Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
The One Year Bible TLB (256 page)
December 7“I will tear Ephraim and Judah as a lion rips apart its prey; I will carry them off and chase all rescuers away.
15
“I will abandon them and return to my home until they admit their guilt and look to me for help again, for as soon as trouble comes, they will search for me and say:
6:
1
“‘Come, let us return to the Lord; it is he who has torn us—he will heal us. He has wounded—he will bind us up.
2
In just a couple of days,
*
or three at the most, he will set us on our feet again to live in his kindness!
3
Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him, and he will respond to us as surely as the coming of dawn or the rain of early spring.’”
4
“O Ephraim and Judah, what shall I do with you? For your love vanishes like morning clouds, and disappears like dew.
5
I sent my prophets to warn you of your doom; I have slain you with the words of my mouth, threatening you with death. Suddenly, without warning, my judgment will strike you as surely as day follows night.
6
“I don’t want your sacrifices—I want your love; I don’t want your offerings—I want you to know me.
7
“But like Adam, you broke my covenant; you refused my love.
8
Gilead is a city of sinners, tracked with footprints of blood.
9
Her citizens are gangs of robbers, lying in ambush for their victims; packs of priests murder along the road to Shechem and practice every kind of sin.
10
Yes, I have seen a horrible thing in Israel—Ephraim chasing other gods, Israel utterly defiled.
11
“O Judah, for you also there is a plentiful harvest of punishment waiting—and I wanted so much to bless you!
7:
1
“I wanted to forgive Israel, but her sins were far too great—no one can even live in Samaria without being a liar, thief, and bandit!
2
“Her people never seem to recognize that I am watching them. Their sinful deeds give them away on every side; I see them all.
3
The king is glad about their wickedness; the princes laugh about their lies.
4
They are all adulterers; as a baker’s oven is constantly aflame—except after he kneads the dough and waits for it to rise again—so are these people constantly aflame with lust.
5
“On the king’s birthday, the princes get him drunk; he makes a fool of himself and drinks with those who mock him.
6
Their hearts blaze like a furnace with intrigue. Their plot smolders through the night, and in the morning it flames forth like raging fire.
7
“They kill their kings one after another,
*
and no one cries out to me for help.
8
“My people mingle with the heathen, picking up their evil ways; thus they become as good-for-nothing as a half-baked cake!
9
“Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength, but they don’t know it. Ephraim’s hair is turning gray, and he doesn’t even realize how weak and old he is.
10
His pride in other gods has openly condemned him; yet he doesn’t return to his God, nor even try to find him.
11
“Ephraim is a silly, witless dove, calling to Egypt, flying to Assyria.
12
But as she flies, I throw my net over her and bring her down like a bird from the sky; I will punish her for all her evil ways.
13
“Woe to my people for deserting me; let them perish, for they have sinned against me. I wanted to redeem them but their hard hearts would not accept the truth.
14
They lie there sleepless with anxiety but won’t ask my help. Instead, they worship heathen gods, asking them for crops and for prosperity.
15
“I have helped them and made them strong, yet now they turn against me.
16
“They look everywhere except to heaven, to the Most High God. They are like a crooked bow that always misses targets; their leaders will perish by the sword of the enemy for their insolence to me. And all Egypt will laugh at them.
8:
1
“Sound the alarm! They are coming! Like a vulture, the enemy descends upon the people of God because they have broken my treaty and revolted against my laws.
2
“Now Israel pleads with me and says, ‘Help us, for you are our God!’
3
But it is too late! Israel has thrown away her chance with contempt, and now her enemies will chase her.
4
She has appointed kings and princes, but not with my consent. They have cut themselves off from my help by worshiping the idols that they made from their silver and gold.
5
“O Samaria, I reject this calf—this idol you have made. My fury burns against you. How long will it be before one honest man is found among you?
6
When will you admit this calf you worship was made by human hands! It is not God! Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.
7
“They have sown the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. Their cornstalks stand there barren, withered, sickly, with no grain; if it has any, foreigners will eat it.
8
“Israel is destroyed; she lies among the nations as a broken pot.
9
She is a lonely, wandering wild ass. The only friends she has are those she hires; Assyria is one of them.
10
“But though she hires ‘friends’ from many lands, I will send her off to exile. Then for a while at least she will be free of the burden of her wonderful king!
11
Ephraim has built many altars, but they are not to worship me! They are altars of sin!
12
Even if I gave her ten thousand laws, she’d say they weren’t for her—that they applied to someone far away.
13
Her people love the ritual of their sacrifice, but to me it is meaningless! I will call for an accounting of their sins and punish them; they shall return to Egypt.
14
“Israel has built great palaces; Judah has constructed great defenses for her cities, but they have forgotten their Maker. Therefore, I will send down fire upon those palaces and burn those fortresses.”
9:
1
O Israel, rejoice no more as others do, for you have deserted your God and sacrificed to other gods on every threshing floor.
2
Therefore your harvests will be small; your grapes will blight upon the vine.
3
You may no longer stay here in this land of God; you will be carried off to Egypt and Assyria and live there on scraps of food.
4
There, far from home, you are not allowed to pour out wine for sacrifice to God. For no sacrifice that is offered there can please him; it is polluted, just as food of mourners is; all who eat such sacrifices are defiled. They may eat this food to feed themselves, but may not offer it to God.
5
What then will you do on holy days, on days of feasting to the Lord,
6
when you are carried off to Assyria as slaves? Who will inherit your possessions left behind? Egypt will! She will gather your dead; Memphis will bury them. And thorns and thistles will grow up among the ruins.
7
The time of Israel’s punishment has come; the day of recompense is almost here, and soon Israel will know it all too well. “The prophets are crazy”; “The inspired men are mad.” Yes, so they mock, for the nation is weighted with sin and shows only hatred for those who love God.
8
“I appointed the prophets to guard my people, but the people have blocked them at every turn and publicly declared their hatred, even in the Temple of the Lord.
9
The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah
*
long ago. The Lord does not forget. He will surely punish them.
10
“O Israel, how well I remember those first delightful days when I led you through the wilderness! How refreshing was your love! How satisfying, like the early figs of summer in their first season! But then you deserted me for Baal-peor,
*
to give yourselves to other gods, and soon you were as foul as they.
11
The glory of Israel flies away like a bird, for your children will die at birth, or perish in the womb, or never even be conceived.
12
And if your children grow, I will take them from you; all are doomed. Yes, it will be a sad day when I turn away and leave you alone.”
13
In my vision I have seen the sons of Israel doomed. The fathers are forced to lead their sons to slaughter.
14
O Lord, what shall I ask for your people? I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth, for breasts that cannot nourish.
15
“All their wickedness began at Gilgal;
*
there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their idolatry. I will love them no more, for all their leaders are rebels.
16
Ephraim is doomed. The roots of Israel are dried up; she shall bear no more fruit. And if she gives birth, I will slay even her beloved child.”
17
My God will destroy the people of Israel because they will not listen or obey. They will be wandering Jews, homeless among the nations.
From:
John, the Elder.
To:
Dear Gaius, whom I truly love.
2
Dear friend, I am praying that all is well with you and that your body is as healthy as I know your soul is.
3
Some of the brothers traveling by have made me very happy by telling me that your life stays clean and true and that you are living by the standards of the Gospel.
4
I could have no greater joy than to hear such things about my children.
5
Dear friend, you are doing a good work for God in taking care of the traveling teachers and missionaries who are passing through.
6
They have told the church here of your friendship and your loving deeds. I am glad when you send them on their way with a generous gift.
7
For they are traveling for the Lord and take neither food, clothing, shelter, nor money from those who are not Christians, even though they have preached to them.
8
So we ourselves should take care of them in order that we may become partners with them in the Lord’s work.
9
I sent a brief letter to the church about this, but proud Diotrephes, who loves to push himself forward as the leader of the Christians there, does not admit my authority over him and refuses to listen to me.
10
When I come I will tell you some of the things he is doing and what wicked things he is saying about me and what insulting language he is using. He not only refuses to welcome the missionary travelers himself but tells others not to, and when they do he tries to put them out of the church.
11
Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do what is right prove that they are God’s children; and those who continue in evil prove that they are far from God.
12
But everyone, including Truth itself, speaks highly of Demetrius. I myself can say the same for him, and you know I speak the truth.
13
I have much to say, but I don’t want to write it,
14
for I hope to see you soon and then we will have much to talk about together.
15
So good-bye for now. Friends here send their love, and please give each of the folks there a special greeting from me.
Sincerely, John
When Jehovah brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream!
2
How we laughed and sang for joy. And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”
3
Yes, glorious things! What wonder! What joy!
4
May we be refreshed
*
as by streams in the desert.
5
Those who sow tears shall reap joy.
6
Yes, they go out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, and return singing, carrying their sheaves.
A wicked ruler will have wicked aides on his staff.
13
Rich and poor are alike in this: each depends on God for light.
14
A king who is fair to the poor shall have a long reign.
December 8“How prosperous Israel is—a luxuriant vine all filled with fruit! But the more wealth I give her, the more she pours it on the altars of her heathen gods; the richer the harvests I give her, the more beautiful the statues and idols she erects.
2
The hearts of her people are false toward God. They are guilty and must be punished. God will break down their heathen altars and smash their idols.”
3
Then they will say, “We deserted the Lord and he took away our king. But what’s the difference? We don’t need one anyway!”
4
They make promises they don’t intend to keep. Therefore punishment will spring up among them like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
5
The people of Samaria tremble lest their calf idol at Beth-aven should be hurt; the priests and people, too, mourn over the departed honor of their shattered gods.
6
This idol—this calf-god thing—will be carted with them when they go as slaves to Assyria, a present to the great king there. Ephraim will be laughed at for trusting in this idol; Israel will be put to shame.
7
As for Samaria, her king shall disappear like a chip of wood upon an ocean wave.
8
And the idol altars of Aven at Bethel where Israel sinned will crumble. Thorns and thistles will grow up to surround them. And the people will cry to the mountains and hills to fall upon them and crush them.
9
“O Israel, ever since that awful night in Gibeah,
*
there has been only sin, sin, sin! You have made no progress whatever. Was it not right that the men of Gibeah were wiped out?
10
I will come against you for your disobedience; I will gather the armies of the nations against you to punish you for your heaped-up sins.
11
“Ephraim is accustomed to treading out the grain—an easy job she loves. I have never put her under a heavy yoke before; I have spared her tender neck. But now I will harness her to the plow and harrow. Her days of ease are gone.
12
“Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will reap a crop of my love; plow the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower salvation upon you.
13
“But you have cultivated wickedness and raised a thriving crop of sins. You have earned the full reward of trusting in a lie—believing that military might and great armies can make a nation safe!
14
“Therefore, the terrors of war shall rise among your people, and all your forts will fall, just as at Beth-arbel, which Shalman
*
destroyed; even mothers and children were dashed to death there.
15
That will be your fate, too, you people of Israel, because of your great wickedness. In one morning the king of Israel shall be destroyed.
11:
1
“When Israel was a child, I loved him as a son and brought him out of Egypt.
2
But the more I called to him, the more he rebelled, sacrificing to Baal and burning incense to idols.
3
I trained him from infancy, I taught him to walk, I held him in my arms. But he doesn’t know or even care that it was I who raised him.
4
“As a man would lead his favorite ox,
*
so I led Israel with my ropes of love. I loosened his muzzle so he could eat. I myself have stooped and fed him.
5
But my people shall return to Egypt and Assyria because they won’t return to me.
6
“War will swirl through their cities; their enemies will crash through their gates and trap them in their own fortresses.
7
For my people are determined to desert me. And so I have sentenced them to slavery, and no one shall set them free.
8
“Oh, how can I give you up, my Ephraim? How can I let you go? How can I forsake you like Admah and Zeboiim?
*
My heart cries out within me; how I long to help you!
9
No, I will not punish you as much as my fierce anger tells me to. This is the last time I will destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man; I am the Holy One living among you, and I did not come to destroy.
10
“For the people shall walk after the Lord. I shall roar as a lion at their enemies and my people shall return trembling from the west.
11
Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt—like doves flying from Assyria. And I will bring them home again; it is a promise from the Lord.”
12
Israel surrounds me with lies and deceit, but Judah still trusts in God and is faithful to the Holy One.
12:
1
Israel is chasing the wind, yes, shepherding a whirlwind—a dangerous game!
*
For she has given gifts to Egypt and Assyria to get their help, and in return she gets their worthless promises.
2
But the Lord is bringing a lawsuit against Judah. Jacob will be justly punished for his ways.
3
When he was born, he struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God.
4
Yes, he wrestled with the Angel and prevailed. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. He met God there at Bethel face-to-face. God spoke to him—
5
the Lord, the God of heaven’s armies—Jehovah is his name.
6
Oh, come back to God. Live by the principles of love and justice, and always be expecting much from him, your God.
7
But no, my people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales—they love to cheat.
8
Ephraim boasts, “I am so rich! I have gotten it all by myself!” But riches can’t make up for sin.
9
“I am the same Lord, the same God, who delivered you from slavery in Egypt, and I am the one who will consign you to living in tents again, as you do each year at the Tabernacle Feast.
10
I sent my prophets to warn you with many a vision and many a parable and dream.”
11
But the sins of Gilgal flourish just the same. Row on row of altars—like furrows in a field—are used for sacrifices to your idols. And Gilead, too, is full of fools
*
who worship idols.
12
Jacob fled to Syria and earned a wife by tending sheep.
13
Then the Lord led his people out of Egypt by a prophet, who guided and protected them.
14
But Ephraim has bitterly provoked the Lord. The Lord will sentence him to death as payment for his sins.
13:
1
It used to be when Israel spoke, the nations shook with fear, for he was a mighty prince; but he worshiped Baal and sealed his doom.
2
And now the people disobey more and more. They melt their silver to mold into idols, formed with skill by the hands of men. “Sacrifice to these!” they say—men kissing calves!
3
They shall disappear like morning mist, like dew that quickly dries away, like chaff blown by the wind, like a cloud of smoke.
4
“I alone am God, your Lord, and have been ever since I brought you out from Egypt. You have no God but me, for there is no other Savior.
5
I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land.
6
But when you had eaten and were satisfied, then you became proud and forgot me.
7
So I will come upon you like a lion, or a leopard lurking along the road.
8
I will rip you to pieces like a bear whose cubs have been taken away, and like a lion I will devour you.
9
“O Israel, if I destroy you, who can save you?
10
Where is your king? Why don’t you call on him for help? Where are all the leaders of the land? You asked for them, now let them save you!
11
I gave you kings in my anger, and I took them away
*
in my wrath.
12
Ephraim’s sins are harvested and stored away for punishment.
13
“New birth is offered him, but he is like a child resisting in the womb—how stubborn! how foolish!
14
Shall I ransom him from hell? Shall I redeem him from Death? O Death, bring forth your terrors for his tasting! O Grave, demonstrate your plagues! For I will not relent!
15
“He was called the most fruitful of all his brothers, but the east wind—a wind of the Lord from the desert—will blow hard upon him and dry up his land. All his flowing springs and green oases will dry away, and he will die of thirst.
16
Samaria must bear her guilt, for she rebelled against her God. Her people will be killed by the invading army, her babies dashed to death against the ground, her pregnant women ripped open with a sword.”
14:
1
O Israel, return to the Lord, your God, for you have been crushed by your sins.
2
Bring your petition. Come to the Lord and say, “O Lord, take away our sins; be gracious to us and receive us, and we will offer you the sacrifice of praise.
3
Assyria cannot save us, nor can our strength in battle; never again will we call the idols we have made ‘our gods’; for in you alone, O Lord, the fatherless find mercy.”
4
“Then I will cure you of idolatry and faithlessness, and my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be forever gone!
5
I will refresh Israel like the dew from heaven; she will blossom as the lily and root deeply in the soil like cedars in Lebanon.
6
Her branches will spread out as beautiful as olive trees, fragrant as the forests of Lebanon.
7
Her people will return from exile far away and rest beneath my shadow. They will be a watered garden and blossom like grapes; they will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.
8
“O Ephraim! Stay away from idols! I am living and strong! I look after you and care for you. I am like an evergreen tree, yielding my fruit to you throughout the year. My mercies never fail.”
9
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things. Whoever is intelligent, let him listen. For the paths of the Lord are true and right, and good men walk along them. But sinners trying them will fail.
From:
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and a brother of James.
To:
Christians everywhere—beloved of God and chosen by him.
2
May you be given more and more of God’s kindness, peace, and love.
3
Dearly loved friends, I had been planning to write you some thoughts about the salvation God has given us, but now I find I must write of something else instead, urging you to stoutly defend the truth that God gave once for all to his people to keep without change through the years.
4
I say this because some godless teachers have wormed their way in among you, saying that after we become Christians we can do just as we like without fear of God’s punishment. The fate of such people was written long ago, for they have turned against our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5
My answer to them is: Remember this fact—which you know already—that the Lord saved a whole nation of people out of the land of Egypt and then killed every one of them who did not trust and obey him.
6
And I remind you of those angels who were once pure and holy but turned to a life of sin.
*
Now God has them chained up in prisons of darkness, waiting for the judgment day.
7
And don’t forget the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, all full of lust of every kind, including lust of men for other men. Those cities were destroyed by fire and continue to be a warning to us that there is a hell in which sinners are punished.
8
Yet these false teachers carelessly go right on living their evil, immoral lives, degrading their bodies and laughing at those in authority over them, even scoffing at the Glorious Ones.
9
Yet Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, when he was arguing with Satan about Moses’ body, did not dare to accuse even Satan, or jeer at him, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
10
But these men mock and curse at anything they do not understand, and like animals, they do whatever they feel like, thereby ruining their souls.
11
Woe upon them! For they follow the example of Cain who killed his brother; and like Balaam, they will do anything for money; and like Korah, they have disobeyed God and will die under his curse.
12
When these men join you at the love feasts of the church, they are evil smears among you, laughing and carrying on, gorging and stuffing themselves without a thought for others. They are like clouds blowing over dry land without giving rain, promising much, but producing nothing. They are like fruit trees without any fruit at picking time. They are not only dead, but doubly dead, for they have been pulled out, roots and all, to be burned.
13
All they leave behind them is shame and disgrace like the dirty foam left along the beach by the wild waves. They wander around looking as bright as stars, but ahead of them is the everlasting gloom and darkness that God has prepared for them.
14
Enoch, who lived seven generations after Adam, knew about these men and said this about them: “See, the Lord is coming with millions of his holy ones.
15
He will bring the people of the world before him in judgment, to receive just punishment and to prove the terrible things they have done in rebellion against God, revealing all they have said against him.”
16
These men are constant gripers, never satisfied, doing whatever evil they feel like; they are loudmouthed “show-offs,” and when they show respect for others, it is only to get something from them in return.
17
Dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you,
18
that in the last times there would come these scoffers whose whole purpose in life is to enjoy themselves in every evil way imaginable.
19
They stir up arguments; they love the evil things of the world; they do not have the Holy Spirit living in them.
20
But you, dear friends, must build up your lives ever more strongly upon the foundation of our holy faith, learning to pray in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit.
21
Stay always within the boundaries where God’s love can reach and bless you. Wait patiently for the eternal life that our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy is going to give you.
22
Try to help those who argue against you. Be merciful to those who doubt.
23
Save some by snatching them as from the very flames of hell itself. And as for others, help them to find the Lord by being kind to them, but be careful that you yourselves aren’t pulled along into their sins. Hate every trace of their sin while being merciful to them as sinners.
24-25
And now—all glory to him who alone is God, who saves us through Jesus Christ our Lord; yes, splendor and majesty, all power and authority are his from the beginning; his they are and his they evermore shall be. And he is able to keep you from slipping and falling away, and to bring you, sinless and perfect, into his glorious presence with mighty shouts of everlasting joy. Amen.
Jude