Bible Readings for January 3, 2014

Today our passages are Genesis 5:1–7:24; Matthew 3:7–4:11; Psalm 3:1-8; and Proverbs 1:10-19. The readings are from the  The Message  by Eugene H. Peterson.

---

 

Genesis 5-7:24 (The Message)

Genesis 5

The Family Tree of the Human Race

 ^1-2 This is the family tree of the human race: When God created the human race, he made it godlike, with a nature akin to God. He created both male and female and blessed them, the whole human race.  ^3-5 When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was just like him, his very spirit and image, and named him Seth. After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. Adam lived a total of 930 years. And he died.
 ^6-8 When Seth was 105 years old, he had Enosh. After Seth had Enosh, he lived another 807 years, having more sons and daughters. Seth lived a total of 912 years. And he died.
 ^9-11 When Enosh was ninety years old, he had Kenan. After he had Kenan, he lived another 815 years, having more sons and daughters. Enosh lived a total of 905 years. And he died.
 ^12-14 When Kenan was seventy years old, he had Mahalalel. After he had Mahalalel, he lived another 840 years, having more sons and daughters. Kenan lived a total of 910 years. And he died.
 ^15-17 When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old, he had Jared. After he had Jared, he lived another 830 years, having more sons and daughters. Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years. And he died.
 ^18-20 When Jared was 162 years old, he had Enoch. After he had Enoch, he lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. Jared lived a total of 962 years. And he died.
 ^21-23 When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he had Methuselah. Enoch walked steadily with God. After he had Methuselah, he lived another 300 years, having more sons and daughters. Enoch lived a total of 365 years.
 ²⁴ Enoch walked steadily with God. And then one day he was simply gone: God took him.
 ^25-27 When Methuselah was 187 years old, he had Lamech. After he had Lamech, he lived another 782 years. Methuselah lived a total of 969 years. And he died.
 ^28-31 When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. He named him Noah, saying, "This one will give us a break from the hard work of farming the ground that God cursed." After Lamech had Noah, he lived another 595 years, having more sons and daughters. Lamech lived a total of 777 years. And he died.
 ³² When Noah was 500 years old, he had Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 6

Giants in the Land

 ^1-2 When the human race began to increase, with more and more daughters being born, the sons of God noticed that the daughters of men were beautiful. They looked them over and picked out wives for themselves.  ³ Then God said, "I'm not going to breathe life into men and women endlessly. Eventually they're going to die; from now on they can expect a life span of 120 years."
 ⁴ This was back in the days (and also later) when there were giants in the land. The giants came from the union of the sons of God and the daughters of men. These were the mighty men of ancient lore, the famous ones.

Noah and His Sons

^5-7 God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said, "I'll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I'm sorry I made them."  ⁸ But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.
 ^9-10 This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
 ^11-12 As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting—life itself corrupt to the core.
 ¹³ God said to Noah, "It's all over. It's the end of the human race. The violence is everywhere; I'm making a clean sweep.
 ^14-16 "Build yourself a ship from teakwood. Make rooms in it. Coat it with pitch inside and out. Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. Build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.
 ¹⁷ "I'm going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.
 ^18-21 "But I'm going to establish a covenant with you: You'll board the ship, and your sons, your wife and your sons' wives will come on board with you. You are also to take two of each living creature, a male and a female, on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile—two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. Also get all the food you'll need and store it up for you and them."
 ²² Noah did everything God commanded him to do.

Genesis 7

 ¹ Next God said to Noah, "Now board the ship, you and all your family—out of everyone in this generation, you're the righteous one.  ^2-4 "Take on board with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and a female; one pair of every unclean animal, a male and a female; and seven pairs of every kind of bird, a male and a female, to insure their survival on Earth. In just seven days I will dump rain on Earth for forty days and forty nights. I'll make a clean sweep of everything that I've made." ⁵ Noah did everything God commanded him.
 ^6-10 Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters covered the Earth. Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood. Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures came in pairs to Noah and to the ship, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. In seven days the floodwaters came.
 ^11-12 It was the six-hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month that it happened: all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. Rain poured for forty days and forty nights.
 ^13-16 That's the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons' wives, boarded the ship. And with them every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies. They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs—everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind him.
 ^17-23 The flood continued forty days and the waters rose and lifted the ship high over the Earth. The waters kept rising, the flood deepened on the Earth, the ship floated on the surface. The flood got worse until all the highest mountains were covered—the high-water mark reached twenty feet above the crest of the mountains. Everything died. Anything that moved—dead. Birds, farm animals, wild animals, the entire teeming exuberance of life—dead. And all people—dead. Every living, breathing creature that lived on dry land died; he wiped out the whole works—people and animals, crawling creatures and flying birds, every last one of them, gone. Only Noah and his company on the ship lived.
 ²⁴ The floodwaters took over for 150 days.

---

Matthew 3:7-4:11 (The Message)

 ^7-10When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: "Brood of snakes! What do you think you're doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It's your life that must change, not your skin! And don't think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it's deadwood, it goes on the fire.
 ^11-12"I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I'm a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He's going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He'll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he'll put out with the trash to be burned."
 ^13-14Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. John objected, "I'm the one who needs to be baptized, not you!"
 ¹⁵But Jesus insisted. "Do it. God's work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism." So John did it.
 ^16-17The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God's Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: "This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life."

Matthew 4

The Test

 ^1-3 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: "Since you are God's Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread."  ⁴Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth."
 ^5-6For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, "Since you are God's Son, jump." The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: "He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone."
 ⁷Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: "Don't you dare test the Lord your God."
 ^8-9For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth's kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, "They're yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they're yours."
 ¹⁰Jesus' refusal was curt: "Beat it, Satan!" He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness."
 ¹¹The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus' needs.

---

Psalm 3:1-8 (The Message)

Psalm 3

 ^1-2 God! Look! Enemies past counting! Enemies sprouting like mushrooms,
   Mobs of them all around me, roaring their mockery:
   "Hah! No help for him from God!"

 ^3-4 But you, God, shield me on all sides;
   You ground my feet, you lift my head high;
   With all my might I shout up to God,
   His answers thunder from the holy mountain.

 ^5-6 I stretch myself out. I sleep.
   Then I'm up again—rested, tall and steady,
   Fearless before the enemy mobs
   Coming at me from all sides.

 ⁷ Up, God! My God, help me!
   Slap their faces,
   First this cheek, then the other,
   Your fist hard in their teeth!

 ⁸ Real help comes from God.
   Your blessing clothes your people!

 

---

 

Proverbs 1:10-19 (The Message)

 ^8-19 Pay close attention, friend, to what your father tells you;
   never forget what you learned at your mother's knee.
Wear their counsel like flowers in your hair,
   like rings on your fingers.
Dear friend, if bad companions tempt you,
   don't go along with them.
If they say—"Let's go out and raise some hell.
   Let's beat up some old man, mug some old woman.
Let's pick them clean
   and get them ready for their funerals.
We'll load up on top-quality loot.
   We'll haul it home by the truckload.
Join us for the time of your life!
   With us, it's share and share alike!"—
Oh, friend, don't give them a second look;
   don't listen to them for a minute.
They're racing to a very bad end,
   hurrying to ruin everything they lay hands on.
Nobody robs a bank
   with everyone watching,
Yet that's what these people are doing—
   they're doing themselves in.
When you grab all you can get, that's what happens:
   the more you get, the less you are.

---

Verse of the Day

“[God's Kindness and the New Life]God has shown us how kind he is by coming to save all people. He taught us to give up our wicked ways and our worldly desires and to live decent and honest lives in this world.” - Titus 2:11-12

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

---

Thought for the Day

American Major League Baseball outfielder and manager Casey Stengel said, “Most ball games are lost, not won.”