THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation - December 10 - Full Text!

Genesis 1:1 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

DECEMBER 10

PSALMS: 10, 40, 70, 100, 130

PROVERBS: 10

OLD TESTAMENT: LEVITICUS 24:1 - 25:46

NEW TESTAMENT: MARK 10:13 - 21

PSALMS: 10

¹ Why, ^A O LORD, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

² In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,

who are caught in the schemes he devises.

³ He boasts of the cravings of his heart;

he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.

⁴ In his pride the wicked does not seek him;

in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

⁵ His ways are always prosperous;

he is haughty and your laws are far from him;

he sneers at all his enemies.

⁶ He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me;

I'll always be happy and never have trouble."

⁷ His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats;

trouble and evil are under his tongue.

⁸ He lies in wait near the villages;

from ambush he murders the innocent,

watching in secret for his victims.

⁹ He lies in wait like a lion in cover;

he lies in wait to catch the helpless;

he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.

¹⁰ His victims are crushed, they collapse;

they fall under his strength.

¹¹ He says to himself, "God has forgotten;

he covers his face and never sees." ¹

¹² Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.

Do not forget the helpless.

¹³ Why does the wicked man revile God?

Why does he say to himself,

"He won't call me to account"?

¹⁴ But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;

you consider it to take it in hand.

The victim commits himself to you;

you are the helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;

call him to account for his wickedness

that would not be found out.

¹⁶ The LORD is King for ever and ever;

the nations will perish from his land.

¹⁷ You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;

you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

¹⁸ defending the fatherless and the oppressed,

in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more. ²

PSALMS: 40

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ I waited patiently for the LORD;

he turned to me and heard my cry.

² He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

³ He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear

and put their trust in the LORD.

⁴ Blessed is the man

who makes the LORD his trust,

who does not look to the proud,

to those who turn aside to false gods. ^A

⁵ Many, O LORD my God,

are the wonders you have done.

The things you planned for us

no one can recount to you;

were I to speak and tell of them,

they would be too many to declare.

⁶ Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but my ears you have pierced ^BC;

burnt offerings and sin offerings

you did not require.

⁷ Then I said, "Here I am, I have come--

it is written about me in the scroll. ^{D 3}

⁸ I desire to do your will, O my God;

your law is within my heart."

⁹ I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;

I do not seal my lips,

as you know, O LORD.

¹⁰ I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;

I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.

I do not conceal your love and your truth

from the great assembly.

¹¹ Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;

may your love and your truth always protect me.

¹² For troubles without number surround me;

my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.

They are more than the hairs of my head,

and my heart fails within me.

¹³ Be pleased, O LORD, to save me;

O LORD, come quickly to help me.

¹⁴ May all who seek to take my life

be put to shame and confusion;

may all who desire my ruin

be turned back in disgrace.

¹⁵ May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"

be appalled at their own shame.

¹⁶ But may all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you;

may those who love your salvation always say,

"The LORD be exalted!" ⁴

¹⁷ Yet I am poor and needy;

may the Lord think of me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

O my God, do not delay. ⁵

PSALMS: 70

For the director of music. Of David. A petition.

¹ Hasten, O God, to save me;

O LORD, come quickly to help me.

² May those who seek my life

be put to shame and confusion;

may all who desire my ruin

be turned back in disgrace.

³ May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"

turn back because of their shame.

⁴ But may all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you;

may those who love your salvation always say,

"Let God be exalted!"

⁵ Yet I am poor and needy;

come quickly to me, O God.

You are my help and my deliverer;

O LORD, do not delay. ⁶

PSALMS: 100

A psalm. For giving thanks.

¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

² Worship the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

³ Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his ^A;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations. ⁷

PSALMS: 130

A song of ascents.

¹ Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;

² O Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive

to my cry for mercy.

³ If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,

O Lord, who could stand?

⁴ But with you there is forgiveness;

therefore you are feared.

⁵ I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,

and in his word I put my hope.

⁶ My soul waits for the Lord

more than watchmen wait for the morning,

more than watchmen wait for the morning.

⁷ O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,

for with the LORD is unfailing love

and with him is full redemption.

⁸ He himself will redeem Israel

from all their sins. ⁸

PROVERBS: 10

10 ¹ The proverbs of Solomon:

A wise son brings joy to his father,

but a foolish son grief to his mother.

² Ill-gotten treasures are of no value,

but righteousness delivers from death.

³ The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry

but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

⁴ Lazy hands make a man poor,

but diligent hands bring wealth.

⁵ He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son,

but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

⁶ Blessings crown the head of the righteous,

but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked. ^A

⁷ The memory of the righteous will be a blessing,

but the name of the wicked will rot.

⁸ The wise in heart accept commands,

but a chattering fool comes to ruin.

⁹ The man of integrity walks securely,

but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.

¹⁰ He who winks maliciously causes grief,

and a chattering fool comes to ruin.

¹¹ The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,

but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked. ⁹

¹² Hatred stirs up dissension,

but love covers over all wrongs.

¹³ Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning,

but a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.

¹⁴ Wise men store up knowledge,

but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.

¹⁵ The wealth of the rich is their fortified city,

but poverty is the ruin of the poor.

¹⁶ The wages of the righteous bring them life,

but the income of the wicked brings them punishment.

¹⁷ He who heeds discipline shows the way to life,

but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.

¹⁸ He who conceals his hatred has lying lips,

and whoever spreads slander is a fool.

¹⁹ When words are many, sin is not absent,

but he who holds his tongue is wise.

²⁰ The tongue of the righteous is choice silver,

but the heart of the wicked is of little value.

²¹ The lips of the righteous nourish many,

but fools die for lack of judgment.

²² The blessing of the LORD brings wealth,

and he adds no trouble to it. ¹⁰

²³ A fool finds pleasure in evil conduct,

but a man of understanding delights in wisdom.

²⁴ What the wicked dreads will overtake him;

what the righteous desire will be granted.

²⁵ When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone,

but the righteous stand firm forever.

²⁶ As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,

so is a sluggard to those who send him.

²⁷ The fear of the LORD adds length to life,

but the years of the wicked are cut short.

²⁸ The prospect of the righteous is joy,

but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.

²⁹ The way of the LORD is a refuge for the righteous,

but it is the ruin of those who do evil.

³⁰ The righteous will never be uprooted,

but the wicked will not remain in the land.

³¹ The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,

but a perverse tongue will be cut out.

³² The lips of the righteous know what is fitting,

but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse. ¹¹

OLD TESTAMENT: LEVITICUS 24:1 - 25:46

24 ¹ The LORD said to Moses, ² "Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually.

³ Outside the curtain of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. ⁴ The lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD must be tended continually.

⁵ "Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using two-tenths of an ephah ^A for each loaf. ⁶ Set them in two rows, six in each row, on the table of pure gold before the LORD. ⁷ Along each row put some pure incense as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be an offering made to the LORD by fire. ⁸ This bread is to be set out before the LORD regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. ⁹ It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy part of their regular share of the offerings made to the LORD by fire."

¹⁰ Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. ¹¹ The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) ¹² They put him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.

¹³ Then the LORD said to Moses: ¹⁴ "Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. ¹⁵ Say to the Israelites: `If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible;

¹⁶ anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

¹⁷ "`If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death. ¹⁸ Anyone who takes the life of someone's animal must make restitution--life for life. ¹⁹ If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: ²⁰ fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured. ²¹ Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death. ²² You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.' "

²³ Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the LORD commanded Moses.

25 ¹ The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, ² "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. ³ For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. ⁴ But in ¹² the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. ⁵ Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. ⁶ Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you--for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, ⁷ as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.

⁸ "`Count off seven sabbaths of years--seven times seven years--so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years. ⁹ Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. ¹⁰ Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. ¹¹ The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. ¹² For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.

¹³" `In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property.

¹⁴ "`If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other. ¹⁵ You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. ¹⁶ When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops. ¹⁷ Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God.

¹⁸ "`Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. ¹⁹ Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. ²⁰ You may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?" ²¹ I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. ²² While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.

²³ "`The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. ²⁴ Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

²⁵ "`If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. ²⁶ If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it, ²⁷ he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property.

²⁸ But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property. ¹³

²⁹ "`If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time he may redeem it. ³⁰ If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. ³¹ But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.

³² "`The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess. ³³ So the property of the Levites is redeemable--that is, a house sold in any town they hold--and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. ³⁴ But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.

³⁵ "`If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. ³⁶ Do not take interest of any kind ^A from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. ³⁷ You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. ³⁸ I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

³⁹ "`If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. ⁴⁰ He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. ⁴² Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. ⁴³ Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.

⁴⁴ "`Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. ⁴⁵ You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. ⁴⁶ You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly. ¹⁴

NEW TESTAMENT: MARK 10:13 - 21

¹³ People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." ¹⁶ And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

¹⁷ As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

¹⁸ "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone.

¹⁹ You know the commandments: `Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'^D"

²⁰ "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."

²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." ¹⁵

1 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

2 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

3 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

4 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

5 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

6 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

7 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

8 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

9 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

10 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

11 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

12 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

13 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

14 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

15 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

 John 3:16-21 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, F that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.G 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." H