The One Year Bible TLB (106 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words cause quarrels.
2
A wise teacher makes learning a joy; a rebellious teacher spouts foolishness.
3
The Lord is watching everywhere and keeps his eye on both the evil and the good.
May 12Then Samuel addressed the people again:
“Look,” he said, “I have done as you asked. I have given you a king.
2
I have selected him ahead of my own sons and now I stand here, an old, gray-haired man who has been in public service from the time he was a lad.
3
Now tell me as I stand before the Lord and before his anointed king—whose ox or donkey have I stolen? Have I ever defrauded you? Have I ever oppressed you? Have I ever taken a bribe? Tell me and I will make right whatever I have done wrong.”
4
“No,” they replied, “you have never defrauded or oppressed us in any way and you have never taken even one single bribe.”
5
“The Lord and his anointed king are my witnesses,” Samuel declared, “that you can never accuse me of robbing you.”
“Yes, it is true,” they replied.
6
“It was the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron,” Samuel continued. “He brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt.
7
“Now stand here quietly before the Lord as I remind you of all the good things he has done for you and for your ancestors:
8
“When the Israelites were in Egypt and cried out to the Lord, he sent Moses and Aaron to bring them into this land.
9
But they soon forgot about the Lord their God, so he let them be conquered by Sisera, the general of King Hazor’s army, and by the Philistines and the king of Moab.
10
“Then they cried to the Lord again and confessed that they had sinned by turning away from him and worshiping the Baal and Ashtaroth idols. And they pleaded, ‘We will worship you and you alone if you will only rescue us from our enemies.’
11
Then the Lord sent Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel to save you, and you lived in safety.
12
“But when you were afraid of Nahash, the king of Ammon, you came to me and said that you wanted a king to reign over you. But the Lord your God was already your King, for he has always been your King.
13
All right, here is the king you have chosen. Look him over. You have asked for him, and the Lord has answered your request.
14
“Now if you will fear and worship the Lord, and listen to his commandments and not rebel against the Lord, and if both you and your king follow the Lord your God, then all will be well.
15
But if you rebel against the Lord’s commandments and refuse to listen to him, then his hand will be as heavy upon you as it was upon your ancestors.
16
“Now watch as the Lord does great miracles.
17
You know that it does not rain at this time of the year, during the wheat harvest; I will pray for the Lord to send thunder and rain today, so that you will realize the extent of your wickedness in asking for a king!”
18
So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain; and all the people were very much afraid of the Lord and of Samuel.
19
“Pray for us lest we die!” they cried out to Samuel. “For now we have added to all our other sins by asking for a king.”
20
“Don’t be frightened,” Samuel reassured them. “You have certainly done wrong, but make sure now that you worship the Lord with true enthusiasm, and that you don’t turn your back on him in any way.
21
Other gods can’t help you.
22
The Lord will not abandon his chosen people, for that would dishonor his great name. He made you a special nation for himself—just because he wanted to!
23
“As for me, I will certainly not sin against the Lord by ending my prayers for you; and I will continue to teach you those things which are good and right.
24
“Trust the Lord and sincerely worship him; think of all the tremendous things he has done for you.
25
But if you continue to sin, you and your king will be destroyed.”
13:
1
By this time Saul had reigned for one year.
*
In the second year of his reign,
2
he selected three thousand special troops and took two thousand of them with him to Michmash and Mount Bethel while the other thousand remained with Jonathan, Saul’s son, in Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. The rest of the army was sent home.
3-4
Then Jonathan attacked and destroyed the garrison of the Philistines at Geba. The news spread quickly throughout the land of the Philistines, and Saul sounded the call to arms throughout Israel. He announced that he had destroyed the Philistine garrison and warned his men that the army of Israel stank to high heaven as far as the Philistines were concerned. So the entire Israeli army mobilized again and joined at Gilgal.
5
The Philistines recruited a mighty army of three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and so many soldiers that they were as thick as sand along the seashore; and they camped at Michmash east of Beth-aven.
6
When the men of Israel saw the vast mass of enemy troops, they lost their nerve entirely and tried to hide in caves, thickets, coverts, among the rocks, and even in tombs and cisterns.
7
Some of them crossed the Jordan River and escaped to the land of Gad and Gilead. Meanwhile, Saul stayed at Gilgal, and those who were with him trembled with fear at what awaited them.
8
Samuel had told Saul earlier to wait seven days for his arrival, but when he still didn’t come, and Saul’s troops were rapidly slipping away,
9
he decided to sacrifice the burnt offering and the peace offerings himself.
10
But just as he was finishing, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him and to receive his blessing,
11
but Samuel said, “What is this you have done?”
“Well,” Saul replied, “when I saw that my men were scattering from me, and that you hadn’t arrived by the time you said you would, and that the Philistines were at Michmash, ready for battle,
12
I said, ‘The Philistines are ready to march against us and I haven’t even asked for the Lord’s help!’ So I reluctantly offered the burnt offering without waiting for you to arrive.”
13
“You fool!” Samuel exclaimed. “You have disobeyed the commandment of the Lord your God. He was planning to make you and your descendants kings of Israel forever,
14
but now your dynasty must end; for the Lord wants a man who will obey him. And he has discovered the man he wants and has already appointed him as king over his people; for you have not obeyed the Lord’s commandment.”
15
Samuel then left Gilgal and went to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin.
When Saul counted the soldiers who were still with him, he found only six hundred left!
16
Saul and Jonathan and these six hundred men set up their camp in Geba in the land of Benjamin; but the Philistines stayed at Michmash.
17
Three companies of raiders soon left the camp of the Philistines; one went toward Ophrah in the land of Shual,
18
another went to Beth-horon, and the third moved toward the border above the valley of Zeboim near the desert.
19
There were no blacksmiths at all in the land of Israel in those days, for the Philistines wouldn’t allow them for fear of their making swords and spears for the Hebrews.
20
So whenever the Israelites needed to sharpen their plowshares, discs, axes, or sickles, they had to take them to a Philistine blacksmith.
21
The schedule of charges was as follows:
For sharpening a plow point, 60¢
For sharpening a disc, 60¢
For sharpening an ax, 30¢
For sharpening a sickle, 30¢
For sharpening an ox goad, 30¢
22
So there was not a single sword or spear in the entire “army” of Israel that day, except for Saul’s and Jonathan’s.
23
The mountain pass at Michmash had meanwhile been secured by a contingent of the Philistine army.
After this, Jesus went to Galilee, going from village to village, for he wanted to stay out of Judea where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death.
2
But soon it was time for the Tabernacle Ceremonies, one of the annual Jewish holidays,
3
and Jesus’ brothers urged him to go to Judea for the celebration.
“Go where more people can see your miracles!” they scoffed.
4
“You can’t be famous when you hide like this! If you’re so great, prove it to the world!”
5
For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.
6
Jesus replied,
“It is not the right time for me to go now. But you can go anytime and it will make no difference,
7
for the world can’t hate you; but it does hate me, because I accuse it of sin and evil.
8
You go on, and I’ll come later
*
when it is the right time.”
9
So he remained in Galilee.
10
But after his brothers had left for the celebration, then he went too, though secretly, staying out of the public eye.
11
The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the celebration and kept asking if anyone had seen him.
12
There was a lot of discussion about him among the crowds. Some said, “He’s a wonderful man,” while others said, “No, he’s duping the public.”
13
But no one had the courage to speak out for him in public for fear of reprisals from the Jewish leaders.
14
Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and preached openly.
15
The Jewish leaders were surprised when they heard him. “How can he know so much when he’s never been to our schools?” they asked.
16
So Jesus told them,
“I’m not teaching you my own thoughts, but those of God who sent me.
17
If any of you really determines to do God’s will, then you will certainly know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own.
18
Anyone presenting his own ideas is looking for praise for himself, but anyone seeking to honor the one who sent him is a good and true person.
19
None of
you
obeys the laws of Moses! So why pick on
me
for breaking them? Why kill
me
for this?”
20
The crowd replied, “You’re out of your mind! Who’s trying to kill you?”
21-23
Jesus replied,
“I worked on the Sabbath by healing a man, and you were surprised. But you work on the Sabbath, too, whenever you obey Moses’ law of circumcision (actually, however, this tradition of circumcision is older than the Mosaic law); for if the correct time for circumcising your children falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it, as you should. So why should I be condemned for making a man completely well on the Sabbath?
24
Think this through and you will see that I am right.”
25
Some of the people who lived there in Jerusalem said among themselves, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?
26
But here he is preaching in public, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that our leaders have learned, after all, that he really is the Messiah?
27
But how could he be? For we know where this man was born; when Christ comes, he will just appear and no one will know where he comes from.”
28
So Jesus, in a sermon in the Temple, called out,
“Yes, you know me and where I was born and raised, but I am the representative of one you don’t know, and he is Truth.
29
I know him because I was with him, and he sent me to you.”
30
Then the Jewish leaders sought to arrest him; but no hand was laid on him, for God’s time had not yet come.
O God, my heart is ready to praise you! I will sing and rejoice before you.
2
Wake up, O harp and lyre! We will meet the dawn with song.
3
I will praise you everywhere around the world, in every nation.
4
For your loving-kindness is great beyond measure, high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches the skies.
5
His glory is far more vast than the heavens. It towers above the earth.
6
Hear the cry of your beloved child—come with mighty power and rescue me.
7
God has given sacred promises; no wonder I exult! He has promised to give us all the land of Shechem and also Succoth Valley.
8
“Gilead is mine to give to you,” he says, “and Manasseh as well; the land of Ephraim is the helmet on my head. Judah is my scepter.
9
But Moab and Edom are despised;
*
and I will shout in triumph over the Philistines.”
10
Who but God can give me strength to conquer these fortified cities? Who else can lead me into Edom?
11
Lord, have you thrown us away? Have you deserted our army?
12
Oh, help us fight against our enemies, for men are useless allies.
13
But with the help of God we shall do mighty acts of valor. For he treads down our foes.