THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation - January 15 - Full Text!

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

THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

JANUARY 15

PSALMS: 15, 45, 75, 105, 135

PROVERBS: 15

OLD TESTAMENT: DEUTERONOMY 29:1 - 30:20

NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 11:39 - 12:7

PSALMS: 15

A psalm of David.

¹ LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?

Who may live on your holy hill?

² He whose walk is blameless

and who does what is righteous,

who speaks the truth from his heart

³ and has no slander on his tongue,

who does his neighbor no wrong

and casts no slur on his fellowman,

⁴ who despises a vile man

but honors those who fear the LORD,

who keeps his oath

even when it hurts,

⁵ who lends his money without usury

and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things

will never be shaken. ¹

PSALMS: 45

For the director of music. To the tune of "Lilies." Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil. ^A A wedding song.

¹ My heart is stirred by a noble theme

as I recite my verses for the king;

my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

² You are the most excellent of men

and your lips have been anointed with grace,

since God has blessed you forever.

³ Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one;

clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.

⁴ In your majesty ride forth victoriously

in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness;

let your right hand display awesome deeds.

⁵ Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies;

let the nations fall beneath your feet.

⁶ Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;

a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

⁷ You love righteousness and hate wickedness;

therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions

by anointing you with the oil of joy.

⁸ All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia;

from palaces adorned with ivory

the music of the strings makes you glad.

⁹ Daughters of kings are among your honored women;

at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.

¹⁰ Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear:

Forget your people and your father's house. ²

¹¹ The king is enthralled by your beauty;

honor him, for he is your lord.

¹² The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift, ^B

men of wealth will seek your favor.

¹³ All glorious is the princess within her chamber;

her gown is interwoven with gold.

¹⁴ In embroidered garments she is led to the king;

her virgin companions follow her

and are brought to you.

¹⁵ They are led in with joy and gladness;

they enter the palace of the king.

¹⁶ Your sons will take the place of your fathers;

you will make them princes throughout the land.

¹⁷ I will perpetuate your memory through all generations;

therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever. ³

PSALMS: 75

For the director of music. To the tune of "Do Not Destroy." A psalm of Asaph. A song.

¹ We give thanks to you, O God,

we give thanks, for your Name is near;

men tell of your wonderful deeds.

² You say, "I choose the appointed time;

it is I who judge uprightly.

³ When the earth and all its people quake,

it is I who hold its pillars firm.

Selah

⁴ To the arrogant I say, `Boast no more,'

and to the wicked, `Do not lift up your horns.

⁵ Do not lift your horns against heaven;

do not speak with outstretched neck.'"

⁶ No one from the east or the west

or from the desert can exalt a man.

⁷ But it is God who judges:

He brings one down, he exalts another.

⁸ In the hand of the LORD is a cup

full of foaming wine mixed with spices;

he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth

drink it down to its very dregs.

⁹ As for me, I will declare this forever;

I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰ I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,

but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up. ⁴

PSALMS: 105

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

² Sing to him, sing praise to him;

tell of all his wonderful acts.

³ Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

⁴ Look to the LORD and his strength;

seek his face always.

⁵ Remember the wonders he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

⁶ O descendants of Abraham his servant,

O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.

⁷ He is the LORD our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

⁸ He remembers his covenant forever,

the word he commanded, for a thousand generations,

⁹ the covenant he made with Abraham,

the oath he swore to Isaac.

¹⁰ He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

¹¹ "To you I will give the land of Canaan

as the portion you will inherit."

¹² When they were but few in number,

few indeed, and strangers in it,

¹³ they wandered from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another.

¹⁴ He allowed no one to oppress them;

for their sake he rebuked kings:

¹⁵ "Do not touch my anointed ones;

do my prophets no harm." ⁵

¹⁶ He called down famine on the land

and destroyed all their supplies of food;

¹⁷ and he sent a man before them--

Joseph, sold as a slave.

¹⁸ They bruised his feet with shackles,

his neck was put in irons,

¹⁹ till what he foretold came to pass,

till the word of the LORD proved him true.

²⁰ The king sent and released him,

the ruler of peoples set him free.

²¹ He made him master of his household,

ruler over all he possessed,

²² to instruct his princes as he pleased

and teach his elders wisdom.

²³ Then Israel entered Egypt;

Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.

²⁴ The LORD made his people very fruitful;

he made them too numerous for their foes,

²⁵ whose hearts he turned to hate his people,

to conspire against his servants.

²⁶ He sent Moses his servant,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

²⁷They performed his miraculous signs among them,

his wonders in the land of Ham.

²⁸ He sent darkness and made the land dark--

for had they not rebelled against his words?

²⁹ He turned their waters into blood,

causing their fish to die.

³⁰ Their land teemed with frogs,

which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.

³¹ He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,

and gnats throughout their country.

³² He turned their rain into hail,

with lightning throughout their land; ⁶

³³ he struck down their vines and fig trees

and shattered the trees of their country.

³⁴ He spoke, and the locusts came,

grasshoppers without number;

³⁵ they ate up every green thing in their land,

ate up the produce of their soil.

³⁶ Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the firstfruits of all their manhood.

³⁷ He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,

and from among their tribes no one faltered.

³⁸ Egypt was glad when they left,

because dread of Israel had fallen on them.

³⁹ He spread out a cloud as a covering,

and a fire to give light at night.

⁴⁰ They asked, and he brought them quail

and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

⁴¹ He opened the rock, and water gushed out;

like a river it flowed in the desert.

⁴² For he remembered his holy promise

given to his servant Abraham.

⁴³ He brought out his people with rejoicing,

his chosen ones with shouts of joy;

⁴⁴ he gave them the lands of the nations,

and they fell heir to what others had toiled for--

⁴⁵ that they might keep his precepts

and observe his laws.

Praise the LORD. ^{A 7}

PSALMS: 135

¹ Praise the LORD. ^A

Praise the name of the LORD;

praise him, you servants of the LORD,

² you who minister in the house of the LORD,

in the courts of the house of our God.

³ Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;

sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.

⁴ For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own,

Israel to be his treasured possession.

⁵ I know that the LORD is great,

that our Lord is greater than all gods.

⁶ The LORD does whatever pleases him,

in the heavens and on the earth,

in the seas and all their depths.

⁷ He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;

he sends lightning with the rain

and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

⁸ He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,

the firstborn of men and animals.

⁹ He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,

against Pharaoh and all his servants.

¹⁰ He struck down many nations

and killed mighty kings--

¹¹ Sihon king of the Amorites,

Og king of Bashan

and all the kings of Canaan--

¹² and he gave their land as an inheritance,

an inheritance to his people Israel. ⁸

¹³ Your name, O LORD, endures forever,

your renown, O LORD, through all generations.

¹⁴ For the LORD will vindicate his people

and have compassion on his servants.

¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold,

made by the hands of men.

¹⁶ They have mouths, but cannot speak,

eyes, but they cannot see;

¹⁷ they have ears, but cannot hear,

nor is there breath in their mouths.

¹⁸ Those who make them will be like them,

and so will all who trust in them.

¹⁹ O house of Israel, praise the LORD;

O house of Aaron, praise the LORD;

²⁰ O house of Levi, praise the LORD;

you who fear him, praise the LORD.

²¹ Praise be to the LORD from Zion,

to him who dwells in Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD. ⁹

OLD TESTAMENT: DEUTERONOMY 29:1 - 30:20

29 ¹ These are the terms of the covenant the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.

² Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:

Your eyes have seen all that the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. ³ With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those miraculous signs and great wonders. ⁴ But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear. ⁵ During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. ⁶ You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.

⁷ When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them. ⁸ We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁹ Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do. ¹⁰ All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God--your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, ¹¹ together with your children and your wives, and the aliens living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. ¹² You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, a ¹⁰ covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, 

¹³ to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ¹⁴ I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you ¹⁵ who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today.

¹⁶ You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. ¹⁷ You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. ¹⁸ Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.

¹⁹ When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, "I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way." This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. ^{A 20} The LORD will never be willing to forgive him; his wrath and zeal will burn against that man. All the curses written in this book will fall upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ The LORD will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

²² Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the LORD has ¹¹ afflicted it. ²³ The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur--nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger. ²⁴ All the nations will ask: "Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?"

²⁵ And the answer will be: "It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. ²⁶ They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. ²⁷ Therefore the LORD's anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book.

²⁸ In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now."

²⁹ The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

30 ¹ When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations,

² and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today,

³ then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes ^A and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where ¹² he scattered you. ⁴ Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. ⁵ He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. ⁶ The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. 

 ⁷ The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. ⁸ You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. 

⁹ Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, ¹⁰ if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹¹ Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. ¹² It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

¹⁴ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

¹⁵ See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and ¹³ destruction. ¹⁶ For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹ This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 

²⁰ and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ¹⁴

NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 11:37 - 12:7

³⁷ When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. ³⁸ But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised.

³⁹ Then the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰ You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But give what is inside the dish ^J to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.

⁴² "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

⁴³ "Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴ "Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it."

⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law answered him, "Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also."

⁴⁶ Jesus replied, "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

⁴⁷ "Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ Because of this, God in his wisdom said, `I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill ¹⁵ and others they will persecute.' ⁵⁰ Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.

⁵² "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."

⁵³ When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, ⁵⁴ waiting to catch him in something he might say.

12 ¹ Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. ² There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. ³ What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

⁴ "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. ⁵ But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. ⁶ Are not five ¹⁶ sparrows sold for two pennies ^A? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. ⁷ Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. ¹⁷

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

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

17 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