One Year Bible.

How Long, O LORD?

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

How long, O LORD?

Will You forget me forever?

How long will You hide Your face from me?

²How long must I wrestle in my soul,

with sorrow in my heart each day?

How long will my enemy dominate me?

³Consider me and respond, O LORD my God.

Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death,

⁴lest my enemy say, “I have overcome him,”

and my foes rejoice when I fall.

⁵But I have trusted in Your loving devotion;

my heart will rejoice in Your salvation.

⁶I will sing to the LORD,

for He has been good to me.

The Holy Spirit Received at Ephesus

¹While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the interior and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples ²and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”

“No,” they answered, “we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³“Into what, then, were you baptized?” Paul asked.

“The baptism of John,” they replied.

⁴Paul explained: “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the One coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

⁵On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. ⁷There were about twelve men in all.

Paul Ministers in Ephesus

⁸Then Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. ⁹But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰This continued for two years, so that everyone who lived in the province of Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.

¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul, ¹²so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.

Seven Sons of Sceva

¹³Now there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, “I command you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

¹⁵But one day the evil spirit responded, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” ¹⁶Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. The attack was so violent that they ran out of the house naked and wounded.

¹⁷This became known to all the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, and fear came over all of them. So the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. ¹⁸Many who had believed now came forward, confessing and disclosing their deeds. ¹⁹And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone. When the value of the books was calculated, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. ²⁰So the word of the Lord powerfully continued to spread and prevail.

The Riot in Ephesus

²¹After these things had happened, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well.” ²²He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed for a time in the province of Asia.

²³About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. ²⁴It began with a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis, bringing much business to the craftsmen.

²⁵Demetrius assembled the craftsmen, along with the workmen in related trades. “Men,” he said, “you know that this business is our source of prosperity. ²⁶And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, this Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. ²⁷There is danger not only that our business will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and her majesty deposed — she who is worshiped by all the province of Asia and the whole world.”

²⁸When the men heard this, they were enraged and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹Soon the whole city was in disarray. They rushed together into the theatre, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.

³⁰Paul wanted to go before the assembly, but the disciples would not allow him. ³¹Even some of Paul’s friends who were officials of the province of Asia sent word to him, begging him not to venture into the theatre.

³²Meanwhile the assembly was in turmoil. Some were shouting one thing and some another, and most of them did not even know why they were there. ³³The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward to explain himself, and he motioned for silence so he could make his defense to the people. ³⁴But when they realized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵Finally the city clerk quieted the crowd and declared, “Men of Ephesus, doesn’t everyone know that the city of Ephesus is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? ³⁶Since these things are undeniable, you ought to be calm and not do anything rash. ³⁷For you have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed our temple nor blasphemed our goddess.

³⁸So if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open and proconsuls are available. Let them bring charges against one another there. ³⁹But if you are seeking anything beyond this, it must be settled in a legal assembly. ⁴⁰For we are in jeopardy of being charged with rioting for today’s events, and we have no justification to account for this commotion.”

⁴¹After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

Jeremiah’s Message to Baruch

¹This is the word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch son of Neriah when he wrote these words on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:

²“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: ³You have said, ‘Woe is me because the LORD has added sorrow to my pain! I am worn out with groaning and have found no rest.’”

⁴Thus Jeremiah was to say to Baruch: “This is what the LORD says: Throughout the land I will demolish what I have built and uproot what I have planted. ⁵But as for you, do you seek great things for yourself? Stop seeking! For I will bring disaster on every living creature, declares the LORD, but wherever you go, I will grant your life as a spoil of war.”

Judgment on Egypt

¹This is the word of the LORD about the nations— the word that came to Jeremiah the prophet ²concerning Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah:

³“Deploy your shields, small and large;

advance for battle!

⁴Harness the horses; mount the steeds;

take your positions with helmets on!

Polish your spears;

put on armor!

⁵Why am I seeing this?

They are terrified,

they are retreating;

their warriors are defeated,

they flee in haste without looking back;

terror is on every side!”

declares the LORD.

⁶“The swift cannot flee,

and the warrior cannot escape!

In the north by the River Euphrates

they stumble and fall.

⁷Who is this, rising like the Nile,

like rivers whose waters churn?

⁸Egypt rises like the Nile,

and its waters churn like rivers,

boasting, ‘I will rise and cover the earth;

I will destroy the cities and their people.’

⁹Advance, O horses! Race furiously, O chariots!

Let the warriors come forth—

Cush and Put carrying their shields,

men of Lydia drawing the bow.

¹⁰For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of Hosts,

a day of vengeance against His foes.

The sword will devour until it is satisfied,

until it is quenched with their blood.

For the Lord GOD of Hosts will hold a sacrifice

in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.

¹¹Go up to Gilead for balm,

O Virgin Daughter of Egypt!

In vain you try many remedies,

but for you there is no healing.

¹²The nations have heard of your shame,

and your outcry fills the earth,

because warrior stumbles over warrior

and both of them have fallen together.”

¹³This is the word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:

¹⁴“Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol;

proclaim it in Memphis and Tahpanhes:

‘Take your positions and prepare yourself,

for the sword devours those around you.’

¹⁵Why have your warriors been laid low?

They cannot stand, for the LORD has thrust them down.

¹⁶They continue to stumble;

indeed, they have fallen over one another.

They say, ‘Get up! Let us return to our people

and to the land of our birth,

away from the sword of the oppressor.’

¹⁷There they will cry out:

‘Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise;

he has let the appointed time pass him by.’

¹⁸As surely as I live, declares the King,

whose name is the LORD of Hosts,

there will come one who is like Tabor among the mountains

and like Carmel by the sea.

¹⁹Pack your bags for exile,

O daughter dwelling in Egypt!

For Memphis will be laid waste,

destroyed and uninhabited.

²⁰Egypt is a beautiful heifer,

but a gadfly from the north is coming against her.

²¹Even the mercenaries among her

are like fattened calves.

They too will turn back;

together they will flee, they will not stand their ground,

for the day of calamity is coming upon them —

the time of their punishment.

²²Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent,

for the enemy will advance in force;

with axes they will come against her

like woodsmen cutting down trees.

²³They will chop down her forest, declares the LORD,

dense though it may be,

for they are more numerous than locusts;

they cannot be counted.

²⁴The Daughter of Egypt will be put to shame;

she will be delivered into the hands of the people of the north.”

²⁵The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I am about to punish Amon god of Thebes, along with Pharaoh, Egypt with her gods and kings, and those who trust in Pharaoh. ²⁶I will deliver them into the hands of those who seek their lives— of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. But after this, Egypt will be inhabited as in days of old, declares the LORD.

²⁷But you, O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid,

and do not be dismayed, O Israel.

For I will surely save you out of a distant place,

your descendants from the land of their captivity!

Jacob will return to quiet and ease,

with no one to make him afraid.

²⁸And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid,

declares the LORD, for I am with you.

Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have banished you,

I will not completely destroy you.

Yet I will discipline you justly,

and will by no means leave you unpunished.”

Judgment on the Philistines

¹This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines before Pharaoh struck down Gaza. ²This is what the LORD says:

“See how the waters are rising from the north

and becoming an overflowing torrent.

They will overflow the land and its fullness,

the cities and their inhabitants.

The people will cry out,

and all who dwell in the land will wail

³at the sound of the galloping hooves of stallions,

the rumbling of chariots,

and the clatter of their wheels.

The fathers will not turn back for their sons;

their hands will hang limp.

⁴For the day has come

to destroy all the Philistines,

to cut off from Tyre and Sidon

every remaining ally.

Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines,

the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.

⁵The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning;

Ashkelon will be silenced.

O remnant of their valley,

how long will you gash yourself?

⁶‘Alas, O sword of the LORD,

how long until you rest?

Return to your sheath;

cease and be still!’

⁷How can it rest

when the LORD has commanded it?

He has appointed it against Ashkelon

and the shore of its coastland.”