One Year Bible.

The Way of Wisdom

¹Wisdom has built her house;

she has carved out her seven pillars.

²She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;

she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her maidservants;

she calls out from the heights of the city.

⁴“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”

she says to him who lacks judgment.

⁵“Come, eat my bread

and drink the wine I have mixed.

⁶Leave your folly behind, and you will live;

walk in the way of understanding.”

⁷He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself;

he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself.

⁸Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you;

rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

⁹Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still;

teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning.

¹⁰The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For through wisdom your days will be multiplied,

and years will be added to your life.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage;

but if you scoff, you alone will bear the consequences.

The Way of Folly

¹³The woman named Folly is loud;

she is naive and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits at the door of her house,

on a seat in the heights of the city,

¹⁵calling out to those who pass by,

who make their paths straight.

¹⁶“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”

she says to him who lacks judgment.

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet,

and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”

¹⁸But they do not know that the dead are there,

that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Paul’s Concern for the Jews

¹I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit. ²I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood, ⁴the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. ⁵Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice

⁶It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. ⁷Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” ⁸So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring. ⁹For this is what the promise stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁰Not only that, but Rebecca’s children were conceived by one man, our father Isaac. ¹¹Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand, ¹²not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” ¹³So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

¹⁴What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not! ¹⁵For He says to Moses:

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,

and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

¹⁶So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.

¹⁹One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” ²⁰But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” ²¹Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?

²²What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction? ²³What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory — ²⁴including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵As He says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people,

and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,”

²⁶and,

“It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,

‘You are not My people,’

they will be called

‘sons of the living God.’”

²⁷Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea,

only the remnant will be saved.

²⁸For the Lord will carry out His sentence on the earth

thoroughly and decisively.”

²⁹It is just as Isaiah foretold:

“Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants,

we would have become like Sodom,

we would have resembled Gomorrah.”

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. ³²Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, ³³as it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling

and a rock of offense;

and the one who believes in Him

will never be put to shame.”

Greetings from Paul and Timothy

¹Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

²Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

³I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴In every prayer for all of you, I always pray with joy, ⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

⁷It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart. For in my chains and in my defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partners in grace with me. ⁸God is my witness how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Paul’s Trials Advance the Gospel

¹²Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel. ¹³As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. ¹⁴And most of the brothers, confident in the Lord by my chains, now dare more greatly to speak the word without fear.

¹⁵It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. ¹⁶The latter do so in love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷The former, however, preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can add to the distress of my chains.

¹⁸What then is the issue? Just this: that in every way, whether by false motives or true, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, ¹⁹because I know that through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, my distress will turn out for my deliverance. ²⁰I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

To Live Is Christ

²¹For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²²But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know. ²³I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed. ²⁴But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

²⁵Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that through my coming to you again your exultation in Christ Jesus will resound on account of me.

Worthy of the Gospel

²⁷Nevertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending together as one for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a clear sign of their destruction but of your salvation, and it is from God. ²⁹For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, ³⁰since you are encountering the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

One in Christ

¹Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose.

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. ⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

The Mind of Christ

⁵Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:

⁶Who, existing in the form of God,

did not consider equality with God

something to be grasped,

⁷but emptied Himself,

taking the form of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

⁸And being found in appearance as a man,

He humbled Himself

and became obedient to death —

even death on a cross.

⁹Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place

and gave Him the name above all names,

¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Lights in the World

¹²Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. ¹³For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

¹⁴Do everything without complaining or arguing, ¹⁵so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world ¹⁶as you hold forth the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

¹⁷But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. ¹⁸So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I learn how you are doing. ²⁰I have nobody else like him who will genuinely care for your needs. ²¹For all the others look after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. ²²But you know Timothy’s proven worth, that as a child with his father he has served with me to advance the gospel. ²³So I hope to send him as soon as I see what happens with me. ²⁴And I trust in the Lord that I myself will come soon.

²⁵But I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my needs. ²⁶For he has been longing for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. ²⁷He was sick indeed, nearly unto death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.

²⁸Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less anxious. ²⁹Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, ³⁰because he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for your deficit of service to me.