One Year Bible.

Victory with God

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A Miktam of David for instruction. When he fought Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and struck down 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

You have rejected us, O God;

You have broken us;

You have been angry;

restore us!

²You have shaken the land

and torn it open.

Heal its fractures,

for it is quaking.

³You have shown Your people hardship;

we are staggered from the wine You made us drink.

⁴You have raised a banner for those who fear You,

that they may flee the bow.

Selah

⁵Respond and save us with Your right hand,

that Your beloved may be delivered.

⁶God has spoken from His sanctuary:

“I will triumph!

I will parcel out Shechem

and apportion the Valley of Succoth.

⁷Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;

Ephraim is My helmet, Judah is My scepter.

⁸Moab is My washbasin;

upon Edom I toss My sandal;

over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

⁹Who will bring me to the fortified city?

Who will lead me to Edom?

¹⁰Have You not rejected us, O God?

Will You no longer march out, O God, with our armies?

¹¹Give us aid against the enemy,

for the help of man is worthless.

¹²With God we will perform with valor,

and He will trample our enemies.

Personal Greetings and Love

¹I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. ²Welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her with anything she may need from you. For she has been a great help to many people, including me.

³Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, ⁴who have risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. ⁵Greet also the church that meets at their house.

Greet my beloved Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

⁶Greet Mary, who has worked very hard for you.

⁷Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow countrymen and fellow prisoners. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.

⁸Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.

⁹Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.

¹⁰Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ.

Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

¹¹Greet Herodion, my fellow countryman.

Greet those from the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

¹²Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, women who have worked hard in the Lord.

Greet my beloved Persis, who has worked very hard in the Lord.

¹³Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.

¹⁴Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers with them.

¹⁵Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them.

¹⁶Greet one another with a holy kiss.

All the churches of Christ send you greetings.

Avoid Divisions

¹⁷Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Turn away from them. ¹⁸For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

¹⁹Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil.

²⁰The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Greetings from Paul’s Fellow Workers

²¹Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you greetings, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow countrymen.

²²I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.

²³Gaius, who has hosted me and all the church, sends you greetings.

Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you greetings, as does our brother Quartus.

Doxology

²⁵Now to Him who is able to strengthen you by my gospel and by the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery concealed for ages past ²⁶but now revealed and made known through the writings of the prophets by the command of the eternal God, in order to lead all nations to the obedience that comes from faith — ²⁷to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Faith and Assurance

¹Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see. ²This is why the ancients were commended.

³By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

The Faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah

⁴By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God gave approval to his gifts. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

⁵By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

⁶And without faith it is impossible to please God. For anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

⁷By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

The Faith of Abraham and Sarah

⁸By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

¹¹By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised. ¹²And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

¹³All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

¹⁴Now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son, ¹⁸even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” ¹⁹Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.

The Faith of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph

²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future.

²¹By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

²²By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his bones.

The Faith of Moses

²³By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were unafraid of the king’s edict.

²⁴By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin. ²⁶He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward.

²⁷By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible. ²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn.

²⁹By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were drowned.

The Faith of Many

³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

³¹By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.

³²And what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.

³⁵Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

³⁷They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated. ³⁸The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. ⁴⁰God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.