The One Year Bible TLB (60 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
God rescues good men from danger while letting the wicked fall into it.
March 14When the king of Arad heard that the Israelis were approaching (for they were traveling the same route as the spies), he mobilized his army and attacked Israel, taking some of the men as prisoners.
2
Then the people of Israel vowed to the Lord that if he would help them conquer the king of Arad and his people, they would completely annihilate all the cities of that area.
3
The Lord heeded their request and defeated the Canaanites; and the Israelis completely destroyed them and their cities. The name of the region was thereafter called Hormah (meaning “Utterly Destroyed”).
4
Then the people of Israel returned to Mount Hor, and from there continued southward along the road to the Red Sea in order to go around the land of Edom. The people were very discouraged;
5
they began to murmur against God and to complain against Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they whined. “There is nothing to eat here, and nothing to drink, and we hate this insipid manna.”
6
So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among them to punish them, and many of them were bitten and died.
7
Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against Jehovah and against you. Pray to him to take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8
Then the Lord told him, “Make a bronze replica
*
of one of these snakes and attach it to the top of a pole; anyone who is bitten shall live if he simply looks at it!”
9
So Moses made the replica, and whenever anyone who had been bitten looked at the bronze snake, he recovered!
10
Israel journeyed next to Oboth and camped there.
11
Then they went on to Iyeabarim, in the wilderness, a short distance east of Moab,
12
and from there they traveled to the valley of the brook Zared and set up camp.
13
Then they moved to the far side of the Arnon River, near the borders of the Amorites. (The Arnon River is the boundary line between the Moabites and the Amorites.
14
This fact is mentioned in
The Book of the Wars of Jehovah,
where it is stated that the valley of the Arnon River and the city of Waheb
15
lie between the Amorites and the people of Moab.)
16
Then Israel traveled to Beer (meaning “A Well”). This is the place where the Lord told Moses, “Summon the people, and I will give them water.”
17-18
What happened is described in this song the people sang:
Spring up, O well!
Sing of the water!
This is a well
The leaders dug.
It was hollowed
With their staves
And shovels.
Then they left the desert and proceeded on through Mattanah,
19
Nahaliel, and Bamoth;
20
then to the valley in the plateau of Moab, which overlooks the desert with Mount Pisgah in the distance.
21
Israel now sent ambassadors to King Sihon of the Amorites.
22
“Let us travel through your land,” they requested. “We will not leave the road until we have passed beyond your borders. We won’t trample your fields or touch your vineyards or drink your water.”
23
But King Sihon refused. Instead he mobilized his army and attacked Israel in the wilderness, battling them at Jahaz.
24
But Israel slaughtered them and occupied their land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, as far as the borders of the Ammonites; but they were stopped there by the rugged terrain.
*
25-26
So Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and lived in them, including the city of Heshbon, which had been King Sihon’s capital.
27-30
The ancient poets had referred to King Sihon in this poem:
Come to Heshbon,
King Sihon’s capital,
For a fire has flamed forth
And devoured
The city of Ar in Moab,
On the heights of the Arnon River.
Woe to Moab!
You are finished,
O people of Chemosh;
Your sons have fled,
And your daughters are captured
By King Sihon of the Amorites.
He has destroyed
The little children
And the men and women
As far as Dibon, Nophah, and Medeba.
31-32
While Israel was there in the Amorite country, Moses sent spies to look over the Jazer area; he followed up with an armed attack, capturing all of the towns and driving out the Amorites.
33
They next turned their attention to the city of Bashan, but King Og of Bashan met them with his army at Edrei.
34
The Lord told Moses not to fear—that the enemy was already conquered! “The same thing will happen to King Og as happened to King Sihon at Heshbon,” the Lord assured him.
35
And sure enough, Israel was victorious and killed King Og, his sons, and his subjects, so that not a single survivor remained; and Israel occupied the land.
22:
1
The people of Israel now traveled to the plains of Moab and camped east of the Jordan River opposite Jericho.
2-3
When King Balak of Moab (the son of Zippor) realized how many of them there were, and when he learned what they had done to the Amorites, he and his people were terrified.
4
They quickly consulted with the leaders of Midian.
“This mob will eat us like an ox eats grass,” they exclaimed.
So King Balak
5-6
sent messengers to Balaam (son of Beor) who was living in his native land of Pethor, near the Euphrates River. He begged Balaam to come and help him.
“A vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth and are headed toward me,” he frantically explained. “Please come and curse them for me, so that I can drive them out of my land; for I know what fantastic blessings fall on those whom you bless, and I also know that those whom you curse are doomed.”
7
The messengers he sent were some of the top leaders of Moab and Midian. They went to Balaam with money in hand and urgently explained to him what Balak wanted.
8
“Stay here overnight,” Balaam said, “and I’ll tell you in the morning whatever the Lord directs me to say.” So they did.
9
That night God came to Balaam and asked him, “Who are these men?”
10
“They have come from King Balak of Moab,” he replied.
11
“The king says that a vast horde of people from Egypt has arrived at his border, and he wants me to go at once and curse them, in the hope that he can battle them successfully.”
12
“Don’t do it!” God told him. “You are not to curse them, for I have blessed them!”
13
The next morning Balaam told the men, “Go on home! The Lord won’t let me do it.”
14
So King Balak’s ambassadors returned without him and reported his refusal.
15
Balak tried again. This time he sent a larger number of even more distinguished ambassadors than the former group.
16-17
They came to Balaam with this message:
“King Balak pleads with you to come. He promises you great honors plus any payment you ask. Name your own figure! Only come and curse these people for us.”
18
But Balaam replied, “If he were to give me a palace filled with silver and gold, I could do nothing contrary to the command of the Lord my God.
19
However, stay here tonight so that I can find out whether the Lord will add anything to what he said before.”
20
That night God told Balaam, “You may get up and go with these men, but be sure to say only what I tell you to.”
The following month God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee,
27
to a virgin, Mary, engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David.
28
Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Congratulations, favored lady! The Lord is with you!”
*
29
Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean.
30
“Don’t be frightened, Mary,” the angel told her, “for God has decided to wonderfully bless you!
31
Very soon now, you will become pregnant and have a baby boy, and you are to name him ‘Jesus.’
32
He shall be very great and shall be called the Son of God. And the Lord God shall give him the throne of his ancestor David.
33
And he shall reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom shall never end!”
34
Mary asked the angel, “But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.”
35
The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of God shall overshadow you; so the baby born to you will be utterly holy—the Son of God.
36
Furthermore, six months ago your Aunt
*
Elizabeth—‘the barren one,’ they called her—became pregnant in her old age!
37
For every promise from God shall surely come true.”
38
Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to do whatever he wants. May everything you said come true.” And then the angel disappeared.
39-40
A few days later Mary hurried to the highlands of Judea to the town where Zacharias lived, to visit Elizabeth.
41
At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her and she was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42
She gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “You are favored by God above all other women, and your child is destined for God’s mightiest praise.
43
What an honor this is, that the mother of my Lord should visit me!
44
When you came in and greeted me, the instant I heard your voice, my baby moved in me for joy!
45
You believed that God would do what he said; that is why he has given you this wonderful blessing.”
46
Mary responded, “Oh, how I praise the Lord.
47
How I rejoice in God my Savior!
48
For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and now generation after generation forever shall call me blest of God.
49
For he, the mighty Holy One, has done great things to me.
50
His mercy goes on from generation to generation, to all who reverence him.
51
“How powerful is his mighty arm! How he scatters the proud and haughty ones!
52
He has torn princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly.
53
He has satisfied the hungry hearts and sent the rich away with empty hands.
54
And how he has helped his servant Israel! He has not forgotten his promise to be merciful.
55
For he promised our fathers—Abraham and his children—to be merciful to them forever.”
56
Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home.
O God, have pity, for I am trusting you! I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until this storm is past.
2
I will cry to the God of heaven who does such wonders for me.
3
He will send down help from heaven to save me because of his love and his faithfulness. He will rescue me from these liars who are so intent upon destroying me.
4
I am surrounded by fierce lions—hotheads whose teeth are sharp as spears and arrows. Their tongues are like swords.
5
Lord, be exalted above the highest heavens! Show your glory high above the earth.
6
My enemies have set a trap for me. Frantic fear grips me. They have dug a pitfall in my path. But look! They themselves have fallen into it!
7
O God, my heart is quiet and confident. No wonder I can sing your praises!
8
Rouse yourself, my soul! Arise, O harp and lyre! Let us greet the dawn with song!
9
I will thank you publicly throughout the land. I will sing your praises among the nations.
10
Your kindness and love are as vast as the heavens. Your faithfulness is higher than the skies.
11
Yes, be exalted, O God, above the heavens. May your glory shine throughout the earth.
Evil words destroy; godly skill rebuilds.
*
10
The whole city celebrates a good man’s success—and also the godless man’s death.
11
The good influence of godly citizens causes a city to prosper, but the moral decay of the wicked drives it downhill.