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Old/New Testament

Each day includes a passage from both the Old Testament and New Testament.
Duration: 365 days
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Version
Psalm 94-96

94 The Lord is a God who punishes people.
    God, come punish them.
You are the judge of the whole earth.
    Give proud people the punishment they deserve.
Lord, how long will the wicked have their fun?
    How much longer?
How much longer will those criminals
    brag about the evil they did?
Lord, they hurt your people
    and make them suffer.
They kill widows and foreigners living in our country.
    They murder orphans.
And they say the Lord does not see them doing these evil things!
    They say the God of Jacob does not know what is happening.

You evil people are foolish.
    When will you learn your lesson?
You are so stupid!
    You must try to understand.
God made our ears,
    so surely he can hear what is happening!
He made our eyes,
    so surely he can see you!
10 The one who disciplines nations will surely correct you.
    He is the one who teaches us everything.
11 The Lord knows what people are thinking.
    He knows that their thoughts are like a puff of wind.

12 Lord, great blessings belong to those you discipline,
    to those you teach from your law.
13 You help them stay calm when trouble comes.
    You will help them until the wicked are put in their graves.
14 The Lord will not leave his people.
    He will not leave them without help.
15 Justice will return and bring fairness.
    And those who want to do right will be there to see it.

16 No one helped me fight against the wicked.
    No one stood with me against those who do evil.
17 And if the Lord had not helped me,
    I would have been silenced by death.
18 I know I was ready to fall,
    but, Lord, your faithful love supported me.
19 I was very worried and upset,
    but you comforted me and made me happy!

20 You don’t help crooked judges.
    They use the law to make life hard for the people.
21 They attack those who do right.
    They say innocent people are guilty and put them to death.
22 But the Lord is my place of safety, high on the mountain.
    God, my Rock, is my safe place!
23 He will punish those evil judges for the bad things they did.
    He will destroy them because they sinned.
    The Lord our God will destroy them.

95 Come, let us sing praise to the Lord!
    Let us shout praises to the Rock who saves us.
Come and worship him with songs of thanks.[a]
    Let us sing happy songs of praise to him.
For the Lord is a great God,
    the great King ruling over all the other “gods.”
The deepest caves and the highest mountains belong to him.
The ocean is his—he created it.
    He made the dry land with his own hands.
Come, let us bow down and worship him!
    Let us kneel before the Lord who made us.
He is our God,
    and we are the people he cares for,
    his sheep that walk by his side.

Listen to his voice today:
    “Don’t be stubborn, as you were at Meribah,
    as you were at Massah[b] in the desert.
Your ancestors doubted and tested me,
    even after they saw what I could do!
10 I was angry with them for 40 years.
    I said, ‘They are not faithful to me.
    They refuse to do what I say.’
11 So in my anger I made this vow:
    ‘They will never enter my land of rest.’”

96 Sing a new song[c] to the Lord!
    Let the whole world sing to the Lord!
Sing to the Lord and praise his name!
    Tell the good news every day about how he saves us!
Tell all the nations how wonderful he is!
    Tell people everywhere about the amazing things he does.
The Lord is great and worthy of praise.
    He is more awesome than any of the “gods.”
All the “gods” in other nations are nothing but statues,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
He lives in the presence of glory and honor.
    His Temple is a place of power and beauty.
Praise the Lord, all people of every nation;
    praise the Lord’s glory and power.
Give the Lord praise worthy of his glory!
    Come, bring your offerings into his courtyard.
    Worship the Lord in all his holy beauty.
Everyone on earth should tremble before him.
10     Tell the nations that the Lord is King!
The world stands firm and cannot be moved.
    He will judge all people fairly.
11 Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be happy!
    Let the sea and everything in it shout for joy!
12 Let the fields and everything in them be happy!
    Let the trees in the forest sing for joy
13 when they see the Lord coming!
    He is coming to rule[d] the world.
He will rule all the nations of the world
    with justice and fairness.

Romans 15:14-33

Paul Talks About His Work

14 My brothers and sisters, I know without a doubt that you are full of goodness and have all the knowledge you need. So you are certainly able to counsel each other. 15 But I have written to you very openly about some things that I wanted you to remember. I did this because God gave me this special gift: 16 to be a servant of Christ Jesus for those who are not Jews. I serve like a priest whose duty it is to tell God’s Good News. He gave me this work so that you non-Jewish people could be an offering that he will accept—an offering made holy by the Holy Spirit.

17 That is why I feel so good about what I have done for God in my service to Christ Jesus. 18 I will not talk about anything I did myself. I will talk only about what Christ has done with me in leading the non-Jewish people to obey God. They have obeyed him because of what I have said and done. 19 And they obeyed him because of the power of the miraculous signs and wonders that happened—all because of the power of God’s Spirit. I have told people the Good News about Christ in every place from Jerusalem to Illyricum. And so I have finished that part of my work. 20 I always want to tell the Good News in places where people have never heard of Christ. I do this because I don’t want to build on the work that someone else has already started. 21 But as the Scriptures say,

“Those who were not told about him will see,
    and those who have not heard about him will understand.” (A)

Paul’s Plan to Visit Rome

22 That’s what has kept me so busy and prevented my coming to see you even though I have wanted to come many times.

23 Now I have finished my work in these areas. And for many years I have wanted to visit you. 24 So I will visit you when I go to Spain. Yes, I hope to visit you while I am traveling to Spain, and I will stay and enjoy being with you. Then you can help me continue on my trip.

25 Now I am going to Jerusalem to help God’s people there. 26 Some of them are poor, and the believers in Macedonia and Achaia wanted to help them. So they gathered some money to send them. 27 They were happy to do this. And it was like paying something they owed them, because as non-Jews they have been blessed spiritually by the Jews. So now they should use the material blessings they have to help the Jews. 28 I am going to Jerusalem to make sure the poor get this money that has been given for them.

After I finish that, I will leave for Spain and stop to visit you on the way. 29 And I know that when I visit you, I will bring you Christ’s full blessing.

30 Brothers and sisters, I beg you to help me in my work by praying to God for me. Do this because of our Lord Jesus and the love that the Spirit gives us. 31 Pray that I will be saved from those in Judea who refuse to accept our message. And pray that this help I am bringing to Jerusalem will please God’s people there. 32 Then, if God wants me to, I will come to you. I will come with joy, and together you and I will have a time of rest. 33 The God who gives peace be with you all. Amen.

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International