The One Year Bible TLB (4 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
January 4God didn’t forget about Noah and all the animals in the boat! He sent a wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear,
2
for the subterranean water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains subsided.
3-4
So the flood gradually receded until, 150 days after it began, the boat came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat.
5
Three months later,
*
as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks appeared.
6
After another forty days, Noah opened a porthole
7
and released a raven that flew back and forth
*
until the earth was dry.
8
Meanwhile he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground,
9
but the dove found no place to light, and returned to Noah, for the water was still too high. So Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back into the boat.
10
Seven days later Noah released the dove again,
11
and this time, toward evening, the bird returned to him with an olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the water was almost gone.
12
A week later he released the dove again, and this time she didn’t come back.
13
Twenty-nine days after that,
*
Noah opened the door to look, and the water was gone.
14
Eight more weeks went by. Then at last the earth was dry.
15-16
Then God told Noah, “You may all go out.
17
Release all the animals, birds, and reptiles, so that they will breed abundantly and reproduce in great numbers.”
18-19
So the boat was soon empty. Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives all disembarked, along with all the animals, reptiles, and birds—all left the ark in pairs and groups.
20
Then Noah built an altar and sacrificed on it some of the animals and birds God had designated
*
for that purpose.
21
And Jehovah was pleased with the sacrifice
*
and said to himself, “I will never do it again—I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though man’s bent is always toward evil from his earliest youth, and even though he does such wicked things.
22
As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.”
9:
1
God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to have many children and to repopulate the earth.
2-3
“All wild animals and birds and fish will be afraid of you,” God told him; “for I have placed them in your power, and they are yours to use for food, in addition to grain and vegetables.
4
But never eat animals unless their life-blood has been drained off.
5-6
And murder is forbidden. Man-killing animals must die, and any man who murders shall be killed; for to kill a man is to kill one made like God.
7
Yes, have many children and repopulate the earth and subdue it.”
8
Then God told Noah and his sons,
9-11
“I solemnly promise you and your children
*
and the animals you brought with you—all these birds and cattle and wild animals—that I will never again send another flood to destroy the earth.
12
And I seal this promise with this sign:
13
I have placed my rainbow in the clouds as a sign of my promise until the end of time, to you and to all the earth.
14
When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds,
15
and I will remember my promise to you and to every being, that never again will the floods come and destroy all life.
16-17
For I will see the rainbow in the cloud and remember my eternal promise to every living being on the earth.”
18
The names of Noah’s three sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the ancestor of the Canaanites.)
*
19
From these three sons of Noah came all the nations of the earth.
20-21
Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard, and he made wine. One day as he was drunk and lay naked in his tent,
22
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and went outside and told his two brothers.
23
Then Shem and Japheth took a robe and held it over their shoulders and, walking backwards into the tent, let it fall across their father to cover his nakedness as they looked the other way.
24-25
When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor, and learned what had happened and what Ham, his younger son, had done, he cursed Ham’s descendants:
*
“A curse upon the Canaanites,” he swore.
“May they be the lowest of slaves
To the descendants of Shem and Japheth.”
26-27
Then he said,
“God bless Shem,
And may Canaan be his slave.
*
God bless Japheth,
And let him share the prosperity of Shem,
And let Canaan be his slave.”
28
Noah lived another 350 years after the flood
29
and was 950 years old at his death.
10:
1
These are the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who were the three sons of Noah; for sons were born to them after the flood.
2
The sons
*
of Japheth were: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Tiras.
3
The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, Togarmah.
4
The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, Dodanim.
5
Their descendants became the maritime nations in various lands, each with a separate language.
6
The sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, Canaan.
7
The sons of Cush were: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabteca.
The sons of Raamah were: Sheba, Dedan.
8
One of the descendants
*
of Cush was Nimrod, who became the first of the kings.
9
He was a mighty hunter, blessed of God,
*
and his name became proverbial. People would speak of someone as being “like Nimrod—a mighty hunter, blessed of God.”
10
The heart of his empire included Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar.
11-12
From there he extended his reign to Assyria. He built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen (which is located between Nineveh and Calah), the main city of the empire.
13-14
Mizraim was the ancestor
*
of the people inhabiting these areas: Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines), and Caphtorim.
15-19
Canaan’s oldest son was Sidon, and he was also the father of Heth; from Canaan descended these nations: Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, Hamathites. Eventually the descendants of Canaan spread from Sidon all the way to Gerar, in the Gaza strip; and to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.
20
These, then, were the descendants of Ham, spread abroad in many lands and nations, with many languages.
21
Eber descended from Shem, the oldest brother of Japheth.
22
Here is a list of Shem’s other descendants: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram.
23
Aram’s sons
*
were: Uz, Hul, Gether, Mash.
24
Arpachshad’s son was Shelah, and Shelah’s son was Eber.
25
Two sons were born to Eber: Peleg (meaning “Division,” for during his lifetime the people of the world were separated and dispersed), and Joktan (Peleg’s brother).
26-30
Joktan was the father
*
of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abima-el, Sheba, Ophir, Havi-lah, Jobab.
These descendants of Joktan lived all the way from Mesha to the eastern hills of Sephar.
31
These, then, were the descendants of Shem, classified according to their political groupings, languages, and geographical locations.
32
All of the men listed above descended from Noah, through many generations, living in the various nations that developed after the flood.
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned home
*
to Nazareth in Galilee; but soon he moved to Capernaum, beside the Lake of Galilee, close to Zebulun and Naphtali.
14
This fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy:
15-16
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, beside the lake, and the countryside beyond the Jordan River, and Upper Galilee where so many foreigners live—there the people who sat in darkness have seen a great Light; they sat in the land of death, and the Light broke through upon them.”
*
17
From then on, Jesus began to preach,
“Turn from sin and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
*
18
One day as he was walking along the beach beside the Lake of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—out in a boat
*
fishing with a net, for they were commercial fishermen.
19
Jesus called out,
“Come along with me and I will show you how to fish for the souls of men!”
20
And they left their nets at once and went with him.
21
A little farther up the beach he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their nets; and he called to them to come too.
22
At once they stopped their work and, leaving their father behind, went with him.
23
Jesus traveled all through Galilee teaching in the Jewish synagogues, everywhere preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of Heaven. And he healed every kind of sickness and disease.
24
The report of his miracles spread far beyond the borders of Galilee so that sick folk were soon coming to be healed from as far away as Syria. And whatever their illness and pain, or if they were possessed by demons, or were insane, or paralyzed—he healed them all.
25
Enormous crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, and the Ten Cities, and Jerusalem, and from all over Judea, and even from across the Jordan River.
O God, you have declared me perfect in your eyes;
*
you have always cared for me in my distress; now hear me as I call again. Have mercy on me. Hear my prayer.
2
The Lord God asks, “Sons of men, will you forever turn my glory into shame by worshiping these silly idols, when every claim that’s made for them is false?”
3
Mark this well: The Lord has set apart the redeemed for himself. Therefore he will listen to me and answer when I call to him.
4
Stand before the Lord in awe,
*
and do not sin against him. Lie quietly upon your bed in silent meditation.
5
Put your trust in the Lord, and offer him pleasing sacrifices.
6
Many say that God will never help us. Prove them wrong,
*
O Lord, by letting the light of your face shine down upon us.
7
Yes, the gladness you have given me is far greater than their joys at harvest time as they gaze at their bountiful crops.
8
I will lie down in peace and sleep, for though I am alone, O Lord, you will keep me safe.
Wisdom shouts in the streets for a hearing.
21
She calls out to the crowds along Main Street, and to the judges in their courts, and to everyone in all the land:
22
“You simpletons!” she cries. “How long will you go on being fools? How long will you scoff at wisdom and fight the facts?
23
Come here and listen to me! I’ll pour out the spirit of wisdom upon you and make you wise.”
January 5At that time all mankind spoke a single language.
2
As the population grew and spread eastward, a plain was discovered in the land of Babylon and was soon thickly populated.
3-4
The people who lived there began to talk about building a great city, with a temple-tower reaching to the skies—a proud, eternal monument to themselves.
“This will weld us together,” they said, “and keep us from scattering all over the world.” So they made great piles of hard-burned brick, and collected bitumen to use as mortar.
5
But when God came down to see the city and the tower mankind was making,
6
he said, “Look! If they are able to accomplish all this when they have just
begun
to exploit their linguistic and political unity, just think of what they will do later! Nothing will be unattainable for them!
*
7
Come, let us go down and give them different languages, so that they won’t understand each other’s words!”
8
So, in that way, God scattered them all over the earth; and that ended the building of the city.
9
That is why the city was called Babel (meaning “confusion”), because it was there that Jehovah confused them by giving them many languages, thus widely scattering them across the face of the earth.
10-11
Shem’s line of descendants included Arpachshad, born two years after the flood when Shem was 100 years old; after that he lived another 500 years and had many sons and daughters.
12-13
When Arpachshad was thirty-five years old, his son Shelah was born,
*
and after that he lived another 403 years and had many sons and daughters.
14-15
Shelah was thirty years old when his son Eber was born, living 403 years after that, and had many sons and daughters.
16-17
Eber was thirty-four years old when his son Peleg was born. He lived another 430 years afterwards and had many sons and daughters.
18-19
Peleg was thirty years old when his son Reu was born. He lived another 209 years afterwards and had many sons and daughters.
20-21
Reu was thirty-two years old when Serug was born. He lived 207 years after that, with many sons and daughters.
22-23
Serug was thirty years old when his son Nahor was born. He lived 200 years afterwards, with many sons and daughters.
24-25
Nahor was twenty-nine years old at the birth of his son Terah. He lived 119 years afterwards and had sons and daughters.
26
By the time Terah was seventy years old, he had three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27
And Haran had a son named Lot.
28
But Haran died young, in the land where he was born (in Ur of the Chaldeans), and was survived by his father.
29
Meanwhile, Abram married his half sister
*
Sarai, while his brother Nahor married their orphaned niece, Milcah, who was the daughter of their brother Haran; and she had a sister named Iscah.
30
But Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31
Then Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, and left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; but they stopped instead at the city of Haran and settled there.
32
And there Terah died at the age of 205.
*
12:
1
God had told Abram, “Leave your own country behind you, and your own people, and go to the land I will guide you to.
2
If you do, I will cause you to become the father of a great nation; I will bless you and make your name famous, and you will be a blessing to many others.
*
3
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and the entire world will be blessed because of you.”
*
4
So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed him, and Lot went too; Abram was seventy-five years old at that time.
5
He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—the cattle and slaves he had gotten in Haran—and finally arrived in Canaan.
6
Traveling through Canaan, they came to a place near Shechem, and set up camp beside the oak at Moreh. (This area was inhabited by Canaanites at that time.)
7
Then Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, “I am going to give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there to commemorate Jehovah’s visit.
8
Afterwards Abram left that place and traveled southward
*
to the hilly country between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he made camp, and made an altar to the Lord and prayed to him.
9
Thus he continued slowly southward to the Negeb, pausing frequently.
10
There was at that time a terrible famine in the land: and so Abram went on down to Egypt to live.
11-13
But as he was approaching the borders of Egypt, he asked Sarai his wife to tell everyone that she was his sister! “You are very beautiful,” he told her, “and when the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him and then we can have her!’ But if you say you are my sister, then the Egyptians will treat me well because of you, and spare my life!”
14
And sure enough, when they arrived in Egypt everyone spoke of her beauty.
15
When the palace aides saw her, they praised her to their king, the Pharaoh, and she was taken into his harem.
*
16
Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her—sheep, oxen, donkeys, men and women slaves, and camels.
17
But the Lord sent a terrible plague upon Pharaoh’s household on account of her being there.
18
Then Pharaoh called Abram before him and accused him sharply. “What is this you have done to me?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
19
Why were you willing to let me marry her, saying she was your sister? Here, take her and be gone!”
20
And Pharaoh sent them out of the country under armed escort—Abram, his wife, and all his household and possessions.
13:
1-2
So they left Egypt and traveled north into the Negeb—Abram with his wife, and Lot, and all that they owned, for Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.
3-4
Then they continued northward toward Bethel where he had camped before, between Bethel and Ai—to the place where he had built the altar. And there he again worshiped the Lord.
One day as the crowds were gathering, he [Jesus] went up the hillside with his disciples and sat down and taught them there.
3
“Humble men are very fortunate!”
he told them,
“for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them.
4
Those who mourn are fortunate! for they shall be comforted.
5
The meek and lowly are fortunate! for the whole wide world belongs to them.
6
“Happy are those who long to be just and good, for they shall be completely satisfied.
7
Happy are the kind and merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.
8
Happy are those whose hearts are pure, for they shall see God.
9
Happy are those who strive for peace—they shall be called the sons of God.
10
Happy are those who are persecuted because they are good, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
11
“When you are reviled and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers—wonderful!
12
Be
happy
about it! Be
very glad!
for a
tremendous reward
awaits you up in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted too.
13
“You are the world’s seasoning, to make it tolerable. If you lose your flavor, what will happen to the world? And you yourselves will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
14
You are the world’s light—a city on a hill, glowing in the night for all to see.
15-16
Don’t hide your light! Let it shine for all; let your good deeds glow for all to see, so that they will praise your heavenly Father.
17
“Don’t misunderstand why I have come—it isn’t to cancel the laws of Moses and the warnings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them and to make them all come true.
18
With all the earnestness I have I say: Every law in the Book will continue until its purpose is achieved.
*
19
And so if anyone breaks the least commandment and teaches others to, he shall be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But those who teach God’s laws
and obey them
shall be great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
20
“But I warn you—unless your goodness
*
is greater than that of the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders, you can’t get into the Kingdom of Heaven at all!
21
“Under the laws of Moses the rule was, ‘If you murder, you must die.’
22
But I have added to that rule and tell you
*
that if you are only
angry,
even in your own home, you are in danger of judgment! If you call your friend an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse him, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
23
“So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and suddenly remember that a friend has something against you,
24
leave your sacrifice there beside the altar and go and apologize and be reconciled to him, and then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
25
Come to terms quickly with your enemy before it is too late and he drags you into court and you are thrown into a debtor’s cell,
26
for you will stay there until you have paid the last penny.”
O Lord, hear me praying; listen to my plea, O God my King, for I will never pray to anyone but you.
3
Each morning I will look to you in heaven and lay my requests before you, praying earnestly.
4
I know you get no pleasure from wickedness and cannot tolerate the slightest sin.
5
Therefore, proud sinners will not survive your searching gaze, for how you hate their evil deeds.
6
You will destroy them for their lies; how you abhor all murder and deception.
7
But as for me, I will come into your Temple protected by your mercy and your love; I will worship you with deepest awe.
8
Lord, lead me as you promised me you would; otherwise my enemies will conquer me. Tell me clearly what to do, which way to turn.
9
For they cannot speak one truthful word. Their hearts are filled to the brim with wickedness. Their suggestions are full of the stench of sin and death. Their tongues are filled with flatteries to gain their wicked ends.
10
O God, hold them responsible. Catch them in their own traps; let them fall beneath the weight of their own transgressions, for they rebel against you.
11
But make everyone rejoice who puts his trust in you. Keep them shouting for joy because you are defending them. Fill all who love you with your happiness.
12
For you bless the godly man, O Lord; you protect him with your shield of love.
“I have called you so often, but still you won’t come. I have pleaded, but all in vain.
25
For you have spurned my counsel and reproof.
26
Some day you’ll be in trouble, and I’ll laugh! Mock me, will you?—I’ll mock you!
27
When a storm of terror surrounds you, and when you are engulfed by anguish and distress,
28
then I will not answer your cry for help. It will be too late though you search for me ever so anxiously.”