The One Year Bible TLB (10 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
My son, never forget the things I’ve taught you. If you want a long and satisfying life, closely follow my instructions.
3
Never tire of loyalty and kindness. Hold these virtues tightly. Write them deep within your heart.
4-5
If you want favor with both God and man, and a reputation for good judgment and common sense, then trust the Lord completely; don’t ever trust yourself.
6
In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.
January 11At this reply, Abraham’s servant fell to his knees before Jehovah.
53
Then he brought out jewels set in solid gold and silver for Rebekah, and lovely clothing; and he gave many valuable presents to her mother and brother.
54
Then they had supper, and the servant and the men with him stayed there overnight. But early the next morning he said, “Send me back to my master!”
55
“But we want Rebekah here at least another ten days or so!” her mother and brother exclaimed. “Then she can go.”
56
But he pleaded, “Don’t hinder my return; the Lord has made my mission successful, and I want to report back to my master.”
57
“Well,” they said, “we’ll call the girl and ask her what she thinks.”
58
So they called Rebekah. “Are you willing to go with this man?” they asked her.
And she replied, “Yes, I will go.”
59
So they told her good-bye, sending along the woman who had been her childhood nurse,
60
and blessed her with this blessing as they parted:
“Our sister,
May you become
The mother of many millions!
May your descendants
Overcome all your enemies.”
61
So Rebekah and her servant girls mounted the camels and went with him.
62
Meanwhile, Isaac, whose home was in the Negeb, had returned to Beer-lahai-roi.
63
One evening as he was taking a walk out in the fields, meditating, he looked up and saw the camels coming.
64
Rebekah noticed him and quickly dismounted.
65
“Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?” she asked the servant.
And he replied, “It is my master’s son!”
*
So she covered her face with her veil.
66
Then the servant told Isaac the whole story.
67
And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother’s tent, and she became his wife. He loved her very much, and she was a special comfort to him after the loss of his mother.
25:
1-2
Now Abraham married again. Keturah was his new wife, and she bore him several children: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, Shuah.
3
Jokshan’s two sons were Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s sons were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.
4
Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah.
*
5
Abraham deeded everything he owned to Isaac;
6
however, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off into the east, away from Isaac.
7-8
Then Abraham died, at the ripe old age of 175,
9-10
and his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Mach-pelah near Mamre, in the field Abraham had purchased from Ephron the son of Zohar, the Hethite, where Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was buried.
11
After Abraham’s death, God poured out rich blessings upon Isaac. (Isaac had now moved south to Beer-lahai-roi in the Negeb.)
12-15
Here is a list, in the order of their births, of the descendants of Ishmael, who was the son of Abraham and Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave girl: Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, Kedemah.
16
These twelve sons of his became the founders of twelve tribes that bore their names.
17
Ishmael finally died at the age of 137, and joined his ancestors.
*
18
These descendants of Ishmael were scattered across the country from Havilah to Shur (which is a little way to the northeast of the Egyptian border in the direction of Assyria). And they were constantly at war with one another.
19
This is the story of Isaac’s children:
20
Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram. Rebekah was the sister of Laban.
21
Isaac pleaded with Jehovah to give Rebekah a child, for even after many years of marriage
*
she had no children. Then at last she became pregnant.
22
And it seemed as though children were fighting each other inside her!
“I can’t endure this,” she exclaimed. So she asked the Lord about it.
23
And he told her, “The sons in your womb shall become two rival nations. One will be stronger than the other; and the older shall be a servant of the younger!”
24
And sure enough, she had twins.
25
The first was born so covered with reddish hair that one would think he was wearing a fur coat! So they called him “Esau.”
*
26
Then the other twin was born with his hand on Esau’s heel! So they called him Jacob (meaning “Grabber”). Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
27
As the boys grew, Esau became a skillful hunter, while Jacob was a quiet sort who liked to stay at home.
28
Isaac’s favorite was Esau, because of the venison he brought home, and Rebekah’s favorite was Jacob.
29
One day Jacob was cooking stew when Esau arrived home exhausted from the hunt.
30
Esau:
“Boy, am I starved! Give me a bite of that red stuff there!” (From this came his nickname “Edom,” which means “Red Stuff.”)
31
Jacob:
“All right, trade me your birthright for it!”
32
Esau:
“When a man is dying of starvation, what good is his birthright?”
33
Jacob:
“Well then, vow to God that it is mine!”
And Esau vowed, thereby selling all his eldest-son rights to his younger brother.
34
Then Jacob gave Esau bread, peas, and stew; so he ate and drank and went on about his business, indifferent to the loss of the rights he had thrown away.
*
26:
1
Now a severe famine overshadowed the land, as had happened before, in Abraham’s time, and so Isaac moved to the city of Gerar where Abimelech, king of the Philistines, lived.
2
Jehovah appeared to him there and told him, “Don’t go to Egypt.
3
Do as I say and stay here in this land. If you do, I will be with you and bless you, and I will give all this land to you and to your descendants, just as I promised Abraham your father.
4
And I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars! And I will give them all of these lands; and they shall be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.
5
I will do this because Abraham obeyed my commandments and laws.”
6
So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
7
And when the men there asked him about Rebekah, he said, “She is my sister!” For he feared for his life if he told them she was his wife; he was afraid they would kill him to get her, for she was very attractive.
8
But sometime later, King Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out of a window and saw Isaac and Rebekah making love.
9
Abimelech called for Isaac and exclaimed, “She is your wife! Why did you say she is your sister?”
“Because I was afraid I would be murdered,” Isaac replied. “I thought someone would kill me to get her from me.”
10
“How could you treat us this way?” Abimelech exclaimed. “Someone might carelessly have raped her, and we would be doomed.”
11
Then Abimelech made a public proclamation: “Anyone harming this man or his wife shall die.”
12
That year Isaac’s crops were tremendous—100 times the grain he sowed. For Jehovah blessed him.
13
He was soon a man of great wealth and became richer and richer.
14
He had large flocks of sheep and goats, great herds of cattle, and many servants. And the Philistines became jealous of him.
15
So they filled up his wells with earth—all those dug by the servants of his father Abraham.
16
And King Abimelech asked Isaac to leave the country. “Go somewhere else,” he said, “for you have become too rich and powerful for us.”
When Jesus noticed how large the crowd was growing, he instructed his disciples to get ready to cross to the other side of the lake.
19
Just then
*
one of the Jewish religious teachers said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you no matter where you go!”
20
But Jesus said,
“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but I, the Messiah,
*
have no home of my own—no place to lay my head.”
21
Another of his disciples said, “Sir, when my father is dead, then I will follow you.”
*
22
But Jesus told him,
“Follow me
now!
*
Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead.”
23
Then he got into a boat and started across the lake with his disciples.
24
Suddenly a terrible storm came up, with waves higher than the boat. But Jesus was asleep.
25
The disciples went to him and wakened him, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re sinking!”
26
But Jesus answered,
“O you men of little faith! Why are you so frightened?”
Then he stood up and rebuked the wind and waves, and the storm subsided and all was calm.
27
The disciples just sat there, awed! “Who is this,” they asked themselves, “that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
28
When they arrived on the other side of the lake, in the country of the Gadarenes, two men with demons in them met him. They lived in a cemetery and were so dangerous that no one could go through that area.
29
They began screaming at him, “What do you want with us, O Son of God? You have no right to torment us yet.”
*
30
A herd of pigs was feeding in the distance,
31
so the demons begged, “If you cast us out, send us into that herd of pigs.”
32
“All right,”
Jesus told them.
“Begone.”
And they came out of the men and entered the pigs, and the whole herd rushed over a cliff and drowned in the water below.
33
The herdsmen fled to the nearest city with the story of what had happened,
34
and the entire population came rushing out to see Jesus and begged him to go away and leave them alone.
Lord, why are you standing aloof and far away? Why do you hide when I need you the most?
2
Come and deal with all these proud and wicked men who viciously persecute the poor. Pour upon these men the evil they planned for others!
3
For these men brag of all their evil lusts; they revile God and congratulate those the Lord abhors, whose only goal in life is money.
4
These wicked men, so proud and haughty, seem to think that God is dead.
*
They wouldn’t think of looking for him!
5
Yet there is success in everything they do, and their enemies fall before them. They do not see your punishment awaiting them.
6
They boast that neither God nor man can ever keep them down—somehow they’ll find a way!
7
Their mouths are full of profanity and lies and fraud. They are always boasting of their evil plans.
8
They lurk in dark alleys of the city and murder passersby.
9
Like lions they crouch silently, waiting to pounce upon the poor. Like hunters they catch their victims in their traps.
10
The unfortunate are overwhelmed by their superior strength and fall beneath their blows.
11
“God isn’t watching,” they say to themselves; “he’ll never know!”
12
O Lord, arise! O God, crush them! Don’t forget the poor or anyone else in need.
13
Why do you let the wicked get away with this contempt for God? For they think that God will never call them to account.
14
Lord, you see what they are doing. You have noted each evil act. You know what trouble and grief they have caused. Now punish them. O Lord, the poor man trusts himself to you; you are known as the helper of the helpless.
15
Break the arms of these wicked men. Go after them until the last of them is destroyed.
Don’t be conceited, sure of your own wisdom. Instead, trust and reverence the Lord, and turn your back on evil; when you do that, then you will be given renewed health and vitality.