One Year Bible.

The Hurtful Tongue

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

Hear, O God, my voice of complaint;

preserve my life from dread of the enemy.

²Hide me from the scheming of the wicked,

from the mob of workers of iniquity,

³who sharpen their tongues like swords

and aim their bitter words like arrows,

⁴ambushing the innocent in seclusion,

shooting suddenly, without fear.

⁵They hold fast to their evil purpose;

they speak of hiding their snares.

“Who will see them?” they say.

⁶They devise injustice and say,

“We have perfected a secret plan.”

For the inner man and the heart are mysterious.

⁷But God will shoot them with arrows;

suddenly they will be wounded.

⁸They will be made to stumble,

their own tongues turned against them.

All who see will shake their heads.

⁹Then all mankind will fear

and proclaim the work of God;

so they will ponder what He has done.

¹⁰Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD

and take refuge in Him;

let all the upright in heart exult.

Praise Awaits God in Zion

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A song.

Praise awaits You, O God, in Zion;

to You our vows will be fulfilled.

²O You who listen to prayer,

all people will come to You.

³When iniquities prevail against me,

You atone for our transgressions.

⁴Blessed is the one You choose

and bring near to dwell in Your courts!

We are filled with the goodness of Your house,

the holiness of Your temple.

⁵With awesome deeds of righteousness You answer us,

O God of our salvation,

the hope of all the ends of the earth

and of the farthest seas.

⁶You formed the mountains by Your power,

having girded Yourself with might.

⁷You stilled the roaring of the seas,

the pounding of their waves,

and the tumult of the nations.

⁸Those who live far away fear Your wonders;

You make the dawn and sunset shout for joy.

⁹You attend to the earth and water it;

with abundance You enrich it.

The streams of God are full of water,

for You prepare our grain

by providing for the earth.

¹⁰You soak its furrows and level its ridges;

You soften it with showers and bless its growth.

¹¹You crown the year with Your bounty,

and Your paths overflow with plenty.

¹²The pastures of the wilderness overflow;

the hills are robed with joy.

¹³The pastures are clothed with flocks,

and the valleys are decked with grain.

They shout in triumph;

indeed, they sing.

Paul’s Hardships and God’s Grace

¹As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. ²For He says:

“In the time of favor I heard you,

and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!

³We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no one can discredit our ministry.

⁴Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships, and calamities; ⁵in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in labor, sleepless nights, and hunger; ⁶in purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; ⁷in truthful speech and in the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; ⁸through glory and dishonor, slander and praise; viewed as imposters, yet genuine; ⁹unknown, yet well-known; dying, and yet we live on; punished, yet not killed; ¹⁰sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our hearts are open wide. ¹²It is not our affection, but yours, that is restrained. ¹³As a fair exchange— I speak as to my children— open wide your hearts also.

Do Not Be Unequally Yoked

¹⁴Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? ¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell with them

and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

and they will be My people.”

¹⁷“Therefore come out from among them

and be separate, says the Lord.

Touch no unclean thing,

and I will receive you.”

¹⁸And:

“I will be a Father to you,

and you will be My sons and daughters,

says the Lord Almighty.”

Jerusalem’s New Settlers

¹Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in the holy city of Jerusalem, while the remaining nine were to dwell in their own towns. ²And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

³These are the heads of the provinces who settled in Jerusalem. (In the villages of Judah, however, each lived on his own property in their towns— the Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and descendants of Solomon’s servants— ⁴while some of the descendants of Judah and Benjamin settled in Jerusalem.)

From the descendants of Judah:

Athaiah son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, a descendant of Perez; ⁵and Maaseiah son of Baruch, the son of Col-hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, a descendant of Shelah. ⁶The descendants of Perez who settled in Jerusalem totaled 468 men of valor.

⁷From the descendants of Benjamin:

Sallu son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah; ⁸and his followers Gabbai and Sallai — 928 men. ⁹Joel son of Zichri was the officer over them, and Judah son of Hassenuah was over the Second District of the city.

¹⁰From the priests:

Jedaiah son of Joiarib; Jachin; ¹¹Seraiah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the chief official of the house of God; ¹²and their associates who did the work at the temple — 822 men;

Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah; ¹³and his associates, the leaders of families — 242 men;

Amashai son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer; ¹⁴and his associates — 128 mighty men of valor. Zabdiel son of Haggedolim was their overseer.

¹⁵From the Levites:

Shemaiah son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni; ¹⁶Shabbethai and Jozabad, two leaders of the Levites, who supervised the work outside the house of God; ¹⁷Mattaniah son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who led in thanksgiving and prayer; Bakbukiah, second among his associates; and Abda son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. ¹⁸The Levites in the holy city totaled 284.

¹⁹And the gatekeepers:

Akkub, Talmon, and their associates, who kept watch at the gates — 172 men.

Residents Outside Jerusalem

²⁰The rest of the Israelites, with the priests and Levites, were in all the villages of Judah, each on his own inheritance. ²¹The temple servants lived on the hill of Ophel, with Ziha and Gishpa over them.

²²Now the overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica. He was one of Asaph’s descendants, who were the singers in charge of the service of the house of God. ²³For there was a command from the king concerning the singers, an ordinance regulating their daily activities. ²⁴Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, a descendant of Zerah son of Judah, was the king’s agent in every matter concerning the people.

²⁵As for the villages with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath-arba, Dibon, Jekabzeel, and their villages; ²⁶in Jeshua, Moladah, and Beth-pelet; ²⁷in Hazar-shual; in Beersheba and its villages; ²⁸in Ziklag; in Meconah and its villages; ²⁹in En-rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth, ³⁰Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages; in Lachish and its fields; and in Azekah and its villages. So they settled from Beersheba all the way to the Valley of Hinnom.

³¹The descendants of Benjamin from Geba lived in Michmash, Aija, and Bethel with its villages; ³²in Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, ³³Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, ³⁴Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, ³⁵Lod, and Ono; and in the Valley of the Craftsmen.

³⁶And some divisions of the Levites of Judah settled in Benjamin.

The Priests and Levites Who Returned

¹Now these are the priests and Levites who went up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua:

Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

²Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

³Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

⁴Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah,

⁵Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

⁶Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,

⁷Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah.

These were the leaders of the priests and their associates in the days of Jeshua.

⁸The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who, with his associates, led the songs of thanksgiving. ⁹Bakbukiah and Unni, their associates, stood across from them in the services.

¹⁰Jeshua was the father of Joiakim,

Joiakim was the father of Eliashib,

Eliashib was the father of Joiada,

¹¹Joiada was the father of Jonathan,

and Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.

¹²In the days of Joiakim, these were the heads of the priestly families:

of the family of Seraiah, Meraiah;

of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

¹³of Ezra, Meshullam;

of Amariah, Jehohanan;

¹⁴of Malluchi, Jonathan;

of Shebaniah, Joseph;

¹⁵of Harim, Adna;

of Meraioth, Helkai;

¹⁶of Iddo, Zechariah;

of Ginnethon, Meshullam;

¹⁷of Abijah, Zichri;

of Miniamin and of Moadiah, Piltai;

¹⁸of Bilgah, Shammua;

of Shemaiah, Jonathan;

¹⁹of Joiarib, Mattenai;

of Jedaiah, Uzzi;

²⁰of Sallai, Kallai;

of Amok, Eber;

²¹of Hilkiah, Hashabiah;

and of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

²²In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, during the reign of Darius the Persian, the heads of the families of the Levites and priests were recorded.

²³As for the descendants of Levi, the family heads up to the days of Johanan son of Eliashib were recorded in the Book of the Chronicles. ²⁴The leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel, along with their associates, who stood across from them to give praise and thanksgiving as one section alternated with the other, as prescribed by David the man of God.

²⁵Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the gates. ²⁶They served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.

The Dedication of the Wall

²⁷At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from all their homes and brought to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres. ²⁸The singers were also assembled from the region around Jerusalem, from the villages of the Netophathites, ²⁹from Beth-gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for they had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. ³⁰After the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

³¹Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall, and I appointed two great thanksgiving choirs. One was to proceed along the top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate. ³²Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed, ³³along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, ³⁵and some of the priests with trumpets, and also Zechariah son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph, ³⁶and his associates— Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani— with the musical instruments prescribed by David the man of God. Ezra the scribe led the procession. ³⁷At the Fountain Gate they went directly up the steps of the City of David on the ascent to the wall and passed above the house of David to the Water Gate on the east.

³⁸The second thanksgiving choir proceeded to the left, and I followed it with half the people along the top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall, ³⁹over the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. And they stopped at the Gate of the Guard.

⁴⁰The two thanksgiving choirs then stood in the house of God, as did I, along with the half of the officials accompanying me, ⁴¹as well as the priests with their trumpets — Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah — ⁴²and also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. Then the choirs sang out under the direction of Jezrahiah.

⁴³On that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.

Provisions for Temple Worship

⁴⁴And on that same day men were appointed over the rooms that housed the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tithes. The portions specified by the Law for the priests and Levites were gathered into these storerooms from the fields of the villages, because Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who were serving.

⁴⁵They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had prescribed. ⁴⁶For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

⁴⁷So in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside daily portions for the Levites, and the Levites set aside daily portions for the descendants of Aaron.