Bible In A Year

¹By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

²On the willows in the midst of it, We hung up our harps.

³For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

⁴How can we sing Yahweh's song in a foreign land?

⁵If I forget you, Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill.

⁶Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don't remember you; If I don't prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.

⁷Remember, Yahweh, against the children of Edom, The day of Jerusalem; Who said, "Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!"

⁸Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, He will be happy who rewards you, As you have served us.

⁹Happy shall he be, Who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

¹I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit, ²that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. ³For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers' sake, my relatives according to the flesh, ⁴who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; ⁵of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen. ⁶But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel. ⁷Neither, because they are Abraham's seed, are they all children. But, "In Isaac will your seed be called." ⁸That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as a seed. ⁹For this is a word of promise, "At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son." ¹⁰Not only so, but Rebecca also conceived by one, by our father Isaac. ¹¹For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls, ¹²it was said to her, "The elder will serve the younger." ¹³Even as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." ¹⁴What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be! ¹⁵For he said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." ¹⁶So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth." ¹⁸So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. ¹⁹You will say then to me, "Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?" ²⁰But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?" ²¹Or hasn't the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor? ²²What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction, ²³and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵As he says also in Hosea, "I will call them 'my people,' which were not my people; And her 'beloved,' who was not beloved." ²⁶"It will be that in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' There they will be called 'children of the living God.'" ²⁷Isaiah cries concerning Israel, "If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, It is the remnant who will be saved; ²⁸For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth." ²⁹As Isaiah has said before, "Unless the Lord of Hosts{Greek: Sabaoth} had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And would have been made like Gomorrah." ³⁰What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn't follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith; ³¹but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn't arrive at the law of righteousness. ³²Why? Because they didn't seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone; ³³even as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; And no one who believes in him will be disappointed."

¹Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved. ²For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. ³For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn't subject themselves to the righteousness of God. ⁴For Christ is the fulfillment{or, completion, or end} of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. ⁵For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, "The one who does them will live by them." ⁶But the righteousness which is of faith says this, "Don't say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down); ⁷or, 'Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)" ⁸But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart;" that is, the word of faith, which we preach: ⁹that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ¹¹For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed." ¹²For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him. ¹³For, "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved." ¹⁴How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!" ¹⁶But they didn't all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?" ¹⁷So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ¹⁸But I say, didn't they hear? Yes, most assuredly, "Their sound went out into all the earth, Their words to the ends of the world." ¹⁹But I ask, didn't Israel know? First Moses says, "I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, With a nation void of understanding I will make you angry." ²⁰Isaiah is very bold, and says, "I was found by those who didn't seek me. I was revealed to those who didn't ask for me." ²¹But as to Israel he says, "All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people."