GN-Day323 Ezra 7-8; Isaiah 32; 2 Corinthians 12:19-13:14

Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast

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 destroyed,but not by the swords of men.The sword of God will strike them,and they will panic and flee.

That happened on the night recorded in 2Kings 19 where the Lord put to death 185,000 men.

2Ki. 19:35b NLT “When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere.”

2CORINTHIANS 13:Yesterday we read the reasons why Paul boasted about his weaknesses— something that is utterly unintuitive for worldly people to understand. Then Paul continued to speak about what he hoped NOT to find on his upcoming visit to the Corinthian believers.

Chapter 13 is another good place to tout the virtues of a good meaning based translation. Paul uses the word ‘test’ in three different senses in this chapter. This makes several verses hard to understand in a literal translation. The NLT and the GNT have done a good job helping the reader understand the different senses in which Paul used that word.

Let’s continue from the last paragraph of chapter 12.

GNT Translation notes:2Cor. 13:4 For even though it was in weakness that he was put to death on the cross, it is by God's power that he lives. In union with him we also are weak; but in our relations with you we shall share God's power in [Christ’s//his] life.5 Put yourselves to the test and judge yourselves, to find out whether you are living in [full belief in Christ//faith]. Surely you know that Christ Jesus is in you[, don’t you?]— unless you [completely fail in that test of belief.//have completely failed.]6 I trust you will know that we are not failures [in proving apostolic power//as apostles of Christ//0].