One Year Bible.

The Death and Burial of Sarah

¹Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old. ²She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her.

³Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites, ⁴“I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”

⁵The Hittites replied to Abraham, ⁶“Listen to us, sir. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in the finest of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb for burying your dead.”

⁷Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. ⁸“If you are willing for me to bury my dead,” he said to them, “listen to me, and approach Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf ⁹to sell me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence for full price, so that I may have a burial site.”

¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, ¹¹“No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”

¹²Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land ¹³and said to Ephron in their presence, “If you will please listen to me, I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.”

¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵“Listen to me, my lord. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”

¹⁶Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.

¹⁷So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre, the cave that was in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field were deeded over ¹⁸to Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. ¹⁹After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰So the field and its cave were deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.

Restoration for Israel

¹For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob. ²The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland.

Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.

The Fall of the King of Babylon

³On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced, ⁴you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon:

How the oppressor has ceased,

and how his fury has ended!

⁵The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,

the scepter of the rulers.

⁶It struck the peoples in anger

with unceasing blows;

it subdued the nations in rage

with relentless persecution.

⁷All the earth is at peace and at rest;

they break out in song.

⁸Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon

exult over you:

“Since you have been laid low,

no woodcutter comes against us.”

⁹Sheol beneath is eager

to meet you upon your arrival.

It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you—

all the rulers of the earth.

It makes all the kings of the nations

rise from their thrones.

¹⁰They will all respond to you, saying,

“You too have become weak, as we are;

you have become like us!”

¹¹Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol,

along with the music of your harps.

Maggots are your bed

and worms your blanket.

¹²How you have fallen from heaven,

O day star, son of the dawn!

You have been cut down to the ground,

O destroyer of nations.

¹³You said in your heart:

“I will ascend to the heavens;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God.

I will sit on the mount of assembly,

in the far reaches of the north.

¹⁴I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

¹⁵But you will be brought down to Sheol,

to the lowest depths of the Pit.

¹⁶Those who see you will stare;

they will ponder your fate:

“Is this the man who shook the earth

and made the kingdoms tremble,

¹⁷who turned the world into a desert

and destroyed its cities,

who refused to let the captives

return to their homes?”

¹⁸All the kings of the nations lie in state,

each in his own tomb.

¹⁹But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch,

covered by those slain with the sword,

and dumped into a rocky pit

like a carcass trampled underfoot.

²⁰You will not join them in burial,

since you have destroyed your land

and slaughtered your own people.

The offspring of the wicked

will never again be mentioned.

²¹Prepare a place to slaughter his sons

for the iniquities of their forefathers.

They will never rise up to possess a land

or cover the earth with their cities.

²²“I will rise up against them,”

declares the LORD of Hosts.

“I will cut off from Babylon

her name and her remnant,

her offspring and her posterity,”

declares the LORD.

²³“I will make her a place

for owls and for swamplands;

I will sweep her away

with the broom of destruction,”

declares the LORD of Hosts.

God’s Purpose against Assyria

²⁴The LORD of Hosts has sworn:

“Surely, as I have planned, so will it be;

as I have purposed, so will it stand.

²⁵I will break Assyria in My land;

I will trample him on My mountain.

His yoke will be taken off My people,

and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

²⁶This is the plan devised for the whole earth,

and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.

²⁷The LORD of Hosts has purposed,

and who can thwart Him?

His hand is outstretched,

so who can turn it back?

Philistia Will Be Destroyed

²⁸In the year that King Ahaz died, this burden was received:

²⁹Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,

that the rod that struck you is broken.

For a viper will spring from the root of the snake,

and a flying serpent from its egg.

³⁰Then the firstborn of the poor will find pasture,

and the needy will lie down in safety,

but I will kill your root by famine,

and your remnant will be slain.

³¹Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city!

Melt away, all you Philistines!

For a cloud of smoke comes from the north,

and there are no stragglers in its ranks.

³²What answer will be given

to the envoys of that nation?

“The LORD has founded Zion,

where His afflicted people will find refuge.”

The Earthly Tabernacle

¹Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. ²A tabernacle was prepared. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place. ³Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, ⁴containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. ⁵Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

⁶When everything had been prepared in this way, the priests entered regularly into the first room to perform their sacred duties. ⁷But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

⁸By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. ⁹It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper. ¹⁰They consist only in food and drink and special washings — external regulations imposed until the time of reform.

Redemption through His Blood

¹¹But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation. ¹²He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.

¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean, ¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

¹⁵Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

¹⁶In the case of a will, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made it, ¹⁷because a will does not take effect until the one who made it has died; it cannot be executed while he is still alive.

¹⁸That is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. ¹⁹For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people, ²⁰saying, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”

²¹In the same way, he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle and all the vessels used in worship. ²²According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²³So it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.

²⁵Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

²⁷Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.