The Daily Audio Bible
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3 The serpent was the craftiest of all the creatures the Lord God had made. So the serpent came to the woman. “Really?” he asked. “None of the fruit in the garden? God says you mustn’t eat any of it?”
2-3 “Of course we may eat it,” the woman told him. “It’s only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not to eat. God says we mustn’t eat it or even touch it, or we will die.”
4 “That’s a lie!” the serpent hissed. “You’ll not die! 5 God knows very well that the instant you eat it you will become like him, for your eyes will be opened—you will be able to distinguish good from evil!”
6 The woman was convinced. How lovely and fresh looking it was! And it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit and gave some to her husband, and he ate it too. 7 And as they ate it, suddenly they became aware of their nakedness, and were embarrassed. So they strung fig leaves together to cover themselves around the hips.
8 That evening they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden; and they hid themselves among the trees. 9 The Lord God called to Adam, “Why are you hiding?”[a]
10 And Adam replied, “I heard you coming and didn’t want you to see me naked. So I hid.”
11 “Who told you you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten fruit from the tree I warned you about?”
12 “Yes,” Adam admitted, “but it was the woman you gave me who brought me some, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “How could you do such a thing?”
“The serpent tricked me,” she replied.
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “This is your punishment: You are singled out from among all the domestic and wild animals of the whole earth—to be cursed. You shall grovel in the dust as long as you live, crawling along on your belly. 15 From now on you and the woman will be enemies, as will your offspring and hers. You will strike his heel, but he will crush your head.”
16 Then God said to the woman, “You shall bear children in intense pain and suffering; yet even so, you shall welcome your husband’s affections, and he shall be your master.”
17 And to Adam, God said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit when I told you not to, I have placed a curse upon the soil. All your life you will struggle to extract a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, and you shall eat its grasses. 19 All your life you will sweat to master it, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from the ground, and to the ground you will return.”
20 The man named his wife Eve (meaning “The life-giving one”),[b] for he said, “She shall become the mother of all mankind”; 21 and the Lord God clothed Adam and his wife with garments made from skins of animals.
22 Then the Lord said, “Now that the man has become as we are, knowing good from bad, what if he eats the fruit of the Tree of Life and lives forever?” 23 So the Lord God banished him forever from the Garden of Eden, and sent him out to farm the ground from which he had been taken. 24 Thus God expelled him, and placed mighty angels at the east of the Garden of Eden, with a flaming sword to guard the entrance to the Tree of Life.
4 Then Adam had sexual intercourse with Eve his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to a son, Cain (meaning “I have created”). For, as she said, “With God’s help, I have created a man!” 2 Her next child was his brother, Abel.
Abel became a shepherd, while Cain was a farmer. 3 At harvest time Cain brought the Lord a gift of his farm produce, 4 and Abel brought the fatty cuts of meat from his best lambs, and presented them to the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abel’s offering, 5 but not Cain’s. This made Cain both dejected and very angry, and his face grew dark with fury.
6 “Why are you angry?” the Lord asked him. “Why is your face so dark with rage? 7 It can be bright with joy if you will do what you should! But if you refuse to obey, watch out. Sin is waiting to attack you, longing to destroy you. But you can conquer it!”
8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were together there, Cain attacked and killed his brother.
9 But afterwards the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”
“How should I know?” Cain retorted. “Am I supposed to keep track of him wherever he goes?”
10 But the Lord said, “Your brother’s blood calls to me from the ground. What have you done? 11 You are hereby banished from this ground which you have defiled with your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will it yield crops for you, even if you toil on it forever! From now on you will be a fugitive and a tramp upon the earth, wandering from place to place.”
13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 For you have banished me from my farm and from you, and made me a fugitive and a tramp; and everyone who sees me will try to kill me.”
15 The Lord replied, “They won’t kill you, for I will give seven times your punishment to anyone who does.” Then the Lord put an identifying mark on Cain as a warning not to kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
17 Then Cain’s wife conceived and presented him with a baby son named Enoch; so when Cain founded a city, he named it Enoch, after his son.
18 Enoch was the father of[c] Irad; Irad was the father of Mehujael; Mehujael was the father of Methusael; Methusael was the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two wives—Adah and Zillah. 20 To Adah was born a baby named Jabal. He became the first of the cattlemen and those living in tents. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal, the first musician—the inventor of the harp and flute.[d] 22 To Lamech’s other wife, Zillah, was born Tubal-cain. He opened the first foundry[e] forging instruments of bronze and iron.
23 One day Lamech said to Adah and Zillah, “Listen to me, my wives. I have killed a youth who attacked and wounded me. 24 If anyone who kills Cain will be punished seven times, anyone taking revenge against me for killing that youth should be punished seventy-seven times!”
25 Later on Eve gave birth to another son and named him Seth (meaning “Granted”); for, as Eve put it, “God has granted me another son for the one Cain killed.” 26 When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. It was during his lifetime that men first began to call themselves “the Lord’s people.”[f]
13 After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up and flee to Egypt with the baby and his mother,” the angel said, “and stay there until I tell you to return, for King Herod is going to try to kill the child.” 14 That same[a] night he left for Egypt with Mary and the baby, 15 and stayed there until King Herod’s death. This fulfilled the prophet’s prediction,
“I have called my Son from Egypt.”[b]
16 Herod was furious when he learned that the astrologers had disobeyed him. Sending soldiers to Bethlehem, he ordered them to kill every baby boy two years old and under, both in the town and on the nearby farms, for the astrologers had told him the star first appeared to them two years before. 17 This brutal action of Herod’s fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah,
18 “Screams of anguish come from Ramah,[c]
Weeping unrestrained;
Rachel weeping for her children,
Uncomforted—
For they are dead.”
19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and told him, 20 “Get up and take the baby and his mother back to Israel, for those who were trying to kill the child are dead.”
21 So he returned immediately to Israel with Jesus and his mother. 22 But on the way he was frightened to learn that the new king was Herod’s son, Archelaus. Then, in another dream, he was warned not to go to Judea, so they went to Galilee instead 23 and lived in Nazareth. This fulfilled the prediction of the prophets concerning the Messiah,
“He shall be called a Nazarene.”
3 While they were living in Nazareth,[d] John the Baptist began preaching out in the Judean wilderness. His constant theme was, 2 “Turn from your sins . . . turn to God . . . for the Kingdom of Heaven is coming soon.”[e] 3 Isaiah the prophet had told about John’s ministry centuries before! He had written,
“I hear[f] a shout from the wilderness, ‘Prepare a road for the Lord—straighten out the path where he will walk.’”
4 John’s clothing was woven from camel’s hair and he wore a leather belt; his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Jerusalem and from all over the Jordan Valley, and, in fact, from every section of Judea went out to the wilderness to hear him preach, 6 and when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
2 What fools the nations are to rage[a] against the Lord! How strange that men should try to outwit God! 2 For a summit conference of the nations has been called to plot against the Lord and his Messiah, Christ the King.[b] 3 “Come, let us break his chains,” they say, “and free ourselves from all this slavery to God.”
4 But God in heaven merely laughs! He is amused by all their puny plans. 5 And then in fierce fury he rebukes them and fills them with fear.
6 For the Lord declares,[c] “This is the King of my choice, and I have enthroned him in Jerusalem, my holy city.”
7 His chosen one replies,[d] “I will reveal the everlasting purposes of God, for the Lord has said to me, ‘You are my Son. This is your Coronation Day. Today I am giving you your glory.’” 8 “Only ask and I will give you all the nations of the world. 9 Rule them with an iron rod; smash them like clay pots!”
10 O kings and rulers of the earth, listen while there is time. 11 Serve the Lord with reverent fear; rejoice with trembling. 12 Fall down before his Son and kiss his feet[e] before his anger is roused and you perish. I am warning you—his wrath will soon begin. But oh, the joys of those who put their trust in him!
7-9 How does a man become wise? The first step is to trust and reverence the Lord!
Only fools refuse to be taught. Listen to your father and mother. What you learn from them will stand you in good stead; it will gain you many honors.[a]
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.