The One Year Bible TLB (226 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
A song to sing on the Lord’s Day.
*
It is good to say thank you to the Lord, to sing praises to the God who is above all gods.
2
Every morning tell him, “Thank you for your kindness,” and every evening rejoice in all his faithfulness.
3
Sing his praises, accompanied by music from the harp and lute and lyre.
4
You have done so much for me, O Lord. No wonder I am glad! I sing for joy.
5
O Lord, what miracles you do! And how deep are your thoughts!
6
Unthinking people do not understand them! No fool can comprehend this:
7
that although the wicked flourish like weeds, there is only eternal destruction ahead of them.
8
But the Lord continues forever, exalted in the heavens,
9
while his enemies—all evildoers—shall be scattered.
10
But you have made me as strong as a wild bull. How refreshed I am by your blessings!
*
11
I have heard the doom of my enemies announced and seen them destroyed.
12
But the godly shall flourish like palm trees and grow tall as the cedars of Lebanon.
13
For they are transplanted into the Lord’s own garden and are under his personal care.
14
Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green.
15
This honors the Lord and exhibits his faithful care. He is my shelter. There is nothing but goodness in him!
93:
1
Jehovah is King! He is robed in majesty and strength. The world is his throne.
*
2
O Lord, you have reigned from prehistoric times, from the everlasting past.
3
The mighty oceans thunder your praise.
4
You are mightier than all the breakers pounding on the seashores of the world!
5
Your royal decrees cannot be changed. Holiness is forever the keynote of your reign.
Guide a horse with a whip, a donkey with a bridle, and a rebel with a rod to his back!
4-5
When arguing with a rebel, don’t use foolish arguments as he does, or you will become as foolish as he is! Prick his conceit with silly replies!
*
October 24Then Jeremiah said to them all, including the women: “Listen to the word of the Lord, all you citizens of Judah who are here in Egypt!
25
The Lord, the God of Israel, says: Both you and your wives have said that you will never give up your devotion and sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven, and you have proved it by your actions. Then go ahead and carry out your promises and vows to her!
26
But listen to the word of the Lord, all you Jews who are living in the land of Egypt: I have sworn by my great name, says the Lord, that it will do you no good to seek my help and blessing anymore, saying, ‘O Lord our God, help us!’
27
For I will watch over you, but
not
for good! I will see to it that evil befalls you, and you shall be destroyed by war and famine until all of you are dead.
28
“Only those who return to Judah (it will be but a tiny remnant) shall escape my wrath, but all who refuse to go back—who insist on living in Egypt—shall find out who tells the truth, I or they!
29
And this is the proof I give you that all I have threatened will happen to you and that I will punish you here:
30
I will turn Pharaoh Hophra,
*
king of Egypt, over to those who seek his life, just as I turned Zedekiah, king of Judah, over to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.”
45:
1
This is the message
*
Jeremiah gave to Baruch in the fourth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim (son of Josiah), after Baruch had written down all God’s messages as Jeremiah was dictating them to him:
2
O Baruch, the Lord God of Israel says this to you:
3
You have said, Woe is me! Don’t I have troubles enough already? And now the Lord has added more! I am weary of my own sighing and I find no rest.
4
But tell Baruch this, The Lord says: I will destroy this nation that I built; I will wipe out what I established.
5
Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it! For though I will bring great evil upon all these people, I will protect you wherever you go, as your reward.
46:
1
Here are the messages given to Jeremiah concerning foreign nations:
The Egyptians
2
This message was given against Egypt at the occasion of the battle of Carchemish when Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, and his army were defeated beside the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim (son of Josiah), king of Judah:
3
Buckle on your armor, you Egyptians, and advance to battle!
4
Harness the horses and prepare to mount them—don your helmets, sharpen your spears, put on your armor.
5
But look! The Egyptian army flees in terror; the mightiest of its soldiers run without a backward glance. Yes, terror shall surround them on every side, says the Lord.
6
The swift will not escape, nor the mightiest of warriors. In the north, by the river Euphrates, they have stumbled and fallen.
7
What is this mighty army, rising like the Nile at flood time, overflowing all the land?
8
It is the Egyptian army, boasting that it will cover the earth like a flood, destroying every foe.
9
Then come, O horses and chariots and mighty soldiers of Egypt! Come, all of you from Cush and Put and Lud who handle the shield and bend the bow!
10
For this is the day of the Lord, the Lord Almighty, a day of vengeance upon his enemies. The sword shall devour until it is sated, yes, drunk with your blood, for the Lord, the Lord Almighty will receive a sacrifice today in the north country beside the river Euphrates!
11
Go up to Gilead for medicine, O virgin daughter of Egypt! Yet there is no cure for your wounds. Though you have used many medicines, there is no healing for you.
12
The nations have heard of your shame. The earth is filled with your cry of despair and defeat; your mightiest soldiers will stumble across each other and fall together.
13
Then God gave Jeremiah this message concerning the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to attack Egypt:
14
Shout it out in Egypt; publish it in the cities of Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes! Mobilize for battle, for the sword of destruction shall devour all around you.
15
Why has Apis, your bull god, fled in terror? Because the Lord knocked him down before your enemies.
16
Vast multitudes fall in heaps. (Then the remnant of the Jews will say, “Come, let us return again to Judah where we were born and get away from all this slaughter here!”)
17
Rename Pharaoh Hophra and call him “The Man with No Power but with Plenty of Noise!”
18
As I live, says the King, the Lord of Hosts, one is coming against Egypt who is as tall as Mount Tabor or Mount Carmel by the sea!
19
Pack up; get ready to leave for exile, you citizens of Egypt, for the city of Memphis shall be utterly destroyed and left without a soul alive.
20-21
Egypt is sleek as a heifer, but a gadfly sends her running—a gadfly from the north! Even her famed mercenaries have become like frightened calves. They turn and run, for it is the day of great calamity for Egypt, a time of great punishment.
22-23
Silent as a serpent gliding away, Egypt flees; the invading army marches in. The numberless soldiers cut down your people like woodsmen who clear a forest of its trees.
24
Egypt is as helpless as a girl before these men from the north.
25
The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will punish Amon, god of Thebes, and all the other gods of Egypt. I will punish Pharaoh too, and all who trust in him.
26
I will deliver them into the hands of those who want them killed—into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his army. But afterwards the land shall recover from the ravages of war.
27
But don’t you be afraid, O my people who return to your own land, don’t be dismayed; for I will save you from far away and bring your children from a distant land. Yes, Israel shall return and be at rest, and nothing shall make her afraid.
28
Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, says the Lord, for I am with you. I will destroy all the nations to which I have exiled you, but I will not destroy you. I will punish you, but only enough to correct you.
47:
1
The Philistines
This is God’s message to Jeremiah concerning the Philistines of Gaza, before the city was captured
*
by the Egyptian army:
2
The Lord says: A flood is coming from the north to overflow the land of the Philistines; it will destroy their cities and everything in them. Strong men will scream in terror, and all the land will weep.
3
Hear the clattering hoofs and rumbling wheels as the chariots go rushing by; fathers flee without a backward glance at their helpless children,
4
for the time has come when all the Philistines and their allies from Tyre and Sidon will be destroyed. For the Lord is destroying the Philistines, those colonists from Caphtor.
5
The cities of Gaza and Ashkelon will be razed to the ground and lie in ruins. O descendants of the Anakim, how you will lament and mourn!
6
O sword of the Lord, when will you be at rest again? Go back into your scabbard; rest and be still!
7
But how can it be still when the Lord has sent it on an errand? For the city of Ashkelon and those living along the sea must be destroyed.
Run from anything that gives you the evil thoughts that young men often have, but stay close to anything that makes you want to do right. Have faith and love, and enjoy the companionship of those who love the Lord and have pure hearts.
23
Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish arguments, which only upset people and make them angry.
24
God’s people must not be quarrelsome; they must be gentle, patient teachers of those who are wrong.
25
Be humble when you are trying to teach those who are mixed up concerning the truth. For if you talk meekly and courteously to them, they are more likely, with God’s help, to turn away from their wrong ideas and believe what is true.
26
Then they will come to their senses and escape from Satan’s trap of slavery to sin, which he uses to catch them whenever he likes, and then they can begin doing the will of God.
3:
1
You may as well know this too, Timothy, that in the last days it is going to be very difficult to be a Christian.
2
For people will love only themselves and their money; they will be proud and boastful, sneering at God, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful to them, and thoroughly bad.
3
They will be hardheaded and never give in to others; they will be constant liars and troublemakers and will think nothing of immorality. They will be rough and cruel, and sneer at those who try to be good.
4
They will betray their friends; they will be hotheaded, puffed up with pride, and prefer good times to worshiping God.
5
They will go to church,
*
yes, but they won’t really believe anything they hear. Don’t be taken in by people like that.
6
They are the kind who craftily sneak into other people’s homes and make friendships with silly, sin-burdened women and teach them their new doctrines.
7
Women of that kind are forever following new teachers, but they never understand the truth.
8
And these teachers fight truth just as Jannes and Jambres fought against Moses. They have dirty minds, warped and twisted, and have turned against the Christian faith.
9
But they won’t get away with all this forever. Someday their deceit will be well known to everyone, as was the sin of Jannes and Jambres.
10
But you know from watching me that I am not that kind of person. You know what I believe and the way I live and what I want. You know my faith in Christ and how I have suffered. You know my love for you, and my patience.
11
You know how many troubles I have had as a result of my preaching the Good News. You know about all that was done to me while I was visiting in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, but the Lord delivered me.
12
Yes, and those who decide to please Christ Jesus by living godly lives will suffer at the hands of those who hate him.
13
In fact, evil men and false teachers will become worse and worse, deceiving many, they themselves having been deceived by Satan.
14
But you must keep on believing the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know that you can trust those of us who have taught you.
15
You know how, when you were a small child, you were taught the holy Scriptures; and it is these that make you wise to accept God’s salvation by trusting in Christ Jesus.
16
The whole Bible
*
was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right.
17
It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone.
Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs, let your glory shine out. Arise and judge the earth; sentence the proud to the penalties they deserve.
3
Lord, how long shall the wicked be allowed to triumph and exult?
4
Hear their insolence! See their arrogance! How these men of evil boast!
5
See them oppressing your people, O Lord, afflicting those you love.
6-7
They murder widows, immigrants, and orphans, for “The Lord isn’t looking,” they say, “and besides, he
*
doesn’t care.”
8
Fools!
9
Is God deaf and blind—he who makes ears and eyes?
10
He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you? He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing?
11
The Lord is fully aware of how limited and futile the thoughts of mankind are,
12-13
so he helps us by punishing us. This makes us follow his paths and gives us respite from our enemies while God traps them and destroys them.
14
The Lord will not forsake his people, for they are his prize.
15
Judgment will again be just, and all the upright will rejoice.
16
Who will protect me from the wicked? Who will be my shield?
17
I would have died unless the Lord had helped me.
18
I screamed, “I’m slipping, Lord!” and he was kind and saved me.
19
Lord, when doubts fill my mind, when my heart is in turmoil, quiet me and give me renewed hope and cheer.
20
Will you permit a corrupt government to rule under your protection—a government permitting wrong to defeat right?
21-22
Do you approve of those who condemn the innocent to death? No! The Lord my God is my fortress—the mighty Rock where I can hide.
23
God has made the sins of evil men to boomerang upon them! He will destroy them by their own plans. Jehovah our God will cut them off.