One Year Bible.

The Presence of the LORD

¹A Miktam of David.

Preserve me, O God,

for in You I take refuge.

²I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord;

apart from You I have no good thing.”

³As for the saints in the land,

they are the excellence

in whom all my delight resides.

⁴Sorrows will multiply

to those who chase other gods.

I will not pour out their libations of blood,

or speak their names with my lips.

⁵The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;

You have made my lot secure.

⁶The lines of my boundary have fallen in pleasant places;

surely my inheritance is delightful.

⁷I will bless the LORD who counsels me;

even at night my conscience instructs me.

⁸I have set the LORD always before me.

Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will dwell securely.

¹⁰For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.

¹¹You have made known to me the path of life;

You will fill me with joy in Your presence,

with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

The Road to Damascus

¹Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest ²and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

³As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”

⁵“Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied. ⁶“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the voice but did not see anyone. ⁸Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. ⁹For three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink anything.

Ananias Baptizes Saul

¹⁰In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Here I am, Lord,” he answered.

¹¹“Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. ¹²In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. ¹⁴And now he is here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”

¹⁵“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel. ¹⁶I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”

¹⁷So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized, ¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.

Saul Preaches at Damascus

²⁰Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.”

²¹All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

²²But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.

The Escape from Damascus

²³After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him, ²⁴but Saul learned of their plot. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him. ²⁵One night, however, his disciples took him and lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall.

Saul in Jerusalem

²⁶When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. ²⁷Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and described how Saul had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him on the road to Damascus, and how Saul had spoken boldly in that city in the name of Jesus.

²⁸So Saul stayed with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem and speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. ³⁰When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

The Healing of Aeneas

³¹Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced a time of peace. It grew in strength and numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.

³²As Peter traveled throughout the area, he went to visit the saints in Lydda. ³³There he found a man named Aeneas who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. ³⁴“Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and put away your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up, ³⁵and all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

The Raising of Tabitha

³⁶In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity. ³⁷At that time, however, she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upper room. ³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to urge him, “Come to us without delay.”

³⁹So Peter got up and went with them. On his arrival, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood around him, weeping and showing him the tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

⁴⁰Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down and prayed, and turning toward her body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. ⁴¹Peter took her by the hand and helped her up. Then he called the saints and widows and presented her to them alive.

⁴²This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. ⁴³And Peter stayed for several days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.

The Call of Jeremiah

¹These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.

²The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, ³and through the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

⁴The word of the LORD came to me, saying:

⁵“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I set you apart

and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

⁶“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!”

⁷But the LORD told me:

“Do not say,

‘I am only a child.’

For to everyone I send you,

you must go,

and all that I command you,

you must speak.

⁸Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,”

declares the LORD.

⁹Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me:

“Behold, I have put My words

in your mouth.

¹⁰See, I have appointed you today

over nations and kingdoms

to uproot and tear down,

to destroy and overthrow,

to build and plant.”

¹¹And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”

“I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

¹²“You have observed correctly,” said the LORD, “for I am watching over My word to accomplish it.”

¹³Again the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see?”

“I see a boiling pot,” I replied, “and it is tilting toward us from the north.”

¹⁴Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster from the north will be poured out on all who live in the land. ¹⁵For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD.

“Their kings will come and set up their thrones

at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.

They will attack all her surrounding walls

and all the other cities of Judah.

¹⁶I will pronounce My judgments against them

for all their wickedness,

because they have forsaken Me,

and they have burned incense to other gods

and worshiped the works of their own hands.

¹⁷Get yourself ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them, or I will terrify you before them. ¹⁸Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land— against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. ¹⁹They will fight against you but will never overcome you, since I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.

Israel Has Forsaken God

¹Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says:

‘I remember the devotion of your youth,

your love as a bride,

how you followed Me in the wilderness,

in a land not sown.

³Israel was holy to the LORD,

the firstfruits of His harvest.

All who devoured her

were found guilty;

disaster came upon them,’”

declares the LORD.

⁴Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all you families of the house of Israel. ⁵This is what the LORD says:

“What fault did your fathers find in Me

that they strayed so far from Me?

They followed worthless idols,

and became worthless themselves.

⁶They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD

who brought us up from the land of Egypt,

who led us through the wilderness,

through a land of deserts and pits,

a land of drought and darkness,

a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

⁷I brought you into a fertile land

to eat its fruit and bounty,

but you came and defiled My land

and made My inheritance detestable.

⁸The priests did not ask,

‘Where is the LORD?’

The experts in the law no longer knew Me,

and the leaders rebelled against Me.

The prophets prophesied by Baal

and followed useless idols.

⁹Therefore, I will contend with you again,

declares the LORD,

and I will bring a case

against your children’s children.

¹⁰Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus

and take a look;

send to Kedar and consider carefully;

see if there has ever been anything like this:

¹¹Has a nation ever changed its gods?

(Yet they are not gods at all.)

But My people have exchanged their Glory

for useless idols.

¹²Be stunned by this, O heavens;

be shocked and utterly appalled,”

declares the LORD.

¹³“For My people have committed two evils:

They have forsaken Me,

the fountain of living water,

and they have dug their own cisterns —

broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

The Consequence of Israel’s Sin

¹⁴Is Israel a slave?

Was he born into slavery?

Why then has he become prey?

¹⁵The young lions have roared at him;

they have sounded their voices.

They have laid waste his land;

his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.

¹⁶The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes

have shaved the crown of your head.

¹⁷Have you not brought this on yourself

by forsaking the LORD your God

when He led you in the way?

¹⁸Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt

to drink the waters of the Nile?

What will you gain on your way to Assyria

to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

¹⁹Your own evil will discipline you;

your own apostasies will reprimand you.

Consider and realize

how evil and bitter it is

for you to forsake the LORD your God

and to have no fear of Me,”

declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

²⁰“For long ago you broke your yoke

and tore off your chains,

saying, ‘I will not serve!’

Indeed, on every high hill

and under every green tree

you lay down as a prostitute.

²¹I had planted you like a choice vine

from the very best seed.

How could you turn yourself before Me

into a rotten, wild vine?

²²Although you wash with lye

and use an abundance of soap,

the stain of your guilt

is still before Me,”

declares the Lord GOD.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness

²³“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;

I have not run after the Baals’?

Look at your behavior in the valley;

acknowledge what you have done.

You are a swift young she-camel

galloping here and there,

²⁴a wild donkey at home in the wilderness,

sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire.

Who can restrain her passion?

All who seek her need not weary themselves;

in mating season they will find her.

²⁵You should have kept your feet from going bare

and your throat from being thirsty.

But you said, ‘It is hopeless!

For I love foreign gods,

and I must go after them.’

²⁶As the thief is ashamed when he is caught,

so the house of Israel is disgraced.

They, their kings, their officials,

their priests, and their prophets

²⁷say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’

and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’

They have turned their backs to Me

and not their faces.

Yet in the time of trouble, they say,

‘Rise up and save us!’

²⁸But where are the gods you made for yourselves?

Let them rise up in your time of trouble

and save you if they can;

for your gods are as numerous

as your cities, O Judah.

²⁹Why do you bring a case against Me?

You have all rebelled against Me,”

declares the LORD.

³⁰“I have struck your sons in vain;

they accepted no discipline.

Your own sword has devoured your prophets

like a voracious lion.”

³¹You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD:

“Have I been a wilderness to Israel

or a land of dense darkness?

Why do My people say,

‘We are free to roam;

we will come to You no more’?

³²Does a maiden forget her jewelry

or a bride her wedding sash?

Yet My people have forgotten Me

for days without number.

³³How skillfully you pursue love!

Even the most immoral of women

could learn from your ways.

³⁴Moreover, your skirts are stained

with the blood of the innocent poor,

though you did not find them breaking in.

But in spite of all these things

³⁵you say, ‘I am innocent.

Surely His anger will turn from me.’

Behold, I will judge you,

because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

³⁶How impulsive you are,

constantly changing your ways!

You will be disappointed by Egypt

just as you were by Assyria.

³⁷Moreover, you will leave that place

with your hands on your head,

for the LORD has rejected those you trust;

you will not prosper by their help.”