The One Year Bible TLB (139 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
Bless the Lord who is my immovable Rock. He gives me strength and skill in battle.
2
He is always kind and loving to me; he is my fortress, my tower of strength and safety, my deliverer. He stands before me as a shield. He subdues my people under me.
3
O Lord, what is man that you even notice him? Why bother at all with the human race?
*
4
For man is but a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
5
Bend down the heavens, Lord, and come. The mountains smoke beneath your touch.
6
Let loose your lightning bolts, your arrows, Lord, upon your enemies, and scatter them.
7
Reach down from heaven and rescue me; deliver me from deep waters, from the power of my enemies.
8
Their mouths are filled with lies; they swear to the truth of what is false.
9
I will sing you a new song, O God, with a ten-stringed harp.
10
For you grant victory to kings! You are the one who will rescue your servant David from the fatal sword.
11
Save me! Deliver me from these enemies, these liars, these treacherous men.
12-15
Here is my description of
*
a truly happy land where Jehovah is God:
Sons vigorous and tall as growing plants.
Daughters of graceful beauty like the pillars of a palace wall.
Barns full to the brim with crops of every kind.
Sheep by the thousands out in our fields.
Oxen loaded down with produce.
No enemy attacking the walls, but peace everywhere.
No crime in our streets.
Yes, happy are those whose God is Jehovah.
The man of few words and settled mind is wise; therefore, even a fool is thought to be wise when he is silent. It pays him to keep his mouth shut.
June 27At about that time the Lord began to whittle down the size of Israel. King Hazael conquered several sections of the country east of the Jordan River, as well as all of Gilead, Gad, and Reuben; he also conquered parts of Manasseh from the Aroer River in the valley of the Arnon as far as Gilead and Bashan.
34
The rest of Jehu’s activities are recorded in
The Annals of the Kings of Israel.
35
When Jehu died, he was buried in Samaria; and his son Jehoahaz became the new king.
36
In all, Jehu reigned as king of Israel, in Samaria, for twenty-eight years.
11:
1
When Athaliah, the mother of King Ahaziah of Judah, learned that her son was dead, she killed all of his children,
2-3
except for his year-old son
*
Joash. Joash was rescued by his Aunt Jehosheba, who was a sister of King Ahaziah (for she was a daughter of King Jehoram, Ahaziah’s father). She stole him away from among the rest of the king’s children who were waiting to be slain and hid him and his nurse in a storeroom of the Temple. They lived there for six years while Athaliah reigned as queen.
4
In the seventh year of Queen Athaliah’s reign, Jehoiada the priest
*
summoned the officers of the palace guard and the queen’s bodyguard. He met them in the Temple, swore them to secrecy, and showed them the king’s son.
5
Then he gave them their instructions: “A third of those who are on duty on the Sabbath are to guard the palace.
6-8
The other two-thirds shall stand guard at the Temple; surround the king, weapons in hand, and kill anyone who tries to break through. Stay with the king at all times.”
9
So the officers followed Jehoiada’s instructions. They brought to Jehoiada the men who were going off duty on the Sabbath and those who were coming on duty,
10
and he armed them from the Temple’s supply of spears and shields that had belonged to King David.
11
The guards, with weapons ready, stood across the front of the sanctuary and surrounded the altar, which was near Joash’s hideaway.
12
Then Jehoiada brought out the young prince and put the crown upon his head and gave him a copy of the Ten Commandments, and anointed him as king. Then everyone clapped and shouted, “Long live the king!”
13-14
When Athaliah heard all the noise, she ran into the Temple and saw the new king standing beside the pillar, as was the custom at times of coronation, surrounded by her bodyguard and many trumpeters; and everyone was rejoicing and blowing trumpets.
“Treason! Treason!” she screamed, and began to tear her clothes.
15
“Get her out of here,” shouted Jehoiada to the officers of the guard. “Don’t kill her here in the Temple. But kill anyone who tries to come to her rescue.”
16
So they dragged her to the palace stables and killed her there.
17
Jehoiada made a treaty between the Lord, the king, and the people, that they would be the Lord’s people. He also made a contract between the king and the people.
18
Everyone went over to the temple of Baal and tore it down, breaking the altars and images and killing Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altar. And Jehoiada set guards at the Temple of the Lord.
19
Then he and the officers and the guard and all the people led the king from the Temple, past the guardhouse, and into the palace. And he sat upon the king’s throne.
20
So everyone was happy, and the city settled back into quietness after Athaliah’s death.
21
Joash was seven years old when he became king.
12:
1
It was seven years after Jehu had become the king of Israel that Joash became king of Judah. He reigned in Jerusalem for forty years. (His mother was Zibiah, from Beersheba.)
2
All his life Joash did what was right because Jehoiada the High Priest instructed him.
3
Yet even so he didn’t destroy the shrines on the hills—the people still sacrificed and burned incense there.
4-5
One day King Joash said to Jehoiada, “The Temple building needs repairing. Whenever anyone brings a contribution to the Lord, whether it is a regular assessment or some special gift, use it to pay for whatever repairs are needed.”
6
But in the twenty-third year of his reign the Temple was still in disrepair.
7
So Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, “Why haven’t you done anything about the Temple? Now don’t use any more money for your own needs; from now on it must all be spent on getting the Temple into good condition.”
8
So the priests agreed to set up a special repair fund that would not go through their hands, lest it be diverted to care for their personal needs.
9
Jehoiada the priest bored a hole in the lid of a large chest and set it on the right-hand side of the altar at the Temple entrance. The doorkeepers put all of the people’s contributions into it.
10
Whenever the chest became full, the king’s financial secretary and the High Priest counted it, put it into bags,
11-12
and gave it to the construction superintendents to pay the carpenters, stonemasons, quarrymen, timber dealers, and stone merchants, and to buy the other materials needed to repair the Temple of the Lord.
13-14
It was not used to buy silver cups, gold snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or similar articles, but only for repairs to the building.
15
No accounting was required from the construction superintendents, for they were honest and faithful men.
16
However, the money that was contributed for guilt offerings and sin offerings was given to the priests for their own use. It was not put into the chest.
17
About this time, King Hazael of Syria went to war against Gath and captured it; then he moved on toward Jerusalem to attack it.
18
King Joash took all the sacred objects that his ancestors—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah—had dedicated, along with what he himself had dedicated, and all the gold in the treasuries of the Temple and the palace, and sent it to Hazael. So Hazael called off the attack.
19
The rest of the history of Joash is recorded in
The Annals of the Kings of Judah.
20
But his officers plotted against him and assassinated him in his royal residence at Millo on the road to Silla.
21
The assassins were Jozachar, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer—both trusted aides.
*
He was buried in the royal cemetery in Jerusalem, and his son Amaziah became the new king.
Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
2-3
There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had been expelled from Italy as a result of Claudius Caesar’s order to deport all Jews from Rome. Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was.
4
Each Sabbath found Paul at the synagogue, trying to convince the Jews and Greeks alike.
5
And after the arrival of Silas and Timothy from Macedonia, Paul spent his full time preaching and testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.
6
But when the Jews opposed him and blasphemed, hurling abuse at Jesus, Paul shook off the dust from his robe and said, “Your blood be upon your own heads—I am innocent—from now on I will preach to the Gentiles.”
7
After that he stayed with Titus Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God and lived next door to the synagogue.
8
However, Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and all his household believed in the Lord and were baptized—as were many others in Corinth.
9
One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him,
“Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t quit!
10
For I am with you and no one can harm you. Many people here in this city belong to me.”
11
So Paul stayed there the next year and a half, teaching the truths of God.
12
But when Gallio became governor of Achaia, the Jews rose in concerted action against Paul and brought him before the governor for judgment.
13
They accused Paul of “persuading men to worship God in ways that are contrary to Roman law.”
14
But just as Paul started to make his defense, Gallio turned to his accusers and said, “Listen, you Jews, if this were a case involving some crime, I would be obliged to listen to you,
15
but since it is merely a bunch of questions of semantics and personalities and your silly Jewish laws, you take care of it. I’m not interested and I’m not touching it.”
16
And he drove them out of the courtroom.
17
Then the mob
*
grabbed Sosthenes, the new leader of the synagogue, and beat him outside the courtroom. But Gallio couldn’t have cared less.
18
Paul stayed in the city several days after that and then said good-bye to the Christians and sailed for the coast of Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. At Cenchreae Paul had his head shaved according to Jewish custom, for he had taken a vow.
*
19
Arriving at the port of Ephesus, he left us aboard ship while he went over to the synagogue for a discussion with the Jews.
20
They asked him to stay for a few days, but he felt that he had no time to lose.
*
21
“I must by all means be at Jerusalem for the holiday,”
*
he said. But he promised to return to Ephesus later if God permitted; and so he set sail again.
22
The next stop was at the port of Caesarea from where he visited the church at Jerusalem
*
and then sailed on to Antioch.
I will praise you, my God and King, and bless your name each day and forever.
3
Great is Jehovah! Greatly praise him! His greatness is beyond discovery!
4
Let each generation tell its children what glorious things he does.
5
I will meditate about your glory, splendor, majesty, and miracles.
6
Your awe-inspiring deeds shall be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness.
7
Everyone will tell about how good you are and sing about your righteousness.
8
Jehovah is kind and merciful, slow to get angry, full of love.
9
He is good to everyone, and his compassion is intertwined with everything he does.
10
All living things shall thank you, Lord, and your people will bless you.
11
They will talk together about the glory of your kingdom and mention examples of your power.
12
They will tell about your miracles and about the majesty and glory of your reign.
13
For your kingdom never ends. You rule generation after generation.
14
The Lord lifts the fallen and those bent beneath their loads.
15
The eyes of all mankind look up to you for help; you give them their food as they need it.
16
You constantly satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.
17
The Lord is fair in everything he does and full of kindness.
18
He is close to all who call on him sincerely.
19
He fulfills the desires of those who reverence and trust him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them.
20
He protects all those who love him, but destroys the wicked.
21
I will praise the Lord and call on all men everywhere to bless his holy name forever and forever.
The selfish man quarrels against every sound principle of conduct by demanding his own way.