One Year Bible

Jeremiah 12:1-14:10

The Prosperity of the Wicked

1 Righteous 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?

2 You planted them, and they have taken root.

They have grown and produced fruit.

You are ever on their lips,

but far from their hearts.

3 But 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.

4 How 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?

6 Even 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.

7 I have forsaken My house;

I have abandoned My inheritance.

I have given the beloved of My soul

into the hands of her enemies.

8 My inheritance has become to Me

like a lion in the forest.

She has roared against Me;

therefore I hate her.

9 Is 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.

10 Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard;

they have trampled My plot of ground.

They have turned My pleasant field

into a desolate wasteland.

11 They have made it a desolation;

desolate before Me, it mourns.

All the land is laid waste,

but no man takes it to heart.

12 Over 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.

13 They 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

(Amos 1:1–15)

14 This 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.

16 And 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.”

The Linen Loincloth

1 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”

2 So I bought a loincloth in accordance with the word of the Lord, and I put it around my waist.

3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: 4“Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to Perath and hide it there in a crevice of the rocks.”

5 So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord had commanded me.

6 Many days later the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to Perath, and get the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7So I went to Perath and dug up the loincloth, and I took it from the place where I had hidden it. But now it was ruined— of no use at all.

8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9“This is what the Lord says: In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10These evil people, who refuse to listen to My words, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who go after other gods to serve and worship them, they will be like this loincloth — of no use at all.

11 For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I have made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to Me, declares the Lord, so that they might be My people for My renown and praise and glory. But they did not listen.

The Wineskins

12 Therefore you are to tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every wineskin shall be filled with wine.’

And when they reply, ‘Don’t we surely know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ 13then you are to tell them that this is what the Lord says: ‘I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land— the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem. 14I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”

Captivity Threatened

15 Listen and give heed. Do not be arrogant,

for the Lord has spoken.

16 Give glory to the Lord your God

before He brings darkness,

before your feet stumble

on the dusky mountains.

You wait for light,

but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.

17 But if you do not listen,

I will weep in secret because of your pride.

My eyes will overflow with tears,

because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

18 Say to the king

and to the queen mother:

“Take a lowly seat,

for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.”

19 The cities of the Negev have been shut tight,

and no one can open them.

All Judah has been carried into exile,

wholly taken captive.

20 Lift up your eyes and see

those coming from the north.

Where is the flock entrusted to you,

the sheep that were your pride?

21 What will you say when He sets over you

close allies whom you yourself trained?

Will not pangs of anguish grip you,

as they do a woman in labor?

22 And if you ask yourself,

“Why has this happened to me?”

It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity

that your skirts have been stripped off

and your body has been exposed.

23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin,

or the leopard his spots?

Neither are you able to do good —

you who are accustomed to doing evil.

24“I will scatter you like chaff

driven by the desert wind.

25 This is your lot,

the portion I have measured to you,”

declares the Lord,

“because you have forgotten Me

and trusted in falsehood.

26 So I will pull your skirts up over your face,

that your shame may be seen.

27 Your adulteries and lustful neighings,

your shameless prostitution

on the hills and in the fields —

I have seen your detestable acts.

Woe to you, O Jerusalem!

How long will you remain unclean?”

Drought, Famine, Sword, and Plague

1 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

2“Judah mourns

and her gates languish.

Her people wail for the land,

and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

3 The nobles send their servants for water;

they go to the cisterns, but find no water;

their jars return empty.

They are ashamed and humiliated;

they cover their heads.

4 The ground is cracked

because no rain has fallen on the land.

The farmers are ashamed;

they cover their heads.

5 Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn

because there is no grass.

6 Wild donkeys stand on barren heights;

they pant for air like jackals;

their eyes fail for lack of pasture.”

7 Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD,

act for the sake of Your name.

Indeed, our rebellions are many;

we have sinned against You.

8 O Hope of Israel,

its Savior in times of distress,

why are You like a stranger in the land,

like a traveler who stays but a night?

9 Why are You like a man taken by surprise,

like a warrior powerless to save?

Yet You are among us, O LORD,

and we are called by Your name.

Do not forsake us!

10 This is what the Lord says about this people:

“Truly they love to wander;

they have not restrained their feet.

So the Lord does not accept them;

He will now remember their iniquity

and punish them for their sins.”

1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:8

Greetings to the Thessalonians

(2 Thessalonians 1:1–4)

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace to you.

2 We always thank God for all of you, remembering you in our prayers 3and continually recalling before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

4 Brothers who are beloved by God, we know that He has chosen you, 5because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with great conviction — just as you know we lived among you for your sake. 6And you became imitators of us and of the Lord when you welcomed the message with the joy of the Holy Spirit, in spite of your great suffering.

7 As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8For not only did the message of the Lord ring out from you to Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone out to every place, so that we have no need to say anything more. 9For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God 10and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead — Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.

Paul’s Ministry

1 You yourselves know, brothers, that our visit to you was not in vain. 2As you are aware, we had already endured suffering and shameful treatment in Philippi. But in the face of strong opposition, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God.

3 For our appeal does not arise from deceit or ulterior motives or trickery. 4Instead, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, not in order to please men but God, who examines our hearts. 5As you know, we never used words of flattery or any pretext for greed. God is our witness! 6Nor did we seek praise from you or from anyone else, although as apostles of Christ we had authority to demand it.

7 On the contrary, we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother caring for her children. 8We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us.

Psalm 79:1-13

A Prayer for Deliverance

(Psalm 74:1–23; Jeremiah 52:1–11)

1 A Psalm of Asaph.

The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance;

they have defiled Your holy temple

and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

2 They have given the corpses of Your servants

as food to the birds of the air,

the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.

3 They have poured out their blood like water

all around Jerusalem,

and there is no one to bury the dead.

4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,

a scorn and derision to those around us.

5 How long, O LORD?

Will You be angry forever?

Will Your jealousy burn like fire?

6 Pour out Your wrath on the nations

that do not acknowledge You,

on the kingdoms

that refuse to call on Your name,

7 for they have devoured Jacob

and devastated his homeland.

8 Do not hold past sins against us;

let Your compassion come quickly,

for we are brought low.

9 Help us, O God of our salvation,

for the glory of Your name;

deliver us and atone for our sins,

for the sake of Your name.

10 Why should the nations ask,

“Where is their God?”

Before our eyes, make known among the nations

Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.

11 May the groans of the captives reach You;

by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.

12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors

sevenfold the reproach they hurled at You, O Lord.

13 Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture,

will thank You forever;

from generation to generation

we will declare Your praise.

Proverbs 24:30-34

30 I went past the field of a slacker

and by the vineyard of a man lacking judgment.

31 Thorns had grown up everywhere,

thistles had covered the ground,

and the stone wall was broken down.

32 I observed and took it to heart;

I looked and received instruction:

33 A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest,

34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and need like a bandit.

sozo church

One Year Bible

Jeremiah 12:1-14:10

1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:8

Psalm 79:1-13

Proverbs 24:30-34