Daily Bible GNT March 12 Scroll

The Death of John the Baptist
(Mark 6.14-29; Luke 9.7-9)

Matthew 14 At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus. ²"He is really John the Baptist, who has come back to life," he told his officials. "That is why he has this power to perform miracles."

³For Herod had earlier ordered John's arrest, and he had him tied up and put in prison. He had done this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. ⁴For some time John the Baptist had told Herod, "It isn't right for you to be married to Herodias!" ⁵Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of the Jewish people, because they considered John to be a prophet.

⁶On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced in front of the whole group. Herod was so pleased ⁷that he promised her, "I swear that I will give you anything you ask for!"

⁸At her mother's suggestion she asked him, "Give me here and now the head of John the Baptist on a plate!"

⁹The king was sad, but because of the promise he had made in front of all his guests he gave orders that her wish be granted. ¹⁰So he had John beheaded in prison. ¹¹The head was brought in on a plate and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. ¹²John's disciples came, carried away his body, and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
(Mark 6.30-44; Luke 9.10-17; John 6.1-14)

¹³When Jesus heard the news about John, he left there in a boat and went to a lonely place by himself. The people heard about it, and so they left their towns and followed him by land. ¹⁴Jesus got out of the boat, and when he saw the large crowd, his heart was filled with pity for them, and he healed their sick.

¹⁵That evening his disciples came to him and said, "It is already very late, and this is a lonely place. Send the people away and let them go to the villages to buy food for themselves."

¹⁶"They don't have to leave," answered Jesus. "You yourselves give them something to eat!"

¹⁷"All we have here are five loaves and two fish," they replied.

¹⁸"Then bring them here to me," Jesus said. ¹⁹He ordered the people to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰Everyone ate and had enough. Then the disciples took up twelve baskets full of what was left over. ²¹The number of men who ate was about five thousand, not counting the women and children.

Penalties for Disobedience

Leviticus 20 The LORD told Moses ²to say to the people of Israel, "Any of you or any foreigner living among you who gives any children to be used in the worship of the god Molech shall be stoned to death by the whole community. ³If any of you give one of your children to Molech and make my sacred Tent unclean and disgrace my holy name, I will turn against you and will no longer consider you my people. ⁴But if the community ignores what you have done and does not put you to death, ⁵I myself will turn against you and your whole family and against all who join you in being unfaithful to me and worshiping Molech. I will no longer consider any of you my people.

⁶"If any of you go for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead, I will turn against you and will no longer consider you one of my people. ⁷Keep yourselves holy, because I am the LORD your God. ⁸Obey my laws, because I am the LORD and I make you holy."

⁹The LORD gave the following regulations. Any of you that curse your father or mother shall be put to death; you are responsible for your own death.

¹⁰If a man commits adultery with the wife of an Israelite, both he and the woman shall be put to death. ¹¹A man who has intercourse with one of his father's wives disgraces his father, and both he and the woman shall be put to death. They are responsible for their own death. ¹²If a man has intercourse with his daughter-in-law, they shall both be put to death. They have committed incest and are responsible for their own death. ¹³If a man has sexual relations with another man, they have done a disgusting thing, and both shall be put to death. They are responsible for their own death. ¹⁴If a man marries a woman and her mother, all three shall be burned to death because of the disgraceful thing they have done; such a thing must not be permitted among you. ¹⁵If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he and the animal shall be put to death. ¹⁶If a woman tries to have sexual relations with an animal, she and the animal shall be put to death. They are responsible for their own death.

¹⁷If a man marries his sister or half sister, they shall be publicly disgraced and driven out of the community. He has had intercourse with his sister and must suffer the consequences. ¹⁸If a man has intercourse with a woman during her monthly period, both of them are to be driven out of the community, because they have broken the regulations about ritual uncleanness.

¹⁹If a man has intercourse with his aunt, both of them must suffer the consequences for incest. ²⁰If a man has intercourse with his uncle's wife, he disgraces his uncle, and he and the woman will pay the penalty; neither one will have children. ²¹If a man takes his brother's wife, they will die childless. He has done a ritually unclean thing and has disgraced his brother.

²²The LORD said, "Keep all my laws and commands, so that you will not be rejected by the land of Canaan, into which I am bringing you. ²³Do not adopt the customs of the people who live there; I am driving out those pagans so that you can enter the land. They have disgusted me with all their evil practices. ²⁴But I have promised you this rich and fertile land as your possession, and I will give it to you. I am the LORD your God, and I have set you apart from the other nations. ²⁵So then, you must make a clear distinction between animals and birds that are ritually clean and those that are not. Do not eat unclean animals or birds. I have declared them unclean, and eating them would make you unclean. ²⁶You shall be holy and belong only to me, because I am the LORD and I am holy. I have set you apart from the other nations so that you would belong to me alone.

²⁷"Any man or woman who consults the spirits of the dead shall be stoned to death; any of you that do this are responsible for your own death."

The Holiness of the Priests

Leviticus 21 The LORD commanded Moses to tell the Aaronite priests, "No priest is to make himself ritually unclean by taking part in the funeral ceremonies when a relative dies, ²unless it is his mother, father, son, daughter, brother, ³or unmarried sister living in his house. ⁴He shall not make himself unclean at the death of those related to him by marriage.

⁵"No priest shall shave any part of his head or trim his beard or cut gashes on his body to show that he is in mourning. ⁶He must be holy and must not disgrace my name. He offers food offerings to me, and he must be holy. ⁷A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or a woman who is not a virgin or who is divorced; he is holy. ⁸The people must consider the priest holy, because he presents the food offerings to me. I am the LORD; I am holy and I make my people holy. ⁹If a priest's daughter becomes a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she shall be burned to death.

¹⁰"The High Priest has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been consecrated to wear the priestly garments, so he must not leave his hair uncombed or tear his clothes to show that he is in mourning. ^11-12He has been dedicated to me and is not to make himself ritually unclean nor is he to defile my sacred Tent by leaving it and entering a house where there is a dead person, even if it is his own father or mother. ¹³He shall marry a virgin, ¹⁴not a widow or a divorced woman or a woman who has been a prostitute. He shall marry only a virgin from his own clan. ¹⁵Otherwise, his children, who ought to be holy, will be ritually unclean. I am the LORD and I have set him apart as the High Priest."

¹⁶The LORD commanded Moses ¹⁷to tell Aaron, "None of your descendants who has any physical defects may present the food offering to me. This applies for all time to come. ¹⁸No man with any physical defects may make the offering: no one who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed; ¹⁹no one with a crippled hand or foot; ²⁰no one who is a hunchback or a dwarf; no one with any eye or skin disease; and no eunuch. ²¹No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any physical defects may present the food offering to me. ²²Such a man may eat the food offered to me, both the holy food offering and the very holy food offering, ²³but because he has a physical defect, he shall not come near the sacred curtain or approach the altar. He must not profane these holy things, because I am the LORD and I make them holy."

²⁴This, then, is what Moses said to Aaron, the sons of Aaron, and to all the people of Israel.

The Words of Agur

Proverbs 30 These are the solemn words of Agur son of Jakeh:

"God is not with me, God is not with me,

and I am helpless.

²I am more like an animal than a human being;

I do not have the sense we humans should have.

³I have never learned any wisdom,

and I know nothing at all about God.

⁴Have any ever mastered heavenly knowledge?

Have any ever caught the wind in their hands?

Or wrapped up water in a piece of cloth?

Or fixed the boundaries of the earth?

Who are they, if you know? Who are their children?

⁵"God keeps every promise he makes. He is like a shield for all who seek his protection. ⁶If you claim that he said something that he never said, he will reprimand you and show that you are a liar."

More Proverbs

⁷I ask you, God, to let me have two things before I die: ⁸keep me from lying, and let me be neither rich nor poor. So give me only as much food as I need. ⁹If I have more, I might say that I do not need you. But if I am poor, I might steal and bring disgrace on my God.

¹⁰Never criticize servants to their master. You will be cursed and suffer for it.

¹¹There are people who curse their fathers and do not show their appreciation for their mothers.

¹²There are people who think they are pure when they are as filthy as they can be.

¹³There are people who think they are so good--oh, how good they think they are!

¹⁴There are people who take cruel advantage of the poor and needy; that is the way they make their living.

¹⁵A leech has two daughters, and both are named "Give me!"

There are four things that are never satisfied:

¹⁶the world of the dead,

a woman without children,

dry ground that needs rain,

and a fire burning out of control.

¹⁷If you make fun of your father or despise your mother in her old age, you ought to be eaten by vultures or have your eyes picked out by wild ravens.

¹⁸There are four things that are too mysterious for me to understand:

¹⁹an eagle flying in the sky,

a snake moving on a rock,

a ship finding its way over the sea,

and a man and a woman falling in love.

²⁰This is how an unfaithful wife acts: she commits adultery, takes a bath, and says, "But I haven't done anything wrong!"

²¹There are four things that the earth itself cannot tolerate:

²²a slave who becomes a king,

a fool who has all he wants to eat,

²³a hateful woman who gets married,

and a servant woman who takes the place of her mistress.

²⁴There are four animals in the world that are small, but very, very clever:

²⁵Ants: they are weak, but they store up their food in the summer.

²⁶Rock badgers: they are not strong either, but they make their homes among the rocks.

²⁷Locusts: they have no king, but they move in formation.

²⁸Lizards: you can hold one in your hand, but you can find them in palaces.

²⁹There are four things that are impressive to watch as they walk:

³⁰lions, strongest of all animals and afraid of none;

³¹goats, strutting roosters,

and kings in front of their people.

³²If you have been foolish enough to be arrogant and plan evil, stop and think! ³³If you churn milk, you get butter. If you hit someone's nose, it bleeds. If you stir up anger, you get into trouble.

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

These daily Bible readings from the Good News Translation (GNT), formerly the Today's English Version (TEV), are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. All BibleCard® images are copyrighted by iCreative. All rights reserved.