One Year Bible.

The Joy of Forgiveness

¹Of David. A Maskil.

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven,

whose sins are covered.

²Blessed is the man

whose iniquity the LORD does not count against him,

in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³When I kept silent, my bones became brittle

from my groaning all day long.

⁴For day and night

Your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength was drained

as in the summer heat.

Selah

⁵Then I acknowledged my sin to You

and did not hide my iniquity.

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”

and You forgave the guilt of my sin.

Selah

⁶Therefore let all the godly pray to You

while You may be found.

Surely when great waters rise,

they will not come near.

⁷You are my hiding place.

You protect me from trouble;

You surround me with songs of deliverance.

Selah

⁸I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;

I will give you counsel and watch over you.

⁹Do not be like the horse or mule,

which have no understanding;

they must be controlled with bit and bridle

to make them come to you.

¹⁰Many are the sorrows of the wicked,

but loving devotion surrounds him who trusts in the LORD.

¹¹Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous ones;

shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

¹“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take along any extra oil. ⁴But the wise ones took oil in flasks along with their lamps. ⁵When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

⁶At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

⁷Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

⁹‘No,’ said the wise ones, ‘or there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰But while they were on their way to buy it, the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.

¹¹Later the other virgins arrived and said, ‘Lord, lord, open the door for us!’

¹²But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’

¹³Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

The Parable of the Talents

¹⁴For it is just like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted them with his possessions. ¹⁵To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent — each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey.

¹⁶The servant who had received the five talents went at once and put them to work and gained five more. ¹⁷Likewise, the one with the two talents gained two more. ¹⁸But the servant who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.

¹⁹After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰The servant who had received the five talents came and presented five more. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

²¹His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’

²²The servant who had received the two talents also came and said, ‘Master, you entrusted me with two talents. See, I have gained two more.’

²³His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’

²⁴Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what belongs to you.’

²⁶‘You wicked, lazy servant!’ replied his master. ‘You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. ²⁷Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. ²⁹For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ³⁰And throw that worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The Sheep and the Goats

³¹When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. ³²All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

³⁴Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, ³⁶I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’

³⁷Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? ³⁸When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’

⁴⁰And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

⁴¹Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’

⁴⁴And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’

⁴⁵Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’

⁴⁶And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Paul Greets the Corinthians

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

²Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The God of All Comfort

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. ⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

⁶If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which accomplishes in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we experience. ⁷And our hope for you is sure, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you will share in our comfort.

⁸We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. ⁹Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

¹⁰He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us, ¹¹as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the favor shown us in answer to their prayers.

Paul’s Change of Plans

¹²For this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God — not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God. ¹³For we do not write you anything that is beyond your ability to read and understand. And I hope that you will understand us completely, ¹⁴as you have already understood us in part, that you may boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of our Lord Jesus.

¹⁵Confident of this, I planned to visit you first, so that you might receive a double blessing. ¹⁶I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to return to you from Macedonia, and then to have you help me on my way to Judea.

¹⁷When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” and also “No, no”? ¹⁸But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” ¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it has always been “Yes.” ²⁰For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God.

²¹Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us, ²²placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come. ²³I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. ²⁴Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers with you for your joy, because it is by faith that you stand firm.

Reaffirm Your Love

¹So I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. ²For if I grieve you, who is left to cheer me but those whom I have grieved? ³I wrote as I did so that on my arrival I would not be grieved by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would share my joy. ⁴For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you.

⁵Now if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me but all of you — to some degree, not to overstate it. ⁶The punishment imposed on him by the majority is sufficient for him. ⁷So instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. ⁸Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.

⁹My purpose in writing you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. ¹⁰If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And if I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven it in the presence of Christ for your sake, ¹¹in order that Satan should not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Triumph in Christ

¹²Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and a door stood open for me in the Lord, ¹³I had no peace in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

¹⁴But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. ¹⁵For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ¹⁶To the one we are an odor that brings death, to the other a fragrance that brings life. And who is qualified for such a task?

¹⁷For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God.