The One Year Bible TLB (248 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
November 23“This is the tax you must give to the prince: a bushel of wheat or barley for every sixty you reap;
14
and one percent of your olive oil;
15
from each 200 sheep in all your flocks in Israel, give him one sheep. These are the meal offerings, burnt offerings, and thank offerings to make atonement for those who bring them,” says the Lord God.
16
“All the people of Israel shall bring their offerings to the prince.
17
“The prince shall be required to furnish the people with sacrifices for public worship—sin offerings, burnt offerings, meal offerings, drink offerings, and thank offerings—to make reconciliation for the people of Israel. This shall be done at the time of the religious feasts, the new moon ceremonies, the Sabbaths, and all other similar occasions.”
18
The Lord God says: “On each New Year’s Day
*
sacrifice a young bull with no blemishes, to purify the Temple.
19
The priest shall take some of the blood of this sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, upon the four corners of the base of the altar, and upon the walls at the entry of the inner court.
20
Do this also on the seventh day of that month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance, and so the Temple will be cleansed.
21
“On the fourteenth day of the same month, you shall celebrate the Passover. It will be a seven-day feast. Only bread without yeast shall be eaten during those days.
22
On the day of Passover the prince shall provide a young bull for a sin offering for himself and all the people of Israel.
23
On each of the seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord. This daily offering will consist of seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish. A male goat shall also be given each day for a sin offering.
24
And the prince shall provide a half bushel of grain with each bullock and ram for a meal offering, and three quarts of olive oil.
25
“Early in October during each of the seven days of the annual festival of shelters, he shall provide these same sacrifices for the sin offering, burnt offering, meal offering, and oil offering.”
46:
1
The Lord God says: “The inner wall’s eastern entrance shall be closed during the six work days but open on the Sabbath and on the days of the new moon celebrations.
2
The prince shall enter the outside entry hall of the passageway and proceed to the inner wall at the other end while the priest offers his burnt offering and peace offering. He shall worship inside the passageway and then return back to the entrance, which shall not be closed until evening.
3
The people shall worship the Lord in front of this passageway on the Sabbaths and on the days of the new moon celebrations.
4
“The burnt offering that the prince sacrifices to the Lord on the Sabbath days shall be six lambs and a ram, all unblemished.
5
He shall present a meal offering of a half bushel of flour to go with the ram and whatever amount he is willing to give with each lamb. And he shall bring three quarts of olive oil for each half bushel of flour.
6
At the new moon celebration, he shall bring one young bull in perfect condition, six lambs, and one ram, all without any blemish.
7
With the young bull, he must bring a half bushel
*
of flour for a meal offering. With the ram he must bring a half bushel of flour. With the lamb he is to bring whatever he is willing to give. With each half bushel of grain he is to bring three quarts of olive oil.
8
“The prince shall go in at the entry hall of the passageway and out the same way;
9
but when the people come in through the north passageway to sacrifice during the religious feasts, they must go out through the south passageway. Those coming in from the south must go out by the north. They must never go out the same way they come in, but must always use the opposite passageway.
10
The prince shall enter and leave with the common people on these occasions.
11
“To summarize: At the special feasts and sacred festivals the meal offering shall be a half bushel with the young bull; a half bushel with the ram; as much as the prince is willing to give with each lamb; and three quarts of oil with each half bushel of grain.
12
Whenever the prince offers an extra burnt offering or peace offering to be sacrificed to the Lord, the inner eastern gate shall be opened up for him to enter, and he shall offer his sacrifices just as on the Sabbaths. Then he shall turn around and go out, and the passage shall be shut behind him.
13
“Each morning a yearling lamb must be sacrificed as a burnt offering to the Lord.
14-15
And there must be a meal offering each morning—five pounds of flour with one quart of oil with which to mix it. This is a permanent ordinance—the lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil shall be provided every morning for the daily sacrifice.”
16
The Sovereign Lord says: “If the prince gives a gift of land to one of his sons, it will belong to him forever.
17
But if he gives a gift of land to one of his servants, the servant may keep it only until the Year of Release (every seventh year) when he is set free; then the land returns to the prince. Only gifts to his sons are permanent.
18
And the prince may never take anyone’s property by force. If he gives property to his sons, it must be from his own land, for I don’t want my people losing their property and having to move away.”
19-20
After that, using the door through the wall at the side of the main passageway, he led me through the entrance to the block of sacred chambers that faced north. There, at the extreme west end of these rooms, I saw a place where, my guide told me, the priests boil the meat of the trespass offering and sin offering and bake the flour of the flour offerings into bread. They do it here to avoid the necessity of carrying the sacrifices through the outer court, in case they harm the people.
21-22
Then he brought me out to the outer court again and led me to each of the four corners of the court. I saw that in each corner there was a room 70 feet long by 52
1
/
2
feet wide, enclosed by walls.
23
Around the inside of these walls there ran a line of brick boiling vats with ovens underneath.
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He said these rooms were where the Temple assistants—the Levites—boil the sacrifices the people offer.
So now you can look forward soberly and intelligently to more of God’s kindness to you when Jesus Christ returns.
14
Obey God because you are his children; don’t slip back into your old ways—doing evil because you knew no better.
15
But be holy now in everything you do, just as the Lord is holy, who invited you to be his child.
16
He himself has said, “You must be holy, for I am holy.”
17
And remember that your heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites when he judges. He will judge you with perfect justice for everything you do; so act in reverent fear of him from now on until you get to heaven.
18
God paid a ransom to save you from the impossible road to heaven which your fathers tried to take, and the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver as you very well know.
19
But he paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
20
God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but only recently was he brought into public view, in these last days, as a blessing to you.
21
Because of this, your trust can be in God who raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. Now your faith and hope can rest in him alone.
22
Now you can have real love for everyone because your souls have been cleansed from selfishness and hatred when you trusted Christ to save you; so see to it that you really do love each other warmly, with all your hearts.
23
For you have a new life. It was not passed on to you from your parents, for the life they gave you will fade away. This new one will last forever, for it comes from Christ, God’s ever-living Message to men.
24
Yes, our natural lives will fade as grass does when it becomes all brown and dry. All our greatness is like a flower that droops and falls;
25
but the Word of the Lord will last forever. And his message is the Good News that was preached to you.
2:
1
So get rid of your feelings of hatred. Don’t just pretend to be good! Be done with dishonesty and jealousy and talking about others behind their backs.
2-3
Now that you realize how kind the Lord has been to you, put away all evil, deception, envy, and fraud. Long to grow up into the fullness of your salvation; cry for this as a baby cries for his milk.
*
4
Come to Christ, who is the living Foundation of Rock upon which God builds; though men have spurned him, he is very precious to God who has chosen him above all others.
5
And now you have become living building-stones for God’s use in building his house. What’s more, you are his holy priests; so come to him—you who are acceptable to him because of Jesus Christ
*
—and offer to God those things that please him.
6
As the Scriptures express it, “See, I am sending Christ to be the carefully chosen, precious Cornerstone of my church, and I will never disappoint those who trust in him.”
7
Yes, he is very precious to you who believe; and to those who reject him, well—“The same Stone that was rejected by the builders has become the Cornerstone, the most honored and important part of the building.”
8
And the Scriptures also say, “He is the Stone that some will stumble over, and the Rock that will make them fall.” They will stumble because they will not listen to God’s Word nor obey it, and so this punishment must follow—that they will fall.
9
But you are not like that, for you have been chosen by God himself—you are priests of the King, you are holy and pure, you are God’s very own—all this so that you may show to others how God called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
10
Once you were less than nothing; now you are God’s own. Once you knew very little of God’s kindness; now your very lives have been changed by it.
Just tell me what to do and I will do it, Lord. As long as I live I’ll wholeheartedly obey.
35
Make me walk along the right paths, for I know how delightful they really are.
36
Help me to prefer obedience to making money!
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Turn me away from wanting any other plan than yours.
*
Revive my heart toward you.
38
Reassure me that your promises are for me, for I trust and revere you.
39
How I dread being mocked for obeying, for your laws are right and good.
40-42
I long to obey them! Therefore in fairness renew my life, for this was your promise—yes, Lord, to save me! Now spare me by your kindness and your love. Then I will have an answer for those who taunt me, for I trust your promises.
43
May I never forget your words, for they are my only hope.
44-46
Therefore I will keep on obeying you forever and forever, free within the limits of your laws. I will speak to kings about their value, and they will listen with interest and respect.
47
How I love your laws! How I enjoy your commands!
48
“Come, come to me,” I call to them, for I love them and will let them fill my life.
Rich men are conceited, but their real poverty is evident to the poor.
November 24Then he brought me back to the door of the Temple. I saw a stream flowing eastward from beneath the Temple and passing to the right of the altar, that is, on its south side.
2
Then he brought me outside the wall through the north passageway
*
and around to the eastern entrance, where I saw the stream flowing along on the south side of the eastern passageway.
3
Measuring as he went, he took me 1,500 feet east along the stream and told me to go across. At that point the water was up to my ankles.
4
He measured off another 1,500 feet and told me to cross again. This time the water was up to my knees.
5
Fifteen hundred feet after that it was up to my waist. Another 1,500 feet and it had become a river so deep I wouldn’t be able to get across unless I were to swim. It was too deep to cross on foot.
6
He told me to keep in mind what I had seen, then led me back along the bank.
7
And now, to my surprise,
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many trees were growing on both sides of the river!
8
He told me: “This river flows east through the desert and the Jordan Valley to the Dead Sea, where it will heal the salty waters and make them fresh and pure.
9
Everything touching the water of this river shall live. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will be healed. Wherever this water flows, everything will live.
10
Fishermen will stand along the shores of the Dead Sea, fishing all the way from En-gedi to En-eglaim. The shores will be filled with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea just as they do the Mediterranean!
11
But the marshes and swamps will not be healed; they will still be salty.
12
All kinds of fruit trees will grow along the riverbanks. The leaves will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit. There will be a new crop every month—without fail! For they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for medicine.”
13
The Lord God says: “Here are the instructions for dividing the land to the twelve tribes of Israel: The tribe of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh)
*
shall be given two sections.
14
Otherwise, each tribe will have an equal share. I promised with hand raised in oath of truth to give the land to your fathers, and you shall inherit it now.
15
“The northern boundary will run from the Mediterranean toward Hethlon, then on through Labweh
*
to Zedad;
16
then to Berothah and Sibraim, which are on the border between Damascus and Hamath, and finally to Hazer-hatticon, on the border of Hauran.
17
So the northern border will be from the Mediterranean to Hazar-enan, on the border with Hamath to the north and Damascus to the south.
18
“The eastern border will run south from Hazar-enan to Mount Hauran, where it will bend westward to the Jordan at the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee, and down along the Jordan River separating Israel from Gilead, past the Dead Sea to Tamar.
19
“The southern border will go west from Tamar to the springs at Meribath-kadesh and then follow the course of the brook of Egypt (Wadi el-Arish) to the Mediterranean.
20
“On the west side, the Mediterranean itself will be your boundary, from the southern boundary to the point where the northern boundary begins.
21
“Divide the land within these boundaries among the tribes of Israel.
22
Distribute the land as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners who live among you with their families. All children born in the land—whether or not their parents are foreigners—are to be considered citizens and have the same rights your own children have.
23
All these immigrants are to be given land according to the tribe where they now live.
48:
1
“Here is the list of the tribes and the territory each is to get. For Dan: From the northwest boundary at the Mediterranean, across to Hethlon, then to Labweh, and then on to Hazar-enan on the border between Damascus to the south and Hamath to the north. Those are the eastern and western limits of the land.
2
Asher’s territory lies south of Dan’s and has the same east and west boundaries.
3
Naphtali’s land lies south of Asher’s, with the same boundary lines on the east and the west.
4
Then comes Manasseh, south of Naphtali, with the same eastern and western boundary lines.
5-7
Next, to the south, is Ephraim, and then Reuben and then Judah, all with the same boundaries on the east and the west.
8
“South of Judah is the land set aside for the Temple. It has the same eastern and western boundaries as the tribal units, with the Temple in the center.
9
This Temple area will be 8
1
/
3
miles long and 6
2
/
3
miles wide.
10
“A strip of land measuring 8
1
/
3
miles long by 3
1
/
3
miles wide, north to south, surrounds the Temple.
11
It is for the priests, that is, the sons of Zadok who obeyed me and didn’t go into sin when the people of Israel and the rest of their tribe of Levi did.
12
It is their special portion when the land is distributed, the most sacred land of all. Next to it lies the area where the other Levites will live.
13
It will be of the same size and shape as the first. Together they measure 8
1
/
3
miles by 6
2
/
3
miles.
14
None of this special land shall ever be sold or traded or used by others, for it belongs to the Lord; it is holy.
15
“The strip of land 8
1
/
3
miles long by 1
2
/
3
miles wide, south of the Temple section, is for public use—homes, pasture, and parks, with a city in the center.
16
The city itself is to be 1
1
/
2
miles square.
17
Open land for pastures shall surround the city for approximately a tenth of a mile.
*
18
Outside the city, stretching east and west for three miles alongside the holy grounds, is garden area belonging to the city, for public use.
19
It is open to anyone working in the city, no matter where he comes from in Israel.
20
“The entire area—including sacred lands and city lands—is 8
1
/
3
miles square.
21-22
“The land on both sides of this area, extending clear out to the eastern and western boundaries of Israel, shall belong to the prince. This land, lying between the sections allotted to Judah and Benjamin, is 8
1
/
3
miles square on each side of the sacred and city lands.
23
“The sections given to the remaining tribes are as follows: Benjamin’s section extends across the entire country of Israel, from its eastern border clear across to the western border.
24
South of Benjamin’s area lies that of Simeon, also extending out to these same eastern and western borders.
25
Next is Issachar, with the same boundaries.
26
Then comes Zebulun, also extending all the way across.
27-28
Then Gad, with the same borders on east and west, while its south border runs from Tamar to the springs at Meribath-kadesh, and then follows the brook of Egypt (Wadi el-Arish) to the Mediterranean.
29
These are the allotments to be made to each tribe,” says the Lord God.
30-31
“Each city gate will be named in honor of one of the tribes of Israel. On the north side, with its 1
1
/
2
-mile wall, there will be three gates, one named for Reuben, one for Judah, and one for Levi.
32
On the east side, with its 1
1
/
2
-mile wall, the gates will be named for Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan.
33
The south wall, also the same length, will have the gates of Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun;
34
on the 1
1
/
2
miles of the west side, they will be named for Gad, Asher, and Naphtali.
35
“The entire circumference of the city is six miles. And the name of the city will be ‘The City of God.’”
*
Dear brothers, you are only visitors here. Since your real home is in heaven, I beg you to keep away from the evil pleasures of this world; they are not for you, for they fight against your very souls.
12
Be careful how you behave among your unsaved neighbors; for then, even if they are suspicious of you and talk against you, they will end up praising God for your good works when Christ returns.
13
For the Lord’s sake, obey every law of your government: those of the king as head of the state,
14
and those of the king’s officers, for he has sent them to punish all who do wrong, and to honor those who do right.
15
It is God’s will that your good lives should silence those who foolishly condemn the Gospel without knowing what it can do for them, having never experienced its power.
16
You are free from the law, but that doesn’t mean you are free to do wrong. Live as those who are free to do only God’s will at all times.
17
Show respect for everyone. Love Christians everywhere. Fear God and honor the government.
18
Servants, you must respect your masters and do whatever they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are tough and cruel.
19
Praise the Lord if you are punished for doing right!
20
Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong; but if you do right and suffer for it, and are patient beneath the blows, God is well pleased.
21
This suffering is all part of the work God has given you. Christ, who suffered for you, is your example. Follow in his steps:
22
He never sinned, never told a lie,
23
never answered back when insulted; when he suffered he did not threaten to get even; he left his case in the hands of God who always judges fairly.
24
He personally carried the load of our sins in his own body when he died on the cross so that we can be finished with sin and live a good life from now on. For his wounds have healed ours!
25
Like sheep you wandered away from God, but now you have returned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls who keeps you safe from all attacks.
3:
1-2
Wives, fit in with your husbands’ plans; for then if they refuse to listen when you talk to them about the Lord, they will be won by your respectful, pure behavior. Your godly lives will speak to them better than any words.
3
Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on jewelry, or beautiful clothes, or hair arrangement.
4
Be beautiful inside, in your hearts, with the lasting charm of a gentle and quiet spirit that is so precious to God.
5
That kind of deep beauty was seen in the saintly women of old, who trusted God and fitted in with their husbands’ plans.
6
Sarah, for instance, obeyed her husband Abraham, honoring him as head of the house. And if you do the same, you will be following in her steps like good daughters and doing what is right; then you will not need to fear offending your husbands.
*
7
You husbands must be careful of your wives, being thoughtful of their needs and honoring them as the weaker sex. Remember that you and your wife are partners in receiving God’s blessings, and if you don’t treat her as you should, your prayers will not get ready answers.
Never forget your promises to me your servant, for they are my only hope. They give me strength in all my troubles; how they refresh and revive me!
51
Proud men hold me in contempt for obedience to God, but I stand unmoved.
52
From my earliest youth I have tried to obey you; your Word has been my comfort.
53
I am very angry with those who spurn your commands.
54
For these laws of yours have been my source of joy and singing through all these years of my earthly pilgrimage.
55
I obey them even at night and keep my thoughts, O Lord, on you.
56
What a blessing this has been to me—to constantly obey.
57
Jehovah is mine! And I promise to obey!
58
With all my heart I want your blessings. Be merciful just as you promised.
59-60
I thought about the wrong direction in which I was headed, and turned around and came running back to you.
61
Evil men have tried to drag me into sin, but I am firmly anchored to your laws.
62
At midnight I will rise to give my thanks to you for your good laws.
63
Anyone is my brother who fears and trusts the Lord and obeys him.
64
O Lord, the earth is full of your loving-kindness! Teach me your good paths.