The One Year Bible TLB (20 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
I would have you learn this great fact: that a life of doing right is the wisest life there is.
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If you live that kind of life, you’ll not limp or stumble as you run.
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Carry out my instructions; don’t forget them, for they will lead you to real living.
January 23So Israel set out with all his possessions, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices there to the God of his father, Isaac.
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During the night God spoke to him in a vision.
“Jacob! Jacob!” he called.
“Yes?” Jacob answered.
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“I am God,” the voice replied, “the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will see to it that you become a great nation there. And I will go down with you into Egypt and I will bring your descendants back again; but you shall die in Egypt with Joseph at your side.”
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So Jacob left Beer-sheba, and his sons brought him to Egypt, along with their little ones and their wives, in the wagons Pharaoh had provided for them.
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They brought their livestock, too, and all their belongings accumulated in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt—Jacob and all his children,
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sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters—all his loved ones.
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Here are the names of his sons and grandchildren who went with him into Egypt:
Reuben, his oldest son;
Reuben’s sons: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
Simeon and his sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul (Shaul’s mother was a girl from Canaan).
Levi and his sons: Gershon, Kohath, Merari.
Judah and his sons: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, Zerah (however, Er and Onan died while still in Canaan, before Israel went to Egypt).
The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
Issachar and his sons: Tola, Puvah, Iob, Shimron.
Zebulun and his sons: Sered, Elon, Jahleel.
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So these descendants of Jacob and Leah, not including their daughter Dinah, born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, were thirty-three in all.
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Also accompanying him were:
Gad and his sons: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
Asher and his sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and a sister, Serah.
Beriah’s sons were Heber and Malchiel.
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These sixteen persons were the sons of Jacob and Zilpah, the slave girl given to Leah by her father, Laban.
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Also in the total of Jacob’s household were these fourteen sons and descendants of Jacob and Rachel:
Joseph and Benjamin;
Joseph’s sons,
born in the land of Egypt, were Manasseh and Ephraim (their mother was Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis);
Benjamin’s sons:
Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.
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Also in the group were these seven sons and descendants of Jacob and Bilhah, the slave girl given to Rachel by her father, Laban:
Dan and his son: Hushim.
Naphtali and his sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
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So the total number of those going to Egypt, of his own descendants, not counting the wives of Jacob’s sons, was sixty-six.
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With Joseph and his two sons included, the total number of people in Jacob’s household there in Egypt was seventy.
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Jacob sent Judah on ahead to tell Joseph that they were on the way, and would soon arrive in Goshen—which they did.
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Joseph jumped into his chariot and journeyed to Goshen to meet his father and they fell into each other’s arms and wept a long while.
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Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, for I have seen you again and know you are alive.”
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And Joseph said to his brothers and to all their households, “I’ll go and tell Pharaoh that you are here, and that you have come from the land of Canaan to join me.
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And I will tell him, ‘These men are shepherds. They have brought with them their flocks and herds and everything they own.’
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So when Pharaoh calls for you and asks you about your occupation,
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tell him, ‘We have been shepherds from our youth, as our fathers have been for many generations.’ When you tell him this, he will let you live here in the land of Goshen.” For shepherds were despised and hated in other parts of Egypt.
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Upon their arrival, Joseph went in to see Pharaoh.
“My father and my brothers are here from Canaan,” he reported, “with all their flocks and herds and possessions. They wish to settle in the land of Goshen.”
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He took five of his brothers with him, and presented them to Pharaoh.
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Pharaoh asked them, “What is your occupation?”
And they replied, “We are shepherds like our ancestors.
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We have come to live here in Egypt, for there is no pasture for our flocks in Canaan—the famine is very bitter there. We request permission to live in the land of Goshen.”
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And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Choose anywhere you like for them to live. Give them the best land of Egypt. The land of Goshen will be fine. And if any of them are capable, put them in charge of my flocks, too.”
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Then Joseph brought his father Jacob to Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
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“How old are you?” Pharaoh asked him.
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Jacob replied, “I have lived 130 long, hard years, and I am not nearly as old as many of my ancestors.”
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Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again before he left.
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So Joseph assigned the best land of Egypt—the land of Rameses—to his father and brothers, just as Pharaoh had commanded.
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And Joseph furnished food to them in accordance with the number of their dependents.
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The famine became worse and worse, so that all the land of Egypt and Canaan was starving.
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Joseph collected all the money in Egypt and Canaan in exchange for grain, and he brought the money to Pharaoh’s treasure-houses.
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When the people were out of money, they came to Joseph crying again for food.
“Our money is gone,” they said, “but give us bread; for why should we die?”
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“Well then,” Joseph replied, “give me your livestock. I will trade you food in exchange.”
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So they brought their cattle to Joseph in exchange for food. Soon all the horses, flocks, herds, and donkeys of Egypt were in Pharaoh’s possession.
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The next year they came again and said, “Our money is gone, and our cattle are yours, and there is nothing left but our bodies and land.
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Why should we die? Buy us and our land and we will be serfs to Pharaoh. We will trade ourselves for food, then we will live, and the land won’t be abandoned.”
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So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; all the Egyptians sold him their fields because the famine was so severe. And the land became Pharaoh’s.
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Thus all the people of Egypt became Pharaoh’s serfs.
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The only land he didn’t buy was that belonging to the priests, for they were assigned food from Pharaoh and didn’t need to sell.
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Then Joseph said to the people, “See, I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is grain. Go and sow the land.
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And when you harvest it, a fifth of everything you get belongs to Pharaoh. Keep four parts for yourselves to be used for next year’s seed, and as food for yourselves and for your households and little ones.”
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“You have saved our lives,” they said. “We will gladly be the serfs of Pharaoh.”
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So Joseph made it a law throughout the land of Egypt—and it is still the law—that Pharaoh should have as his tax 20 percent of all the crops except those produced on the land owned by the temples.
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So Israel lived in the land of Goshen in Egypt, and soon the people of Israel began to prosper, and there was a veritable population explosion among them.
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Jacob lived seventeen years after his arrival, so that he was 147 years old at the time of his death.
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As the time drew near for him to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “Swear to me most solemnly that you will honor this, my last request: do not bury me in Egypt.
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But when I am dead, take me out of Egypt and bury me beside my ancestors.” And Joseph promised.
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“Swear that you will do it,” Jacob insisted. And Joseph did. Soon afterwards Jacob took to his bed.
Some Pharisees and other Jewish leaders now arrived from Jerusalem to interview Jesus.
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“Why do your disciples disobey the ancient Jewish traditions?” they demanded. “For they ignore our ritual of ceremonial handwashing before they eat.”
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He replied,
“And why do your traditions violate the direct commandments of God?
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For instance, God’s law is ‘Honor your father and mother; anyone who reviles his parents must die.’
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But you say, ‘Even if your parents are in need, you may give their support money to the church
*
instead.’ And so, by your man-made rule, you nullify the direct command of God to honor and care for your parents.
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You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you,
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‘These people say they honor me, but their hearts are far away.
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Their worship is worthless, for they teach their man-made laws instead of those from God.’
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”
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Then Jesus called to the crowds and said,
“Listen to what I say and try to understand:
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You aren’t made unholy by eating nonkosher food! It is what you
say
and
think
that makes you unclean.”
*
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Then the disciples came and told him, “You offended the Pharisees by that remark.”
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Jesus replied,
“Every plant not planted by my Father shall be rooted up, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and both will fall into a ditch.”
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Then Peter asked Jesus to explain what he meant when he said that people are not defiled by nonkosher food.
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“Don’t you understand?”
Jesus asked him.
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“Don’t you see that anything you eat passes through the digestive tract and out again?
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But evil words come from an evil heart and defile the man who says them.
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For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, lying, and slander.
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These are what defile; but there is no spiritual defilement from eating without first going through the ritual of ceremonial handwashing!”
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Jesus then left that part of the country and walked the fifty miles to Tyre and Sidon.
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A woman from Canaan who was living there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, King David’s Son! For my daughter has a demon within her, and it torments her constantly.”
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But Jesus gave her no reply—not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to get going,” they said, “for she is bothering us with all her begging.”
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Then he said to the woman,
“I was sent to help the Jews—the lost sheep of Israel—not the Gentiles.”
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But she came and worshiped him and pled again, “Sir, help me!”
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“It doesn’t seem right to take bread from the children and throw it to the dogs,”
he said.
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“Yes, it is!” she replied, “for even the puppies beneath the table are permitted to eat the crumbs that fall.”
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“Woman,”
Jesus told her,
“your faith is large, and your request is granted.”
And her daughter was healed right then.
The heavens are telling the glory of God; they are a marvelous display of his craftsmanship.
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Day and night they keep on telling about God.
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Without a sound or word, silent in the skies, their message reaches out to all the world. The sun lives in the heavens where God placed it
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and moves out across the skies as radiant as a bridegroom
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going to his wedding, or as joyous as an athlete looking forward to a race!
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The sun crosses the heavens from end to end, and nothing can hide from its heat.
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God’s laws are perfect. They protect us, make us wise, and give us joy and light.
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God’s laws are pure, eternal, just.
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They are more desirable than gold. They are sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb.
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For they warn us away from harm and give success to those who obey them.
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But how can I ever know what sins are lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
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And keep me from deliberate wrongs; help me to stop doing them. Only then can I be free of guilt and innocent of some great crime.
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May my spoken words and unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to you, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.