THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation - April 6 - Full Text!

Genesis 1:1 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 
THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

APRIL 6

PSALMS: 6, 36, 66, 96, 126

PROVERBS: 6

OLD TESTAMENT: 2 KINGS 9:14 - 10:31

NEW TESTAMENT: ACTS 17:1 - 34

PSALMS: 6

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith. ^A A psalm of David.

¹ O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger

or discipline me in your wrath.

² Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;

O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.

³ My soul is in anguish.

How long, O LORD, how long?

⁴ Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;

save me because of your unfailing love.

⁵ No one remembers you when he is dead.

Who praises you from the grave ^B?

⁶ I am worn out from groaning;

all night long I flood my bed with weeping

and drench my couch with tears.

⁷ My eyes grow weak with sorrow;

they fail because of all my foes.

⁸ Away from me, all you who do evil,

for the LORD has heard my weeping.

⁹ The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;

the LORD accepts my prayer.

¹⁰ All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;

they will turn back in sudden disgrace. ¹

PSALMS: 36

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD.

¹ An oracle is within my heart

concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: ^A

There is no fear of God

before his eyes.

² For in his own eyes he flatters himself

too much to detect or hate his sin.

³ The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;

he has ceased to be wise and to do good.

⁴ Even on his bed he plots evil;

he commits himself to a sinful course

and does not reject what is wrong.

⁵ Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the skies.

⁶ Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,

your justice like the great deep.

O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

⁷ How priceless is your unfailing love!

Both high and low among men

find ^B refuge in the shadow of your wings.

⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house;

you give them drink from your river of delights.

⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we see light.

¹⁰ Continue your love to those who know you,

your righteousness to the upright in heart.

¹¹ May the foot of the proud not come against me, ²

nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

¹² See how the evildoers lie fallen--

thrown down, not able to rise! ³

PSALMS: 66

For the director of music. A song. A psalm.

¹ Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

² Sing the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious!

³ Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power

that your enemies cringe before you.

⁴ All the earth bows down to you;

they sing praise to you,

they sing praise to your name."

Selah

⁵ Come and see what God has done,

how awesome his works in man's behalf!

⁶ He turned the sea into dry land,

they passed through the waters on foot--

come, let us rejoice in him.

⁷ He rules forever by his power,

his eyes watch the nations--

let not the rebellious rise up against him.

Selah

⁸ Praise our God, O peoples,

let the sound of his praise be heard;

⁹ he has preserved our lives

and kept our feet from slipping.

¹⁰ For you, O God, tested us;

you refined us like silver.

¹¹ You brought us into prison

and laid burdens on our backs.

¹² You let men ride over our heads; ⁴

we went through fire and water,

but you brought us to a place of abundance.

¹³ I will come to your temple with burnt offerings

and fulfill my vows to you--

¹⁴ vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke

when I was in trouble.

¹⁵ I will sacrifice fat animals to you

and an offering of rams;

I will offer bulls and goats.

Selah

¹⁶ Come and listen, all you who fear God;

let me tell you what he has done for me.

¹⁷ I cried out to him with my mouth;

his praise was on my tongue.

¹⁸ If I had cherished sin in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened;

¹⁹ but God has surely listened

and heard my voice in prayer.

²⁰ Praise be to God,

who has not rejected my prayer

or withheld his love from me! ⁵

PSALMS: 96

¹ Sing to the LORD a new song;

sing to the LORD, all the earth.

² Sing to the LORD, praise his name;

proclaim his salvation day after day.

³ Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

⁴ For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;

he is to be feared above all gods.

⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols,

but the LORD made the heavens.

⁶ Splendor and majesty are before him;

strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

⁷ Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations,

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

⁸ Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;

bring an offering and come into his courts.

⁹ Worship the LORD in the splendor of his ^A holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth.

¹⁰ Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."

The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;

he will judge the peoples with equity.

¹¹ Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

¹² let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.

Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;

¹³ they will sing before the LORD, for he comes,

he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

and the peoples in his truth. ⁶

PSALMS: 126

A song of ascents.

¹ When the LORD brought back the captives to ^A Zion,

we were like men who dreamed. ^B

² Our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

"The LORD has done great things for them."

³ The LORD has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy.

⁴ Restore our fortunes, ^C O LORD,

like streams in the Negev.

⁵ Those who sow in tears

will reap with songs of joy.

⁶ He who goes out weeping,

carrying seed to sow,

will return with songs of joy,

carrying sheaves with him. ⁷

PROVERBS: 6

6 ¹ My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,

if you have struck hands in pledge for another,

² if you have been trapped by what you said,

ensnared by the words of your mouth,

³ then do this, my son, to free yourself,

since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands:

Go and humble yourself;

press your plea with your neighbor!

⁴ Allow no sleep to your eyes,

no slumber to your eyelids.

⁵ Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,

like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁶ Go to the ant, you sluggard;

consider its ways and be wise!

⁷ It has no commander,

no overseer or ruler,

⁸ yet it stores its provisions in summer

and gathers its food at harvest.

⁹ How long will you lie there, you sluggard?

When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest--

¹¹ and poverty will come on you like a bandit

and scarcity like an armed man. ^A

¹² A scoundrel and villain,

who goes about with a corrupt mouth,

¹³ who winks with his eye,

signals with his feet

and motions with his fingers,

¹⁴ who plots evil with deceit in his heart--

he always stirs up dissension.

¹⁵ Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; ⁸

he will suddenly be destroyed--without remedy.

¹⁶ There are six things the LORD hates,

seven that are detestable to him:

¹⁷ haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes,

feet that are quick to rush into evil,

¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies

and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

²⁰ My son, keep your father's commands

and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

²¹ Bind them upon your heart forever;

fasten them around your neck.

²² When you walk, they will guide you;

when you sleep, they will watch over you;

when you awake, they will speak to you.

²³ For these commands are a lamp,

this teaching is a light,

and the corrections of discipline

are the way to life,

²⁴ keeping you from the immoral woman,

from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.

²⁵ Do not lust in your heart after her beauty

or let her captivate you with her eyes,

²⁶ for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread,

and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

²⁷ Can a man scoop fire into his lap

without his clothes being burned?

²⁸ Can a man walk on hot coals

without his feet being scorched?

²⁹ So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; ⁹

no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰ Men do not despise a thief if he steals

to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.

³¹ Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,

though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

³² But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment;

whoever does so destroys himself.

³³ Blows and disgrace are his lot,

and his shame will never be wiped away;

³⁴ for jealousy arouses a husband's fury,

and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵ He will not accept any compensation;

he will refuse the bribe, however great it is. ¹⁰

OLD TESTAMENT: 2 KINGS 9:14 - 10:31

¹⁴ So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth Gilead against Hazael king of Aram,

¹⁵ but King Joram ^A had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king of Aram.) Jehu said, "If this is the way you feel, don't let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel."

¹⁶ Then he got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.

¹⁷ When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu's troops approaching, he called out, "I see some troops coming."

"Get a horseman," Joram ordered. "Send him to meet them and ask, `Do you come in peace?' "

¹⁸ The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, "This is what the king says: `Do you come in peace?' "

"What do you have to do with peace?" Jehu replied. "Fall in behind me."

The lookout reported, "The messenger has reached them, but he isn't coming back."

¹⁹ So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, "This is what the king says: `Do you come in peace?' "

Jehu replied, "What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me."

²⁰ The lookout reported, "He has reached them, but he isn't coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi--he drives like a madman."

²¹ "Hitch up my chariot," Joram ordered. And when it was ¹¹hitched up, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. ²² When Joram saw Jehu he asked, "Have you come in peace, Jehu?"

"How can there be peace," Jehu replied, "as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?"

²³ Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, "Treachery, Ahaziah!"

²⁴ Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot. ²⁵ Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, "Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the LORD made this prophecy about him: ²⁶ `Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the LORD, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.' ^B Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the LORD."

²⁷ When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. ^C Jehu chased him, shouting, "Kill him too!" They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there.

²⁸ His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David. ²⁹ (In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.) ¹²

³⁰ Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. ³¹ As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, "Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?" ^D

³² He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. ³³ "Throw her down!" Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.

³⁴ Jehu went in and ate and drank. "Take care of that cursed woman," he said, "and bury her, for she was a king's daughter." ³⁵ But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. ³⁶ They went back and told Jehu, who said, "This is the word of the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh. ^E

³⁷ Jezebel's body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, `This is Jezebel.'"

10 ¹ Now there were in Samaria seventy sons of the house of Ahab. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria: to the officials of Jezreel, ^A to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab's children. He said, ² "As soon as this letter reaches you, since your master's sons are with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons,

³ choose the best and most worthy of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne. Then fight for your master's ¹³ house."

⁴ But they were terrified and said, "If two kings could not resist him, how can we?"

⁵ So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians sent this message to Jehu: "We are your servants and we will do anything you say. We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think best."

⁶ Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying, "If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow."

Now the royal princes, seventy of them, were with the leading men of the city, who were rearing them. ⁷ When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel.

⁸ When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, "They have brought the heads of the princes."

Then Jehu ordered, "Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning."

⁹ The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and said, "You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? ¹⁰ Know then, that not a word the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The LORD has done what he promised through his servant Elijah."

¹¹ So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor. ^{14 12} Jehu then set out and went toward Samaria. At Beth Eked of the Shepherds, ¹³ he met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, "Who are you?"

They said, "We are relatives of Ahaziah, and we have come down to greet the families of the king and of the queen mother."

¹⁴ "Take them alive!" he ordered. So they took them alive and slaughtered them by the well of Beth Eked--forty-two men. He left no survivor.

¹⁵ After he left there, he came upon Jehonadab son of Recab, who was on his way to meet him. Jehu greeted him and said, "Are you in accord with me, as I am with you?"

"I am," Jehonadab answered.

"If so," said Jehu, "give me your hand." So he did, and Jehu helped him up into the chariot. ¹⁶ Jehu said, "Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD." Then he had him ride along in his chariot.

¹⁷ When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab's family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD spoken to Elijah.

¹⁸ Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much.

¹⁹ Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his ministers and all his priests. See that no one is missing, because I am going to hold a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come will no longer live." But Jehu was acting

deceptively in order to destroy the ¹⁵ ministers of Baal.

²⁰ Jehu said, "Call an assembly in honor of Baal." So they proclaimed it. ²¹ Then he sent word throughout Israel, and all the ministers of Baal came; not one stayed away. They crowded into the temple of Baal until it was full from one end to the other. ²² And Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe, "Bring robes for all the ministers of Baal." So he brought out robes for them.

²³ Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Recab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the ministers of Baal, "Look around and see that no servants of the LORD are here with you--only ministers of Baal." ²⁴ So they went in to make sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had posted eighty men outside with this warning: "If one of you lets any of the men I am placing in your hands escape, it will be your life for his life."

²⁵ As soon as Jehu had finished making the burnt offering, he ordered the guards and officers: "Go in and kill them; let no one escape." So they cut them down with the sword. The guards and officers threw the bodies out and then entered the inner shrine of the temple of Baal. ²⁶ They brought the sacred stone out of the temple of Baal and burned it. ²⁷ They demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day.

²⁸ So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel. ²⁹ However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit--the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. ¹⁶

³⁰ The LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation." ³¹ Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit. ¹⁷

NEW TESTAMENT: ACTS 17:1 - 34

17 ¹ When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. ² As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

³ explaining and proving that the Christ ^A had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ, ^B" he said. ⁴ Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.

⁵ But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the

crowd. ^{C 6} But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, ⁷ and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus." ⁸ When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. ⁹ Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.

¹⁰ As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹ Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. ¹² Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.

¹³ When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was ¹⁸preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. ¹⁴ The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. ¹⁵ The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 

¹⁸ A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹ Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰ You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." ²¹ (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

²² Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN ¹⁹ UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 

²⁶ From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 

²⁷ God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ²⁸ `For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, `We are his offspring.'

²⁹ "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone--an image made by man's design and skill. ³⁰ In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all

people everywhere to repent. ³¹ For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." ³³ At that, Paul left the Council. ³⁴ A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. ²⁰

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

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 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