One Year Bible.

One Place for Worship

¹These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess.

²Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods— atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. ³Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place. ⁴You shall not worship the LORD your God in this way.

⁵Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go. ⁶To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you.

⁸You are not to do as we are doing here today, where everyone does what seems right in his own eyes. ⁹For you have not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.

¹⁰When you cross the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you dwell securely, ¹¹then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD. ¹²And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God— you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

¹³Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see; ¹⁴you must offer them only in the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribal territories, and there you shall do all that I command you.

¹⁵But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you. Both the ceremonially clean and unclean may eat it as they would a gazelle or deer, ¹⁶but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

¹⁷Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts. ¹⁸Instead, you must eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose— you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in all you do, ¹⁹and be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.

²⁰When the LORD your God expands your territory as He has promised, and you crave meat and say, “I want to eat meat,” you may eat it whenever you want. ²¹If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His Name is too far from you, then you may slaughter any of the herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want. ²²Indeed, you may eat it as you would eat a gazelle or deer; both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it. ²³Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. ²⁴You must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. ²⁵Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

²⁶But you are to take your holy things and your vow offerings and go to the place the LORD will choose. ²⁷Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat. ²⁸Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

A Warning against Idolatry

²⁹When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations you are entering to dispossess, and you drive them out and live in their land, ³⁰be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”

³¹You must not worship the LORD your God in this way, because they practice for their gods every abomination which the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

³²See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.

The Resurrection

¹When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint the body of Jesus. ²Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they went to the tomb. ³They were asking one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, even though it was extremely large.

⁵When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ⁶But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here! See the place where they put Him. ⁷But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’”

⁸So the women left the tomb and ran away, trembling and bewildered. And in their fear they did not say a word to anyone.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

⁹Early on the first day of the week, after Jesus had risen, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had driven out seven demons. ¹⁰She went and told those who had been with Him, who were mourning and weeping. ¹¹And when they heard that Jesus was alive and she had seen Him, they did not believe it.

Jesus Appears to Two Disciples

¹²After this, Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them as they walked along in the country.

¹³And they went back and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

The Great Commission

¹⁴Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

¹⁵And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”

The Ascension

¹⁹After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

²⁰And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it.

A Prophecy to the Mountains of Israel

¹“And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD. ²This is what the Lord GOD says: Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,’ ³therefore prophesy and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Because they have made you desolate and have trampled you on every side, so that you became a possession of the rest of the nations and were taken up in slander by the lips of their talkers, ⁴therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD.

This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and abandoned cities, which have become a spoil and a mockery to the rest of the nations around you. ⁵Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Surely in My burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who took My land as their own possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, so that its pastureland became plunder.

⁶Therefore, prophesy concerning the land of Israel and tell the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I have spoken in My burning zeal because you have endured the reproach of the nations.

⁷Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I have sworn with an uplifted hand that surely the nations around you will endure reproach of their own. ⁸But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and bear fruit for My people Israel, for they will soon come home.

⁹For behold, I am on your side; I will turn toward you, and you will be tilled and sown. ¹⁰I will multiply the people upon you — the house of Israel in its entirety. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. ¹¹I will fill you with people and animals, and they will multiply and be fruitful. I will make you as inhabited as you once were, and I will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

¹²Yes, I will cause My people Israel to walk upon you; they will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will no longer deprive them of their children.

¹³For this is what the Lord GOD says: Because people say to you, ‘You devour men and deprive your nation of its children,’ ¹⁴therefore you will no longer devour men or deprive your nation of its children, declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁵I will no longer allow the taunts of the nations to be heard against you, and you will no longer endure the reproach of the peoples or cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord GOD.”

A New Heart and a New Spirit

¹⁶Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ¹⁷“Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds. Their behavior before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman’s impurity. ¹⁸So I poured out My wrath upon them because of the blood they had shed on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols.

¹⁹I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered throughout the lands. I judged them according to their ways and deeds. ²⁰And wherever they went among the nations, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, yet they had to leave His land.’ ²¹But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they had gone.

²²Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: It is not for your sake that I will act, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you went. ²³I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations— the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes.

²⁴For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you back into your own land. ²⁵I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. ²⁶I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.

²⁸Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will summon the grain and make it plentiful, and I will not bring famine upon you. ³⁰I will also make the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field plentiful, so that you will no longer bear reproach among the nations on account of famine.

³¹Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and abominations. ³²It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD — let it be known to you. Be ashamed and disgraced for your ways, O house of Israel!

³³This is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be resettled and the ruins to be rebuilt. ³⁴The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through. ³⁵Then they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The cities that were once ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.’

³⁶Then the nations around you that remain will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was destroyed, and I have replanted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.

³⁷This is what the Lord GOD says: Once again I will hear the plea of the house of Israel and do for them this: I will multiply their people like a flock. ³⁸Like the numerous flocks for sacrifices at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

The Valley of Dry Bones

¹The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones. ²He led me all around among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, and indeed, they were very dry.

³Then He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones come to life?”

“O Lord GOD,” I replied, “only You know.”

⁴And He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and tell them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! ⁵This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶I will attach tendons to you and make flesh grow upon you and cover you with skin. I will put breath within you so that you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

⁷So I prophesied as I had been commanded. And as I prophesied, there was suddenly a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸As I looked on, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.

⁹Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and tell the breath that this is what the Lord GOD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live!”

¹⁰So I prophesied as He had commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet — a vast army.

¹¹Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’

¹²Therefore prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O My people, I will open your graves and bring you up from them, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³Then you, My people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.’”

One Nation with One King

¹⁵Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ¹⁶“And you, son of man, take a single stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Judah and to the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Joseph— the stick of Ephraim— and to all the house of Israel associated with him.’ ¹⁷Then join them together into one stick, so that they become one in your hand.

¹⁸When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you explain to us what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will put them together with the stick of Judah. I will make them into a single stick, and they will become one in My hand.’

²⁰When the sticks on which you write are in your hand and in full view of the people, ²¹you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the Israelites out of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land. ²²I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over all of them. Then they will no longer be two nations and will never again be divided into two kingdoms.

²³They will no longer defile themselves with their idols or detestable images, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all their apostasies by which they sinned, and I will cleanse them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God. ²⁴My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow My ordinances and keep and observe My statutes.

²⁵They will live in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They will live there forever with their children and grandchildren, and My servant David will be their prince forever. ²⁶And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people. ²⁸Then the nations will know that I the LORD sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is among them forever.’”