One Year Bible.

Contend with My Opponents, O LORD

¹Of David.

Contend with my opponents, O LORD;

fight against those who fight against me.

²Take up Your shield and buckler;

arise and come to my aid.

³Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers;

say to my soul: “I am your salvation.”

⁴May those who seek my life

be disgraced and put to shame;

may those who plan to harm me

be driven back and confounded.

⁵May they be like chaff in the wind,

as the angel of the LORD drives them away.

⁶May their path be dark and slick,

as the angel of the LORD pursues.

⁷For without cause they laid their net for me;

without reason they dug a pit for my soul.

⁸May ruin befall them by surprise;

may the net they hid ensnare them;

may they fall into the hazard they created.

⁹Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD

and exult in His salvation.

¹⁰All my bones will exclaim,

“Who is like You, O LORD,

who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor,

the poor and needy from the robber?”

¹¹Hostile witnesses come forward;

they make charges I know nothing about.

¹²They repay me evil for good,

to the bereavement of my soul.

¹³Yet when they were ill,

I put on sackcloth;

I humbled myself with fasting,

but my prayers returned unanswered.

¹⁴I paced about

as for my friend or brother;

I was bowed down with grief,

like one mourning for his mother.

¹⁵But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee;

they gathered together against me.

Assailants I did not know

slandered me without ceasing.

¹⁶Like godless jesters at a feast,

they gnashed their teeth at me.

¹⁷How long, O Lord, will You look on?

Rescue my soul from their ravages,

my precious life from these lions.

¹⁸Then I will give You thanks in the great assembly;

I will praise You among many people.

¹⁹Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause,

nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.

²⁰For they do not speak peace,

but they devise deceitful schemes

against those who live quietly in the land.

²¹They gape at me and say,

“Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen!”

²²O LORD, You have seen it; be not silent.

O Lord, be not far from me.

²³Awake and rise to my defense,

to my cause, my God and my Lord!

²⁴Vindicate me by Your righteousness, O LORD my God,

and do not let them gloat over me.

²⁵Let them not say in their hearts,

“Aha, just what we wanted!”

Let them not say,

“We have swallowed him up!”

²⁶May those who gloat in my distress

be ashamed and confounded;

may those who exalt themselves over me

be clothed in shame and reproach.

²⁷May those who favor my vindication

shout for joy and gladness;

may they always say, “Exalted be the LORD

who delights in His servant’s well-being.”

²⁸Then my tongue will proclaim Your righteousness

and Your praises all day long.

Giving to the Needy

¹“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

²So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. ³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

The Lord’s Prayer

⁵And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. ⁶But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

⁷And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

⁹So then, this is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be Your name.

¹⁰Your kingdom come,

Your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹Give us this day our daily bread.

¹²And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

¹³And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.’

¹⁴For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.

Proper Fasting

¹⁶When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Treasures in Heaven

¹⁹Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Lamp of the Body

²²The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. ²³But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

²⁴No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Do Not Worry

²⁵Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

²⁸And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.[’’]

Bildad: God Punishes the Wicked

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²“How long until you end these speeches?

Show some sense, and then we can talk.

³Why are we regarded as cattle,

as stupid in your sight?

⁴You who tear yourself in anger—

should the earth be forsaken on your account,

or the rocks be moved from their place?

⁵Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished;

the flame of his fire does not glow.

⁶The light in his tent grows dark,

and the lamp beside him goes out.

⁷His vigorous stride is shortened,

and his own schemes trip him up.

⁸For his own feet lead him into a net,

and he wanders into its mesh.

⁹A trap seizes his heel;

a snare grips him.

¹⁰A noose is hidden in the ground,

and a trap lies in his path.

¹¹Terrors frighten him on every side

and harass his every step.

¹²His strength is depleted,

and calamity is ready at his side.

¹³It devours patches of his skin;

the firstborn of death devours his limbs.

¹⁴He is torn from the shelter of his tent

and is marched off to the king of terrors.

¹⁵Fire resides in his tent;

burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling.

¹⁶The roots beneath him dry up,

and the branches above him wither away.

¹⁷The memory of him perishes from the earth,

and he has no name in the land.

¹⁸He is driven from light into darkness

and is chased from the inhabited world.

¹⁹He has no offspring or posterity among his people,

no survivor where he once lived.

²⁰Those in the west are appalled at his fate,

while those in the east tremble in horror.

²¹Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked

and the place of one who does not know God.”

Paul Sails for Rome

¹When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment. ²We boarded an Adramyttian ship about to sail for ports along the coast of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.

³The next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul with consideration, allowing him to visit his friends and receive their care. ⁴After putting out from there, we sailed to the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us. ⁵And when we had sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. ⁶There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board.

⁷After sailing slowly for many days, we arrived off Cnidus. When the wind impeded us, we sailed to the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone. ⁸After we had moved along the coast with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.

⁹By now much time had passed, and the voyage had already become dangerous because it was after the Fast. So Paul advised them, ¹⁰“Men, I can see that our voyage will be filled with disaster and great loss, not only to ship and cargo, but to our own lives as well.”

¹¹But contrary to Paul’s advice, the centurion was persuaded by the pilot and by the owner of the ship. ¹²Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to sail on, hoping that somehow they could reach Phoenix to winter there. Phoenix was a harbor in Crete facing both southwest and northwest.

The Storm at Sea

¹³When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had their opportunity. So they weighed anchor and sailed along, hugging the coast of Crete. ¹⁴But it was not long before a cyclone called the Northeaster swept down across the island. ¹⁵Unable to head into the wind, the ship was caught up. So we gave way and let ourselves be driven along.

¹⁶Passing to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we barely managed to secure the lifeboat. ¹⁷After hoisting it up, the crew used ropes to undergird the ship. And fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and were driven along.

¹⁸We were tossed so violently that the next day the men began to jettison the cargo. ¹⁹On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the great storm continued to batter us, we abandoned all hope of being saved.

²¹After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete. Then you would have averted this disaster and loss. ²²But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because you will not experience any loss of life, but only of the ship. ²³For just last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me ²⁴and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And look, God has granted you the lives of all who sail with you.’

²⁵So take courage, men, for I believe God that it will happen just as He told me. ²⁶However, we must run aground on some island.”

The Shipwreck

²⁷On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea. About midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. ²⁸They took soundings and found that the water was twenty fathoms deep. Going a little farther, they took another set of soundings that read fifteen fathoms. ²⁹Fearing that we would run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.

³⁰Meanwhile, the sailors attempted to escape from the ship. Pretending to lower anchors from the bow, they let the lifeboat down into the sea. ³¹But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain with the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³²So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and set it adrift.

³³Right up to daybreak, Paul kept urging them all to eat: “Today is your fourteenth day in constant suspense, without taking any food. ³⁴So for your own preservation, I urge you to eat something, because not a single hair of your head will be lost.”

³⁵After he had said this, Paul took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶They were all encouraged and took some food themselves. ³⁷In all, there were 276 of us on board. ³⁸After the men had eaten their fill, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.

³⁹When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they sighted a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. ⁴⁰Cutting away the anchors, they left them in the sea as they loosened the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. ⁴¹But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was being broken up by the pounding of the waves.

⁴²The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so none of them could swim to freedom. ⁴³But the centurion, wanting to spare Paul’s life, thwarted their plan. He commanded those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. ⁴⁴The rest were to follow on planks and various parts of the ship. In this way everyone was brought safely to land.

Ashore on Malta

¹Once we were safely ashore, we learned that the island was called Malta. ²The islanders showed us extraordinary kindness. They kindled a fire and welcomed all of us because it was raining and cold.

³Paul gathered a bundle of sticks, and as he laid them on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand. ⁴When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. ⁶The islanders were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

⁷Nearby stood an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days. ⁸The father of Publius was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him, and after praying and placing his hands on him, he healed the man. ⁹After this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured as well.

¹⁰The islanders honored us in many ways and supplied our needs when we were ready to sail.

Paul Arrives in Italy

¹¹After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered in the island. It had the Twin Brothers as a figurehead. ¹²Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there three days. ¹³From there we weighed anchor and came to Rhegium. After one day, a south wind came up, and on the second day we arrived at Puteoli. ¹⁴There we found some brothers who invited us to spend the week with them. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵The brothers there had heard about us and traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and gave thanks to God.

Paul Preaches at Rome

¹⁶When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with a soldier to guard him.

¹⁷After three days, he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, I was taken prisoner in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸They examined me and wanted to release me, because there was no basis for a death sentence against me. ¹⁹But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, even though I have no charge to bring against my nation. ²⁰So for this reason I have called to see you and speak with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.”

²¹The leaders replied, “We have not received any letters about you from Judea, nor have any of the brothers from there reported or even mentioned anything bad about you. ²²But we consider your views worth hearing, because we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.”

²³So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets.

²⁴Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe. ²⁵They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit was right when He spoke to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

²⁶‘Go to this people and say,

“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;

you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”

²⁷For this people’s heart has grown callous;

they hardly hear with their ears,

and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their hearts,

and turn, and I would heal them.’

²⁸Be advised, therefore, that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”

³⁰Paul stayed there two full years in his own rented house, welcoming all who came to visit him. ³¹Boldly and freely he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.