The One Year Bible TLB (253 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
December 2It was now the first year of the reign of King Darius, the son of Ahasuerus. (Darius was a Mede but became king of the Chaldeans.)
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In that first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from the book of Jeremiah the prophet that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years.
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So I earnestly pleaded with the Lord God to end our captivity and send us back to our own land.
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As I prayed, I fasted and wore rough sackcloth, and I sprinkled myself with ashes
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and confessed my sins and those of my people.
“O Lord,” I prayed, “you are a great and awesome God; you always fulfill your promises of mercy to those who love you and keep your laws.
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But we have sinned so much; we have rebelled against you and scorned your commands.
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We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, whom you sent again and again down through the years, with your messages to our kings and princes and to all the people.
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“O Lord, you are righteous; but as for us, we are always shamefaced with sin, just as you see us now; yes, all of us—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel, scattered near and far wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you.
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O Lord, we and our kings and princes and fathers are weighted down with shame because of all our sins.
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“But the Lord our God is merciful and pardons even those who have rebelled against him.
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“O Lord our God, we have disobeyed you; we have flouted all the laws you gave us through your servants, the prophets.
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All Israel has disobeyed; we have turned away from you and haven’t listened to your voice. And so the awesome curse of God has crushed us—the curse written in the law of Moses your servant.
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And you have done exactly as you warned us you would do, for never in all history has there been a disaster like what happened at Jerusalem to us and our rulers.
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Every curse against us written in the law of Moses has come true; all the evils he predicted—all have come. But even so we still refuse to satisfy the Lord our God by turning from our sins and doing right.
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“And so the Lord deliberately crushed us with the calamity he prepared; he is fair in everything he does, but we would not obey.
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O Lord our God, you brought lasting honor to your name by removing your people from Egypt in a great display of power. Lord, do it again! Though we have sinned so much and are full of wickedness,
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yet because of all your faithful mercies, Lord, please turn away your furious anger from Jerusalem, your own city, your holy mountain. For the heathen mock at you because your city lies in ruins for our sins.
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“O our God, hear your servant’s prayer! Listen as I plead! Let your face shine again with peace and joy upon your desolate sanctuary—for your own glory, Lord.
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“O my God, bend down your ear and listen to my plea. Open your eyes and see our wretchedness, how your city lies in ruins—for everyone knows that it is yours. We don’t ask because we merit help, but because you are so merciful despite our grievous sins.
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“O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen to me and act! Don’t delay—for your own sake, O my God, because your people and your city bear your name.”
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Even while I was praying and confessing my sin and the sins of my people, desperately pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain,
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Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, flew swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice
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and said to me, “Daniel, I am here to help you understand God’s plans.
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The moment you began praying a command was given. I am here to tell you what it was, for God loves you very much. Listen and try to understand the meaning of the vision that you saw!
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“The Lord has commanded 490 years
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of further punishment upon Jerusalem and your people. Then at last they will learn to stay away from sin, and their guilt will be cleansed; then the kingdom of everlasting righteousness will begin, and the Most Holy Place in the Temple will be rededicated, as the prophets have declared.
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Now listen! It will be 49 years plus 434 years
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from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One comes! Jerusalem’s streets and walls will be rebuilt despite the perilous times.
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“After this period of 434 years, the Anointed One will be killed, his kingdom still unrealized . . . and a king will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. They will be overwhelmed as with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.
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This king will make a seven-year treaty with the people, but after half that time, he will break his pledge and stop the Jews from all their sacrifices and their offerings; then, as a climax to all his terrible deeds, the Enemy shall utterly defile the sanctuary of God. But in God’s time and plan, his judgment will be poured out upon this Evil One.”
10:
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In the third year of the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia, Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) had another vision. It concerned events certain to happen in the future: times of great tribulation—wars and sorrows, and this time he understood what the vision meant.
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When this vision came to me (Daniel said later), I had been in mourning for three full weeks.
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All that time I tasted neither wine nor meat, and, of course, I went without desserts. I neither washed nor shaved nor combed my hair.
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Then one day early in April, as I was standing beside the great Tigris River,
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I looked up, and suddenly there before me stood a person robed in linen garments, with a belt of purest gold around his waist and glowing, lustrous skin! From his face came blinding flashes like lightning, and his eyes were pools of fire; his arms and feet shone like polished brass, and his voice was like the roaring of a vast multitude of people.
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I, Daniel, alone saw this great vision; the men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly filled with unreasoning terror and ran to hide,
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so I was left alone. When I saw this frightening vision, my strength left me, and I grew pale and weak with fright.
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Then he spoke to me, and I fell to the ground face downward in a deep faint.
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But a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees.
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And I heard his voice—“O Daniel, greatly beloved of God,” he said, “stand up and listen carefully to what I have to say to you, for God has sent me to you.” So I stood up, still trembling with fear.
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Then he said, “Don’t be frightened, Daniel, for your request has been heard in heaven and was answered the very first day you began to fast before the Lord and pray for understanding; that very day I was sent here to meet you.
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But for twenty-one days the mighty Evil Spirit
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who overrules the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the top officers of the heavenly army, came to help me, so that I was able to break through these spirit rulers of Persia.
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Now I am here to tell you what will happen to your people, the Jews, at the end times—for the fulfillment of this prophecy is many years away.”
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All this time I was looking down, unable to speak a word.
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Then someone—he looked like a man—touched my lips and I could talk again, and I said to the messenger from heaven, “Sir, I am terrified by your appearance and have no strength.
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How can such a person as I even talk to you? For my strength is gone, and I can hardly breathe.”
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Then the one who seemed to be a man touched me again, and I felt my strength returning.
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“God loves you very much,” he said; “don’t be afraid! Calm yourself; be strong—yes, strong!”
Suddenly, as he spoke these words, I felt stronger and said to him, “Now you can go ahead and speak, sir, for you have strengthened me.”
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He replied, “Do you know why I have come? I am here to tell you what is written in the ‘Book of the Future.’ Then, when I leave, I will go again to fight my way back, past the prince of Persia; and after him, the prince of Greece. Only Michael, the angel who guards your people Israel,
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will be there to help me.
11:
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“I was the one sent to strengthen and help Darius the Mede in the first year of his reign.”
Dear children, this world’s last hour has come. You have heard about the Antichrist who is coming—the one who is against Christ—and already many such persons have appeared. This makes us all the more certain that the end of the world is near.
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These “against-Christ” people used to be members of our churches, but they never really belonged with us or else they would have stayed. When they left us it proved that they were not of us at all.
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But you are not like that, for the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you know the truth.
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So I am not writing to you as to those who need to know the truth, but I warn you as those who can discern the difference between true and false.
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And who is the greatest liar? The one who says that Jesus is not Christ. Such a person is antichrist, for he does not believe in God the Father and in his Son.
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For a person who doesn’t believe in Christ, God’s Son, can’t have God the Father either. But he who has Christ, God’s Son, has God the Father also.
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So keep on believing what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will always be in close fellowship with both God the Father and his Son.
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And he himself has promised us this:
eternal life.
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These remarks of mine about the Antichrist are pointed at those who would dearly love to blindfold you and lead you astray.
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But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, in your hearts, so that you don’t need anyone to teach you what is right. For he teaches you all things, and he is the Truth, and no liar; and so, just as he has said, you must live in Christ, never to depart from him.
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And now, my little children, stay in happy fellowship with the Lord so that when he comes you will be sure that all is well and will not have to be ashamed and shrink back from meeting him.
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Since we know that God is always good and does only right, we may rightly assume that all those who do right are his children.
3:
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See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children—think of it—and we really
are!
But since most people don’t know God, naturally they don’t understand that we are his children.
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Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, right now, and we can’t even imagine what it is going to be like later on. But we do know this, that when he comes we will be like him, as a result of seeing him as he really is.
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And everyone who really believes this will try to stay pure because Christ is pure.
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But those who keep on sinning are against God, for every sin is done against the will of God.
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And you know that he became a man so that he could take away our sins, and that there is no sin in him, no missing of God’s will at any time in any way.
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So if we stay close to him, obedient to him, we won’t be sinning either; but as for those who keep on sinning, they should realize this: They sin because they have never really known him or become his.
Shall I look to the mountain gods for help?
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No! My help is from Jehovah who made the mountains! And the heavens too!
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He will never let me stumble, slip, or fall. For he is always watching, never sleeping.
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Jehovah himself is caring for you! He is your defender.
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He protects you day and night.
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He keeps you from all evil and preserves your life.
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He keeps his eye upon you as you come and go and always guards you.
If you give to the poor, your needs will be supplied! But a curse upon those who close their eyes to poverty.
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When the wicked prosper, good men go away; when the wicked meet disaster, good men return.