THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation - July 17 - Full Text!

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

THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

JULY 17

PSALMS: 17, 47, 77, 107, 137

PROVERBS: 16

OLD TESTAMENT: JEREMIAH 6:16 - 8:7

NEW TESTAMENT: COLOSSIANS 2:8 - 23

PSALMS: 17

A prayer of David.

¹ Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea;

listen to my cry.

Give ear to my prayer--

it does not rise from deceitful lips.

² May my vindication come from you;

may your eyes see what is right.

³ Though you probe my heart and examine me at night,

though you test me, you will find nothing;

I have resolved that my mouth will not sin.

⁴ As for the deeds of men--

by the word of your lips

I have kept myself

from the ways of the violent.

⁵ My steps have held to your paths;

my feet have not slipped.

⁶ I call on you, O God, for you will answer me;

give ear to me and hear my prayer.

⁷ Show the wonder of your great love,

you who save by your right hand

those who take refuge in you from their foes.

⁸ Keep me as the apple of your eye;

hide me in the shadow of your wings

⁹ from the wicked who assail me,

from my mortal enemies who surround me. ¹

¹⁰ They close up their callous hearts,

and their mouths speak with arrogance.

¹¹ They have tracked me down, they now surround me,

with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground.

¹² They are like a lion hungry for prey,

like a great lion crouching in cover.

¹³ Rise up, O LORD, confront them, bring them down;

rescue me from the wicked by your sword.

¹⁴ O LORD, by your hand save me from such men,

from men of this world whose reward is in this life.

You still the hunger of those you cherish;

their sons have plenty,

and they store up wealth for their children.

¹⁵ And I--in righteousness I will see your face;

when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing

your likeness. ²

PSALMS: 47

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

¹ Clap your hands, all you nations;

shout to God with cries of joy.

² How awesome is the LORD Most High,

the great King over all the earth!

³ He subdued nations under us,

peoples under our feet.

⁴ He chose our inheritance for us,

the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.

Selah

⁵ God has ascended amid shouts of joy,

the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets.

⁶ Sing praises to God, sing praises;

sing praises to our King, sing praises.

⁷ For God is the King of all the earth;

sing to him a psalm ^A of praise.

⁸ God reigns over the nations;

God is seated on his holy throne.

⁹ The nobles of the nations assemble

as the people of the God of Abraham,

for the kings ^B of the earth belong to God;

he is greatly exalted. ³

PSALMS: 77

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

¹ I cried out to God for help;

I cried out to God to hear me.

² When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;

at night I stretched out untiring hands

and my soul refused to be comforted.

³ I remembered you, O God, and I groaned;

I mused, and my spirit grew faint.

Selah

⁴ You kept my eyes from closing;

I was too troubled to speak.

⁵ I thought about the former days,

the years of long ago;

⁶ I remembered my songs in the night.

My heart mused and my spirit inquired:

⁷ "Will the Lord reject forever?

Will he never show his favor again?

⁸ Has his unfailing love vanished forever?

Has his promise failed for all time?

⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful?

Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"

Selah ⁴

¹⁰ Then I thought, "To this I will appeal:

the years of the right hand of the Most High."

¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the LORD;

yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

¹² I will meditate on all your works

and consider all your mighty deeds.

¹³ Your ways, O God, are holy.

What god is so great as our God?

¹⁴ You are the God who performs miracles;

you display your power among the peoples.

¹⁵ With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

Selah

¹⁶ The waters saw you, O God,

the waters saw you and writhed;

the very depths were convulsed.

¹⁷ The clouds poured down water,

the skies resounded with thunder;

your arrows flashed back and forth.

¹⁸ Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,

your lightning lit up the world;

the earth trembled and quaked.

¹⁹ Your path led through the sea,

your way through the mighty waters,

though your footprints were not seen.

²⁰ You led your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron. ⁵

PSALMS: 107

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

² Let the redeemed of the LORD say this--

those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

³ those he gathered from the lands,

from east and west, from north and south. ^A

⁴ Some wandered in desert wastelands,

finding no way to a city where they could settle.

⁵ They were hungry and thirsty,

and their lives ebbed away.

⁶ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

⁷ He led them by a straight way

to a city where they could settle.

⁸ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for men,

⁹ for he satisfies the thirsty

and fills the hungry with good things.

¹⁰ Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom,

prisoners suffering in iron chains,

¹¹ for they had rebelled against the words of God

and despised the counsel of the Most High.

¹² So he subjected them to bitter labor;

they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

¹³ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,

and he saved them from their distress.

¹⁴ He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom

and broke away their chains.

¹⁵ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for men,

¹⁶ for he breaks down gates of bronze

and cuts through bars of iron. ⁶

¹⁷ Some became fools through their rebellious ways

and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.

¹⁸ They loathed all food

and drew near the gates of death.

¹⁹ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,

and he saved them from their distress.

²⁰ He sent forth his word and healed them;

he rescued them from the grave.

²¹ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for men.

²² Let them sacrifice thank offerings

and tell of his works with songs of joy.

²³ Others went out on the sea in ships;

they were merchants on the mighty waters.

²⁴ They saw the works of the LORD,

his wonderful deeds in the deep.

²⁵ For he spoke and stirred up a tempest

that lifted high the waves.

²⁶ They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;

in their peril their courage melted away.

²⁷ They reeled and staggered like drunken men;

they were at their wits' end.

²⁸ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,

and he brought them out of their distress.

²⁹ He stilled the storm to a whisper;

the waves of the sea were hushed.

³⁰ They were glad when it grew calm,

and he guided them to their desired haven.

³¹ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for men.

³² Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people ⁷

and praise him in the council of the elders.

³³ He turned rivers into a desert,

flowing springs into thirsty ground,

³⁴ and fruitful land into a salt waste,

because of the wickedness of those who lived there.

³⁵ He turned the desert into pools of water

and the parched ground into flowing springs;

³⁶ there he brought the hungry to live,

and they founded a city where they could settle.

³⁷ They sowed fields and planted vineyards

that yielded a fruitful harvest;

³⁸ he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased,

and he did not let their herds diminish.

³⁹ Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled

by oppression, calamity and sorrow;

⁴⁰ he who pours contempt on nobles

made them wander in a trackless waste.

⁴¹ But he lifted the needy out of their affliction

and increased their families like flocks.

⁴² The upright see and rejoice,

but all the wicked shut their mouths.

⁴³ Whoever is wise, let him heed these things

and consider the great love of the LORD. ⁸

PSALMS: 137

¹ By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept

when we remembered Zion.

² There on the poplars

we hung our harps,

³ for there our captors asked us for songs,

our tormentors demanded songs of joy;

they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

⁴ How can we sing the songs of the LORD

while in a foreign land?

⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

may my right hand forget its skill.

⁶ May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth

if I do not remember you,

if I do not consider Jerusalem

my highest joy.

⁷ Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did

on the day Jerusalem fell.

"Tear it down," they cried,

"tear it down to its foundations!"

⁸ O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,

happy is he who repays you

for what you have done to us--

⁹ he who seizes your infants

and dashes them against the rocks. ⁹

PROVERBS: 17

17 ¹ Better a dry crust with peace and quiet

than a house full of feasting, ^A with strife.

² A wise servant will rule over a disgraceful son,

and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.

³ The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,

but the LORD tests the heart.

⁴ A wicked man listens to evil lips;

a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue.

⁵ He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker;

whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

⁶ Children's children are a crown to the aged,

and parents are the pride of their children.

⁷ Arrogant ^B lips are unsuited to a fool--

how much worse lying lips to a ruler!

⁸ A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it;

wherever he turns, he succeeds.

⁹ He who covers over an offense promotes love,

but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.

¹⁰ A rebuke impresses a man of discernment

more than a hundred lashes a fool.

¹¹ An evil man is bent only on rebellion;

a merciless official will be sent against him. ¹⁰

¹² Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs

than a fool in his folly.

¹³ If a man pays back evil for good,

evil will never leave his house.

¹⁴ Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam;

so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.

¹⁵ Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent--

the LORD detests them both.

¹⁶ Of what use is money in the hand of a fool,

since he has no desire to get wisdom?

¹⁷ A friend loves at all times,

and a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁸ A man lacking in judgment strikes hands in pledge

and puts up security for his neighbor.

¹⁹ He who loves a quarrel loves sin;

he who builds a high gate invites destruction.

²⁰ A man of perverse heart does not prosper;

he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.

²¹ To have a fool for a son brings grief;

there is no joy for the father of a fool. ¹¹

²² A cheerful heart is good medicine,

but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

²³ A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret

to pervert the course of justice.

²⁴ A discerning man keeps wisdom in view,

but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

²⁵ A foolish son brings grief to his father

and bitterness to the one who bore him.

²⁶ It is not good to punish an innocent man,

or to flog officials for their integrity.

²⁷ A man of knowledge uses words with restraint,

and a man of understanding is even-tempered.

²⁸ Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent,

and discerning if he holds his tongue. ¹²

OLD TESTAMENT: JEREMIAH 6:16 - 8:7

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says:

"Stand at the crossroads and look;

ask for the ancient paths,

ask where the good way is, and walk in it,

and you will find rest for your souls.

But you said, `We will not walk in it.'

¹⁷ I appointed watchmen over you and said,

`Listen to the sound of the trumpet!'

But you said, `We will not listen.'

¹⁸ Therefore hear, O nations;

observe, O witnesses,

what will happen to them.

¹⁹ Hear, O earth:

I am bringing disaster on this people,

the fruit of their schemes,

because they have not listened to my words

and have rejected my law.

²⁰ What do I care about incense from Sheba

or sweet calamus from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;

your sacrifices do not please me."

²¹ Therefore this is what the LORD says:

"I will put obstacles before this people.

Fathers and sons alike will stumble over them; ¹³

neighbors and friends will perish."

²² This is what the LORD says:

"Look, an army is coming

from the land of the north;

a great nation is being stirred up

from the ends of the earth.

²³ They are armed with bow and spear;

they are cruel and show no mercy.

They sound like the roaring sea

as they ride on their horses;

they come like men in battle formation

to attack you, O Daughter of Zion."

²⁴ We have heard reports about them,

and our hands hang limp.

Anguish has gripped us,

pain like that of a woman in labor.

²⁵ Do not go out to the fields

or walk on the roads,

for the enemy has a sword,

and there is terror on every side.

²⁶ O my people, put on sackcloth

and roll in ashes;

mourn with bitter wailing ¹⁴

as for an only son,

for suddenly the destroyer

will come upon us.

²⁷ "I have made you a tester of metals

and my people the ore,

that you may observe

and test their ways.

²⁸ They are all hardened rebels,

going about to slander.

They are bronze and iron;

they all act corruptly.

²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely

to burn away the lead with fire,

but the refining goes on in vain;

the wicked are not purged out.

³⁰ They are called rejected silver,

because the LORD has rejected them."

7 ¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ² "Stand at the gate of the LORD's house and there proclaim this message:

"`Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. ³ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. ⁴ Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" ⁵ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, ⁶ if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, ⁷ then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. ⁸ But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. ¹⁵

⁹ "`Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, ^A burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"--safe to do all these detestable things? ¹¹ Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.

¹² "`Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³ While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. ¹⁴ Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers. ¹⁵ I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.'

¹⁶ "So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. ¹⁹ But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?

²⁰ "`Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn and not be quenched.

²¹ "`This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! ²² For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, ²³ but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. ²⁴ But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.

²⁵ From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. ²⁶ But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers.'

²⁷ "When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. ²⁸ Therefore say to them, `This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips. ²⁹ Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.

³⁰ "`The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. ³¹ They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire--something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.

³² So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. ³³ Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them ¹⁶ away. ³⁴ I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.

8 ¹ "`At that time, declares the LORD, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves. ² They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped. They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground. ³ Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares the LORD Almighty.'

⁴ "Say to them, `This is what the LORD says:

"`When men fall down, do they not get up?

When a man turns away, does he not return?

⁵ Why then have these people turned away?

Why does Jerusalem always turn away?

They cling to deceit;

they refuse to return.

⁶ I have listened attentively,

but they do not say what is right.

No one repents of his wickedness,

saying, "What have I done?"

Each pursues his own course

like a horse charging into battle.

⁷ Even the stork in the sky

knows her appointed seasons,

and the dove, the swift and the thrush ¹⁷ observe the time of their migration.

But my people do not know

the requirements of the LORD. ¹⁸

NEW TESTAMENT: COLOSSIANS 2:8 - 23

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹ In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, ^A not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, ^B God made you ^C alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ^D

¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. ¹⁹ He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

²⁰ Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ²¹ "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? ²² These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. ²³ Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. ¹⁹

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

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

19 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