The One Year Bible TLB (25 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
Son, if you endorse a note for someone you hardly know, guaranteeing his debt, you are in serious trouble.
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You may have trapped yourself by your agreement.
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Quick! Get out of it if you possibly can! Swallow your pride; don’t let embarrassment stand in the way. Go and beg to have your name erased.
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Don’t put it off. Do it now. Don’t rest until you do.
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If you can get out of this trap you have saved yourself like a deer that escapes from a hunter or a bird from the net.
January 30Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go back again and make your demand upon Pharaoh; but I have hardened him and his officials, so that I can do more miracles demonstrating my power.
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What stories you can tell your children and grandchildren about the incredible things I am doing in Egypt! Tell them what fools I made of the Egyptians, and how I proved to you that I am Jehovah.”
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So Moses and Aaron requested another audience with Pharaoh and told him: “Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, asks, ‘How long will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go so they can worship me.
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If you refuse, tomorrow I will cover the entire nation with a thick layer of locusts so that you won’t even be able to see the ground, and they will finish destroying everything that escaped the hail.
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They will fill your palace, and the homes of your officials, and all the houses of Egypt. Never in the history of Egypt has there been a plague like this will be!’” Then Moses stalked out.
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The court officials now came to Pharaoh and asked him, “Are you going to destroy us completely? Don’t you know even yet that all Egypt lies in ruins? Let the
men
go and serve Jehovah their God!”
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So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “All right, go and serve Jehovah your God!” he said. “But just who is it you want to go?”
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“We will go with our sons and daughters, flocks and herds,” Moses replied. “We will take everything with us; for we must all join in the holy pilgrimage.”
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“In the name of God I will not let you take your little ones!” Pharaoh retorted. “I can see your plot!
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Never! You that are men, go and serve Jehovah, for that is what you asked for.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
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Then the Lord said to Moses, “Hold out your hand over the land of Egypt to bring locusts—they will cover the land and eat everything the hail has left.”
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So Moses lifted his rod and Jehovah caused an east wind to blow all that day and night; and when it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts.
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And the locusts covered the land of Egypt from border to border; it was the worst locust plague in all Egyptian history; and there will never again be another like it.
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For the locusts covered the face of the earth and blotted out the sun so that the land was darkened; and they ate every bit of vegetation the hail had left; there remained not one green thing—not a tree, not a plant throughout all the land of Egypt.
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Then Pharaoh sent an urgent call for Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I confess my sin against Jehovah your God and against you.
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Forgive my sin only this once, and beg Jehovah your God to take away this deadly plague. I solemnly promise that I will let you go as soon as the locusts are gone.”
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So Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord,
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and he sent a very strong west wind that blew the locusts out into the Red Sea, so that there remained not one locust in all the land of Egypt!
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But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not let the people go.
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Then Jehovah said to Moses, “Lift your hands to heaven, and darkness without a ray of light will descend upon the land of Egypt.”
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So Moses did, and there was thick darkness over all the land for three days.
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During all that time the people scarcely moved—but all the people of Israel had light as usual.
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Then Pharaoh called for Moses and said, “Go and worship Jehovah—but let your flocks and herds stay here; you can even take your children with you.”
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“No,” Moses said, “we must take our flocks and herds for sacrifices and burnt offerings to Jehovah our God.
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Not a hoof shall be left behind; for we must have sacrifices for the Lord our God, and we do not know what he will choose until we get there.”
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So the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not let them go.
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“Get out of here and don’t let me ever see you again,” Pharaoh shouted at Moses. “The day you do, you shall die.”
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“Very well,” Moses replied. “I will never see you again.”
11:
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Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will send just one more disaster on Pharaoh and his land, and after that he will let you go; in fact, he will be so anxious to get rid of you that he will practically throw you out of the country.
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Tell all the men and women of Israel to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver jewelry.”
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(For God caused the Egyptians to be very favorable to the people of Israel, and Moses was a very great man in the land of Egypt and was revered by Pharaoh’s officials and the Egyptian people alike.)
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Now Moses announced to Pharaoh,
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“Jehovah says, ‘About midnight I will pass through Egypt.
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And all the oldest sons shall die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest child of Pharaoh, heir to his throne, to the oldest child of his lowliest slave; and even the firstborn of the animals.
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The wail of death will resound throughout the entire land of Egypt; never before has there been such anguish, and it will never be again.
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“‘But not a dog shall move his tongue against any of the people of Israel, nor shall any of their animals die. Then you will know that Jehovah makes a distinction between Egyptians and Israelis.’
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All these officials of yours will come running to me, bowing low and begging, ‘Please leave at once, and take all your people with you.’ Only then will I go!” Then, red-faced with anger, Moses stomped from the palace.
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The Lord had told Moses, “Pharaoh won’t listen, and this will give me the opportunity of doing mighty miracles to demonstrate my power.”
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So, although Moses and Aaron did these miracles right before Pharaoh’s eyes, the Lord hardened his heart so that he wouldn’t let the people leave the land.
12:
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Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
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“From now on, this month will be the first and most important of the entire year.
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Annually, on the tenth day of this month (announce this to all the people of Israel) each family shall get a lamb
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(or, if a family is small, let it share the lamb with another small family in the neighborhood; whether to share in this way depends on the size of the families).
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This animal shall be a year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, without any defects.
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“On the evening of the fourteenth day of this month, all these lambs shall be killed,
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and their blood shall be placed on the two side-frames of the door of every home and on the panel above the door. Use the blood of the lamb eaten in that home.
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Everyone shall eat roast lamb that night, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
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The meat must not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted, including the head, legs, heart, and liver.
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Don’t eat any of it the next day; if all is not eaten that night, burn what is left.
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“Eat it with your traveling clothes on, prepared for a long journey, wearing your walking shoes and carrying your walking sticks in your hands; eat it hurriedly. This observance shall be called the Lord’s Passover.
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For I will pass through the land of Egypt tonight and kill all the oldest sons and firstborn male animals in all the land of Egypt, and execute judgment upon all the gods of Egypt—for I am Jehovah.
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The blood you have placed on the doorposts will be proof that you obey me, and when I see the blood I will pass over you and I will not destroy your firstborn children when I smite the land of Egypt.”
Here is another illustration of the Kingdom of Heaven.
“The owner of an estate went out early one morning to hire workers for his harvest field.
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He agreed to pay them $20 a day
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and sent them out to work.
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“A couple of hours later he was passing a hiring hall and saw some men standing around waiting for jobs,
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so he sent them also into his fields, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day.
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At noon and again around three o’clock in the afternoon he did the same thing.
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“At five o’clock that evening he was in town again and saw some more men standing around and asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’
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“‘Because no one hired us,’ they replied.
“‘Then go on out and join the others in my fields,’ he told them.
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“That evening he told the paymaster to call the men in and pay them, beginning with the last men first.
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When the men hired at five o’clock were paid, each received $20.
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So when the men hired earlier came to get theirs, they assumed they would receive much more. But they, too, were paid $20.
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“They protested, ‘Those fellows worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as those of us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’
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“‘Friend,’ he answered one of them, ‘I did you no wrong! Didn’t you agree to work all day for $20?
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Take it and go. It is my desire to pay all the same;
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is it against the law to give away my money if I want to? Should you be angry because I am kind?’
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And so it is that the last shall be first, and the first, last.”
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As Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside
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and talked to them about what would happen to him when they arrived.
“I
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will be betrayed to the chief priests and other Jewish leaders, and they will condemn me to die.
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And they will hand me over to the Roman government, and I will be mocked and crucified, and the third day I will rise to life again.”
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Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, brought them to Jesus and respectfully asked a favor.
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“What is your request?”
he asked. She replied, “In your Kingdom, will you let my two sons sit on two thrones
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next to yours?”
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But Jesus told her,
“You don’t know what you are asking!”
Then he turned to James and John and asked them,
“Are you able to drink from the terrible cup I am about to drink from?”
“Yes,” they replied, “we are able!”
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“You shall indeed drink from it,”
he told them.
“But I have no right to say who will sit on the thrones next to mine. Those places are reserved for the persons my Father selects.”
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The other ten disciples were indignant when they heard what James and John had asked for.
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But Jesus called them together and said,
“Among the heathen, kings are tyrants and each minor official lords it over those beneath him.
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But among you it is quite different. Anyone wanting to be a leader among you must be your servant.
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And if you want to be right at the top, you must serve like a slave.
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Your attitude
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must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”
To you, O Lord, I pray.
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Don’t fail me, Lord, for I am trusting you. Don’t let my enemies succeed. Don’t give them victory over me.
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None of those who have faith in God will ever be disgraced for trusting him. But all who harm the innocent shall be defeated.
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Show me the path where I should go, O Lord; point out the right road for me to walk.
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Lead me; teach me; for you are the God who gives me salvation. I have no hope except in you.
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Overlook my youthful sins, O Lord! Look at me instead through eyes of mercy and forgiveness, through eyes of everlasting love and kindness.
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The Lord is good and glad to teach the proper path to all who go astray;
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he will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to him.
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And when we obey him, every path he guides us on is fragrant with his loving-kindness and his truth.
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But Lord, my sins! How many they are. Oh, pardon them for the honor of your name.
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Where is the man who fears the Lord? God will teach him how to choose the best.
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He shall live within God’s circle of blessing, and his children shall inherit the earth.
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Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises.