Reading Plan
Comprehensive Reading Plan (365 days) New Testament Reading Plan (83 days) Old Testament Plan (282 days) Old/New Testament Plan (365 days) Survey Reading Plan (61 days) Through-the-Bible Reading Plan (365 days)
Bible Version
Apostles' Bible Complete (2004) King James Version (1769) New King James Version (1982) Today's English Version (Good News Bible) (1992) Voice In Wilderness (2006)
1
"This is the end for Babylon's gods! Bel and Nebo once were worshiped, but now they are loaded on donkeys, a burden for the backs of tired animals.
2
The idols cannot save themselves; they are captured and carried away. This is the end for Babylon's gods!
3
"Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all who are left of my people. I have cared for you from the time you were born.
4
I am your God and will take care of you until you are old and your hair is gray. I made you and will care for you; I will give you help and rescue you.
5
"To whom will you compare me?" says the LORD. "Is there anyone else like me?
6
People open their purses and pour out gold; they weigh out silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith to make a god; then they bow down and worship it.
7
They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they put it in place, and there it stands, unable to move from where it is. If any pray to it, it cannot answer or save them from disaster.
8
"Remember this, you sinners; consider what I have done.
9
Remember what happened long ago; acknowledge that I alone am God and that there is no one else like me.
10
From the beginning I predicted the outcome; long ago I foretold what would happen. I said that my plans would never fail, that I would do everything I intended to do.
11
I am calling a man to come from the east; he will swoop down like a hawk and accomplish what I have planned. I have spoken, and it will be done.
12
"Listen to me, you stubborn people who think that victory is far away.
13
I am bringing the day of victory near--- it is not far away at all. My triumph will not be delayed. I will save Jerusalem and bring honor to Israel there."
1
The LORD says, "Babylon, come down from your throne, and sit in the dust on the ground. You were once like a virgin, a city unconquered, but you are soft and delicate no longer! You are now a slave!
2
Turn the millstone! Grind the flour! Off with your veil! Strip off your fine clothes! Lift up your skirts to cross the streams!
3
People will see you naked; they will see you humbled and shamed. I will take vengeance, and no one will stop me."
4
The holy God of Israel sets us free--- his name is the LORD Almighty.
5
The LORD says to Babylon, "Sit in silence and darkness; no more will they call you the queen of nations!
6
I was angry with my people; I treated them as no longer mine: I put them in your power, and you showed them no mercy; even the aged you treated harshly.
7
You thought you would always be a queen, and did not take these things to heart or think how it all would end.
8
"Listen to this, you lover of pleasure, you that think you are safe and secure. You claim you are as great as God--- that there is no one else like you. You thought that you would never be a widow or suffer the loss of your children.
9
But in a moment, in a single day, both of these things will happen. In spite of all the magic you use, you will lose your husband and children.
10
"You felt sure of yourself in your evil; you thought that no one could see you. Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray, and you said to yourself, 'I am God--- there is no one else like me.'
11
Disaster will come upon you, and none of your magic can stop it. Ruin will come on you suddenly--- ruin you never dreamed of !
12
Keep all your magic spells and charms; you have used them since you were young. Perhaps they will be of some help to you; perhaps you can frighten your enemies.
13
You are powerless in spite of the advice you get. Let your astrologers come forward and save you--- those people who study the stars, who map out the zones of the heavens and tell you from month to month what is going to happen to you.
14
"They will be like bits of straw, and a fire will burn them up! They will not even be able to save themselves--- the flames will be too hot for them, not a cozy fire to warm themselves by.
15
That is all the good they will do you--- those astrologers you've consulted all your life. They all will leave you and go their own way, and none will be left to save you."
1
Listen to this, people of Israel, you that are descended from Judah: You swear by the name of the LORD and claim to worship the God of Israel--- but you don't mean a word you say.
2
And yet you are proud to say that you are citizens of the holy city and that you depend on Israel's God, whose name is the LORD Almighty.
3
The LORD says to Israel, "Long ago I predicted what would take place; then suddenly I made it happen.
4
I knew that you would prove to be stubborn, as rigid as iron and unyielding as bronze.
5
And so I predicted your future long ago, announcing events before they took place, to keep you from claiming that your idols and images made them happen.
6
"All I foretold has now taken place; you have to admit my predictions were right. Now I will tell you of new things to come, events that I did not reveal before.
7
Only now am I making them happen; nothing like this took place in the past. If it had, you would claim that you knew all about it.
8
I knew that you couldn't be trusted, that you have always been known as a rebel. That is why you never heard of this at all, why no word of it ever came to your ears.
9
"In order that people will praise my name, I am holding my anger in check; I am keeping it back and will not destroy you.
10
I have tested you in the fire of suffering, as silver is refined in a furnace. But I have found that you are worthless.
11
What I do is done for my own sake--- I will not let my name be dishonored or let anyone else share the glory that should be mine and mine alone."
12
The LORD says, "Listen to me, Israel, the people I have called! I am God, the first, the last, the only God!
13
My hands made the earth's foundations and spread the heavens out. When I summon earth and sky, they come at once and present themselves.
14
"Assemble and listen, all of you! None of the gods could predict that the man I have chosen would attack Babylon; he will do what I want him to do.
15
I am the one who spoke and called him; I led him out and gave him success.
16
"Now come close to me and hear what I say. From the beginning I have spoken openly and have always made my words come true." (Now the Sovereign LORD has given me his power and sent me.)
17
The holy God of Israel, the LORD who saves you, says: "I am the LORD your God, the one who wants to teach you for your own good and direct you in the way you should go.
18
"If only you had listened to my commands! Then blessings would have flowed for you like a stream that never goes dry. Victory would have come to you like the waves that roll on the shore.
19
Your descendants would be as numerous as grains of sand, and I would have made sure they were never destroyed."
20
Go out from Babylon, go free! Shout the news gladly; make it known everywhere: "The LORD has saved his servant Israel!"
21
When the LORD led his people through a hot, dry desert, they did not suffer from thirst. He made water come from a rock for them; he split the rock open, and water flowed out.
22
"There is no safety for sinners," says the LORD.
