The One Year Bible TLB (101 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
O Lord, what a variety you have made! And in wisdom you have made them all! The earth is full of your riches.
25
There before me lies the mighty ocean, teeming with life of every kind, both great and small.
26
And look! See the ships! And over there, the whale you made to play in the sea.
27
Every one of these depends on you to give them daily food.
28
You supply it, and they gather it. You open wide your hand to feed them, and they are satisfied with all your bountiful provision.
29
But if you turn away from them, then all is lost. And when you gather up their breath, they die and turn again to dust.
30
Then you send your Spirit, and new life is born
*
to replenish all the living of the earth.
31
Praise God forever! How he must rejoice in all his work!
32
The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains burst into flame at his touch.
33
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise God to my last breath!
34
May he be pleased by all these thoughts about him, for he is the source of all my joy.
35
Let all sinners perish—all who refuse to praise him. But I will praise him. Hallelujah!
Those who plot evil shall wander away and be lost, but those who plan good shall be granted mercy and quietness.
23
Work brings profit; talk brings poverty!
24
Wise men are praised for their wisdom; fools are despised for their folly.
May 5The leaders of Israel had vowed at Mizpah never to let their daughters marry a man from the tribe of Benjamin.
2
And now the Israeli leaders met at Bethel and sat before God until evening, weeping bitterly.
3
“O Lord God of Israel,” they cried out, “why has this happened, that now one of our tribes is missing?”
4
The next morning they were up early and built an altar, and offered sacrifices and peace offerings on it.
5
And they said among themselves, “Was any tribe of Israel not represented when we held our council before the Lord at Mizpah?” For at that time it was agreed by solemn oath that anyone who refused to come must die.
6
There was deep sadness throughout all Israel for the loss of their brother tribe, Benjamin.
“Gone,” they kept saying to themselves, “gone—an entire tribe of Israel has been cut off and is gone.
7
And how shall we get wives for the few who remain, since we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them our daughters?”
8-9
Then they thought again of their oath to kill anyone who refused to come to Mizpah and discovered that no one had attended from Jabesh-gilead.
10-12
So they sent 12,000 of their best soldiers to destroy the people of Jabesh-gilead. All the men, married women, and children were slain, but the young virgins of marriageable age were saved. There were 400 of these, and they were brought to the camp at Shiloh.
13
Then Israel sent a peace delegation to the little remnant of the men of Benjamin at Rimmon Rock.
14
The 400 girls were given to them as wives, and they returned to their homes; but there were not enough of these girls for all of them.
15
(What a sad time it was in Israel in those days because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.)
16
“What shall we do for wives for the others, since all the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead?” the leaders of Israel asked.
17
“There must be some way to get wives for them, so that an entire tribe of Israel will not be lost forever.
18
But we can’t give them our own daughters. We have sworn with a solemn oath that anyone who does this shall be cursed of God.”
19
Suddenly someone thought of the annual religious festival held in the fields of Shiloh, between Lebonah and Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem.
20
They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, “Go and hide in the vineyards,
21
and when the girls of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out and catch them and take them home with you to be your wives!
22
And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be understanding and let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find enough wives for them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead, and you couldn’t have given your daughters to them without being guilty.’”
23
So the men of Benjamin did as they were told and kidnapped the girls who took part in the celebration, and carried them off to their own land. Then they rebuilt their cities and lived in them.
24
So the people of Israel returned to their homes.
25
(There was no king in Israel in those days, and every man did whatever he thought was right.)
1:
1-2
Long ago when judges ruled in Israel, a man named Elimelech, from Bethlehem,
*
left the country because of a famine and moved to the land of Moab. With him were his wife, Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion.
3
During the time of their residence there, Elimelech died and Naomi was left with her two sons.
4-5
These young men, Mahlon and Chilion, married girls of Moab, Orpah and Ruth. But later, both men died, so that Naomi was left alone, without her husband or sons.
6-7
She decided to return to Israel with her daughters-in-law, for she had heard that the Lord had blessed his people by giving them good crops again.
8
But after they had begun their homeward journey, she changed her mind and said to her two daughters-in-law, “Why don’t you return to your parents’ homes instead of coming with me? And may the Lord reward you for your faithfulness to your husbands and to me.
9
And may he bless you with another happy marriage.” Then she kissed them, and they all broke down and cried.
10
“No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.”
11
But Naomi replied, “It is better for you to return to your own people. Do I have younger sons who could grow up to be your husbands?
*
12
No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to have a husband. And even if that were possible, and I became pregnant tonight, and bore sons
13
would you wait for them to grow up? No, of course not, my daughters; oh, how I grieve for you that the Lord has punished me in a way that injures you.”
14
And again they cried together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, and returned to her childhood home; but Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi.
15
“See,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; you should do the same.”
16
But Ruth replied, “Don’t make me leave you, for I want to go wherever you go and to live wherever you live; your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God;
17
I want to die where you die and be buried there. May the Lord do terrible things to me if I allow anything but death to separate us.”
18
And when Naomi saw that Ruth had made up her mind and could not be persuaded otherwise, she stopped urging her.
19
So they both came to Bethlehem, and the entire village was stirred by their arrival.
“Is it really Naomi?” the women asked.
20
But she told them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” (Naomi means “pleasant”; Mara means “bitter”) “for Almighty God has dealt me bitter blows.
21
I went out full and the Lord has brought me home empty; why should you call me Naomi when the Lord has turned his back on me and sent such calamity!”
22
(Their return from Moab and arrival in Bethlehem was at the beginning of the barley harvest.)
He had to go through Samaria on the way,
5-6
and around noon as he approached the village of Sychar, he came to Jacob’s Well, located on the parcel of ground Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jesus was tired from the long walk in the hot sun and sat wearily beside the well.
7
Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus asked her for a drink.
8
He was alone at the time as his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9
The woman was surprised that a Jew would ask a “despised Samaritan” for anything—usually they wouldn’t even speak to them!—and she remarked about this to Jesus.
10
He replied,
“If you only knew what a wonderful gift God has for you, and who I am, you would ask me for some
living
water!”
11
“But you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this is a very deep well! Where would you get this living water?
12
And besides, are you greater than our ancestor Jacob? How can you offer better water than this which he and his sons and cattle enjoyed?”
13
Jesus replied that people soon became thirsty again after drinking this water.
14
“But the water I give them,”
he said,
“becomes a perpetual spring within them, watering them forever with eternal life.”
15
“Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me some of that water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again and won’t have to make this long trip out here every day.”
16
“Go and get your husband,”
Jesus told her.
17-18
“But I’m not married,” the woman replied.
“All too true!”
Jesus said.
“For you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now.”
19
“Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet.
20
But say, tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim,
*
where our ancestors worshiped?”
21-24
Jesus replied,
“The time is coming, ma’am, when we will no longer be concerned about whether to worship the Father here or in Jerusalem. For it’s not
where
we worship that counts, but
how
we worship—is our worship spiritual and real? Do we have the Holy Spirit’s help? For God is Spirit, and we must have his help to worship as we should. The Father wants this kind of worship from us. But you Samaritans know so little about him, worshiping blindly, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes to the world through the Jews.”
25
The woman said, “Well, at least I know that the Messiah will come—the one they call Christ—and when he does, he will explain everything to us.”
26
Then Jesus told her,
“I am the Messiah!”
27
Just then his disciples arrived. They were surprised to find him talking to a woman, but none of them asked him why, or what they had been discussing.
28-29
Then the woman left her waterpot beside the well and went back to the village and told everyone, “Come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did! Can this be the Messiah?”
30
So the people came streaming from the village to see him.
31
Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus to eat.
32
“No,”
he said,
“I have some food you don’t know about.”
33
“Who brought it to him?” the disciples asked each other.
34
Then Jesus explained:
“My nourishment comes from doing the will of God who sent me, and from finishing his work.
35
Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields of human souls are ripening all around us, and are ready now for reaping.
36
The reapers will be paid good wages and will be gathering eternal souls into the granaries of heaven! What joys await the sower and the reaper, both together!
37
For it is true that one sows and someone else reaps.
38
I sent you to reap where you didn’t sow; others did the work, and you received the harvest.”
39
Many from the Samaritan village believed he was the Messiah because of the woman’s report: “He told me everything I ever did!”
40-41
When they came out to see him at the well, they begged him to stay at their village; and he did, for two days, long enough for many of them to believe in him after hearing him.
42
Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe because we have heard him ourselves, not just because of what you told us. He is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Thank the Lord for all the glorious things he does; proclaim them to the nations.
2
Sing his praises and tell everyone about his miracles.
3
Glory in the Lord; O worshipers of God, rejoice.
4
Search for him and for his strength, and keep on searching!
5-6
Think of the mighty deeds he did for us, his chosen ones—descendants of God’s servant Abraham, and of Jacob. Remember how he destroyed our enemies.
7
He is the Lord our God. His goodness
*
is seen everywhere throughout the land.
8-9
Though a thousand generations pass he never forgets his promise, his covenant with Abraham and Isaac
10-11
and confirmed with Jacob. This is his never-ending treaty with the people of Israel:
“I will give you the land of Canaan as your inheritance.”
12
He said this when they were but few in number, very few, and were only visitors in Canaan.
13
Later they were dispersed among the nations and were driven from one kingdom to another;
14
but through it all he would not let one thing be done to them apart from his decision.
*
He destroyed many a king who tried!
15
“Touch not these chosen ones of mine,” he warned, “and do not hurt my prophets.”