One Year Bible.

God Instructs Joshua

¹Now after the death of His servant Moses, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, ²“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over the Jordan into the land that I am giving to the children of Israel.

³I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised to Moses. ⁴Your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great River Euphrates— all the land of the Hittites— and west as far as the Great Sea.

⁵No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

⁶Be strong and courageous, for you shall give these people the inheritance of the land that I swore to their fathers I would give them.

⁷Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper wherever you go. ⁸This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.

⁹Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua Takes Charge

¹⁰Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people: ¹¹“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you will cross the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”

¹²But to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, ¹³“Remember what Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you when he said, ‘The LORD your God will give you rest, and He will give you this land.’ ¹⁴Your wives, your young children, and your livestock may remain in the land that Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But all your mighty men of valor must be armed for battle to cross over ahead of your brothers and help them, ¹⁵until the LORD gives them rest as He has done for you, and your brothers also possess the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you may return to the land of your inheritance and take possession of that which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the east side of the Jordan.”

¹⁶So they answered Joshua, “Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go. ¹⁷Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. And may the LORD your God be with you, as He was with Moses. ¹⁸Anyone who rebels against your order and does not obey your words, all that you command him, will be put to death. Above all, be strong and courageous!”

Rahab Welcomes the Spies

¹Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

²And it was reported to the king of Jericho: “Behold, some men of Israel have come here tonight to spy out the land.”

³So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they have come to spy out the whole land.”

⁴But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I did not know where they had come from. ⁵At dusk, when the gate was about to close, the men went out, and I do not know which way they went. Pursue them quickly, and you may catch them!” ⁶(But Rahab had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had laid out there.)

⁷So the king’s men set out in pursuit of the spies along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they had gone out, the gate was shut.

The Promise to Rahab

⁸Before the spies lay down for the night, Rahab went up on the roof ⁹and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of you. ¹⁰For we have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites across the Jordan, whom you devoted to destruction. ¹¹When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.

¹²Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD that you will indeed show kindness to my family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign ¹³that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will deliver us from death.”

¹⁴“Our lives for your lives!” the men agreed. “If you do not report our mission, we will show you kindness and faithfulness when the LORD gives us the land.”

¹⁵Then Rahab let them down by a rope through the window, since the house where she lived was built into the wall of the city. ¹⁶“Go to the hill country,” she said, “so that your pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there for three days until they have returned; then go on your way.”

¹⁷The men said to her, “We will not be bound by this oath you made us swear ¹⁸unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother and brothers and all your family into your house. ¹⁹If anyone goes out the door of your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head, and we will be innocent. But if a hand is laid on anyone with you in the house, his blood will be on our heads. ²⁰And if you report our mission, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”

²¹“Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. And when they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

²²So the spies went out into the hill country and stayed there three days, until their pursuers had returned without finding them, having searched all along the road. ²³Then the two men started back, came down from the hill country, and crossed the river. So they came to Joshua son of Nun and reported all that had happened to them.

²⁴“The LORD has surely delivered the entire land into our hands,” they said to Joshua. “Indeed, all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of us.”

I Lift Up My Eyes to You

¹A song of ascents.

I lift up my eyes to You,

the One enthroned in heaven.

²As the eyes of servants

look to the hand of their master,

as the eyes of a maidservant

look to the hand of her mistress,

so our eyes are on the LORD our God

until He shows us mercy.

³Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy,

for we have endured much contempt.

⁴We have endured much scorn from the arrogant,

much contempt from the proud.

The First Disciples

¹On one occasion, while Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret with the crowd pressing in on Him to hear the word of God, ²He saw two boats at the edge of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. ³Jesus got into the boat belonging to Simon and asked him to put out a little from shore. And sitting down, He taught the people from the boat.

⁴When Jesus had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵“Master,” Simon replied, “we have worked hard all night without catching anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to tear. ⁷So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.” ⁹For he and his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰and so were his partners James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

“Do not be afraid,” Jesus said to Simon. “From now on you will catch men.” ¹¹And when they had brought their boats ashore, they left everything and followed Him.

The Leper’s Prayer

¹²While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell facedown and begged Him, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

¹³Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴“Do not tell anyone,” Jesus instructed him. “But go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

¹⁵But the news about Jesus spread all the more, and great crowds came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶Yet He frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

¹⁷One day Jesus was teaching, and the Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. People had come from Jerusalem and from every village of Galilee and Judea, and the power of the Lord was present for Him to heal the sick.

¹⁸Just then some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They tried to bring him inside to set him before Jesus, ¹⁹but they could not find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

²⁰When Jesus saw their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹But the scribes and Pharisees began thinking to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²²Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus replied, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ²³Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”

²⁵And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. ²⁶Everyone was taken with amazement and glorified God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Jesus Calls Levi

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, ²⁸and Levi got up, left everything, and followed Him.

²⁹Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors was there, along with others who were eating with them. ³⁰But the Pharisees and their scribes complained to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Questions about Fasting

³³Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees frequently fast and pray, but Yours keep on eating and drinking.”

³⁴Jesus replied, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? ³⁵But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”

The Patches and the Wineskins

³⁶He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will tear the new garment as well, and the patch from the new will not match the old.

³⁷And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins. ³⁹And no one after drinking old wine wants new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”