The One Year Bible TLB (123 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
June 4David sang this song to the Lord after he had rescued him from Saul and from all his other enemies:
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“Jehovah is my rock,
My fortress and my savior.
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I will hide in God,
Who is my rock and my refuge.
He is my shield
And my salvation,
My refuge and high tower.
Thank you, O my Savior,
For saving me from all my enemies.
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I will call upon the Lord,
Who is worthy to be praised;
He will save me from all my enemies.
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The waves of death surrounded me;
Floods of evil burst upon me;
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I was trapped and bound
By hell and death;
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But I called upon the Lord in my distress,
And he heard me from his Temple.
My cry reached his ears.
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Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the heavens quaked
Because of his wrath.
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Smoke poured from his nostrils;
Fire leaped from his mouth
And burned up all before him,
Setting fire to the world.
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He bent the heavens down and came to earth;
He walked upon dark clouds.
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He rode upon the glorious—
On the wings of the wind.
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Darkness surrounded him,
And clouds were thick around him;
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The earth was radiant with his brightness.
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The Lord thundered from heaven;
The God above all gods gave out a mighty shout.
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He shot forth his arrows of lightning
And routed his enemies.
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By the blast of his breath
Was the sea split in two.
The bottom of the sea appeared.
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From above, he rescued me.
He drew me out from the waters;
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He saved me from powerful enemies,
From those who hated me
And from those who were too strong for me.
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They came upon me
In the day of my calamity,
But the Lord was my salvation.
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He set me free and rescued me,
For I was his delight.
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The Lord rewarded me for my goodness,
For my hands were clean;
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And I have not departed from my God.
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I knew his laws,
And I obeyed them.
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I was perfect in obedience
And kept myself from sin.
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That is why the Lord has done so much for me,
For he sees that I am clean.
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You are merciful to the merciful;
You show your perfections
To the blameless.
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To those who are pure,
You show yourself pure;
But you destroy those who are evil.
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You will save those in trouble,
But you bring down the haughty;
For you watch their every move.
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O Lord, you are my light!
You make my darkness bright.
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By your power I can crush an army;
By your strength I leap over a wall.
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As for God, his way is perfect;
The word of the Lord is true.
He shields all who hide behind him.
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Our Lord alone is God;
We have no other Savior.
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God is my strong fortress;
He has made me safe.
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He causes the good to walk a steady tread
Like mountain goats upon the rocks.
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He gives me skill in war
And strength to bend a bow of bronze.
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You have given me the shield of your salvation;
Your gentleness has made me great.
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You have made wide steps for my feet,
To keep them from slipping.
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I have chased my enemies
And destroyed them.
I did not stop till all were gone.
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I have destroyed them
So that none can rise again.
They have fallen beneath my feet.
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For you have given me strength for the battle
And have caused me to subdue
All those who rose against me.
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You have made my enemies
Turn and run away;
I have destroyed them all.
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They looked in vain for help;
They cried to God,
But he refused to answer.
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I beat them into dust;
I crushed and scattered them
Like dust along the streets.
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You have preserved me
From the rebels of my people;
You have preserved me
As the head of the nations.
Foreigners shall serve me
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And shall quickly submit to me
When they hear of my power.
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They shall lose heart
And come, trembling,
From their hiding places.
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The Lord lives.
Blessed be my Rock.
Praise to him—
The Rock of my salvation.
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Blessed be God
Who destroys those who oppose me
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And rescues me from my enemies.
Yes, you hold me safe above their heads.
You deliver me from violence.
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No wonder I give thanks to you, O Lord, among the nations,
And sing praises to your name.
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He gives wonderful deliverance to his king
And shows mercy to his anointed—
To David and his family,
Forever.”
23:
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These are the last words of David:
“David, the son of Jesse, speaks.
David, the man to whom God gave such wonderful success;
David, the anointed of the God of Jacob;
David, sweet psalmist of Israel:
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The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
And his word was on my tongue.
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The Rock of Israel said to me:
‘One shall come who rules righteously,
Who rules in the fear of God.
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He shall be as the light of the morning;
A cloudless sunrise
When the tender grass
Springs forth upon the earth;
As sunshine after rain.’
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And it is my family
He has chosen!
Yes, God has made
An everlasting covenant with me;
His agreement is eternal, final, sealed.
He will constantly look after
My safety and success.
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But the godless are as thorns to be thrown away,
For they tear the hand that touches them.
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One must be armed to chop them down;
They shall be burned.”
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These are the names of the Top Three—the most heroic men in David’s army: the first was Josheb-basshebeth from Tahchemon, known also as Adino, the Eznite. He once killed eight hundred men in one battle.
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Next in rank was Eleazar, the son of Dodo and grandson of Ahohi. He was one of the three men who, with David, held back the Philistines that time when the rest of the Israeli army fled.
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He killed the Philistines until his hand was too tired to hold his sword; and the Lord gave him a great victory. (The rest of the army did not return until it was time to collect the loot!)
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After him was Shammah, the son of Agee from Harar. Once during a Philistine attack, when all his men deserted him and fled, he stood alone at the center of a field of lentils and beat back the Philistines; and God gave him a great victory.
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One time when David was living in the cave of Adullam and the invading Philistines were at the valley of Rephaim, three of the Thirty—the top-ranking officers of the Israeli army—went down at harvest time to visit him.
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David was in the stronghold at the time, for Philistine marauders had occupied the nearby city of Bethlehem.
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David remarked, “How thirsty I am for some of that good water in the city well!” (The well was near the city gate.)
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So the three men broke through the Philistine ranks and drew water from the well and brought it to David. But he refused to drink it! Instead, he poured it out before the Lord.
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“No, my God,” he exclaimed, “I cannot do it! This is the blood of these men who have risked their lives.”
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Of those three men, Abishai, the brother of Joab (son of Zeruiah), was the greatest. Once he took on three hundred of the enemy single-handed and killed them all. It was by such feats that he earned a reputation equal to the Three, though he was not actually one of them. But he was the greatest of the Thirty—the top-ranking officers of the army—and was their leader.
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There was also Benaiah (son of Jehoiada), a heroic soldier from Kabzeel. Benaiah killed two giants,
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sons of Ariel of Moab. Another time he went down into a pit and, despite the slippery snow on the ground, took on a lion that was caught there and killed it.
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Another time, armed only with a staff, he killed an Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear; he wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it.
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These were some of the deeds that gave Benaiah almost as much renown as the Top Three.
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He was one of the greatest of the Thirty, but was not actually one of the Top Three. And David made him chief of his bodyguard.
Seven weeks had gone by since Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the Day of Pentecost had now arrived.
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As the believers met together that day,
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suddenly there was a sound like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them and it filled the house where they were meeting.
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Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on their heads.
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And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in languages they didn’t know,
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for the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
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Many godly Jews were in Jerusalem that day for the religious celebrations, having arrived from many nations.
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And when they heard the roaring in the sky above the house, crowds came running to see what it was all about, and were stunned to hear their own languages being spoken by the disciples.
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“How can this be?” they exclaimed. “For these men are all from Galilee,
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and yet we hear them speaking all the native languages of the lands where we were born!
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Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, men from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia Minor,
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Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the Cyrene language areas of Libya, visitors from Rome—both Jews and Jewish converts—
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Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these men telling in our own languages about the mighty miracles of God!”
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They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.
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But others in the crowd were mocking. “They’re drunk, that’s all!” they said.
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Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen, all of you, visitors and residents of Jerusalem alike!
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Some of you are saying these men are drunk! It isn’t true! It’s much too early for that! People don’t get drunk by 9:00
A.M.
!
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No! What you see this morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel—
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‘In the last days,’ God said, ‘I will pour out my Holy Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men dream dreams.
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Yes, the Holy Spirit shall come upon all my servants, men and women alike, and they shall prophesy.
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And I will cause strange demonstrations in the heavens and on the earth—blood and fire and clouds of smoke;
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the sun shall turn black and the moon blood-red before that awesome Day of the Lord arrives.
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But anyone who asks for mercy from the Lord shall have it and shall be saved.’
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“O men of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing tremendous miracles through him, as you well know.
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But God, following his prearranged plan, let you use the Roman government
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to nail him to the cross and murder him.
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Then God released him from the horrors of death and brought him back to life again, for death could not keep this man within its grip.
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“King David quoted Jesus as saying:
‘I know the Lord is always with me. He is helping me. God’s mighty power supports me.
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‘No wonder my heart is filled with joy and my tongue shouts his praises! For I know all will be well with me in death—
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‘You will not leave my soul in hell or let the body of your Holy Son decay.
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‘You will give me back my life and give me wonderful joy in your presence.’
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“Dear brothers, think! David wasn’t referring to himself when he spoke these words I have quoted, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us.
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But he was a prophet, and knew God had promised with an unbreakable oath that one of David’s own descendants would be the Messiah and
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sit on David’s throne.
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David was looking far into the future and predicting the Messiah’s resurrection, and saying that the Messiah’s soul would not be left in hell and his body would not decay.
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He was speaking of Jesus, and we all are witnesses that Jesus rose from the dead.
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“And now he sits on the throne of highest honor in heaven, next to God. And just as promised, the Father gave him the authority to send the Holy Spirit—with the results you are seeing and hearing today.
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“No, David was not speaking of himself in these words of his I have quoted,
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for he never ascended into the skies. Moreover, he further stated, ‘God spoke to my Lord, the Messiah, and said to him, Sit here in honor beside me
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until I bring your enemies into complete subjection.’
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“Therefore I clearly state to everyone in Israel that God has made this Jesus you crucified to be the Lord, the Messiah!”
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These words of Peter’s moved them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
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And Peter replied, “Each one of you must turn from sin, return to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; then you also shall receive this gift, the Holy Spirit.
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For Christ promised him to each one of you who has been called by the Lord our God, and to your children and even to those in distant lands!”
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Then Peter preached a long sermon, telling about Jesus and strongly urging all his listeners to save themselves from the evils of their nation.
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And those who believed Peter were baptized—about three thousand in all!
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They joined with the other believers in regular attendance at the apostles’ teaching sessions and at the Communion services
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and prayer meetings.
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A deep sense of awe was on them all, and the apostles did many miracles.
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And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything with each other,
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selling their possessions and dividing with those in need.
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They worshiped together regularly at the Temple each day, met in small groups in homes for Communion, and shared their meals with great joy and thankfulness,
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praising God. The whole city was favorable to them, and each day God added to them all who were being saved.