home with the Lord. 7 We live by faith and not by sight. 8 We are confident, and we would prefer to leave the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 So our goal is to be acceptable to him, whether we are at home or away from home. 10 We all must appear before Christ in court so that each person can be paid back for the things that were done while in the body, whether they were good or bad.

Common English Bible (CEB)

2 Corinthians 5:14-17 Common English Bible (CEB)

14 The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: one died for the sake of all; therefore, all died. 15 He died for the sake of all so that those who are alive should live not for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised.

16 So then, from this point on we won’t recognize people by human standards. Even though we used to know Christ by human standards, that isn’t how we know him now. 17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!

Common English Bible (CEB)

Daily Bible Readings June 26, 2018

1 Samuel 17 Common English Bible (CEB)

David defeats Goliath

17 The Philistines assembled their troops for war at Socoh of Judah. They camped between Socoh and Azekah at Ephes-dammim. 2 Saul and the Israelite army assembled and camped in the Elah Valley, where they got organized to fight the Philistines. 3 The Philistines took positions on one hill while Israel took positions on the opposite hill. There was a valley between them.

4 A champion named Goliath from Gath came out from the Philistine camp. He was more than nine feet tall.[a] 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore bronze scale-armor weighing one hundred twenty-five pounds.[b] 6 He had bronze plates on his shins, and a bronze scimitar hung on his back. 7 His spear shaft[c] was as strong as the bar on a weaver’s loom, and its iron head weighed fifteen pounds.[d] His shield-bearer walked in front of him.

8 He stopped and shouted to the Israelite troops, “Why have you come and taken up battle formations? I am the Philistine champion,[e] and you are Saul’s servants. Isn’t that right? Select one of your men, and let him come down against me. 9 If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will become your slaves, but if I overcome him and kill him, then you will become our slaves and you will serve us. 10 I insult Israel’s troops today!” The Philistine continued, “Give me an opponent, and we’ll fight!”11 When Saul and all Israel heard what the Philistine said, they were distressed and terrified.[f]

12 Now David was Jesse’s son, an Ephraimite from Bethlehem in Judah who had eight sons. By Saul’s time, Jesse was already quite old and far along in age.[g] 13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had gone with Saul to war. Their names were Eliab the oldest, Abinadab the second oldest, and Shammah the third oldest. 14 (David was the youngest.) These three older sons followed Saul, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul’s side to shepherd his father’s flock in Bethlehem.

16 For forty days straight the Philistine came out and took his stand, both morning and evening. 17 Jesse said to his son David, “Please take your brothers an ephah[h] of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread. Deliver them quickly to your brothers in the camp. 18 And here, take these ten wedges of cheese to their unit commander. Find out how your brothers are doing and bring back some sign that they are okay. 19 They are with Saul and all the Israelite troops fighting the Philistines in the Elah Valley.”

20 So David got up early in the morning, left someone in charge of the flock, and loaded up and left, just as his father Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp right when the army was taking up their battle formations and shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines took up their battle formations opposite each other. 22 David left his things with an attendant and ran to the front line. When he arrived, he asked how his brothers were doing. 23 Right when David was speaking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came forward from the Philistine ranks and said the same things he had said before. David listened. 24 When the Israelites saw Goliath, every one of them ran away terrified of him. (25 Now the Israelite soldiers had been saying to each other: “Do you see this man who keeps coming out? How he comes to insult Israel? The king will reward with great riches whoever kills that man. The king will give his own daughter to him and make his household exempt from taxes[i] in Israel.”)

26 David asked the soldiers standing by him, “What will be done for the person who kills that Philistine over there and removes this insult from Israel? Who is that uncircumcised Philistine, anyway, that he can get away with insulting the army of the living God?”

27 Then the troops repeated to him what they had been saying. “So that’s what will be done for the man who kills him,” they said.

28 When David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the soldiers, he got very mad at David. “Why did you come down here?” he said. “Who is watching those few sheep for you in the wilderness? I know how arrogant you are and your devious plan: you came down just to see the battle!”

29 “What did I do wrong this time?” David replied. “It was just a question!”

30 So David turned to someone else and asked the same thing, and the people said the same thing in reply. 31 The things David had said were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.

32 “Don’t let anyone[j] lose courage because of this Philistine!” David told Saul. “I, your servant, will go out and fight him!”

33 “You can’t go out and fight this Philistine,” Saul answered David. “You are still a boy. But he’s been a warrior since he was a boy!”

34 “Your servant has kept his father’s sheep,” David replied to Saul, “and if ever a lion or a bear came and carried off one of the flock, 35 I would go after it, strike it, and rescue the animal from its mouth. If it turned on me, I would grab it at its jaw, strike it, and kill it. 36 Your servant has fought both lions and bears. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them because he has insulted the army of the living God.

37 “The Lord,” David added, “who rescued me from the power of both lions and bears, will rescue me from the power of this Philistine.”

“Go!” Saul replied to David. “And may the Lord be with you!”

38 Then Saul dressed David in his own gear, putting a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David strapped his sword on over the armor, but he couldn’t walk around well because he’d never tried it before. “I can’t walk in this,” David told Saul, “because I’ve never tried it before.” So he took them off. 40 He then grabbed his staff and chose five smooth stones from the streambed. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag and with sling in hand went out to the Philistine.

41 The Philistine got closer and closer to David, and his shield-bearer was in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked David over, he sneered at David because he was just a boy; reddish brown and good-looking.

43 The Philistine asked David, “Am I some sort of dog that you come at me with sticks?” And he cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said to David, “and I’ll feed your flesh to the wild birds and the wild animals!”

45 But David told the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword, spear, and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel’s army, the one you’ve insulted.46 Today the Lord will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head! Today I will feed your dead body and the dead bodies of the entire Philistine camp[k] to the wild birds and the wild animals. Then the whole world will know that there is a God on Israel’s side.47 And all those gathered here will know that the Lord doesn’t save by means of sword and spear. The Lord owns this war, and he will hand all of you over to us.”

48 The Philistine got up and moved closer to attack David, and David ran quickly to the front line to face him. 49 David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone. He slung it, and it hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone penetrated his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.50 And that’s how David triumphed over the Philistine with just a sling and a stone, striking the Philistine down and killing him—and David didn’t even have a sword! 51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword, drew it from its sheath, and finished him off. Then David cut off the Philistine’s head with the sword.

When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled. 52 The soldiers from Israel and Judah jumped up with a shout and chased the Philistines all the way to Gath[l] and the gates of Ekron. The dead Philistines were littered along the Shaarim road all the way to Gath and Ekron. 53 When the Israelites came back from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. 54 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.

55 Now when Saul saw David go out to meet the Philistine, he asked Abner the army general, “Abner, whose son is that boy?”

“As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know,” Abner answered.

56 “Then find out whose son that young man is,” the king replied.

57 So when David came back from killing the Philistine, Abner sent for him and presented him to Saul. The Philistine’s head was still in David’s hand. 58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, my boy?”

“I’m the son of your servant Jesse from Bethlehem,” David answered.