One Year Bible.

I Will Give Thanks to the LORD

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A Psalm of David.

I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart;

I will recount all Your wonders.

²I will be glad and rejoice in You;

I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies retreat,

they stumble and perish before You.

⁴For You have upheld my just cause;

You sit on Your throne judging righteously.

⁵You have rebuked the nations;

You have destroyed the wicked;

You have erased their name forever and ever.

⁶The enemy has come to eternal ruin,

and You have uprooted their cities;

the very memory of them has vanished.

⁷But the LORD abides forever;

He has established His throne for judgment.

⁸He judges the world with justice;

He governs the people with equity.

⁹The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know Your name trust in You,

for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

¹¹Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion;

proclaim His deeds among the nations.

¹²For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers;

He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

¹³Be merciful to me, O LORD;

see how my enemies afflict me!

Lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴that I may declare all Your praises —

that within the gates of Daughter Zion

I may rejoice in Your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have fallen into a pit of their making;

their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

¹⁶The LORD is known by the justice He brings;

the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.

Higgaion Selah

¹⁷The wicked will return to Sheol—

all the nations who forget God.

¹⁸For the needy will not always be forgotten;

nor the hope of the oppressed forever dashed.

¹⁹Rise up, O LORD, do not let man prevail;

let the nations be judged in Your presence.

²⁰Lay terror upon them, O LORD;

let the nations know they are but men.

Selah

The Pilgrimage of the Magi

¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, ²asking, “Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

³When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴And when he had assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.

⁵“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,

for out of you will come a ruler

who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.’”

⁷Then Herod called the Magi secretly and learned from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸And sending them to Bethlehem, he said: “Go and search carefully for the Child, and when you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.”

⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the Child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced with great delight. ¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew to their country by another route.

The Flight to Egypt

¹³When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”

¹⁴So he got up, took the Child and His mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt, ¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

Weeping and Great Mourning

¹⁶When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

¹⁸“A voice is heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children

and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more.”

The Return to Nazareth

¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. ²⁰“Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are now dead.”

²¹So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he learned that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Job Prepares His Case

¹“Indeed, my eyes have seen all this;

my ears have heard and understood.

²What you know, I also know;

I am not inferior to you.

³Yet I desire to speak to the Almighty

and argue my case before God.

⁴You, however, smear with lies;

you are all worthless physicians.

⁵If only you would remain silent;

for that would be your wisdom!

⁶Hear now my argument,

and listen to the plea of my lips.

⁷Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf

or speak deceitfully for Him?

⁸Would you show Him partiality

or argue in His defense?

⁹Would it be well when He examined you?

Could you deceive Him as you would deceive a man?

¹⁰Surely He would rebuke you

if you secretly showed partiality.

¹¹Would His majesty not terrify you?

Would the dread of Him not fall upon you?

¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;

your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³Be silent, and I will speak.

Then let come to me what may.

¹⁴Why do I put myself at risk

and take my life in my own hands?

¹⁵Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.

I will still defend my ways to His face.

¹⁶Moreover, this will be my salvation,

for no godless man can appear before Him.

¹⁷Listen carefully to my words;

let my declaration ring in your ears.

¹⁸See now, I have prepared my case;

I know that I will be vindicated.

¹⁹Can anyone indict me?

If so, I will be silent and die.

²⁰Only grant these two things to me,

so that I need not hide from You:

²¹Withdraw Your hand from me,

and do not let Your terror frighten me.

²²Then call me, and I will answer,

or let me speak, and You can reply.

²³How many are my iniquities and sins?

Reveal to me my transgression and sin.

²⁴Why do You hide Your face

and consider me as Your enemy?

²⁵Would You frighten a windblown leaf?

Would You chase after dry chaff?

²⁶For You record bitter accusations against me

and bequeath to me the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷You put my feet in the stocks

and stand watch over all my paths;

You set a limit

for the soles of my feet.

²⁸So man wastes away like something rotten,

like a moth-eaten garment.[’’]

Job Laments the Finality of Death

¹“Man, who is born of woman,

is short of days and full of trouble.

²Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away;

like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

³Do You open Your eyes to one like this?

Will You bring him into judgment before You?

⁴Who can bring out clean from unclean?

No one!

⁵Since his days are determined

and the number of his months is with You,

and since You have set limits

that he cannot exceed,

⁶look away from him and let him rest,

so he can enjoy his day as a hired hand.

⁷For there is hope for a tree:

If it is cut down, it will sprout again,

and its tender shoots will not fail.

⁸If its roots grow old in the ground

and its stump dies in the soil,

⁹at the scent of water it will bud

and put forth twigs like a sapling.

¹⁰But a man dies and is laid low;

he breathes his last, and where is he?

¹¹As water disappears from the sea

and a river becomes parched and dry,

¹²so a man lies down

and does not rise.

Until the heavens are no more,

he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.

¹³If only You would hide me in Sheol

and conceal me until Your anger has passed!

If only You would appoint a time for me

and then remember me!

¹⁴When a man dies, will he live again?

All the days of my hard service I will wait,

until my renewal comes.

¹⁵You will call, and I will answer;

You will desire the work of Your hands.

¹⁶For then You would count my steps,

but would not keep track of my sin.

¹⁷My transgression would be sealed in a bag,

and You would cover over my iniquity.

¹⁸But as a mountain erodes and crumbles

and a rock is dislodged from its place,

¹⁹as water wears away the stones

and torrents wash away the soil,

so You destroy a man’s hope.

²⁰You forever overpower him, and he passes on;

You change his countenance and send him away.

²¹If his sons receive honor, he does not know it;

if they are brought low, he is unaware.

²²He feels only the pain of his own body

and mourns only for himself.”