One Year Bible.

Jacob Meets Esau

¹Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. ²He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear. ³But Jacob himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

⁴Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.

⁵When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?”

Jacob answered, “These are the children God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down. ⁷Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.

⁸“What do you mean by sending this whole company to meet me?” asked Esau.

“To find favor in your sight, my lord,” Jacob answered.

⁹“I already have plenty, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what belongs to you.”

¹⁰But Jacob insisted, “No, please! If I have found favor in your sight, then receive this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me favorably. ¹¹Please accept my gift that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” So Jacob pressed him until he accepted.

¹²Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way, and I will go ahead of you.”

¹³But Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and I must care for sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard for even a day, all the animals will die. ¹⁴Please let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a comfortable pace for the livestock and children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”

¹⁵“Let me leave some of my people with you,” Esau said.

But Jacob replied, “Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

¹⁶So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir, ¹⁷but Jacob went on to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

Jacob Settles in Shechem

¹⁸After Jacob had come from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he camped just outside the city. ¹⁹And the plot of ground where he pitched his tent, he purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. ²⁰There he set up an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

A Call to Repentance

¹At that time some of those present told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ²To this He replied, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this way? ³No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree

⁶Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. ⁷So he said to the keeper of the vineyard, ‘Look, for the past three years I have come to search for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Therefore cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

⁸‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone again this year, until I dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹If it bears fruit next year, fine. But if not, you can cut it down.’”

Jesus Heals a Disabled Woman

¹⁰One Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, ¹¹and a woman there had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was hunched over and could not stand up straight. ¹²When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your disability.” ¹³Then He placed His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and began to glorify God.

¹⁴But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on the Sabbath.”

¹⁵“You hypocrites!” the Lord replied. “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water? ¹⁶Then should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be released from her bondage on the Sabbath day?”

¹⁷When Jesus said this, all His adversaries were humiliated. And the whole crowd rejoiced at all the glorious things He was doing.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

¹⁸Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a mustard seed that a man tossed into his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

The Parable of the Leaven

²⁰Again He asked, “To what can I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹It is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened.”

The Narrow Door

²²Then Jesus traveled throughout the towns and villages, teaching as He made His way toward Jerusalem. ²³“Lord,” someone asked Him, “will only a few people be saved?”

Jesus answered, ²⁴“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. ²⁵After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’

But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

²⁶Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷And he will answer, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’

²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out. ²⁹People will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰And indeed, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”

Lament over Jerusalem

³¹At that very hour, some Pharisees came to Jesus and told Him, “Leave this place and get away, because Herod wants to kill You.”

³²But Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look, I will keep driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach My goal.’ ³³Nevertheless, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day, for it is not admissible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.

³⁴O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! ³⁵Look, your house is left to you desolate. And I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Woe to David’s City

¹Woe to you, O Ariel,

the city of Ariel where David camped!

Year upon year

let your festivals recur.

²And I will constrain Ariel,

and there will be mourning and lamentation;

she will be like an altar hearth before Me.

³I will camp in a circle around you;

I will besiege you with towers

and set up siege works against you.

⁴You will be brought low,

you will speak from the ground,

and out of the dust

your words will be muffled.

Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground;

your speech will whisper out of the dust.

⁵But your many foes will be like fine dust,

the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff.

Then suddenly, in an instant,

⁶you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts

with thunder and earthquake and loud noise,

with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.

⁷All the many nations

going out to battle against Ariel—

even all who war against her,

laying siege and attacking her—

will be like a dream,

like a vision in the night,

⁸as when a hungry man dreams he is eating,

then awakens still hungry;

as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking,

then awakens faint and parched.

So will it be for all the many nations

who go to battle against Mount Zion.

⁹Stop and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be sightless;

be drunk, but not with wine;

stagger, but not from strong drink.

¹⁰For the LORD has poured out on you

a spirit of deep sleep.

He has shut your eyes, O prophets;

He has covered your heads, O seers.

¹¹And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” ¹²Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

¹³Therefore the Lord said:

“These people draw near to Me with their mouths

and honor Me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from Me.

Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.

¹⁴Therefore I will again confound these people

with wonder upon wonder.

The wisdom of the wise will vanish,

and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”

¹⁵Woe to those who dig deep

to hide their plans from the LORD.

In darkness they do their works and say,

“Who sees us, and who will know?”

¹⁶You have turned things upside down,

as if the potter were regarded as clay.

Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,

“He did not make me”?

Can the pottery say of the potter,

“He has no understanding”?

Sanctification for the Godly

¹⁷In a very short time,

will not Lebanon become an orchard,

and the orchard seem like a forest?

¹⁸On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,

and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

¹⁹The humble will increase their joy in the LORD,

and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the ruthless will vanish,

the mockers will disappear,

and all who look for evil

will be cut down—

²¹those who indict a man with a word,

who ensnare the mediator at the gate,

and who with false charges

deprive the innocent of justice.

²²Therefore the LORD who redeemed Abraham says of the house of Jacob:

“No longer will Jacob be ashamed

and no more will his face grow pale.

²³For when he sees his children around him,

the work of My hands,

they will honor My name,

they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,

and they will stand in awe

of the God of Israel.

²⁴Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding,

and those who grumble will accept instruction.”

The Worthless Treaty with Egypt

¹“Woe to the rebellious children,”

declares the LORD,

“to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine,

who form an alliance, but against My will,

heaping up sin upon sin.

²They set out to go down to Egypt

without asking My advice,

to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection

and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.

³But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,

and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.

⁴For though their princes are at Zoan

and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,

⁵everyone will be put to shame

because of a people useless to them.

They bring neither help nor benefit,

but only shame and disgrace.”

⁶This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev:

Through a land of hardship and distress,

of lioness and lion,

of viper and flying serpent,

they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people of no profit to them.

⁷Egypt’s help is futile and empty;

therefore I have called her

Rahab Who Sits Still.

⁸Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence

and inscribe it on a scroll;

it will be for the days to come,

a witness forever and ever.

⁹These are rebellious people, deceitful children,

children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction.

¹⁰They say to the seers,

“Stop seeing visions!”

and to the prophets,

“Do not prophesy to us the truth!

Speak to us pleasant words;

prophesy illusions.

¹¹Get out of the way; turn off the road.

Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”

¹²Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“Because you have rejected this message,

trusting in oppression and relying on deceit,

¹³this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail,

a bulge in a high wall,

whose collapse will come suddenly —

in an instant!

¹⁴It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar,

shattered so that no fragment can be found.

Not a shard will be found in the dust

large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth

or to skim the water from a cistern.”

¹⁵For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said:

“By repentance and rest

you would be saved;

your strength would lie in quiet confidence —

but you were not willing.”

¹⁶“No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.”

Therefore you will flee!

“We will ride swift horses,”

but your pursuers will be faster.

¹⁷A thousand will flee at the threat of one;

at the threat of five you will all flee,

until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop,

like a banner on a hill.

God Will Be Gracious

¹⁸Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you;

therefore He rises to show you compassion,

for the LORD is a just God.

Blessed are all who wait for Him.

¹⁹O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you. ²⁰The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself — with your own eyes you will see Him.

²¹And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.” ²²So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”

²³Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures. ²⁴The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.

²⁵And from every high mountain and every raised hill, streams of water will flow in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall. ²⁶The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter— like the light of seven days— on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.

²⁷Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar,

with burning anger and dense smoke.

His lips are full of fury,

and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

²⁸His breath is like a rushing torrent

that rises to the neck.

He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction;

He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.

²⁹You will sing

as on the night of a holy festival,

and your heart will rejoice

like one who walks to the music of a flute,

going up to the mountain of the LORD,

to the Rock of Israel.

³⁰And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard

and His mighty arm to be revealed,

striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire,

and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.

³¹For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the LORD;

He will strike them with His scepter.

³²And with every stroke of the rod of punishment

that the LORD brings down on them,

the tambourines and lyres will sound

as He battles with weapons brandished.

³³For Topheth has long been prepared;

it has been made ready for the king.

Its funeral pyre is deep and wide,

with plenty of fire and wood.

The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur,

sets it ablaze.