Even in the Shadows: Living With Depression

The Father Lens: Helping Your Kids See Who God Is Through Who You Are

Where Are You? A Theology of Suffering

Real. Loved. Strengthened: 7 Days With God

Parenting Through God’s Lens: Seeing Your Child the Way God Does

Deep Roots, Steady Faith

Marry Me

The Invitation of Christmas

Grace & Truth

The Single Season

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch12" data-usfm="GEN.12">
 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">The Call of Abram</div><div class="p"> 1The Lord had said to Abram, &#8220;Go from your country, your people and your father&#8217;s household to the land I will show you.</div><div class="q1"> 2&#8220;I will make you into a great nation,</div><div class="q2">and I will bless you;</div><div class="q1">I will make your name great,</div><div class="q2">and you will be a blessing.#12:2 Or be seen as blessed</div><div class="q1"> 3I will bless those who bless you,</div><div class="q2">and whoever curses you I will curse;</div><div class="q1">and all peoples on earth</div><div class="q2">will be blessed through you.&#8221;#12:3 Or earth / will use your name in blessings (see 48:20)</div><div class="p"> 4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.</div><div class="p"> 6Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7The Lord appeared to Abram and said, &#8220;To your offspring#12:7 Or seed I will give this land.&#8221; So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.</div><div class="p"> 8From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 9Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.</div><div class="s1">Abram in Egypt</div><div class="p"> 10Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, &#8220;I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12When the Egyptians see you, they will say, &#8216;This is his wife.&#8217; Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15And when Pharaoh&#8217;s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.</div><div class="p"> 17But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram&#8217;s wife Sarai. 18So Pharaoh summoned Abram. &#8220;What have you done to me?&#8221; he said. &#8220;Why didn&#8217;t you tell me she was your wife? 19Why did you say, &#8216;She is my sister,&#8217; so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!&#8221; 20Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="GEN.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">Abram and Lot Separate</div><div class="p"> 1So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.</div><div class="p"> 3From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 5Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7And quarreling arose between Abram&#8217;s herders and Lot&#8217;s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.</div><div class="p"> 8So Abram said to Lot, &#8220;Let&#8217;s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9Is not the whole land before you? Let&#8217;s part company. If you go to the left, I&#8217;ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I&#8217;ll go to the left.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 14The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, &#8220;Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring#13:15 Or seed; also in verse 16 forever. 16I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch14" data-usfm="GEN.14">
 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">Abram Rescues Lot</div><div class="p"> 1At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar,#14:1 That is, Babylonia; also in verse 9 Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goyim, 2these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea Valley). 4For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.</div><div class="p"> 5In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim 6and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert. 7Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.</div><div class="p"> 8Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim 9against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar&#8212;four kings against five. 10Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills. 11The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. 12They also carried off Abram&#8217;s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.</div><div class="p"> 13A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother#14:13 Or a relative; or an ally of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram. 14When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.</div><div class="p"> 17After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King&#8217;s Valley).</div><div class="p"> 18Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19and he blessed Abram, saying,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Blessed be Abram by God Most High,</div><div class="q2">Creator of heaven and earth.</div><div class="q1"> 20And praise be to God Most High,</div><div class="q2">who delivered your enemies into your hand.&#8221;</div><div class="m">Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.</div><div class="p"> 21The king of Sodom said to Abram, &#8220;Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22But Abram said to the king of Sodom, &#8220;With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 23that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, &#8216;I made Abram rich.&#8217; 24I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me&#8212;to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.&#8221;</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="GEN.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">The Lord&#8217;s Covenant With Abram</div><div class="p"> 1After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Do not be afraid, Abram.</div><div class="q2">I am your shield,#15:1 Or sovereign</div><div class="q2">your very great reward.#15:1 Or shield; / your reward will be very great&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2But Abram said, &#8220;Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit#15:2 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?&#8221; 3And Abram said, &#8220;You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Then the word of the Lord came to him: &#8220;This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.&#8221; 5He took him outside and said, &#8220;Look up at the sky and count the stars&#8212;if indeed you can count them.&#8221; Then he said to him, &#8220;So shall your offspring#15:5 Or seed be.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.</div><div class="p"> 7He also said to him, &#8220;I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8But Abram said, &#8220;Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9So the Lord said to him, &#8220;Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.</div><div class="p"> 12As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13Then the Lord said to him, &#8220;Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, &#8220;To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi#15:18 Or river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates&#8212; 19the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.&#8221;</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="GEN.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">Hagar and Ishmael</div><div class="p"> 1Now Sarai, Abram&#8217;s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2so she said to Abram, &#8220;The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.</div><div class="p">When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, &#8220;You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6&#8220;Your slave is in your hands,&#8221; Abram said. &#8220;Do with her whatever you think best.&#8221; Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.</div><div class="p"> 7The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8And he said, &#8220;Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I&#8217;m running away from my mistress Sarai,&#8221; she answered.</div><div class="p"> 9Then the angel of the Lord told her, &#8220;Go back to your mistress and submit to her.&#8221; 10The angel added, &#8220;I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11The angel of the Lord also said to her:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;You are now pregnant</div><div class="q2">and you will give birth to a son.</div><div class="q1">You shall name him Ishmael,#16:11 Ishmael means God hears.</div><div class="q2">for the Lord has heard of your misery.</div><div class="q1"> 12He will be a wild donkey of a man;</div><div class="q2">his hand will be against everyone</div><div class="q2">and everyone&#8217;s hand against him,</div><div class="q1">and he will live in hostility</div><div class="q2">toward#16:12 Or live to the east / of all his brothers.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: &#8220;You are the God who sees me,&#8221; for she said, &#8220;I have now seen#16:13 Or seen the back of the One who sees me.&#8221; 14That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi#16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.</div><div class="p"> 15So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJHN">
 <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="JHN.9">
 <div class="label">9</div><div class="s1">Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind</div><div class="p"> 1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, &#8220;Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3 &#8220;Neither this man nor his parents sinned,&#8221; said Jesus, &#8220;but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man&#8217;s eyes. 7&#8220;Go,&#8221; he told him, &#8220;wash in the Pool of Siloam&#8221; (this word means &#8220;Sent&#8221;). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.</div><div class="p"> 8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, &#8220;Isn&#8217;t this the same man who used to sit and beg?&#8221; 9Some claimed that he was.</div><div class="p">Others said, &#8220;No, he only looks like him.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But he himself insisted, &#8220;I am the man.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;How then were your eyes opened?&#8221; they asked.</div><div class="p"> 11He replied, &#8220;The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12&#8220;Where is this man?&#8221; they asked him.</div><div class="p">&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; he said.</div><div class="s1">The Pharisees Investigate the Healing</div><div class="p"> 13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man&#8217;s eyes was a Sabbath. 15Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. &#8220;He put mud on my eyes,&#8221; the man replied, &#8220;and I washed, and now I see.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Some of the Pharisees said, &#8220;This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But others asked, &#8220;How can a sinner perform such signs?&#8221; So they were divided.</div><div class="p"> 17Then they turned again to the blind man, &#8220;What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.&#8221;</div><div class="p">The man replied, &#8220;He is a prophet.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man&#8217;s parents. 19&#8220;Is this your son?&#8221; they asked. &#8220;Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;We know he is our son,&#8221; the parents answered, &#8220;and we know he was born blind. 21But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don&#8217;t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.&#8221; 22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23That was why his parents said, &#8220;He is of age; ask him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. &#8220;Give glory to God by telling the truth,&#8221; they said. &#8220;We know this man is a sinner.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25He replied, &#8220;Whether he is a sinner or not, I don&#8217;t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26Then they asked him, &#8220;What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27He answered, &#8220;I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 28Then they hurled insults at him and said, &#8220;You are this fellow&#8217;s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don&#8217;t even know where he comes from.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30The man answered, &#8220;Now that is remarkable! You don&#8217;t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 34To this they replied, &#8220;You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!&#8221; And they threw him out.</div><div class="s1">Spiritual Blindness</div><div class="p"> 35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, &#8220;Do you believe in the Son of Man?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 36&#8220;Who is he, sir?&#8221; the man asked. &#8220;Tell me so that I may believe in him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 37Jesus said, &#8220;You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38Then the man said, &#8220;Lord, I believe,&#8221; and he worshiped him.</div><div class="p"> 39Jesus said,#9:38,39 Some early manuscripts do not have Then the man said&#8230; 39 Jesus said, &#8220;For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, &#8220;What? Are we blind too?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 41Jesus said, &#8220;If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

To the WordSample

Scripture

About this Plan

Related Plans