One Year Bible.

The Plague on the Firstborn Foretold

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will bring upon Pharaoh and Egypt one more plague. After that, he will allow you to leave this place. And when he lets you go, he will drive you out completely. ²Now announce to the people that men and women alike should ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”

³And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.

⁴So Moses declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, ⁵and every firstborn son in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the servant girl behind the hand mill, as well as the firstborn of all the cattle. ⁶Then a great cry will go out over all the land of Egypt. Such an outcry has never been heard before and will never be heard again. ⁷But among all the Israelites, not even a dog will snarl at man or beast.’

Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. ⁸And all these officials of yours will come and bow before me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will depart.”

And hot with anger, Moses left Pharaoh’s presence.

⁹The LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

¹⁰Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let the Israelites go out of his land.

The Resurrection

¹On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. ²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴While they were puzzling over this, suddenly two men in radiant apparel stood beside them.

⁵As the women bowed their faces to the ground in terror, the two men asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee: ⁷‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’”

⁸Then they remembered His words. ⁹And when they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. ¹⁰It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹But their words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women.

¹²Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. And after bending down and seeing only the linen cloths, he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

The Road to Emmaus

¹³That same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵And as they talked and deliberated, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them. ¹⁶But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.

¹⁷He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”

They stood still, with sadness on their faces. ¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, asked Him, “Are You the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in recent days?”

¹⁹“What things?” He asked.

“The events involving Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet, powerful in speech and action before God and all the people. ²⁰Our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to the sentence of death, and they crucified Him. ²¹But we were hoping He was the One who would redeem Israel. And besides all this, it is the third day since these things took place.

²²Furthermore, some of our women astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, ²³but they did not find His body. They came and told us they had seen a vision of angels, who said that Jesus was alive. ²⁴Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had described. But Him they did not see.”

²⁵Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?” ²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.

²⁸As they approached the village where they were headed, He seemed to be going farther. ²⁹But they pleaded with Him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”

So He went in to stay with them. ³⁰While He was reclining at the table with them, He took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus — and He disappeared from their sight.

³²They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us as He spoke with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” ³³And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem.

There they found the Eleven and those with them, gathered together ³⁴and saying, “The Lord has indeed risen and has appeared to Simon!”

³⁵Then the two told what had happened on the road, and how they had recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

³⁶While they were describing these events, Jesus Himself stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷But they were startled and frightened, thinking they had seen a spirit.

³⁸“Why are you troubled,” Jesus asked, “and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself. Touch Me and see — for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” ⁴⁰And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet.

⁴¹While they were still in disbelief because of their joy and amazement, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” ⁴²So they gave Him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and He took it and ate it in front of them.

⁴⁴Jesus said to them, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.” ⁴⁵Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

⁴⁶And He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.

⁴⁹And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension

⁵⁰When Jesus had led them out as far as Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them. ⁵¹While He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵²And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³praising God continually in the temple.

The Suffering Servant

¹Who has believed our message?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

²He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no stately form or majesty to attract us,

no beauty that we should desire Him.

³He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

Like one from whom men hide their faces,

He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

⁴Surely He took up our infirmities

and carried our sorrows;

yet we considered Him stricken,

struck down by God, and afflicted.

⁵But He was pierced for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,

and by His stripes we are healed.

⁶We all like sheep have gone astray,

each one has turned to his own way;

and the LORD has laid upon Him

the iniquity of us all.

⁷He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet He did not open His mouth.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,

so He did not open His mouth.

⁸By oppression and judgment He was taken away,

and who can recount His descendants?

For He was cut off from the land of the living;

He was stricken for the transgression of My people.

A Grave Assigned

⁹He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with a rich man in His death,

although He had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him

and to cause Him to suffer;

and when His soul is made a guilt offering,

He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days,

and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

¹¹After the anguish of His soul,

He will see the light of life and be satisfied.

By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many,

and He will bear their iniquities.

¹²Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great,

and He will divide the spoils with the strong,

because He has poured out His life unto death,

and He was numbered with the transgressors.

Yet He bore the sin of many

and made intercession for the transgressors.

Future Blessings for Zion

¹“Shout for joy, O barren woman,

who bears no children;

break forth in song and cry aloud,

you who have never travailed;

because more are the children of the desolate woman

than of her who has a husband,”

says the LORD.

²“Enlarge the site of your tent,

stretch out the curtains of your dwellings,

do not hold back.

Lengthen your ropes

and drive your stakes in deep.

³For you will spread out to the right and left;

your descendants will dispossess the nations

and inhabit the desolate cities.

⁴Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame;

do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated.

For you will forget the shame of your youth

and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

⁵For your husband is your Maker —

the LORD of Hosts is His name—

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;

He is called the God of all the earth.

⁶For the LORD has called you back,

like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit,

like the rejected wife of one’s youth,”

says your God.

⁷“For a brief moment I forsook you,

but with great compassion I will bring you back.

⁸In a surge of anger

I hid My face from you for a moment,

but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,”

says the LORD your Redeemer.

⁹“For to Me this is like the days of Noah,

when I swore that the waters of Noah

would never again cover the earth.

So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you

or rebuke you.

¹⁰Though the mountains may be removed

and the hills may be shaken,

My loving devotion will not depart from you,

and My covenant of peace will not be broken,”

says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

¹¹“O afflicted city, lashed by storms,

without solace,

surely I will set your stones in antimony

and lay your foundations with sapphires.

¹²I will make your pinnacles of rubies,

your gates of sparkling jewels,

and all your walls of precious stones.

¹³Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD,

and great will be their prosperity.

¹⁴In righteousness you will be established,

far from oppression,

for you will have no fear.

Terror will be far removed,

for it will not come near you.

¹⁵If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me;

whoever assails you will fall before you.

¹⁶Behold, I have created the craftsman

who fans the coals into flame

and forges a weapon fit for its task;

and I have created the destroyer

to wreak havoc.

¹⁷No weapon formed against you shall prosper,

and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.

This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,

and their vindication is from Me,”

declares the LORD.

Invitation to the Needy

¹“Come, all you who are thirsty,

come to the waters;

and you without money,

come, buy, and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without cost!

²Why spend money on that which is not bread,

and your labor on that which does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,

and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.

³Incline your ear and come to Me;

listen, so that your soul may live.

I will make with you an everlasting covenant —

My loving devotion promised to David.

⁴Behold, I have made him a witness to the nations,

a leader and commander of the peoples.

⁵Surely you will summon a nation you do not know,

and nations who do not know you will run to you.

For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel,

has bestowed glory on you.”

⁶Seek the LORD while He may be found;

call on Him while He is near.

⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the LORD,

that He may have compassion,

and to our God,

for He will freely pardon.

⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways My ways,”

declares the LORD.

⁹“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so My ways are higher than your ways

and My thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰For just as rain and snow fall from heaven

and do not return without watering the earth,

making it bud and sprout,

and providing seed to sow and food to eat,

¹¹so My word that proceeds from My mouth

will not return to Me empty,

but it will accomplish what I please,

and it will prosper where I send it.

¹²You will indeed go out with joy

and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

¹³Instead of the thornbush, the cypress will grow,

and instead of the brier, the myrtle will spring up;

this will make a name for the LORD,

an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”

Deliverance from False Prophets

¹Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them — bringing swift destruction on themselves. ²Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed. ³In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.

⁴For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; ⁵if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight; ⁶if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly; ⁷and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless ⁸(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard )— ⁹if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

¹⁰Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings. ¹¹Yet not even angels, though greater in strength and power, dare to bring such slanderous charges against them before the Lord.

¹²These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed. ¹³The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness.

They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you. ¹⁴Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.

¹⁵They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. ¹⁶But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

¹⁷These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. ¹⁸With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error. ¹⁹They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

²⁰If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. ²¹It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them. ²²Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”