Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
The One Year Bible TLB (111 page)
Hallelujah! O servants of Jehovah, praise his name.
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Blessed is his name forever and forever.
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Praise him from sunrise to sunset!
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For he is high above the nations; his glory is far greater than the heavens.
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Who can be compared with God enthroned on high?
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Far below him are the heavens and the earth; he stoops to look,
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and lifts the poor from the dirt and the hungry from the garbage dump,
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and sets them among princes!
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He gives children to the childless wife, so that she becomes a happy mother.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.
114:
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Long ago when the Israelis escaped from Egypt, from that land of foreign tongue,
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then the lands of Judah and of Israel became God’s new home and kingdom.
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The Red Sea saw them coming and quickly broke apart before them. The Jordan River opened up a path for them to cross.
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The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs!
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What’s wrong, Red Sea, that made you cut yourself in two? What happened, Jordan River, to your waters? Why were they held back?
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Why, mountains, did you skip like rams? Why, little hills, like lambs?
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Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Jacob.
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For he caused gushing streams to burst from flinty rock.
When a man is gloomy, everything seems to go wrong; when he is cheerful, everything seems right!
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Better a little with reverence for God than great treasure and trouble with it.
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It is better to eat soup with someone you love than steak with someone you hate.
May 18So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam, where his brothers and other relatives soon joined him.
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Then others began coming—those who were in any kind of trouble, such as being in debt, or merely discontented—until David was the leader of about four hundred men.
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(Later David went to Mizpeh in Moab to ask permission of the king for his father and mother to live there under royal protection until David knew what God was going to do for him.
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They stayed in Moab during the entire period when David was living in the cave.)
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One day the prophet Gad told David to leave the cave and return to the land of Judah. So David went to the forest of Hereth.
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The news of his arrival in Judah soon reached Saul. He was in Gibeah at the time, sitting beneath an oak tree playing with his spear, surrounded by his officers.
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“Listen here, you men of Benjamin!” Saul exclaimed when he heard the news. “Has David promised you fields and vineyards and commissions in his army?
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Is that why you are against me? For not one of you has ever told me that my own son is on David’s side. You’re not even sorry for me. Think of it! My own son—encouraging David to come and kill me!”
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Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing there with Saul’s men, spoke up. “When I was at Nob,” he said, “I saw David talking to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech consulted the Lord to find out what David should do, and then gave him food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
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King Saul immediately summoned Ahimelech and all his family and all the other priests at Nob. When they arrived Saul shouted at him, “Listen to me, you son of Ahitub!”
“What is it?” quavered Ahimelech.
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“Why have you and David conspired against me?” Saul demanded. “Why did you give him food and a sword and talk to God for him? Why did you encourage him to revolt against me and to come here and attack me?”
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“But sir,” Ahimelech replied, “is there anyone among all your servants who is as faithful as David your son-in-law? Why, he is the captain of your bodyguard and a highly honored member of your own household!
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This was certainly not the first time I had consulted God for him! It’s unfair for you to accuse me and my family in this matter, for we knew nothing of any plot against you.”
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“You shall die, Ahimelech, along with your entire family!” the king shouted.
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He ordered his bodyguards, “Kill these priests, for they are allies and conspirators with David; they knew he was running away from me, but they didn’t tell me!”
But the soldiers refused to harm the clergy.
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Then the king said to Doeg, “You do it.”
So Doeg turned on them and killed them, eighty-five priests in all, all wearing their priestly robes.
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Then he went to Nob, the city of the priests, and killed the priests’ families—men, women, children, and babies, and also all the oxen, donkeys, and sheep.
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Only Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, escaped and fled to David.
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When he told him what Saul had done,
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David exclaimed, “I knew it! When I saw Doeg there, I knew he would tell Saul. Now I have caused the death of all of your father’s family.
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Stay here with me, and I’ll protect you with my own life. Any harm to you will be over my dead body.”
23:
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One day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah robbing the threshing floors.
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David asked the Lord, “Shall I go and attack them?”
“Yes, go and save Keilah,” the Lord told him.
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But David’s men said, “We’re afraid even here in Judah; we certainly don’t want to go to Keilah to fight the whole Philistine army!”
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David asked the Lord again, and the Lord again replied, “Go down to Keilah, for I will help you conquer the Philistines.”
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They went to Keilah and slaughtered the Philistines and confiscated their cattle, and so the people of Keilah were saved.
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(Abiathar the priest went to Keilah with David, taking his ephod with him to get answers for David from the Lord.)
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Saul soon learned that David was at Keilah.
“Good!” he exclaimed. “We’ve got him now! God has delivered him to me, for he has trapped himself in a walled city!”
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So Saul mobilized his entire army to march to Keilah and besiege David and his men.
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But David learned of Saul’s plan and told Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod and to ask the Lord what he should do.
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“O Lord God of Israel,” David said, “I have heard that Saul is planning to come and destroy Keilah because I am here.
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Will the men of Keilah surrender me to him? And will Saul actually come, as I have heard? O Lord God of Israel, please tell me.”
And the Lord said, “He will come.”
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“And will these men of Keilah betray me to Saul?” David persisted.
And the Lord replied, “Yes, they will betray you.”
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So David and his men—about six hundred of them now—left Keilah and began roaming the countryside. Word soon reached Saul that David had escaped, so he didn’t go there after all.
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David now lived in the wilderness caves in the hill country of Ziph. One day near Horesh he received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him. Saul hunted him day after day, but the Lord didn’t let him find him.
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(Prince Jonathan now went to find David; he met him at Horesh and encouraged him in his faith in God.
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“Don’t be afraid,” Jonathan reassured him. “My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel and I will be next to you, as my father is well aware.”
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So the two of them renewed their pact of friendship; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan returned home.)
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But now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him.
“We know where he is hiding,” they said. “He is in the caves of Horesh on Hachilah Hill, down in the southern part of the wilderness.
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Come on down, sir, and we will catch him for you and your fondest wish will be fulfilled!”
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“Well, praise the Lord!” Saul said. “At last someone has had pity on me!
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Go and check again to be sure of where he is staying and who has seen him there, for I know that he is very crafty.
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Discover his hiding places and then come back and give me a more definite report. Then I’ll go with you. And if he is in the area at all, I’ll find him if I have to search every inch of the entire land!”
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So the men of Ziph returned home. But when David heard that Saul was on his way to Ziph, he and his men went even further into the wilderness of Maon in the south of the desert. But Saul followed them there.
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He and David were now on opposite sides of a mountain. As Saul and his men began to close in, David tried his best to escape, but it was no use.
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But just then a message reached Saul that the Philistines were raiding Israel again,
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so Saul quit the chase and returned to fight the Philistines. Ever since that time the place where David was camped has been called, “The Rock of Escape.”
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David then went to live in the caves of Engedi.
“Anyone refusing to walk through the gate into a sheepfold, who sneaks over the wall, must surely be a thief!
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For a shepherd comes through the gate.
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The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice and come to him; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
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He walks ahead of them; and they follow him, for they recognize his voice.
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They won’t follow a stranger but will run from him, for they don’t recognize his voice.”
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Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant,
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so he explained it to them.
“I am the Gate for the sheep,”
he said.
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“All others who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them.
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Yes, I am the Gate. Those who come in by way of the Gate will be saved and will go in and out and find green pastures.
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The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.
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“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
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A hired man will run when he sees a wolf coming and will leave the sheep, for they aren’t his and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf leaps on them and scatters the flock.
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The hired man runs because he is hired and has no real concern for the sheep.
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“I am the Good Shepherd and know my own sheep, and they know me,
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just as my Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
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I have other sheep, too, in another fold. I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice; and there will be one flock with one Shepherd.
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“The Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may have it back again.
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No one can kill me without my consent—I lay down my life voluntarily. For I have the right and power to lay it down when I want to and also the right and power to take it again. For the Father has given me this right.”
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When he said these things, the Jewish leaders were again divided in their opinions about him.
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Some of them said, “He has a demon or else is crazy. Why listen to a man like that?”
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Others said, “This doesn’t sound to us like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of blind men?”
Glorify your name, not ours, O Lord! Cause everyone to praise your loving-kindness and your truth.
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Why let the nations say, “Their God is dead!”
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For he is in the heavens and does as he wishes.
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Their gods are merely man-made things of silver and of gold.
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They can’t talk or see, despite their eyes and mouths!
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Nor can they hear, nor smell,
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nor use their hands or feet, nor speak!
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And those who make and worship them are just as foolish as their idols are.
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O Israel, trust the Lord! He is your helper. He is your shield.
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O priests of Aaron, trust the Lord! He is your helper; he is your shield.
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All of you, his people, trust in him. He is your helper; he is your shield.
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Jehovah is constantly thinking about us, and he will surely bless us. He will bless the people of Israel and the priests of Aaron,
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and all, both great and small, who reverence him.
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May the Lord richly bless both you and your children.
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Yes, Jehovah who made heaven and earth will personally bless you!
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The heavens belong to the Lord, but he has given the earth to all mankind.
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The dead cannot sing praises to Jehovah here on earth,
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but we can! We praise him forever! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
A quick-tempered man starts fights; a cool-tempered man tries to stop them.
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A lazy fellow has trouble all through life; the good man’s path is easy!