One Year Bible.

Manasseh’s Western Inheritance

¹Now this was the allotment for the tribe of Manasseh as Joseph’s firstborn son, namely for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh and father of the Gileadites, who had received Gilead and Bashan because Machir was a man of war. ²So this allotment was for the rest of the descendants of Manasseh — the clans of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These are the other male descendants of the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph.

³But Zelophehad son of Hepher (the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh) had no sons but only daughters. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ⁴They approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders, and said, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.”

So Joshua gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers, in keeping with the command of the LORD. ⁵Thus ten shares fell to Manasseh, in addition to the land of Gilead and Bashan beyond the Jordan, ⁶because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons. And the land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh.

⁷Now the border of Manasseh went from Asher to Michmethath near Shechem, then southward to include the inhabitants of En-tappuah. ⁸The region of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuah itself, on the border of Manasseh, belonged to Ephraim. ⁹From there the border continued southward to the Brook of Kanah. There were cities belonging to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh, but the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook and ended at the Sea. ¹⁰Ephraim’s territory was to the south, and Manasseh’s was to the north, having the Sea as its border and adjoining Asher on the north and Issachar on the east.

¹¹Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh was assigned Beth-shean, Ibleam, Dor (that is, Naphath), Endor, Taanach, and Megiddo, each with their surrounding settlements.

¹²But the descendants of Manasseh were unable to occupy these cities, because the Canaanites were determined to stay in this land. ¹³However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they put the Canaanites to forced labor; but they failed to drive them out completely.

¹⁴Then the sons of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one portion as an inheritance? We have many people, because the LORD has blessed us abundantly.”

¹⁵Joshua answered them, “If you have so many people that the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go to the forest and clear for yourself an area in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.”

¹⁶“The hill country is not enough for us,” they replied, “and all the Canaanites who live in the valley have iron chariots, both in Beth-shean with its towns and in the Valley of Jezreel.”

¹⁷So Joshua said to the house of Joseph — to Ephraim and Manasseh — “You have many people and great strength. You shall not have just one allotment, ¹⁸because the hill country will be yours as well. It is a forest; clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours. Although the Canaanites have iron chariots and although they are strong, you can drive them out.”

Food Sacrificed to Idols

¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ²The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. ³But the one who loves God is known by God.

⁴So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one. ⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords), ⁶yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.

⁷But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that they eat such food as if it were sacrificed to an idol. And since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. ⁸But food does not bring us closer to God: We are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

⁹Be careful, however, that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰For if someone with a weak conscience sees you who are well informed eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols? ¹¹So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹²By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.

A Call to Repentance

¹In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying:

²“The LORD was very angry with your fathers. ³So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’

⁴Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Turn now from your evil ways and deeds.’

But they did not listen or pay attention to Me, declares the LORD.

⁵Where are your fathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”

The Vision of the Horses

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo.

⁸I looked out into the night and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the hollow, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

⁹“What are these, my lord?” I asked.

And the angel who was speaking with me replied, “I will show you what they are.”

¹⁰Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”

¹¹And the riders answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and tranquil.”

¹²Then the angel of the LORD said, “How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?”

¹³So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

¹⁴Then the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, ¹⁵but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’

¹⁶Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’

¹⁷Proclaim further that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”

The Vision of the Horns and the Craftsmen

¹⁸Then I looked up and saw four horns. ¹⁹So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?”

And he told me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

²⁰Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.

²¹“What are these coming to do?” I asked.

And He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head; but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations that have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

The Vision of the Measuring Line

¹Then I lifted up my eyes and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.

²“Where are you going?” I asked.

“To measure Jerusalem,” he replied, “and to determine its width and length.”

³Then the angel who was speaking with me went forth, and another angel came forward to meet him ⁴and said to him, “Run and tell that young man: ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the multitude of men and livestock within it. ⁵For I will be a wall of fire around it, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory within it.’”

The Redemption of Zion

⁶“Get up! Get up! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the LORD, “for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven,” declares the LORD. ⁷“Get up, O Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the Daughter of Babylon!”

⁸For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you — for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye — ⁹I will surely wave My hand over them, so that they will become plunder for their own servants. Then you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me.”

¹⁰“Shout for joy and be glad, O Daughter of Zion, for I am coming to dwell among you,” declares the LORD. ¹¹“On that day many nations will join themselves to the LORD, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me to you. ¹²And the LORD will take possession of Judah as His portion in the Holy Land, and He will once again choose Jerusalem. ¹³Be silent before the LORD, all people, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.”