Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Ex 14:8-31
8 GOD made Pharaoh king of Egypt stubborn, determined to chase the Israelites as they walked out on him without even looking back. 9 The Egyptians gave chase and caught up with them where they had made camp by the sea — all Pharaoh's horse-drawn chariots and their riders, all his foot soldiers there at Pi Hahiroth opposite Baal Zephon.
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw them — Egyptians! Coming at them!
They were totally afraid. They cried out in terror to GOD. 11 They told Moses, "Weren't the cemeteries large enough in Egypt so that you had to take us out here in the wilderness to die? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? 12 Back in Egypt didn't we tell you this would happen? Didn't we tell you, 'Leave us alone here in Egypt — we're better off as slaves in Egypt than as corpses in the wilderness.'"
13 Moses spoke to the people: "Don't be afraid. Stand firm and watch GOD do his work of salvation for you today. Take a good look at the Egyptians today for you're never going to see them again.
14 GOD will fight the battle for you.And you? You keep your mouths shut!"
15 GOD said to Moses: "Why cry out to me? Speak to the Israelites. Order them to get moving. 16 Hold your staff high and stretch your hand out over the sea: Split the sea! The Israelites will walk through the sea on dry ground.
17 "Meanwhile I'll make sure the Egyptians keep up their stubborn chase — I'll use Pharaoh and his entire army, his chariots and horsemen, 18 to put my Glory on display so that the Egyptians will realize that I am GOD."
19 The angel of GOD that had been leading the camp of Israel now shifted and got behind them. And the Pillar of Cloud that had been in front also shifted to the rear. 20 The Cloud was now between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. The Cloud enshrouded one camp in darkness and flooded the other with light. The two camps didn't come near each other all night.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and GOD, with a terrific east wind all night long, made the sea go back. He made the sea dry ground. The seawaters split.
22 The Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground with the waters a wall to the right and to the left. 23 The Egyptians came after them in full pursuit, every horse and chariot and driver of Pharaoh racing into the middle of the sea. 24 It was now the morning watch. GOD looked down from the Pillar of Fire and Cloud on the Egyptian army and threw them into a panic. 25 He clogged the wheels of their chariots; they were stuck in the mud.
The Egyptians said, "Run from Israel! GOD is fighting on their side and against Egypt!"
26 GOD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea and the waters will come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots, over their horsemen."
27 Moses stretched his hand out over the sea: As the day broke and the Egyptians were running, the sea returned to its place as before. GOD dumped the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. 28 The waters returned, drowning the chariots and riders of Pharaoh's army that had chased after Israel into the sea. Not one of them survived.
29 But the Israelites walked right through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall to the right and to the left. 30 GOD delivered Israel that day from the oppression of the Egyptians. And Israel looked at the Egyptian dead, washed up on the shore of the sea, 31 and realized the tremendous power that GOD brought against the Egyptians. The people were in reverent awe before GOD and trusted in GOD and his servant Moses.
Ex 14:1-4
GOD spoke to Moses: 2 "Tell the Israelites to turn around and make camp at Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. Camp on the shore of the sea opposite Baal Zephon.
3 "Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are lost; they're confused. The wilderness has closed in on them.' 4 Then I'll make Pharaoh's heart stubborn again and he'll chase after them. And I'll use Pharaoh and his army to put my Glory on display. Then the Egyptians will realize that I am GOD."
Ex 13:1-18
13:1 GOD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Consecrate every firstborn to me — the first one to come from the womb among the Israelites, whether person or animal, is mine."
3 Moses said to the people, "Always remember this day. This is the day when you came out of Egypt from a house of slavery. GOD brought you out of here with a powerful hand. Don't eat any raised bread.
4 "You are leaving in the spring month of Abib. 5 When GOD brings you into the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he promised to your fathers to give you, a land lavish with milk and honey, you are to observe this service during this month:
6 "You are to eat unraised bread for seven days; on the seventh day there is a festival celebration to GOD.
7 "Only unraised bread is to be eaten for seven days. There is not to be a trace of anything fermented — no yeast anywhere.
8 "Tell your child on that day: 'This is because of what GOD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'
9 "The day of observance will be like a sign on your hand, a memorial between your eyes, and the teaching of GOD in your mouth. It was with a powerful hand that GOD brought you out of Egypt. 10 Follow these instructions at the set time, year after year after year.
11 "When GOD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he promised you and your fathers, and turns it over to you, 12 you are to set aside the first birth out of every womb to GOD. Every first birth from your livestock belongs to GOD. 13 You can redeem every first birth of a donkey if you want to by substituting a lamb; if you decide not to redeem it, you must break its neck.
"Redeem every firstborn child among your sons. 14 When the time comes and your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' you tell him, 'GOD brought us out of Egypt, out of a house of slavery, with a powerful hand. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, GOD killed every firstborn in Egypt, the firstborn of both humans and animals. That's why I make a sacrifice for every first male birth from the womb to GOD and redeem every firstborn son.' 16 The observance functions like a sign on your hands or a symbol on the middle of your forehead: GOD brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand."
17 It so happened that after Pharaoh released the people, God didn't lead them by the road through the land of the Philistines, which was the shortest route, for God thought, "If the people encounter war, they'll change their minds and go back to Egypt."
18 So God led the people on the wilderness road, looping around to the Red Sea. The Israelites left Egypt in military formation.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Gen 1:1 - Ex 12:42
God said to Moses: "I'm going to hit Pharaoh and Egypt one final time, and then he'll let you go. When he releases you, that will be the end of Egypt for you; he won't be able to get rid of you fast enough.
2 "So here's what you do. Tell the people to ask, each man from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor, for things made of silver and gold." 3 GOD saw to it that the Egyptians liked the people. Also, Moses was greatly admired by the Egyptians, a respected public figure among both Pharaoh's servants and the people at large.
4 Then Moses confronted Pharaoh: "GOD's Message: 'At midnight I will go through Egypt 5 and every firstborn child in Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl working at her hand mill. Also the firstborn of animals. 6 Widespread wailing will erupt all over the country, lament such as has never been and never will be again. 7 But against the Israelites — man, woman, or animal — there won't be so much as a dog's bark, so that you'll know that GOD makes a clear distinction between Egypt and Israel.'
8 "Then all these servants of yours will go to their knees, begging me to leave, 'Leave! You and all the people who follow you!' And I will most certainly leave."
Moses, seething with anger, left Pharaoh.
9 GOD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's not going to listen to a thing you say so that the signs of my presence and work are going to multiply in the land of Egypt."
10 Moses and Aaron had performed all these signs in Pharaoh's presence, but GOD turned Pharaoh more stubborn than ever — yet again he refused to release the Israelites from his land.
Exodus 12
12:1 GOD said to Moses and Aaron while still in Egypt, 2 "This month is to be the first month of the year for you. 3 Address the whole community of Israel; tell them that on the tenth of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house. 4 If the family is too small for a lamb, then share it with a close neighbor, depending on the number of persons involved. Be mindful of how much each person will eat. 5 Your lamb must be a healthy male, one year old; you can select it from either the sheep or the goats. 6 Keep it penned until the fourteenth day of this month and then slaughter it — the entire community of Israel will do this — at dusk. 7 Then take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it. 8 You are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire, that night, along with bread, made without yeast, and bitter herbs. 9 Don't eat any of it raw or boiled in water; make sure it's roasted — the whole animal, head, legs, and innards. 10 Don't leave any of it until morning; if there are leftovers, burn them in the fire.
11 "And here is how you are to eat it: Be fully dressed with your sandals on and your stick in your hand. Eat in a hurry; it's the Passover to GOD.
12 "I will go through the land of Egypt on this night and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether human or animal, and bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am GOD. 13 The blood will serve as a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you — no disaster will touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 "This will be a memorial day for you; you will celebrate it as a festival to GOD down through the generations, a fixed festival celebration to be observed always. 15 You will eat unraised bread (matzoth) for seven days: On the first day get rid of all yeast from your houses — anyone who eats anything with yeast from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off from Israel. 16 The first and the seventh days are set aside as holy; do no work on those days. Only what you have to do for meals; each person can do that.
17 "Keep the Festival of Unraised Bread! This marks the exact day I brought you out in force from the land of Egypt. Honor the day down through your generations, a fixed festival to be observed always. 18 In the first month, beginning on the fourteenth day at evening until the twenty-first day at evening, you are to eat unraised bread. 19 For those seven days not a trace of yeast is to be found in your houses. Anyone, whether a visitor or a native of the land, who eats anything raised shall be cut off from the community of Israel. 20 Don't eat anything raised. Only matzoth."
21 Moses assembled all the elders of Israel. He said, "Select a lamb for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the bowl of blood and smear it on the lintel and on the two doorposts. No one is to leave the house until morning. 23 GOD will pass through to strike Egypt down. When he sees the blood on the lintel and the two door posts, GOD will pass over the doorway; he won't let the destroyer enter your house to strike you down with ruin.
24 "Keep this word. It's the law for you and your children, forever. 25 When you enter the land which GOD will give you as he promised, keep doing this. 26 And when your children say to you, 'Why are we doing this?' 27 tell them: 'It's the Passover-sacrifice to GOD who passed over the homes of the Israelites in Egypt when he hit Egypt with death but rescued us.'"
The people bowed and worshiped.
28 The Israelites then went and did what GOD had commanded Moses and Aaron. They did it all.
29 At midnight GOD struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, right down to the firstborn of the prisoner locked up in jail. Also the firstborn of the animals.
30 Pharaoh got up that night, he and all his servants and everyone else in Egypt — what wild wailing and lament in Egypt! There wasn't a house in which someone wasn't dead.
31 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron that very night and said, "Get out of here and be done with you — you and your Israelites! Go worship GOD on your own terms. 32 And yes, take your sheep and cattle as you've insisted, but go. And bless me."
33 The Egyptians couldn't wait to get rid of them; they pushed them to hurry up, saying, "We're all as good as dead."
34 The people grabbed their bread dough before it had risen, bundled their bread bowls in their cloaks and threw them over their shoulders. 35 The Israelites had already done what Moses had told them; they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold things and clothing. 36 GOD saw to it that the Egyptians liked the people and so readily gave them what they asked for. Oh yes! They picked those Egyptians clean.
37 The Israelites moved on from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 on foot, besides their dependents. 38 There was also a crowd of riffraff tagging along, not to mention the large flocks and herds of livestock. 39 They baked unraised cakes with the bread dough they had brought out of Egypt; it hadn't raised — they'd been rushed out of Egypt and hadn't time to fix food for the journey.
40 The Passover
The Israelites had lived in Egypt 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, GOD's entire army left Egypt. 42 GOD kept watch all night, watching over the Israelites as he brought them out of Egypt. Because GOD kept watch, all Israel for all generations will honor GOD by keeping watch this night — a watchnight.
Ex 10:21-29
GOD said to Moses: "Stretch your hand to the skies. Let darkness descend on the land of Egypt — a darkness so dark you can touch it."
22 Moses stretched out his hand to the skies. Thick darkness descended on the land of Egypt for three days. 23 Nobody could see anybody. For three days no one could so much as move. Except for the Israelites: they had light where they were living.
24 Pharaoh called in Moses: "Go and worship GOD. Leave your flocks and herds behind. But go ahead and take your children."
25 But Moses said, "You have to let us take our sacrificial animals and offerings with us so we can sacrifice them in worship to our GOD. 26 Our livestock has to go with us with not a hoof left behind; they are part of the worship of our GOD. And we don't know just what will be needed until we get there."
27 But GOD kept Pharaoh stubborn as ever. He wouldn't agree to release them.
28 Pharaoh said to Moses: "Get out of my sight! And watch your step. I don't want to ever see you again. If I lay eyes on you again, you're dead."
29 Moses said, "Have it your way. You won't see my face again."
Ex 10:1-20
GOD said to Moses: "Go to Pharaoh. I've made him stubborn, him and his servants, so that I can force him to look at these signs 2 and so you'll be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I toyed with the Egyptians, like a cat with a mouse; you'll tell them the stories of the signs that I brought down on them, so that you'll all know that I am GOD."
3 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "GOD, the God of the Hebrews, says, 'How long are you going to refuse to knuckle under? Release my people so that they can worship me. 4 If you refuse to release my people, watch out; tomorrow I'm bringing locusts into your country. 5 They'll cover every square inch of ground; no one will be able to see the ground. They'll devour everything left over from the hailstorm, even the saplings out in the fields — they'll clear-cut the trees. 6 And they'll invade your houses, filling the houses of your servants, filling every house in Egypt. Nobody will have ever seen anything like this, from the time your ancestors first set foot on this soil until today.'"
Then he turned on his heel and left Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long are you going to let this man harass us? Let these people go and worship their GOD. Can't you see that Egypt is on its last legs?"
8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. He said to them, "Go ahead then. Go worship your GOD. But just who exactly is going with you?"
9 Moses said, "We're taking young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds — this is our worship-celebration of GOD."
10 He said, "I'd sooner send you off with GOD's blessings than let you go with your children. Look, you're up to no good — it's written all over your faces. 11 Nothing doing. Just the men are going — go ahead and worship GOD. That's what you want so badly." And they were thrown out of Pharaoh's presence.
12 GOD said to Moses: "Stretch your hand over Egypt and signal the locusts to cover the land of Egypt, devouring every blade of grass in the country, everything that the hail didn't get."
13 Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt. GOD let loose an east wind. It blew that day and night. By morning the east wind had brought in the locusts.
14 The locusts covered the country of Egypt, settling over every square inch of Egypt; the place was thick with locusts. There never was an invasion of locusts like it in the past, and never will be again. 15 The ground was completely covered, black with locusts. They ate everything, every blade of grass, every piece of fruit, anything that the hail didn't get. Nothing left but bare trees and bare fields — not a sign of green in the whole land of Egypt.
16 Pharaoh had Moses and Aaron back in no time. He said, "I've sinned against your GOD and against you. 17 Overlook my sin one more time. Pray to your GOD to get me out of this — get death out of here!"
18 Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to GOD. 19 GOD reversed the wind — a powerful west wind took the locusts and dumped them into the Red Sea. There wasn't a single locust left in the whole country of Egypt.
20 But GOD made Pharaoh stubborn as ever. He still didn't release the Israelites.
Ex 9:13-35
GOD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh. Tell him, 'GOD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Release my people so they can worship me. 14 This time I am going to strike you and your servants and your people with the full force of my power so you'll get it into your head that there's no one like me anywhere in all the Earth. 15 You know that by now I could have struck you and your people with deadly disease and there would be nothing left of you, not a trace. 16 But for one reason only I've kept you on your feet: To make you recognize my power so that my reputation spreads in all the Earth. 17 You are still building yourself up at my people's expense. You are not letting them go. 18 So here's what's going to happen: At this time tomorrow I'm sending a terrific hailstorm — there's never been a storm like this in Egypt from the day of its founding until now. 19 So get your livestock under roof — everything exposed in the open fields, people and animals, will die when the hail comes down.'"
20 All of Pharaoh's servants who had respect for GOD's word got their workers and animals under cover as fast as they could, 21 but those who didn't take GOD's word seriously left their workers and animals out in the field.
22 GOD said to Moses: "Stretch your hands to the skies. Signal the hail to fall all over Egypt on people and animals and crops exposed in the fields of Egypt."
23 Moses lifted his staff to the skies and GOD sent peals of thunder and hail shot through with lightning strikes. GOD rained hail down on the land of Egypt. 24 The hail came, hail and lightning — a fierce hailstorm. There had been nothing like it in Egypt in its entire history. 25 The hail hit hard all over Egypt. Everything exposed out in the fields, people and animals and crops, was smashed. Even the trees in the fields were shattered. 26 Except for Goshen where the Israelites lived; there was no hail in Goshen.
27 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. He said, "I've sinned for sure this time — GOD is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Pray to GOD. We've had enough of GOD's thunder and hail. I'll let you go. The sooner you're out of here the better."
29 Moses said, "As soon as I'm out of the city, I'll stretch out my arms to GOD. The thunder will stop and the hail end so you'll know that the land is GOD's land. 30 Still, I know that you and your servants have no respect for GOD."
31(The flax and the barley were ruined, for they were just ripening, 32 but the wheat and spelt weren't hurt — they ripen later.)
33 Moses left Pharaoh and the city and stretched out his arms to GOD. The thunder and hail stopped; the storm cleared.
34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he kept right on sinning, stubborn as ever, both he and his servants. 35 Pharaoh's heart turned rock-hard. He refused to release the Israelites, as GOD had ordered through Moses.
Ex 9:8-12
GOD said to Moses and Aaron, "Take fistfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses throw it into the air right before Pharaoh's eyes; 9 it will become a film of fine dust all over Egypt and cause sores, an eruption of boils on people and animals throughout Egypt." 10 So they took soot from a furnace, stood in front of Pharaoh, and threw it up into the air. It caused boils to erupt on people and animals. 11 The magicians weren't able to compete with Moses this time because of the boils — they were covered with boils just like everyone else in Egypt.
12 GOD hardened Pharaoh in his stubbornness. He wouldn't listen, just as GOD had said to Moses.
Ex 9:1-7
GOD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'GOD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Release my people so they can worship me. 2 If you refuse to release them and continue to hold on to them, 3 I'm giving you fair warning: GOD will come down hard on your livestock out in the fields — horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep — striking them with a severe disease. 4 GOD will draw a sharp line between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. Not one animal that belongs to the Israelites will die.'"
5 Then GOD set the time: "Tomorrow GOD will do this thing."
6 And the next day GOD did it. All the livestock of Egypt died, but not one animal of the Israelites died. 7 Pharaoh sent men to find out what had happened and there it was: none of the livestock of the Israelites had died — not one death. But Pharaoh stayed stubborn. He wouldn't release the people.
Ex 8:20-32
GOD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes down to the water. Tell him, 'GOD's Message: Release my people so they can worship me. 21 If you don't release my people, I'll release swarms of flies on you, your servants, your people, and your homes. The houses of the Egyptians and even the ground under their feet will be thick with flies. 22 But when it happens, I'll set Goshen where my people live aside as a sanctuary — no flies in Goshen. That will show you that I am GOD in this land. 23 I'll make a sharp distinction between your people and mine. This sign will occur tomorrow.'"
24 And GOD did just that. Thick swarms of flies in Pharaoh's palace and the houses of his servants. All over Egypt, the country ruined by flies.
25 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron and said, "Go ahead. Sacrifice to your God — but do it here in this country."
26 Moses said, "That would not be wise. What we sacrifice to our GOD would give great offense to Egyptians. If we openly sacrifice what is so deeply offensive to Egyptians, they'll kill us. 27 Let us go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to our GOD, just as he instructed us."
28 Pharaoh said, "All right. I'll release you to go and sacrifice to your GOD in the wilderness. Only don't go too far. Now pray for me."
29 Moses said, "As soon as I leave here, I will pray to GOD that tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. But don't play games with us and change your mind about releasing us to sacrifice to GOD."
30 Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to GOD. 31 GOD did what Moses asked. He got rid of the flies from Pharaoh and his servants and his people. There wasn't a fly left. 32 But Pharaoh became stubborn once again and wouldn't release the people.
Ex 8:16-19
GOD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your staff and strike the dust. The dust will turn into gnats all over Egypt.'"
17 He did it. Aaron grabbed his staff and struck the dust of the Earth; it turned into gnats, gnats all over people and animals. All the dust of the Earth turned into gnats, gnats everywhere in Egypt.
18 The magicians tried to produce gnats with their incantations but this time they couldn't do it. There were gnats everywhere, all over people and animals.
19 The magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is God's doing." But Pharaoh was stubborn and wouldn't listen. Just as GOD had said.
Ex 8:1-15
GOD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'GOD's Message: Release my people so they can worship me. 2 If you refuse to release them, I'm warning you, I'll hit the whole country with frogs. 3 The Nile will swarm with frogs — they'll come up into your houses, into your bedrooms and into your beds, into your servants' quarters, among the people, into your ovens and pots and pans. 4 They'll be all over you, all over everyone — frogs everywhere, on and in everything!'"
5 GOD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Wave your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds. Bring up frogs on the land of Egypt.'"
6 Aaron stretched his staff over the waters of Egypt and a mob of frogs came up and covered the country.
7 But again the magicians did the same thing using their incantations — they also produced frogs in Egypt.
8 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to GOD to rid us of these frogs. I'll release the people so that they can make their sacrifices and worship GOD."
9 Moses said to Pharaoh, "Certainly. Set the time. When do you want the frogs out of here, away from your servants and people and out of your houses? You'll be rid of frogs except for those in the Nile."
10 "Make it tomorrow."
Moses said, "Tomorrow it is — so you'll realize that there is no God like our GOD. 11 The frogs will be gone. You and your houses and your servants and your people, free of frogs. The only frogs left will be the ones in the Nile."
12 Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, and Moses prayed to GOD about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. 13 GOD responded to Moses' prayer: The frogs died off — houses, courtyards, fields, all free of frogs. 14 They piled the frogs in heaps. The country reeked of dead frogs.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that he had some breathing room, he got stubborn again and wouldn't listen to Moses and Aaron. Just as GOD had said.
Ex 7:14-25
GOD said to Moses: "Pharaoh is a stubborn man. He refuses to release the people. 15 First thing in the morning, go and meet Pharaoh as he goes down to the river. At the shore of the Nile take the staff that turned into a snake 16 and say to him, 'GOD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you with this message, "Release my people so that they can worship me in the wilderness." So far you haven't listened. 17 This is how you'll know that I am GOD. I am going to take this staff that I'm holding and strike this Nile River water: The water will turn to blood; 18 the fish in the Nile will die; the Nile will stink; and the Egyptians won't be able to drink the Nile water.'"
19 GOD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your staff and wave it over the waters of Egypt — over its rivers, its canals, its ponds, all its bodies of water — so that they turn to blood.' There'll be blood everywhere in Egypt — even in the pots and pans."
20 Moses and Aaron did exactly as GOD commanded them. Aaron raised his staff and hit the water in the Nile with Pharaoh and his servants watching. All the water in the Nile turned into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died; the Nile stank; and the Egyptians couldn't drink the Nile water. The blood was everywhere in Egypt.
22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their incantations. Still Pharaoh remained stubborn. He wouldn't listen to them as GOD had said. 23 He turned on his heel and went home, never giving it a second thought. 24 But all the Egyptians had to dig inland from the river for water because they couldn't drink the Nile water. 25 Seven days went by after GOD had struck the Nile.
Ex 7:8-13
8 Then GOD spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, 9 "When Pharaoh speaks to you and says, 'Prove yourselves. Perform a miracle,' then tell Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh: It will turn into a snake.'"
10 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did what GOD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his servants, and it turned into a snake.
11 Pharaoh called in his wise men and sorcerers. The magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their incantations: 12 each man threw down his staff and they all turned into snakes. But then Aaron's staff swallowed their staffs.
13 Yet Pharaoh was as stubborn as ever — he wouldn't listen to them, just as GOD had said.
Ex 3:1-4:23
3:1 Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. 2 The angel of GOD appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn't burn up.
3 Moses said, "What's going on here? I can't believe this! Amazing! Why doesn't the bush burn up?"
4 GOD saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
He said, "Yes? I'm right here!"
5 God said, "Don't come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You're standing on holy ground."
6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob."
Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.
7 GOD said, "I've taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I've heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. 8 And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
9 "The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I've seen for myself how cruelly they're being treated by the Egyptians. 10 It's time for you to go back: I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt."
11 Moses answered God, "But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
12 "I'll be with you," God said. "And this will be the proof that I am the one who sent you: When you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will worship God right here at this very mountain."
13 Then Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, 'The God of your fathers sent me to you'; and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What do I tell them?"
14 God said to Moses, "I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, 'I-AM sent me to you.'"
15 God continued with Moses: "This is what you're to say to the Israelites: 'GOD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me to you.' This has always been my name, and this is how I always will be known.
16 "Now be on your way. Gather the leaders of Israel. Tell them, 'GOD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to me, saying, "I've looked into what's being done to you in Egypt, 17 and I've determined to get you out of the affliction of Egypt and take you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, a land brimming over with milk and honey."'
18 "Believe me, they will listen to you. Then you and the leaders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and say to him: 'GOD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness where we will worship GOD — our God.'
19 "I know that the king of Egypt won't let you go unless forced to, 20 so I'll intervene and hit Egypt where it hurts — oh, my miracles will send them reeling! — after which they'll be glad to send you off. 21 I'll see to it that this people get a hearty send-off by the Egyptians — when you leave, you won't leave empty-handed! 22 Each woman will ask her neighbor and any guests in her house for objects of silver and gold, for jewelry and extra clothes; you'll put them on your sons and daughters. Oh, you'll clean the Egyptians out!"
Exodus 4
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 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. 5 "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 "So if they don't trust you and aren't convinced by the first sign, the second sign should do it. 9 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 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? 12 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 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. 15 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. 16 He will speak to the people for you. He'll act as your mouth, but you'll decide what comes out of it. 17 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 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. 22 Then you are to tell Pharaoh, 'GOD's Message: Israel is my son, my firstborn! 23 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.'"
Ex 2:23-25
23 Many years later the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery and cried out. Their cries for relief from their hard labor ascended to God:
24 God listened to their groanings.
God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25 God saw what was going on with Israel.
God understood.
Gen 46:1-4
46:1 So Israel set out on the journey with everything he owned. He arrived at Beersheba and worshiped, offering sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2 God spoke to Israel in a vision that night: "Jacob! Jacob!"
"Yes?" he said. "I'm listening."
3 God said, "I am the God of your father. Don't be afraid of going down to Egypt. I'm going to make you a great nation there. 4 I'll go with you down to Egypt; I'll also bring you back here. And when you die, Joseph will be with you; with his own hand he'll close your eyes."
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Gen 41:18-21
18 Seven cows, shimmering with health, came up out of the river and grazed on the marsh grass. 19 On their heels seven more cows, all skin and bones, came up. I've never seen uglier cows anywhere in Egypt. 20 Then the seven skinny, ugly cows ate up the first seven healthy cows. 21 But you couldn't tell by looking — after eating them up they were just as skinny and ugly as before
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Friday, September 26, 2014
Gen 32:9-12
Jacob prayed, "God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, GOD who told me, 'Go back to your parents' homeland and I'll treat you well.' 10 I don't deserve all the love and loyalty you've shown me. When I left here and crossed the Jordan I only had the clothes on my back, and now look at me — two camps! 11 Save me, please, from the violence of my brother, my angry brother! I'm afraid he'll come and attack us all, me, the mothers and the children. 12 You yourself said, 'I will treat you well; I'll make your descendants like the sands of the sea, far too many to count.'"
Gen 26:1-6
26:1 There was a famine in the land, as bad as the famine during the time of Abraham. And Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar.
2 GOD appeared to him and said, "Don't go down to Egypt; stay where I tell you. 3 Stay here in this land and I'll be with you and bless you. I'm giving you and your children all these lands, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I'll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky and give them all these lands. All the nations of the Earth will get a blessing for themselves through your descendants. 5 And why? Because Abraham obeyed my summons and kept my charge — my commands, my guidelines, my teachings."
6 So Isaac stayed put in Gerar.
Gen 25:22-24
She went to GOD to find out what was going on. 23 GOD told her,
Two nations are in your womb,
two peoples butting heads while still in your body.
One people will overpower the other,
and the older will serve the younger.
24 When her time to give birth came, sure enough, there were twins in her womb.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Gen 21:1-22:19
21:1 GOD visited Sarah exactly as he said he would; GOD did to Sarah what he promised: 2 Sarah became pregnant and gave Abraham a son in his old age, and at the very time God had set. 3 Abraham named him Isaac. 4 When his son was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded.
5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
6 Sarah said,
God has blessed me with laughter and all who get the news will laugh with me!
7 She also said,
Whoever would have suggested to Abraham that Sarah would one day nurse a baby!Yet here I am! I've given the old man a son!
8 The baby grew and was weaned. Abraham threw a big party on the day Isaac was weaned.
9 One day Sarah saw the son that Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, poking fun at her son Isaac. 10 She told Abraham, "Get rid of this slave woman and her son. No child of this slave is going to share inheritance with my son Isaac!"
11 The matter gave great pain to Abraham — after all, Ishmael was his son. 12 But God spoke to Abraham, "Don't feel badly about the boy and your maid. Do whatever Sarah tells you. Your descendants will come through Isaac. 13 Regarding your maid's son, be assured that I'll also develop a great nation from him — he's your son too."
14 Abraham got up early the next morning, got some food together and a canteen of water for Hagar, put them on her back and sent her away with the child. She wandered off into the desert of Beersheba. 15 When the water was gone, she left the child under a shrub 16 and went off, fifty yards or so. She said, "I can't watch my son die." As she sat, she broke into sobs.
17 Meanwhile, God heard the boy crying. The angel of God called from Heaven to Hagar, "What's wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy and knows the fix he's in. 18 Up now; go get the boy. Hold him tight. I'm going to make of him a great nation."
19 Just then God opened her eyes. She looked. She saw a well of water. She went to it and filled her canteen and gave the boy a long, cool drink.
20 God was on the boy's side as he grew up. He lived out in the desert and became a skilled archer. 21 He lived in the Paran wilderness. And his mother got him a wife from Egypt.
22 At about that same time, Abimelech and the captain of his troops, Phicol, spoke to Abraham: "No matter what you do, God is on your side. 23 So swear to me that you won't do anything underhanded to me or any of my family. For as long as you live here, swear that you'll treat me and my land as well as I've treated you."
24 Abraham said, "I swear it."
25 At the same time, Abraham confronted Abimelech over the matter of a well of water that Abimelech's servants had taken. 26 Abimelech said, "I have no idea who did this; you never told me about it; this is the first I've heard of it."
27 So the two of them made a covenant. Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. 28 Abraham set aside seven sheep from his flock.
29 Abimelech said, "What does this mean? These seven sheep you've set aside."
30 Abraham said, "It means that when you accept these seven sheep, you take it as proof that I dug this well, that it's my well."
31 That's how the place got named Beersheba (the Oath-Well), because the two of them swore a covenant oath there. 32 After they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and his commander, Phicol, left and went back to Philistine territory.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and worshiped GOD there, praying to the Eternal God. 34 Abraham lived in Philistine country for a long time.
Genesis 22
22:1 After all this, God tested Abraham. God said, "Abraham!"
"Yes?" answered Abraham. "I'm listening."
2 He said, "Take your dear son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I'll point out to you."
3 Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants and his son Isaac. He had split wood for the burnt offering. He set out for the place God had directed him. 4 On the third day he looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 Abraham told his two young servants, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there to worship; then we'll come back to you."
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and gave it to Isaac his son to carry. He carried the flint and the knife. The two of them went off together.
7 Isaac said to Abraham his father, "Father?"
"Yes, my son."
"We have flint and wood, but where's the sheep for the burnt offering?"
8 Abraham said, "Son, God will see to it that there's a sheep for the burnt offering." And they kept on walking together.
9 They arrived at the place to which God had directed him. Abraham built an altar. He laid out the wood. Then he tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood. 10 Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son.
11 Just then an angel of GOD called to him out of Heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Yes, I'm listening."
12 "Don't lay a hand on that boy! Don't touch him! Now I know how fearlessly you fear God; you didn't hesitate to place your son, your dear son, on the altar for me."
13 Abraham looked up. He saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 Abraham named that place GOD-Yireh (GOD-Sees-to-It). That's where we get the saying, "On the mountain of GOD, he sees to it."
15 The angel of GOD spoke from Heaven a second time to Abraham: 16 "I swear — GOD's sure word! — because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, 17 I'll bless you — oh, how I'll bless you! And I'll make sure that your children flourish — like stars in the sky! like sand on the beaches! And your descendants will defeat their enemies. 18 All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me."
19 Then Abraham went back to his young servants. They got things together and returned to Beersheba. Abraham settled down in Beersheba.
Gen 19:31-38
31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is getting old and there's not a man left in the country by whom we can get pregnant. 32 Let's get our father drunk with wine and lie with him. We'll get children through our father — it's our only chance to keep our family alive."
33 They got their father drunk with wine that very night. The older daughter went and lay with him. He was oblivious, knowing nothing of what she did. 34 The next morning the older said to the younger, "Last night I slept with my father. Tonight, it's your turn. We'll get him drunk again and then you sleep with him. We'll both get a child through our father and keep our family alive." 35 So that night they got their father drunk again and the younger went in and slept with him. Again he was oblivious, knowing nothing of what she did.
36 Both daughters became pregnant by their father, Lot. 37 The older daughter had a son and named him Moab, the ancestor of the present-day Moabites. 38 The younger daughter had a son and named him Ben-Ammi, the ancestor of the present-day Ammonites.
YES they both had children during their lives on Earth BUT will they live well eternally?
Gen 19:1-26
19:1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting at the city gate. He saw them and got up to welcome them, bowing before them 2 and said, "Please, my friends, come to my house and stay the night. Wash up. You can rise early and be on your way refreshed."
They said, "No, we'll sleep in the street."
3 But he insisted, wouldn't take no for an answer; and they relented and went home with him. Lot fixed a hot meal for them and they ate.
4 Before they went to bed men from all over the city of Sodom, young and old, descended on the house from all sides and boxed them in. 5 They yelled to Lot, "Where are the men who are staying with you for the night? Bring them out so we can have our sport with them!"
6 Lot went out, barring the door behind him, 7 and said, "Brothers, please, don't be vile! 8 Look, I have two daughters, virgins; let me bring them out; you can take your pleasure with them, but don't touch these men — they're my guests."
9 They said, "Get lost! You drop in from nowhere and now you're going to tell us how to run our lives. We'll treat you worse than them!" And they charged past Lot to break down the door.
10 But the two men reached out and pulled Lot inside the house, locking the door. 11 Then they struck blind the men who were trying to break down the door, both leaders and followers, leaving them groping in the dark.
12 The two men said to Lot, "Do you have any other family here? Sons, daughters — anybody in the city? Get them out of here, and now! 13 We're going to destroy this place. The outcries of victims here to GOD are deafening; we've been sent to blast this place into oblivion."
14 Lot went out and warned the fiancés of his daughters, "Evacuate this place; GOD is about to destroy this city!" But his daughters' would-be husbands treated it as a joke.
15 At break of day, the angels pushed Lot to get going, "Hurry. Get your wife and two daughters out of here before it's too late and you're caught in the punishment of the city."
16 Lot was dragging his feet. The men grabbed Lot's arm, and the arms of his wife and daughters — GOD was so merciful to them! — and dragged them to safety outside the city. 17 When they had them outside, Lot was told, "Now run for your life! Don't look back! Don't stop anywhere on the plain — run for the hills or you'll be swept away."
18 But Lot protested, "No, masters, you can't mean it! 19 I know that you've taken a liking to me and have done me an immense favor in saving my life, but I can't run for the mountains — who knows what terrible thing might happen to me in the mountains and leave me for dead. 20 Look over there — that town is close enough to get to. It's a small town, hardly anything to it. Let me escape there and save my life — it's a mere wide place in the road."
21 He said to him, "All right. If you insist. I'll let you have your way. And I won't stamp out the town you've spotted. 22 But hurry up. Run for it! I can't do anything until you get there." That's why the town was called Zoar, that is, Smalltown.
23 The sun was high in the sky when Lot arrived at Zoar.
24 Then GOD rained brimstone and fire down on Sodom and Gomorrah — a river of lava from GOD out of the sky! — 25 and destroyed these cities and the entire plain and everyone who lived in the cities and everything that grew from the ground.
26 But Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.
see what disobeying God will do?
Gen 12-18:33
GOD told Abram: "Leave your country, your family, and your father's home for a land that I will show you.
2 I'll make you a great nation and bless you. I'll make you famous; you'll be a blessing. 3 I'll bless those who bless you;those who curse you I'll curse.All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you."
4 So Abram left just as GOD said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.
6 Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.
7 GOD appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your children." Abram built an altar at the place GOD had appeared to him.
8 He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there and prayed to GOD.
9 Abram kept moving, steadily making his way south, to the Negev.
10 Then a famine came to the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live; it was a hard famine. 11 As he drew near to Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, "Look. We both know that you're a beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see you they're going to say, 'Aha! That's his wife!' and kill me. But they'll let you live. 13 Do me a favor: tell them you're my sister. Because of you, they'll welcome me and let me live."
14 When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians took one look and saw that his wife was stunningly beautiful. 15 Pharaoh's princes raved over her to Pharaoh. She was taken to live with Pharaoh.
16 Because of her, Abram got along very well: he accumulated sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, men and women servants, and camels. 17 But GOD hit Pharaoh hard because of Abram's wife Sarai; everybody in the palace got seriously sick.
18 Pharaoh called for Abram, "What's this that you've done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she's your wife? 19 Why did you say, 'She's my sister' so that I'd take her as my wife? Here's your wife back — take her and get out!"
20 Pharaoh ordered his men to get Abram out of the country. They sent him and his wife and everything he owned on their way.
Genesis 13
13:1 So Abram left Egypt and went back to the Negev, he and his wife and everything he owned, and Lot still with him. 2 By now Abram was very rich, loaded with cattle and silver and gold.
3 He moved on from the Negev, camping along the way, to Bethel, the place he had first set up his tent between Bethel and Ai 4 and built his first altar. Abram prayed there to GOD.
5 Lot, who was traveling with Abram, was also rich in sheep and cattle and tents. 6 But the land couldn't support both of them; they had too many possessions. They couldn't both live there — 7 quarrels broke out between Abram's shepherds and Lot's shepherds. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living on the land at the time.
8 Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have fighting between us, between your shepherds and my shepherds. After all, we're family. 9 Look around. Isn't there plenty of land out there? Let's separate. If you go left, I'll go right; if you go right, I'll go left."
10 Lot looked. He saw the whole plain of the Jordan spread out, well watered (this was before GOD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah), like GOD's garden, like Egypt, and stretching all the way to Zoar. 11 Lot took the whole plain of the Jordan. Lot set out to the east.
That's how they came to part company, uncle and nephew. 12 Abram settled in Canaan; Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent near Sodom.
13 The people of Sodom were evil — flagrant sinners against GOD.
14 After Lot separated from him, GOD said to Abram, "Open your eyes, look around. Look north, south, east, and west. 15 Everything you see, the whole land spread out before you, I will give to you and your children forever. 16 I'll make your descendants like dust — counting your descendants will be as impossible as counting the dust of the Earth. 17 So — on your feet, get moving! Walk through the country, its length and breadth; I'm giving it all to you."
18 Abram moved his tent. He went and settled by the Oaks of Mamre in Hebron. There he built an altar to GOD.
Genesis 14
14:1 Then this: Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim 2 went off to war to fight Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar.
3 This second group of kings, the attacked, came together at the Valley of Siddim, that is, the Salt Sea. 4 They had been under the thumb of Kedorlaomer for twelve years. In the thirteenth year, they revolted.
5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him set out and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El Paran on the far edge of the desert. 7 On their way back they stopped at En Mishpat, that is, Kadesh, and conquered the whole region of the Amalekites as well as that of the Amorites who lived in Hazazon Tamar.
8 That's when the king of Sodom marched out with the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar. They drew up in battle formation against their enemies in the Valley of Siddim — 9 against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five.
10 The Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into the tar pits, but the rest escaped into the mountains. 11 The four kings captured all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, all their food and equipment, and went on their way. 12 They captured Lot, Abram's nephew who was living in Sodom at the time, taking everything he owned with them.
13 A fugitive came and reported to Abram the Hebrew. Abram was living at the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and Aner. They were allies of Abram. 14 When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken prisoner, he lined up his servants, all of them born in his household — there were 318 of them — and chased after the captors all the way to Dan. 15 Abram and his men split into small groups and attacked by night. They chased them as far as Hobah, just north of Damascus. 16 They recovered all the plunder along with nephew Lot and his possessions, including the women and the people.
17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and his allied kings, the king of Sodom came out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh, the King's Valley. 18 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine — he was priest of The High God — 19 and blessed him:
Blessed be Abram by The High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth. 20 And blessed be The High God,who handed your enemies over to you.
Abram gave him a tenth of all the recovered plunder.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me back the people but keep all the plunder for yourself."
22 But Abram told the king of Sodom, "I swear to GOD, The High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, this solemn oath, 23 that I'll take nothing from you, not so much as a thread or a shoestring. I'm not going to have you go around saying, 'I made Abram rich.' 24 Nothing for me other than what the young men ate and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; they're to get their share of the plunder."
Genesis 15
15:1 After all these things, this word of GOD came to Abram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield. Your reward will be grand!"
2 Abram said, "GOD, Master, what use are your gifts as long as I'm childless and Eliezer of Damascus is going to inherit everything?" 3 Abram continued, "See, you've given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all."
4 Then GOD's Message came: "Don't worry, he won't be your heir; a son from your body will be your heir."
5 Then he took him outside and said, "Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You're going to have a big family, Abram!"
6 And he believed! Believed GOD! God declared him "Set-Right-with-God."
7 GOD continued, "I'm the same GOD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldees and gave you this land to own."
8 Abram said, "Master GOD, how am I to know this, that it will all be mine?"
9 GOD said, "Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon."
10 He brought all these animals to him, split them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. But he didn't split the birds. 11 Vultures swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram scared them off. 12 As the sun went down a deep sleep overcame Abram and then a sense of dread, dark and heavy.
13 GOD said to Abram, "Know this: your descendants will live as outsiders in a land not theirs; they'll be enslaved and beaten down for 400 years. 14 Then I'll punish their slave masters; your offspring will march out of there loaded with plunder. 15 But not you; you'll have a long and full life and die a good and peaceful death. 16 Not until the fourth generation will your descendants return here; sin is still a thriving business among the Amorites."
17 When the sun was down and it was dark, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch moved between the split carcasses. 18 That's when GOD made a covenant with Abram: "I'm giving this land to your children, from the Nile River in Egypt to the River Euphrates in Assyria — 19 the country of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."
16:1 Sarai, Abram's wife, hadn't yet produced a child.
She had an Egyptian maid named Hagar. 2 Sarai said to Abram, "GOD has not seen fit to let me have a child. Sleep with my maid. Maybe I can get a family from her." Abram agreed to do what Sarai said.
3 So Sarai, Abram's wife, took her Egyptian maid Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. Abram had been living ten years in Canaan when this took place. 4 He slept with Hagar and she got pregnant. When she learned she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress.
5 Sarai told Abram, "It's all your fault that I'm suffering this abuse. I put my maid in bed with you and the minute she knows she's pregnant, she treats me like I'm nothing. May GOD decide which of us is right."
6 "You decide," said Abram. "Your maid is your business."
Sarai was abusive to Hagar and she ran away.
7 An angel of GOD found her beside a spring in the desert; it was the spring on the road to Shur. 8 He said, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, what are you doing here?"
She said, "I'm running away from Sarai my mistress."
9 The angel of GOD said, "Go back to your mistress. Put up with her abuse." 10 He continued, "I'm going to give you a big family, children past counting.
11 From this pregnancy, you'll get a son: Name him Ishmael; for GOD heard you, GOD answered you. 12 He'll be a bucking bronco of a man, a real fighter, fighting and being fought, Always stirring up trouble, always at odds with his family."
13 She answered GOD by name, praying to the God who spoke to her,
"You're the God who sees me!"
"Yes! He saw me; and then I saw him!"
14 That's how that desert spring got named "God-Alive-Sees-Me Spring." That spring is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 Hagar gave Abram a son. Abram named him Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave him his son, Ishmael.
Genesis 17
17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, GOD showed up and said to him, "I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt! 2 I'll make a covenant between us and I'll give you a huge family."
3 Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face.
Then God said to him, 4 "This is my covenant with you: You'll be the father of many nations. 5 Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that 'I'm making you the father of many nations.' 6 I'll make you a father of fathers — I'll make nations from you, kings will issue from you. 7 I'm establishing my covenant between me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits me to be your God and the God of your descendants. 8 And I'm giving you and your descendants this land where you're now just camping, this whole country of Canaan, to own forever. And I'll be their God."
9 God continued to Abraham, "And you: You will honor my covenant, you and your descendants, generation after generation. 10 This is the covenant that you are to honor, the covenant that pulls in all your descendants: Circumcise every male. 11 Circumcise by cutting off the foreskin of the penis; it will be the sign of the covenant between us. 12 Every male baby will be circumcised when he is eight days old, generation after generation — this includes house-born slaves and slaves bought from outsiders who are not blood kin. 13 Make sure you circumcise both your own children and anyone brought in from the outside. That way my covenant will be cut into your body, a permanent mark of my permanent covenant. 14 An uncircumcised male, one who has not had the foreskin of his penis cut off, will be cut off from his people — he has broken my covenant."
15 God continued speaking to Abraham, "And Sarai your wife: Don't call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. 16 I'll bless her — yes! I'll give you a son by her! Oh, how I'll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her."
17 Abraham fell flat on his face. And then he laughed, thinking, "Can a hundred-year-old man father a son? And can Sarah, at ninety years, have a baby?"
18 Recovering, Abraham said to God, "Oh, keep Ishmael alive and well before you!"
19 But God said, "That's not what I mean. Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son. Name him Isaac (Laughter). I'll establish my covenant with him and his descendants, a covenant that lasts forever.
20 "And Ishmael? Yes, I heard your prayer for him. I'll also bless him; I'll make sure he has plenty of children — a huge family. He'll father twelve princes; I'll make him a great nation. 21 But I'll establish my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah will give you about this time next year."
22 God finished speaking with Abraham and left.
23 Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his servants, whether houseborn or purchased — every male in his household — and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins that very day, just as God had told him.
24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised. 25 His son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised. 26 Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised the same day 27 together with all the servants of his household, those born there and those purchased from outsiders — all were circumcised with him.
Genesis 18
18:1 GOD appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. It was the hottest part of the day. 2 He looked up and saw three men standing. He ran from his tent to greet them and bowed before them.
3 He said, "Master, if it please you, stop for a while with your servant. 4 I'll get some water so you can wash your feet. Rest under this tree. 5 I'll get some food to refresh you on your way, since your travels have brought you across my path."
They said, "Certainly. Go ahead."
6 Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. He said, "Hurry. Get three cups of our best flour; knead it and make bread."
7 Then Abraham ran to the cattle pen and picked out a nice plump calf and gave it to the servant who lost no time getting it ready. 8 Then he got curds and milk, brought them with the calf that had been roasted, set the meal before the men, and stood there under the tree while they ate.
9 The men said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?"
He said, "In the tent."
10 One of them said, "I'm coming back about this time next year. When I arrive, your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was listening at the tent opening, just behind the man.
11 Abraham and Sarah were old by this time, very old. Sarah was far past the age for having babies. 12 Sarah laughed within herself, "An old woman like me? Get pregnant? With this old man of a husband?"
13 GOD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh saying, 'Me? Have a baby? An old woman like me?' 14 Is anything too hard for GOD? I'll be back about this time next year and Sarah will have a baby."
15 Sarah lied. She said, "I didn't laugh," because she was afraid.
But he said, "Yes you did; you laughed."
16 When the men got up to leave, they set off for Sodom. Abraham walked with them to say good-bye.
17 Then GOD said, "Shall I keep back from Abraham what I'm about to do? 18 Abraham is going to become a large and strong nation; all the nations of the world are going to find themselves blessed through him. 19 Yes, I've settled on him as the one to train his children and future family to observe GOD's way of life, live kindly and generously and fairly, so that GOD can complete in Abraham what he promised him."
20 GOD continued, "The cries of the victims in Sodom and Gomorrah are deafening; the sin of those cities is immense. 21 I'm going down to see for myself, see if what they're doing is as bad as it sounds. Then I'll know."
22 The men set out for Sodom, but Abraham stood in GOD's path, blocking his way.
23 Abraham confronted him, "Are you serious? Are you planning on getting rid of the good people right along with the bad? 24 What if there are fifty decent people left in the city; will you lump the good with the bad and get rid of the lot? 25 Wouldn't you spare the city for the sake of those fifty innocents? I can't believe you'd do that, kill off the good and the bad alike as if there were no difference between them. Doesn't the Judge of all the Earth judge with justice?"
26 GOD said, "If I find fifty decent people in the city of Sodom, I'll spare the place just for them."
27 Abraham came back, "Do I, a mere mortal made from a handful of dirt, dare open my mouth again to my Master? 28 What if the fifty fall short by five — would you destroy the city because of those missing five?"
He said, "I won't destroy it if there are forty-five."
29 Abraham spoke up again, "What if you only find forty?"
"Neither will I destroy it if for forty."
30 He said, "Master, don't be irritated with me, but what if only thirty are found?"
"No, I won't do it if I find thirty."
31 He pushed on, "I know I'm trying your patience, Master, but how about for twenty?"
"I won't destroy it for twenty."
32 He wouldn't quit, "Don't get angry, Master — this is the last time. What if you only come up with ten?"
"For the sake of only ten, I won't destroy the city."
33 When GOD finished talking with Abraham, he left. And Abraham went home.
Gen 11:1-9
At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language. 2 It so happened that as they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down.
3 They said to one another, "Come, let's make bricks and fire them well." They used brick for stone and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let's make ourselves famous so we won't be scattered here and there across the Earth."
5 GOD came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.
6 GOD took one look and said, "One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they'll come up with next — they'll stop at nothing! 7 Come, we'll go down and garble their speech so they won't understand each other." 8 Then GOD scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to quit building the city. 9 That's how it came to be called Babel, because there GOD turned their language into "babble." From there GOD scattered them all over the world.
Gen 6-9
GOD saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil — evil, evil, evil from morning to night. 6 GOD was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. 7 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 This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. 12 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 "Build yourself a ship from teakwood. Make rooms in it. Coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. 16 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 "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. 19 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: 20 two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile — two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. 21 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
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 "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; 3 and seven pairs of every kind of bird, a male and a female, to insure their survival on Earth. 4 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 Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters covered the Earth. 7 Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood. 8 Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures 9 came in pairs to Noah and to the ship, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. 10 In seven days the floodwaters came.
11 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. 12 Rain poured for forty days and forty nights.
13 That's the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons' wives, boarded the ship. 14 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. 15 They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs — everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, 16 male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then GOD shut the door behind him.
17 The flood continued forty days and the waters rose and lifted the ship high over the Earth. 18 The waters kept rising, the flood deepened on the Earth, the ship floated on the surface. 19 The flood got worse until all the highest mountains were covered 20 — the high water mark reached twenty feet above the crest of the mountains. 21 Everything died. Anything that moved — dead. Birds, farm animals, wild animals, the entire teeming exuberance of life — dead. And all people — dead. 22 Every living, breathing creature that lived on dry land died; 23 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.
Genesis 8
8:1 Then God turned his attention to Noah and all the wild animals and farm animals with him on the ship. God caused the wind to blow and the floodwaters began to go down. 2 The underground springs were shut off, the windows of Heaven closed and the rain quit. 3 Inch by inch the water lowered. After 150 days the worst was over.
4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ship landed on the Ararat mountain range. 5 The water kept going down until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains came into view. 6 After forty days Noah opened the window that he had built into the ship.
7 He sent out a raven; it flew back and forth waiting for the floodwaters to dry up. 8 Then he sent a dove to check on the flood conditions, 9 but it couldn't even find a place to perch — water still covered the Earth. Noah reached out and caught it, brought it back into the ship.
10 He waited seven more days and sent out the dove again. 11 It came back in the evening with a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew that the flood was about finished.
12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out a third time. This time it didn't come back.
13 In the six-hundred-first year of Noah's life, on the first day of the first month, the flood had dried up. Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the Earth was completely dry.
15 God spoke to Noah: 16 "Leave the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives. 17 And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie of birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that brimming prodigality of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the Earth."
18 Noah disembarked with his sons and wife and his sons' wives. 19 Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds — every creature on the face of the Earth — left the ship family by family.
20 Noah built an altar to GOD. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt-offerings on the altar. 21 GOD smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, "I'll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I'll never again kill off everything living as I've just done.
22 For as long as Earth lasts, planting and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, day and night will never stop."
Genesis 9
9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! 2 Every living creature — birds, animals, fish — will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You're responsible for them. 3 All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else. 4 Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it — don't eat that.
5 "But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.
6 Whoever sheds human blood, by humans let his blood be shed,Because God made humans in his image reflecting God's very nature. 7 You're here to bear fruit, reproduce, lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!"
8 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons: 9 "I'm setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you, 10 along with everything alive around you — birds, farm animals, wild animals — that came out of the ship with you. 11 I'm setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth."
12 God continued, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. 13 I'm putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. 14 From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, 15 I'll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. 16 When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I'll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth."
17 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I've set up between me and everything living on the Earth."
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These are the three sons of Noah; from these three the whole Earth was populated.
20 Noah, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. 21 He drank from its wine, got drunk and passed out, naked in his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his two brothers who were outside the tent. 23 Shem and Japheth took a cloak, held it between them from their shoulders, walked backwards and covered their father's nakedness, keeping their faces turned away so they did not see their father's exposed body.
24 When Noah woke up with his hangover, he learned what his youngest son had done. 25 He said,
Cursed be Canaan! A slave of slaves,a slave to his brothers! 26 Blessed be GOD, the God of Shem,but Canaan shall be his slave. 27 God prosper Japheth,living spaciously in the tents of Shem. But Canaan shall be his slave.
28 Noah lived another 350 years following the flood. 29 He lived a total of 950 years. And he died.
Gen 3:1-24
3:1 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal GOD had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?"
2 The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. 3 It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'"
4 The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. 5 God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil."
6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it — she'd know everything! — she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.
7 Immediately the two of them did "see what's really going on" — saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.
8 When they heard the sound of GOD strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from GOD.
9 GOD called to the Man: "Where are you?"
10 He said, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid."
11 GOD said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?"
12 The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it."
13 GOD said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?"
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
14 GOD told the serpent:
"Because you've done this, you're cursed,cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals,Cursed to slink on your belly and eat dirt all your life. 15 I'm declaring war between you and the Woman,between your offspring and hers.He'll wound your head,you'll wound his heel."
16 He told the Woman:
"I'll multiply your pains in childbirth;you'll give birth to your babies in pain.You'll want to please your husband,but he'll lord it over you."
17 He told the Man:
"Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from,'Don't eat from this tree,'The very ground is cursed because of you;getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife;you'll be working in pain all your life long. 18 The ground will sprout thorns and weeds,you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, 19 sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk,Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried;you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."
20 The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.
21 GOD made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.
22 GOD said, "The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never — this cannot happen!"
23 So GOD expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they'd been made. 24 He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life.
disobeying God’s commands is not good!
Gen 1:26-31
26 God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them
reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
and every animal that moves on the face of Earth."
27 God created human beings;
he created them godlike,
Reflecting God's nature.
He created them male and female.
28 God blessed them:
"Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."
29 Then God said, "I've given you
every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
given them to you for food.
30 To all animals and all birds,
everything that moves and breathes,
I give whatever grows out of the ground for food."
And there it was.
31 God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, so very good!
It was evening, it was morning —
Day Six.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
1 John 2:3-6
Here's how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments.
4 If someone claims, "I know him well!" but doesn't keep his commandments, he's obviously a liar. His life doesn't match his words. 5 But the one who keeps God's word is the person in whom we see God's mature love. This is the only way to be sure we're in God. 6 Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.
James 2:23-25
The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." 24 Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?
25 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape — that seamless unity of believing and doing — what counted with God?
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Heb 11
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. 2 The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see.
4 By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That's what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.
5 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. "They looked all over and couldn't find him because God had taken him." We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken "he pleased God." 6 It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
7 By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn't see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.
8 By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. 9 By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. 10 Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations — the City designed and built by God.
11 By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. 12 That's how it happened that from one man's dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.
13 Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. 14 People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. 15 If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. 16 But they were after a far better country than that — heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.
17 By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him — 18 and this after he had already been told, "Your descendants shall come from Isaac." 19 Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that's what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar.
20 By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.
21 By an act of faith, Jacob on his deathbed blessed each of Joseph's sons in turn, blessing them with God's blessing, not his own — as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.
22 By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.
23 By an act of faith, Moses' parents hid him away for three months after his birth. They saw the child's beauty, and they braved the king's decree.
24 By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. 25 He chose a hard life with God's people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors. 26 He valued suffering in the Messiah's camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead, anticipating the payoff. 27 By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt, indifferent to the king's blind rage. He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going. 28 By an act of faith, he kept the Passover Feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn't touch them.
29 By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned.
30 By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat.
31 By an act of faith, Rahab, the Jericho harlot, welcomed the spies and escaped the destruction that came on those who refused to trust God.
32 I could go on and on, but I've run out of time. There are so many more — Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. . . . 33 Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions, 34 fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies. 35 Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. 36 Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. 37 We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless — 38 the world didn't deserve them! — making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.
39 Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. 40 God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.
Heb 8:8-13
God said,
Heads up! The days are coming
when I'll set up a new plan
for dealing with Israel and Judah.
9 I'll throw out the old plan
I set up with their ancestors
when I led them by the hand out of Egypt.
They didn't keep their part of the bargain,
so I looked away and let it go.
10 This new plan I'm making with Israel
isn't going to be written on paper,
isn't going to be chiseled in stone;
This time I'm writing out the plan in them,
carving it on the lining of their hearts.
I'll be their God,
they'll be my people.
11 They won't go to school to learn about me,
or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons.
They'll all get to know me firsthand,
the little and the big, the small and the great.
12 They'll get to know me by being kindly forgiven,
with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.
13 By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.
Heb 3:15-19
15 These words keep ringing in our ears:
Today, please listen;
don't turn a deaf ear as in the bitter uprising.
16 For who were the people who turned a deaf ear? Weren't they the very ones Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who was God provoked with for forty years? Wasn't it those who turned a deaf ear and ended up corpses in the wilderness? 18 And when he swore that they'd never get where they were going, wasn't he talking to the ones who turned a deaf ear? 19 They never got there because they never listened, never believed.
2 Tim 3:15-17
There's nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another — showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. 17 Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.
Col 1:15-17
We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. 16 For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels — everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. 17 He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Phil 2:5-11
5 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. 6 He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. 7 Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! 8 Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death — and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
9 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, 10 so that all created beings in heaven and on earth — even those long ago dead and buried — will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, 11 and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
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