Colossians 1:1-8

Common English Bible

Greeting

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother.

²To the holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and prayer for the Colossians

³We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. ⁴We’ve done this since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all God’s people. ⁵You have this faith and love because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You previously heard about this hope through the true message, the good news, ⁶which has come to you. This message has been bearing fruit and growing among you since the day you heard and truly understood God’s grace, in the same way that it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world. ⁷You learned it from Epaphras, who is the fellow slave we love and Christ’s faithful minister for your sake. ⁸He informed us of your love in the Spirit.

Read full chapter

Psalm 34:9-22

Common English Bible

⁹You who are the Lord’s holy ones, honor him,
because those who honor him don’t lack a thing.
¹⁰Even strong young lions go without and get hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

¹¹Come, children, listen to me.
    Let me teach you how to honor the Lord:
¹²Do you love life;
    do you relish the chance to enjoy good things?
¹³    Then you must keep your tongue from evil
        and keep your lips from speaking lies!
¹⁴Turn away from evil! Do good!
    Seek peace and go after it!

¹⁵The Lord’s eyes watch the righteous,
    his ears listen to their cries for help.
¹⁶But the Lord’s face is set against those who do evil,
    to eliminate even the memory of them from the earth.
¹⁷When the righteous cry out, the Lord listens;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
¹⁸The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
    he saves those whose spirits are crushed.

¹⁹The righteous have many problems,
    but the Lord delivers them from every one.
²⁰He protects all their bones;
    not even one will be broken.
²¹But just one problem will kill the wicked,
    and those who hate the righteous will be held responsible.
²²The Lord saves his servants’ lives;
    all those who take refuge in him
    won’t be held responsible for anything.

Read full chapter

Luke 4:38-44

Common English Bible

³⁸After leaving the synagogue, Jesus went home with Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, and the family asked Jesus to help her. ³⁹He bent over her and spoke harshly to the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and served them.

⁴⁰When the sun was setting, everyone brought to Jesus relatives and acquaintances with all kinds of diseases. Placing his hands on each of them, he healed them. ⁴¹Demons also came out of many people. They screamed, “You are God’s Son.” But he spoke harshly to them and wouldn’t allow them to speak because they recognized that he was the Christ. ⁴²When daybreak arrived, Jesus went to a deserted place. The crowds were looking for him. When they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving them. ⁴³But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of God’s kingdom in other cities too, for this is why I was sent.” ⁴⁴So he continued preaching in the Judean synagogues.

Read full chapter