The Daily Audio Bible
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The Creation
1 In the beginning, God created the universe.[a] 2 When the earth[b] was as yet unformed and desolate, with the surface of the ocean depths shrouded[c] in darkness, and while the Spirit of God was hovering[d] over the surface of the waters, 3 God said, “Let there be light!” So there was light.
4 God saw that the light was beautiful.[e] He[f] separated the light from the darkness, 5 calling the light “day,” and the darkness[g] “night.” The twilight and the dawn were day one.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a canopy[h] between bodies of water,[i] separating bodies of water[j] from bodies of water!”[k] 7 So God made a canopy[l] that separated the water beneath the canopy[m] from the water above it.[n] And that is what happened:[o] 8 God called the canopy[p] “sky.”[q] The twilight and the dawn were the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the water beneath the sky come together into one area, and let dry ground appear!” And that is what happened:[r] 10 God called the dry ground “land,”[s] and he called the water that had come together “oceans.” And God saw how good it was.
11 Then God said, “Let vegetation sprout all over the earth, including[t] seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each kind containing its own seed!” And that is what happened:[u] 12 Vegetation sprouted all over the earth, including seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each kind containing its own seed. And God saw that it was good. 13 The twilight and the dawn were the third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights across[v] the sky to distinguish day from night, to act as signs for seasons,[w] days, and years, 15 to serve as lights in[x] the sky, and to shine on the earth!” And that is what happened:[y] 16 God fashioned two great lights—the larger light to shine during[z] the day and the smaller light to shine during[aa] the night—as well as stars. 17 God placed them in space[ab] to shine on the earth, 18 to differentiate between[ac] day and night, and to distinguish[ad] light from darkness. And God saw how good it was. 19 The twilight and the dawn were the fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the oceans swarm[ae] with living creatures, and let flying creatures soar above the earth throughout[af] the sky!” 21 So God created every kind of magnificent marine creature, every kind of living marine crawler[ag] with which the waters swarmed, and every kind of flying creature.[ah] And God saw how good it was. 22 God blessed them by saying, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the oceans. Let the birds multiply throughout the earth!” 23 The twilight and the dawn were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth each kind of living creature, each kind of livestock and crawling thing, and each kind of earth’s animals!”[ai] And that is what happened:[aj] 25 God made each kind of the earth’s animals, along with every kind of livestock and crawling thing.[ak] And God saw how good it was.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, to be like us.[al] Let them be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly,[am] the livestock, everything that crawls on the earth, and over the earth itself!”
27 So God created mankind in his own image;
in his own image God created them;[an]
he created them male and female.
28 God blessed the humans by saying to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it! Be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, and every living thing that crawls on the earth!”
29 God also told them,[ao] “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant that grows throughout[ap] the earth, along with every tree that grows seed-bearing fruit. They will produce your food. 30 I have given all green plants as food for every wild animal[aq] of the earth, every bird that flies, and to every living thing[ar] that crawls on the earth.” And that is what happened.[as]
31 Now God saw all that he had made, and indeed, it was very good! The twilight and the dawn were the sixth day.
The Seventh Day
2 With this, the universe[at] was[au] completed, including all of its vast array.[av] 2 By the seventh day, God had completed the work he had been doing, so on the seventh day he stopped working on[aw] everything that he had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God stopped working on[ax] everything that he had been creating.
Humans in the Garden
4 These are the records of the universe at its[ay] creation. On the day that the Lord God made the universe,[az] 5 no shrubs had yet grown in the meadows of the earth and no vegetation had sprouted,[ba] because the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there were no human beings[bb] to work the ground. 6 Instead, an underground stream[bc] would arise out of the earth and water the surface of the ground. 7 So the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground, breathed life into his lungs,[bd] and the man became a living being.
8 The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, toward[be] the east, where he placed the man whom he had formed. 9 The Lord God caused every tree that is both beautiful[bf] and suitable for food to spring up out of the ground. The tree of life was also in the middle of the garden, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flows from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides, becoming four branches. 11 The name of the first one is Pishon—it winds through the entire land of Havilah,[bg] where there is gold. 12 The gold of that land is pure;[bh] bdellium[bi] and onyx are also found[bj] there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon—[bk] it winds through the entire land of Cush.[bl] 14 The third river is named the Tigris— it flows to the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden in order to have him work it and guard[bm] it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man: “You may freely eat from every tree of the garden, 17 but you are not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because you will certainly die during the day that you eat from it.”
The Creation of the Woman
18 Later, the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make the woman[bn] to be an authority[bo] corresponding[bp] to him.” 19 After the Lord God formed from the ground every wild animal[bq] and every bird that flies, he brought each of them[br] to the man to see what he would call it. Whatever the man called each living creature became its name. 20 The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds that fly, and to each of earth’s animals,[bs] but there was not found a strength[bt] corresponding[bu] to him, 21 so the Lord God caused a deep sleep to overshadow the man.
When the man[bv] was asleep, he removed one of the man’s[bw] ribs and closed up the flesh where it had been. 22 Then the Lord God formed the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 So the man exclaimed,
“At last! This is
bone from my bones
and flesh from my flesh.
This one will be called ‘Woman,’
because she was taken from Man.”[bx]
24 (Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they will become one flesh.) 25 Even though both the man and his wife were naked, they were not ashamed about it.[by]
An Introduction to Jesus the Messiah
1 This is[a] a record of the life[b] of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
The Ancestry of Jesus(A)
2 Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Aram, 4 Aram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon. 5 Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, 6 and Jesse fathered King David.
David fathered Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asaph,[c] 8 Asaph[d] fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, Joram fathered Uzziah, 9 Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, Ahaz fathered Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amos,[e] and Amos[f] fathered Josiah. 11 Josiah fathered Jechoniah[g] and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah[h] fathered Salathiel,[i] Salathiel fathered Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, Abiud fathered Eliakim, Eliakim fathered Azor, 14 Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, Achim fathered Eliud, 15 Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, and Matthan fathered Jacob. 16 Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus,[j] who is called the Messiah.[k]
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David totaled fourteen[l] generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon totaled fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah[m] there were fourteen generations.
The Birth of Jesus(B)
18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah[n] happened in this way. When his mother Mary was engaged[o] to Joseph, before they lived together she was discovered to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to disgrace her, decided to divorce her secretly.
20 After he had thought about it, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” he said, “don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus,[p] because he is the one who will save his people from their sins.”
22 Now all this happened to fulfill what was declared by the Lord through the prophet when he said,
23 “See, a virgin will become pregnant
and give birth to a son,
and they will name him Immanuel,”[q]
which means, “God with us.” 24 When Joseph got up from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary as[r] his wife. 25 He did not have marital relations with[s] her until she had given birth to a son;[t] and he named him Jesus.
The Visit of the Wise Men
2 After Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign[u] of King Herod, wise men[v] arrived in Jerusalem from the east 2 and asked, “Where is the one who was born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east[w] and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, as was all of Jerusalem. 4 He called together all the high priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah[x] was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, because that is what was written by the prophet:
6 ‘O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
you are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
because from you will come a ruler
who will shepherd[y] my people Israel.’”[z]
7 Then Herod secretly called together the wise men, found out from them the time the star had appeared, 8 and sent them to Bethlehem. He told them,[aa] “As you go, search carefully for the child. When you find him, tell me so that I, too, may go and worship him.”
9 After listening to the king, they set out, and the star they had seen in the east[ab] went ahead of them until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were ecstatic with joy. 11 After they went into the house and saw the child with his mother Mary, they fell down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure sacks and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 Having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they left for their own country by a different road.
BOOK I (Psalms 1-41)
The Righteous and the Wicked[a]
1 How blessed is the person,
who does not take[b] the advice of the wicked,
who does not stand on the path with sinners,
and who does not sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But he delights in the Lord’s instruction,[c]
and meditates in his instruction[d] day and night.
3 He will be like a tree planted by streams of water,
yielding its fruit in its season,
and whose leaf does not wither.
He will prosper in everything he does.
Introduction and Purpose
1 The proverbs of David’s son Solomon, king of Israel.
2 These proverbs are[a] for gaining[b] wisdom and discipline;[c]
for understanding words of insight;
3 for acquiring the discipline[d] that produces wise behavior,
righteousness, justice, and upright living;[e]
4 for giving prudence to the naïve,
and knowledge and discretion to the young.
5 Let the wise listen and increase their[f] learning;
let the person of understanding receive guidance
6 in understanding proverbs, clever sayings,
words of the wise, and their riddles.
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