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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-Day341 Amos 5-6; Isaiah 47; 3 John 1 show art NL-Day341 Amos 5-6; Isaiah 47; 3 John 1

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

AMOS 5-6:One device that Amos used in yesterday’s reading was rhetorical questions. He asked a whole series of them like this one: 3:4 GNT Does a lion roar in the forest unless he has found a victim? All of his rhetorical questions expect the unspoken answer, No. And they all led up to this one: Amo. 3:8 NLT The lion has roared— so who isn’t frightened? The Sovereign LORD has spoken— so who can refuse to proclaim his message? And, surprisingly, the message the Lord proclaimed next was an invitation to Israel’s enemies to come and witness Israel’s destruction. After the...

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NL-Day340 Amos 3-4; Isaiah 45:22-46:13; 2 John 1 show art NL-Day340 Amos 3-4; Isaiah 45:22-46:13; 2 John 1

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

AMOS 3-4: As I said about Amos yesterday, he was wise in his methods. He condemned Syria, the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab before coming around to Judah and finally the northern kingdom, Israel. We also heard some of the wonderful word pictures Amos used. ISAIAH 45:22-46. Remember that in the last chapter Cyrus’ name was repeatedly mentioned. God’s motivation for making such bold predictions is clear: 19 NLT I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found. I...

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NL-Day339 Amos 1-2; Isaiah 44:24-45:25; 2 Timothy 4 show art NL-Day339 Amos 1-2; Isaiah 44:24-45:25; 2 Timothy 4

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

AMOS 1-2: If you are new to reading the Bible, I hope that you will remember the events and expressions that Joel used. One or two ideas were repeated by Jesus in the Gospels, and we will soon see how important Joel’s predictions are in Revelation. We turn now to Amos, whose name means ‘burden bearer’. Amos— like David and Gideon, started out as an ordinary guy going about his business as a shepherd and grower of sycamore figs. He was not a priest or a man with training as a prophet when God called him. Because of the mention of a great earthquake and king Uzziah, it is likely that...

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NL-Day338 Joel 2:28-3:21; Isaiah 44:12-28; 2 Timothy 3 show art NL-Day338 Joel 2:28-3:21; Isaiah 44:12-28; 2 Timothy 3

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

JOEL 2:28-3: An attack by an army of locusts must be so frightening! What descriptions! And even worse when God is bringing the attack as an act of judgement. Yet Joel offers hope. He encourages the people to come back to God and beg for the Lord’s help. We will pick up today re-reading the famous part of Joel 2. ISAIAH 44b: In the first part of this chapter God said: Is. 44:3 NLT For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children. 4 They will thrive like watered grass, like...

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NL-Day337 Joel 1-2; Isaiah 44:1-18; 2 Timothy 2 show art NL-Day337 Joel 1-2; Isaiah 44:1-18; 2 Timothy 2

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

JOEL 1:I feel the need to comment about chapter 9 of Esther and how the Jews “got rid” of their enemies. Remember that those Jews were not Christians. (I know how silly that sounds, but it is actually a common supposition among naive Christians.) The revelation of God’s will did not come all at once, and the Jews did not have the pleasure of knowing what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount or other pertinent NT passages. They most certainly did NOT ‘get rid’ of their enemies, except in the short run. All the relatives of the enemies slain raised up succeeding generations of people...

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NL-Day336 Esther 9-10; Isaiah 43; 2 Timothy 1 show art NL-Day336 Esther 9-10; Isaiah 43; 2 Timothy 1

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

ESTHER 9-10:We have heard how Esther’s request was granted, the king and Haman came to the second banquet, where Esther revealed her identity. The eunuch Harbona just happened to have pertinent information about Haman’s plans for Mordecai, and Haman was killed and impaled/hanged on the pole he had planned to use for Mordecai. Mordecai, coming into possession of the king’s signet ring, wrote an edict that allowed for the Jews to organize and defend themselves against their enemies. ISAIAH 43: In Isaiah 42 we heard twice about ‘the servant of the Lord’. The first passage is quoted in...

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NL-Day335 Esther 7-8; Isaiah 42; 2 Thessalonians 3 show art NL-Day335 Esther 7-8; Isaiah 42; 2 Thessalonians 3

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

ESTHER 7-8: In Esther 5 Haman planned to impale Mordecai on a pole in the NLT, or just hanged in the GNT. (Given the period of time, I think that the impaling method is more likely to be right.) But on the same night that Haman planned for that murder, God caused the king to have a sleepless night and read in the annals of the kingdom about Mordecai. Haman came before the king at just the right time to get assigned the task of honoring Mordecai. ISAIAH 42: In Isaiah 41 we again heard God predict the future, and challenge Israel’s idols to prophesy or do anything at all. 2THESSALONIANS 3: The...

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NL-Day334 Esther 5-6; Isaiah 41:8-29; 2 Thessalonians 2 show art NL-Day334 Esther 5-6; Isaiah 41:8-29; 2 Thessalonians 2

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

ESTHER 5-6: In Esther 3-4 Haman cast lots (purim) to find out that March 7 was the lucky date to exterminate the Jews. Mordecai requested that Esther intercede directly to the king. And since she hadn’t been called for, the only way to do that would endanger Esther herself, since no one was allowed to approach the king in the inner court uninvited. ISAIAH 41b: Did you notice in yesterday’s reading, we heard a description of a king that sounded similar to one described in the book of Daniel? Isaiah 41:2-4 NLT: 2 “Who has stirred up this king from the east, rightly calling him to God’s...

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NL-Day333 Esther 3-4; Isaiah 41:1-20; 2 Thessalonians 1 show art NL-Day333 Esther 3-4; Isaiah 41:1-20; 2 Thessalonians 1

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

ESTHER 3-4: Yesterday we heard how Esther became the queen, and how she continued to keep her Jewish background a secret. We also heard how Mordecai, her uncle, was promoted to a palace official after uncovering a plot to assassinate king Xerxes. Today we are introduced to the villain of the story— Haman. The Jews always read the book of Esther in the celebration of Purim. Whenever Haman’s name is read they boo and shake rattles or noisemakers to drown out his name. ISAIAH 41a: The shift to such beautiful poetry that occurs in chapter 40 of Isaiah is one of the things that has made people...

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NL-Day332 Esther 1-2; Isaiah 40:15-31; Philemon 1 show art NL-Day332 Esther 1-2; Isaiah 40:15-31; Philemon 1

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

ESTHER 1-2:In the final two chapters of Nehemiah, we heard of the culmination of Nehemiah’s work— the ceremony for the dedication of the wall. The people proved that the wall could stand up to more than just a fox walking on it. Then Nehemiah went back to Babylon. When he came back to Jerusalem, he needed to right several wrongs, as the people had allowed a deterioration in the temple worship. We now turn to the book of Esther, which may have been written by Mordecai (a major character in the book), or by Ezra or Nehemiah, who would have known this story. The king Xerxes was defeated in a...

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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.