One Year Bible.

I Waited Patiently for the LORD

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

I waited patiently for the LORD;

He inclined to me and heard my cry.

²He lifted me up from the pit of despair,

out of the miry clay;

He set my feet upon a rock,

and made my footsteps firm.

³He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear

and put their trust in the LORD.

⁴Blessed is the man

who has made the LORD his trust,

who has not turned to the proud,

nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

⁵Many, O LORD my God,

are the wonders You have done,

and the plans You have for us —

none can compare to You —

if I proclaim and declare them,

they are more than I can count.

⁶Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,

but my ears You have opened.

Burnt offerings and sin offerings

You did not require.

⁷Then I said, “Here I am, I have come —

it is written about me in the scroll:

⁸I delight to do Your will, O my God;

Your law is within my heart.”

⁹I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;

behold, I do not seal my lips,

as You, O LORD, do know.

¹⁰I have not covered up Your righteousness in my heart;

I have declared Your faithfulness and salvation;

I have not concealed Your loving devotion and faithfulness

from the great assembly.

¹¹O LORD, do not withhold Your mercy from me;

Your loving devotion and faithfulness will always guard me.

¹²For evils without number surround me;

my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see.

They are more than the hairs of my head,

and my heart has failed within me.

¹³Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;

hurry, O LORD, to help me.

¹⁴May those who seek my life

be ashamed and confounded;

may those who wish me harm

be repelled and humiliated.

¹⁵May those who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

be appalled at their own shame.

¹⁶May all who seek You

rejoice and be glad in You;

may those who love Your salvation

always say, “The LORD be magnified!”

¹⁷But I am poor and needy;

may the Lord think of me.

You are my helper and deliverer;

O my God, do not delay.

Greetings from Paul and Sosthenes

¹Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

²To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

³Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

⁴I always thank my God for you because of the grace He has given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵For in Him you have been enriched in every way, in all speech and all knowledge, ⁶because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.

⁷Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸He will sustain you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

Unity in the Church

¹⁰I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree together, so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be united in mind and conviction. ¹¹My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. ¹²What I mean is this: Individuals among you are saying, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”

¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? ¹⁴I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. ¹⁶Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that I do not remember if I baptized anyone else. ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

The Message of the Cross

¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

²⁰Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

²²Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

Wisdom from God

²⁶Brothers, consider the time of your calling: Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were powerful; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, ²⁹so that no one may boast in His presence.

³⁰It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. ³¹Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Daniel’s Vision of the Four Beasts

¹In the first year of the reign of Belshazzar over Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he lay on his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is the summary of his account.

²Daniel declared: “In my vision in the night I looked, and suddenly the four winds of heaven were churning up the great sea. ³Then four great beasts came up out of the sea, each one different from the others:

⁴The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man and given the mind of a man.

⁵Suddenly another beast appeared, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. So it was told, ‘Get up and gorge yourself on flesh!’

⁶Next, as I watched, suddenly another beast appeared. It was like a leopard, and on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.

⁷After this, as I watched in my vision in the night, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, and it was terrifying — dreadful and extremely strong — with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed; then it trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns. ⁸While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a man and a mouth that spoke words of arrogance.

Daniel’s Vision of the Ancient of Days

⁹As I continued to watch,

thrones were set in place,

and the Ancient of Days took His seat.

His clothing was white as snow,

and the hair of His head was like pure wool.

His throne was flaming with fire,

and its wheels were all ablaze.

¹⁰A river of fire was flowing,

coming out from His presence.

Thousands upon thousands attended Him,

and myriads upon myriads stood before Him.

The court was convened,

and the books were opened.

¹¹Then I kept watching because of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued to watch, the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. ¹²As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was removed, but they were granted an extension of life for a season and a time.

Daniel’s Vision of the Son of Man

¹³In my vision in the night I continued to watch,

and I saw One like the Son of Man

coming with the clouds of heaven.

He approached the Ancient of Days

and was led into His presence.

¹⁴And He was given dominion,

glory, and kingship,

that the people of every nation and language

should serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion

that will not pass away,

and His kingdom is one

that will never be destroyed.

Daniel’s Visions Interpreted

¹⁵I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit, and the visions in my mind alarmed me. ¹⁶I approached one of those who were standing there, and I asked him the true meaning of all this.

So he told me the interpretation of these things: ¹⁷‘These four great beasts are four kings who will arise from the earth. ¹⁸But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and possess it forever — yes, forever and ever.’

¹⁹Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others — extremely terrifying — devouring and crushing with iron teeth and bronze claws, then trampling underfoot whatever was left. ²⁰I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell— the horn whose appearance was more imposing than the others, with eyes and with a mouth that spoke words of arrogance. ²¹As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and prevailing against them, ²²until the Ancient of Days arrived and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for them to possess the kingdom.

²³This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on the earth, different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth, trample it down, and crush it. ²⁴And the ten horns are ten kings who will rise from this kingdom. After them another king, different from the earlier ones, will rise and subdue three kings. ²⁵He will speak out against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, intending to change the appointed times and laws; and the saints will be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time.

²⁶But the court will convene, and his dominion will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. ²⁷Then the sovereignty, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey Him.’

²⁸Thus ends the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts troubled me greatly, and my face turned pale. But I kept the matter to myself.”

Daniel’s Vision of the Ram and the Goat

¹In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one that had appeared to me earlier. ²And in the vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa, in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai Canal.

³Then I lifted up my eyes and saw a ram with two horns standing beside the canal. The horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one grew up later. ⁴I saw the ram charging toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against him, and there was no deliverance from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.

⁵As I was contemplating all this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came out of the west, crossing the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground. ⁶He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed at him with furious power. ⁷I saw him approach the ram in a rage against him, and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him, and the goat threw him to the ground and trampled him, and no one could deliver the ram from his power.

⁸Thus the goat became very great, but at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off, and four prominent horns came up in its place, pointing toward the four winds of heaven.

⁹From one of these horns a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the Beautiful Land. ¹⁰It grew as high as the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the earth and trampled them. ¹¹It magnified itself, even to the Prince of the host; it removed His daily sacrifice and overthrew the place of His sanctuary. ¹²And in the rebellion, the host and the daily sacrifice were given over to the horn, and it flung truth to the ground and prospered in whatever it did.

¹³Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long until the fulfillment of the vision of the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host to be trampled?”

¹⁴He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be properly restored.”

Gabriel Interprets Daniel’s Vision

¹⁵While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. ¹⁶And I heard the voice of a man calling from between the banks of the Ulai: “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.”

¹⁷As he came near to where I stood, I was terrified and fell facedown.

“Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.”

¹⁸While he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground.

Then he touched me, helped me to my feet, ¹⁹and said, “Behold, I will make known to you what will happen in the latter time of wrath, because it concerns the appointed time of the end.

²⁰The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. ²¹The shaggy goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. ²²The four horns that replaced the broken one represent four kingdoms that will rise from that nation but will not have the same power.

²³In the latter part of their reign, when the rebellion has reached its full measure, an insolent king, skilled in intrigue, will come to the throne. ²⁴His power will be great, but it will not be his own. He will cause terrible destruction and succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men along with the holy people. ²⁵Through his craft and by his hand, he will cause deceit to prosper, and in his own mind he will make himself great. In a time of peace he will destroy many, and he will even stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be broken off, but not by human hands.

²⁶The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been spoken is true. Now you must seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.”

²⁷I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was confounded by the vision; it was beyond understanding.