The One Year Bible TLB (250 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
I faint for your salvation; but I expect your help, for you have promised it.
82
My eyes are straining to see your promises come true. When will you comfort me with your help?
83
I am shriveled like a wineskin in the smoke, exhausted with waiting. But still I cling to your laws and obey them.
84
How long must I wait before you punish those who persecute me?
85-86
These proud men who hate your truth and laws have dug deep pits for me to fall in. Their lies have brought me into deep trouble. Help me, for you love only truth.
87
They had almost finished me off, yet I refused to yield and disobey your laws.
88
In your kindness, spare my life; then I can continue to obey you.
89
Forever, O Lord, your Word stands firm in heaven.
90-91
Your faithfulness extends to every generation, like the earth you created; it endures by your decree, for everything serves your plans.
92
I would have despaired and perished unless your laws had been my deepest delight.
93
I will never lay aside your laws, for you have used them to restore my joy and health.
94
I am yours! Save me! For I have tried to live according to your desires.
95
Though the wicked hide along the way to kill me, I will quietly keep my mind upon your promises.
96
Nothing is perfect except your words.
A wicked ruler is as dangerous to the poor as a lion or bear attacking them.
16
Only a stupid prince will oppress his people, but a king will have a long reign if he hates dishonesty and bribes.
November 27This is the proclamation of Nebuchadnezzar the king, which he sent to people of every language in every nation of the world:
Greetings:
2
I want you all to know about the strange thing that the Most High God did to me.
3
It was incredible—a mighty miracle! And now I know for sure that his kingdom is everlasting; he reigns forever and ever.
4
I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living in peace and prosperity,
5
when one night I had a dream that greatly frightened me.
6
I called in all the wise men of Babylon to tell me the meaning of my dream,
7
but when they came—the magicians, astrologers, fortune-tellers, and wizards—and I told them the dream, they couldn’t interpret it.
8
At last Daniel came in—the man I named Belteshazzar after my god—the man in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, and I told him the dream.
9
“O Belteshazzar, master magician,” I said, “I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery is too great for you to solve. Tell me what my dream means:
10-11
“I saw a very tall tree out in a field, growing higher and higher into the sky until it could be seen by everyone in all the world.
12
Its leaves were fresh and green, and its branches were weighted down with fruit, enough for everyone to eat. Wild animals rested beneath its shade and birds sheltered in its branches, and all the world was fed from it.
13
Then as I lay there dreaming, I saw one of God’s angels
*
coming down from heaven.
14
“He shouted, ‘Cut down the tree; lop off its branches; shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit. Get the animals out from under it and the birds from its branches,
15
but leave its stump and roots in the ground, banded with a chain of iron and brass, surrounded by the tender grass. Let the dew of heaven drench him and let him eat grass with the wild animals!
16
For seven years let him have the mind of an animal instead of a man.
17
For this has been decreed by the Watchers, demanded by the Holy Ones. The purpose of this decree is that all the world may understand that the Most High dominates the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he wants to, even the lowliest of men!’
18
“O Belteshazzar, that was my dream; now tell me what it means. For no one else can help me; all the wisest men of my kingdom have failed me. But you can tell me, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”
19
Then Daniel
*
sat there stunned and silent for an hour, aghast at the meaning of the dream. Finally the king said to him: “Belteshazzar, don’t be afraid to tell me what it means.”
Daniel replied: “Oh, that the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies, my lord, and not to you!
20
For the tree you saw growing so tall, reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see,
21
with its fresh green leaves, loaded with fruit for all to eat, the wild animals living in its shade, with its branches full of birds—
22
that tree, Your Majesty, is you. For you have grown strong and great; your greatness reaches up to heaven, and your rule to the ends of the earth.
23
“Then you saw God’s angel
*
coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump and the roots in the earth surrounded by tender grass, banded with a chain of iron and brass. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. For seven years let him eat grass with the animals of the field.’
24
“Your Majesty, the Most High God has decreed—and it will surely happen—
25
that your people will chase you from your palace, and you will live in the fields like an animal, eating grass like a cow, your back wet with dew from heaven. For seven years this will be your life, until you learn that the Most High God dominates the kingdoms of men and gives power to anyone he chooses.
26
But the stump and the roots were left in the ground! This means that you will get your kingdom back again when you have learned that heaven rules.
27
“O King Nebuchadnezzar, listen to me—stop sinning; do what you know is right; be merciful to the poor. Perhaps even yet God will spare you.”
28
But all these things happened to Nebuchadnezzar.
29
Twelve months after this dream, he was strolling on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon,
30
and saying, “I, by my own mighty power, have built this beautiful city as my royal residence and as the capital of my empire.”
31
While he was still speaking these words, a voice called down from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you: You are no longer ruler of this kingdom.
32
You will be forced out of the palace to live with the animals in the fields and to eat grass like the cows for seven years, until you finally realize that God parcels out the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he chooses.”
33
That very same hour this prophecy was fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar was chased from his palace and ate grass like the cows, and his body was wet with dew; his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.
34
“At the end of seven years
*
I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High God and honored him who lives forever, whose rule is everlasting, his kingdom evermore.
35
All the people of the earth are nothing when compared to him; he does whatever he thinks best among the angels of heaven, as well as here on earth. No one can stop him or challenge him, saying, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’
36
When my mind returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My counselors and officers came back to me, and I was reestablished as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before.
37
“Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of Heaven, the Judge of all, whose every act is right and good; for he is able to take those who walk proudly and push them into the dust!”
From:
Simon Peter, a servant and missionary of Jesus Christ.
To:
All of you who have our kind of faith. The faith I speak of is the kind that Jesus Christ our God and Savior gives to us. How precious it is, and how just and good he is to give this same faith to each of us.
2
Do you want more and more of God’s kindness and peace? Then learn to know him better and better.
3
For as you know him better, he will give you, through his great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: he even shares his own glory and his own goodness with us!
4
And by that same mighty power he has given us all the other rich and wonderful blessings he promised; for instance, the promise to save us from the lust and rottenness all around us, and to give us his own character.
5
But to obtain these gifts, you need more than faith; you must also work hard to be good, and even that is not enough. For then you must learn to know God better and discover what he wants you to do.
6
Next, learn to put aside your own desires so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have his way with you.
7
This will make possible the next step, which is for you to enjoy other people and to like them, and finally you will grow to love them deeply.
8
The more you go on in this way, the more you will grow strong spiritually and become fruitful and useful to our Lord Jesus Christ.
9
But anyone who fails to go after these additions to faith is blind indeed, or at least very shortsighted and has forgotten that God delivered him from the old life of sin so that now he can live a strong, good life for the Lord.
10
So, dear brothers, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen, and then you will never stumble or fall away.
11
And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
12
I plan to keep on reminding you of these things even though you already know them and are really getting along quite well!
13-14
But the Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that my days here on earth are numbered, and I am soon to die. As long as I am still here I intend to keep sending these reminders to you,
15
hoping to impress them so clearly upon you that you will remember them long after I have gone.
16
For we have not been telling you fairy tales when we explained to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming again. My own eyes have seen his splendor and his glory:
17-18
I was there on the holy mountain when he shone out with honor given him by God his Father; I heard that glorious, majestic voice calling down from heaven, saying, “This is my much-loved Son; I am well pleased with him.”
19
So we have seen and proved that what the prophets said came true. You will do well to pay close attention to everything they have written, for, like lights shining into dark corners, their words help us to understand many things that otherwise would be dark and difficult. But when you consider the wonderful truth of the prophets’ words, then the light will dawn in your souls and Christ the Morning Star will shine in your hearts.
20-21
For no prophecy recorded in Scripture was ever thought up by the prophet himself. It was the Holy Spirit within these godly men who gave them true messages from God.
Oh, how I love them. I think about them all day long.
98
They make me wiser than my enemies because they are my constant guide.
99
Yes, wiser than my teachers, for I am ever thinking of your rules.
100
They make me even wiser than the aged.
101
I have refused to walk the paths of evil, for I will remain obedient to your Word.
102-103
No, I haven’t turned away from what you taught me; your words are sweeter than honey.
104
And since only your rules can give me wisdom and understanding, no wonder I hate every false teaching.
105
Your words are a flashlight to light the path ahead of me and keep me from stumbling.
106
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again and again: I will obey these wonderful laws of yours.
107
I am close to death at the hands of my enemies; oh, give me back my life again, just as you promised me.
108
Accept my grateful thanks and teach me your desires.
109
My life hangs in the balance, but I will not give up obedience to your laws.
110
The wicked have set their traps for me along your path, but I will not turn aside.
111
Your laws are my joyous treasure forever.
112
I am determined to obey you until I die.
A murderer’s conscience will drive him into hell. Don’t stop him!
18
Good men will be rescued from harm, but cheaters will be destroyed.