The One Year Bible TLB (213 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
It is an honor to receive a frank reply.
October 7How can you say, “We understand his laws,” when your teachers have twisted them up to mean a thing I never said?
9
These wise teachers of yours will be shamed by exile for this sin, for they have rejected the word of the Lord. Are they then so wise?
10
I will give their wives and their farms to others; for all of them, great and small, prophet and priest, have one purpose in mind—to get what isn’t theirs.
11
They give useless medicine for my people’s grievous wounds, for they assure them all is well when that isn’t so at all!
12
Are they ashamed because they worship idols? No, not in the least; they don’t even know how to blush! That is why I will see to it that they lie among the fallen. I will visit them with death.
13
Their figs and grapes will disappear, their fruit trees will die, and all the good things I prepared for them will soon be gone.
14
Then the people will say, “Why should we wait here to die? Come, let us go to the walled cities and perish there. For the Lord our God has decreed our doom and given us a cup of poison to drink because of all our sins.
15
We expected peace, but no peace came; we looked for health, but there was only terror.”
16
The noise of war resounds from the northern border.
*
The whole land trembles at the approach of the terrible army, for the enemy is coming and is devouring the land and everything in it—the cities and people alike.
17
For I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous snakes that you cannot charm. No matter what you do, they will bite you and you shall die.
18
My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken.
19
Listen to the weeping of my people all across the land.
“Where is the Lord?” they ask. “Has God deserted us?”
“Oh, why have they angered me with their carved idols and strange evil rites?” the Lord replies.
20
“The harvest is finished; the summer is over, and we are not saved.”
21
I weep for the hurt of my people; I stand amazed, silent, dumb with grief.
22
Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why doesn’t God do something? Why doesn’t he help?
9:
1
Oh, that my eyes were a fountain of tears; I would weep forever; I would sob day and night for the slain of my people!
2
Oh, that I could go away and forget them and live in some wayside shack in the desert, for they are all adulterous, treacherous men.
3
“They bend their tongues like bows to shoot their arrows of untruth. They care nothing for right and go from bad to worse; they care nothing for me,” says the Lord.
4
Beware of your neighbor! Beware of your brother! All take advantage of one another and spread their slanderous lies.
5
With practiced tongues they fool and defraud each other; they wear themselves out with all their sinning.
6
“They pile evil upon evil, lie upon lie, and utterly refuse to come to me,” says the Lord.
7
Therefore, the Lord Almighty says this: “See, I will melt them in a crucible of affliction. I will refine them and test them like metal. What else can I do with them?
8
For their tongues aim lies like poisoned spears. They speak cleverly to their neighbors while planning to kill them.
9
Should not I punish them for such things as this?” asks the Lord. “Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?”
10
Sobbing and weeping, I point to their mountains and pastures, for now they are desolate, without a living soul. Gone is the lowing of cattle, gone the birds and wild animals. All have fled.
11
“And I will turn Jerusalem into heaps of ruined houses where only jackals have their dens. The cities of Judah shall be ghost towns, with no one living in them.”
12
Who is wise enough to understand all this? Where is the Lord’s messenger to explain it? Why is the land a wilderness so that no one dares even to travel through?
13
“Because,” the Lord replies, “my people have forsaken my commandments and not obeyed my laws.
14
Instead, they have done whatever they pleased and worshiped the idols of Baal, as their fathers told them to.”
15
Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink.
16
I will scatter them around the world, to be strangers in distant lands; and even there the sword of destruction shall chase them until I have utterly destroyed them.
17-18
The Lord Almighty says: “Send for the mourners! Quick! Begin your crying! Let the tears flow from your eyes.
19
Hear Jerusalem weeping in despair. ‘We are ruined! Disaster has befallen us! We must leave our land and homes!’”
20
Listen to the words of God, O women who wail. Teach your daughters to wail and your neighbors too.
21
For death has crept in through your windows into your homes. He has killed off the flower of your youth. Children no longer play in the streets; the young men gather no more in the squares.
22
Tell them this, says the Lord: Bodies shall be scattered across the fields like manure, like sheaves after the mower, and no one will bury them.
23
The Lord says: Let not the wise man bask in his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his might, nor the rich man in his riches.
24
Let them boast in this alone: That they truly know me, and understand that I am the Lord of justice and of righteousness whose love is steadfast; and that I love to be this way.
25-26
A time is coming, says the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit—the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, Arabs, and yes, even you people of Judah. For all these pagan nations also circumcise themselves. Unless you circumcise your hearts by loving me, your circumcision is only a heathen rite like theirs, and nothing more.
Since you became alive again, so to speak, when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where he sits beside God in the place of honor and power.
2
Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here.
3
You should have as little desire for this world as a dead person does. Your real life is in heaven with Christ and God.
4
And when Christ who is our real life comes back again, you will shine with him and share in all his glories.
5
Away then with sinful, earthly things; deaden the evil desires lurking within you; have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires; don’t worship the good things of life, for that is idolatry.
6
God’s terrible anger is upon those who do such things.
7
You used to do them when your life was still part of this world;
8
but now is the time to cast off and throw away all these rotten garments of anger, hatred, cursing, and dirty language.
9
Don’t tell lies to each other; it was your old life with all its wickedness that did that sort of thing; now it is dead and gone.
10
You are living a brand new kind of life that is continually learning more and more of what is right, and trying constantly to be more and more like Christ who created this new life within you.
11
In this new life one’s nationality or race or education or social position is unimportant; such things mean nothing. Whether a person has Christ is what matters, and he is equally available to all.
12
Since you have been chosen by God who has given you this new kind of life, and because of his deep love and concern for you, you should practice tenderhearted mercy and kindness to others. Don’t worry about making a good impression on them, but be ready to suffer quietly and patiently.
13
Be gentle and ready to forgive; never hold grudges. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
14
Most of all, let love guide your life, for then the whole church will stay together in perfect harmony.
15
Let the peace of heart that comes from Christ be always present in your hearts and lives, for this is your responsibility and privilege as members of his body. And always be thankful.
16
Remember what Christ taught, and let his words enrich your lives and make you wise; teach them to each other and sing them out in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing to the Lord with thankful hearts.
17
And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, and come with him into the presence of God the Father to give him your thanks.
Yet even so the people kept on sinning and refused to believe in miracles.
33
So he cut their lives short and gave them years of terror and disaster.
34
Then at last, when he had ruined them, they walked awhile behind him; how earnestly they turned around and followed him!
35
Then they remembered that God was their Rock—that their Savior was the God above all gods.
36
But it was only with their words that they followed him, not with their hearts;
37
their hearts were far away. They did not keep their promises.
38
Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins and didn’t destroy them all. Many and many a time he held back his anger.
39
For he remembered that they were merely mortal men, gone in a moment like a breath of wind.
40
Oh, how often they rebelled against him in those desert years and grieved his heart.
41
Again and again they turned away and tempted God to kill them, and limited the Holy One of Israel from giving them his blessings.
42
They forgot his power and love and how he had rescued them from their enemies;
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they forgot the plagues he sent upon the Egyptians in Tanis
*
—
44
how he turned their rivers into blood so that no one could drink,
45
how he sent vast swarms of flies to fill the land, and how the frogs had covered all of Egypt!
46
He gave their crops to caterpillars. Their harvest was consumed by locusts.
47
He destroyed their grapevines and their sycamores with hail.
48
Their cattle died in the fields, mortally wounded by huge hailstones from heaven. Their sheep were killed by lightning.
49
He loosed on them the fierceness of his anger, sending sorrow and trouble. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels.
50
He gave free course to his anger and did not spare the Egyptians’ lives, but handed them over to plagues and sickness.
51
Then he killed the eldest son
*
in each Egyptian family—he who was the beginning of its strength and joy.
52
But he led forth his own people like a flock, guiding them safely through the wilderness.
53
He kept them safe, so they were not afraid. But the sea closed in upon their enemies and overwhelmed them.
54
He brought them to the border of his land of blessing, to this land of hills he made for them.
55
He drove out the nations occupying the land and gave each tribe of Israel its apportioned place as its home.
Develop your business first before building your house.
October 8Hear the word of the Lord, O Israel:
2-3
Don’t act like the people who make horoscopes and try to read their fate and future in the stars! Don’t be frightened by predictions such as theirs, for it is all a pack of lies. Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree and carve an idol;
4
they decorate it with gold and silver and fasten it securely in place with hammer and nails so that it won’t fall over.
5
And there stands their god like a helpless scarecrow in a garden! It cannot speak, and it must be carried, for it cannot walk. Don’t be afraid of such a god, for it can neither harm nor help nor do you any good.
6
O Lord, there is no other god like you. For you are great, and your name is full of power.
7
Who would not fear you, O King of nations? (And that title belongs to you alone!) Among all the wise men of the earth and in all the kingdoms of the world there isn’t anyone like you.
8
The wisest of men who worship idols are altogether stupid and foolish.
9
They bring beaten sheets of silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz and give them to skillful goldsmiths who make their idols; then they clothe these gods in royal purple robes that expert tailors make.
10
But the Lord is the only true God, the living God, the everlasting King. The whole earth shall tremble at his anger; the world shall hide before his displeasure.
11
Say this to those who worship other gods: Your so-called gods, who have not made the heavens and earth, shall vanish from the earth.
12
But our God formed the earth by his power and wisdom, and by his intelligence he hung the stars in space and stretched out the heavens.
13
It is his voice that echoes in the thunder of the storm clouds. He causes mist to rise upon the earth; he sends the lightning and brings the rain, and from his treasuries he brings the wind.
14
But foolish men without knowledge of God bow before their idols. It is a shameful business that these men are in, for what they make are frauds, gods without life or power in them.
15
All are worthless, silly; they will be crushed when their makers perish.
16
But the God of Jacob is not like these foolish idols. He is the Creator of all, and Israel is his chosen nation. The Lord Almighty is his name.
17
Pack your bags, he says. Get ready now to leave; the siege will soon begin.
18
For suddenly I’ll fling you from this land and pour great troubles down; at last you shall feel my wrath.
19
Desperate is my wound. My grief is great. My sickness is incurable, but I must bear it.
20
My home is gone; my children have been taken away, and I will never see them again. There is no one left to help me rebuild my home.
21
The shepherds of my people have lost their senses; they no longer follow God nor ask his will. Therefore they perish, and their flocks are scattered.
22
Listen! Hear the terrible sound of great armies coming from the north. The cities of Judah shall become dens of jackals.
23
O Lord, I know it is not within the power of man to map his life and plan his course—
24
so you correct me, Lord; but please be gentle. Don’t do it in your anger, for I would die.
25
Pour out your fury on the nations who don’t obey the Lord, for they have destroyed Israel and made a wasteland of this entire country.
11:
1-3
Then the Lord spoke to Jeremiah once again and said:
Remind the men of Judah and all the people of Jerusalem that I made a contract with their fathers—and cursed is the man who does not heed it!
4
For I told them at the time I brought them out of slavery in Egypt that if they would obey me and do whatever I commanded them, then they and all their children would be mine and I would be their God.
5
And now, Israel, obey me, says the Lord, so that I can do for you the wonderful things I swore I would if you obeyed. I want to give you a land that “flows with milk and honey,” as it is today.
Then I replied, “So be it, Lord!”
6
Then the Lord said: Broadcast this message in Jerusalem’s streets—go from city to city throughout the land and say, Remember this agreement that your fathers made with God, and do all the things they promised him they would.
7
For I solemnly said to your fathers when I brought them out of Egypt—and have kept on saying it over and over again until this day: Obey my every command!
8
But your fathers didn’t do it. They wouldn’t even listen. Each followed his own stubborn will and his proud heart. Because they refused to obey, I did to them all the evils stated in the contract.
9
Again the Lord spoke to me and said: I have discovered a conspiracy against me among the men of Judah and Jerusalem.
10
They have returned to the sins of their fathers, refusing to listen to me and worshiping idols. The agreement I made with their fathers is broken and canceled.
11
Therefore, the Lord says, I am going to bring calamity down upon them, and they shall not escape. Though they cry for mercy, I will not listen to their pleas.
12
Then they will pray to their idols and burn incense before them, but that cannot save them from their time of anguish and despair.
13
O my people, you have as many gods as there are cities, and your altars of shame (your altars to burn incense to Baal) are along every street in Jerusalem.
14
Therefore, Jeremiah, pray no longer for this people, neither weep nor plead for them; for I will not listen to them when they are finally desperate enough to beg me for help.
15
What right do my beloved people have to come anymore to my Temple? For you have been unfaithful and worshiped other gods. Can promises and sacrifices now avert your doom and give you life and joy again?
16
The Lord used to call you his green olive tree, beautiful to see and full of good fruit; but now he has sent the fury of your enemies to burn you up and leave you broken and charred.
17
It is because of the wickedness of Israel and Judah in offering incense to Baal that the Lord Almighty who planted the tree has ordered it destroyed.
18
Then the Lord told me all about their plans and showed me their evil plots.
19
I had been as unsuspecting as a lamb or ox on the way to slaughter. I didn’t know that they were planning to kill me! “Let’s destroy this man and all his messages,” they said. “Let’s kill him so that his name will be forever forgotten.”
20
O Lord Almighty, you are just. See the hearts and motives of these men. Repay them for all that they have planned! I look to you for justice.
21-22
And the Lord replied, The men of the city of Anathoth shall be punished for planning to kill you. They will tell you not to prophesy in God’s name on pain of death. And so their young men shall die in battle; their boys and girls shall starve.
23
Not one of these plotters of Anathoth shall survive, for I will bring a great disaster upon them. Their time has come.
You wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, for that is what the Lord has planned for you.
19
And you husbands must be loving and kind to your wives and not bitter against them nor harsh.
20
You children must always obey your fathers and mothers, for that pleases the Lord.
21
Fathers, don’t scold your children so much that they become discouraged and quit trying.
22
You slaves must always obey your earthly masters, not only trying to please them when they are watching you but all the time; obey them willingly because of your love for the Lord and because you want to please him.
23
Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord and not merely for your masters,
24
remembering that it is the Lord Christ who is going to pay you, giving you your full portion of all he owns. He is the one you are really working for.
25
And if you don’t do your best for him, he will pay you in a way that you won’t like—for he has no special favorites who can get away with shirking.
4:
1
You slave owners must be just and fair to all your slaves. Always remember that you, too, have a Master in heaven who is closely watching you.
2
Don’t be weary in prayer; keep at it; watch for God’s answers, and remember to be thankful when they come.
3
Don’t forget to pray for us too, that God will give us many chances to preach the Good News of Christ for which I am here in jail.
4
Pray that I will be bold enough to tell it freely and fully and make it plain, as, of course, I should.
5
Make the most of your chances to tell others the Good News. Be wise in all your contacts with them.
6
Let your conversation be gracious as well as sensible, for then you will have the right answer for everyone.
7
Tychicus, our much-loved brother, will tell you how I am getting along. He is a hard worker and serves the Lord with me.
8
I have sent him on this special trip just to see how you are and to comfort and encourage you.
9
I am also sending Onesimus, a faithful and much-loved brother, one of your own people. He and Tychicus will give you all the latest news.
10
Aristarchus, who is with me here as a prisoner, sends you his love, and so does Mark, a relative of Barnabas. And as I said before, give Mark a hearty welcome
*
if he comes your way.
11
Jesus Justus also sends his love. These are the only Jewish Christians working with me here, and what a comfort they have been!
12
Epaphras, from your city, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his love. He is always earnestly praying for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect and to help you know his will in everything you do.
13
I can assure you that he has worked hard for you with his prayers, and also for the Christians in Laodicea and Hierapolis.
14
Dear Doctor Luke sends his love, and so does Demas.
15
Please give my greeting to the Christian friends at Laodicea, and to Nymphas, and to those who meet in his home.
16
By the way, after you have read this letter, will you pass it on to the church at Laodicea? And read the letter I wrote to them.
17
And say to Archippus, “Be sure that you do all the Lord has told you to.”
18
Here is my own greeting in my own handwriting: Remember me here in jail. May God’s blessings surround you.
Sincerely, Paul
Yet though he did all this for them, they still rebelled against the God above all gods and refused to follow his commands.
57
They turned back from entering the Promised Land and disobeyed as their fathers had. Like a crooked arrow, they missed the target of God’s will.
58
They made him angry by erecting idols and altars to other gods.
59
When God saw their deeds, his wrath was strong and he despised his people.
60
Then he abandoned his Tabernacle at Shiloh, where he had lived among mankind,
61
and allowed his Ark to be captured; he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.
62
He caused his people to be butchered because his anger was intense.
63
Their young men were killed by fire, and their girls died before they were old enough to sing their wedding songs.
64
The priests were slaughtered, and their widows died before they could even begin their lament.
65
Then the Lord rose up as though awakening from sleep, and like a mighty man aroused by wine,
66
he routed his enemies; he drove them back and sent them to eternal shame.
67
But he rejected Joseph’s family, the tribe of Ephraim,
68
and chose the tribe of Judah—and Mount Zion, which he loved.
69
There he built his towering temple, solid and enduring as the heavens and the earth.
70
He chose his servant David, taking him from feeding sheep
71-72
and from following the ewes with lambs; God presented David to his people as their shepherd, and he cared for them with a true heart and skillful hands.