The One Year Bible TLB (230 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
October 28Listen! Hear the cry of great destruction out of Babylon, the land the Chaldeans rule!
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For the Lord is destroying Babylon; her mighty voice is stilled as the waves roar in upon her.
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Destroying armies come and slay her mighty men; all her weapons break in her hands, for the Lord God gives just punishment and is giving Babylon all her due.
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I will make drunk her princes, wise men, rulers, captains, warriors. They shall sleep and not wake up again! So says the King, the Lord Almighty.
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For the wide walls of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned; the builders from many lands have worked in vain—their work shall be destroyed by fire!
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During the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign, this message came to Jeremiah to give to Seraiah (son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah), concerning Seraiah’s capture
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and exile to Babylon along with Zedekiah, king of Judah. (Seraiah was quartermaster of Zedekiah’s army.)
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Jeremiah wrote on a scroll all the terrible things God had scheduled against Babylon—all the words written above—
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and gave the scroll to Seraiah and said to him, “When you get to Babylon, read what I have written and say, ‘Lord, you have said that you will destroy Babylon so that not a living creature will remain, and it will be abandoned forever.’
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Then, when you have finished reading the scroll, tie a rock to it, and throw it into the Euphrates River,
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and say, ‘So shall Babylon sink, never more to rise, because of the evil I am bringing upon her.’”
(This ends Jeremiah’s messages.)
52:
1
(Events told about in chapter 39.)
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal (daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah).
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But he was a wicked king, just as Jehoiakim had been.
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Things became so bad at last that the Lord, in his anger, saw to it that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon until he and the people of Israel were ejected from the Lord’s presence in Jerusalem and Judah, and were taken away as captives to Babylon.
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In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came with all his army against Jerusalem and built forts around it,
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and laid siege to the city for two years.
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Then finally, on the ninth day of the fourth month, when the famine in the city was very serious, with the last of the food entirely gone,
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the people in the city tore a hole in the city wall and all the soldiers fled from the city during the night, going out by the gate between the two walls near the king’s gardens (for the city was surrounded by the Chaldeans), and made a dash for it across the fields, toward Arabah.
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But the Chaldean soldiers chased them and caught King Zedekiah in some fields near Jericho—for all his army was scattered from him.
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They brought him to the king of Babylon who was staying in the city of Riblah in the kingdom of Hamath, and there judgment was passed upon him.
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He made Zedekiah watch while his sons and all the princes of Judah were killed before his eyes.
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Then his eyes were gouged out, and he was taken in chains to Babylon and put in prison for the rest of his life.
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On the tenth day of the fifth month during the nineteenth year
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of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, arrived in Jerusalem,
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and burned the Temple and the palace and all the larger homes,
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and set the Chaldean army to work tearing down the walls of the city.
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Then he took to Babylon, as captives, some of the poorest of the people—along with those who survived the city’s destruction, and those who had deserted Zedekiah and had come over to the Babylonian army, and the tradesmen who were left.
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But he left some of the poorest people to care for the crops as vinedressers and plowmen.
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The Babylonians dismantled the two large bronze pillars that stood at the entrance of the Temple, and the bronze laver and bronze bulls on which it stood, and carted them off to Babylon.
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And he took along all the bronze pots and kettles, the ash shovels used at the altar, the snuffers, spoons, bowls, and all the other items used in the Temple.
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He also took the firepans, the solid gold and silver candlesticks, and the cups and bowls.
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The weight of the two enormous pillars, the laver, and twelve bulls was tremendous. They had no way of estimating it. (They had been made in the days of King Solomon.)
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For the pillars were each 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference, hollow, with 3-inch walls.
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The top 7
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/
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feet of each column had bronze carvings, a network of bronze pomegranates.
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There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and on the network round about there were a hundred more.
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The captain of the guard took along with him as his prisoners: Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah his assistant, the three chief Temple guards, one of the commanding officers of the army, seven of the king’s special counselors discovered in the city, the secretary of the general-in-chief of the Jewish army (who was in charge of recruitment), and sixty other men of importance found hiding.
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He took them to the king of Babylon at Riblah,
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where the king killed them all.
So it was that Judah’s exile was accomplished.
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The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was 3,023.
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Then, eleven years later, he took 832 more;
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five years after that he sent Nebuzaradan, his captain of the guard, and took 745—a total of 4,600 captives in all.
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On February 25 of the thirty-seventh year of the imprisonment in Babylon of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, Evil-merodach, who became king of Babylon that year, was kind to King Jehoiachin and brought him out of prison.
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He spoke pleasantly to him and gave him preference over all the other kings in Babylon;
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he gave him new clothes and fed him from the king’s kitchen as long as he lived.
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And he was given a regular allowance to cover his daily needs until the day of his death.
Remind your people to obey the government and its officers, and always to be obedient and ready for any honest work.
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They must not speak evil of anyone, nor quarrel, but be gentle and truly courteous to all.
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Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient; we were misled by others and became slaves to many evil pleasures and wicked desires. Our lives were full of resentment and envy. We hated others and they hated us.
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But when the time came for the kindness and love of God our Savior to appear,
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then he saved us—not because we were good enough to be saved but because of his kindness and pity—by washing away our sins and giving us the new joy of the indwelling Holy Spirit,
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whom he poured out upon us with wonderful fullness—and all because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did
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so that he could declare us good in God’s eyes—all because of his great kindness; and now we can share in the wealth of the eternal life he gives us, and we are eagerly looking forward to receiving it.
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These things I have told you are all true. Insist on them so that Christians will be careful to do good deeds all the time, for this is not only right, but it brings results.
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Don’t get involved in arguing over unanswerable questions and controversial theological ideas; keep out of arguments and quarrels about obedience to Jewish laws, for this kind of thing isn’t worthwhile; it only does harm.
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If anyone is causing divisions among you, he should be given a first and second warning. After that have nothing more to do with him,
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for such a person has a wrong sense of values. He is sinning, and he knows it.
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I am planning to send either Artemas or Tychicus to you. As soon as one of them arrives, please try to meet me at Nicopolis as quickly as you can, for I have decided to stay there for the winter.
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Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos with their trip; see that they are given everything they need.
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For our people must learn to help all who need their assistance, that their lives will be fruitful.
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Everybody here sends greetings. Please say hello to all of the Christian friends there. May God’s blessings be with you all.
Sincerely, Paul
Shout with joy before the Lord, O earth!
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Obey him gladly; come before him, singing with joy.
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Try to realize what this means—the Lord is God! He made us—we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
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Go through his open gates with great thanksgiving; enter his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.
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For the Lord is always good. He is always loving and kind, and his faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation.
A man who is caught lying to his neighbor and says, “I was just fooling,” is like a madman throwing around firebrands, arrows, and death!
October 29Jerusalem’s streets, once thronged with people, are silent now. Like a widow broken with grief, she sits alone in her mourning. She, once queen of nations, is now a slave.
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She sobs through the night; tears run down her cheeks. Among all her lovers,
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there is none to help her. All her friends are now her enemies.
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Why is Judah led away, a slave? Because of all the wrong she did to others, making them her slaves. Now she sits in exile far away. There is no rest, for those she persecuted have turned and conquered her.
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The roads to Zion mourn, no longer filled with joyous throngs who come to celebrate the Temple feasts; the city gates are silent, her priests groan, her virgins have been dragged away. Bitterly she weeps.
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Her enemies prosper, for the Lord has punished Jerusalem for all her many sins; her young children are captured and taken far away as slaves.
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All her beauty and her majesty are gone; her princes are like starving deer that search for pasture—helpless game too weak to keep on running from their foes.
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And now in the midst of all Jerusalem’s sadness she remembers happy bygone days. She thinks of all the precious joys she had before her mocking enemy struck her down—and there was no one to give her aid.
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For Jerusalem sinned so horribly; therefore, she is tossed away like dirty rags. All who honored her despise her now, for they have seen her stripped naked and humiliated. She groans and hides her face.
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She indulged herself in immorality and refused to face the fact that punishment was sure to come. Now she lies in the gutter with no one left to lift her out. “O Lord,” she cries, “see my plight. The enemy has triumphed.”
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Her enemies have plundered her completely, taking everything precious she owns. She has seen foreign nations violate her sacred Temple—foreigners you had forbidden even to enter.
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Her people groan and cry for bread; they have sold all they have for food to give a little strength. “Look, O Lord,” she prays, “and see how I’m despised.”
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Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow because of all the Lord has done to me in the day of his fierce wrath.
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He has sent fire from heaven that burns within my bones; he has placed a pitfall in my path and turned me back. He has left me sick and desolate the whole day through.
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He wove my sins into ropes to hitch me to a yoke of slavery. He sapped my strength and gave me to my enemies; I am helpless in their hands.
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The Lord has trampled all my mighty men. A great army has come at his command to crush the noblest youth. The Lord has trampled his beloved city as grapes in a winepress.
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For all these things I weep; tears flow down my cheeks. My Comforter is far away—he who alone could help me. My children have no future; we are a conquered land.
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Jerusalem pleads for help, but no one comforts her. For the Lord has spoken: “Let her neighbors be her foes! Let her be thrown out like filthy rags!”
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And the Lord is right, for we rebelled. And yet, O people everywhere, behold and see my anguish and despair, for my sons and daughters are taken far away as slaves to distant lands.
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I begged my allies
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for their help. False hope—they could not help at all. Nor could my priests and elders—they were starving in the streets while searching through the garbage dumps for bread.
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See, O Lord, my anguish;
my heart is broken and my soul despairs, for I have terribly rebelled. In the streets the sword awaits me; at home, disease and death.
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Hear my groans!
And there is no one anywhere to help. All my enemies have heard my troubles, and they are glad to see what you have done. And yet, O Lord, the time will surely come—for you have promised it—when you will do to them as you have done to me.
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Look also on their sins, O Lord, and punish them as you have punished me, for my sighs are many and my heart is faint.
2:
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A cloud of anger from the Lord has overcast Jerusalem; the fairest city of Israel lies in the dust of the earth, cast from the heights of heaven at his command. In his day of awesome fury he has shown no mercy even to his Temple.
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The Lord without mercy has destroyed every home in Israel. In his wrath he has broken every fortress, every wall. He has brought the kingdom to dust, with all its rulers.
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All the strength of Israel vanishes beneath his wrath. He has withdrawn his protection as the enemy attacks. God burns across the land of Israel like a raging fire.
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He bends his bow against his people as though he were an enemy. His strength is used against them to kill their finest youth. His fury is poured out like fire upon them.
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Yes, the Lord has vanquished Israel like an enemy. He has destroyed her forts and palaces. Sorrows and tears are his portion for Jerusalem.
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He has violently broken down his Temple as though it were a booth of leaves and branches in a garden! No longer can the people celebrate their holy feasts and Sabbaths. Kings and priests together fall before his wrath.
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The Lord has rejected his own altar, for he despises the false “worship” of his people; he has given their palaces to their enemies, who carouse in the Temple as Israel used to do on days of holy feasts!
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The Lord determined to destroy Jerusalem. He laid out an unalterable line of destruction. Therefore the ramparts and walls fell down before him.
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Jerusalem’s gates are useless. All their locks and bars are broken, for he has crushed them. Her kings and princes are enslaved in far-off lands, without a temple, without a divine law to govern them or prophetic vision to guide them.
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The elders of Jerusalem sit upon the ground in silence, clothed in sackcloth; they throw dust upon their heads in sorrow and despair. The virgins of Jerusalem hang their heads in shame.
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I have cried until the tears no longer come; my heart is broken, my spirit poured out, as I see what has happened to my people; little children and tiny babies are fainting and dying in the streets.
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“Mama, Mama, we want food,” they cry, and then collapse upon their mothers’ shrunken breasts. Their lives ebb away like those wounded in battle.
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In all the world has there ever been such sorrow? O Jerusalem, what can I compare your anguish to? How can I comfort you? For your wound is deep as the sea. Who can heal you?
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Your “prophets” have said so many foolish things, false to the core. They have not tried to hold you back from slavery by pointing out your sins. They lied and said that all was well.
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All who pass by scoff and shake their heads and say, “Is this the city called ‘Most Beautiful in All the World,’ and ‘Joy of All the Earth’?”
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All your enemies deride you. They hiss and grind their teeth and say, “We have destroyed her at last! Long have we waited for this hour, and it is finally here! With our own eyes we’ve seen her fall.”
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But it is the Lord who did it, just as he had warned. He has fulfilled the promises of doom he made so long ago. He has destroyed Jerusalem without mercy and caused her enemies to rejoice over her and boast of their power.
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Then the people wept before the Lord. O walls of Jerusalem, let tears fall down upon you like a river; give yourselves no rest from weeping day or night.
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Rise in the night and cry to your God. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord; lift up your hands to him; plead for your children as they faint with hunger in the streets.
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O Lord, think! These are your own people to whom you are doing this.
Shall mothers eat their little children, those they bounced upon their knees? Shall priests and prophets die within the Temple of the Lord?
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See them lying in the streets—old and young, boys and girls, killed by the enemies’ swords. You have killed them, Lord, in your anger; you have killed them without mercy.
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You have deliberately called for this destruction; in the day of your anger none escaped or remained. All my little children lie dead upon the streets before the enemy.
From:
Paul, in jail for preaching the Good News about Jesus Christ, and from Brother Timothy.
To:
Philemon, our much-loved fellow worker, and to the church that meets in your home, and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus who, like myself, is a soldier of the cross.
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May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you his blessings and his peace.
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I always thank God when I am praying for you, dear Philemon,
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because I keep hearing of your love and trust in the Lord Jesus and in his people.
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And I pray that as you share your faith with others it will grip their lives too, as they see the wealth of good things in you that come from Christ Jesus.
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I myself have gained much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because your kindness has so often refreshed the hearts of God’s people.
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Now I want to ask a favor of you. I could demand it of you in the name of Christ because it is the right thing for you to do, but I love you and prefer just to ask you—I, Paul, an old man now, here in jail for the sake of Jesus Christ.
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My plea is that you show kindness to my child Onesimus, whom I won to the Lord while here in my chains.
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Onesimus (whose name means “Useful”) hasn’t been of much use to you in the past, but now he is going to be of real use to both of us.
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I am sending him back to you, and with him comes my own heart.
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I really wanted to keep him here with me while I am in these chains for preaching the Good News, and you would have been helping me through him,
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but I didn’t want to do it without your consent. I didn’t want you to be kind because you had to but because you wanted to.
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Perhaps you could think of it this way: that he ran away from you for a little while so that now he can be yours forever,
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no longer only a slave, but something much better—a beloved brother, especially to me. Now he will mean much more to you too, because he is not only a servant but also your brother in Christ.
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If I am really your friend, give him the same welcome you would give to me if I were the one who was coming.
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If he has harmed you in any way or stolen anything from you, charge me for it.
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I will pay it back (I, Paul, personally guarantee this by writing it here with my own hand) but I won’t mention how much you owe me! The fact is, you even owe me your very soul!
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Yes, dear brother, give me joy with this loving act and my weary heart will praise the Lord.
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I’ve written you this letter because I am positive that you will do what I ask and even more!
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Please keep a guest room ready for me, for I am hoping that God will answer your prayers and let me come to you soon.
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Epaphras my fellow prisoner, who is also here for preaching Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings.
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So do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
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The blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon your spirit.
Paul
I will sing about your loving-kindness and your justice, Lord. I will sing your praises!
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I will try to walk a blameless path, but how I need your help, especially in my own home, where I long to act as I should.
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Help me to refuse the low and vulgar things; help me to abhor all crooked deals of every kind, to have no part in them.
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I will reject all selfishness and stay away from every evil.
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I will not tolerate anyone who secretly slanders his neighbors; I will not permit conceit and pride.
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I will make the godly of the land my heroes and invite them to my home. Only those who are truly good shall be my servants.
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But I will not allow those who deceive and lie to stay in my house.
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My daily task will be to ferret out criminals and free the city of God from their grip.