The One Year Bible TLB (132 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
Oh, bless the Lord, you who serve him as watchmen in the Temple every night.
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Lift your hands in holiness and bless the Lord.
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The Lord bless you from Zion—the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Love forgets mistakes; nagging about them parts the best of friends.
10
A rebuke to a man of common sense is more effective than a hundred lashes on the back of a rebel.
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The wicked live for rebellion; they shall be severely punished.
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June 17It was three years later that the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and tell King Ahab that I will soon send rain again!”
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So Elijah went to tell him. Meanwhile the famine had become very severe in Samaria.
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The man in charge of Ahab’s household affairs was Obadiah, who was a devoted follower of the Lord. Once when Queen Jezebel had tried to kill all of the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had hidden one hundred of them in two caves—fifty in each—and had fed them with bread and water.
5
That same day, while Elijah was on the way to see King Ahab,
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the king said to Obadiah, “We must check every stream and brook to see if we can find enough grass to save at least some of my horses and mules. You go one way and I’ll go the other, and we will search the entire land.”
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So they did, each going alone.
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Suddenly Obadiah saw Elijah coming toward him! Obadiah recognized him at once and fell to the ground before him.
“Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” he asked.
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“Yes, it is,” Elijah replied. “Now go and tell the king I am here.”
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“Oh, sir,” Obadiah protested, “what harm have I done to you that you are sending me to my death?
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For I swear by God that the king has searched every nation and kingdom on earth from end to end to find you. And each time when he was told ‘Elijah isn’t here,’ King Ahab forced the king of that nation to swear to the truth of his claim.
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And now you say, ‘Go and tell him Elijah is here’!
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But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you away, who knows where, and when Ahab comes and can’t find you, he will kill me; yet I have been a true servant of the Lord all my life.
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Has no one told you about the time when Queen Jezebel was trying to kill the Lord’s prophets, and I hid a hundred of them in two caves and fed them with bread and water?
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And now you say, ‘Go tell the king that Elijah is here’! Sir, if I do that, I’m dead!”
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But Elijah said, “I swear by the Lord God of the armies of heaven, in whose presence I stand, that I will present myself to Ahab today.”
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So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come; and Ahab went out to meet him.
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“So it’s you, is it?—the man who brought this disaster upon Israel!” Ahab exclaimed when he saw him.
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“You’re talking about yourself,” Elijah answered. “For you and your family have refused to obey the Lord and have worshiped Baal instead.
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Now bring all the people of Israel to Mount Carmel, with all 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.”
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So Ahab summoned all the people and the prophets to Mount Carmel.
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Then Elijah talked to them. “How long are you going to waver between two opinions?” he asked the people. “If the Lord is God,
follow
him! But if Baal is God, then follow
him!”
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Then Elijah spoke again. “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left,” he told them, “but Baal has 450 prophets.
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Now bring two young bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without putting any fire under the wood; and I will prepare the other young bull and lay it on the wood on the Lord’s altar, with no fire under it.
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Then pray to your god, and I will pray to the Lord; and the god who answers by sending fire to light the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed to this test.
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Then Elijah turned to the prophets of Baal. “You first,” he said, “for there are many of you; choose one of the bulls and prepare it and call to your god; but don’t put any fire under the wood.”
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So they prepared one of the young bulls and placed it on the altar; and they called to Baal all morning, shouting, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they began to dance around the altar.
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About noontime, Elijah began mocking them.
“You’ll have to shout louder than that,” he scoffed, “to catch the attention of your god! Perhaps he is talking to someone, or is out sitting on the toilet, or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!”
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So they shouted louder and, as was their custom, cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out.
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They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but there was no reply, no voice, no answer.
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Then Elijah called to the people, “Come over here.”
And they all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down.
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He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel,
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and used the stones to rebuild the Lord’s altar. Then he dug a trench about three feet wide
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around the altar.
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He piled wood upon the altar and cut the young bull into pieces and laid the pieces on the wood.
“Fill four barrels with water,” he said, “and pour the water over the carcass and the wood.”
After they had done this he said,
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“Do it again.” And they did.
“Now, do it once more!” And they did;
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and the water ran off the altar and filled the trench.
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At the customary time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, prove today that you are the God of Israel and that I am your servant; prove that I have done all this at your command.
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O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”
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Then, suddenly, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even evaporated all the water in the ditch!
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And when the people saw it, they fell to their faces upon the ground shouting, “Jehovah is God! Jehovah is God!”
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Then Elijah told them to grab the prophets of Baal. “Don’t let a single one escape,” he commanded.
So they seized them all, and Elijah took them to Kishon Brook and killed them there.
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Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go and enjoy a good meal! For I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!”
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So Ahab prepared a feast. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and got down on his knees, with his face between his knees,
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and said to his servant, “Go and look out toward the sea.”
He did, but returned to Elijah and told him, “I didn’t see anything.”
Then Elijah told him, “Go again, and again, and again, seven times!”
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Finally, the seventh time, his servant told him, “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.”
Then Elijah shouted, “Hurry to Ahab and tell him to get into his chariot and get down the mountain, or he’ll be stopped by the rain!”
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And sure enough, the sky was soon black with clouds, and a heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm. Ahab left hastily for Jezreel,
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and the Lord gave special strength to Elijah so that he was able to run ahead of Ahab’s chariot to the entrance of the city!
Soon the news reached the apostles and other brothers in Judea that Gentiles also were being converted!
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But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers argued with him.
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“You fellowshiped with Gentiles and even ate with them,” they accused.
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Then Peter told them the whole story.
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“One day in Joppa,” he said, “while I was praying, I saw a vision—a huge sheet, let down by its four corners from the sky.
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Inside the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds which we are not to eat.
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And I heard a voice say, ‘Kill and eat whatever you wish.’
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“‘Never, Lord,’ I replied. ‘For I have never yet eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws!’
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“But the voice came again, ‘Don’t say it isn’t right when God declares it is!’
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“This happened
three times
before the sheet and all it contained disappeared into heaven.
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Just then three men who had come to take me with them to Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying!
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The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry about their being Gentiles! These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon arrived at the home of the man who had sent the messengers.
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He told us how an angel had appeared to him and told him to send messengers to Joppa to find Simon Peter!
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‘He will tell you how you and all your household can be saved!’ the angel had told him.
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“Well, I began telling them the Good News, but just as I was getting started with my sermon, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning!
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Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said,
‘Yes, John baptized with
*
water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
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And since it was
God
who gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to argue?”
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When the others heard this, all their objections were answered and they began praising God! “Yes,” they said, “God has given to the Gentiles, too, the privilege of turning to him and receiving eternal life!”
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Meanwhile, the believers who fled from Jerusalem during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, scattering the Good News, but only to Jews.
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However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene also gave their message about the Lord Jesus to some Greeks.
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And the Lord honored this effort so that large numbers of these Gentiles became believers.
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When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to help the new converts.
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When he arrived and saw the wonderful things God was doing, he was filled with excitement and joy, and encouraged the believers to stay close to the Lord, whatever the cost.
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Barnabas was a kindly person, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. As a result, large numbers of people were added to the Lord.
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Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to hunt for Paul.
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When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch; and both of them stayed there for a full year teaching the many new converts. (It was there at Antioch that the believers were first called “Christians.”)
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During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch,
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and one of them, named Agabus, stood up in one of the meetings to predict by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the land of Israel.
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(This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.)
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So the believers decided to send relief to the Christians in Judea, each giving as much as he could.
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This they did, consigning their gifts to Barnabas and Paul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!
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Yes, let his people praise him as they stand in his Temple courts.
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Praise the Lord because he is so good; sing to his wonderful name.
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For the Lord has chosen Israel as his personal possession.
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I know the greatness of the Lord—that he is greater far than any other god.
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He does whatever pleases him throughout all of heaven and earth and in the deepest seas.
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He makes mists rise throughout the earth; he sends the lightning to bring down the rain and sends the winds from his treasuries.
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He destroyed the eldest child in each Egyptian home, along with the firstborn of the flocks.
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He did great miracles in Egypt before Pharaoh and all his people.
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He smote great nations, slaying mighty kings—
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Sihon, king of Amorites; and Og, the king of Bashan; and the kings of Canaan—
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and gave their land as an eternal gift to his people Israel.
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O Jehovah, your name endures forever; your fame is known to every generation.
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For Jehovah will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.
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The heathen worship idols of gold and silver made by men—
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idols with speechless mouths, sightless eyes,
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and ears that cannot hear; they cannot even breathe.
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Those who make them become like them! And so do all who trust in them!
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O Israel, bless Jehovah! High Priests of Aaron, bless his name.
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O Levite priests, bless the Lord Jehovah! Oh, bless his name, all of you who trust and reverence him.
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All people of Jerusalem, praise the Lord,
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for he lives here in Jerusalem. Hallelujah!