Through the Bible – Day 292

₁₇Some of you get yourselves ready and go to a garden to worship a foreign goddess. You eat the meat of pigs, lizards, and mice. But I, the LORD, will destroy you for this.

₁₈I know everything you do and think! The time has now come to bring together the people of every language and nation and to show them my glory ₁₉by proving what I can do. I will send the survivors to Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Meshech, Tubal, Javan, and to the distant islands. I will send them to announce my wonderful glory to nations that have never heard about me.

₂₀They will bring your relatives from the nations as an offering to me, the LORD. They will come on horses, chariots, wagons, mules, and camels to Jerusalem, my holy mountain. It will be like the people of Israel bringing the right offering to my temple. ₂₁I promise that some of them will be priests and others will be helpers in my temple. I, the LORD, have spoken.

₂₂I also promise that you will always have descendants and will never be forgotten, just as the new heavens and the new earth that I create will last for ever. ₂₃On the first day of each month and on each Sabbath, everyone will worship me. I, the LORD, have spoken.

₂₄My people will go out and look at the dead bodies of those who turned against me. The worms there never die, the fire never stops burning, and the sight of those bodies will be disgusting to everyone.

₁Don't correct an older man. Encourage him, as you would your own father. Treat younger men as you would your own brother, ₂and treat older women as you would your own mother. Show the same respect to younger women that you would to your sister.

₃Take care of any widow who is really in need. ₄But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should learn to serve God by taking care of her, as she once took care of them. This is what God wants them to do. ₅A widow who is really in need is one who doesn't have any relatives. She has faith in God, and she keeps praying to him night and day, asking for his help.

₆A widow who thinks only about having a good time is already dead, even though she is still alive.

₇Tell all this to everyone, so they will do the right thing. ₈People who don't take care of their relatives, and especially their own families, have given up their faith. They are worse than someone who doesn't have faith in the Lord.

₉For a widow to be put on the list of widows, she must be at least sixty years old, and she must have been faithful in marriage. ₁₀She must also be well known for doing all sorts of good things, such as raising children, giving food to strangers, welcoming God's people into her home, helping people in need, and always making herself useful.

₁₁Don't put young widows on the list. They may later have a strong desire to get married. Then they will turn away from Christ ₁₂and become guilty of breaking their promise to him. ₁₃Besides, they will become lazy and get into the habit of going from house to house. Next, they will start gossiping and become busybodies, talking about things that are none of their business.

₁₄I would prefer that young widows get married, have children, and look after their families. Then the enemy won't have any reason to say insulting things about us. ₁₅Look what's already happened to some of the young widows! They have turned away to follow Satan.

₁₆If a woman who is a follower has any widows in her family, she should help them. This will keep the church from having that burden, and then the church can help widows who are really in need.

₁₇Church leaders who do their job well deserve to be paid twice as much, especially if they work hard at preaching and teaching. ₁₈It is just as the Scriptures say, “Don't muzzle an ox when you are using it to grind grain.” You also know the saying, “Workers are worth their pay.”

₁₉Don't listen to any charge against a church leader, unless at least two or three people bring the same charges. ₂₀But if any of the leaders should keep on sinning, they must be corrected in front of the whole group, as a warning to everyone else.

₂₁In the presence of God and Christ Jesus and their chosen angels, I order you to follow my instructions! Be fair with everyone, and don't have any favourites.

₂₂Don't be too quick to accept people into the service of the Lord by placing your hands on them.

Don't sin because others do, but stay close to God.

₂₃Stop drinking only water. Take a little wine to help your stomach trouble and the other illnesses you always have.

₂₄Some people get caught in their sins straight away, even before the time of judgment. But other people's sins don't show up until later. ₂₅It is the same with good deeds. Some are easily seen, but none of them can be hidden.