The Daily Audio Bible

Tower of Babel

11 Now the entire earth had the same language with the same vocabulary. ² When they traveled eastward, they found a valley-plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³ They said to one another, “Come! Let’s make bricks and bake them until they’re hard.” So they used bricks for stone, and tar for mortar.

⁴ Then they said, “Come! Let’s build ourselves a city, with a tower whose top reaches into heaven. So let’s make a name for ourselves, or else we will be scattered over the face of the whole land.”

⁵ Then Adonai came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of man had built. ⁶ Adonai said, “Look, the people are one and all of them have the same language. So this is what they have begun to do. Now, nothing they plan to do will be impossible. ⁷ Come! Let Us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand each other’s language.”

⁸ So Adonai scattered them from there over the face of the entire land, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ This is why it is named Babel, because Adonai confused the languages of the entire world there, and from there Adonai scattered them over the face of the entire world.

From Shem to Abram

¹⁰ These are the genealogical records of Shem: Shem was 100 years old when he fathered Arpachshad—two years after the flood. ¹¹ Shem lived 500 years after he fathered Arpachshad, and he fathered sons and daughters. ¹² Arpachshad lived 35 years when he fathered Shelah. ¹³ Arpachshad lived 403 years after he fathered Shelah, and fathered sons and daughters. ¹⁴ Shelah lived 30 years and he fathered Eber. ¹⁵ Shelah lived 403 years after he fathered Eber, and fathered sons and daughters. ¹⁶ Eber lived 34 years and he fathered Peleg. ¹⁷ Eber lived 430 years after he fathered Peleg, and he fathered sons and daughters. ¹⁸ Peleg lived 30 years and he fathered Reu. ¹⁹ Peleg lived 209 years after he fathered Reu, and he fathered sons and daughters. ²⁰ Reu lived 32 years and he fathered Serug. ²¹ Reu lived 207 years after he fathered Serug, and he fathered sons and daughters. ²² Serug lived 30 years and fathered Nahor. ²³ Serug lived 200 years after he fathered Nahor, and he fathered sons and daughters. ²⁴ Nahor lived 27 years and he fathered Terah. ²⁵ Nahor lived 119 years after he fathered Terah, and he fathered sons and daughters. ²⁶ Terah lived 70 years when he fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran.

²⁷ These are Terah’s genealogies: Terah fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran fathered Lot. ²⁸ Haran died before Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah—the daughter of Haran, father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Sarai was barren; she did not have a child.

³¹ Terah took Abram his son and Lot, Haran’s son, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and he took them out of Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

³² Terah’s days were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

Parashat Lech Lecha

Abram Obeys the Calling

12 Then Adonai said to Abram,

“Get going out from your land,

and from your relatives,

and from your father’s house,

to the land that I will show you.

² My heart’s desire is to make you into a great nation, to bless you,

to make your name great so that you may be a blessing.

³ My desire is to bless those who bless you,

but whoever curses you I will curse,^[a]

and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.^[b]

⁴ So Abram went, just as Adonai had spoken to him. Also Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.) ⁵ Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions that they had acquired, and the people that they acquired in Haran, and they left to go to the land of Canaan, and they entered the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram passed through the land as far as the place of Shechem, as far as Moreh’s big tree. (The Canaanites were in the land then.)^[c]

⁷ Then Adonai appeared to Abram, and said, “I will give this land to your seed.” So there he built an altar to Adonai, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he moved to the mountain to the east of Beth-El and erected his tent (with Beth-El to the west and Ai to the east). There he built an altar to Adonai and called on the Name of Adonai. ⁹ So Abram kept on journeying southward.^[d]

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live as an outsider there, because the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹ Just as he was about to enter Egypt he said to Sarai his wife, “Look, please, I know that you are an attractive woman. ¹² So when the Egyptians see you they’ll say, ‘This is his wife.’ And they’ll kill me; but you, they’ll let live. ¹³ Please say that you are my sister, so that I’ll be treated well for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you.”

¹⁴ When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians did see that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Indeed, Pharaoh’s officials saw her and they raved about her to Pharaoh. Then the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ But Abram was treated well for her sake, and he got sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys and camels.

¹⁷ But Adonai struck Pharaoh and his household with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What’s this that you did to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she is your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take—and go!” ²⁰ Then Pharaoh instructed men concerning him, and they expelled him, with his wife, and everything that belonged to him.

13 So Abram went up from Egypt—he and his wife and everything that belonged to him, and Lot with him—to the Negev. ² Now Abram was very rich in livestock, silver and gold. ³ He proceeded by stages from the Negev as far as Beth-El—to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-El and Ai, ⁴ to the place of the altar that he had made there at first, and there Abram called on the Name of Adonai.

Drash on the Mountain

5 Now when Yeshua saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain. And after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. ² And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me.

¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great! For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”^[a]

Called to Be Salt and Light

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt should lose its flavor, how shall it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they put it on a lampstand so it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men so they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Filling the Law to the Fullest

¹⁷ “Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. ¹⁸ Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif^[b] shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass. ¹⁹ Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and Torah scholars, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven!

²¹ “You have heard it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,^[c] and whoever commits murder shall be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca’ shall be subject to the council^[d]; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be subject to fiery Gehenna.

²³ “Therefore if you are presenting your offering upon the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your offering there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

²⁵ “Make friends quickly with your opponent while you are with him on the way. Otherwise, your opponent may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the assistant, and you will be thrown into prison. ²⁶ Amen, I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid back the last penny!^[e]

Morning Prayer for Justice

Psalm 5