One Year Bible.

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

²Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

³Without speech or language,

without a sound to be heard,

⁴their voice has gone out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens He has pitched

a tent for the sun.

⁵Like a bridegroom emerging from his chamber,

like a champion rejoicing to run his course,

⁶it rises at one end of the heavens

and runs its circuit to the other;

nothing is deprived of its warmth.

⁷The Law of the LORD is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy,

making wise the simple.

⁸The precepts of the LORD are right,

bringing joy to the heart;

the commandments of the LORD are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.

⁹The fear of the LORD is pure,

enduring forever;

the judgments of the LORD are true,

being altogether righteous.

¹⁰They are more precious than gold,

than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey,

than honey from the comb.

¹¹By them indeed Your servant is warned;

in keeping them is great reward.

¹²Who can discern his own errors?

Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

¹³Keep Your servant also from willful sins;

may they not rule over me.

Then I will be blameless

and cleansed of great transgression.

¹⁴May the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing in Your sight,

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Peter’s Report at Jerusalem

¹The apostles and brothers throughout Judea soon heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers took issue with him ³and said, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁴But Peter began and explained to them the whole sequence of events: ⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision of something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came right down to me. ⁶I looked at it closely and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat.’

⁸‘No, Lord,’ I said, ‘for nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹But the voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

¹⁰This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into heaven.

¹¹Just then three men sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. ¹²The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s home. ¹³He told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. ¹⁴He will convey to you a message by which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He had fallen upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder the work of God?”

¹⁸When they heard this, they had no further objections, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

The Church at Antioch

¹⁹Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews. ²⁰But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

²²When news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts. ²⁴Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. So for a full year they met together with the church and taught large numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

²⁷In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the whole world. ( This happened under Claudius.) ²⁹So the disciples, each according to his ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. ³⁰This they did, sending their gifts to the elders with Barnabas and Saul.

No One Is Just

¹“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem.

Look now and take note; search her squares.

If you can find a single person,

anyone who acts justly,

anyone who seeks the truth,

then I will forgive the city.

²Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’

they are swearing falsely.”

³O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth?

You struck them, but they felt no pain.

You finished them off,

but they refused to accept discipline.

They have made their faces harder than stone

and refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “They are only the poor;

they have played the fool,

for they do not know the way of the LORD,

the justice of their God.

⁵I will go to the powerful

and speak to them.

Surely they know the way of the LORD,

the justice of their God.”

But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke

and torn off the chains.

⁶Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down,

a wolf from the desert will ravage them.

A leopard will lie in wait near their cities,

and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces.

For their rebellious acts are many,

and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.

⁷“Why should I forgive you?

Your children have forsaken Me

and sworn by gods that are not gods.

I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery

and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.

⁸They are well-fed, lusty stallions,

each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

⁹Should I not punish them for these things?”

declares the LORD.

“Should I not avenge Myself

on such a nation as this?

¹⁰Go up through her vineyards and ravage them,

but do not finish them off.

Strip off her branches,

for they do not belong to the LORD.

¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah

have been utterly unfaithful to Me,”

declares the LORD.

¹²They have lied about the LORD and said:

“He will not do anything; harm will not come to us;

we will not see sword or famine.

¹³The prophets are but wind,

for the word is not in them.

So let their own predictions befall them.”

Judgment Proclaimed

¹⁴Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says:

“Because you have spoken this word,

I will make My words a fire in your mouth

and this people the wood it consumes.

¹⁵Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you,

O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

“It is an established nation,

an ancient nation,

a nation whose language you do not know

and whose speech you do not understand.

¹⁶Their quivers are like open graves;

they are all mighty men.

¹⁷They will devour your harvest and food;

they will consume your sons and daughters;

they will eat up your flocks and herds;

they will feed on your vines and fig trees.

With the sword they will destroy

the fortified cities in which you trust.”

¹⁸“Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you. ¹⁹And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”

²⁰Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:

²¹“Hear this,

O foolish and senseless people,

who have eyes but do not see,

who have ears but do not hear.

²²Do you not fear Me?”

declares the LORD.

“Do you not tremble before Me,

the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea,

an enduring barrier it cannot cross?

The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.

They roar but cannot cross it.

²³But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.

They have turned aside and gone away.

²⁴They have not said in their hearts,

‘Let us fear the LORD our God,

who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season,

who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’

²⁵Your iniquities have diverted these from you;

your sins have deprived you of My bounty.

²⁶For among My people are wicked men;

they watch like fowlers lying in wait;

they set a trap to catch men.

²⁷Like cages full of birds,

so their houses are full of deceit.

Therefore they have become powerful and rich.

²⁸They have grown fat and sleek,

and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked.

They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless,

that they might prosper;

nor have they defended

the rights of the needy.

²⁹Should I not punish them for these things?”

declares the LORD.

“Should I not avenge Myself

on such a nation as this?

³⁰A horrible and shocking thing

has happened in the land.

³¹The prophets prophesy falsely,

and the priests rule by their own authority.

My people love it so,

but what will you do in the end?[’’]

Jerusalem’s Final Warning

¹“Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin;

flee from Jerusalem!

Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa;

send up a signal over Beth-haccherem,

for disaster looms from the north,

even great destruction.

²Though she is beautiful and delicate,

I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.

³Shepherds and their flocks

will come against her;

they will pitch their tents all around her,

each tending his own portion:

⁴‘Prepare for battle against her;

rise up, let us attack at noon.

Woe to us, for the daylight is fading;

the evening shadows grow long.

⁵Rise up, let us attack by night

and destroy her fortresses!’”

⁶For this is what the LORD of Hosts says:

“Cut down the trees

and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem.

This city must be punished;

there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

⁷As a well gushes its water,

so she pours out her evil.

Violence and destruction resound in her;

sickness and wounds are ever before Me.

⁸Be forewarned, O Jerusalem,

or I will turn away from you;

I will make you a desolation,

a land without inhabitant.”

⁹This is what the LORD of Hosts says:

“Glean the remnant of Israel

as thoroughly as a vine.

Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer

over the branches.”

¹⁰To whom can I give this warning?

Who will listen to me?

Look, their ears are closed,

so they cannot hear.

See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them;

they find no pleasure in it.

¹¹But I am full of the LORD’s wrath;

I am tired of holding it back.

“Pour it out on the children in the street,

and on the young men gathered together.

For both husband and wife will be captured,

the old and the very old alike.

¹²Their houses will be turned over to others,

their fields and wives as well,

for I will stretch out My hand

against the inhabitants of the land,”

declares the LORD.

¹³“For from the least of them to the greatest,

all are greedy for gain;

from prophet to priest,

all practice deceit.

¹⁴They dress the wound of My people

with very little care,

saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

when there is no peace at all.

¹⁵Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed?

No, they have no shame at all;

they do not even know how to blush.

So they will fall among the fallen;

when I punish them, they will collapse,”

says the LORD.

¹⁶This is what the LORD says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look.

Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’

Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.

But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

¹⁷I appointed watchmen over you and said,

‘Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.’

But they answered, ‘We will not listen!’

¹⁸Therefore hear, O nations,

and learn, O congregations,

what will happen to them.

¹⁹Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people,

the fruit of their own schemes,

because they have paid no attention to My word

and have rejected My instruction.

²⁰What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba

or sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;

your sacrifices do not please Me.”

²¹Therefore this is what the LORD says:

“I will lay stumbling blocks before this people;

fathers and sons alike will be staggered;

friends and neighbors will perish.”

An Invasion from the North

²²This is what the LORD says:

“Behold, an army is coming

from the land of the north;

a great nation is stirred up

from the ends of the earth.

²³They grasp the bow and spear;

they are cruel and merciless.

Their voice roars like the sea,

and they ride upon horses,

lined up like men in formation

against you, O Daughter of Zion.”

²⁴We have heard the report;

our hands hang limp.

Anguish has gripped us,

pain like that of a woman in labor.

²⁵Do not go out to the fields;

do not walk the road.

For the enemy has a sword;

terror is on every side.

²⁶O daughter of my people,

dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes.

Mourn with bitter wailing,

as you would for an only son,

for suddenly the destroyer

will come upon us.

²⁷“I have appointed you to examine My people like ore,

so you may know and try their ways.

²⁸All are hardened rebels,

walking around as slanderers.

They are bronze and iron;

all of them are corrupt.

²⁹The bellows blow fiercely,

blasting away the lead with fire.

The refining proceeds in vain,

for the wicked are not purged.

³⁰They are called rejected silver,

because the LORD has rejected them.”