Bible Readings for November 22, 2015

Today our passages are Ezekiel 44:1– 45:12; 1 Peter 1:1-12; Psalm 119:17-32; and Proverbs 28:8-10. The readings are from the Contemporary English Version.  If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal. 

---

Ezekiel 44-45:12 (Contemporary English Version)

Ezekiel 44

The East Gate Must Remain Closed

 ¹The man took me back to the outer courtyard, near the east gate of the temple area. I saw that the doors to this gate were closed. ²The LORD said:

   I, the LORD God of Israel, came through this gate, so it must remain closed forever! No one must ever use it. ³The ruler of Israel may come here to eat a sacrificial meal that has been offered to me, but he must use only the entrance room of this gate.

   

People Who Are Not Allowed in the Temple

 ⁴Then the man took me through the north gate to the front of the temple. I saw that the brightness of the LORD's glory had filled the temple, and I immediately bowed with my face to the ground.

    ⁵The LORD said:

   Ezekiel, son of man, I am going to give you the laws for my temple. So pay attention and listen carefully to what kind of people are allowed to come in the temple, and what kind are not. ⁶Tell those rebellious people of Israel:

   I, the LORD God, command you to stop your evil ways! ⁷My temple has been disgraced, because you have let godless, stubborn foreigners come here when sacrifices are being offered to me. You have sinned and have broken our solemn agreement. ⁸Instead of following the proper ways to worship me, you have put foreigners in charge of worship at my temple.

    ⁹And so I, the LORD God, say that no godless foreigner who disobeys me will be allowed in my temple. This includes any foreigner living in Israel.

   

The Levites Are Punished

The LORD said:

 ¹⁰Some of the Levites turned their backs on me and joined the other people of Israel in worshiping idols. So these Levites must be punished! ¹¹They will still be allowed to serve me as temple workers by guarding the gates and by killing the animals to be sacrificed and by helping the worshipers. ¹²But because these Levites served the people of Israel when they worshiped idols, I, the LORD God, promise that the Levites will be punished. They did not stop the Israelites from sinning, ¹³and now I will no longer let the Levites serve as my priests or come near anything sacred to me. They must suffer shame and disgrace for their disgusting sins. ¹⁴They will be responsible for all the hard work that must be done in the temple.

   

Rules for Priests

The LORD said:

 ¹⁵The priests of the Levi tribe who are descendants of Zadok the priest were faithful to me, even when the rest of the Israelites turned away. And so, these priests will continue to serve as my priests and to offer the fat and the blood of sacrifices. ¹⁶They will come into my temple, where they will offer sacrifices at my altar and lead others in worship.

    ¹⁷When they come to the inner courtyard, they must wear their linen priestly clothes. My priests must never wear anything made of wool when they are on duty in this courtyard or in the temple. ¹⁸Even their turbans and underwear must be made of linen to keep my priests from sweating when they work.¹⁹And before they leave to join the other people in the outer courtyard, they must take off their priestly clothes, then place them in the sacred rooms and put on their regular clothes. ^[a] That way, no one will touch their sacred clothes and be harmed. ^[b] ²⁰Priests must never shave their heads when they are mourning. But they must keep their hair properly trimmed and not let it grow too long. ²¹They must not drink wine before going to the inner courtyard.

    ²²A priest must not marry a divorced woman; he can marry only a virgin from Israel or the widow of another priest.

    ²³Priests must teach my people the difference between what is sacred and what is ordinary, and between what is clean and what is unclean. ²⁴They will make decisions in difficult legal cases, according to my own laws. They must also observe the religious festivals my Law requires and must always respect the Sabbath.

    ²⁵Touching a dead body will make a person unclean. So a priest must not go near a dead body, unless it is one of his parents or children, or his brother or unmarried sister. ²⁶If a priest touches a dead body, he is unclean and must go through a ceremony to make himself clean. Then seven days later, ²⁷he must go to the inner courtyard of the temple and offer a sacrifice for sin. After that, he may once again serve as my priest. I, the LORD God, have spoken.

    ²⁸I myself will provide for my priests, and so they won't receive any land of their own. ²⁹Instead, they will receive part of the grain sacrifices, as well as part of the sacrifices for sin and sacrifices to make things right. They will also be given everything in Israel that has been completely dedicated to me. ^[c]³⁰The first part of every harvest will belong to the priests. They will also receive part of all special gifts and offerings the Israelites bring to me. And whenever any of my people bake bread, they will give their first loaf as an offering to the priests, and I will bless the homes of the people when they do this. ³¹Priests must not eat any bird or animal that dies a natural death or that has been killed by a wild animal.

   

Ezekiel 45

The LORD's Sacred Land

The LORD said:

 ¹When the land of Israel is divided among the twelve tribes, you must set aside an area that will belong to me. This sacred area will be eight miles long and six ^[d] miles wide. ²The temple will be on a piece of land eight hundred forty feet square, and the temple will be completely surrounded by an open space eighty-four feet wide. ^3-4I will give half of my sacred land, a section eight miles long and three miles wide, to the priests who serve in the temple. Their houses will be in this half, as well as my temple, which is the most sacred place of all.

    ⁵I will give the other half of my land to the Levites who work in my temple, and the towns ^[e] where they will live will be there. ⁶Next to my sacred land will be an area eight miles long and two miles wide. This will belong to the people of Israel and will include the city of Jerusalem.

   

Land for Israel's Ruler

The LORD said:

 ^7-8The regions west and east of my sacred land and the city of Jerusalem will belong to the ruler of Israel. He will be given the region between the western edge of my land and the Mediterranean Sea, and between the eastern edge of my land and the Jordan River. This will mean that the length of his property will be the same as the sections of land given to the tribes.

   This property will belong to every ruler of Israel, so they will always be fair to my people and will let them live peacefully in the land given to their tribes.

   

Israel's Rulers Must Be Honest

 ⁹The LORD God said:

   You leaders of Israel have robbed and cheated my people long enough! I want you to stop sinning and start doing what is right and fair. You must never again force my people off their own land. I, the LORD, have spoken.

    ¹⁰So from now on, you must use honest weights and measures. ¹¹The ephah will be the standard dry measure, and the bath will be the standard liquid measure. Their size will be based on the homer, which will equal ten ephahs or ten baths. ^[f] ¹²The standard unit of weight will be the shekel. ^[g] One shekel will equal twenty gerahs, and sixty shekels will equal one mina.

Footnotes:

1. Ezekiel 44:19 take off their priestly clothes. . . put on their regular clothes: See 42.14.
2. Ezekiel 44:19 no one will touch. . . and be harmed: Ordinary people were forbidden to touch anything that was sacred. If they did, it was believed they would somehow be harmed.
3. Ezekiel 44:29 that has been completely dedicated to me: This translates a Hebrew word that describes property and things that were taken away from humans and given to God. In the early history of Israel, such things often had to be destroyed (see Joshua 6.15-19).
4. Ezekiel 45:1 six: One ancient translation; Hebrew "three."
5. Ezekiel 45:5 the towns: One ancient translation; Hebrew "the twenty rooms."
6. Ezekiel 45:11 the homer. . . ten ephahs. . . ten baths: A homer was either a dry or a liquid measure and equaled about five bushels or fifty-five gallons; an ephah would be about a half bushel, an a bath would be about five and a half gallons.
7. Ezekiel 45:12 the shekel: The shekel was about four-tenths of an ounce.

---

1 Peter 1:1-12 (Contemporary English Version)

1 Peter 1

 ¹From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

   To God's people who are scattered like foreigners in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

    ²God the Father decided to choose you as his people, and his Spirit has made you holy. You have obeyed Jesus Christ and are sprinkled with his blood. ^[a] I pray that God will be kind to you and will keep on giving you peace!

   

A Real Reason for Hope

 ³Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is so good, and by raising Jesus from death, he has given us new life and a hope that lives on. ⁴God has something stored up for you in heaven, where it will never decay or be ruined or disappear.

    ⁵You have faith in God, whose power will protect you until the last day. ^[b] Then he will save you, just as he has always planned to do. ⁶On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many hard trials for a while. ⁷Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns. ⁸You have never seen Jesus, and you don't see him now. But still you love him and have faith in him, and no words can tell how glad and happy ⁹you are to be saved. That's why you have faith.

    ¹⁰Some prophets told how kind God would be to you, and they searched hard to find out more about the way you would be saved. ¹¹The Spirit of Christ was in them and was telling them how Christ would suffer and would then be given great honor. So they searched to find out exactly who Christ would be and when this would happen. ¹²But they were told that they were serving you and not themselves. They preached to you by the power of the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven. And their message was only for you, even though angels would like to know more about it.

   

Footnotes:

1. 1 Peter 1:2 sprinkled with his blood: According to Exodus 24.3-8 the people of Israel were sprinkled with the blood of cows to show they would keep  their agreement with God. Peter says that it is the blood of Jesus that seals the agreement between God and his people (see Hebrews 9.18-21).
2. 1 Peter 1:5 the last day: When God will judge all people.

---

Psalm 119:17-32 (Contemporary English Version)

¹⁷Treat me with kindness, LORD,

   so that I may live

   and do what you say.

    ¹⁸Open my mind

   and let me discover

   the wonders of your Law.

    ¹⁹I live here as a stranger.

   Don't keep me from knowing

   your commands.

    ²⁰What I want most of all

   and at all times

   is to honor your laws.

    ²¹You punish those boastful,

   worthless nobodies

   who turn

   from your commands.

    ²²Don't let them sneer

   and insult me

   for following you.

    ²³I keep thinking about

   your teachings, LORD,

   even if rulers plot

   against me.

    ²⁴Your laws are my greatest joy!

   I follow their advice.

    ²⁵I am at the point of death.

   Let your teachings

   breathe new life into me.

    ²⁶When I told you my troubles,

   you answered my prayers.

   Now teach me your laws.

    ²⁷Help me to understand

   your teachings,

   and I will think about

   your marvelous deeds.

    ²⁸I am overcome with sorrow.

   Encourage me,

   as you have promised to do.

    ²⁹Keep me from being deceitful,

   and be kind enough

   to teach me your Law.

    ³⁰I am determined to be faithful

   and to respect your laws.

    ³¹I follow your rules, LORD.

   Don't let me be ashamed.

    ³²I am eager to learn all

   that you want me to do;

   help me to understand

   more and more.

---

Proverbs 28:8-10 (Contemporary English Version)

⁸If you make money by charging

   high interest rates,

   you will lose it all to someone

   who cares for the poor.

    ⁹God cannot stand the prayers

   of anyone who disobeys

   his Law.

    ¹⁰By leading good people to sin,

   you dig a pit for yourself,

   but all who live right

   will have a bright future.

---

Verse of the Day

“Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace. So let the peace that comes from Christ control your thoughts. And be grateful.” - Colossians 3:15

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

---

Thought for the Day

British-Sri Lankan science fiction writer, science writer and futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host, Arthur C. Clarke wrote, “It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.”

Bible Readings for April 7, 2015

Today our passages are Deuteronomy 31:1–32:27; Luke 12:8-34; Psalm 78:32-55; and Proverbs 12:21-23. The readings are the Contemporary English Version.  

---

Deuteronomy 31-32:27 (Contemporary English Version)

Deuteronomy 31

FINAL SPEECHES AND THE DEATH OF MOSES

 ¹Moses again spoke to the whole nation of Israel:     ²I am a hundred twenty years old, and I am no longer able to be your leader. And besides that, the LORD your God has told me that he won't let me cross the Jordan River. ^3-5But he has promised that he and Joshua will lead you across the Jordan to attack the nations that live on the other side. The LORD will destroy those nations just as he destroyed Sihon and Og, those two Amorite kings. Just remember--whenever you capture a place, kill everyone who lives there.
    ⁶Be brave and strong! Don't be afraid of the nations on the other side of the Jordan. The LORD your God will always be at your side, and he will never abandon you.
    ⁷Then Moses called Joshua up in front of the crowd and said:
   Joshua, be brave and strong as you lead these people into their land. The LORD made a promise long ago to Israel's ancestors that this land would someday belong to Israel. That time has now come, and you must divide up the land among the people. ⁸The LORD will lead you into the land. He will always be with you and help you, so don't ever be afraid of your enemies.
   

Read These Laws

 ⁹Moses wrote down all of these laws and teachings and gave them to the priests and the leaders of Israel. The priests were from the Levi tribe, and they carried the sacred chest that belonged to the LORD. ^10-11Moses told these priests and leaders:    Each year the Israelites must come together to celebrate the Festival of Shelters at the place where the LORD chooses to be worshiped. You must read these laws and teachings to the people at the festival every seventh year, the year when loans do not need to be repaid. ^{[a] 12-13}Everyone must come--men, women, children, and even the foreigners who live in your towns. And each new generation will listen and learn to worship the LORD their God with fear and trembling and to do exactly what is said in God's Law.

Israel Will Reject the LORD

 ¹⁴The LORD told Moses, " You will soon die, so bring Joshua to the sacred tent, and I will appoint him the leader of Israel."    Moses and Joshua went to the sacred tent, ¹⁵and the LORD appeared in a thick cloud right over the entrance to the tent. ¹⁶The LORD said:
   Moses, you will soon die. But Israel is going into a land where other gods are worshiped, and Israel will reject me and start worshiping these gods. The people will break the agreement I made with them, ¹⁷and I will be so furious that I will abandon them and ignore their prayers. I will send disasters and suffering that will nearly wipe them out. Finally, they will realize that the disasters happened because I abandoned them. ¹⁸They will pray to me, but I will ignore them because they were evil and started worshiping other gods.
    ¹⁹Moses and Joshua, I am going to give you the words to a new song. Write them down and teach the song to the Israelites. If they learn it, they will know what I want them to do, and so they will have no excuse for not obeying me. ²⁰I am bringing them into the land that I promised their ancestors. It is a land rich with milk and honey, and the Israelites will have more than enough food to eat. But they will get fat and turn their backs on me and start worshiping other gods. The Israelites will reject me and break the agreement that I made with them.
    ²¹When I punish the Israelites and their descendants with suffering and disasters, I will remind them that they know the words to this song, so they have no excuse for not obeying me.
   I will give them the land that I promised, but I know the way they are going to live later on.
    ²²Moses wrote down the words to the song ^[b] right away, and he taught it to the Israelites. ²³The LORD told Joshua, " Be brave and strong! I will help you lead the people of Israel into the land that I have promised them."
    ²⁴Moses wrote down all these laws and teachings in a book, ²⁵then he went to the Levites who carried the sacred chest and said:
    ²⁶This is The Book of God's Law. Keep it beside the sacred chest that holds the agreement the LORD your God made with Israel. This book is proof that you know what the LORD wants you to do. ²⁷I know how stubborn and rebellious you and the rest of the Israelites are. You have rebelled against the LORD while I have been alive, and it will only get worse after I am gone. ²⁸So call together the leaders and officials of the tribes of Israel. I will bring this book and read every word of it to you, and I will call the sky and the earth as witnesses that all of you know what you are supposed to do.
    ²⁹I am going to die soon, and I know that in the future you will stop caring about what is right and what is wrong, and so you will disobey the LORD and stop living the way I told you to live. The LORD will be angry, and terrible things will happen to you.
   

The Song of Moses

 ³⁰Moses called a meeting of all the people of Israel, so he could teach them the words to the song that the LORD had given him. And here are the words:    

Deuteronomy 32

 ¹Earth and Sky,    listen to what I say!
    ²Israel, I will teach you.
   My words will be like gentle rain
   on tender young plants,
   or like dew on the grass.
    ³Join with me in praising
   the wonderful name
   of the LORD our God.
    ⁴The LORD is a mighty rock, ^[c] and he never does wrong.
   God can always be trusted
   to bring justice.
    ⁵But you lie and cheat
   and are unfaithful to him.
   You have disgraced yourselves
   and are no longer worthy
   to be his children. ^{[d] 6}Israel, the LORD is your Father,
   the one who created you,
   but you repaid him
   by being foolish.
    ⁷Think about past generations.
   Ask your parents
   or any of your elders.
   They will tell you
    ⁸that God Most High
   gave land to every nation.
   He assigned a guardian angel
   to each of them, ^{[e] 9}but the LORD himself
   takes care of Israel. ^{[f] 10}Israel, the LORD discovered you
   in a barren desert
   filled with howling winds.
   God became your fortress,
   protecting you
   as though
   you were his own eyes.
    ¹¹The LORD was like an eagle
   teaching its young to fly,
   always ready to swoop down
   and catch them on its back.
    ¹²Israel, the LORD led you,
   and without the aid
   of a foreign god,
    ¹³he helped you
   capture the land.
   Your fields were rich
   with grain.
   Olive trees grew
   in your stony soil,
   and honey was found
   among the rocks.
    ¹⁴Your flocks and herds
   produced milk and yogurt,
   and you got choice meat
   from your sheep and goats
   that grazed in Bashan.
   Your wheat was the finest,
   and you drank the best wine.
    ¹⁵Israel, ^[g] you grew fat and rebelled against God, your Creator;
   you rejected the Mighty Rock, ^[h] your only place of safety.
    ¹⁶You made God jealous and angry
   by worshiping disgusting idols
   and foreign gods.
    ¹⁷You offered sacrifices
   to demons, those useless gods ^[i] that never helped you,
   new gods that your ancestors
   never worshiped.
    ¹⁸You turned away
   from God, your Creator;
   you forgot the Mighty Rock, ^[j] the source of your life.
    ¹⁹You were the LORD's children,
   but you made him angry.
   Then he rejected you ²⁰and said,
   " You are unfaithful
   and can't be trusted.
   So I won't answer your prayers;
   I'll just watch and see
   what happens to you.
    ²¹You worshiped worthless idols,
   and made me jealous
   and angry!
   Now I will send a cruel ^[k] and worthless nation
   to make you jealous and angry.
    ²²" My people, I will breathe out fire
   that sends you down
   to the world of the dead.
   It will scorch your farmlands
   and burn deep down
   under the mountains.
    ²³I'll send disaster after disaster
   to strike you like arrows.
    ²⁴You'll be struck by starvation
   and deadly diseases,
   by the fangs of wild animals
   and poisonous snakes.
    ²⁵Young and old alike
   will be killed in the streets
   and terrified at home.
    ²⁶" I wanted to scatter you,
   so no one would remember
   that you had ever lived.
    ²⁷But I dreaded the sound
   of your enemies saying,
   We defeated Israel with no help
   from the LORD. "
   

Footnotes:

1. Deuteronomy 31:10 every seventh year. . . repaid: See 15.1,2 and the note there.
2. Deuteronomy 31:22 the words to the song: See 32.1-43.
3. Deuteronomy 32:4 mighty rock: The Hebrew text has " rock," which is sometimes used in poetry to compare the LORD to a mountain where his people can run for protection from their enemies.
4. Deuteronomy 32:5 and are unfaithful. . . children: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
5. Deuteronomy 32:8 He assigned. . . them: The Dead Sea Scrolls and one ancient translation; the Standard Hebrew Text " So there were as many nations as Israel (that is, Jacob) had children."
6. Deuteronomy 32:9 Israel: The Hebrew text has " Jacob," another name for Israel's ancestor.
7. Deuteronomy 32:15 Israel: The Standard Hebrew Text has " Jeshurun," a rare name for Israel related to a word meaning " honest." The Samaritan Hebrew Text and one ancient translation also use " Jacob," another name for the ancestor of the nation of Israel.
8. Deuteronomy 32:15 Mighty Rock: See the note at 32.4.
9. Deuteronomy 32:17 disgusting idols. . . foreign gods. . . demons. . . those useless gods: Different ways of referring to gods of other nations.
10. Deuteronomy 32:18 Mighty Rock: See the note at 32.4.
11. Deuteronomy 32:21 cruel: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

---

Luke 12:8-34 (Contemporary English Version)

Telling Others about Christ

(Matthew 10.32,33; 12.32; 10.19,20)

 ⁸If you tell others that you belong to me, the Son of Man will tell God's angels that you are my followers. ⁹But if you reject me, you will be rejected in front of them. ¹⁰If you speak against the Son of Man, you can be forgiven, but if you speak against the Holy Spirit, you cannot be forgiven.     ¹¹When you are brought to trial in the Jewish meeting places or before rulers or officials, don't worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say. ¹²At that time the Holy Spirit will tell you what to say.
   

A Rich Fool

 ¹³A man in a crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of what our father left us when he died."     ¹⁴Jesus answered, "Who gave me the right to settle arguments between you and your brother?"
    ¹⁵Then he said to the crowd, "Don't be greedy! Owning a lot of things won't make your life safe."
    ¹⁶So Jesus told them this story:
   A rich man's farm produced a big crop, ¹⁷and he said to himself, "What can I do? I don't have a place large enough to store everything."
    ¹⁸Later, he said, "Now I know what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I can store all my grain and other goods. ¹⁹Then I'll say to myself, `You have stored up enough good things to last for years to come. Live it up! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.' "
    ²⁰But God said to him, "You fool! Tonight you will die. Then who will get what you have stored up?"
    ²¹"This is what happens to people who store up everything for themselves, but are poor in the sight of God."
   

Worry

(Matthew 6.25-34)

 ²²Jesus said to his disciples:    I tell you not to worry about your life! Don't worry about having something to eat or wear. ²³Life is more than food or clothing. ²⁴Look at the crows! They don't plant or harvest, and they don't have storehouses or barns. But God takes care of them. You are much more important than any birds. ²⁵Can worry make you live longer? ^{[a] 26}If you don't have power over small things, why worry about everything else? ²⁷Look how the wild flowers grow! They don't work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth ^[b] wasn't as well clothed as one of these flowers. ²⁸God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. Won't he do even more for you? You have such little faith! ²⁹Don't keep worrying about having something to eat or drink. ³⁰Only people who don't know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father knows what you need. ³¹But put God's work first, and these things will be yours as well.
   

Treasures in Heaven

(Matthew 6.19-21)

 ³²My little group of disciples, don't be afraid! Your Father wants to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell what you have and give the money to the poor. Make yourselves moneybags that never wear out. Make sure your treasure is safe in heaven, where thieves cannot steal it and moths cannot destroy it. ³⁴Your heart will always be where your treasure is.    

Footnotes:

1. Luke 12:25 live longer: Or " grow taller."
2. Luke 12:27 Solomon with all his wealth: The Jewish people thought that Solomon was the richest person who had ever lived.

---

Psalm 78:32-55 (Contemporary English Version)

³²But the rest kept on sinning
   and would not trust
   God's miracles.
    ³³So he cut their lives short
   and made them terrified.
    ³⁴After he killed some of them,
   the others turned to him
   with all their hearts.
    ³⁵They remembered God Most High,
   the mighty rock ^[a] that kept them safe.
    ³⁶But they tried to flatter God,
   and they told him lies;
    ³⁷they were unfaithful
   and broke their promises.
    ³⁸Yet God was kind.
   He kept forgiving their sins
   and didn't destroy them.
   He often became angry,
   but never lost his temper.
    ³⁹God remembered that they
   were made of flesh
   and were like a wind
   that blows once
   and then dies down.
    ⁴⁰While they were in the desert,
   they often rebelled
   and made God sad.
    ⁴¹They kept testing him
   and caused terrible pain
   for the Holy One of Israel.
    ⁴²They forgot about his power
   and how he had rescued them
   from their enemies.
    ⁴³God showed them all kinds
   of wonderful miracles
   near Zoan ^[b] in Egypt. ⁴⁴He turned the rivers of Egypt
   into blood,
   and no one could drink
   from the streams.
    ⁴⁵He sent swarms of flies
   to pester the Egyptians,
   and he sent frogs
   to cause them trouble.
    ⁴⁶God let worms and grasshoppers
   eat their crops.
    ⁴⁷He destroyed their grapevines
   and their fig trees
   with hail and floods. ^{[c] 48}Then he killed their cattle
   with hail
   and their other animals
   with lightning.
    ⁴⁹God was so angry and furious
   that he went into a rage
   and caused them great trouble
   by sending swarms
   of destroying angels.
    ⁵⁰God gave in to his anger
   and slaughtered them
   in a terrible way.
    ⁵¹He killed the first-born son
   of each Egyptian family.
    ⁵²Then God led his people
   out of Egypt
   and guided them in the desert
   like a flock of sheep.
    ⁵³He led them safely along,
   and they were not afraid,
   but their enemies drowned
   in the sea.
    ⁵⁴God brought his people
   to the sacred mountain
   that he had taken
   by his own power.
    ⁵⁵He made nations run
   from the tribes of Israel,
   and he let the tribes
   take over their land.
   

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 78:35 mighty rock: See the note at 18.2.
2. Psalm 78:43 Zoan: See the note at 78.12.
3. Psalm 78:47 floods: Or " frost."

---

Proverbs 12:21-23 (Contemporary English Version)

²¹Good people never have trouble,
   but troublemakers
   have more than enough.
    ²²The LORD hates every liar,
   but he is the friend of all
   who can be trusted.
    ²³Be sensible and don't tell
   everything you know--
   only fools spread
   foolishness everywhere.

---

Verse of the Day

“I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.” - Galatians 2:20

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

---

Thought for the Day

British science fiction writer, science writer and futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host, Arthur C. Clarke wrote, “I don't pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about.”