The One Year Bible TLB (82 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
April 10Then Moses climbed from the plains of Moab to Pisgah Peak in Mount Nebo, across from Jericho. And the Lord pointed out to him the Promised Land, as they gazed out across Gilead as far as Dan:
2
“There is Naphtali; and there is Ephraim and Manasseh; and across there, Judah, extending to the Mediterranean Sea;
3
there is the Negeb; and the Jordan Valley; and Jericho, the city of palm trees; and Zoar,” the Lord told him.
4
“It is the Promised Land,” the Lord told Moses. “I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that I would give it to their descendants. Now you have seen it, but you will not enter it.”
5
So Moses, the disciple of the Lord, died in the land of Moab as the Lord had said.
6
The Lord buried him in a valley near Beth-peor in Moab, but no one knows the exact place.
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Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was perfect and he was as strong as a young man.
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The people of Israel mourned for him for thirty days on the plains of Moab.
9
Joshua (son of Nun) was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; so the people of Israel obeyed him and followed the commandments the Lord had given to Moses.
10
There has never been another prophet like Moses, for the Lord talked to him face to face.
11-12
And at God’s command he performed amazing miracles that have never been equaled.
1:
1
After the death of Moses, the Lord’s disciple, God spoke to Moses’ assistant, whose name was Joshua (the son of Nun), and said to him,
2
“Now that my disciple is dead, you are the new leader of Israel.
*
Lead my people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land.
3
I say to you what I said to Moses: ‘Wherever you go will be part of the land of Israel—
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all the way from the Negeb Desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Euphrates River in the east, including all the land of the Hittites.’
5
No one will be able to oppose you as long as you live, for I will be with you just as I was with Moses; I will not abandon you or fail to help you.
6
“Be strong and brave, for you will be a successful leader of my people; and they shall conquer all the land I promised to their ancestors.
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You need only to be strong and courageous and to obey to the letter every law Moses gave you, for if you are careful to obey every one of them, you will be successful in everything you do.
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Constantly remind the people about these laws, and you yourself must think about them every day and every night so that you will be sure to obey all of them. For only then will you succeed.
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Yes, be bold and strong! Banish fear and doubt! For remember, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
10-11
Then Joshua issued instructions to the leaders of Israel to tell the people to get ready to cross the Jordan River. “In three days we will go across and conquer and live in the land which God has given us!” he told them.
12-13
Then he summoned the leaders of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh and reminded them of their agreement with Moses: “The Lord your God has given you a homeland here on the east side of the Jordan River,” Moses had told them,
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“so your wives and children and cattle may remain here, but your troops, fully armed, must lead the other tribes across the Jordan River to help them conquer their territory on the other side;
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stay with them until they complete the conquest. Only then may you settle down here on the east side of the Jordan.”
16
To this they fully agreed and pledged themselves to obey Joshua as their commander-in-chief.
17-18
“We will obey you just as we obeyed Moses,” they assured him, “and may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. If anyone, no matter who, rebels against your commands, he shall die. So lead on with courage and strength!”
2:
1
Then Joshua sent two spies from the Israeli camp at Acacia to cross the river and check out the situation on the other side, especially at Jericho. They arrived at an inn operated by a woman named Rahab, who was a prostitute. They were planning to spend the night there,
2
but someone informed the king of Jericho that two Israelis who were suspected of being spies had arrived in the city that evening.
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He dispatched a police squadron to Rahab’s home, demanding that she surrender them.
“They are spies,” he explained. “They have been sent by the Israeli leaders to discover the best way to attack us.”
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But she had hidden them, so she told the officer in charge, “The men were here earlier, but I didn’t know they were spies.
5
They left the city at dusk as the city gates were about to close, and I don’t know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them!”
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But actually she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath piles of flax that were drying there.
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So the constable and his men went all the way to the Jordan River looking for them; meanwhile, the city gates were kept shut.
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Rahab went up to talk to the men before they retired for the night.
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“I know perfectly well that your God is going to give my country to you,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you; everyone is terrified if the word
Israel
is even mentioned.
10
For we have heard how the Lord made a path through the Red Sea for you when you left Egypt! And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan, and how you ruined their land and completely destroyed their people.
11
No wonder we are afraid of you! No one has any fight left in him after hearing things like that, for your God is the supreme God of heaven, not just an ordinary god.
12-13
Now I beg for this one thing: Swear to me by the sacred name of your God that when Jericho is conquered you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families. This is only fair after the way I have helped you.”
14
The men agreed. “If you won’t betray us, we’ll see to it that you and your family aren’t harmed,” they promised.
15
“We’ll defend you with our lives.” Then, since her house was on top of the city wall, she let them down by a rope from a window.
16
“Escape to the mountains,” she told them. “Hide there for three days until the men who are searching for you have returned; then go on your way.”
17-18
But before they left, the men had said to her, “We cannot be responsible for what happens to you unless this rope is hanging from this window and unless all your relatives—your father, mother, brothers, and anyone else—are here inside the house.
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If they go out into the street, we assume no responsibility whatsoever; but we swear that no one inside this house will be killed or injured.
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However, if you betray us, then this oath will no longer bind us in any way.”
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“I accept your terms,” she replied. And she left the scarlet rope hanging from the window.
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The spies went up into the mountains and stayed there three days, until the men who were chasing them had returned to the city after searching everywhere along the road without success.
23
Then the two spies came down from the mountains and crossed the river and reported to Joshua all that had happened to them.
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“The Lord will certainly give us the entire land,” they said, “for all the people over there are scared to death of us.”
He [Jesus] went from city to city and village to village, teaching as he went, always pressing onward toward Jerusalem.
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Someone asked him, “Will only a few be saved?”
And he replied,
24-25
“The door to heaven is narrow. Work hard to get in, for the truth is that many will try to enter but when the head of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. Then if you stand outside knocking, and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us,’ he will reply, ‘I do not know you.’
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“‘But we ate with you, and you taught in our streets,’ you will say.
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“And he will reply, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you. You can’t come in here, guilty as you are. Go away.’
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“And there will be great weeping and gnashing of teeth as you stand outside and see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets within the Kingdom of God—
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for people will come from all over the world to take their places there.
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And note this: some who are despised now will be greatly honored then; and some who are highly thought of now will be least important then.”
31
A few minutes later some Pharisees said to him, “Get out of here if you want to live, for King Herod is after you!”
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Jesus replied,
“Go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and doing miracles of healing today and tomorrow; and the third day I will reach my destination.
33
Yes, today, tomorrow, and the next day! For it wouldn’t do for a prophet of God to be killed except in Jerusalem!
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“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that murders the prophets. The city that stones those sent to help her. How often I have wanted to gather your children together even as a hen protects her brood under her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.
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And now—now your house is left desolate. And you will never again see me until you say, ‘Welcome to him who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
14:
1-2
One Sabbath as he was in the home of a member of the Jewish Council, the Pharisees were watching him like hawks to see if he would heal a man who was present who was suffering from dropsy.
3
Jesus said to the Pharisees and legal experts standing around,
“Well, is it within the Law to heal a man on the Sabbath day, or not?”
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And when they refused to answer, Jesus took the sick man by the hand and healed him and sent him away.
5
Then he turned to them:
“Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath?”
he asked.
“If your cow falls into a pit, don’t you proceed at once to get it out?”
6
Again they had no answer.
O God, your land has been conquered by the heathen nations. Your Temple is defiled, and Jerusalem is a heap of ruins.
2
The bodies of your people lie exposed—food for birds and animals.
3
The enemy has butchered the entire population of Jerusalem; blood has flowed like water. No one is left even to bury them.
4
The nations all around us scoff. They heap contempt on us.
5
O Jehovah, how long will you be angry with us? Forever? Will your jealousy burn till every hope is gone?
6
Pour out your wrath upon the godless nations—not on us—on kingdoms that refuse to pray, that will not call upon your name!
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For they have destroyed your people Israel, invading every home.
8
Oh, do not hold us guilty for our former sins! Let your tenderhearted mercies meet our needs, for we are brought low to the dust.
9
Help us, God of our salvation! Help us for the honor of your name. Oh, save us and forgive our sins.
10
Why should the heathen nations be allowed to scoff, “Where is their God?” Publicly avenge this slaughter of your people!
11
Listen to the sighing of the prisoners and those condemned to die. Demonstrate the greatness of your power by saving them.
12
O Lord, take sevenfold vengeance on these nations scorning you.
13
Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will thank you forever and forever, praising your greatness from generation to generation.
The good man asks advice from friends; the wicked plunge ahead—and fall.
April 11Early the next morning Joshua and all the people of Israel left Acacia and arrived that evening at the banks of the Jordan River, where they camped for a few days before crossing.
2-4
On the third day officers went through the camp giving these instructions: “When you see the priests carrying the Ark of God,
*
follow them. You have never before been where we are going now, so they will guide you. However, stay about a half mile behind, with a clear space between you and the Ark; be sure that you don’t get any closer.”
5
Then Joshua told the people to purify themselves. “For tomorrow,” he said, “the Lord will do a great miracle.”
6
In the morning Joshua ordered the priests, “Take up the Ark and lead us across the river!” And so they started out.
7
“Today,” the Lord told Joshua, “I will give you great honor, so that all Israel will know that I am with you just as I was with Moses.
8
Instruct the priests who are carrying the Ark to stop at the edge of the river.”
9
Then Joshua summoned all the people and told them, “Come and listen to what the Lord your God has said.
10
Today you are going to know for sure that the living God is among you and that he will, without fail, drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites—all the people who now live in the land you will soon occupy.
11
Think of it! The Ark of God, who is Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the river!
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“Now select twelve men, one from each tribe, for a special task.
*
13-14
When the priests who are carrying the Ark touch the water with their feet, the river will stop flowing as though held back by a dam, and will pile up as though against an invisible wall!” Now it was the harvest season and the Jordan was overflowing all its banks; but as the people set out to cross the river and as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge,
15-16
suddenly, far up the river at the city of Adam, near Zarethan, the water began piling up as though against a dam! And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was empty. Then all the people crossed at a spot where the river was close to the city of Jericho,
17
and the priests who were carrying the Ark stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan and waited as all the people passed by.
4:
1
When all the people were safely across, the Lord said to Joshua,
2-3
“Tell the twelve men chosen for a special task, one from each tribe, each to take a stone from where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan, and to carry them out and pile them up as a monument at the place where you camp tonight.”
4
So Joshua summoned the twelve men
5
and told them, “Go out into the middle of the Jordan where the Ark is. Each of you is to carry out a stone on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes.
6
We will use them to build a monument so that in the future, when your children ask, ‘What is this monument for?’
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you can tell them, ‘It is to remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of God went across!’ The monument will be a permanent reminder to the people of Israel of this amazing miracle.”
8
So the men did as Joshua told them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River—one for each tribe, just as the Lord had commanded Joshua. They carried them to the place where they were camped for the night and constructed a monument there.
9
Joshua also built another monument of twelve stones in the middle of the river, at the place where the priests were standing; and it is there to this day.
10
The priests who were carrying the Ark stood in the middle of the river until all these instructions of the Lord, which had been given to Joshua by Moses, had been carried out. Meanwhile, the people had hurried across the riverbed,
11
and when everyone was over, the people watched the priests carry the Ark up out of the riverbed.
12-13
The troops of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh—fully armed as Moses had instructed, and forty thousand strong—led the other tribes of the Lord’s army across to the plains of Jericho.
14
It was a tremendous day for Joshua! The Lord made him great in the eyes of all the people of Israel, and they revered him as much as they had Moses and respected him deeply all the rest of his life.
15-16
For it was Joshua who, at the Lord’s command, issued the orders to the priests carrying the Ark.
“Come up from the riverbed,” the Lord now told him to command them.
17
So Joshua issued the order.
18
And as soon as the priests came out, the water poured down again as usual and overflowed the banks of the river as before!
19
This miracle occurred on the 25th of March.
*
That day the entire nation crossed the Jordan River and camped in Gilgal at the eastern edge of the city of Jericho;
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and there the twelve stones from the Jordan were piled up as a monument.
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Then Joshua explained again the purpose of the stones: “In the future,” he said, “when your children ask you why these stones are here and what they mean,
22
you are to tell them that these stones are a reminder of this amazing miracle—that the nation of Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground!
23
Tell them how the Lord our God dried up the river right before our eyes and then kept it dry until we were all across! It is the same thing the Lord did forty years ago
*
at the Red Sea!
24
He did this so that all the nations of the earth will realize that Jehovah is the mighty God, and so that all of you will worship him forever.”
When he noticed that all who came to the dinner were trying to sit near the head of the table, he gave them this advice:
8
“If you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t always head for the best seat. For if someone more respected than you shows up,
9
the host will bring him over to where you are sitting and say, ‘Let this man sit here instead.’ And you, embarrassed, will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table!
10
“Do this instead—start at the foot; and when your host sees you he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place than this for you!’ Thus you will be honored in front of all the other guests.
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For everyone who tries to honor himself shall be humbled; and he who humbles himself shall be honored.”
12
Then he turned to his host.
“When you put on a dinner,”
he said,
“don’t invite friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors! For they will return the invitation.
13
Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
14
Then at the resurrection of the godly, God will reward you for inviting those who can’t repay you.”
15
Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a privilege it would be to get into the Kingdom of God!”
16
Jesus replied with this illustration:
“A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations.
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When all was ready, he sent his servant around to notify the guests that it was time for them to arrive.
18
But they all began making excuses. One said he had just bought a field and wanted to inspect it, and asked to be excused.
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Another said he had just bought five pair of oxen and wanted to try them out.
20
Another had just been married and for that reason couldn’t come.
21
“The servant returned and reported to his master what they had said. His master was angry and told him to go quickly into the streets and alleys of the city and to invite the beggars, crippled, lame, and blind.
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But even then, there was still room.
23
“‘Well, then,’ said his master, ‘go out into the country lanes and out behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full.
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For none of those I invited first will get even the smallest taste of what I had prepared for them.’”
25
Great crowds were following him. He turned around and addressed them as follows:
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“Anyone who wants to be my follower must love me far more than he does
*
his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, or sisters—yes, more than his own life—otherwise he cannot be my disciple.
27
And no one can be my disciple who does not carry his own cross and follow me.
28
“But don’t begin until you count the cost.
*
For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if he has enough money to pay the bills?
29
Otherwise he might complete only the foundation before running out of funds. And then how everyone would laugh!
30
“‘See that fellow there?’ they would mock. ‘He started that building and ran out of money before it was finished!’
31
“Or what king would ever dream of going to war without first sitting down with his counselors and discussing whether his army of 10,000 is strong enough to defeat the 20,000 men who are marching against him?
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“If the decision is negative, then while the enemy troops are still far away, he will send a truce team to discuss terms of peace.
33
So no one can become my disciple unless he first sits down and counts his blessings—and then renounces them all for me.
34
“What good is salt that has lost its saltiness?
*
35
Flavorless salt is fit for nothing—not even for fertilizer. It is worthless and must be thrown out. Listen well if you would understand my meaning.”
O Shepherd of Israel who leads Israel like a flock; O God enthroned above the Guardian Angels, bend down your ear and listen as I plead. Display your power and radiant glory.
2
Let Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh see you rouse yourself and use your mighty power to rescue us.
3
Turn us again to yourself, O God. Look down on us in joy and love;
*
only then shall we be saved.
4
O Jehovah, God of heaven’s armies, how long will you be angry and reject our prayers?
5
You have fed us with sorrow and tears
6
and have made us the scorn of the neighboring nations. They laugh among themselves.
7
Turn us again to yourself, O God of Hosts. Look down on us in joy and love;
*
only then shall we be saved.
8
You brought us from Egypt as though we were a tender vine and drove away the heathen from your land and planted us.
9
You cleared the ground and tilled the soil, and we took root and filled the land.
10
The mountains were covered with our shadow; we were like the mighty cedar trees,
*
11
covering the entire land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River.
12
But now you have broken down our walls, leaving us without protection.
13
The boar from the forest roots around us, and the wild animals feed on us.
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Come back, we beg of you, O God of the armies of heaven, and bless us. Look down from heaven and see our plight and care for this your vine!
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Protect what you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself.
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For we are chopped and burned by our enemies. May they perish at your frown.
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Strengthen the man you love,
*
the son of your choice,
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and we will never forsake you again. Revive us to trust in you.
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Turn us again to yourself, O God of the armies of heaven. Look down on us, your face aglow with joy and love—only then shall we be saved.