The One Year Bible TLB (258 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
Blessings on all who reverence and trust the Lord—on all who obey him!
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Their reward shall be prosperity and happiness.
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Your wife shall be contented in your home. And look at all those children! There they sit around the dinner table as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees.
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That is God’s reward to those who reverence and trust him.
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May the Lord continually bless you with heaven’s blessings
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as well as with human joys.
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May you live to enjoy your grandchildren! And may God bless Israel!
Where there is ignorance of God, crime runs wild; but what a wonderful thing it is for a nation to know and keep his laws.
December 10Amos was a herdsman living in the village of Tekoa. All day long he sat on the hillsides watching the sheep, keeping them from straying.
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One day, in a vision, God told him some of the things that were going to happen to his nation, Israel. This vision came to him at the time Uzziah was king of Judah and while Jeroboam (son of Joash) was king of Israel—two years before the earthquake.
This is his report of what he saw and heard: The Lord roared—like a ferocious lion from his lair—from his Temple on Mount Zion. And suddenly the lush pastures of Mount Carmel withered and dried, and all the shepherds mourned.
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The Lord says, “The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave her unpunished anymore. For they have threshed my people in Gilead as grain is threshed with iron rods.
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So I will set fire to King Hazael’s palace, destroying the strong fortress of Ben-hadad.
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I will snap the bars that locked the gates of Damascus and kill her people as far away as the plain of Aven, and the people of Syria shall return to Kir
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as slaves.” The Lord has spoken.
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The Lord says, “Gaza has sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave her unpunished anymore. For she sent my people into exile, selling them as slaves in Edom.
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So I will set fire to the walls of Gaza, and all her forts shall be destroyed.
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I will kill the people of Ashdod and destroy Ekron and the king of Ashkelon; all Philistines left will perish.” The Lord has spoken.
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The Lord says, “The people of Tyre have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave them unpunished anymore. For they broke their treaty with their brother, Israel; they attacked and conquered him, and led him into slavery to Edom.
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So I will set fire to the walls of Tyre, and it will burn down all his forts and palaces.”
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The Lord says, “Edom has sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave him unpunished anymore. For he chased his brother, Israel, with the sword; he was pitiless in unrelenting anger.
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So I will set fire to Teman, and it will burn down all the forts of Bozrah.”
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The Lord says, “The people of Ammon have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave them unpunished anymore. For in their wars in Gilead to enlarge their borders they committed cruel crimes, ripping open pregnant women with their swords.
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“So I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah, and it will burn down their forts and palaces; there will be wild shouts of battle like a whirlwind in a mighty storm.
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And their king and his princes will go into exile together.” The Lord has spoken.
2:
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The Lord says, “The people of Moab have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave them unpunished anymore. For they desecrated the tombs of the kings of Edom, with no respect for the dead.
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Now in return I will send fire upon Moab, and it will destroy all the palaces in Kerioth. Moab shall go down in tumult as the warriors shout and trumpets blare.
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And I will destroy their king and slay all the leaders under him.” The Lord has spoken.
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The Lord says, “The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave them unpunished anymore. For they have rejected the laws of God, refusing to obey him. They have hardened their hearts and sinned as their fathers did.
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So I will destroy Judah with fire and burn down all Jerusalem’s palaces and forts.”
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The Lord says, “The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave them unpunished anymore. For they have perverted justice by accepting bribes and sold into slavery the poor who can’t repay their debts; they trade them for a pair of shoes.
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They trample the poor in the dust and kick aside the meek.
“And a man and his father defile the same temple girl, corrupting my holy name.
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At their religious feasts they lounge in clothing stolen from their debtors, and in my own Temple they offer sacrifices of wine they purchased with stolen money.
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“Yet think of all I did for them! I cleared the land of the Amorites before them—the Amorites, as tall as cedar trees, and strong as oaks! But I lopped off their fruit and cut their roots.
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And I brought you out from Egypt and led you through the desert forty years, to possess the land of the Amorites.
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And I chose your sons to be Nazirites
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and prophets—can you deny this, Israel?” asks the Lord.
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“But you caused the Nazirites to sin by urging them to drink your wine, and you silenced my prophets, telling them, ‘Shut up!’
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“Therefore, I will make you groan as a wagon groans that is loaded with sheaves.
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Your swiftest warriors will stumble in flight. The strong will all be weak, and the great ones can no longer save themselves.
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The archer’s aim will fail, the swiftest runners won’t be fast enough to flee, and even the best of horsemen can’t outrun the danger then.
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The most courageous of your mighty men will drop their weapons and run for their lives that day.” The Lord God has spoken.
3:
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Listen! This is your doom! It is spoken by the Lord against both Israel and Judah—against the entire family I brought from Egypt:
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“Of all the peoples of the earth, I have chosen you alone. That is why I must punish you the more for all your sins.
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For how can we walk together with your sins between us?
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“Would I be roaring as a lion unless I had a reason? The fact is, I am getting ready to destroy you. Even a young lion, when it growls, shows it is ready for its food.
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A trap doesn’t snap shut unless it is stepped on; your punishment is well deserved.
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The alarm has sounded—listen and fear! For I, the Lord, am sending disaster into your land.
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“But always, first of all, I warn you through my prophets. This I now have done.”
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The Lion has roared—tremble in fear. The Lord God has sounded your doom—I dare not refuse to proclaim it.
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“Call together the Assyrian and Egyptian leaders, saying, ‘Take your seats now on the mountains of Samaria to witness the scandalous spectacle of all Israel’s crimes.’
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My people have forgotten what it means to do right,” says the Lord. “Their beautiful homes are full of the loot from their thefts and banditry.
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Therefore,” the Lord God says, “an enemy is coming! He is surrounding them and will shatter their forts and plunder those beautiful homes.”
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The Lord says, “A shepherd tried to rescue his sheep from a lion, but it was too late; he snatched from the lion’s mouth two legs and a piece of ear. So it will be when the Israelites in Samaria are finally rescued—all they will have left is half a chair and a tattered pillow.
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“Listen to this announcement and publish it throughout all Israel,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty:
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“On the same day that I punish Israel for her sins I will also destroy the idol altars at Bethel. The horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.
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“And I will destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy—their winter mansions and their summer houses too—and demolish their ivory palaces.”
“Write a letter to the leader
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of the church at Ephesus and tell him this:
“I write to inform you of a message from him who walks among the churches and holds their leaders in his right hand.
“He says to you:
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I know how many good things you are doing. I have watched your hard work and your patience; I know you don’t tolerate sin among your members, and you have carefully examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but aren’t. You have found out how they lie.
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You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.
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“Yet there is one thing wrong; you don’t love me as at first!
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Think about those times of your first love (how different now!) and turn back to me again and work as you did before; or else I will come and remove your candlestick from its place among the churches.
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“But there is this about you that is good: You hate the deeds of the licentious Nicolaitans,
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just as I do.
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“Let this message sink into the ears of anyone who listens to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: To everyone who is victorious, I will give fruit from the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God.
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“To the leader of the church in Smyrna write this letter:
“This message is from him who is the First and Last, who was dead and then came back to life.
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“I know how much you suffer for the Lord, and I know all about your poverty (but you have heavenly riches!). I know the slander of those opposing you, who say that they are Jews—the children of God—but they aren’t, for they support the cause of Satan.
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Stop being afraid of what you are about to suffer—for the devil will soon throw some of you into prison to test you. You will be persecuted for ‘ten days.’ Remain faithful even when facing death and I will give you the crown of life—an unending, glorious future.
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Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: He who is victorious shall not be hurt by the Second Death.
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“Write this letter to the leader of the church in Pergamos:
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This message is from him who wields the sharp and double-bladed sword.
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I am fully aware that you live in the city where Satan’s throne is, at the center of satanic worship; and yet you have remained loyal to me and refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you by Satan’s devotees.
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“And yet I have a few things against you. You tolerate some among you who do as Balaam did when he taught Balak how to ruin the people of Israel by involving them in sexual sin and encouraging them to go to idol feasts.
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Yes, you have some of these very same followers of Balaam
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among you!
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“Change your mind and attitude, or else I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
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“Let everyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: Everyone who is victorious shall eat of the hidden manna, the secret nourishment from heaven; and I will give to each a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one else knows except the one receiving it.”
Persecuted from my earliest youth (Israel is speaking),
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and faced with never-ending discrimination—but not destroyed! My enemies have never been able to finish me off!
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Though my back is cut to ribbons with their whips, the Lord is good. For he has snapped the chains that evil men had bound me with.
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May all who hate the Jews be brought to ignominious defeat.
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May they be as grass in shallow soil, turning sere and yellow when half grown, ignored by the reaper, despised by the binder.
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And may those passing by refuse to bless them by saying, “Jehovah’s blessings be upon you; we bless you in Jehovah’s name.”
Sometimes
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mere words are not enough—discipline is needed. For the words may not be heeded.
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There is more hope for a fool than for a man of quick temper.