Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
The One Year Bible TLB (182 page)
I said to myself, I’m going to quit complaining! I’ll keep quiet, especially when the ungodly are around me.
2-3
But as I stood there silently the turmoil within me grew to the bursting point. The more I mused, the hotter the fires inside. Then at last I spoke and pled with God:
4
Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more.
5-6
My life is no longer than my hand! My whole lifetime is but a moment to you. Proud man! Frail as breath! A shadow! And all his busy rushing ends in nothing. He heaps up riches for someone else to spend.
7
And so, Lord, my only hope is in you.
8
Save me from being overpowered by my sins, for even fools will mock me then.
9
Lord, I am speechless before you. I will not open my mouth to speak one word of complaint, for my punishment is from you.
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10
Lord, don’t hit me anymore—I am exhausted beneath your hand.
11
When you punish a man for his sins, he is destroyed, for he is as fragile as a moth-infested cloth; yes, man is frail as breath.
12
Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry! Don’t sit back, unmindful of my tears. For I am your guest. I am a traveler passing through the earth, as all my fathers were.
13
Spare me, Lord! Let me recover and be filled with happiness again before my death.
No one, regardless of how shrewd or well-advised he is, can stand against the Lord.
31
Go ahead and prepare for the conflict,
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but victory comes from God.
August 25Job’s reply:
2
“I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters all of you are.
3
Won’t you ever stop your flow of foolish words? What have I said that makes you speak so endlessly?
4
But perhaps I’d sermonize the same as you—if you were I and I were you. I would spout off my criticisms against you and shake my head at you.
5
But no! I would speak in such a way that it would help you. I would try to take away your grief.
6
“But now my grief remains no matter how I defend myself; nor does it help if I refuse to speak.
7
For God has ground me down and taken away my family.
8
O God, you have turned me to skin and bones—as a proof, they say, of my sins.
9
God hates me and angrily tears at my flesh; he has gnashed upon me with his teeth and watched to snuff out any sign of life.
10
These ‘comforters’ have gaping jaws to swallow me; they slap my cheek. My enemies gather themselves against me.
11
And God has delivered me over to sinners, into the hands of the wicked.
12
“I was living quietly until he broke me apart. He has taken me by the neck and dashed me to pieces, then hung me up as his target.
13
His archers surround me, letting fly their arrows, so that the ground is wet from my blood.
14
Again and again he attacks me, running upon me like a giant.
15
Here I sit in sackcloth; and have laid all hope in the dust.
16
My eyes are red with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death.
17
“Yet I am innocent, and my prayer is pure.
18
O Earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it protest on my behalf.
19
“Yet even now the witness to my innocence is there in heaven; my advocate is there on high.
20
My friends scoff at me, but I pour out my tears to God,
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pleading that he will listen as a man would listen to his neighbor.
22
For all too soon I must go down that road from which I shall never return.
17:
1
“I am sick and near to death; the grave is ready to receive me.
2
I am surrounded by mockers. I see them everywhere.
3-4
Will no one anywhere confirm my innocence? But you, O God, have kept them back from understanding this. Oh, do not let them triumph.
5
If they accept bribes to denounce their friends, their children shall go blind.
6
“He has made me a mockery among the people; they spit in my face.
7
My eyes are dim with weeping and I am but a shadow of my former self.
8
Fair-minded men are astonished when they see me.
“Yet, finally, the innocent shall come out on top, above the godless;
9
the righteous shall move onward and forward; those with pure hearts shall become stronger and stronger.
10
“As for you—all of you please go away; for I do not find a wise man among you.
11
My good days are in the past. My hopes have disappeared. My heart’s desires are broken.
12
They say that night is day and day is night; how they pervert the truth!
13-14
“If I die, I go out into darkness, and call the grave my father, and the worm my mother and my sister.
15
Where then is my hope? Can anyone find any?
16
No, my hope will go down with me to the grave. We shall rest together in the dust!”
18:
1
The further reply of Bildad the Shuhite:
2
“Who are you trying to fool? Speak some sense if you want us to answer!
3
Have we become like animals to you, stupid and dumb?
4
Just because you tear your clothes in anger, is this going to start an earthquake? Shall we all go and hide?
5
“The truth remains that if you do not prosper, it is because you are wicked. And your bright flame shall be put out.
6
There will be darkness in every home where there is wickedness.
7
“The confident stride of the wicked man will be shortened; he will realize his failing strength.
8-9
He walks into traps, and robbers will ambush him.
10
There is a booby trap in every path he takes.
11
He has good cause for fear—his enemy is close behind him!
12
“His vigor is depleted by hunger; calamity stands ready to pounce upon him.
13
His skin is eaten by disease. Death shall devour him.
14
The wealth he trusted in shall reject him, and he shall be brought down to the king of terrors.
15
His home shall disappear beneath a fiery barrage of brimstone.
16
He shall die from the roots up, and all his branches will be lopped off.
17
“All memory of his existence will perish from the earth; no one will remember him.
18
He will be driven out from the kingdom of light into darkness and chased out of the world.
19
He will have neither son nor grandson left, nor any other relatives.
20
Old and young alike will be horrified by his fate.
21
Yes, that is what happens to sinners, to those rejecting God.”
19:
1
The reply of Job:
2
“How long are you going to trouble me, and try to break me with your words?
3
Ten times now you have declared I am a sinner. Why aren’t you ashamed to deal with me so harshly?
4
And if indeed I was wrong, you have yet to prove it.
5
You think yourselves so great? Then prove my guilt!
6
“The fact of the matter is that God has overthrown me and caught me in his net.
7
I scream for help and no one hears me. I shriek, but get no justice.
8
God has blocked my path and turned my light to darkness.
9
He has stripped me of my glory and removed the crown from my head.
10
He has broken me down on every side, and I am done for. He has destroyed all hope.
11
His fury burns against me; he counts me as an enemy.
12
He sends his troops to surround my tent.
13
“He has sent away my brothers and my friends.
14
My relatives have failed me; my friends have all forsaken me.
15
Those living in my home, even my servants, regard me as a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them.
16
I call my servant, but he doesn’t come; I even beg him!
17
My own wife and brothers refuse to recognize me.
18
Even young children despise me. When I stand to speak, they mock.
19
“My best friends abhor me. Those I loved have turned against me.
20
I am skin and bones and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.
21
“Oh, my friends, pity me, for the angry hand of God has touched me.
22
Why must you persecute me as God does? Why aren’t you satisfied with my anguish?
23-24
Oh, that I could write my plea with an iron pen in the rock forever.
25
“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last.
26
And I know that after this body has decayed, this body shall see God!
*
27
Then he will be on
my
side! Yes, I shall see him, not as a stranger, but as a friend! What a glorious hope!
28
“How dare you go on persecuting me, as though I were proven guilty?
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I warn you, you yourselves are in danger of punishment for your attitude.”
Now here are the directions about the money you are collecting to send to the Christians in Jerusalem;
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(and, by the way, these are the same directions I gave to the churches in Galatia).
2
On every Lord’s Day each of you should put aside something from what you have earned during the week, and use it for this offering. The amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you earn. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.
3
When I come I will send your loving gift with a letter to Jerusalem, to be taken there by trustworthy messengers you yourselves will choose.
4
And if it seems wise for me to go along too, then we can travel together.
5
I am coming to visit you after I have been to Macedonia first, but I will be staying there only for a little while.
6
It could be that I will stay longer with you, perhaps all winter, and then you can send me on to my next destination.
7
This time I don’t want to make just a passing visit and then go right on; I want to come and stay awhile, if the Lord will let me.
8
I will be staying here at Ephesus until the holiday of Pentecost,
9
for there is a wide open door for me to preach and teach here. So much is happening, but there are many enemies.
10
If Timothy comes make him feel at home, for he is doing the Lord’s work just as I am.
11
Don’t let anyone despise or ignore him because he is young,
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but send him back to me happy with his time among you; I am looking forward to seeing him soon, along with the others who are returning.
12
I begged Apollos to visit you along with the others, but he thought that it was not at all God’s will for him to go now; he will be seeing you later on when he has the opportunity.
13
Keep your eyes open for spiritual danger; stand true to the Lord; act like men; be strong;
14
and whatever you do, do it with kindness and love.
15
Do you remember Stephanas and his family? They were the first to become Christians in Greece, and they are spending their lives helping and serving Christians everywhere.
16
Please follow their instructions and do everything you can to help them as well as all others like them who work hard at your side with such real devotion.
17
I am so glad that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus have arrived here for a visit. They have been making up for the help you aren’t here to give me.
18
They have cheered me greatly and have been a wonderful encouragement to me, as I am sure they were to you, too. I hope you properly appreciate the work of such men as these.
19
The churches here in Asia send you their loving greetings. Aquila and Priscilla send you their love, and so do all the others who meet in their home for their church service.
20
All the friends here have asked me to say hello to you for them. And give each other a loving handshake when you meet.
21
I will write these final words of this letter with my own hand:
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if anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. Lord Jesus, come!
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May the love and favor of the Lord Jesus Christ rest upon you.
24
My love to all of you, for we all belong to Christ Jesus.
Sincerely, Paul
I waited patiently for God to help me; then he listened and heard my cry.
2
He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out from the bog and the mire, and set my feet on a hard, firm path, and steadied me as I walked along.
3
He has given me a new song to sing, of praises to our God. Now many will hear of the glorious things he did for me, and stand in awe before the Lord, and put their trust in him.
4
Many blessings are given to those who trust the Lord and have no confidence in those who are proud or who trust in idols.
5
O Lord my God, many and many a time you have done great miracles for us, and we are ever in your thoughts. Who else can do such glorious things? No one else can be compared with you. There isn’t time to tell of all your wonderful deeds.
6
It isn’t sacrifices and offerings that you really want from your people. Burnt animals bring no special joy to your heart. But you have accepted the offer of my lifelong service.
*
7
Then I
*
said, “See, I have come, just as all the prophets foretold.
8
And I delight to do your will, my God, for your law is written upon my heart!”
9
I have told everyone the good news that you forgive people’s sins.
*
I have not been timid about it, as you well know, O Lord.
10
I have not kept this good news hidden in my heart, but have proclaimed your loving-kindness and truth to all the congregation.