The One Year Bible TLB (210 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
My son, honey whets the appetite and so does wisdom! When you enjoy becoming wise, there is hope for you! A bright future lies ahead!
October 2Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool: What Temple can you build for me as good as that?
2
My hand has made both earth and skies, and they are mine. Yet I will look with pity on the man who has a humble and a contrite heart, who trembles at my word.
3
But those who choose their own ways, delighting in their sins, are cursed. God will not accept their offerings. When such men sacrifice an ox on the altar of God, it is no more acceptable to him than human sacrifice. If they sacrifice a lamb or bring an offering of grain, it is as loathsome to God as putting a dog or the blood of a swine on his altar! When they burn incense to him, he counts it the same as though they blessed an idol.
4
I will send great troubles upon them—all the things they feared, for when I called them, they refused to answer, and when I spoke to them, they would not hear. Instead, they did wrong before my eyes and chose what they knew I despised.
5
Hear the words of God, all you who fear him, and tremble at his words: Your brethren hate you and cast you out for being loyal to my name. “Glory to God,” they scoff. “Be happy in the Lord!” But they shall be put to shame.
6
What is all the commotion in the city? What is that terrible noise from the Temple? It is the voice of the Lord taking vengeance upon his enemies.
7-8
Who has heard or seen anything as strange as this? For in one day, suddenly, a nation, Israel, shall be born, even before the birth pains come. In a moment, just as Israel’s anguish starts, the baby is born; the nation begins.
9
Shall I bring to the point of birth and then not deliver? asks the Lord your God. No! Never!
10
Rejoice with Jerusalem; be glad with her, all you who love her, you who mourned for her.
11
Delight in Jerusalem; drink deep of her glory even as an infant at a mother’s generous breasts.
12
Prosperity shall overflow Jerusalem like a river, says the Lord, for I will send it; the riches of the Gentiles will flow to her. Her children shall be nursed at her breasts, carried on her hips and dandled on her knees.
13
I will comfort you there as a little one is comforted by its mother.
14
When you see Jerusalem, your heart will rejoice; vigorous health will be yours. All the world will see the good hand of God upon his people and his wrath upon his enemies.
15
For see, the Lord will come with fire and with swift chariots of doom to pour out the fury of his anger and his hot rebuke with flames of fire.
16
For the Lord will punish the world by fire and by his sword, and the slain of the Lord shall be many!
17
Those who worship idols that are hidden behind a tree in the garden, feasting there on pork and mouse and all forbidden meat—they will come to an evil end, says Jehovah.
18
I see full well what they are doing; I know what they are thinking, so I will gather together all nations and people against Jerusalem, where they shall see my glory.
19
I will perform a mighty miracle against them, and I will send those who escape,
*
as missionaries to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Rosh, Tubal, Javan, and to the lands beyond the sea that have not heard my fame nor seen my glory. There they shall declare my glory to the Gentiles.
20
And they shall bring back all your brethren from every nation as a gift to the Lord, transporting them gently
*
on horses and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules and camels, to my holy mountain, to Jerusalem, says the Lord. It will be like offerings flowing into the Temple of the Lord at harvesttime, carried in vessels consecrated to the Lord.
21
And I will appoint some of those returning to be my priests and Levites, says the Lord.
22
As surely as my new heavens and earth shall remain, so surely shall you always be my people, with a name that shall never disappear.
23
All mankind shall come to worship me from week to week and month to month.
24
And they shall go out and look at the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me, for their worm shall never die; their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be a disgusting sight to all mankind.
Watch out for those wicked men—dangerous dogs, I call them—who say you must be circumcised to be saved.
3
For it isn’t the
cutting of our bodies
that makes us children of God; it is
worshiping him with our spirits.
That is the only true “circumcision.” We Christians glory in what Christ Jesus has done for us and realize that we are helpless to save ourselves.
4
Yet if anyone ever had reason to hope that he could save himself, it would be I. If others could be saved by what they are, certainly I could!
5
For I went through the Jewish initiation ceremony when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish home that was a branch of the old original Benjamin family. So I was a real Jew if there ever was one! What’s more, I was a member of the Pharisees who demand the strictest obedience to every Jewish law and custom.
6
And sincere? Yes, so much so that I greatly persecuted the Church; and I tried to obey every Jewish rule and regulation right down to the very last point.
7
But all these things that I once thought very worthwhile—now I’ve thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone.
8
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ,
9
and become one with him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith—counting on Christ alone.
10
Now I have given up everything else—I have found it to be the only way to really know Christ and to experience the mighty power that brought him back to life again, and to find out what it means to suffer and to die with him.
11
So whatever it takes, I will be one who lives in the fresh newness of life of those who are alive from the dead.
12
I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be.
13
No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
14
I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.
15
I hope all of you who are mature Christians will see eye-to-eye with me on these things, and if you disagree on some point, I believe that God will make it plain to you—
16
if you fully obey the truth you have.
17
Dear brothers, pattern your lives after mine, and notice who else lives up to my example.
18
For I have told you often before, and I say it again now with tears in my eyes, there are many who walk along the Christian road who are really enemies of the cross of Christ.
19
Their future is eternal loss, for their god is their appetite: they are proud of what they should be ashamed of; and all they think about is this life here on earth.
20
But our homeland is in heaven, where our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is; and we are looking forward to his return from there.
21
When he comes back, he will take these dying bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer all else everywhere.
O God, why have you cast us away forever? Why is your anger hot against us—the sheep of your own pasture?
2
Remember that we are your people—the ones you chose in ancient times from slavery and made the choicest of your possessions. You chose Jerusalem
*
as your home on earth!
3
Walk through the awful ruins of the city and see what the enemy has done to your sanctuary.
4
There they shouted their battle cry and erected their idols to flaunt their victory.
5-6
Everything lies in shambles like a forest chopped to the ground. They came with their axes and sledgehammers and smashed and chopped the carved paneling;
7
they set the sanctuary on fire, and razed it to the ground—your sanctuary, Lord.
8
“Let’s wipe out every trace of God,” they said, and went through the entire country burning down the assembly places where we worshiped you.
9-10
There is nothing left to show that we are your people. The prophets are gone, and who can say when it all will end? How long, O God, will you allow our enemies to dishonor your name? Will you let them get away with this forever?
11
Why do you delay? Why hold back your power? Unleash your fist and give them a final blow.
12
God is my King from ages past; you have been actively helping me everywhere throughout the land.
13-14
You divided the Red Sea with your strength; you crushed the sea god’s heads! You gave him to the desert tribes to eat!
15
At your command the springs burst forth to give your people water; and then you dried a path for them across the ever-flowing Jordan.
16
Day and night alike belong to you; you made the starlight and the sun.
17
All nature is within your hands; you make the summer and the winter too.
18
Lord, see how these enemies scoff at you. O Jehovah, an arrogant nation has blasphemed your name.
19
O Lord, save me! Protect your turtledove from the hawks.
*
Save your beloved people from these beasts.
20
Remember your promise! For the land is full of darkness and cruel men.
21
O Lord, don’t let your downtrodden people be constantly insulted. Give cause for these poor and needy ones to praise your name!
22
Arise, O God, and state your case against our enemies. Remember the insults these rebels have hurled against you all day long.
23
Don’t overlook the cursing of these enemies of yours; it grows louder and louder.
O evil man, leave the upright man alone and quit trying to cheat him out of his rights. Don’t you know that this good man, though you trip him up seven times, will each time rise again? But one calamity is enough to lay you low.
October 3These are God’s messages to Jeremiah the priest (the son of Hilkiah) who lived in the town of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. The first of these messages came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Amon’s son Josiah, king of Judah.
3
Others came during the reign of Josiah’s son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and at various other times until July of the eleventh year of the reign of Josiah’s son Zedekiah, king of Judah, when Jerusalem was captured and the people were taken away as slaves.
4
The Lord said to me,
5
“I knew you before you were formed within your mother’s womb; before you were born I sanctified you and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.”
6
“O Lord God,” I said, “I can’t do that! I’m far too young! I’m only a youth!”
7
“Don’t say that,” he replied, “for you will go wherever I send you and speak whatever I tell you to.
8
And don’t be afraid of the people, for I, the Lord, will be with you and see you through.”
9
Then he touched my mouth and said, “See, I have put my words in your mouth!
10
Today your work begins, to warn the nations and the kingdoms of the world. In accord with my words spoken through your mouth I will tear down some and destroy them, and plant others, nurture them, and make them strong and great.”
11
Then the Lord said to me, “Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?”
And I replied, “I see a whip made from the branch of an almond tree.”
12
And the Lord replied, “That’s right, and it means that I will surely carry out my threats of punishment.”
*
13
Then the Lord asked me, “What do you see now?”
And I replied, “I see a pot of boiling water, tipping southward, spilling over Judah.”
*
14
“Yes,” he said, “for terror from the north will boil out upon all the people of this land.
15
I am calling the armies of the kingdoms of the north to come to Jerusalem and set their thrones at the gates of the city and all along its walls, and in all the other cities of Judah.
16
This is the way I will punish my people for deserting me and for worshiping other gods—yes, idols they themselves have made!
17
Get up and dress and go out and tell them whatever I tell you to say. Don’t be afraid of them, or else I will make a fool of you in front of them.
18
For see, today I have made you impervious to their attacks. They cannot harm you. You are strong like a fortified city that cannot be captured, like an iron pillar and heavy gates of brass. All the kings of Judah, its officers, priests, and people will not be able to prevail against you.
19
They will try, but they will fail. For I am with you,” says the Lord. “I will deliver you.”
2:
1
Again the Lord spoke to me and said:
2
Go and shout this in Jerusalem’s streets: This is what the Lord says! I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren deserts.
3
In those days Israel was a holy people, the first of my children.
*
All who harmed them were counted deeply guilty, and great evil fell on anyone who touched them.
4-5
O Israel, says the Lord, why did your fathers desert me? What sin did they find in me that turned them away and changed them into fools who worship idols?
6
They ignore the fact that it was I, the Lord, who brought them safely out of Egypt and led them through the barren wilderness, a land of deserts and rocks, of drought and death, where no one lives or even travels.
7
And I brought them into a fruitful land, to eat of its bounty and goodness, but they made it into a land of sin and corruption and turned my inheritance into an evil thing.
8
Even their priests cared nothing for the Lord, and their judges ignored me; their rulers turned against me, and their prophets worshiped Baal and wasted their time on nonsense.
9
But I will not give you up—I will plead for you to return to me and will keep on pleading; yes, even with your children’s children in the years to come!
10-11
Look around you and see if you can find another nation anywhere that has traded in its old gods for new ones—even though their gods are nothing. Send to the west to the island of Cyprus; send to the east to the deserts of Kedar. See if anyone there has ever heard so strange a thing as this. And yet my people have given up their glorious God for silly idols!
12
The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay.
13
For my people have done two evil things: They have forsaken me, the Fountain of living waters; and they have built for themselves broken cisterns that can’t hold water!
14
Why has Israel become a nation of slaves? Why is she captured and led far away?
15
I see great armies marching on Jerusalem with mighty shouts
*
to destroy her and leave her cities in ruins, burned and desolate.
16
I see the armies of Egypt rising against her, marching from their cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes to utterly destroy Israel’s glory and power.
17
And you have brought this on yourselves by rebelling against the Lord your God when he wanted to lead you and show you the way!
18
What have you gained by your alliances with Egypt and with Assyria?
19
Your own wickedness will punish you. You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to rebel against the Lord your God, fearlessly forsaking him, says the Lord Almighty.
20
Long ago you shook off my yoke and broke away from my ties. Defiant, you would not obey me. On every hill and under every tree you’ve bowed low before idols.
21
How could this happen? How could this be? For when I planted you, I chose my seed so carefully—the very best. Why have you become this degenerate race of evil men?
22
No amount of soap or lye can make you clean. You are stained with guilt that cannot ever be washed away. I see it always before me, the Lord God says.
23
You say it isn’t so, that you haven’t worshiped idols? How can you say a thing like that? Go and look in any valley in the land! Face the awful sins that you have done, O restless female camel, seeking for a male!
24
You are a wild donkey, sniffing the wind at mating time. (Who can restrain your lust?) Any jack wanting you need not search, for you come running to him!
25
Why don’t you turn from all this weary running after other gods? But you say, “Don’t waste your breath. I’ve fallen in love with these strangers and I can’t stop loving them now!”
26-27
Like a thief, the only shame that Israel knows is getting caught. Kings, princes, priests, and prophets—all are alike in this. They call a carved-up wooden post their father, and for their mother they have an idol chiseled out from stone. Yet in time of trouble they cry to me to save them!
28
Why don’t you call on these gods you have made? When danger comes, let
them
go out and save you if they can! For you have as many gods as there are cities in Judah.
29
Don’t come to me—you are all rebels, says the Lord.
30
I have punished your children, but it did them no good; they still will not obey. And you yourselves have killed my prophets as a lion kills its prey.
Dear brother Christians, I love you and long to see you, for you are my joy and my reward for my work. My beloved friends, stay true to the Lord.
2
And now I want to plead with those two dear women, Euodias and Syntyche. Please, please, with the Lord’s help, quarrel no more—be friends again.
3
And I ask you, my true teammate, to help these women, for they worked side by side with me in telling the Good News to others; and they worked with Clement, too, and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are written in the Book of Life.
4
Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice!
5
Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do. Remember that the Lord is coming soon.
6
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers.
7
If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.
8
And now, brothers, as I close this letter, let me say this one more thing: Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about.
9
Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.
10
How grateful I am and how I praise the Lord that you are helping me again. I know you have always been anxious to send what you could, but for a while you didn’t have the chance.
11
Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little.
12
I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of contentment in every situation, whether it be a full stomach or hunger, plenty or want;
13
for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power.
14
But even so, you have done right in helping me in my present difficulty.
15
As you well know, when I first brought the Gospel to you and then went on my way, leaving Macedonia, only you Philippians became my partners in giving and receiving. No other church did this.
16
Even when I was over in Thessalonica you sent help twice.
17
But though I appreciate your gifts, what makes me happiest is the well-earned reward you will have because of your kindness.
18
At the moment I have all I need—more than I need! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me when Epaphroditus came. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that pleases God well.
19
And it is he who will supply all your needs from his riches in glory because of what Christ Jesus has done for us.
20
Now unto God our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Sincerely, Paul
P.S.
21
Say hello for me to all the Christians there; the brothers with me send their greetings, too.
22
And all the other Christians here want to be remembered to you, especially those who work in Caesar’s palace.
23
The blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon your spirits.
How we thank you, Lord! Your mighty miracles give proof that you care.
2
“Yes,” the Lord replies, “and when I am ready, I will punish the wicked!
3
Though the earth shakes and all its people live in turmoil, yet its pillars are firm, for I have set them in place!”
4
I warned the proud to cease their arrogance! I told the wicked to lower their insolent gaze
*
5
and to stop being stubborn and proud.
6-7
For promotion and power come from nowhere on earth, but only from God. He promotes one and deposes another.
8
In Jehovah’s hand there is a cup of pale and sparkling wine. It is his judgment, poured out upon the wicked of the earth. They must drain that cup to the dregs.
9
But as for me, I shall forever declare the praises of the God of Jacob.
10
“I will cut off the strength of evil men,” says the Lord,
*
“and increase the power of good men in their place.”
Do not rejoice when your enemy meets trouble. Let there be no gladness when he falls—
18
for the Lord may be displeased with you and stop punishing him!
19-20
Don’t envy the wicked. Don’t covet his riches. For the evil man has no future; his light will be snuffed out.