Bible Readings for January 8, 2015

Today our passages are Genesis 18:20–19:38; Matthew 6:25–7:14; Psalm 8:1-9; and Proverbs 2:6-15. The readings are the Contemporary English Version.  

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Genesis 18:20-19:38 (Contemporary English Version)

²⁰The LORD said, "Abraham, I have heard that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are doing all kinds of evil things. ²¹Now I am going down to see for myself if those people really are that bad. If they aren't, I want to know about it."
    ²²The men turned and started toward Sodom. But the LORD stayed with Abraham, ²³who asked, "LORD, when you destroy the evil people, are you also going to destroy those who are good? ²⁴Wouldn't you spare the city if there are only fifty good people in it? ²⁵You surely wouldn't let them be killed when you destroy the evil ones. You are the judge of all the earth, and you do what is right."
    ²⁶The LORD replied, "If I find fifty good people in Sodom, I will save the city to keep them from being killed."
    ²⁷Abraham answered, "I am nothing more than the dust of the earth. Please forgive me, LORD, for daring to speak to you like this. ²⁸But suppose there are only forty-five good people in Sodom. Would you still wipe out the whole city?"
   "If I find forty-five good people," the LORD replied, "I won't destroy the city."
    ²⁹"Suppose there are just forty good people?" Abraham asked.
   "Even for them," the LORD replied, "I won't destroy the city."
    ³⁰Abraham said, "Please don't be angry, LORD, if I ask you what you will do if there are only thirty good people in the city."
   "If I find thirty," the LORD replied, "I still won't destroy it."
    ³¹Then Abraham said, "I don't have any right to ask you, LORD, but what would you do if you find only twenty?"
   "Because of them, I won't destroy the city," was the LORD's answer.
    ³²Finally, Abraham said, "Please don't get angry, LORD, if I speak just once more. Suppose you find only ten good people there."
   "For the sake of ten good people," the LORD told him, "I still won't destroy the city."
    ³³After speaking with Abraham, the LORD left, and Abraham went back home.
   

Genesis 19

The Evil City of Sodom

 ¹That evening the two angels ^[a] arrived in Sodom, while Lot was sitting near the city gate. ^[b] When Lot saw them, he got up, bowed down low, ²and said, "Gentlemen, I am your servant. Please come to my home. You can wash your feet, spend the night, and be on your way in the morning." They told him, "No, we'll spend the night in the city square." ³But Lot kept insisting, until they finally agreed and went home with him. He baked some bread, ^[c] cooked a meal, and they ate. ⁴Before Lot and his guests could go to bed, every man in Sodom, young and old, came and stood outside his house ⁵and started shouting, "Where are your visitors? Send them out, so we can have sex with them!"     ⁶Lot went outside and shut the door behind him. ⁷Then he said, "Friends, please don't do such a terrible thing! ⁸I have two daughters who have never been married. I'll bring them out, and you can do what you want with them. But don't harm these men. They are guests in my home."
    ⁹"Don't get in our way," the crowd answered. "You're an outsider. What right do you have to order us around? We'll do worse things to you than we're going to do to them."
   The crowd kept arguing with Lot. Finally, they rushed toward the door to break it down. ¹⁰But the two angels in the house reached out and pulled Lot safely inside. ¹¹Then they struck everyone in the crowd blind, and none of them could even find the door.
    ^12-13The two angels said to Lot, "The LORD has heard many terrible things about the people of Sodom, and he has sent us here to destroy the city. Take your family and leave. Take every relative you have in the city, as well as the men your daughters are going to marry."
    ¹⁴Lot went to the men who were engaged to his daughters and said, "Hurry and get out of here! The LORD is going to destroy this city." But they thought he was joking, and they laughed at him.
    ¹⁵Early the next morning the two angels tried to make Lot hurry and leave. They said, "Take your wife and your two daughters and get out of here as fast as you can! If you don't, every one of you will be killed when the LORD destroys the city." ¹⁶At first, Lot just stood there. But the LORD wanted to save him. So the angels took Lot, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city. ¹⁷When they were outside, one of the angels said, "Run for your lives! Don't even look back. And don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, where you will be safe."
    ^18-19Lot answered, "You have done us a great favor, sir. You have saved our lives, but please don't make us go to the hills. That's too far away. The city will be destroyed before we can get there, and we will be killed when it happens. ²⁰There's a town near here. It's only a small place, but my family and I will be safe, if you let us go there."
    ²¹"All right, go there," he answered. "I won't destroy that town. ²²Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you are safely there."
   The town was later called Zoar ^[d] because Lot had said it was small.

Sodom and Gomorrah Are Destroyed

 ²³The sun was coming up as Lot reached the town of Zoar, ²⁴and the LORD sent burning sulfur down like rain on Sodom and Gomorrah. ²⁵He destroyed those cities and everyone who lived in them, as well as their land and the trees and grass that grew there.     ²⁶On the way, Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a block of salt.
    ²⁷That same morning Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood and spoken with the LORD. ²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and saw smoke rising from all over the land--it was like a flaming furnace.
    ²⁹When God destroyed the cities of the valley where Lot lived, he remembered his promise to Abraham and saved Lot from the terrible destruction.
   

Moab and Ammon

 ³⁰Lot was afraid to stay on in Zoar. So he took his two daughters and moved to a cave in the hill country. ³¹One day his older daughter said to her sister, "Our father is old, and there are no men anywhere for us to marry. ³²Let's get our father drunk! Then we can sleep with him and have children." ³³That night they got their father drunk, and the older daughter got in bed with him, but he was too drunk even to know she was there.     ³⁴The next day the older daughter said to her sister, "I slept with my father last night. We'll get him drunk again tonight, so you can go to bed with him, and we can each have a child." ³⁵That night they got their father drunk, and this time the younger sister slept with him. But once again he was too drunk even to know she was there.
    ³⁶That's how Lot's two daughters had their children. ³⁷The older daughter named her son Moab, ^[e] and he is the ancestor of the Moabites. ³⁸The younger daughter named her son Benammi, ^[f] and he is the ancestor of the Ammonites.

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 19:1 two angels: The two men of 18.22.
2. Genesis 19:1 near the city gate: In a large area where the people would gather for community business and for meeting with friends.
3. Genesis 19:3 bread: The Hebrew text has "bread without yeast," which could be fixed quickly when guests came without warning.
4. Genesis 19:22 Zoar: In Hebrew "Zoar" sounds like "small."
5. Genesis 19:37 Moab: In Hebrew "Moab" sounds like "from (my) father."
6. Genesis 19:38 Benammi: In Hebrew "Benammi" means "son of my relative.

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Matthew 6:25-7:14 (Contemporary English Version)

Worry

(Luke 12.22-31)

 ²⁵I tell you not to worry about your life. Don't worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn't life more than food or clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds in the sky! They don't plant or harvest. They don't even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren't you worth more than birds?     ²⁷Can worry make you live longer? ^{[a] 28}Why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow. They don't work hard to make their clothes. ²⁹But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth ^[b] wasn't as well clothed as one of them. ³⁰God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. He will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith? ³¹Don't worry and ask yourselves, "Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?" ³²Only people who don't know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these. ³³But more than anything else, put God's work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.
    ³⁴Don't worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.
   

Matthew 7

Judging Others

(Luke 6.37,38,41,42)

 ¹Don't condemn others, and God won't condemn you. ²God will be as hard on you as you are on others! He will treat you exactly as you treat them.     ³You can see the speck in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the log in your own eye. ⁴How can you say, "My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye," when you don't see the log in your own eye? ⁵You're nothing but show-offs! First, take the log out of your own eye. Then you can see how to take the speck out of your friend's eye.
    ⁶Don't give to dogs what belongs to God. They will only turn and attack you. Don't throw pearls down in front of pigs. They will trample all over them.
   

Ask, Search, Knock

(Luke 11.9-13)

 ⁷Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. ⁸Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. ⁹Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? ¹⁰Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish? ¹¹As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.     ¹²Treat others as you want them to treat you. This is what the Law and the Prophets ^[c] are all about.

The Narrow Gate

(Luke 13.24)

 ¹³Go in through the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate. ¹⁴But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it.    

Footnotes:

1. Matthew 6:27 live longer: Or "grow taller."
2. Matthew 6:29 Solomon with all his wealth: The Jewish people thought that Solomon was the richest person who had ever lived.
3. Matthew 7:12 the Law and the Prophets: See the note at 5.17.

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Psalm 8:1-9 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 8

(A psalm by David for the music leader. (Psalm 8 leader: The Hebrew text adds " according to the gittith," which may refer to either a musical instrument or a tune.) )

The Wonderful Name of the LORD

 ¹Our LORD and Ruler,    your name is wonderful
   everywhere on earth!
   You let your glory be seen ^[a] in the heavens above.
    ²With praises from children
   and from tiny infants,
   you have built a fortress.
   It makes your enemies silent,
   and all who turn against you
   are left speechless.
    ³I often think of the heavens
   your hands have made,
   and of the moon and stars
   you put in place.
    ⁴Then I ask, "Why do you care
   about us humans?
   Why are you concerned
   for us weaklings?"
    ⁵You made us a little lower
   than you yourself, ^[b] and you have crowned us
   with glory and honor.
    ⁶You let us rule everything
   your hands have made.
   And you put all of it
   under our power--
    ⁷the sheep and the cattle,
   and every wild animal,
    ⁸the birds in the sky,
   the fish in the sea,
   and all ocean creatures.
    ⁹Our LORD and Ruler,
   your name is wonderful
   everywhere on earth!
   

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 8:1 You. . . seen: Or " I will worship your glory."
2. Psalm 8:5 you yourself: Or " the angels" or " the beings in heaven."

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Proverbs 2:6-15 (Contemporary English Version)

⁶All wisdom comes from the LORD,
   and so do common sense
   and understanding.
    ⁷God gives helpful advice ^[a] to everyone who obeys him
   and protects all of those
   who live as they should.
    ⁸God sees that justice is done,
   and he watches over everyone
   who is faithful to him.
    ⁹With wisdom you will learn
   what is right
   and honest and fair.
    ¹⁰Wisdom will control your mind,
   and you will be pleased
   with knowledge.
    ¹¹Sound judgment and good sense
   will watch over you.
    ¹²Wisdom will protect you
   from evil schemes
   and from those liars
    ¹³who turned from doing good
   to live in the darkness.
    ¹⁴Most of all they enjoy
   being mean and deceitful.
    ¹⁵They are dishonest themselves,
   and all they do is crooked.
   

Footnotes:

1. Proverbs 2:7 helpful advice: Or " wisdom."

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Verse of the Day

 

“If you really want to live, you must stop doing wrong and start doing right. I, the LORD God All-Powerful, will then be on your side, just as you claim I am. Choose good instead of evil! See that justice is done. Maybe I, the LORD All-Powerful, will be kind to what's left of your people.” - Amos 5:14-15

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

 

Scottish writer and physician, most noted for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”