The One Year Bible TLB (268 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
December 24Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between what looked like two mountains made of brass.
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The first chariot was pulled by red horses, the second by black ones,
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the third by white horses and the fourth by dappled-grays.
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“And what are these, sir?” I asked the angel.
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He replied, “These are the four heavenly spirits who stand before the Lord of all the earth; they are going out to do his work.
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The chariot pulled by the black horses will go north, and the one pulled by white horses will follow it there,
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while the dappled-grays will go south.”
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The red
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horses were impatient to be off, to patrol back and forth across the earth, so the Lord said, “Go. Begin your patrol.” So they left at once.
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Then the Lord summoned me and said, “Those who went north have executed my judgment
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and quieted my anger there.”
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In another message the Lord said:
10-11
“Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah will bring gifts of silver and gold from the Jews exiled in Babylon. The same day they arrive, meet them at the home of Josiah (son of Zephaniah), where they will stay. Accept their gifts and make from them a crown from the silver and gold. Then put the crown on the head of Joshua (son of Josedech) the High Priest.
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Tell him that the Lord Almighty says, ‘You represent the Man who will come, whose name is “The Branch”—he will grow up from himself
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—and will build the Temple of the Lord.
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To him belongs the royal title. He will rule both as King and as Priest, with perfect harmony between the two!’
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“Then put the crown in the Temple of the Lord, to honor those who gave it—Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and also Josiah.
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These three who have come from so far away represent many others who will someday come from distant lands to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. And when this happens, you will know my messages have been from God, the Lord Almighty. But none of this will happen unless you carefully obey the commandments of the Lord your God.”
7:
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Another message came to me from the Lord in late November of the fourth year of the reign of King Darius.
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The Jews of the city of Bethel had sent a group of men headed by Sharezer, the chief administrative officer of the king, and Regem-melech, to the Lord’s Temple at Jerusalem, to seek his blessing
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and to speak with the priests and prophets about whether they must continue their traditional custom of fasting and mourning during the month of August each year, as they had been doing for so long.
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This was the Lord’s reply:
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“When you return to Bethel, say to all your people and your priests, ‘During those seventy years of exile when you fasted and mourned in August and October, were you really in earnest about leaving your sins behind and coming back to me? No, not at all!
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And even now in your holy feasts to God, you don’t think of me, but only of the food and fellowship and fun.
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Long years ago, when Jerusalem was prosperous and her southern suburbs out along the plain were filled with people, the prophets warned them that this attitude would surely lead to ruin, as it has.’”
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Then this message from the Lord came to Zechariah. “Tell them to be honest and fair—and not to take bribes—and to be merciful and kind to everyone.
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Tell them to stop oppressing widows and orphans, foreigners and poor people, and to stop plotting evil against each other.
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Your fathers would not listen to this message. They turned stubbornly away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing me.
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They hardened their hearts like flint, afraid to hear the words that God, the Lord Almighty, commanded them—the laws he had revealed to them by his Spirit through the early prophets. That is why such great wrath came down on them from God.
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I called, but they refused to listen, so when they cried to me, I turned away.
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I scattered them as with a whirlwind among the far-off nations. Their land became desolate; no one even traveled through it; the Pleasant Land lay bare and blighted.”
And I saw in heaven another mighty pageant showing things to come: Seven angels were assigned to carry down to earth the seven last plagues—and then at last God’s anger will be finished.
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Spread out before me was what seemed to be an ocean of fire and glass, and on it stood all those who had been victorious over the Evil Creature and his statue and his mark and number. All were holding harps of God,
3-4
and they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:
“Great and marvelous
Are your doings,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true
Are your ways,
O King of Ages.
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Who shall not fear,
O Lord,
And glorify your Name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
And worship before you,
For your righteous deeds
Have been disclosed.”
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Then I looked and saw that the Holy of Holies of the temple in heaven was thrown wide open!
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The seven angels who were assigned to pour out the seven plagues then came from the temple, clothed in spotlessly white linen, with golden belts across their chests.
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And one of the four Living Beings handed each of them a golden flask filled with the terrible wrath of the Living God who lives forever and forever.
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The temple was filled with smoke from his glory and power; and no one could enter until the seven angels had completed pouring out the seven plagues.
Hear my prayer, O Lord; answer my plea because you are faithful to your promises.
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2
Don’t bring me to trial! For as compared with you, no one is perfect.
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My enemies chased and caught me. They have knocked me to the ground. They force me to live in the darkness like those in the grave.
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I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear.
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I remember the glorious miracles you did in days of long ago.
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I reach out for you. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain.
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Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens; don’t turn away from me or I shall die.
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Let me see your kindness to me in the morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for my prayer is sincere.
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Save me from my enemies. O Lord, I run to you to hide me.
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Help me to do your will, for you are my God. Lead me in good paths, for your Spirit is good.
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Lord, saving me will bring glory to your name. Bring me out of all this trouble because you are true to your promises.
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And because you are loving and kind to me, cut off all my enemies and destroy those who are trying to harm me; for I am your servant.
There are four things that are small but unusually wise:
Ants: they aren’t strong, but store up food for the winter.
Cliff badgers: delicate little animals who protect themselves by living among the rocks.
The locusts: though they have no leader, they stay together in swarms.
The lizards: they are easy to catch and kill, yet are found even in king’s palaces!
December 25Again the Lord’s message came to me:
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The Lord Almighty says, “I am greatly concerned—yes, furiously angry—because of all that Jerusalem’s enemies have done to her.
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Now I am going to return to my land, and I, myself, will live within Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem shall be called ‘The Faithful City,’ and ‘The Holy Mountain,’ and ‘The Mountain of the Lord Almighty.’”
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The Lord Almighty declares that Jerusalem will have peace and prosperity so long that there will once again be aged men and women hobbling through her streets on canes,
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and the streets will be filled with boys and girls at play.
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The Lord says, “This seems unbelievable to you—a remnant, small, discouraged as you are—but it is no great thing for me.
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You can be sure that I will rescue my people from east and west, wherever they are scattered.
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I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem, and they will be my people, and I will be their God, just and true and yet forgiving them their sins!”
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The Lord Almighty says, “Get on with the job and finish it! You have been listening long enough! For since you began laying the foundation of the Temple, the prophets have been telling you about the blessings that await you when it’s finished.
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Before the work began there were no jobs, no wages, no security; if you left the city, there was no assurance you would ever return, for crime was rampant.
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“But it is all so different now!” says the Lord Almighty.
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“For I am sowing peace and prosperity among you. Your crops will prosper; the grapevines will be weighted down with fruit; the ground will be fertile, with plenty of rain; all these blessings will be given to the people left in the land.
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‘May you be as poor as Judah,’ the heathen used to say to those they cursed! But no longer! For now
Judah
is a word of blessing, not a curse. ‘May you be as prosperous and happy as Judah is,’ they’ll say. So don’t be afraid or discouraged! Get on with rebuilding the Temple!
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If you do, I will certainly bless you. And don’t think that I might change my mind. I did what I said I would when your fathers angered me and I promised to punish them, and I won’t change this decision of mine to bless you.
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Here is your part: Tell the truth. Be fair. Live at peace with everyone.
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Don’t plot harm to others; don’t swear that something is true when it isn’t! How I hate all that sort of thing!” says the Lord.
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Here is another message that came to me from the Lord Almighty:
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“The traditional fasts and times of mourning you have kept in July, August, October, and January
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are ended. They will be changed to joyous festivals if you love truth and peace!
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People from around the world will come on pilgrimages and pour into Jerusalem from many foreign cities to attend these celebrations. People will write their friends in other cities and say, ‘Let’s go to Jerusalem to ask the Lord to bless us and be merciful to us. I’m going! Please come with me. Let’s go
now!’
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Yes, many people, even strong nations, will come to the Lord Almighty in Jerusalem to ask for his blessing and help.
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In those days ten men from ten different nations will clutch at the coat sleeves of one Jew and say, ‘Please be my friend, for I know that God is with you.’”
And I heard a mighty voice shouting from the temple to the seven angels, “Now go your ways and empty out the seven flasks of the wrath of God upon the earth.”
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So the first angel left the temple and poured out his flask over the earth, and horrible, malignant sores broke out on everyone who had the mark of the Creature and was worshiping his statue.
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The second angel poured out his flask upon the oceans, and they became like the watery blood of a dead man; and everything in all the oceans died.
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The third angel poured out his flask upon the rivers and springs and they became blood.
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And I heard this angel of the waters declaring, “You are just in sending this judgment, O Holy One, who is and was,
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for your saints and prophets have been martyred and their blood poured out upon the earth; and now, in turn, you have poured out the blood of those who murdered them; it is their just reward.”
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And I heard the angel of the altar say,
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“Yes, Lord God Almighty, your punishments are just and true.”
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Then the fourth angel poured out his flask upon the sun, causing it to scorch all men with its fire.
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Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God who sent the plagues—they did not change their mind and attitude to give him glory.
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Then the fifth angel poured out his flask upon the throne of the Creature from the sea,
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and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. And his subjects gnawed their tongues in anguish,
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and cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores, but they refused to repent of all their evil deeds.
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The sixth angel poured out his flask upon the great River Euphrates and it dried up so that the kings from the east could march their armies westward without hindrance.
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And I saw three evil spirits disguised as frogs leap from the mouth of the Dragon, the Creature, and his False Prophet.
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These miracle-working demons conferred with all the rulers of the world to gather them for battle against the Lord on that great coming Judgment Day of God Almighty.
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“Take note: I will come as unexpectedly as a thief! Blessed are all who are awaiting me, who keep their robes in readiness and will not need to walk naked and ashamed.”
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And they gathered all the armies of the world near a place called, in Hebrew, Armageddon—the Mountain of Megiddo.
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Then the seventh angel poured out his flask into the air; and a mighty shout came from the throne of the temple in heaven, saying, “It is finished!”
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Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed; and there was a great earthquake of a magnitude unprecedented in human history.
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The great city of “Babylon” split into three sections, and cities around the world fell in heaps of rubble; and so all of “Babylon’s” sins were remembered in God’s thoughts, and she was punished to the last drop of anger in the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
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And islands vanished, and mountains flattened out,
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and there was an incredible hailstorm from heaven; hailstones weighing a hundred pounds fell from the sky onto the people below, and they cursed God because of the terrible hail.
Bless the Lord who is my immovable Rock. He gives me strength and skill in battle.
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He is always kind and loving to me; he is my fortress, my tower of strength and safety, my deliverer. He stands before me as a shield. He subdues my people under me.
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O Lord, what is man that you even notice him? Why bother at all with the human race?
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For man is but a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
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Bend down the heavens, Lord, and come. The mountains smoke beneath your touch.
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Let loose your lightning bolts, your arrows, Lord, upon your enemies, and scatter them.
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Reach down from heaven and rescue me; deliver me from deep waters, from the power of my enemies.
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Their mouths are filled with lies; they swear to the truth of what is false.
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I will sing you a new song, O God, with a ten-stringed harp.
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For you grant victory to kings! You are the one who will rescue your servant David from the fatal sword.
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Save me! Deliver me from these enemies, these liars, these treacherous men.
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Here is my description of
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a truly happy land where Jehovah is God:
Sons vigorous and tall as growing plants.
Daughters of graceful beauty like the pillars of a palace wall.
Barns full to the brim with crops of every kind.
Sheep by the thousands out in our fields.
Oxen loaded down with produce.
No enemy attacking the walls, but peace everywhere.
No crime in our streets.
Yes, happy are those whose God is Jehovah.
There are three stately monarchs in the earth—no, four:
The lion, king of the animals. He won’t turn aside for anyone.
The peacock.
The male goat.
A king as he leads his army.