The One Year Bible TLB (205 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts.
September 26Listen to me, my people, my chosen ones! I alone am God. I am the First; I am the Last.
13
It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth; the palm of my right hand spread out the heavens above; I spoke and they came into being.
14
Come, all of you, and listen. Among all your idols, which one has ever told you this: “The Lord loves Cyrus. He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylonia. He will utterly rout the armies of the Chaldeans”?
15
But I am saying it. I have called Cyrus; I have sent him on this errand, and I will prosper him.
16
Come closer and listen. I have always told you plainly what would happen, so that you could clearly understand. And now the Lord God and his Spirit have sent me (with this message):
17
The Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: I am the Lord your God, who punishes you for your own good and leads you along the paths that you should follow.
18
Oh, that you had listened to my laws! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river, and great waves of righteousness.
19
Then you would have become as numerous as the sands along the seashores of the world, too many to count, and there would have been no need for your destruction.
20
Yet even now, be free from your captivity! Leave Babylon, singing as you go; shout to the ends of the earth that the Lord has redeemed his servants, the Jews.
21
They were not thirsty when he led them through the deserts; he divided the rock, and water gushed out for them to drink.
22
But there is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.
49:
1
Listen to me, all of you in far-off lands: The Lord called me before my birth. From within the womb he called me by my name.
2
God will make my words of judgment sharp as swords. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand; I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.
3
He said to me: “You are my servant, a prince of power
*
with God, and you shall bring me glory.”
4
I replied, “But my work for them seems all in vain; I have spent my strength for them without response. Yet I leave it all with God for my reward.”
5
“And now,” said the Lord—the Lord who formed me from my mother’s womb to serve him who commissioned me to restore to him his people Israel, who has given me the strength to perform this task and honored me for doing it!—
6
“you shall do more than restore Israel to me. I will make you a Light to the nations of the world to bring my salvation to them too.”
7
The Lord, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the One who is despised, rejected by mankind, and kept beneath the heel of the world’s rulers: “Kings shall stand at attention when you pass by; princes shall bow low because the Lord has chosen you; he, the faithful Lord, the Holy One of Israel, chooses you.”
8-9
The Lord says, “Your request has come at a favorable time. I will keep you from harm and give you as a token and pledge to Israel, proof that I will reestablish the land of Israel and reassign it to its own people again. Through you I am saying to the prisoners of darkness, ‘Come out! I am giving you your freedom!’ They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures and on the grassy hills.
10
They shall neither hunger nor thirst; the searing sun and scorching desert winds will not reach them anymore. For the Lord in his mercy will lead them beside the cool waters.
11
And I will make my mountains into level paths for them; the highways shall be raised above the valleys.
12
See, my people shall return from far away, from north and west and south.”
13
Sing for joy, O heavens; shout, O earth. Break forth with song, O mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion upon them in their sorrow.
14
Yet they say, “My Lord deserted us; he has forgotten us.”
15
“Never! Can a mother forget her little child and not have love for her own son? Yet even if that should be, I will not forget you.
16
See, I have tattooed your name upon my palm, and ever before me is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
17
Soon your rebuilders shall come and chase away all those destroying you.
18
Look and see, for the Lord has vowed that all your enemies shall come and be your slaves. They will be as jewels to display, as bridal ornaments.
19
“Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land shall soon be crowded with your people, and your enemies who enslaved you shall be far away.
20
The generations born in exile shall return and say, ‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’
21
Then you will think to yourself, ‘Who has given me all these? For most of my children were killed, and the rest were carried away into exile, leaving me here alone. Who bore these? Who raised them for me?’”
22
The Lord God says, “See, I will give a signal to the Gentiles, and they shall carry your little sons back to you in their arms, and your daughters on their shoulders.
23
Kings and queens shall serve you; they shall care for all your needs. They shall bow to the earth before you and lick the dust from off your feet; then you shall know I am the Lord. Those who wait for me shall never be ashamed.”
24
Who can snatch the prey from the hands of a mighty man? Who can demand that a tyrant let his captives go?
25
But the Lord says, “Even the captives of the most mighty and most terrible shall all be freed; for I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children.
26
I will feed your enemies with their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with rivers of their own blood. All the world shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel.”
50:
1
The Lord asks, Did I sell you to my creditors? Is that why you aren’t here? Is your mother gone because I divorced her and sent her away? No, you went away as captives because of your sins. And your mother, too, was taken in payment for your sins.
2
Was I too weak to save you? Is that why the house is silent and empty when I come home? Have I no longer power to deliver? No, that is not the reason! For I can rebuke the sea and make it dry! I can turn the rivers into deserts, covered with dying fish.
3
I am the one who sends the darkness out across the skies.
4
The Lord God has given me his words of wisdom so that I may know what I should say to all these weary ones. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will.
5
The Lord God has spoken to me, and I have listened; I do not rebel nor turn away.
6
I give my back to the whip, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I do not hide from shame—they spit in my face.
7
Because the Lord God helps me, I will not be dismayed; therefore, I have set my face like flint to do his will, and I know that I will triumph.
8
He who gives me justice is near. Who will dare to fight against me now? Where are my enemies? Let them appear!
9
See, the Lord God is for me! Who shall declare me guilty? All my enemies shall be destroyed like old clothes eaten up by moths!
10
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his Servant? If such men walk in darkness, without one ray of light, let them trust the Lord, let them rely upon their God.
11
But see here, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves from your own fires and not from God’s; you will live among sorrows.
Let me say this, then, speaking for the Lord: Live no longer as the unsaved do, for they are blinded and confused. Their closed hearts are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds against him, and they cannot understand his ways.
19
They don’t care anymore about right and wrong and have given themselves over to impure ways. They stop at nothing, being driven by their evil minds and reckless lusts.
20
But that isn’t the way Christ taught you!
21
If you have really heard his voice and learned from him the truths concerning himself,
22
then throw off your old evil nature—the old you that was a partner in your evil ways—rotten through and through, full of lust and sham.
23
Now your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better.
24
Yes, you must be a new and different person, holy and good. Clothe yourself with this new nature.
25
Stop lying to each other; tell the truth, for we are parts of each other and when we lie to each other we are hurting ourselves.
26
If you are angry, don’t sin by nursing your grudge. Don’t let the sun go down with you still angry—get over it quickly;
27
for when you are angry, you give a mighty foothold to the devil.
28
If anyone is stealing he must stop it and begin using those hands of his for honest work so he can give to others in need.
29
Don’t use bad language. Say only what is good and helpful to those you are talking to, and what will give them a blessing.
30
Don’t cause the Holy Spirit sorrow by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who marks you to be present on that day when salvation from sin will be complete.
*
31
Stop being mean, bad-tempered, and angry. Quarreling, harsh words, and dislike of others should have no place in your lives.
32
Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ.
Save me, O my God. The floods have risen. Deeper and deeper I sink in the mire; the waters rise around me.
3
I have wept until I am exhausted; my throat is dry and hoarse; my eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to act.
4
I cannot even count all those who hate me without cause. They are influential men, these who plot to kill me though I am innocent. They demand that I be punished for what I didn’t do.
5
O God, you know so well how stupid I am, and you know all my sins.
6
O Lord God of the armies of heaven, don’t let me be a stumbling block to those who trust in you. O God of Israel, don’t let me cause them to be confused,
7
though I am mocked and cursed and shamed for your sake.
8
Even my own brothers pretend they don’t know me!
9
My zeal for God and his work
*
burns hot within me. And because I advocate your cause, your enemies insult me even as they insult you.
10
How they scoff and mock me when I mourn and fast before the Lord!
11
How they talk about me when I wear sackcloth to show my humiliation and sorrow for my sins!
12
I am the talk of the town and the song of the drunkards.
13
But I keep right on praying to you, Lord. For now is the time—you are bending down to hear! You are ready with a plentiful supply of love and kindness. Now answer my prayer and rescue me as you promised.
*
14
Pull me out of this mire. Don’t let me sink in. Rescue me from those who hate me, and from these deep waters I am in.
15
Don’t let the floods overwhelm me or the ocean swallow me; save me from the pit that threatens me.
16
O Jehovah, answer my prayers, for your loving-kindness is wonderful; your mercy is so plentiful, so tender and so kind.
17
Don’t hide from me,
*
for I am in deep trouble. Quick! Come and save me.
18
Come, Lord, and rescue me. Ransom me from all my enemies.
A wise man is mightier than a strong man. Wisdom is mightier than strength.
6
Don’t go to war without wise guidance; there is safety in many counselors.
September 27Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance, who seek the Lord! Consider the quarry from which you were mined, the rock from which you were cut! Yes, think about your ancestors Abraham and Sarah, from whom you came. You worry at being so small and few, but Abraham was only
one
when I called him. But when I blessed him, he became a great nation.
3
And the Lord will bless Israel again, and make her deserts blossom; her barren wilderness will become as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. Joy and gladness will be found there, thanksgiving and lovely songs.
4
Listen to me, my people; listen, O Israel, for I will see that right prevails.
5
My mercy and justice are coming soon; your salvation is on the way. I will rule the nations; they shall wait for me and long for me to come.
6
Look high in the skies and watch the earth beneath, for the skies shall disappear like smoke, the earth shall wear out like a garment, and the people of the earth shall die like flies. But my salvation lasts forever; my righteous rule will never die nor end.
7
Listen to me, you who know the right from wrong and cherish my laws in your hearts: don’t be afraid of people’s scorn or their slanderous talk.
8
For the moth shall destroy them like garments; the worm shall eat them like wool; but my justice and mercy shall last forever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
9
Awake, O Lord! Rise up and robe yourself with strength. Rouse yourself as in the days of old when you slew Egypt, the dragon
*
of the Nile.
10
Are you not the same today, the mighty God who dried up the sea, making a path right through it for your ransomed ones?
11
The time will come when God’s redeemed will all come home again. They shall come with singing to Jerusalem, filled with joy and everlasting gladness; sorrow and mourning will all disappear.
12
I, even I, am he who comforts you and gives you all this joy. So what right have you to fear mere mortal men, who wither like the grass and disappear?
13
And yet you have no fear of God, your Maker—you have forgotten him, the one who spread the stars throughout the skies and made the earth. Will you be in constant dread of men’s oppression, and fear their anger all day long?
14
Soon, soon you slaves shall be released; dungeon, starvation, and death are not your fate.
15
For I am the Lord your God, the Lord Almighty, who dried a path for you right through the sea, between the roaring waves.
16
And I have put my words in your mouth and hidden you safe within my hand. I planted the stars in place and molded all the earth. I am the one who says to Israel, “You are mine.”
17
Wake up, wake up, Jerusalem! You have drunk enough from the cup of the fury of the Lord. You have drunk to the dregs the cup of terror and squeezed out the last drops.
18
Not one of her sons is left alive to help or tell her what to do.
19
These two things have been your lot: desolation and destruction. Yes, famine and the sword. And who is left to sympathize? Who is left to comfort you?
20
For your sons have fainted and lie in the streets, helpless as wild goats caught in a net. The Lord has poured out his fury and rebuke upon them.
21
But listen now to this, afflicted ones—full of troubles and in a stupor (but not from being drunk)—
22
this is what the Lord says, the Lord your God who cares for his people: “See, I take from your hands the terrible cup; you shall drink no more of my fury; it is gone at last.
23
But I will put that terrible cup into the hands of those who tormented you and trampled your souls to the dust and walked upon your backs.”
52:
1
Wake up, wake up, Jerusalem, and clothe yourselves with strength from God.
*
Put on your beautiful clothes, O Zion, Holy City; for sinners—those who turn from God—will no longer enter your gates.
2
Rise from the dust, Jerusalem; take off the slave bands from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
3
For the Lord says: When I sold you into exile, I asked no fee from your oppressors; now I can take you back again and owe them not a cent!
4
My people were tyrannized without cause by Egypt and Assyria, and I delivered them.
5
And now, what is this? asks the Lord. Why are my people enslaved again and oppressed without excuse? Those who rule them shout in exultation, and my name is constantly blasphemed day by day.
6
Therefore I will reveal my name to my people, and they shall know the power in that name. Then at last they will recognize that it is I, yes, I, who speaks to them.
7
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring the happy news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns.
8
The watchmen shout and sing with joy, for right before their eyes they see the Lord God bring his people home again.
9
Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyous song, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10
The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
11
Go now, leave your bonds and slavery. Put Babylon and all it represents far behind you—it is unclean to you. You are the holy people of the Lord; purify yourselves, all you who carry home the vessels of the Lord.
12
You shall not leave in haste, running for your lives; for the Lord will go ahead of you, and he, the God of Israel, will protect you from behind.
13
See, my Servant
*
shall prosper; he shall be highly exalted.
14-15
Yet many shall be amazed when they see him—yes, even far-off foreign nations and their kings; they shall stand dumbfounded, speechless in his presence. For they shall see and understand what they had not been told before. They shall see my Servant beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know it was a person standing there. So shall he cleanse
*
many nations.
53:
1
But, oh, how few believe it! Who will listen? To whom will God reveal his saving power?
2
In God’s eyes
*
he was like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a root in dry and sterile ground. But in our eyes there was no attractiveness at all, nothing to make us want him.
3
We despised him and rejected him—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we didn’t care.
4
Yet it was
our
grief he bore,
our
sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, for his
own
sins!
5
But he was wounded and bruised for
our
sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed—and we were healed!
6
We—
every one of us—have strayed away like sheep!
We,
who left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet God laid on
him
the guilt and sins of every one of us!
7
He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he never said a word. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he stood silent before the ones condemning him.
8
From prison and trial they led him away to his death. But who among the people of that day realized it was their sins that he was dying for—that he was suffering their punishment?
9
He was buried like a criminal, but in a rich man’s grave; but he had done no wrong and had never spoken an evil word.
10
But it was the Lord’s good plan to bruise him and fill him with grief. However, when his soul has been made an offering for sin, then he shall have a multitude of children, many heirs. He shall live again,
*
and God’s program shall prosper in his hands.
11
And when he sees all that is accomplished by the anguish of his soul, he shall be satisfied; and because of what he has experienced, my righteous Servant shall make many to be counted righteous before God, for he shall bear all their sins.
12
Therefore, I will give him the honors of one who is mighty and great because he has poured out his soul unto death. He was counted as a sinner, and he bore the sins of many, and he pled with God for sinners.
Follow God’s example in everything you do just as a much loved child imitates his father.
2
Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, for Christ’s love for you was like sweet perfume to him.
3
Let there be no sex sin, impurity or greed among you. Let no one be able to accuse you of any such things.
4
Dirty stories, foul talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, remind each other of God’s goodness, and be thankful.
5
You can be sure of this: The Kingdom of Christ and of God will never belong to anyone who is impure or greedy, for a greedy person is really an idol worshiper—he loves and worships the good things of this life more than God.
6
Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the terrible wrath of God is upon all those who do them.
7
Don’t even associate with such people.
8
For though once your heart was full of darkness, now it is full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it!
9
Because of this light within you, you should do only what is good and right and true.
10
Learn as you go along what pleases the Lord.
*
11
Take no part in the worthless pleasures of evil and darkness, but instead, rebuke and expose them.
12
It would be shameful even to mention here those pleasures of darkness that the ungodly do.
13
But when you expose them, the light shines in upon their sin and shows it up, and when they see how wrong they really are, some of them may even become children of light!
14
That is why God says in the Scriptures, “Awake, O sleeper, and rise up from the dead; and Christ shall give you light.”
15-16
So be careful how you act; these are difficult days. Don’t be fools; be wise: make the most of every opportunity you have for doing good.
17
Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to.
18
Don’t drink too much wine, for many evils lie along that path; be filled instead with the Holy Spirit and controlled by him.
19
Talk with each other much about the Lord, quoting psalms and hymns and singing sacred songs, making music in your hearts to the Lord.
20
Always give thanks for everything to our God and Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
21
Honor Christ by submitting to each other.
22
You wives must submit to your husbands’ leadership in the same way you submit to the Lord.
23
For a husband is in charge of his wife in the same way Christ is in charge of his body the Church. (He gave his very life to take care of it and be its Savior!)
24
So you wives must willingly obey your husbands in everything, just as the Church obeys Christ.
25
And you husbands, show the same kind of love to your wives as Christ showed to the Church when he died for her,
26
to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God’s Word;
*
27
so that he could give her to himself as a glorious Church without a single spot or wrinkle or any other blemish, being holy and without a single fault.
28
That is how husbands should treat their wives, loving them as parts of themselves. For since a man and his wife are now one, a man is really doing himself a favor and loving himself when he loves his wife!
29-30
No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body the Church, of which we are parts.
31
(That the husband and wife are one body is proved by the Scripture, which says, “A man must leave his father and mother when he marries so that he can be perfectly joined to his wife, and the two shall be one.”)
32
I know this is hard to understand, but it is an illustration of the way we are parts of the body of Christ.
33
So again I say, a man must love his wife as a part of himself; and the wife must see to it that she deeply respects her husband—obeying, praising, and honoring him.