The One Year Bible TLB (64 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
March 21When Israel arrived in the land of Jazar and Gilead, the tribes of Reuben and Gad (who had large flocks of sheep) noticed what wonderful sheep country it was.
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So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the other tribal leaders and said,
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“The Lord has used Israel to destroy the population of this whole countryside—Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon. And it is all wonderful sheep country, ideal for our flocks.
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Please let us have this land as our portion instead of the land on the other side of the Jordan River.”
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“You mean you want to sit here while your brothers go across and do all the fighting?” Moses demanded.
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“Are you trying to discourage the rest of the people from going across to the land that the Lord has given them?
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This is the same kind of thing your fathers did! I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land,
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but when they finished their survey and returned from the valley of Eshcol, they discouraged the people from going on into the Promised Land.
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And the Lord’s anger was hot against them, and he swore that of all those he had rescued from Egypt, no one over twenty years of age would ever see the land he promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for they had refused to do what he wanted them to.
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“The only exceptions were Caleb (son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite) and Joshua (son of Nun)—for they wholeheartedly followed the Lord and urged the people to go on into the Promised Land.
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“The Lord made us wander back and forth in the wilderness for forty years until all that evil generation died.
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But here you are, a brood of sinners doing exactly the same thing! Only there are more of you, so Jehovah’s anger against Israel will be even fiercer this time.
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If you turn away from God like this, he will make the people stay even longer in the wilderness, and you will be responsible for destroying his people and bringing disaster to this entire nation!”
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“Not at all!” they explained. “We will build sheepfolds for our flocks and cities for our little ones,
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but we ourselves will go over armed, ahead of the rest of the people of Israel, until we have brought them safely to their inheritance. But first we will need to build walled cities here for our families, to keep them safe from attack by the local inhabitants.
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We will not settle down here until all the people of Israel have received their inheritance.
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We don’t want land on the other side of the Jordan; we would rather have it on this side, on the east.”
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Then Moses said, “All right, if you will do what you have said and arm yourselves for Jehovah’s war,
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and keep your troops across the Jordan until the Lord has driven out his enemies,
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then, when the land is finally subdued before the Lord, you may return. Then you will have discharged your duty to the Lord and to the rest of the people of Israel. And the land on the eastern side shall be your possession from the Lord.
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But if you don’t do as you have said, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will catch up with you.
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Go ahead and build cities for your families and sheepfolds for your sheep, and do all you have said.”
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“We will follow your instructions exactly,” the people of Gad and Reuben replied.
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“Our children, wives, flocks, and cattle shall stay here in the cities of Gilead.
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But all of us who are conscripted will go over to battle for the Lord, just as you have said.”
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So Moses gave his approval by saying to Eleazar, Joshua, and the tribal leaders of Israel,
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“If all the men of the tribes of Gad and Reuben who are conscripted for the Lord’s battles go with you over the Jordan, then, when the land is conquered, you must give them the land of Gilead;
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but if they refuse, then they must accept land among the rest of you in the land of Canaan.”
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The tribes of Gad and Reuben said again, “As the Lord has commanded, so we will do—
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we will follow the Lord fully armed into Canaan, but our own land shall be here on this side of the Jordan.”
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So Moses assigned the territory of King Sihon of the Amorites, and of King Og of Bashan—all the land and cities—to the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (son of Joseph).
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The people of Gad built these cities: Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, Beth-nimrah, Beth-haran. They were all fortified cities with sheepfolds.
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The children of Reuben built the following cities: Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, Nebo, Baal-meon, Sibmah. (The Israelites later changed the names of some of these cities they had conquered and rebuilt.)
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Then the clan of Machir of the tribe of Manasseh went to Gilead and conquered it, and drove out the Amorites who were living there.
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So Moses gave Gilead to the Machirites, and they lived there.
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The men of Jair, another clan of the tribe of Manasseh, occupied many of the towns in Gilead, and changed the name of their area to Havroth-jair.
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Meanwhile, a man named Nobah led an army
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to Kenath and its surrounding villages, and occupied them, and he called the area Nobah, after his own name.
33:
1
This is the itinerary of the nation of Israel from the time Moses and Aaron led them out of Egypt.
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Moses had written down their movements as the Lord had instructed him.
3-4
They left the city of Rameses, Egypt, on the first day of April,
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the day after the night of the Passover. They left proudly, hurried along by the Egyptians who were burying all their eldest sons, killed by the Lord the night before. The Lord had certainly defeated all the gods of Egypt that night!
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After leaving Rameses, they stayed in Succoth, Etham (at the edge of the wilderness), and
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Pihahiroth (near Baal-zephon, where they camped at the foot of Mount Migdol).
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From there they went through the middle of the Red Sea and on for three days into the wilderness of Etham, camping at Marah.
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Leaving Marah, they came to Elim, where there are twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; they stayed there for quite a long time.
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Leaving Elim, they camped beside the Red Sea,
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and then in the wilderness of Sihn.
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Next was Dophkah,
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and then Alush;
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then on to Rephidim (where there was no water for the people to drink).
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From Rephidim they went to the wilderness of Sinai; from the wilderness of Sinai to Kibroth-hattaavah;
From Kibroth-hattaavah to Hazeroth;
From Hazeroth to Rithmah;
From Rithmah to Rimmon-parez;
From Rimmon-parez to Libnah;
From Libnah to Rissah;
From Rissah to Kehelathah;
From Kehelathah to Mount Shepher;
From Mount Shepher to Haradah;
From Haradah to Makheloth;
From Makheloth to Tahath;
From Tahath to Terah;
From Terah to Mithkah;
From Mithkah to Hashmonah;
From Hashmonah to Moseroth;
From Moseroth to Bene-jaakan;
From Bene-jaakan to Hor-haggidgad;
From Hor-haggidgad to Jotbathah;
From Jotbathah to Abronah;
From Abronah to Ezion-geber;
From Ezion-geber to Kadesh (in the wilderness of Zin);
From Kadesh to Mount Hor (at the edge of the land of Edom).
38-39
While they were at the foot of Mount Hor, Aaron the priest was directed by the Lord to go up into the mountain, and there he died. This occurred during the fortieth year after the people of Israel had left Egypt. The date of his death was July 15,
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when he was 123 years old.
Then he [Jesus] returned to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and preached there in the synagogue every Saturday.
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Here, too, the people were amazed at the things he said. For he spoke as one who knew the truth, instead of merely quoting the opinions of others as his authority.
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Once as he was teaching in the synagogue, a man possessed by a demon began shouting at Jesus,
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“Go away! We want nothing to do with you, Jesus from Nazareth. You have come to destroy us. I know who you are—the Holy Son of God.”
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Jesus cut him short.
“Be silent!”
he told the demon.
“Come out!”
The demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched, and then left him without hurting him further.
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Amazed, the people asked, “What is in this man’s words that even demons obey him?”
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The story of what he had done spread like wildfire throughout the whole region.
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After leaving the synagogue that day, he went to Simon’s home where he found Simon’s mother-in-law very sick with a high fever. “Please heal her,” everyone begged.
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Standing at her bedside he spoke to the fever, rebuking it, and immediately her temperature returned to normal, and she got up and prepared a meal for them!
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As the sun went down that evening, all the villagers who had any sick people in their homes, no matter what their diseases were, brought them to Jesus; and the touch of his hands healed every one!
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Some were possessed by demons; and the demons came out at his command, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But because they knew he was the Christ, he stopped them and told them to be silent.
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Early the next morning he went out into the desert. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them but to stay at Capernaum.
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But he replied,
“I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other places too, for that is why I was sent.”
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So he continued to travel around preaching in synagogues throughout Judea.
5:
1
One day as he was preaching on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the Word of God.
2
He noticed two empty boats standing at the water’s edge while the fishermen washed their nets.
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Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push out a little into the water, so that he could sit in the boat and speak to the crowds from there.
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When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets and you will catch a lot of fish!”
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“Sir,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, we’ll try again.”
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And this time their nets were so full that they began to tear!
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A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.
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When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, sir, please leave us—I’m too much of a sinner for you to have around.”
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For he was awestruck by the size of their catch, as were the others with him,
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and his partners too—James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Jesus replied,
“Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for the souls of men!”
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And as soon as they landed, they left everything and went with him.
Lord, listen to my complaint: Oh, preserve my life from the conspiracy of these wicked men, these gangs of criminals.
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They cut me down with sharpened tongues; they aim their bitter words like arrows straight at my heart.
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They shoot from ambush at the innocent. Suddenly the deed is done, yet they are not afraid.
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They encourage each other to do evil. They meet in secret to set their traps. “He will never notice them here,” they say.
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They keep a sharp lookout for opportunities of crime. They spend long hours with all their endless evil thoughts and plans.
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But God himself will shoot them down. Suddenly his arrow will pierce them.
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They will stagger backward, destroyed by those they spoke against. All who see it happening will scoff at them.
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Then everyone shall stand in awe and confess the greatness of the miracles of God; at last they will realize what amazing things he does.
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And the godly shall rejoice in the Lord, and trust and praise him.