One Year Bible.

The LORD Is My Salvation

¹Of David.

The LORD is my light and my salvation—

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life—

whom shall I dread?

²When the wicked came upon me to devour my flesh,

my enemies and foes stumbled and fell.

³Though an army encamps around me,

my heart will not fear;

though a war breaks out against me,

I will keep my trust.

⁴One thing I have asked of the LORD;

this is what I desire:

to dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to gaze on the beauty of the LORD

and seek Him in His temple.

⁵For in the day of trouble

He will hide me in His shelter;

He will conceal me under the cover of His tent;

He will set me high upon a rock.

⁶Then my head will be held high

above my enemies around me.

At His tabernacle I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make music to the LORD.

⁷Hear, O LORD, my voice when I call;

be merciful and answer me.

⁸My heart said, “Seek His face.”

Your face, O LORD, I will seek.

⁹Hide not Your face from me,

nor turn away Your servant in anger.

You have been my helper;

do not leave me or forsake me,

O God of my salvation.

¹⁰Though my father and mother forsake me,

the LORD will receive me.

¹¹Teach me Your way, O LORD,

and lead me on a level path,

because of my oppressors.

¹²Do not hand me over to the will of my foes,

for false witnesses rise up against me,

breathing out violence.

¹³Still I am certain to see

the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living.

¹⁴Wait patiently for the LORD;

be strong and courageous.

Wait patiently for the LORD!

The Mission of John the Baptist

¹This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ²As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You,

who will prepare Your way.”

³“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for Him.’”

⁴John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵People went out to him from all of Jerusalem and the countryside of Judea. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

⁶John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁷And he proclaimed: “After me will come One more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, He saw the heavens breaking open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

The Temptation and Preaching of Jesus

¹²At once the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness, ¹³and He was there for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered to Him.

¹⁴After the arrest of John, Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel of God. ¹⁵“The time is fulfilled,” He said, “and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the gospel!”

The First Disciples

¹⁶As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷“Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” ¹⁸And at once they left their nets and followed Him.

¹⁹Going on a little farther, He saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat, mending their nets. ²⁰Immediately Jesus called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him.

Jesus Expels an Unclean Spirit

²¹Then Jesus and His companions went to Capernaum, and right away Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach. ²²The people were astonished at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.

²³Suddenly a man with an unclean spirit cried out in the synagogue: ²⁴“What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God!”

²⁵But Jesus rebuked the spirit. “Be silent!” He said. “Come out of him!” ²⁶At this, the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and came out with a loud shriek.

²⁷All the people were amazed and began to ask one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him!” ²⁸And the news about Jesus spread quickly through the whole region of Galilee.

Jesus Heals at Peter’s House

²⁹As soon as Jesus and His companions had left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. ³⁰Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever, and they promptly told Jesus about her. ³¹So He went to her, took her by the hand, and helped her up. The fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³²That evening, after sunset, people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed, ³³and the whole town gathered at the door. ³⁴And He healed many who were ill with various diseases and drove out many demons. But He would not allow the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.

Jesus Prays and Preaches

³⁵Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went out to a solitary place to pray. ³⁶Simon and his companions went to look for Him, ³⁷and when they found Him, they said, “Everyone is looking for You!”

³⁸But Jesus answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns so I can preach there as well, for that is why I have come.” ³⁹So He went throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

The Leper’s Prayer

⁴⁰Then a leper came to Jesus, begging on his knees: “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”

⁴¹Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” ⁴²And immediately the leprosy left him, and the man was cleansed.

⁴³Jesus promptly sent him away with a stern warning: ⁴⁴“See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

⁴⁵But the man went out and openly began to proclaim and spread the news.

Consequently, Jesus could no longer enter a town in plain view, but He stayed out in solitary places. Yet people came to Him from every quarter.

The Vision of Idolatry in the Temple

¹In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; and there the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me.

²Then I looked and saw a figure like that of a man. From His waist down His appearance was like fire, and from His waist up He was as bright as the gleam of amber. ³He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated.

⁴And there I saw the glory of the God of Israel, like the vision I had seen in the plain. ⁵“Son of man,” He said to me, “now lift up your eyes to the north.”

So I lifted up my eyes to the north, and in the entrance north of the Altar Gate I saw this idol of jealousy.

⁶“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what they are doing — the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing — to drive Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you will see even greater abominations.”

⁷Then He brought me to the entrance to the court, and I looked and saw a hole in the wall.

⁸“Son of man,” He told me, “dig through the wall.”

So I dug through the wall and discovered a doorway.

⁹Then He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations they are committing here.”

¹⁰So I went in and looked, and engraved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and detestable beast, along with all the idols of the house of Israel. ¹¹Before them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

¹²“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”

¹³Again, He told me, “You will see them committing even greater abominations.”

¹⁴Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and I saw women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz.

¹⁵“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Yet you will see even greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.

¹⁷“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and continually provoke Me to anger? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose! ¹⁸Therefore I will respond with wrath. I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. Although they shout loudly in My ears, I will not listen to them.”

Execution of the Idolaters

¹Then I heard Him call out in a loud voice, saying, “Draw near, O executioners of the city, each with a weapon of destruction in hand.”

²And I saw six men coming from the direction of the Upper Gate, which faces north, each with a weapon of slaughter in his hand. With them was another man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. And they came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

³Then the glory of the God of Israel rose from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side. ⁴“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”

⁵And as I listened, He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone! ⁶Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.”

So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

⁷Then He told them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go forth!”

So they went out and began killing throughout the city.

⁸While they were killing, I was left alone. And I fell facedown and cried out, “Oh, Lord GOD, when You pour out Your wrath on Jerusalem, will You destroy the entire remnant of Israel?”

⁹He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.’ ¹⁰But as for Me, I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. I will bring their deeds down upon their own heads.”

¹¹Then the man clothed in linen with the writing kit at his side reported back, “I have done as You commanded.”

God’s Glory Exits the Temple

¹And I looked and saw above the expanse, above the heads of the cherubim, the likeness of a throne of sapphire. ²And the LORD said to the man clothed in linen, “Go inside the wheelwork beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And as I watched, he went in.

³Now when the man went in, the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple, and a cloud filled the inner court. ⁴Then the glory of the LORD rose from above the cherubim and stood over the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD. ⁵The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.

⁶When the LORD commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from within the wheelwork, from among the cherubim,” the man went in and stood beside a wheel. ⁷Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand and took some of the fire that was among them. And he put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who received it and went out. ⁸(The cherubim appeared to have the form of human hands under their wings.)

⁹Then I looked and saw four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub. And the wheels gleamed like a beryl stone. ¹⁰As for their appearance, all four had the same form, like a wheel within a wheel. ¹¹When they moved, they would go in any of the four directions, without turning as they moved. For wherever the head faced, the cherubim would go in that direction, without turning as they moved.

¹²Their entire bodies, including their backs, hands, and wings, were full of eyes all around, as were their four wheels. ¹³I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.”

¹⁴Each of the cherubim had four faces: the first face was that of a cherub, the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.

¹⁵Then the cherubim rose upward. These were the living creatures I had seen by the River Kebar. ¹⁶When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them, and even when they spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not veer away from their side. ¹⁷When the cherubim stood still, the wheels also stood still, and when they ascended, the wheels ascended with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

¹⁸Then the glory of the LORD moved away from the threshold of the temple and stood above the cherubim. ¹⁹As I watched, the cherubim lifted their wings and rose up from the ground, with the wheels beside them as they went. And they stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the LORD, with the glory of the God of Israel above them.

²⁰These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the River Kebar, and I knew that they were cherubim. ²¹Each had four faces and four wings, with what looked like human hands under their wings. ²²Their faces looked like the faces I had seen by the River Kebar. Each creature went straight ahead.