Bible Readings for June 11, 2015

Today our passages are 1 Kings 8:1-66; Acts 7:51–8:13; Psalm 129:1-8; and Proverbs 17:1. The readings are the Contemporary English Version. 

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1 Kings 8:1-66 (Contemporary English Version)

1 Kings 8

Solomon Brings the Sacred Chest to the Temple

(2 Chronicles 5.2--6.2)

 ^1-2The sacred chest had been kept on Mount Zion, also known as the city of David. But Solomon decided to have the chest moved to the temple while everyone was in Jerusalem, celebrating the Festival of Shelters during Ethanim, ^[a] the seventh month of the year. Solomon called together the important leaders of Israel. ^3-4Then the priests and the Levites carried to the temple the sacred chest, the sacred tent, and the objects used for worship. ⁵Solomon and a crowd of people walked in front of the chest, and along the way they sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted.     ⁶The priests carried the chest into the most holy place and put it under the winged creatures, ⁷whose wings covered the chest and the poles used for carrying it. ⁸The poles were so long that they could be seen from right outside the most holy place, but not from anywhere else. And they stayed there from then on.
    ⁹The only things kept in the chest were the two flat stones Moses had put there when the LORD made his agreement with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, ^[b] after bringing them out of Egypt. ¹⁰Suddenly a cloud filled the temple as the priests were leaving the most holy place. ¹¹The LORD's glory was in the cloud, and the light from it was so bright that the priests could not stay inside to do their work. ¹²Then Solomon prayed:
   "Our LORD, you said that you
   would live in a dark cloud.
    ¹³Now I have built a glorious temple
   where you can live forever."
   

Solomon Speaks to the People

(2 Chronicles 6.3-11)

 ¹⁴Solomon turned toward the people standing there. Then he blessed them ^15-16and said:    Praise the LORD God of Israel! Long ago he brought his people out of Egypt. He later kept his promise to make my father David the king of Israel. The LORD also said that he had not chosen the city where his temple would be built.
    ¹⁷So when David wanted to build a temple for the LORD God of Israel, ¹⁸the LORD said, "It's good that you want to build a temple where I can be worshiped. ¹⁹But you're not the one to do it. Your son will build a temple to honor me."
    ²⁰The LORD has done what he promised. I am the king of Israel like my father, and I've built a temple for the LORD our God. ²¹I've also made a place in the temple for the sacred chest. And in that chest are the two flat stones on which is written the solemn agreement the LORD made with our ancestors when he led them out of Egypt.
   

Solomon Prays at the Temple

(2 Chronicles 6.12-42)

 ²²Solomon stood facing the altar with everyone standing behind him. Then he lifted his arms toward heaven ²³and prayed:    LORD God of Israel, no other god in heaven or on earth is like you!
   You never forget the agreement you made with your people, and you are loyal to anyone who faithfully obeys your teachings. ²⁴My father David was your servant, and today you have kept every promise you made to him.
    ²⁵LORD God of Israel, you promised my father that someone from his family would always be king of Israel, if they do their best to obey you, just as he did. ²⁶Please keep this promise you made to your servant David.
    ²⁷There's not enough room in all of heaven for you, LORD God. How could you possibly live on earth in this temple I have built? ²⁸But I ask you to answer my prayer. ²⁹This is the temple where you have chosen to be worshiped. Please watch over it day and night and listen when I turn toward it and pray. ³⁰I am your servant, and the people of Israel belong to you. So whenever any of us look toward this temple and pray, answer from your home in heaven and forgive our sins.
    ³¹Suppose someone accuses a person of a crime, and the accused has to stand in front of the altar in your temple and say, "I swear I am innocent!" ³²Listen from heaven and decide who is right. Then punish the guilty person and let the innocent one go free.
    ³³Suppose your people Israel sin against you, and then an enemy defeats them. If they come to this temple and beg for forgiveness, ³⁴listen from your home in heaven. Forgive them and bring them back to the land you gave their ancestors.
    ³⁵Suppose your people sin against you, and you punish them by holding back the rain. If they turn toward this temple and pray in your name and stop sinning, ³⁶listen from your home in heaven and forgive them. The people of Israel are your servants, so teach them to live right. And please send rain on the land you promised them forever.
    ³⁷Sometimes the crops may dry up or rot or be eaten by locusts ^[c] or grasshoppers, and your people will be starving. Sometimes enemies may surround their towns, or your people will become sick with deadly diseases. ³⁸Listen when anyone in Israel truly feels sorry and sincerely prays with arms lifted toward your temple. ³⁹You know what is in everyone's heart. So from your home in heaven answer their prayers, according to the way they live and what is in their hearts. ⁴⁰Then your people will worship and obey you for as long as they live in the land you gave their ancestors. ^41-42Foreigners will hear about you and your mighty power, and some of them will come to live among your people Israel. If any of them pray toward this temple, ⁴³listen from your home in heaven and answer their prayers. Then everyone on earth will worship you, just like your people Israel, and they will know that I have built this temple to honor you.
    ⁴⁴Our LORD, sometimes you will order your people to attack their enemies. Then your people will turn toward this temple I have built for you in your chosen city, and they will pray to you. ⁴⁵Answer their prayers from heaven and give them victory.
    ⁴⁶Everyone sins. But when your people sin against you, suppose you get angry enough to let their enemies drag them away to foreign countries. ^47-49Later, they may feel sorry for what they did and ask your forgiveness. Answer them when they pray toward this temple I have built for you in your chosen city, here in this land you gave their ancestors. From your home in heaven, listen to their sincere prayers and do what they ask. ⁵⁰Forgive your people no matter how much they have sinned against you. Make the enemies who defeated them be kind to them. ⁵¹Remember, they are the people you chose and rescued from Egypt that was like a blazing fire to them.
    ⁵²I am your servant, and the people of Israel belong to you. So listen when any of us pray and cry out for your help. ⁵³When you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, you told your servant Moses to say to them, ">From all people on earth, the LORD God has chosen you to be his very own."
   

Solomon Blesses the People

 ⁵⁴When Solomon finished his prayer at the altar, he was kneeling with his arms lifted toward heaven. He stood up, ⁵⁵turned toward the people, blessed them, and said loudly:     ⁵⁶Praise the LORD! He has kept his promise and given us peace. Every good thing he promised to his servant Moses has happened.
    ⁵⁷The LORD our God was with our ancestors to help them, and I pray that he will be with us and never abandon us. ⁵⁸May the LORD help us obey him and follow all the laws and teachings he gave our ancestors.
    ⁵⁹I pray that the LORD our God will remember my prayer day and night. May he help everyone in Israel each day, in whatever way we need it. ⁶⁰Then every nation will know that the LORD is the only true God.
    ⁶¹Obey the LORD our God and follow his commands with all your heart, just as you are doing today.
   

Solomon Dedicates the Temple

(2 Chronicles 7.4-10)

 ^62-63Solomon and the people dedicated the temple to the LORD by offering twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep as sacrifices to ask the LORD's blessing. ^{[d] 64}On that day, Solomon dedicated the courtyard in front of the temple and made it acceptable for worship. He offered the sacrifices there because the bronze altar in front of the temple was too small. ⁶⁵Solomon and the huge crowd celebrated the Festival of Shelters at the temple for seven days. ^[e] There were people from as far away as the Egyptian Gorge in the south and Lebo-Hamath in the north. ⁶⁶Then on the eighth day, he sent everyone home. They said good-by and left, very happy, because of all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

Footnotes:

1. 1 Kings 8:1 Ethanim: The seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-September to mid-October.
2. 1 Kings 8:9 Sinai: Hebrew "Horeb."
3. 1 Kings 8:37 locusts: A type of grasshopper that comes in swarms and causes great damage to plant life.
4. 1 Kings 8:62 sacrifices to ask the LORD's blessing: See Leviticus 3.1-17.
5. 1 Kings 8:65 seven days: One ancient translation; Hebrew "seven days and seven more days, fourteen days in all."

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Acts 7:51-8:13 (Contemporary English Version)

⁵¹You stubborn and hardheaded people! You are always fighting against the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors did. ⁵²Is there one prophet that your ancestors didn't mistreat? They killed the prophets who told about the coming of the One Who Obeys God. ^[a] And now you have turned against him and killed him. ⁵³Angels gave you God's Law, but you still don't obey it.

Stephen Is Stoned to Death

 ⁵⁴When the council members heard Stephen's speech, they were angry and furious. ⁵⁵But Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit. He looked toward heaven, where he saw our glorious God and Jesus standing at his right side. ^{[b] 56}Then Stephen said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!" ⁵⁷The council members shouted and covered their ears. At once they all attacked Stephen ⁵⁸and dragged him out of the city. Then they started throwing stones at him. The men who had brought charges against him put their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. ^{[c] 59}As Stephen was being stoned to death, he called out, "Lord Jesus, please welcome me!" ⁶⁰He knelt down and shouted, "Lord, don't blame them for what they have done." Then he died.    

Acts 8

 ^1-2Saul approved the stoning of Stephen. Some faithful followers of the Lord buried Stephen and mourned very much for him.    At that time the church in Jerusalem suffered terribly. All of the Lord's followers, except the apostles, were scattered everywhere in Judea and Samaria.

Saul Makes Trouble for the Church

 ³Saul started making a lot of trouble for the church. He went from house to house, arresting men and women and putting them in jail.    

The Good News Is Preached in Samaria

 ⁴The Lord's followers who had been scattered went from place to place, telling the good news. ⁵Philip went to the city of Samaria and told the people about Christ. ⁶They crowded around Philip because they were eager to hear what he was saying and to see him work miracles. ⁷Many people with evil spirits were healed, and the spirits went out of them with a shout. A lot of crippled and lame people were also healed. ⁸Everyone in that city was very glad because of what was happening.     ⁹For some time a man named Simon had lived in the city of Samaria and had amazed the people. He practiced witchcraft and claimed to be somebody great. ¹⁰Everyone, rich and poor, crowded around him. They said, "This man is the power of God called `The Great Power.' "
    ¹¹For a long time, Simon had used witchcraft to amaze the people, and they kept crowding around him. ¹²But when they believed what Philip was saying about God's kingdom and about the name of Jesus Christ, they were all baptized. ¹³Even Simon believed and was baptized. He stayed close to Philip, because he marveled at all the miracles and wonders.
   

Footnotes:

1. Acts 7:52 One Who Obeys God: That is, Jesus.
2. Acts 7:55 standing at his right side: The "right side" is the place of honor and power. "Standing" may mean that Jesus is welcoming Stephen (see verse 59).
3. Acts 7:58 Saul: Better known as Paul, who became a famous follower of Jesus.

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Psalm 129:1-8 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 129

(A song for worship.)

A Prayer for Protection

 ¹Since the time I was young,    enemies have often attacked!
   Let everyone in Israel say:
    ²"Since the time I was young,
   enemies have often attacked!
   But they have not defeated me,
    ³though my back is like a field
   that has just been plowed."
    ⁴The LORD always does right,
   and he has set me free
   from the ropes
   of those cruel people.
    ⁵I pray that all who hate
   the city of Zion
   will be made ashamed
   and forced to turn and run.
    ⁶May they be like grass
   on the flat roof of a house,
   grass that dries up
   as soon as it sprouts.
    ⁷Don't let them be like wheat
   gathered in bundles.
    ⁸And don't let anyone
   who passes by say to them,
   "The LORD bless you!
   I give you my blessing
   in the name of the LORD."

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Proverbs 17:1 (Contemporary English Version)

Proverbs 17

Our Thoughts Are Tested by the LORD

 ¹A dry crust of bread eaten    in peace and quiet
   is better than a feast eaten
   where everyone argues.

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Verse of the Day

“Our God says, "Calm down, and learn that I am God! All nations on earth will honor me.” - Psalm 46:10

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

 

English author, Anglican priest, professor of divinity at Cambridge, and Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, William Ralph Inge wrote, “Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.”

Bible Readings for January 27, 2014

Today our passages are Exodus 4:1–5:21; Matthew 18:1-22; Psalm 22:19-31; and Proverbs 5:15-21. The readings are from the  The Message  by Eugene H. Peterson.

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Exodus 4-5:21 (The Message)

Exodus 4

 ¹ Moses objected, "They won't trust me. They won't listen to a word I say. They're going to say, 'God? Appear to him? Hardly!'"  ² So God said, "What's that in your hand?" "A staff."
 ³ "Throw it on the ground." He threw it. It became a snake; Moses jumped back—fast!
 ^4-5 God said to Moses, "Reach out and grab it by the tail." He reached out and grabbed it—and he was holding his staff again. "That's so they will trust that God appeared to you, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
 ⁶ God then said, "Put your hand inside your shirt." He slipped his hand under his shirt, then took it out. His hand had turned leprous, like snow.
 ⁷ He said, "Put your hand back under your shirt." He did it, then took it back out—as healthy as before.
 ^8-9 "So if they don't trust you and aren't convinced by the first sign, the second sign should do it. But if it doesn't, if even after these two signs they don't trust you and listen to your message, take some water out of the Nile and pour it out on the dry land; the Nile water that you pour out will turn to blood when it hits the ground."
 ¹⁰ Moses raised another objection to God: "Master, please, I don't talk well. I've never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer."
 ^11-12 God said, "And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn't it I, God? So, get going. I'll be right there with you—with your mouth! I'll be right there to teach you what to say."
 ¹³ He said, "Oh, Master, please! Send somebody else!"
 ^14-17 God got angry with Moses: "Don't you have a brother, Aaron the Levite? He's good with words, I know he is. He speaks very well. In fact, at this very moment he's on his way to meet you. When he sees you he's going to be glad. You'll speak to him and tell him what to say. I'll be right there with you as you speak and with him as he speaks, teaching you step by step. He will speak to the people for you. He'll act as your mouth, but you'll decide what comes out of it. Now take this staff in your hand; you'll use it to do the signs."

¹⁸ Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said, "I need to return to my relatives who are in Egypt. I want to see if they're still alive."
   Jethro said, "Go. And peace be with you."
 ¹⁹ God said to Moses in Midian: "Go. Return to Egypt. All the men who wanted to kill you are dead."
 ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey for the return trip to Egypt. He had a firm grip on the staff of God.
 ^21-23 God said to Moses, "When you get back to Egypt, be prepared: All the wonders that I will do through you, you'll do before Pharaoh. But I will make him stubborn so that he will refuse to let the people go. Then you are to tell Pharaoh, 'God's Message: Israel is my son, my firstborn! I told you, "Free my son so that he can serve me." But you refused to free him. So now I'm going to kill your son, your firstborn.'"

^24-26 On the journey back, as they camped for the night, God met Moses and would have killed him but Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses' member with it. She said, "Oh! You're a bridegroom of blood to me!" Then God let him go. She used the phrase "bridegroom of blood" because of the circumcision.

^27-28 God spoke to Aaron, "Go and meet Moses in the wilderness." He went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. Moses told Aaron the message that God had sent him to speak and the wonders he had commanded him to do.
 ^29-31 So Moses and Aaron proceeded to round up all the leaders of Israel. Aaron told them everything that God had told Moses and demonstrated the wonders before the people. And the people trusted and listened believingly that God was concerned with what was going on with the Israelites and knew all about their affliction. They bowed low and they worshiped.

Exodus 5

Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh

 ¹ After that Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh. They said, "God, the God of Israel, says, 'Free my people so that they can hold a festival for me in the wilderness.'"  ² Pharaoh said, "And who is God that I should listen to him and send Israel off? I know nothing of this so-called 'God' and I'm certainly not going to send Israel off."
 ³ They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can worship our God lest he strike us with either disease or death."
 ^4-5 But the king of Egypt said, "Why on earth, Moses and Aaron, would you suggest the people be given a holiday? Back to work!" Pharaoh went on, "Look, I've got all these people bumming around, and now you want to reward them with time off?"
 ^6-9 Pharaoh took immediate action. He sent down orders to the slave-drivers and their underlings: "Don't provide straw for the people for making bricks as you have been doing. Make them get their own straw. And make them produce the same number of bricks—no reduction in their daily quotas! They're getting lazy. They're going around saying, 'Give us time off so we can worship our God.' Crack down on them. That'll cure them of their whining, their god-fantasies."
 ^10-12 The slave-drivers and their underlings went out to the people with their new instructions. "Pharaoh's orders: No more straw provided. Get your own straw wherever you can find it. And not one brick less in your daily work quota!" The people scattered all over Egypt scrabbling for straw.
 ¹³ The slave-drivers were merciless, saying, "Complete your daily quota of bricks—the same number as when you were given straw."
 ¹⁴ The Israelite foremen whom the slave-drivers had appointed were beaten and badgered. "Why didn't you finish your quota of bricks yesterday or the day before—and now again today?"
 ^15-16 The Israelite foremen came to Pharaoh and cried out for relief: "Why are you treating your servants like this? Nobody gives us any straw and they tell us, 'Make bricks!' Look at us—we're being beaten. And it's not our fault."
 ^17-18 But Pharaoh said, "Lazy! That's what you are! Lazy! That's why you whine, 'Let us go so we can worship God.' Well then, go—go back to work. Nobody's going to give you straw, and at the end of the day you better bring in your full quota of bricks."
 ¹⁹ The Israelite foremen saw that they were in a bad way, having to go back and tell their workers, "Not one brick short in your daily quota."
 ^20-21 As they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them. The foremen said to them, "May God see what you've done and judge you—you've made us stink before Pharaoh and his servants! You've put a weapon in his hand that's going to kill us!"

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Matthew 18:1-22 (The Message)

Matthew 18

Whoever Becomes Simple Again

 ¹ At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, "Who gets the highest rank in God's kingdom?"

 ^2-5For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me. ^6-7"But if you give them a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you'll soon wish you hadn't. You'd be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck. Doom to the world for giving these God-believing children a hard time! Hard times are inevitable, but you don't have to make it worse—and it's doomsday to you if you do.

 ^8-9"If your hand or your foot gets in the way of God, chop it off and throw it away. You're better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owners of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You're better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell.

 ¹⁰"Watch that you don't treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly. You realize, don't you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?

Work It Out Between You

 ^12-14"Look at it this way. If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, doesn't he leave the ninety-nine and go after the one? And if he finds it, doesn't he make far more over it than over the ninety-nine who stay put? Your Father in heaven feels the same way. He doesn't want to lose even one of these simple believers.

 ^15-17"If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you've made a friend. If he won't listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won't listen, tell the church. If he won't listen to the church, you'll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God's forgiving love.

 ^18-20"Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there."

A Story About Forgiveness

 ²¹At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?"

 ²²Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.

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Psalm 22:19-31 (The Message)

 ^19-21 You, God—don't put off my rescue!
      Hurry and help me!
   Don't let them cut my throat;
      don't let those mongrels devour me.
   If you don't show up soon,
      I'm done for—gored by the bulls,
      meat for the lions.

 ^22-24 Here's the story I'll tell my friends when they come to worship,
      and punctuate it with Hallelujahs:
   Shout Hallelujah, you God-worshipers;
      give glory, you sons of Jacob;
      adore him, you daughters of Israel.
   He has never let you down,
      never looked the other way
      when you were being kicked around.
   He has never wandered off to do his own thing;
      he has been right there, listening.

 ^25-26 Here in this great gathering for worship
      I have discovered this praise-life.
   And I'll do what I promised right here
      in front of the God-worshipers.
   Down-and-outers sit at God's table
      and eat their fill.
   Everyone on the hunt for God
      is here, praising him.
   "Live it up, from head to toe.
      Don't ever quit!"

 ^27-28 From the four corners of the earth
      people are coming to their senses,
      are running back to God.
   Long-lost families
      are falling on their faces before him.
   God has taken charge;
      from now on he has the last word.

 ²⁹ All the power-mongers are before him
      —worshiping!
   All the poor and powerless, too
      —worshiping!
   Along with those who never got it together
      —worshiping!

 ^30-31 Our children and their children
      will get in on this
   As the word is passed along
      from parent to child.
   Babies not yet conceived
      will hear the good news—
      that God does what he says.

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Proverbs 5:15-21 (The Message)

Never Take Love for Granted

 ^15-16 Do you know the saying, "Drink from your own rain barrel,
   draw water from your own spring-fed well"?
It's true. Otherwise, you may one day come home
   and find your barrel empty and your well polluted.

 ^17-20 Your spring water is for you and you only,
   not to be passed around among strangers.
Bless your fresh-flowing fountain!
   Enjoy the wife you married as a young man!
Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose—
   don't ever quit taking delight in her body.
   Never take her love for granted!
Why would you trade enduring intimacies for cheap thrills with a whore?
   for dalliance with a promiscuous stranger?

 ^21-23 Mark well that God doesn't miss a move you make;
   he's aware of every step you take.
The shadow of your sin will overtake you;
   you'll find yourself stumbling all over yourself in the dark.
Death is the reward of an undisciplined life;
   your foolish decisions trap you in a dead end.

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Verse of the Day

“We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world. So put on all the armor that God gives. Then when that evil day comes, you will be able to defend yourself. And when the battle is over, you will still be standing firm.” - Ephesians 6:12-13

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

English author, Anglican priest, professor of divinity at Cambridge, and Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, William Ralph Inge wrote, “Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.”