Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
The One Year Bible TLB (247 page)
November 21Then he led me out of the Temple, back into the inner court to the rooms north of the Temple yard, and to another building.
2
This group of structures was 175 feet long by 87
1
/
2
feet wide.
3
The rows of rooms behind this building were the inner wall of the court. The rooms were in three tiers, overlooking the outer court on one side, and having a 35-foot strip of inner court on the other.
4
A 17
1
/
2
-foot walk ran between the building and the tiers of rooms, extending the entire length, with the doors of the building facing north.
5
The upper two tiers of rooms were not as wide as the lower one, because the upper tiers had wider walkways beside them.
6
And since the building was not built with girders as those in the outer court were, the upper stories were set back from the ground floor.
7-8
The north tiers, next to the outer court, were 87
1
/
2
feet long—only half as long as the inner wing that faced the Temple court, which was 175 feet long. But a wall extended from the end of the shorter wing, parallel to the longer wing.
9-10
And there was an entrance from the outer court to these rooms from the east. On the opposite side of the Temple a similar building composed of two units of tiers was on the south side of the inner court, between the Temple and the outer court, arranged the same as the other.
11
There was a walk between the two wings of the building, the same as in the other building across the court—the same length and width and the same exits and doors—they were identical units.
12
And there was a door from the outer court
*
at the east.
13
Then he told me: “These north and south tiers of rooms facing the Temple yard are holy; there the priests who offer up the sacrifices to the Lord shall eat of the most holy offerings and store them—the cereal offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings, for these rooms are holy.
14
When the priests leave the Holy Place—the nave of the Temple—they must change their clothes before going out to the outer court. The special robes in which they have been ministering must first be removed, for these robes are holy. They must put on other clothes before entering the parts of the building open to the public.”
15
When he had finished making these measurements, he led me out through the east passageway to measure the entire Temple area.
16-20
He found that it was in the form of a square, 875 feet long on each side, with a wall all around it to separate the restricted area from the public places.
*
43:
1
Afterward he brought me out again to the passageway through the outer wall leading to the east.
2
And suddenly the glory of the God of Israel appeared from the east. The sound of his coming was like the roar of rushing waters, and the whole landscape lighted up with his glory.
3
It was just as I had seen it in the other visions, first by the Chebar Canal, and then later at Jerusalem
*
when he came to destroy the city. And I fell down before him with my face in the dust.
4
And the glory of the Lord came into the Temple through the eastern passageway.
5
Then the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court; and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple.
6
And I heard the Lord speaking to me from within the Temple (the man who had been measuring was still standing beside me).
7
And the Lord said to me:
“Son of dust, this is the place of my throne and my footstool, where I shall remain, living among the people of Israel forever. They and their kings will not defile my holy name any longer through the adulterous worship of other gods or by worshiping the totem poles erected by their kings.
8
They built their idol temples beside mine, with only a wall between, and worshiped their idols. Because they sullied my holy name by such wickedness, I consumed them in my anger.
9
Now let them put away their idols and the totem poles
*
erected by their kings, and I will live among them forever.
10
“Son of dust, describe the Temple I have shown you to the people of Israel. Tell them its appearance and its plan so they will be ashamed of all their sins.
11
And if they are truly ashamed of what they have done, then explain to them the details of its construction—its doors and entrances—and everything about it. Write out all the directions and the rules for them to keep.
12
And this is the basic law of the Temple:
Holiness!
The entire top of the hill where the Temple is built is
holy.
Yes, this is the primary law concerning it.
13
“And these are the measurements of the altar: The base is 21 inches high, with a 9-inch rim around its edge, and it extends 21 inches beyond the altar on all sides.
14
The first stage of the altar is a stone platform 3
1
/
2
feet high. This platform is 21 inches narrower than the base block on all sides. Rising from this is a narrower platform, 21 inches narrower on all sides, and 7 feet high.
15
From it a still narrower platform rises 7 feet, and this is the top of the altar, with four horns projecting 21 inches up from the corners.
16
This top platform of the altar is 21 feet square.
17
The platform beneath it is 24
1
/
2
feet square with a 10
1
/
2
-inch curb around the edges. The entire platform extends out from the top 21 inches on all sides. On the east side are steps to climb the altar.”
18
And he said to me:
“Son of dust, the Lord God says: These are the measurements of the altar to be made in the future, when it is erected for the burning of offerings and the sprinkling of blood upon it.
19
At that time the Zadok family of the Levite tribe, who are my ministers, are to be given a bullock for a sin offering.
20
You shall take some of its blood and smear it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the top platform and in the curb around it. This will cleanse and make atonement for the altar.
21
Then take the bullock for the sin offering and burn it at the appointed place outside the Temple area.
22
“The second day, sacrifice a young male goat without any defects—without sickness, deformities, cuts, or scars—for a sin offering. Thus the altar shall be cleansed, as it was by the bullock.
23
When you have finished this cleansing ceremony, offer another perfect bullock and a perfect ram from the flock.
24
Present them before the Lord, and the priests shall sprinkle salt upon them as a burnt offering.
25
“Every day for seven days a male goat, a bullock, and a ram from the flock shall be sacrificed as a sin offering. None are to have any defects or unhealthiness of any kind.
26
Do this each day for seven days to cleanse and make atonement for the altar, thus consecrating it.
27
On the eighth day, and on each day afterward, the priests will sacrifice on the altar the burnt offerings and thank offerings of the people, and I will accept you, says the Lord God.”
Look here, you rich men, now is the time to cry and groan with anguished grief because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.
2
Your wealth is even now rotting away, and your fine clothes are becoming mere moth-eaten rags.
3
The value of your gold and silver is dropping fast, yet it will stand as evidence against you and eat your flesh like fire. That is what you have stored up for yourselves to receive on that coming day of judgment.
4
For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. Their cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
5
You have spent your years here on earth having fun, satisfying your every whim, and now your fat hearts are ready for the slaughter.
6
You have condemned and killed good men who had no power to defend themselves against you.
7
Now as for you, dear brothers who are waiting for the Lord’s return, be patient, like a farmer who waits until the autumn for his precious harvest to ripen.
8
Yes, be patient. And take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.
9
Don’t grumble about each other, brothers. Are you yourselves above criticism? For see! The great Judge is coming. He is almost here. Let him do whatever criticizing must be done.
*
10
For examples of patience in suffering, look at the Lord’s prophets.
11
We know how happy they are now because they stayed true to him then, even though they suffered greatly for it. Job is an example of a man who continued to trust the Lord in sorrow; from his experiences we can see how the Lord’s plan finally ended in good, for he is full of tenderness and mercy.
12
But most of all, dear brothers, do not swear either by heaven or earth or anything else; just say a simple yes or no so that you will not sin and be condemned for it.
13
Is anyone among you suffering? He should keep on praying about it. And those who have reason to be thankful should continually be singing praises to the Lord.
14
Is anyone sick? He should call for the elders of the church and they should pray over him and pour a little oil upon him, calling on the Lord to heal him.
15
And their prayer, if offered in faith, will heal him, for the Lord will make him well; and if his sickness was caused by some sin, the Lord will forgive him.
16
Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results.
17
Elijah was as completely human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for the next three and a half years!
18
Then he prayed again, this time that it
would
rain, and down it poured, and the grass turned green and the gardens began to grow again.
19
Dear brothers, if anyone has slipped away from God and no longer trusts the Lord and someone helps him understand the Truth again,
20
that person who brings him back to God will have saved a wandering soul from death, bringing about the forgiveness of his many sins.
Sincerely, James
Happy are all who perfectly follow the laws of God.
2
Happy are all who search for God and always do his will,
3
rejecting compromise with evil and walking only in his paths.
4
You have given us your laws to obey—
5
oh, how I want to follow them consistently.
6
Then I will not be disgraced, for I will have a clean record.
7
After you have corrected me,
*
I will thank you by living as I should!
8
I
will
obey! Oh, don’t forsake me and let me slip back into sin again.
*
9
How can a young man stay pure? By reading your Word and following its rules.
10
I have tried my best to find you—don’t let me wander off from your instructions.
11
I have thought much about your words and stored them in my heart so that they would hold me back from sin.
12
Blessed Lord, teach me your rules.
13
I have recited your laws
14
and rejoiced in them more than in riches.
15
I will meditate upon them and give them my full respect.
16
I will delight in them and not forget them.
Better to be poor and honest than rich and a cheater.
7
Young men who are wise obey the law; a son who is a member of a lawless gang is a shame to his father.
November 22Then the Lord brought me back to the outer wall’s eastern passageway, but it was closed.
2
And he said to me:
“This gate shall remain closed; it shall never be opened. No man shall pass through it; for the Lord, the God of Israel, entered here, and so it shall remain shut.
3
Only the prince—because he is the prince—may sit inside the passageway to feast there before the Lord. But he shall go and come only through the entry hall of the passage.”
4
Then he brought me through the north passageway to the front of the Temple. I looked and saw that the glory of the Lord filled the Temple of the Lord, and I fell to the ground with my face in the dust.
5
And the Lord said to me:
“Son of dust, notice carefully; use your eyes and ears. Listen to all I tell you about the laws and rules of the Temple of the Lord. Note carefully who may be admitted to the Temple and who is to be excluded from it.
6
And say to these rebels, the people of Israel, ‘The Lord God says: O Israel, you have sinned greatly
7
by letting the uncircumcised into my sanctuary—those who have no heart for God—when you offer me my food, the fat and the blood. Thus you have broken my covenant in addition to all your other sins.
8
You have not kept the laws I gave you concerning these holy affairs, for you have hired foreigners to take charge of my sanctuary.’”
9
The Lord God says: “No foreigner of all the many among you shall enter my sanctuary if he has not been circumcised and does not love the Lord.
10
And the men of the tribe of Levi who abandoned me when Israel strayed away from God to idols must be punished for their unfaithfulness.
11
They may be Temple guards and gatemen; they may slay the animals brought for burnt offerings and be present to help the people.
12
But because they encouraged the people to worship other gods, causing Israel to fall into deep sin, I have raised my hand and taken oath,” says the Lord God, “that they must be punished.
13
They shall not come near me to minister as priests; they may not touch any of my holy things, for they must bear their shame for all the sins they have committed.
14
They are the Temple caretakers, to do maintenance work and to assist the people in a general way.
15
“However, the sons of Zadok, of the tribe of Levi, continued as my priests in the Temple when Israel abandoned me for idols. These men shall be my ministers; they shall stand before me to offer the fat and blood of the sacrifices,” says the Lord God.
16
“They shall enter my sanctuary and come to my Table to minister to me; they shall fulfill my requirements.
17
“They must wear only linen clothing when they enter the passageway to the inner court, for they must wear no wool while on duty in the inner court or in the Temple.
18
They must wear linen turbans and linen trousers; they must not wear anything that would cause them to perspire.
19
When they return to the outer court, they must take off the clothes they wear while ministering to me, leaving them in the sacred chambers, and put on other clothes lest they harm the people by touching them with this clothing.
20
“They must not let their hair grow too long nor shave it off. Regular, moderate haircuts are all they are allowed.
21
No priest may drink wine before coming to the inner court.
22
He may marry only a Jewish maiden, or the widow of a priest; he may not marry a divorced woman.
23
“He shall teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is secular, what is right and what is wrong.
*
24
“They will serve as judges to resolve any disagreements among my people. Their decisions must be based upon my laws. And the priests themselves shall obey my rules and regulations at all the sacred festivals, and they shall see to it that the Sabbath is kept a sacred day.
25
“A priest must not defile himself by being in the presence of a dead person, unless it is his father, mother, child, brother, or unmarried sister. In such cases it is all right.
26
But afterward he must wait seven days before he is cleansed and able to perform his Temple duties again.
27
The first day he returns to work and enters the inner court and the sanctuary, he must offer a sin offering for himself,” the Lord God says.
28
“As to property, they shall not own any, for I am their heritage! That is enough!
*
29
“Their food shall be the gifts and sacrifices brought to the Temple by the people—the cereal offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Whatever anyone gives to the Lord shall be the priests’.
30
The first of the first-ripe fruits and all the gifts for the Lord shall go to the priests. The first samples of each harvest of grain shall be donated to the priests too, so that the Lord will bless your homes.
31
Priests may never eat meat from any bird or animal that dies a natural death or that dies after being attacked by other animals.
45:
1
“When you divide the land among the tribes of Israel, you shall first give a section of it to the Lord as his holy portion. This piece shall be 8
1
/
3
miles long and 6
2
/
3
miles wide. It shall all be holy ground.
2
“A section of this land, 875 feet square, shall be designated for the Temple. An additional 87
1
/
2
-foot strip all around is to be left empty.
3
The Temple shall be built within the area which is 8
1
/
3
miles long and 3
1
/
3
miles wide.
4
All this section shall be holy land; it will be used by the priests, who minister in the sanctuary, for their homes and for my Temple.
5
“The strip next to it, 8
1
/
3
miles long and 3
1
/
3
miles wide, shall be the residence area for the Levites who work at the Temple.
6
Adjacent to the holy lands will be a section 8
1
/
3
miles by 1
2
/
3
miles for a city open to everyone in Israel.
7
“Two special sections of land shall be set apart for the prince—one on each side of the holy lands and city; it is contiguous with them in length, and its eastern and western boundaries are the same as those of the tribal sections.
8
This shall be his allotment. My princes shall no longer oppress and rob my people but shall assign all the remainder of the land to the people, giving a portion to each tribe.”
9
For the Sovereign Lord says to the rulers: “Quit robbing and cheating my people out of their land and expelling them from their homes. Always be fair and honest.
10
You must use honest scales, honest bushels, honest gallons.
11
A homer (about five bushels) shall be your standard unit of measurement for both liquid and dry measure. Smaller units shall be the ephah (about a half bushel) for dry measure, and the bath (about seventeen quarts) for liquid.
12
The unit of weight shall be the silver shekel (about half an ounce); it must always be exchanged for twenty gerahs, no less; five shekels shall be valued at five shekels, no less; and ten shekels at ten shekels! Fifty shekels
*
shall always equal one mina.”
From:
Peter, Jesus Christ’s missionary.
To:
The Jewish Christians driven out of Jerusalem and scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, and Bithynia.
2
Dear friends, God the Father chose you long ago and knew you would become his children. And the Holy Spirit has been at work in your hearts, cleansing you with the blood of Jesus Christ and making you to please him. May God bless you richly and grant you increasing freedom from all anxiety and fear.
3
All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family. Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead.
4
And God has reserved for his children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
5
And God, in his mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see.
6
So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here.
7
These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return.
8
You love him even though you have never seen him; though not seeing him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with the inexpressible joy that comes from heaven itself.
9
And your further reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
10
This salvation was something the prophets did not fully understand. Though they wrote about it, they had many questions as to what it all could mean.
11
They wondered what the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about, for he told them to write down the events which, since then, have happened to Christ: his suffering, and his great glory afterwards. And they wondered when and to whom all this would happen.
12
They were finally told that these things would not occur during their lifetime, but long years later, during yours. And now at last this Good News has been plainly announced to all of us. It was preached to us in the power of the same heaven-sent Holy Spirit who spoke to them; and it is all so strange and wonderful that even the angels in heaven would give a great deal to know more about it.
Bless me with life
*
so that I can continue to obey you.
18
Open my eyes to see wonderful things in your Word.
19
I am but a pilgrim here on earth: how I need a map—and your commands are my chart and guide.
20
I long for your instructions more than I can tell.
21
You rebuke those cursed proud ones who refuse your commands—
22
don’t let them scorn me for obeying you.
23
For even princes sit and talk against me, but I will continue in your plans.
24
Your laws are both my light and my counselors.
25
I am completely discouraged—I lie in the dust. Revive me by your Word.
26
I told you my plans and you replied. Now give me your instructions.
27
Make me understand what you want; for then I shall see your miracles.
28
I weep with grief; my heart is heavy with sorrow; encourage and cheer me with your words.
29-30
Keep me far from every wrong; help me, undeserving as I am, to obey your laws, for I have chosen to do right.
31
I cling to your commands and follow them as closely as I can. Lord, don’t let me make a mess of things.
32
If you will only help me to want your will, then I will follow your laws even more closely.
Income from exploiting the poor will end up in the hands of someone who pities them.
9
God doesn’t listen to the prayers of those who flout the law.
10
A curse on those who lead astray the godly. But men who encourage the upright to do good shall be given a worthwhile reward.