The One Year Bible TLB (92 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
If you refuse to discipline your son, it proves you don’t love him; for if you love him, you will be prompt to punish him.
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The good man eats to live, while the evil man lives to eat.
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April 24But finally all that generation died; and the next generation did not worship Jehovah as their God and did not care about the mighty miracles he had done for Israel.
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They did many things that the Lord had expressly forbidden, including the worshiping of heathen gods.
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They abandoned Jehovah, the God loved and worshiped by their ancestors—the God who had brought them out of Egypt. Instead, they were worshiping and bowing low before the idols of the neighboring nations. So the anger of the Lord flamed out against all Israel. He left them to the mercy of their enemies, for they had departed from Jehovah and were worshiping Baal and the Ashtaroth idols.
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So now when the nation of Israel went out to battle against its enemies, the Lord blocked their path. He had warned them about this, and in fact had vowed that he would do it. But when the people were in this terrible plight,
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the Lord raised up judges to save them from their enemies.
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Yet even then Israel would not listen to the judges, but broke faith with Jehovah by worshiping other gods instead. How quickly they turned away from the true faith of their ancestors, for they refused to obey God’s commands.
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Each judge rescued the people of Israel from their enemies throughout his lifetime, for the Lord was moved to pity by the groaning of his people under their crushing oppressions; so he helped them as long as that judge lived.
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But when the judge died, the people turned from doing right and behaved even worse than their ancestors had. They prayed to heathen gods again, throwing themselves to the ground in humble worship. They stubbornly returned to the evil customs of the nations around them.
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Then the anger of the Lord would flame out against Israel again. He declared, “Because these people have violated the treaty I made with their ancestors,
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I will no longer drive out the nations left unconquered by Joshua when he died.
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Instead, I will use these nations to test my people, to see whether or not they will obey the Lord as their ancestors did.”
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So the Lord left those nations in the land and did not drive them out, nor let Israel destroy them.
3:
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Here is a list of the nations the Lord left in the land to test the new generation of Israel who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. For God wanted to give opportunity to the youth of Israel to exercise faith and obedience
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in conquering their enemies: the Philistines (five cities), the Canaanites, the Sidonians, the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
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These people were a test to the new generation of Israel, to see whether they would obey the commandments the Lord had given to them through Moses.
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So Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Amorites, and Jebusites.
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But instead of destroying them, the people of Israel intermarried with them. The young men of Israel took their girls as wives, and the Israeli girls married their men. And soon Israel was worshiping their gods.
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So the people of Israel were very evil in God’s sight, for they turned against Jehovah their God and worshiped Baal and the Asheroth idols.
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Then the anger of the Lord flamed out against Israel, and he let King Cushan-rishathaim of eastern Syria conquer them. They were under his rule for eight years.
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But when Israel cried out to the Lord, he gave them Caleb’s nephew, Othniel (son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother) to save them.
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The Spirit of the Lord took control of him, and he reformed and purged Israel so that when he led the forces of Israel against the army of King Cushan-rishathaim, the Lord helped Israel conquer him completely.
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Then, for forty years under Othniel, there was peace in the land. But when Othniel died,
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the people of Israel turned once again to their sinful ways, so God helped King Eglon of Moab to conquer part of Israel at that time.
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Allied with him were the armies of the Ammonites and the Amalekites. These forces defeated the Israelis and took possession of Jericho, often called “The City of Palm Trees.”
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For the next eighteen years the people of Israel were required to pay crushing taxes to King Eglon.
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But when they cried to the Lord, he sent them a savior, Ehud (son of Gera, a Benjaminite), who was left-handed. Ehud was the man chosen to carry Israel’s annual tax money to the Moabite capital.
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Before he went on this journey, he made himself a double-edged dagger eighteen inches long and hid it in his clothing, strapped against his right thigh.
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After delivering the money to King Eglon (who, by the way, was very fat!), he started home again. But outside the city, at the quarries of Gilgal, he sent his companions on and returned alone to the king.
“I have a secret message for you,” he told him.
The king immediately dismissed all those who were with him so that he could have a private interview.
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Ehud walked over to him as he was sitting in a cool upstairs room and said to him, “It is a message from God!”
King Eglon stood up at once to receive it,
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whereupon Ehud reached beneath his robe with his strong left hand, pulled out the double-bladed dagger strapped against his right thigh, and plunged it deep into the king’s belly.
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The hilt of the dagger disappeared beneath the flesh, and the fat closed over it as the entrails oozed out. Leaving the dagger there, Ehud locked the doors behind him and escaped across an upstairs porch.
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When the king’s servants returned and saw that the doors were locked, they waited, thinking that perhaps he was using the bathroom.
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But when, after a long time, he still didn’t come out, they became concerned and got a key. And when they opened the door, they found their master dead on the floor.
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Meanwhile Ehud had escaped past the quarries to Seirah.
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When he arrived in the hill country of Ephraim, he blew a trumpet as a call to arms and mustered an army under his own command.
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“Follow me,” he told them, “for the Lord has put your enemies, the Moabites, at your mercy!”
The army then proceeded to seize the fords of the Jordan River near Moab, preventing anyone from crossing.
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Then they attacked the Moabites and killed about ten thousand of the strongest and most skillful of their fighting men, letting not one escape.
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So Moab was conquered by Israel that day, and the land was at peace for the next eighty years.
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The next judge after Ehud was Shamgar (son of Anath). He once killed six hundred Philistines with an ox goad, thereby saving Israel from disaster.
Then Jesus and the others arrived, and at the proper time all sat down together at the table;
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and he said,
“I have looked forward to this hour with deep longing, anxious to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins.
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For I tell you now that I won’t eat it again until what it represents has occurred in the Kingdom of God.”
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Then he took a glass of wine, and when he had given thanks for it, he said,
“Take this and share it among yourselves.
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For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”
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Then he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it apart and gave it to them, saying,
“This is my body, given for you. Eat it in remembrance of me.”
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After supper he gave them another glass of wine, saying,
“This wine is the token of God’s new agreement to save you—an agreement sealed with the blood I shall pour out to purchase back your souls.
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21
But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me.
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I
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must die. It is part of God’s plan. But, oh, the horror awaiting that man who betrays me.”
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Then the disciples wondered among themselves which of them would ever do such a thing.
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And they began to argue among themselves as to who would have the highest rank in the coming Kingdom.
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25
Jesus told them,
“In this world the kings and great men order their slaves around, and the slaves have no choice but to like it!
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26
But among you, the one who serves you best will be your leader.
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Out in the world the master sits at the table and is served by his servants. But not here! For I am your servant.
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Nevertheless, because you have stood true to me in these terrible days,
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and because my Father has granted me a Kingdom, I, here and now, grant you the right
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to eat and drink at my table in that Kingdom; and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
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“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have you, to sift you like wheat,
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but I have pleaded in prayer for you that your faith should not completely fail.
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So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up the faith of your brothers.”
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Simon said, “Lord, I am ready to go to jail with you, and even to die with you.”
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But Jesus said,
“Peter, let me tell you something. Between now and tomorrow morning when the rooster crows, you will deny me three times, declaring that you don’t even know me.”
A song to sing on the Lord’s Day.
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It is good to say thank you to the Lord, to sing praises to the God who is above all gods.
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Every morning tell him, “Thank you for your kindness,” and every evening rejoice in all his faithfulness.
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Sing his praises, accompanied by music from the harp and lute and lyre.
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You have done so much for me, O Lord. No wonder I am glad! I sing for joy.
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O Lord, what miracles you do! And how deep are your thoughts!
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Unthinking people do not understand them! No fool can comprehend this:
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that although the wicked flourish like weeds, there is only eternal destruction ahead of them.
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But the Lord continues forever, exalted in the heavens,
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while his enemies—all evildoers—shall be scattered.
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But you have made me as strong as a wild bull. How refreshed I am by your blessings!
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11
I have heard the doom of my enemies announced and seen them destroyed.
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But the godly shall flourish like palm trees and grow tall as the cedars of Lebanon.
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For they are transplanted into the Lord’s own garden and are under his personal care.
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Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green.
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This honors the Lord and exhibits his faithful care. He is my shelter. There is nothing but goodness in him!
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Jehovah is King! He is robed in majesty and strength. The world is his throne.
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2
O Lord, you have reigned from prehistoric times, from the everlasting past.
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The mighty oceans thunder your praise.
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You are mightier than all the breakers pounding on the seashores of the world!
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Your royal decrees cannot be changed. Holiness is forever the keynote of your reign.
A wise woman builds her house, while a foolish woman tears hers down by her own efforts.
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To do right honors God; to sin is to despise him.