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NL-Day028 Genesis 46; Job 28; 1 Peter 1:22-2:25

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

Release Date: 01/26/2025

NL-Day327 Nehemiah 5-6; Isaiah 36; Philippians 4 show art NL-Day327 Nehemiah 5-6; Isaiah 36; Philippians 4

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

NEHEMIAH 5-6: Yesterday Nehemiah gave a listing of the people who rebuilt the wall. This included Shallum and his daughters, and two named goldsmiths, merchants, priests and Levites. The residents of the land opposed to the construction were threatening violence, so the people armed themselves and had men on guard at all times. Nehemiah and his men stayed fully armed at all times, and in the last verse of chapter 4 NLT says ‘even when they went for water’— which I take as a euphemism for going potty. That little phrase is very obscure in Hebrew, and GNT translates it in a different way....

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NL-Day326 Nehemiah 3-4; Isaiah 35; Philippians 3 show art NL-Day326 Nehemiah 3-4; Isaiah 35; Philippians 3

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

NEHEMIAH 3-4:After Nehemiah’s wonderful prayer for Jerusalem, more than three months went by before the king noticed him looking sad. He says he had never before looked sad, so he must have waited. God must have been in the timing, because the king wonderfully agreed to help Nehemiah in every way. And the leaders in Jerusalem also were enthusiastic in their acceptance of his proposal to rebuild the walls. ISAIAH 35:Yesterday we heard that the land of Edom would become an eternal wasteland and a home for owls and other creatures. The land of Edom is in modern-day Jordan, and GoogleMaps shows...

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NL-Day325 Nehemiah 1-2; Isaiah 34; Philippians 2 show art NL-Day325 Nehemiah 1-2; Isaiah 34; Philippians 2

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

NEHEMIAH 1:Yesterday we heard how the returned exiles responded to Ezra’s shock and demonstration of his sorrow, and his prayer of repentance. The book ended with the names of those who were found guilty of forbidden marriages. Note that these are not just names of the guilty, but names of those who repented and sacrificed to God. They are the names of the forgiven. In some ways— and not all, this shows the kind of seriousness with which church discipline spoken of in the New Testament should be conducted. (Matthew 18, 1 & 2 Corinthians) As I said just a few days ago, the book of...

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NL-Day324 Ezra 9-10; Isaiah 33; Philippians 1 show art NL-Day324 Ezra 9-10; Isaiah 33; Philippians 1

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

EZRA 9-10: Yesterday we heard how Ezra introduced himself. Note that he spoke of himself in the 3rd person, but finally resorted to ‘I’. King Artaxerxes was certainly impressed by Ezra! Ezra was given  everything he could have wanted, guaranteeing full government support of the temple worship in every way. Note how methodical Ezra was, making sure that he took Levites and temple servants along. His total party must have been at least 1,000 men. So with women and children, it would have been quite a group. And evidently others were coming back separately as well. ISAIAH 33: Having eyes...

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NL-Day323 Ezra 7-8; Isaiah 32; 2 Corinthians 12:19-13:14 show art NL-Day323 Ezra 7-8; Isaiah 32; 2 Corinthians 12:19-13:14

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

EZRA 7-8: Yesterday we read of how King Darius completely sided with the Israelites seeking to reestablish the temple worship. Note that the letter to Darius from the government officials was rather complementary and not threatening loss to the king’s interests as the letter from the earlier officials. Remember also that this King Darius is the one who was duped into putting Daniel into the lions’ den, and who then issued a decree that everyone must respect Daniel’s God. ISAIAH 32: Isaiah’s prophecy in yesterday’s reading certainly came true! Is. 31:8 NLT “The Assyrians will be...

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NL-Day322 Ezra 5-6; Isaiah 31; 2 Corinthians 11:30-12:21 show art NL-Day322 Ezra 5-6; Isaiah 31; 2 Corinthians 11:30-12:21

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

EZRA 5-6:When the Israelites returned from exile, they were determined to get worship started again, and they made great progress, not waiting for the temple to be repaired in order to start sacrifices on an altar built upon the old location. They made a fast start to building too. But then opposition developed, and several Persian kings later the progress was halted. ISAIAH 31: One of the great verses from yesterday’s reading was this: Is. 30:15 NLT This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and...

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NL-Day321 Ezra 3-4; Isaiah 30; 2 Corinthians 11 show art NL-Day321 Ezra 3-4; Isaiah 30; 2 Corinthians 11

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

EZRA 3-4:Ezra, a scribe and priest, doesn’t start speaking about himself until chapter 7. Ancient copies of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were written on the same scroll, and Jewish tradition holds that Ezra wrote both of them. The dates of writing are somewhere between 458 and 420 BC. I kind of doubt that Ezra was the author for both books, because the writer of Nehemiah starts out right away using the first person pronoun ‘I’. The two books deal with two periods of time: Ezra deals with the rebuilding of the temple, and Nehemiah deals with the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem....

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NL-Day320 Ezra 1-2; Isaiah 29; 2 Corinthians 10 show art NL-Day320 Ezra 1-2; Isaiah 29; 2 Corinthians 10

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

EZRA 1:Before going to Ezra, I want to say that one can do a whole lot of digging deeper in the last two chapters of Daniel. History tells about those kings, and we know from what Jesus said and what is written in Revelation, that God plans for history to repeat itself. The main ‘take-away’ points are clear, just as they are in Revelation: Blessed are those who endure and live wise and holy lives. It is a great time now to return to those three small remaining books of history remaining for us to read this year: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. These books allow us to see the fulfilment of...

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NL-Day319 Daniel 10:20-12:13; Isaiah 28; 2 Corinthians 9 show art NL-Day319 Daniel 10:20-12:13; Isaiah 28; 2 Corinthians 9

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

DANIEL 10:20—12:In yesterday’s reading, we heard Daniel’s sincere prayer. Note that he had been seeking the Lord with limited fasting for 3 weeks. Then the angel Gabriel is again sent with a message for Daniel. Note that the phrase ‘anoint the Most Holy Place’ is probably referring to what we read about in Hebrews recently— that which our High Priest Jesus did in heaven. Gabriel’s message about seventy sets of seven, or seventy weeks and 62 weeks, are both a difficult translational problem and a prophetic mystery. If we could solve the prophetic mystery, then we would know how to...

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NL-Day318 Daniel 9-10; Isaiah 26:20-27:13; 2 Corinthians 8 show art NL-Day318 Daniel 9-10; Isaiah 26:20-27:13; 2 Corinthians 8

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

DANIEL 9-10:Yesterday in Daniel, we heard of the vision of four beasts representing four kingdoms. After the fourth would be the start of the rule of One whose kingdom would last forever. This vision was explained, then Daniel had a second and more detailed vision. It is a major amazing sign of God’s sovereignty over human governments that Alexander the Great is so clearly portrayed, and after that the iron kingdom of Rome. Just as certain as these things happened, our Savior’s reign will one day come to earth. I have been referring to Daniel 7 all year, to the section where he saw...

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More Episodes

GENESIS 46:
In yesterday’s two chapters, Joseph's brothers went back to Egypt with Benjamin, Joseph's younger brother. Joseph contrived a creative way to reveal his identity. When Pharaoh heard about Joseph's brothers, he helped provide for Jacob's family to come to Egypt.

JOB 28:
Did you notice in yesterday’s reading of Job 27 that my voice suddenly turned sarcastic sounding? In some translations, one of them being GNT, the second part of chapter 27 (beginning at verse 13) is assigned to Zophar. Actually, that idea, proposed by several commentators, has gone out of fashion. NLT goes strictly with the assignments of speakers as in the Hebrew, where all of chapters 27-28 are assigned to Job. The reason that commentators proposed Zophar as the speaker is that the second part of chapter 27 sounds mighty like things Job’s opponents have already said. By my tone of voice, I attempted to show that Job is sarcastically repeating his opponents’ arguments.

1PETER 1:22—2:
Peter addressed his letter to “To God's chosen people who live as [refugees/foreigners] scattered throughout” various provinces. But it is clear that Peter also has a spiritual meaning in mind, as the song says, “This world is not my home.” In chapter 2, Peter again comforts us and gives wonderful descriptions of our identity because of being joined to Christ. The first verse of chapter 2 starts with ‘then/So’, so let’s start out by reviewing the last verses of chapter 1, starting at v22.

NLT Translation notes:
Job 28:6 [Down there/Here] the rocks contain precious lapis lazuli,
and the dust contains gold.
16 [Wisdom is//It’s] worth more than all the gold of Ophir,
greater than precious onyx or lapis lazuli.
19 Precious peridot from Ethiopia cannot be exchanged for [wisdom/it].
====
1Ptr. 2:5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of [Christ Jesus//Jesus Christ], you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
6 As [God says in the Scriptures// the Scriptures say],
“I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem,
chosen for great honor,
and anyone who [believes/trusts] in him
will never be [disappointed/disgraced].”
[Both meanings for this word are good. I simply prefer 'disappointed'. I think the idea is that No one who trusts in Him will find out that they have believed a lie. See Biblewebapp.com.]
7 Yes, you who [believe/trust] in him recognize [how precious that Cornerstone is!//the honor God has given him.]
But for those who reject him, [the Scriptures say,]
“The stone that the builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.”
[In 7a, NLT is not wrong. (Almost always when I make changes, it is not correcting mistakes, but simply choosing an alternative.) The Greek is very terse: “For you who believe therefore is the honor,” And the choice of meaning may be conditioned on what choice the translator has made at for  disgraced /disappointed' above. I totally do not like ESV here: “So the honor is for you who believe,” Such a translation takes the focus off Christ and puts it on us. It seems to me that NIV is much better: “Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.”]
9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people.
You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. [As the Scriptures say,/0]
11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” [in this world] to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
13 For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority— whether [that be/0] the king as head of state,
16 [You//For you] are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.
21 For God [has/0] called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.