One Year Bible.

Cast Your Burden upon the LORD

¹For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.

Listen to my prayer, O God,

and do not ignore my plea.

²Attend to me and answer me.

I am restless in my complaint,

and distraught ³at the voice of the enemy,

at the pressure of the wicked.

For they bring down disaster upon me

and resent me in their anger.

⁴My heart pounds within me,

and the terrors of death assail me.

⁵Fear and trembling grip me,

and horror has overwhelmed me.

⁶I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and find rest.

⁷How far away I would flee!

In the wilderness I would remain.

Selah

⁸I would hurry to my shelter,

far from this raging tempest.”

⁹O Lord, confuse and confound their speech,

for I see violence and strife in the city.

¹⁰Day and night they encircle the walls,

while malice and trouble lie within.

¹¹Destruction is within;

oppression and deceit never leave the streets.

¹²For it is not an enemy who insults me;

that I could endure.

It is not a foe who rises against me;

from him I could hide.

¹³But it is you, a man like myself,

my companion and close friend.

¹⁴We shared sweet fellowship together;

we walked with the crowd into the house of God.

¹⁵Let death seize them by surprise;

let them go down to Sheol alive,

for evil is with them in their homes.

¹⁶But I call to God,

and the LORD saves me.

¹⁷Morning, noon, and night, I cry out in distress,

and He hears my voice.

¹⁸He redeems my soul in peace

from the battle waged against me,

even though many oppose me.

¹⁹God will hear and humiliate them —

the One enthroned for the ages —

Selah

because they do not change

and they have no fear of God.

²⁰My companion attacks his friends;

he violates his covenant.

²¹His speech is smooth as butter,

but war is in his heart.

His words are softer than oil,

yet they are swords unsheathed.

²²Cast your burden upon the LORD

and He will sustain you;

He will never let the righteous be shaken.

²³But You, O God, will bring them down

to the Pit of destruction;

men of bloodshed and deceit

will not live out half their days.

But I will trust in You.

The Resurrection

¹After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

²Suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards trembled in fear of him and became like dead men.

⁵But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; He has risen, just as He said! Come, see the place where He lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ See, I have told you.”

⁸So they hurried away from the tomb in fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came to Him, grasped His feet, and worshiped Him. ¹⁰“Do not be afraid,” said Jesus. “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see Me.”

The Report of the Guards

¹¹While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. ¹²And after the chief priests had met with the elders and formed a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money ¹³and instructed them: “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴If this report reaches the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”

¹⁵So the guards took the money and did as they were instructed. And this account has been circulated among the Jews to this very day.

The Great Commission

¹⁶Meanwhile, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had designated. ¹⁷When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.

¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Paul’s Revelation

¹I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to gain, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ²I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows. ³And I know that this man— whether in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows— ⁴was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were inexpressible, things that man is not permitted to tell.

Paul’s Thorn and God’s Grace

⁵I will boast about such a man, but I will not boast about myself, except in my weaknesses. ⁶Even if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me, ⁷or because of these surpassingly great revelations.

So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians

¹¹I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing. ¹²The marks of a true apostle — signs, wonders, and miracles — were performed among you with great perseverance. ¹³In what way were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴See, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be a burden, because I am not seeking your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. ¹⁵And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

¹⁶Be that as it may, I was not a burden to you; but crafty as I am, I caught you by trickery. ¹⁷Did I exploit you by anyone I sent you? ¹⁸I urged Titus to visit you, and I sent our brother with him. Did Titus exploit you in any way? Did we not walk in the same Spirit and follow in the same footsteps?

¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we were making a defense to you? We speak before God in Christ, and all of this, beloved, is to build you up. ²⁰For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. ²¹I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.

Examine Yourselves

¹This is the third time I am coming to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”

²I already warned you the second time I was with you. So now in my absence I warn those who sinned earlier and everyone else: If I return, I will not spare anyone, ³since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you but is powerful among you. ⁴For He was indeed crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. For we are also weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him concerning you.

⁵Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you — unless you fail the test? ⁶And I hope you will realize that we have not failed the test.

⁷Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong — not that we will appear to have stood the test, but that you will do what is right, even if we appear to have failed. ⁸For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹In fact, we rejoice when we are weak but you are strong, and our prayer is for your perfection.

¹⁰This is why I write these things while absent, so that when I am present I will not need to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

Benediction and Farewell

¹¹Finally, brothers, rejoice! Aim for perfect harmony, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹²Greet one another with a holy kiss.

¹³All the saints send you greetings.

¹⁴The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.