One Year Bible.

You Have Searched Me and Known Me

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

O LORD, You have searched me

and known me.

²You know when I sit and when I rise;

You understand my thoughts from afar.

³You search out my path and my lying down;

You are aware of all my ways.

⁴Even before a word is on my tongue,

You know all about it, O LORD.

⁵You hem me in behind and before;

You have laid Your hand upon me.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

⁷Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?

Where can I flee from Your presence?

⁸If I ascend to the heavens, You are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle by the farthest sea,

¹⁰even there Your hand will guide me;

Your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,

and the light become night around me”—

¹²even the darkness is not dark to You,

but the night shines like the day,

for darkness is as light to You.

¹³For You formed my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴I praise You,

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are Your works,

and I know this very well.

¹⁵My frame was not hidden from You

when I was made in secret,

when I was woven together

in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all my days were written in Your book

and ordained for me

before one of them came to be.

¹⁷How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God,

how vast is their sum!

¹⁸If I were to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand;

and when I awake,

I am still with You.

¹⁹O God, that You would slay the wicked—

away from me, you bloodthirsty men—

²⁰who speak of You deceitfully;

Your enemies take Your name in vain.

²¹Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD,

and detest those who rise against You?

²²I hate them with perfect hatred;

I count them as my enemies.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my concerns.

²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me;

lead me in the way everlasting.

The Demand for a Sign

¹Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven.

²But He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘The weather will be fair, for the sky is red,’ ³and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but not the signs of the times. ⁴A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees

⁵When they crossed to the other side, the disciples forgot to take bread. ⁶“Watch out!” Jesus told them. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷They discussed this among themselves and concluded, “It is because we did not bring any bread.”

⁸Aware of their conversation, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you debating among yourselves about having no bread? ⁹Do you still not understand? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹⁰Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹¹How do you not understand that I was not telling you about bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

¹²Then they understood that He was not telling them to beware of the leaven used in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter’s Confession of Christ

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He questioned His disciples: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

²⁰Then He admonished the disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Christ.

Christ’s Passion Foretold

²¹From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

²²Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!”

²³But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Take Up Your Cross

²⁴Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. ²⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.

²⁸Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Faith and Belief

¹O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ²I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

³Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh? ⁴Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing? ⁵Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?

⁶So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ⁷Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham. ⁸The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” ⁹So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Christ Has Redeemed Us

¹⁰All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” ¹¹Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” ¹²The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” ¹⁴He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

The Purpose of the Law

¹⁵Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended. ¹⁶The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.

¹⁷What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise. ¹⁸For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.

¹⁹Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator. ²⁰A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one.

²¹Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law. ²²But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.

²³Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. ²⁴So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

Sons through Faith in Christ

²⁶You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

Sons and Heirs

¹What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything. ²He is subject to guardians and trustees until the date set by his father.

³So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world. ⁴But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. ⁶And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” ⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.

Paul’s Concern for the Galatians

⁸Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. ⁹But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? ¹⁰You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! ¹¹I fear for you, that my efforts for you may have been in vain. ¹²I beg you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong.

¹³You know that it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. ¹⁴And although my illness was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself. ¹⁵What then has become of your blessing? For I can testify that, if it were possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

¹⁷Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. ¹⁸Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose — at any time, and not only when I am with you.

¹⁹My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, ²⁰how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.

Hagar and Sarah

²¹Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. ²³His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise.

²⁴These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar. ²⁵Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren woman,

who bears no children;

break forth and cry aloud,

you who have never travailed;

because more are the children of the desolate woman

than of her who has a husband.”

²⁸Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. ²⁹At that time, however, the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit. It is the same now.

³⁰But what does the Scripture say? “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” ³¹Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.