Daily Bible GNT March 26 Scroll

The Parable of the Wedding Feast
(Luke 14.15-24)

Matthew 22 Jesus again used parables in talking to the people. ²"The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. ³He sent his servants to tell the invited guests to come to the feast, but they did not want to come. ⁴So he sent other servants with this message for the guests: 'My feast is ready now; my steers and prize calves have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!' ⁵But the invited guests paid no attention and went about their business: one went to his farm, another to his store, ⁶while others grabbed the servants, beat them, and killed them. ⁷The king was very angry; so he sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down their city. ⁸Then he called his servants and said to them, 'My wedding feast is ready, but the people I invited did not deserve it. ⁹Now go to the main streets and invite to the feast as many people as you find.' ¹⁰So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, good and bad alike; and the wedding hall was filled with people.

¹¹"The king went in to look at the guests and saw a man who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹²'Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' the king asked him. But the man said nothing. ¹³Then the king told the servants, 'Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.'"

¹⁴And Jesus concluded, "Many are invited, but few are chosen."

The Question about Paying Taxes
(Mark 12.13-17; Luke 20.20-26)

¹⁵The Pharisees went off and made a plan to trap Jesus with questions. ¹⁶Then they sent to him some of their disciples and some members of Herod's party. "Teacher," they said, "we know that you tell the truth. You teach the truth about God's will for people, without worrying about what others think, because you pay no attention to anyone's status. ¹⁷Tell us, then, what do you think? Is it against our Law to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?"

¹⁸Jesus, however, was aware of their evil plan, and so he said, "You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹Show me the coin for paying the tax!"

They brought him the coin, ²⁰and he asked them, "Whose face and name are these?"

²¹"The Emperor's," they answered.

So Jesus said to them, "Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God."

²²When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Victory over the Canaanites

Numbers 21 When the Canaanite king of Arad in the southern part of Canaan heard that the Israelites were coming by way of Atharim, he attacked them and captured some of them. ²Then the Israelites made a vow to the LORD: "If you will let us conquer these people, we will unconditionally dedicate them and their cities to you and will destroy them." ³The LORD heard them and helped them conquer the Canaanites. So the Israelites completely destroyed them and their cities, and named the place Hormah.

The Snake Made of Bronze

⁴The Israelites left Mount Hor by the road that leads to the Gulf of Aqaba, in order to go around the territory of Edom. But on the way the people lost their patience ⁵and spoke against God and Moses. They complained, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We can't stand any more of this miserable food!" ⁶Then the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died. ⁷The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Now pray to the LORD to take these snakes away." So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸Then the LORD told Moses to make a metal snake and put it on a pole, so that anyone who was bitten could look at it and be healed. ⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would look at the bronze snake and be healed.

From Mount Hor to the Valley of the Moabites

¹⁰The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth. ¹¹After leaving that place, they camped at the ruins of Abarim in the wilderness east of Moabite territory. ¹²Then they camped in Zered Valley. ¹³From there they moved again and camped on the north side of the Arnon River, in the wilderness which extends into Amorite territory. (The Arnon was the border between the Moabites and the Amorites.) ¹⁴That is why The Book of the LORD's Battles speaks of ". . . the town of Waheb in the area of Suphah, and the valleys; the Arnon River, ¹⁵and the slope of the valleys that extend to the town of Ar and toward the border of Moab."

¹⁶From there they went on to a place called Wells, where the LORD said to Moses, "Bring the people together, and I will give them water." ¹⁷At that time the people of Israel sang this song:

"Wells, produce your water;

And we will greet it with a song--

¹⁸The well dug by princes

And by leaders of the people,

Dug with a royal scepter

And with their walking sticks."

They moved from the wilderness to Mattanah, ¹⁹and from there they went on to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of the Moabites, below the top of Mount Pisgah, looking out over the desert.

Victory over King Sihon and King Og
(Deuteronomy 2.26--3.11)

²¹Then the people of Israel sent messengers to the Amorite king Sihon to say: ²²"Let us pass through your land. We and our cattle will not leave the road and go into your fields or vineyards, and we will not drink water from your wells; we will stay on the main road until we are out of your territory." ²³But Sihon would not permit the people of Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered his army and went out to Jahaz in the wilderness and attacked the Israelites. ²⁴But the Israelites killed many of the enemy in battle and occupied their land from the Arnon River north to the Jabbok, that is, to the Ammonites, because the Ammonite border was strongly defended. ²⁵So the people of Israel captured all the Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all the surrounding towns, and settled in them. ²⁶Heshbon was the capital city of the Amorite king Sihon, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had captured all his land as far as the Arnon River. ²⁷That is why the poets sing,

"Come to Heshbon, to King Sihon's city!

We want to see it rebuilt and restored.

²⁸Once from this city of Heshbon

Sihon's army went forth like a fire;

It destroyed the city of Ar in Moab

And devoured the hills of the upper Arnon.

²⁹How terrible for you, people of Moab!

You worshipers of Chemosh are brought to ruin!

Your god let the men become refugees,

And the women became captives of the Amorite king.

³⁰But now their descendants are destroyed,

All the way from Heshbon to Dibon,

From Nashim to Nophah, near Medeba."

³¹So the people of Israel settled in the territory of the Amorites, ³²and Moses sent men to find the best way to attack the city of Jazer. The Israelites captured it and its surrounding towns and drove out the Amorites living there.

³³Then the Israelites turned and took the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan marched out with his army to attack them at Edrei. ³⁴The LORD said to Moses, "Do not be afraid of him. I will give you victory over him, all his people, and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled at Heshbon." ³⁵So the Israelites killed Og, his sons, and all his people, leaving no survivors, and then they occupied his land.

Song of Songs 1 The most beautiful of songs, by Solomon.

The First Song

The Woman

²Your lips cover me with kisses;

your love is better than wine.

³There is a fragrance about you;

the sound of your name recalls it.

No woman could keep from loving you.

⁴Take me with you, and we'll run away;

be my king and take me to your room.

We will be happy together,

drink deep, and lose ourselves in love.

No wonder all women love you!

⁵Women of Jerusalem, I am dark but beautiful,

dark as the desert tents of Kedar,

but beautiful as the draperies in Solomon's palace.

⁶Don't look down on me because of my color,

because the sun has tanned me.

My brothers were angry with me

and made me work in the vineyard.

I had no time to care for myself.

⁷Tell me, my love,

Where will you lead your flock to graze?

Where will they rest from the noonday sun?

Why should I need to look for you

among the flocks of the other shepherds?

The Man

⁸Don't you know the place, loveliest of women?

Go and follow the flock;

find pasture for your goats

near the tents of the shepherds.

⁹You, my love, excite men

as a mare excites the stallions of Pharaoh's chariots.

¹⁰Your hair is beautiful upon your cheeks

and falls along your neck like jewels.

¹¹But we will make for you a chain of gold

with ornaments of silver.

The Woman

¹²My king was lying on his couch,

and my perfume filled the air with fragrance.

¹³My lover has the scent of myrrh

as he lies upon my breasts.

¹⁴My lover is like the wild flowers

that bloom in the vineyards at Engedi.

The Man

¹⁵How beautiful you are, my love;

how your eyes shine with love!

The Woman

¹⁶How handsome you are, my dearest;

how you delight me!

The green grass will be our bed;

¹⁷

the cedars will be the beams of our house,

and the cypress trees the ceiling.
Song of Songs 2 I am only a wild flower in Sharon,

a lily in a mountain valley.

The Man

²Like a lily among thorns

is my darling among women.

The Woman

³Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

so is my dearest compared to other men.

I love to sit in its shadow,

and its fruit is sweet to my taste.

⁴He brought me to his banquet hall

and raised the banner of love over me.

⁵Restore my strength with raisins

and refresh me with apples!

I am weak from passion.

⁶His left hand is under my head,

and his right hand caresses me.

⁷Promise me, women of Jerusalem;

swear by the swift deer and the gazelles

that you will not interrupt our love.

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.