One Year Bible.

Laws for Peace Offerings

¹“If one’s offering is a peace offering and he offers an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he must present it without blemish before the LORD. ²He is to lay his hand on the head of the offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall splatter the blood on all sides of the altar.

³From the peace offering he is to bring a food offering to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ⁴both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys. ⁵Then Aaron’s sons are to burn it on the altar atop the burnt offering that is on the burning wood, as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

⁶If, however, one’s peace offering to the LORD is from the flock, he must present a male or female without blemish.

⁷If he is presenting a lamb for his offering, he must present it before the LORD. ⁸He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons shall splatter its blood on all sides of the altar.

⁹And from the peace offering he shall bring a food offering to the LORD consisting of its fat: the entire fat tail cut off close to the backbone, the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ¹⁰both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys. ¹¹Then the priest is to burn them on the altar as food, a food offering to the LORD.

¹²If one’s offering is a goat, he is to present it before the LORD. ¹³He must lay his hand on its head and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons shall splatter its blood on all sides of the altar.

¹⁴And from his offering he shall present a food offering to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ¹⁵both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys. ¹⁶Then the priest is to burn the food on the altar as a food offering, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the LORD’s.

¹⁷This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.”

Paul’s First Missionary Journey Begins

¹Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen ( who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch ), and Saul. ²While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

On Cyprus

⁴So Barnabas and Saul, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. ⁵When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. And John was with them as their helper.

⁶They traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, ⁷an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, a man of intelligence, summoned Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. ⁸But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.

⁹Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked directly at Elymas ¹⁰and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

¹²When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.

In Pisidian Antioch

¹³After setting sail from Paphos, Paul and his companions came to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. ¹⁴And from Perga, they traveled inland to Pisidian Antioch, where they entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down. ¹⁵After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent word to them: “Brothers, if you have a word of encouragement for the people, please speak.”

¹⁶Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak: “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who fear God, listen to me! ¹⁷The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers. He made them into a great people during their stay in Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out of that land. ¹⁸He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness. ¹⁹And having vanquished seven nations in Canaan, He gave their land to His people as an inheritance. ²⁰All this took about 450 years.

After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. ²¹Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. ²²After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in its entirety.’

²³From the descendants of this man, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as He promised. ²⁴Before the arrival of Jesus, John preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵As John was completing his course, he said, ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not that One. But there is One coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶Brothers, children of Abraham, and you Gentiles who fear God, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. ²⁷The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. ²⁸And though they found no ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed.

²⁹When they had carried out all that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. ³⁰But God raised Him from the dead, ³¹and for many days He was seen by those who had accompanied Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now His witnesses to our people.

³²And now we proclaim to you the good news: What God promised our fathers ³³He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:

‘You are My Son;

today I have become Your Father.’

³⁴In fact, God raised Him from the dead, never to see decay. As He has said:

‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’

³⁵So also, He says in another Psalm:

‘You will not let Your Holy One see decay.’

³⁶For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. His body was buried with his fathers and saw decay. ³⁷But the One whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.

³⁸Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. ³⁹Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. ⁴⁰Watch out, then, that what was spoken by the prophets does not happen to you:

⁴¹‘Look, you scoffers,

wonder and perish!

For I am doing a work in your days

that you would never believe,

even if someone told you.’”

A Light for the Gentiles

⁴²As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people urged them to continue this message on the next Sabbath. ⁴³After the synagogue was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴On the following Sabbath, nearly the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they blasphemously contradicted what Paul was saying.

⁴⁶Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,

to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. ⁴⁹And the word of the Lord spread throughout that region.

⁵⁰The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district. ⁵¹So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. ⁵²And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

The Sovereignty of God

¹Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. ²This is what the LORD says:

“Do not learn the ways of the nations

or be terrified by the signs in the heavens,

though the nations themselves are terrified by them.

³For the customs of the peoples are worthless;

they cut down a tree from the forest;

it is shaped with a chisel

by the hands of a craftsman.

⁴They adorn it with silver and gold

and fasten it with hammer and nails,

so that it will not totter.

⁵Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,

their idols cannot speak.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not fear them, for they can do no harm,

and neither can they do any good.”

⁶There is none like You, O LORD.

You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.

⁷Who would not fear You, O King of nations?

This is Your due.

For among all the wise men of the nations,

and in all their kingdoms,

there is none like You.

⁸But they are altogether senseless and foolish,

instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

⁹Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish,

and gold from Uphaz —

the work of a craftsman

from the hands of a goldsmith.

Their clothes are blue and purple,

all fashioned by skilled workers.

¹⁰But the LORD is the true God;

He is the living God and eternal King.

The earth quakes at His wrath,

and the nations cannot endure His indignation.

¹¹Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”

¹²The LORD made the earth by His power;

He established the world by His wisdom

and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

¹³When He thunders,

the waters in the heavens roar;

He causes the clouds to rise

from the ends of the earth.

He generates the lightning with the rain

and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

¹⁴Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge;

every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols.

For his molten images are a fraud,

and there is no breath in them.

¹⁵They are worthless, a work to be mocked.

In the time of their punishment they will perish.

¹⁶The Portion of Jacob is not like these,

for He is the Maker of all things,

and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—

the LORD of Hosts is His name.

The Coming Captivity of Judah

¹⁷Gather up your belongings from this land, you who live under siege. ¹⁸For this is what the LORD says:

“Behold, at this time I will sling out

the inhabitants of the land

and bring distress upon them

so that they may be captured.”

¹⁹Woe to me because of my brokenness;

my wound is grievous!

But I said, “This is truly my sickness,

and I must bear it.”

²⁰My tent is destroyed,

and all its ropes are snapped.

My sons have departed from me

and are no more.

I have no one left to pitch my tent

or set up my curtains.

²¹For the shepherds have become senseless;

they do not seek the LORD.

Therefore they have not prospered,

and all their flock is scattered.

²²Listen! The sound of a report is coming —

a great commotion from the land to the north.

It will make the cities of Judah a desolation,

a haunt for jackals.

²³I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own;

no one who walks directs his own steps.

²⁴Correct me, O LORD,

but only with justice —

not in Your anger,

or You will bring me to nothing.

²⁵Pour out Your wrath on the nations

that do not acknowledge You,

and on the families

that do not call on Your name.

For they have devoured Jacob;

they have consumed him and finished him off;

they have devastated his homeland.

The Broken Covenant

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ²“Listen to the words of this covenant and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. ³You must tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant, ⁴which I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey Me, and do everything I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God.’ ⁵This was in order to establish the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is to this day.”

“Amen, LORD,” I answered.

⁶Then the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear the words of this covenant and carry them out. ⁷For from the time I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt until today, I strongly warned them again and again, saying, ‘Obey My voice.’ ⁸Yet they would not obey or incline their ears, but each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant I had commanded them to follow but they did not keep.”

⁹And the LORD told me, “There is a conspiracy among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have returned to the sins of their forefathers who refused to obey My words. They have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their fathers.

¹¹Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to which they have been burning incense, but these gods certainly will not save them in their time of disaster. ¹³Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up— the altars to burn incense to Baal— are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

¹⁴As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me in their time of disaster.

¹⁵What right has My beloved in My house,

having carried out so many evil schemes?

Can consecrated meat avert your doom? When you are wicked,

then you rejoice.

¹⁶The LORD once called you a flourishing olive tree,

beautiful with well-formed fruit.

But with a mighty roar He will set it on fire,

and its branches will be consumed.

¹⁷The LORD of Hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you on account of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have brought upon themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal.”

A Plot against Jeremiah

¹⁸And the LORD informed me, so I knew.

Then You showed me their deeds.

¹⁹For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter;

I did not know that they had plotted against me:

“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit;

let us cut him off from the land of the living,

that his name may be remembered no more.”

²⁰O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously,

who examines the heart and mind,

let me see Your vengeance upon them,

for to You I have committed my cause.

²¹Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the people of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, “You must not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand.” ²²So this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. ²³There will be no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”

The Prosperity of the Wicked

¹Righteous are You, O LORD,

when I plead before You.

Yet about Your judgments

I wish to contend with You:

Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

Why do all the faithless live at ease?

²You planted them, and they have taken root.

They have grown and produced fruit.

You are ever on their lips,

but far from their hearts.

³But You know me, O LORD;

You see me and test my heart toward You.

Drag away the wicked like sheep to the slaughter

and set them apart for the day of carnage.

⁴How long will the land mourn

and the grass of every field be withered?

Because of the evil of its residents,

the animals and birds have been swept away,

for the people have said,

“He cannot see what our end will be.”

God’s Answer to Jeremiah

⁵“If you have raced with men on foot

and they have worn you out,

how can you compete with horses?

If you stumble in a peaceful land,

how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?

⁶Even your brothers—

your own father’s household—

even they have betrayed you;

even they have cried aloud against you.

Do not trust them,

though they speak well of you.

⁷I have forsaken My house;

I have abandoned My inheritance.

I have given the beloved of My soul

into the hands of her enemies.

⁸My inheritance has become to Me

like a lion in the forest.

She has roared against Me;

therefore I hate her.

⁹Is not My inheritance to Me

like a speckled bird of prey

with other birds of prey circling against her?

Go, gather all the beasts of the field;

bring them to devour her.

¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard;

they have trampled My plot of ground.

They have turned My pleasant field

into a desolate wasteland.

¹¹They have made it a desolation;

desolate before Me, it mourns.

All the land is laid waste,

but no man takes it to heart.

¹²Over all the barren heights in the wilderness

the destroyers have come,

for the sword of the LORD devours

from one end of the earth to the other.

No flesh has peace.

¹³They have sown wheat but harvested thorns.

They have exhausted themselves to no avail.

Bear the shame of your harvest

because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

A Message for Israel’s Neighbors

¹⁴This is what the LORD says: “As for all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.

¹⁶And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’— just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal— then they will be established among My people. ¹⁷But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.”