The Daily Audio Bible
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Abraham Intercedes
16 Then the men got up from there and looked down over Sodom. Abraham was walking with them to send them off, 17 when Adonai said, “Should I keep secret from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham will most certainly become a great and mighty nation and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? 19 For I have made myself known to him so that he will command his sons and his household after him to keep the way of Adonai by doing righteousness and justice, so that Adonai may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” 20 Then Adonai said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great indeed, and their sin is very grievous indeed. 21 I want to go down now, and see if they deserve destruction, as its outcry has come to Me. And if not, I will know.”
22 Then the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before Adonai. 23 Abraham drew near and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing—to cause the righteous to die with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked share the same fate! Far be it from You! Shall the Judge of the whole world not exercise justice?”
26 Then Adonai said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous people within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
27 Then Abraham answered and said, “Look, pray, I have decided to speak to my Lord, though I am dust and ashes. 28 Suppose the fifty righteous people are lacking five. Will You destroy the whole city for lack of five?”
And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
29 So he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Perhaps forty will be found there?”
And He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”
30 Then he said, “Please, let my Lord not be angry, so I may speak. Perhaps thirty will be found there?”
And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31 Then he said, “Look, pray, I have decided to speak to my Lord: Perhaps twenty will be found there?”
And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”
32 Then he said, “Please, let not my Lord be angry, so I may speak once more. Perhaps ten will be found there?”
And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”
33 Now when He had finished speaking to Abraham, Adonai left, and Abraham returned to his place.
Sodom and Gomorrah
19 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, while Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 Then he said, “Here, please my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house, spend the night and wash your feet. Then you can get up early and go on your way.”
But they said, “No. We will spend the night in the open plaza.”
3 But he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and they came into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked matzot, and they ate. 4 They had not yet lain down when the men of the city (the men of Sodom) surrounded the house—from youth to elderly, all the people without exception. 5 And they called out to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have relations with them!”
6 But Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him, 7 and said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act wickedly. 8 Look, I have two daughters who haven’t been intimate with a man. Please let me bring them out to you—do to them whatever is good in your eyes! However, do nothing to these men—since they have come under the protection of my roof.”
9 “Get out of the way!” they said, and they said, “This one came as an outsider and dares to judge! Now we’ll treat you worse than them!”
So they strongly pressed against the man, Lot, and moved in close to break the door down. 10 But the men reached out their hands, brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men at the doorway of the house with blindness—from youth to elderly—so that they gave up trying to find the doorway.
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Who else related to you is still here? A son-in-law, your sons and your daughters, whoever else is related to you in the city—bring them out of the place! 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before Adonai that Adonai has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters, “Get up!” he said, “Get out of this place! For Adonai is about to destroy the city!” But in the eyes of his sons-in-law, he was like a joker.
15 So when morning dawned the angels rushed Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be swept away with the city’s iniquity!” 16 But he hesitated. So the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand and his two daughters’ hands—because of Adonai’s compassion for him—and they brought him out and left him outside the city.
17 When they brought them outside, one said, “Flee for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stop anywhere in the surrounding area! Escape to the hills, or else you’ll be swept away!”
18 But Lot said to them, “No, my Lord, please! 19 Look, please, your servant has found favor in Your eyes and You have magnified Your merciful loyalty, which You have shown me by letting me live. But I can’t escape to the hill country—for the disaster will overtake me and I’ll die! 20 Look, please, this city is close enough to flee there, and it’s little. Please let me escape there. Isn’t it small? And let me live!”
21 So He said to him, “Behold, I will grant your request concerning this matter too—not to demolish the city of which you have spoken. 22 Hurry! Flee to safety there, because I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This is why the town is named Zoar.)
23 The moment the sun rose upon the land, Lot entered Zoar, 24 and Adonai rained sulfur and fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah from Adonai out of the sky. 25 So He demolished these cities and the whole surrounding area, all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground.
26 But his wife looked behind him and she turned into a pillar of salt.
27 Now Abraham rose early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Adonai, 28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward the entire land of the surrounding area, and saw, behold, the smoke of the land ascended like smoke from a furnace. 29 So it was, as God destroyed the cities of the surrounding area, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the upheaval, when He demolished the cities where Lot had dwelt.
Lot Fathers Moab and Ammon
30 Then Lot went up from Zoar and dwelled on the mountain, his two daughters with him, because he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. So he lived in a cave—he and his two daughters.
31 Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come to us as is the custom of the whole land. 32 Come on! Let’s make our father drink wine so that we can lie with him and keep the seed from our father alive. 33 So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn came and lay down with her father. Yet he did not know that she lay down and got up. 34 On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “See! I slept with my father last night. Let’s make him drink wine tonight as well. Come on! Sleep with him so that we’ll keep the seed from our father alive.” 35 So they made their father drink wine that night as well, and the younger got up and lay down with him and he did not know that she lay down and got up. 36 So Lot’s two daughters become pregnant by their father. 37 Then the firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab: he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi: he is the ancestor of the sons of Ammon to this day.
Overcoming Worry with Trust
25 “So I say to you, do not worry about your life—what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 “Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your Father in heaven feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? [a] 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. [b] 30 Now if in this way God clothes the grass—which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow—will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the pagans eagerly pursue all these things; yet your Father in heaven knows that you need all these. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Measuring Your Measure
7 “Stop judging, so that you may not be judged. 2 For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the beam in your own eye? 4 Or how will you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the beam is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet, then turn and rip you to shreds.
7 “Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it shall be opened.
9 “For what man among you, when his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or when he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 So in all things, do to others what you would want them to do to you—for this is the Torah and the Prophets.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Humanity is God’s Splendor
Psalm 8
1 For the music director, upon the Gittite lyre: a psalm of David.
2 Adonai our Lord,
how excellent is Your Name over all the earth!
You set Your splendor above the heavens.
3 Out of the mouths of babies and toddlers
You established power,[a] because of Your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
4 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which You established—
5 what is man, that You are mindful of him?
And the son of man, that You care for him?[b]
6 Yet You made him a little lower than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and majesty!
7 You gave him dominion over the works of Your hands.
You put all things under their feet:[c]
8 all sheep and oxen,
and also beasts of the field,
9 birds in the air, and fish in the ocean—
all passing through the paths of the seas.
10 Adonai our Lord, how excellent is Your Name over all the earth!
6 For Adonai gives wisdom.[a]
Out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright.
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.
8 He guards the paths of justice,
and protects the way of His kedoshim.
9 Then you will discern what is right
and just and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will watch over you
—discernment will guard you—
12 to deliver you from the way of evil,
from those speaking perverse things,
13 who leave the straight paths
to walk in ways of darkness,
14 who rejoice in doing wrong
and delight in the perversity of evil,
15 whose paths are crooked
and are devious in their ways—
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.