The One Year Bible TLB (220 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
October 16On a December day in that same year—the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah—Hananiah (son of Azzur), a false prophet from Gibeon, addressed me publicly in the Temple while all the priests and people listened. He said:
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“The Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, declares: I have removed the yoke of the king of Babylon from your necks.
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Within two years I will bring back all the Temple treasures that Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon,
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and I will bring back King Jeconiah,
*
son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other captives exiled to Babylon, says the Lord. I will surely remove the yoke put on your necks by the king of Babylon.”
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Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, in front of all the priests and people,
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“Amen! May your prophecies come true! I hope the Lord will do everything you say and bring back from Babylon the treasures of this Temple, with all our loved ones.
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But listen now to the solemn words I speak to you in the presence of all these people.
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The ancient prophets who preceded you and me spoke against many nations, always warning of
war, famine,
and
plague.
9
So a prophet who foretells
peace
has the burden of proof on him to prove that God has really sent him. Only when his message comes true can it be known that he really is from God.”
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Then Hananiah, the false prophet, took the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.
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And Hananiah said again to the crowd that had gathered, “The Lord has promised that within two years he will release all the nations now in slavery to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.” At that point Jeremiah walked out.
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Soon afterwards the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:
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Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but these people have yokes of iron on their necks.
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The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, forcing them into slavery to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. And nothing will change this decree, for I have even given him all your flocks and herds.
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Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, the false prophet, “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and the people are believing your lies.
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Therefore the Lord says you must die. This very year your life will end because you have rebelled against the Lord.”
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And sure enough, two months later Hananiah died.
29:
1-2
After Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the court officials, the tribal officers, and craftsmen had been deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah wrote them a letter from Jerusalem, addressing it to the Jewish elders, priests, prophets, and to all the people.
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He sent the letter with Elasah (son of Shaphan) and Gemariah (son of Hilkiah) when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah’s ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar. And this is what the letter said:
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The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, sends this message to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem:
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Build homes and plan to stay; plant vineyards, for you will be there many years.
6
Marry and have children, and then find mates for them and have many grandchildren. Multiply! Don’t dwindle away!
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And work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon. Pray for her, for if Babylon has peace, so will you.
8
The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Don’t let the false prophets and mediums who are there among you fool you. Don’t listen to the dreams that they invent,
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for they prophesy lies in my name. I have not sent them, says the Lord.
10
The truth is this: You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised and bring you home again.
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For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
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In those days when you pray, I will listen.
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You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest.
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Yes, says the Lord, I will be found by you, and I will end your slavery and restore your fortunes; I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you back home again to your own land.
15
But now, because you accept the false prophets among you and say the Lord has sent them,
16-17
I will send war, famine, and plague upon the people left here in Jerusalem—on your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon, and on the king who sits on David’s throne—and make them like rotting figs, too bad to eat.
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And I will scatter them around the world. And in every nation where I place them they will be cursed and hissed and mocked,
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for they refuse to listen to me though I spoke to them again and again through my prophets.
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Therefore listen to the word of God, all you Jewish captives over there in Babylon.
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The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says this about your false prophets, Ahab (son of Kolaiah) and Zedekiah (son of Maaseiah), who are declaring lies to you in my name: Look, I am turning them over to Nebuchadnezzar to execute publicly.
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Their fate shall become proverbial of all evil, so that whenever anyone wants to curse someone he will say, “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab whom the king of Babylon burned alive!”
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For these men have done a terrible thing among my people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have lied in my name. I know, for I have seen everything they do, says the Lord.
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And say this to Shemaiah the dreamer:
*
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The Lord, the God of Israel, says: You have written a letter to Zephaniah (son of Maaseiah) the priest, and sent copies to all the other priests and to everyone in Jerusalem.
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And in this letter you have said to Zephaniah, “The Lord has appointed you to replace Jehoiada as priest in Jerusalem. And it is your responsibility to arrest any madman who claims to be a prophet and to put him in the stocks and collar.
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Why haven’t you done something about this false prophet Jeremiah of Anathoth?
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For he has written to us here in Babylon saying that our captivity will be long; that we should build permanent homes and plan to stay many years; that we should plant fruit trees, for we will be here to eat the fruit from them for a long time to come.”
29
Zephaniah took the letter over to Jeremiah and read it to him!
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Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:
31
Send an open letter to all the exiles in Babylon and tell them this: The Lord says that because Shemaiah the Nehelamite has “prophesied” to you when I didn’t send him and has fooled you into believing his lies,
32
I will punish him and his family. None of his descendants shall see the good I have waiting for my people, for he has taught you to rebel against the Lord.
From:
Paul, a missionary of Jesus Christ, sent out by the direct command of God our Savior and by Jesus Christ our Lord—our only hope.
2
To:
Timothy.
Timothy, you are like a son to me in the things of the Lord. May God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord show you his kindness and mercy and give you great peace of heart and mind.
3-4
As I said when I left for Macedonia, please stay there in Ephesus and try to stop the men who are teaching such wrong doctrine. Put an end to their myths and fables, and their idea of being saved by finding favor with an endless chain of angels leading up to God—wild ideas that stir up questions and arguments instead of helping people accept God’s plan of faith.
5
What I am eager for is that all the Christians there will be filled with love that comes from pure hearts, and that their minds will be clean and their faith strong.
6
But these teachers have missed this whole idea and spend their time arguing and talking foolishness.
7
They want to become famous as teachers of the laws of Moses when they haven’t the slightest idea what those laws really show us.
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Those laws are good when used as God intended.
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But they were not made for us, whom God has saved; they are for sinners who hate God, have rebellious hearts, curse and swear, attack their fathers and mothers, and murder.
10-11
Yes, these laws are made to identify as sinners all who are immoral and impure: homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, and all others who do things that contradict the glorious Good News of our blessed God, whose messenger I am.
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How thankful I am to Christ Jesus our Lord for choosing me as one of his messengers, and giving me the strength to be faithful to him,
13
even though I used to scoff at the name of Christ. I hunted down his people, harming them in every way I could. But God had mercy on me because I didn’t know what I was doing, for I didn’t know Christ at that time.
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Oh, how kind our Lord was, for he showed me how to trust him and become full of the love of Christ Jesus.
15
How true it is, and how I long that everyone should know it, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I was the greatest of them all.
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But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as an example to show everyone how patient he is with even the worst sinners, so that others will realize that they, too, can have everlasting life.
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Glory and honor to God forever and ever. He is the King of the ages, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God, and full of wisdom. Amen.
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Now, Timothy, my son, here is my command to you: Fight well in the Lord’s battles, just as the Lord told us through his prophets that you would.
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Cling tightly to your faith in Christ and always keep your conscience clear, doing what you know is right. For some people have disobeyed their consciences and have deliberately done what they knew was wrong. It isn’t surprising that soon they lost their faith in Christ after defying God like that.
20
Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples of this. I had to give them over to Satan to punish them until they could learn not to bring shame to the name of Christ.
Bend down and hear my prayer, O Lord, and answer me, for I am deep in trouble.
2
Protect me from death, for I try to follow all your laws. Save me, for I am serving you and trusting you.
3
Be merciful, O Lord, for I am looking up to you in constant hope.
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Give me happiness, O Lord, for I worship only you.
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O Lord, you are so good and kind, so ready to forgive, so full of mercy for all who ask your aid.
6
Listen closely to my prayer, O God. Hear my urgent cry.
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I will call to you whenever trouble strikes, and you will help me.
8
Where among the heathen gods is there a god like you? Where are their miracles?
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All the nations—and you made each one—will come and bow before you, Lord, and praise your great and holy name.
10
For you are great and do great miracles. You alone are God.
11
Tell me where you want me to go and I will go there. May every fiber of my being unite in reverence to your name.
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With all my heart I will praise you. I will give glory to your name forever,
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for you love me so much! You are constantly so kind! You have rescued me from deepest hell.
14
O God, proud and insolent men defy me; violent, godless men are trying to kill me.
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But you are merciful and gentle, Lord, slow in getting angry, full of constant loving-kindness and of truth;
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so look down in pity and grant strength to your servant and save me.
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Send me a sign of your favor. When those who hate me see it, they will lose face because you help and comfort me.
Don’t visit your neighbor too often, or you will outwear your welcome!
October 17This is another of the Lord’s messages to Jeremiah:
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The Lord God of Israel says: Write down for the record all that I have said to you.
3
For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, and I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their fathers; they shall possess it and live here again.
4
And write this also concerning Israel and Judah:
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“Where shall we find peace?” they cry. “There is only fear and trembling.
6
Do men give birth? Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced, hands pressed against their sides like women in labor?”
7
Alas, in all history when has there ever been a time of terror such as in that coming day? It is a time of trouble for my people—for Jacob—such as they have never known before. Yet God will rescue them!
8
For on that day, says the Lord Almighty, I will break the yoke from their necks and snap their chains, and foreigners shall no longer be their masters!
9
For they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King,
*
whom I will raise up for them, says the Lord.
10
So don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant; don’t be dismayed, O Israel; for I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children from their exile. They shall have rest and quiet in their own land, and no one shall make them afraid.
11
For I am with you and I will save you, says the Lord. Even if I utterly destroy the nations where I scatter you, I will not exterminate you; I will punish you, yes—you will not go unpunished.
12
For your sin is an incurable bruise, a terrible wound.
13
There is no one to help you or to bind up your wound, and no medicine does any good.
14
All your lovers have left you and don’t care anything about you anymore; for I have wounded you cruelly, as though I were your enemy; mercilessly, as though I were an implacable foe; for your sins are so many, your guilt is so great.
15
Why do you protest your punishment? Your sin is so scandalous that your sorrow should never end! It is because your guilt is great that I have had to punish you so much.
16
But in that coming day, all who are destroying you shall be destroyed, and all your enemies shall be slaves. Those who rob you shall be robbed; and those attacking you shall be attacked.
17
I will give you back your health again and heal your wounds. Now you are called “The Outcast” and “Jerusalem, the Place Nobody Wants.”
18
But, says the Lord, when I bring you home again from your captivity and restore your fortunes, Jerusalem will be rebuilt upon her ruins; the palace will be reconstructed as it was before.
19
The cities will be filled with joy and great thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people and make of them a great and honored nation.
20
Their children shall prosper as in David’s reign; their nations shall be established before me, and I will punish anyone who hurts them.
21
They will have their own ruler again.
*
He will not be a foreigner. And I will invite him to be a priest at my altars, and he shall approach me, for who would dare to come unless invited.
22
And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
23
Suddenly the devastating whirlwind of the Lord roars with fury; it shall burst upon the heads of the wicked.
24
The Lord will not call off the fierceness of his wrath until it has finished all the terrible destruction he has planned. Later on
*
you will understand what I am telling you.
31:
1
At that time, says the Lord, all the families of Israel shall recognize me as the Lord; they shall act like my people.
2
I will care for them as I did those who escaped from Egypt, to whom I showed my mercies in the wilderness, when Israel sought for rest.
3
For long ago the Lord had said to Israel: I have loved you, O my people, with an everlasting love; with loving-kindness I have drawn you to me.
4
I will rebuild your nation, O virgin of Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with the timbrels.
5
Again you will plant your vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria and eat from your own gardens there.
6
The day shall come when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim will call out and say, “Arise, and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God.”
7
For the Lord says: Sing with joy for all that I will do for Israel, the greatest of the nations! Shout out with praise and joy: “The Lord has saved his people, the remnant of Israel.”
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For I will bring them from the north and from earth’s farthest ends, not forgetting their blind and lame, young mothers with their little ones, those ready to give birth. It will be a great company who comes.
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Tears of joy shall stream down their faces, and I will lead them home with great care. They shall walk beside the quiet streams and not stumble. For I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my oldest child.
10
Listen to this message from the Lord, you nations of the world, and publish it abroad: The Lord who scattered his people will gather them back together again and watch over them as a shepherd does his flock.
11
He will save Israel from those who are too strong for them!
12
They shall come home and sing songs of joy upon the hills of Zion and shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord—the good crops, the wheat, the wine, and the oil, and the healthy flocks and herds. Their life shall be like a watered garden, and all their sorrows shall be gone.
13
The young girls will dance for joy, and menfolk—old and young—will take their part in all the fun; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and I will comfort them and make them rejoice, for their captivity with all its sorrows will be behind them.
14
I will feast the priests with the abundance of offerings brought to them at the Temple; I will satisfy my people with my bounty, says the Lord.
15
The Lord spoke to me again, saying: In Ramah there is bitter weeping—Rachel
*
is weeping for her children and cannot be comforted, for they are gone.
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But the Lord says: Don’t cry any longer, for I have heard your prayers
*
and you will see them again; they will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy.
17
There is hope for your future, says the Lord, and your children will come again to their own land.
18
I have heard Ephraim’s groans: “You have punished me greatly; but I needed it all, as a calf must be trained for the yoke. Turn me again to you and restore me, for you alone are the Lord, my God.
19
I turned away from God, but I was sorry afterwards. I kicked myself for my stupidity. I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in younger days.”
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And the Lord replies: Ephraim is still my son, my darling child. I had to punish him, but I still love him. I long for him and surely will have mercy on him.
21
As you travel into exile, set up road signs pointing back to Israel. Mark your pathway well. For you shall return again, O virgin Israel, to your cities here.
22
How long will you vacillate, O wayward daughter? For the Lord will cause something new and different to happen—Israel will search for God.
*
23
The Lord, the God of Israel, says: When I bring them back again, they shall say in Judah and her cities, “The Lord bless you, O center of righteousness, O holy hill!”
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And city dwellers and farmers and shepherds alike shall live together in peace and happiness.
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For I have given rest to the weary and joy to all the sorrowing.
26
(Then Jeremiah wakened. “Such sleep is very sweet!” he said.)
Here are my directions: Pray much for others; plead for God’s mercy upon them; give thanks for all he is going to do for them.
2
Pray in this way for kings and all others who are in authority over us, or are in places of high responsibility, so that we can live in peace and quietness, spending our time in godly living and thinking much about the Lord.
*
3
This is good and pleases God our Savior,
4
for he longs for all to be saved and to understand this truth:
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That God is on one side and all the people on the other side, and Christ Jesus, himself man, is between them to bring them together,
6
by giving his life for all mankind.
This is the message that at the proper time God gave to the world.
7
And I have been chosen—this is the absolute truth—as God’s minister and missionary to teach this truth to the Gentiles and to show them God’s plan of salvation through faith.
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So I want men everywhere to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from sin and anger and resentment.
9-10
And the women should be the same way, quiet and sensible in manner and clothing. Christian women should be noticed for being kind and good, not for the way they fix their hair or because of their jewels or fancy clothes.
11
Women should listen and learn quietly and humbly.
12
I never let women teach men or lord it over them. Let them be silent in your church meetings.
13
Why? Because God made Adam first, and afterwards he made Eve.
14
And it was not Adam who was fooled by Satan, but Eve, and sin was the result.
15
So God sent pain and suffering to women when their children are born, but he will save their souls if they trust in him, living quiet, good, and loving lives.
High on his holy mountain stands Jerusalem,
*
the city of God, the city he loves more than any other!
3
O city of God, what wondrous tales are told of you!
4
Nowadays when I mention among my friends the names of Egypt and Babylonia, Philistia and Tyre, or even distant Ethiopia, someone boasts that he was born in one or another of those countries.
5
But someday the highest honor will be to be a native of Jerusalem! For the God above all gods will personally bless this city.
6
When he registers her citizens, he will place a check mark beside the names of those who were born here.
7
And in the festivals they’ll sing, “All my heart is in Jerusalem.”
Telling lies about someone is as harmful as hitting him with an ax, or wounding him with a sword, or shooting him with a sharp arrow.
19
Putting confidence in an unreliable man is like chewing with a sore tooth, or trying to run on a broken foot.