Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast

Phil Fields
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast

Join us in reading through the whole Good News Bible (GNT) in 365 24-minute-long podcasts!

  1. EPISODE 1

    001: Genesis 1-2; Job 1; Mark 1:1-28

    Congratulations on starting TODAY on a life-transforming journey! The Digging Deeper Daily plan will help you be successful in your commitment to read the whole Bible in a year. The unique order of the readings— together with the brief devotional notes, will help you see the various threads that unify the message of the Old and the New Testaments. I hope these notes will help you remember what you have read the day before, and hint at the deep and incredibly rich treasures in God’s Word. But the most satisfying treasures that you find this year will be the ones you dig to discover for yourself! Check out the ‘Shovels’ page of dailybiblereading.info for tools to help you go deeper in your study. Please also check out our free dedicated listening apps for your smart device by searching for the DailyBibleReading podcast in the app store or play store. GENESIS 1-2: The first five books of the Bible are the Jewish Torah, and the Bible refers to them collectively as ‘the Law’. Many other books in the Bible attribute the authorship of these five books to Moses. Genesis is the foundational book of the whole Bible. When we were in our first Bible translation project among the Orya in Papua, Indonesia, I witnessed how getting a little detail of the foundation wrong (such as, how the first sin happened) can wreck the whole building that is being constructed. This book of Genesis tells us what God wants us to know about the beginning of our world, the beginning of sin, mankind’s rebellion against God, and who God and Satan are. JOB 1: The story of Job is set in the period of the patriarch Abraham, and it takes place in the land of the East. What I did not realize until recently is that signs indicate that this book was written at a later time and almost certainly by an Israelite. By the author writing that Job was “the richest man in the East”, it places the author in the West, in the land of Israel. The author frequently uses the name of ‘Yahweh’, which I think would not have been done in Abraham’s time— which was long before God’s name was revealed to Moses at the burning bush. The author was a highly educated man. All of the book— except the first two chapters, are in exquisite poetry. The author displays an in-depth knowledge of mythology, the constellations, and the current wisdom concerning the world— including the underworld and traits of exotic animals. I might as well say it: The philosophy of this book is worthy of Solomon. Whoever he is, the author displays incredible wisdom. One would expect an ancient book that is didactic in nature to end with a neat answer that sums up the author’s opinion. Or one would expect an ancient author to create a debate where the hero is totally right and the other speakers are clearly wrong. Instead, all the human speakers in the book of Job mix truth and error. It is a mark of inspired wisdom that in the end, the book of Job leaves us still pondering and searching for some answers. MARK 1a: Due to the 400 word limit for the YouVersion Devotional Content pages, the introduction to Mark is given on Day 2. GNT Translation notes: 1 This is the Good News about [Christ Jesus//Jesus Christ], the Son of God. [The order in Greek here is ‘Jesus Christ’, and sometimes the Greek puts the order the other way around. I will consistently read ‘Christ Jesus’. Here is the reason I do this: Although it has become natural for us to say ‘Jesus Christ’, it is actually against English grammar. ‘Christ’ is a title. And in English, titles (such as president, doctor, or ambassador) always come first. The reason why I point this out is this: I have found people who think that ‘Christ’ is Jesus’ last name. The title ‘Christ’ (from Greek) means exactly the same thing as Messiah (from Hebrew). Both mean ‘anointed one’. You will notice that I read many Bible names in a strange way. I read them with a more phonetic pronunciation— which in fact, is mo

    23 min
  2. EPISODE 1

    076: Numbers 14; Psalm 34; Luke 22:1-38

    NUMBERS 14: Yesterday in Numbers, we again found out what the Lord thinks when we grumble against him! Let's remember Miriam. Then the Lord commanded to send out the spies, but after taking stock of the land of Canaan, they brought an evil, unbelieving report— forgetting all the miracles the Lord had done to bring them out of Egypt. Psalm 34: Today we read Psalm 34, which is another acrostic psalm. I cannot write a better introduction than the one already written by the ancient Rabbis. LUKE 22a: Yesterday in chapter 21, we heard Jesus' prophecy about what will happen in judgment upon Jerusalem before his return. Jesus said about his prophecies in chapter 21:32-33, “I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” If we take away the part about Jesus coming again in a cloud, then many of the people there would have lived long enough to see the other things Jesus talked about in that chapter. But if we include His coming again in a cloud, then to define what Jesus meant by ‘this generation’, we have other Scriptures that imply to us that God defines a ‘generation’ as all the people in a historical epoch of perhaps thousands of years. Then the next verse says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Well, here we are, after more than 2000 years, still reading his words. Jesus said that at a time when it would have been highly unlikely for his words to be preserved. But his words and those of the apostles have been preserved in more manuscripts than the sayings or writings of any other historical figure before the invention of the printing press. When papyrus didn’t last, believers copied the books on leather. Not only will Jesus’ words outlast heaven and earth, but we should be amazed at the incredible quality of God’s Word. Other ancient books are not of this literary quality. And compared to something like the Islamic Al-Koran and Hadith, the whole Bible is remarkably free of things that modern generations feel the need to sweep under the table. There are prophecies in the Bible (such as those in Luke 21) that cause us to wonder how they could happen, but God has shown us in so many fulfillments of Old Testament prophecies, that He likes to surprise us by fulfilling his prophecies in ways humans could not predict.

    22 min
  3. EPISODE 2

    002: Genesis 3-4; Job 2; Mark 1:29-45

    For more information about the features of this reading plan, please see the ‘ReadMe’ PDF file linked in the header of http://dailygntbiblereading .info. You will note that I read most Bible names phonetically— rather than the using normal English pronunciation. This means that the letter A will have a consistent sound ‘ah’ and the letter I will be pronounced ‘ee’. This happens to match Indonesian pronunciations and that of many other languages. This also makes the pronunciation more like that of the source languages, Hebrew and Greek. GENESIS 3-4: In chapter 2 of Genesis, we saw that Eve was created and introduced to Adam. And the pair at the end of the chapter were “naked and not embarrassed/unashamed.” As I said in yesterday’s introduction, I have seen first-hand in my work in Indonesia that when a people group misunderstands and twists the story in Genesis 1-3, it will have far-reaching consequences for their lives. In the case of the Orya people, twisting the story of the fall caused much suffering and misery among families. JOB 2: At the close of chapter 1 of Job, Job had lost virtually everything he had, including his possessions, livestock, and children. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!” MARK 1b: Mark does not specifically identify himself as the author, but the church fathers unanimously say that the John Mark mentioned several times in the New Testament was the author. Mark was a companion of Peter, so the eyewitness content in this book is that of Peter. I previously held a view based on internal evidence and made popular in the 20th century that Mark was the first Gospel to be written, with Matthew and Luke using Mark’s record as a resource. But now I think that the testimony of the church fathers is more likely to be true: Matthew and Luke were written before this Gospel, and Mark transcribed what Peter taught about the life of Jesus, either shortly before or after Peter’s martyrdom in Rome— which happened somewhere between 64-67 AD.  If Mark wrote this account in Rome, that would help to explain why he gives background information to some Jewish customs that would have been unknown to his Roman readers, and why he doesn’t include teachings of Jesus which were based on the Jewish Scriptures and religion. Instead he tells us the plain story of Jesus and his miracles, so that the reader finds out who Jesus is. Yesterday in chapter 1 of Mark, Jesus was baptized by John, called his first disciples, and cast out an evil spirit from a man in a synagogue. GNT Translation note: Gen. 3:15 I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel.” [Verse 15 has several translational difficulties. When you find a place where you would like to understand why translation differ, I recommend looking at Lumina.bible.org and reading  the notes to the NET.]

    20 min
  4. EPISODE 3

    003: Genesis 5-6; Job 3; Mark 2

    GENESIS 5-6: In chapter 3 of Genesis, the Lord gave his judgment against the serpent. God talked about the woman’s offspring (which is a collective singular noun) when speaking to the serpent, and said, “her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's[c] heel.” This is the very first prophecy looking forward to a Messiah and Redeemer who will crush Satan’s head. Just before that, there is another picture worth noting: God provided clothes for the man and woman made from animal skins. This is the first hint of the sacrificial system that prefigures Christ. JOB 3: Today we read Job’s first speech. In the Bible— and especially in Job and the Psalms, we find out that God thoroughly understands and takes into account the fact that humans suffer. This is shown in the fact that such deep expressions of suffering are found in God’s Word— right from the earliest writings. MARK 2: Yesterday in the second half of Mark 1, we read of Jesus miraculously healing people in Capernaum, and his refusing to stay only there. He preached and cast out demons all over the region of Galilee. The healing of the man with leprosy is notable because of the exchange between Jesus and that man, and also the results of the man’s not following Jesus’ instructions. ——————— How can you get more out of your Bible reading this year? My top advice is to SLOW DOWN! The readings in this plan take around 20 minutes if read aloud. If you read silently, you might finish in only 10 minutes. But if you skim through like that, you won’t retain very much! I suggest these two ways to slow down: Read out loud to yourself. Read expressively. When you find that your first attempt didn’t quite have the right intonation, go back and read the sentence again. Take time to think about— and pray about, what you have just read. Read along while listening to the Daily Bible Reading Podcast. This will definitely slow you down. And one extra advantage is that each podcast ends with a short prayer that is aimed at helping you apply what you have just read. The landing page at http://dailybiblereading.info gives various ways to conveniently listen to the podcasts using any kind of smart device. GNT Translation notes: Job 3:19 Everyone is there (in the world of the dead), the famous and the unknown, and slaves at last are free. ==== Mrk. 2:5 Seeing how much [they believed in him (or, that Jesus could heal the man)//faith they had], Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” [I will make this modification frequently and will explain it soon in the translation notes.] 15 Later on Jesus was having a meal in Levi's house.[a] [Many tax collectors and other outcasts were//A large number of tax collectors and other outcasts was] following Jesus, and many of them joined him and his disciples at the table. 18 On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting. … [This makes it sound like they were friends and doing this together. So in Indonesia we translated like this: 18 On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist were fasting, and the Pharisees were fasting also.] [In most languages of the world— and really even in English, it is ungrammatical to talk of oneself in the third person using ‘he/his or a title. I will consistently modify most places like this one to show that Jesus was talking about himself. I do this partly because many second-language speakers of English listen to these podcasts, and it also makes the meaning clearer even for native English speakers.] 28 So [I— as the Son of Man, am// the Son of Man is] Lord even of the Sabbath.”

    18 min
  5. EPISODE 4

    004: Genesis 7-8; Job 4; Mark 3

    GENESIS 7-8: In Genesis 5, we heard the overview of the descendants of Adam and Eve up to Noah. In chapter 6, Noah was further introduced. Also the reason for the flood was explained. JOB 4: In chapter 3 Job cursed the day he was born and expressed his deep misery. Remember that in the speeches of Job’s three friends we will see a mixture of truth and error. In particular, we should not follow Eliphaz’s example in today’s chapter. The Bible tells us repeatedly that we are not to trust or listen to communication from spirits. We will read the second chapter of Eliphaz’ response tomorrow. MARK 3: In Mark 2, Jesus shocked his listeners by first forgiving a paralyzed man’s sins before actually healing the man’s body. And in three other events in chapter 2 we can see the beginnings of the conflict between Jesus and the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees. ——————— Be curious! When you find something in the Bible that brings up a question, there usually are good answers. Check out the Shovels page at http://dailybiblereading.info.  I invite you to share the treasures you find, and your questions with the Digging Deeper Daily online community. See the Sharing Together page at dailybiblereading.info. GNT Translation notes: Job 4:17 “Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God    or be pure before his Creator? [Of course not!] 19 Do you think he will trust a creature of clay [like you],   a thing of dust that can be crushed like a moth? ==== Mrk. 3:19 and Judas [the man from Cariot//Iscariot], who betrayed Jesus. 22 Some teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem were saying, “He has Beelzebul in him! It is the chief of the demons who gives him the power to drive [demons//them] out.” 27 “No one can break into a strong man's house [like Satan’s dominion] and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house. [Many times the rhetorical questions of Jesus can be misunderstood, and in many languages it is better to translate them as statements, as I have done here:] 33 Jesus answered, “[I’ll tell you who my mother is. And I will show you who my brothers are!//Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?]”

    18 min
  6. EPISODE 5

    005: Genesis 9-10; Job 5; Mark 4:1-25

    In the YouVersion devotional notes for this episode and at the bottom of these program notes in the listening app, you can read about the difference between literal and meaning-based translations. So I think it is a good time, at the beginning of this podcast to say a few words about the two translations I have used in the podcasts. First of all, I agree with what the translators of the NIV said in the Preface to the NIV. They said, “There is no such thing as a perfect translation.” That includes the GNT as well as even the more famous and popular NIV. The whole purpose of these podcasts is to promote the reading, understanding, and fully believing of God’s Word. Literal translations will include passages that are impossible for modern listeners to assimilate in audio form. So I want to read a version that my listeners can understand even if they are driving to work, or even if they are children like my grandkids. The GNT is a wonderful translation of God’s Word, and I think every English speaking believer should read it at least once in their lives. If you have heard people say bad things about it, that is likely because it caused controversy when it was first introduced and when people were not used to using more than one Bible. If the GNT were released today, there would be no controversy. The NLT is my favorite Bible translation. Its predecessor was the Living Bible, which it cannot be called a faithful translation, but is a paraphrase. The NLT was created with a big team of scholars and is a very reliable meaning-based translation. Because of my Bible translation experience, there are things that I want to tweak in any translation. Listeners to the podcasts from 2014-16 have not accused me so far of making controversial changes or of being doctrinally biased. The little tweaks I make to the GNT/NLT are intended to help listeners understand the meaning contained in the Biblical source languages, and they are documented at the bottom of the episode notes. GENESIS 9-10: In chapter 8 the flood receded. After everyone came out of the boat, Noah made a sacrifice. JOB 5: In chapter 4 Eliphaz implied that Job’s guilt was the reason he was being punished: “Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed? 8 NLT My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same. MARK 4a: In chapter 3 we have seen that opposition to Jesus was mounting from the Jewish religious leaders. They were already plotting to kill him and saying he performed miracles by the power of Satan. I want to comment briefly about the sin of blaspheming or reviling the Holy Spirit that we heard about at the end of chapter 3. Some people worry about whether they have done this and committed the unforgivable sin. Note the context here. The experts in the Law were saying the Jesus was working by the power of _Satan_. But Jesus was working by the power of the _Holy Spirit_. A person in a frame of mind like those Law experts will never repent. So Jesus was warning the Pharisees because they were mighty close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit by what they were saying about Jesus. I want you to know this: If you worry about whether in some past time you have blasphemed the Holy Spirit, then you haven’t! If you are the kind of person who feels sorrow for sins already committed and are ready to repent of sin, then you have never blasphemed the Holy Spirit, nor are you likely to ever do so. ——————— Choose a good Bible version for your reading this year! I recommend that you choose a good _meaning-based_ translation for your Bible reading this year, not one of the _literal_ versions. I recommend that you use a literal version whenever you have time for in-depth study, but not for your daily devotional reading. Here’s the difference: The advantage of a literal translation is that it gives you a word-for-word view into the _form_ of the original. The disadvantage of literal trans

    21 min
  7. EPISODE 6

    006: Genesis 11-12; Job 6; Mark 4:21-41

    GENESIS 11-12: Yesterday in Genesis 9-10, we heard the story of Noah's drunkenness and his curse on Canaan because of it (which really wasn't very fair since it was his father Ham who actually caused the offense to Noah while he was drunk, and because Ham also had other sons). After that, however, we heard about Noah's descendants. JOB 6: In chapter 5 of Job, Eliphaz continued to imply that Job had sinned: Job 5:6 NLT Evil does not grow in the soil,    nor does trouble grow out of the ground. 7 No indeed! We bring trouble on ourselves,    as surely as sparks fly up from a fire. Eliphaz’ main point in that chapter was that Job would be forgiven and blessed if he repented, as he said in v. 17-18: 17 Happy is the person whom God corrects!    Do not resent it when he rebukes you. 18 God bandages the wounds he makes;    his hand hurts you, and his hand heals. There is truth in what Eliphaz says, and a similar statement to verse 17 is found in James 1. MARK 4b: Chapter 4 is the parable chapter of Mark, and today we read the second half. The Parable about the Different Kinds of Soil is in all three synoptic Gospels— which are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. That parable holds deep meaning that one never really grows out of. Each time you hear it, new facets come to light, and every believer should meditate on what kind of soil they are most like at the present time. This is a good place to note this: Rhetorical questions were often used by Jesus to start a new topic in his teaching, and at the end of chapter 4, he used two rhetorical questions to give a mild rebuke to the disciples. In many of the world’s languages, people don’t use rhetorical questions for starting a new topic, but most languages seem to use questions for rebuking.

    17 min
  8. EPISODE 7

    007: 2023 EveryWord --- Mark 16

    This year I have promised and planned to publish a supplemental episode of one kind or another on the 7th of each month. So welcome to this January 7th extra podcast! Today I will do my best to convince you that the last 12 verses of Mark 16 shouldn’t have brackets around them or footnotes that cast doubt on their authenticity. I believe that they are authentic Scripture inspired by God. Now, I try to stay away from saying anything controversial in the Daily Bible Reading Podcast series, and it kind of bothers me that here in this first Day 7 extra podcast of the year, I will say things that quite a few people with seminary training will consider leaning too much to the conservative side of the scale. But I feel constrained to be controversial now so I will come right out and say it: I believe what Moses (Deut. 8:3) and Jesus (Luk. 4:4) said: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word of God.” If we are to live by ‘every word’, then it makes sense to me to believe that God would preserve every word for us. Please remember that all Bible translations were made by humans. This means that there is no such thing as a perfect Bible translation, as almost all good versions state in their prefaces. Even the KJV translators admitted this in their Preface. So I ask for your patient understanding as I set out a weakness in the NLT. The NLT has this at Mark 16:8: 8 The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.[c] c The most reliable early manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark end at verse 8. Other manuscripts include various endings to the Gospel. A few include both the “shorter ending” and the “longer ending.” The majority of manuscripts include the “longer ending” immediately after verse 8. Then with a sub-heading in bold and italic font: [The most ancient manuscripts of Mark conclude with verse 16:8. Later manuscripts add one or both of the following endings.] [Shorter Ending of Mark] Then they briefly reported all this to Peter and his companions. Afterward Jesus himself sent them out from east to west with the sacred and unfailing message of salvation that gives eternal life. Amen. [Longer Ending of Mark] verses 9-20 … When you get to Day 26 you will note that I didn't read the shorter ending for the podcast. That ending has extremely thin support in ancient manuscripts, and where the words occur, the manuscripts often also have the longer ending, verses 9-20.   Some experts today think that Mark intended to end his Gospel with the words, “they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.” But this defies imagination! I don’t think authors started using the type of endings where you leave-the-audience-hanging until centuries later, like perhaps just two centuries ago. Remember that Mark starts with the words, “This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.” Mark shows a pattern of telling the outcome for every miracle. He is not about to leave the main thesis of his story without its fulfillment. The fulfillment of the starting thesis is found in the next to last verse (16:19), which says, “19 When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.” That verse is also an important doctrinal statement, since no other Gospel includes those words as part of the story of Jesus’ resurrection. And the same verse very appropriately links Mark’s Gospel with Peter’s teaching in 1Peter 3:22. I believe that God has preserved His Word for us. Therefore it is unacceptable to me to say that the Holy Spirit would leave a whole book of the NT without a clear ending. We have two choices for the ending: One says the ladies didn’t tell anyone because they were afraid. The other ends with Jesus at the right hand of God. Which one seems to be the proper ending to you?! The NLT has words in bold it

    20 min

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Join us in reading through the whole Good News Bible (GNT) in 365 24-minute-long podcasts!

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