The One Year Bible TLB (267 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
December 22When I looked around me again, I saw a man carrying a yardstick in his hand.
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“Where are you going?” I asked.
“To measure Jerusalem,” he said. “I want to see whether it is big enough for all the people!”
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Then the angel who was talking to me went over to meet another angel coming toward him.
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“Go tell this young man,” said the other angel, “that Jerusalem will some day be so full of people that she won’t have room enough for all! Many will live outside the city walls, with all their many cattle—and yet they will be safe.
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For the Lord himself will be a wall of fire protecting them and all Jerusalem; he will be the glory of the city.
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“Come, flee from the land of the north, from Babylon,” says the Lord to all his exiles there; “I scattered you to the winds, but I will bring you back again. Escape, escape to Zion now!” says the Lord.
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“The Lord of Glory has sent me
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against the nations that oppressed you, for he who harms you sticks his finger in Jehovah’s eye!
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“I will smash them with my fist and their slaves will be their rulers!
Then you will know it was the Lord Almighty who sent me.
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Sing, Jerusalem, and rejoice! For I have come to live among you,” says the Lord.
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“At that time many nations will be converted to the Lord, and they too shall be my people; I will live among them all.
Then you will know it was the Lord Almighty who sent me to you.
And Judah shall be the Lord’s inheritance in the Holy Land, for God shall once more choose to bless Jerusalem.
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“Be silent, all mankind, before the Lord, for he has come to earth from heaven, from his holy home.”
3:
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Then the Angel showed me (in my vision) Joshua the High Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord; and Satan was there too, at the Angel’s right hand, accusing Joshua of many things.
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And the Lord said to Satan, “I reject your accusations, Satan;
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yes, I, the Lord, for I have decided to be merciful to Jerusalem—I rebuke you. I have decreed mercy to Joshua and his nation; they are like a burning stick pulled out of the fire.”
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Joshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood before the Angel of the Lord.
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Then the Angel said to the others standing there, “Remove his filthy clothing.” And turning to Joshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.”
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Then I said, “Please, could he also have a clean turban on his head?” So they gave him one.
Then the Angel of the Lord spoke very solemnly to Joshua and said,
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“The Lord Almighty declares: ‘If you will follow the paths I set for you and do all I tell you to, then I will put you in charge of my Temple, to keep it holy; and I will let you walk in and out of my presence with these angels.
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Listen to me, O Joshua the High Priest, and all you other priests, you are illustrations of the good things to come. Don’t you see?—Joshua represents my servant the Branch
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whom I will send.
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He will be the Foundation Stone of the Temple that Joshua is standing beside, and I will engrave this inscription on it seven times:
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I will remove the sins of this land in a single day.
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And after that,’ the Lord Almighty declares, ‘you will all live in peace and prosperity, and each of you will own a home of your own where you can invite your neighbors.’”
And now, in my vision, I saw a strange Creature rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, and ten crowns upon its horns. And written on each head were blasphemous names, each one defying and insulting God.
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This Creature looked like a leopard but had bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth! And the Dragon gave him his own power and throne and great authority.
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I saw that one of his heads seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed! All the world marveled at this miracle and followed the Creature in awe.
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They worshiped the Dragon for giving him such power, and they worshiped the strange Creature. “Where is there anyone as great as he?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?”
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Then the Dragon encouraged the Creature to speak great blasphemies against the Lord; and gave him authority to control the earth for forty-two months.
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All that time he blasphemed God’s Name and his temple and all those living in heaven.
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The Dragon gave him power to fight against God’s people
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and to overcome them, and to rule over all nations and language groups throughout the world.
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And all mankind—whose names were not written down before the founding of the world in the slain Lamb’s Book of Life
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—worshiped the evil Creature.
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Anyone who can hear, listen carefully:
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The people of God who are destined for prison will be arrested and taken away; those destined for death will be killed.
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But do not be dismayed, for here is your opportunity for endurance and confidence.
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Then I saw another strange animal, this one coming up out of the earth, with two little horns like those of a lamb but a fearsome voice like the Dragon’s.
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He exercised all the authority of the Creature whose death-wound had been healed, whom he required all the world to worship.
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He did unbelievable miracles such as making fire flame down to earth from the skies while everyone was watching.
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By doing these miracles, he was deceiving people everywhere. He could do these marvelous things whenever the first Creature was there to watch him. And he ordered the people of the world to make a great statue of the first Creature, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life.
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He was permitted to give breath to this statue and even make it speak! Then the statue ordered that anyone refusing to worship it must die!
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He required everyone—great and small, rich and poor, slave and free—to be tattooed with a certain mark on the right hand or on the forehead.
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And no one could get a job or even buy in any store without the permit of that mark, which was either the name of the Creature or the code number of his name.
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Here is a puzzle that calls for careful thought to solve it. Let those who are able, interpret this code: the numerical values of the letters in his name add to 666!
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Quick, Lord, answer me—for I have prayed. Listen when I cry to you for help!
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Regard my prayer as my evening sacrifice and as incense wafting up to you.
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Help me, Lord, to keep my mouth shut and my lips sealed.
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Take away my lust for evil things; don’t let me want to be with sinners, doing what they do, sharing their delicacies.
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Let the godly smite me! It will be a kindness! If they reprove me, it is medicine! Don’t let me refuse it. But I am in constant prayer against the wicked and their deeds.
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When their leaders are condemned, and their bones are strewn across the ground,
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then these men will finally listen to me and know that I am trying to help them.
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I look to you for help, O Lord God. You are my refuge. Don’t let them slay me.
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Keep me out of their traps.
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Let them fall into their own snares, while I escape.
There are three things too wonderful for me to understand—no, four!
How an eagle glides through the sky.
How a serpent crawls upon a rock.
How a ship finds its way across the heaving ocean.
The growth of love between a man and a girl.
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There is another thing too: how a prostitute can sin and then say, “What’s wrong with that?”
December 23Then the angel who had been talking with me woke me, as though I had been asleep.
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“What do you see now?” he asked.
I answered, “I see a gold lampstand holding seven lamps, and at the top there is a reservoir for the olive oil that feeds the lamps, flowing into them through seven tubes.
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And I see two olive trees carved upon the lampstand, one on each side of the reservoir.
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What is it, sir?” I asked. “What does this mean?”
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“Don’t you really know?” the angel asked.
“No, sir,” I said, “I don’t.”
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Then he said, “This is God’s message to Zerubbabel:
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‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty—you will succeed because of my Spirit, though you are few and weak.’
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Therefore no mountain, however high, can stand before Zerubbabel! For it will flatten out before him! And Zerubbabel will finish building this Temple
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with mighty shouts of thanksgiving for God’s mercy, declaring that all was done by grace alone.”
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Another message that I received from the Lord said:
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“Zerubbabel laid the foundation of this Temple, and he will complete it. (Then you will know these messages are from God, the Lord Almighty.)
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Do not despise this small beginning, for the eyes of the Lord rejoice to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. For these seven lamps represent the eyes of the Lord that see everywhere around the world.”
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Then I asked him about the two olive trees on each side of the lampstand,
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and about the two olive branches that emptied oil into gold bowls through two gold tubes.
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“Don’t you know?” he asked.
“No, sir,” I said.
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Then he told me, “They represent the two anointed ones who assist the Lord of all the earth.”
5:
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I looked up again and saw a scroll flying through the air.
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“What do you see?” he asked.
“A flying scroll!” I replied. “It appears to be about thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide!”
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“This scroll,” he told me, “represents the words of God’s curse going out over the entire land. It says that all who steal and lie have been judged and sentenced to death.”
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“I am sending this curse into the home of every thief and everyone who swears falsely by my name,” says the Lord Almighty. “And my curse shall remain upon his home and completely destroy it.”
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Then the angel left me for a while, but he returned and said, “Look up! Something is traveling through the sky!”
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“What is it?” I asked.
He replied, “It is a bushel basket filled with the sin prevailing everywhere throughout the land.”
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Suddenly the heavy lead cover on the basket was lifted off, and I could see a woman sitting inside the basket!
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He said, “She represents wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and clamped down the heavy lid again.
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Then I saw two women flying toward us, with wings like those of a stork. And they took the bushel basket and flew off with it, high in the sky.
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“Where are they taking her?” I asked the angel.
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He replied, “To Babylon
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where they will build a temple for the basket, to worship it!”
Then I saw a Lamb standing on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and with him were 144,000 who had his Name and his Father’s Name written on their foreheads.
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And I heard a sound from heaven like the roaring of a great waterfall or the rolling of mighty thunder. It was the singing of a choir accompanied by harps.
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This tremendous choir—144,000 strong—sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four Living Beings and the twenty-four Elders; and no one could sing this song except those 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
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For they are spiritually undefiled, pure as virgins,
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following the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among the men on the earth as a consecrated offering to God and the Lamb.
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No falsehood can be charged against them; they are blameless.
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And I saw another angel flying through the heavens, carrying the everlasting Good News to preach to those on earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.
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“Fear God,” he shouted, “and extol his greatness. For the time has come when he will sit as Judge. Worship him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all its sources.”
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Then another angel followed him through the skies, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen—that great city—because she seduced the nations of the world and made them share the wine of her intense impurity and sin.”
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Then a third angel followed them shouting, “Anyone worshiping the Creature from the sea
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and his statue, and accepting his mark on the forehead or the hand
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must drink the wine of the anger of God; it is poured out undiluted into God’s cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb.
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The smoke of their torture rises forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the Creature and his statue, and have been tattooed with the code of his name.
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Let this encourage God’s people to endure patiently every trial and persecution, for they are his saints who remain firm to the end in obedience to his commands and trust in Jesus.”
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And I heard a voice in the heavens above me saying, “Write this down: At last the time has come for his martyrs
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to enter into their full reward. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for now they shall rest from all their toils and trials; for their good deeds follow them to heaven!”
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Then the scene changed, and I saw a white cloud and someone sitting on it who looked like Jesus, who was called “The Son of Man,”
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with a crown of solid gold upon his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
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Then an angel came from the temple and called out to him, “Begin to use the sickle, for the time has come for you to reap; the harvest is ripe on the earth.”
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So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the harvest was gathered in.
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After that another angel came from the temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.
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Just then the angel who has power to destroy the world with fire,
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shouted to the angel with the sickle, “Use your sickle now to cut off the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are fully ripe for judgment.”
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So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath.
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And the grapes were trodden in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out in a stream 200 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle.
How I plead with God, how I implore his mercy, pouring out my troubles before him.
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For I am overwhelmed and desperate, and you alone know which way I ought to turn to miss the traps my enemies have set for me.
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(There’s one—just over there to the right!) No one gives me a passing thought. No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.
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Then I prayed to Jehovah. “Lord,” I pled, “you are my only place of refuge. Only you can keep me safe.
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“Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.
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Bring me out of prison so that I can thank you. The godly will rejoice with me for all your help.”
There are three things that make the earth tremble—no, four it cannot stand:
A slave who becomes a king.
A rebel who prospers.
A bitter woman when she finally marries.
A servant girl who marries the husband of her mistress.
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