One Year Bible

Jeremiah 49:23-50:46

Judgment on Damascus

(Isaiah 17:1–14)

23 Concerning Damascus:

“Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,

for they have heard a bad report;

they are agitated like the sea;

their anxiety cannot be calmed.

24 Damascus has become feeble;

she has turned to flee.

Panic has gripped her;

anguish and pain have seized her

like a woman in labor.

25 How is the city of praise not forsaken,

the town that brings Me joy?

26 For her young men will fall in the streets,

and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,”

declares the Lord of Hosts.

27“I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;

it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.”

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated, this is what the Lord says:

“Rise up, advance against Kedar,

and destroy the people of the east!

29 They will take their tents and flocks,

their tent curtains and all their goods.

They will take their camels for themselves.

They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’

30 Run! Escape quickly!

Lie low, O residents of Hazor,”

declares the Lord,

“for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon

has drawn up a plan against you;

he has devised a strategy against you.

31 Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,

one that dwells securely,”

declares the Lord.

“They have no gates or bars;

they live alone.

32 Their camels will become plunder,

and their large herds will be spoil.

I will scatter to the wind in every direction

those who shave their temples;

I will bring calamity on them

from all sides,”

declares the Lord.

33“Hazor will become a haunt for jackals,

a desolation forever.

No one will dwell there;

no man will abide there.”

Judgment on Elam

34 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. 35This is what the Lord of Hosts says:

“Behold, I will shatter Elam’s bow,

the mainstay of their might.

36 I will bring the four winds against Elam

from the four corners of the heavens,

and I will scatter them

to all these winds.

There will not be a nation

to which Elam’s exiles will not go.

37 So I will shatter Elam before their foes,

before those who seek their lives.

I will bring disaster upon them,

even My fierce anger,”

declares the Lord.

“I will send out the sword after them

until I finish them off.

38 I will set My throne in Elam,

and destroy its king and officials,”

declares the Lord.

39“Yet in the last days,

I will restore Elam from captivity,”

declares the Lord.

A Prophecy against Babylon

1 This is the word that the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans:

2“Announce and declare to the nations;

lift up a banner and proclaim it;

hold nothing back when you say,

‘Babylon is captured;

Bel is put to shame;

Marduk is shattered,

her images are disgraced,

her idols are broken in pieces.’

3 For a nation from the north will come against her;

it will make her land a desolation.

No one will live in it;

both man and beast will flee.”

Hope for Israel and Judah

4“In those days and at that time,

declares the Lord,

the children of Israel and the children of Judah

will come together, weeping as they come,

and will seek the Lord their God.

5 They will ask the way to Zion

and turn their faces toward it.

They will come and join themselves to the Lord

in an everlasting covenant

that will never be forgotten.

6 My people are lost sheep;

their shepherds have led them astray,

causing them to roam the mountains.

They have wandered from mountain to hill;

they have forgotten their resting place.

7 All who found them devoured them,

and their enemies said,

‘We are not guilty,

for they have sinned against the Lord, their true pasture,

the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’

8 Flee from the midst of Babylon;

depart from the land of the Chaldeans;

be like the he-goats that lead the flock.

9 For behold, I stir up and bring against Babylon

an assembly of great nations from the land of the north.

They will line up against her;

from the north she will be captured.

Their arrows will be like skilled warriors

who do not return empty-handed.

10 Chaldea will be plundered;

all who plunder her will have their fill,”

declares the Lord.

Babylon’s Fall Is Certain

11“Because you rejoice,

because you sing in triumph—

you who plunder My inheritance—

because you frolic like a heifer treading grain

and neigh like stallions,

12 your mother will be greatly ashamed;

she who bore you will be disgraced.

Behold, she will be the least of the nations,

a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

13 Because of the wrath of the Lord,

she will not be inhabited;

she will become completely desolate.

All who pass through Babylon will be horrified

and will hiss at all her wounds.

14 Line up in formation around Babylon,

all you who draw the bow!

Shoot at her! Spare no arrows!

For she has sinned against the Lord.

15 Raise a war cry against her on every side!

She has thrown up her hands in surrender;

her towers have fallen;

her walls are torn down.

Since this is the vengeance of the Lord,

take out your vengeance upon her;

as she has done,

do the same to her.

16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,

and the one who wields the sickle at harvest time.

In the face of the oppressor’s sword,

each will turn to his own people,

each will flee to his own land.

Redemption for God’s People

17 Israel is a scattered flock,

chased away by lions.

The first to devour him

was the king of Assyria;

the last to crush his bones

was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

18 Therefore this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:

“I will punish the king of Babylon and his land

as I punished the king of Assyria.

19 I will return Israel to his pasture,

and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan;

his soul will be satisfied

on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.

20 In those days and at that time,

declares the Lord,

a search will be made for Israel’s guilt,

but there will be none,

and for Judah’s sins,

but they will not be found;

for I will forgive

the remnant I preserve.

The Destruction of Babylon

21 Go up against the land of Merathaim,

and against the residents of Pekod.

Kill them and devote them to destruction.

Do all that I have commanded you,”

declares the Lord.

22“The noise of battle is in the land —

the noise of great destruction.

23 How the hammer of the whole earth

lies broken and shattered!

What a horror Babylon has become

among the nations!

24 I laid a snare for you, O Babylon,

and you were caught before you knew it.

You were found and captured

because you challenged the Lord.

25 The Lord has opened His armory

and brought out His weapons of wrath,

for this is the work of the Lord GOD of Hosts

in the land of the Chaldeans.

26 Come against her

from the farthest border.

Break open her granaries;

pile her up like mounds of grain.

Devote her to destruction;

leave her no survivors.

27 Kill all her young bulls;

let them go down to the slaughter.

Woe to them, for their day has come —

the time of their punishment.

28 Listen to the fugitives and refugees

from the land of Babylon,

declaring in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,

the vengeance for His temple.

29 Summon the archers against Babylon,

all who string the bow.

Encamp all around her;

let no one escape.

Repay her according to her deeds;

do to her as she has done.

For she has defied the Lord,

the Holy One of Israel.

30 Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets,

and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,”

declares the Lord.

31“Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,”

declares the Lord GOD of Hosts,

“for your day has come,

the time when I will punish you.

32 The arrogant one will stumble and fall

with no one to pick him up.

And I will kindle a fire in his cities

to consume all those around him.”

33 This is what the Lord of Hosts says:

“The sons of Israel are oppressed,

and the sons of Judah as well.

All their captors hold them fast,

refusing to release them.

34 Their Redeemer is strong;

the Lord of Hosts is His name.

He will fervently plead their case

so that He may bring rest to the earth,

but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.

35 A sword is against the Chaldeans,

declares the Lord,

against those who live in Babylon,

and against her officials and wise men.

36 A sword is against her false prophets,

and they will become fools.

A sword is against her warriors,

and they will be filled with terror.

37 A sword is against her horses and chariots

and against all the foreigners in her midst,

and they will become like women.

A sword is against her treasuries,

and they will be plundered.

38 A drought is upon her waters,

and they will be dried up.

For it is a land of graven images,

and the people go mad over idols.

39 So the desert creatures and hyenas will live there

and ostriches will dwell there.

It will never again be inhabited

or lived in from generation to generation.

40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah

along with their neighbors,”

declares the Lord,

“no one will dwell there;

no man will abide there.

41 Behold, an army is coming from the north;

a great nation and many kings are stirred up

from the ends of the earth.

42 They grasp the bow and spear;

they are cruel and merciless.

Their voice roars like the sea,

and they ride upon horses,

lined up like men in formation

against you, O Daughter of Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon has heard the report,

and his hands hang limp.

Anguish has gripped him,

pain like that of a woman in labor.

44 Behold, one will come up like a lion

from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture.

For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land.

Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?

For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me?

What shepherd can stand against Me?”

45 Therefore hear the plans

that the Lord has drawn up against Babylon

and the strategies He has devised

against the land of the Chaldeans:

Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away;

certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.

46 At the sound of Babylon’s capture the earth will quake;

a cry will be heard among the nations.

Titus 1:1-16

Paul’s Greeting to Titus

(2 Corinthians 8:16–24)

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. 3In His own time He has made His word evident in the proclamation entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior.

4 To Titus, my true child in our common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Appointing Elders on Crete

(1 Timothy 3:1–7; 1 Peter 5:1–4)

5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you would set in order what was unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, having children who are believers and who are not open to accusation of indiscretion or insubordination.

7 As God’s steward, an overseer must be above reproach — not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money. 8Instead, he must be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9He must hold firmly to the faithful word as it was taught, so that he can encourage others by sound teaching and refute those who contradict it.

Correcting False Teachers

(1 Timothy 1:3–11)

10 For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision, 11who must be silenced. For the sake of dishonorable gain, they undermine entire households and teach things they should not. 12As one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sternly, so that they will be sound in the faith 14and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of men who have rejected the truth.

15 To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.

Psalm 97:1-98:9

Let the Earth Rejoice

1 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;

let the distant shores be glad.

2 Clouds and darkness surround Him;

righteousness and justice are His throne’s foundation.

3 Fire goes before Him

and consumes His foes on every side.

4 His lightning illuminates the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

5 The mountains melt like wax

at the presence of the Lord,

before the Lord of all the earth.

6 The heavens proclaim His righteousness;

all the peoples see His glory.

7 All worshipers of images are put to shame —

those who boast in idols.

Worship Him, all you gods!

8 Zion hears and rejoices,

and the towns of Judah exult

because of Your judgments, O LORD.

9 For You, O LORD, are Most High over all the earth;

You are exalted far above all gods.

10 Hate evil, O you who love the Lord!

He preserves the souls of His saints;

He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

11 Light shines on the righteous,

gladness on the upright in heart.

12 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones,

and praise His holy name.

Sing to the Lord a New Song

(Psalm 149:1–9; Isaiah 42:10–17)

1 A Psalm.

Sing to the Lord a new song,

for He has done wonders;

His right hand and holy arm

have gained Him the victory.

2 The Lord has proclaimed His salvation

and revealed His righteousness to the nations.

3 He has remembered His love and faithfulness

to the house of Israel;

all the ends of the earth

have seen the salvation of our God.

4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;

break forth — let your cry ring out, and sing praises!

5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,

in melodious song with the harp.

6 With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn

shout for joy before the Lord, the King.

7 Let the sea resound, and all that fills it,

the world, and all who dwell in it.

8 Let the rivers clap their hands,

let the mountains sing together for joy

9 before the Lord,

for He comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness

and the peoples with equity.

Proverbs 26:13-16

13 The slacker says, “A lion is in the road!

A fierce lion roams the public square!”

14 As a door turns on its hinges,

so the slacker turns on his bed.

15 The slacker buries his hand in the dish;

it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth.

16 The slacker is wiser in his own eyes

than seven men who answer discreetly.

sozo church

One Year Bible

Jeremiah 49:23-50:46

Titus 1:1-16

Psalm 97:1-98:9

Proverbs 26:13-16