The Daily Audio Bible

²¹ Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel. ²² “The ^(A)Mighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh! ^(B)He knows, and may Israel itself know. If it was in rebellion or if in an unfaithful act against Yahweh, do not save us this day! ²³ If we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from following Yahweh, or if to ^(C)perform a burnt offering or grain offering on it, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings on it, may Yahweh Himself require it. ²⁴ But truly we have done this out of concern, ^[a]for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your sons may say to our ^[b]sons, “What have you to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel? ²⁵ And Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no portion in Yahweh.” So your sons may make our sons stop fearing Yahweh.’

²⁶ “Therefore we said, ‘Let us ^[c]build an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice; ²⁷ rather it shall be ^(D)a witness between us and you and between our generations after us, that we are to ^(E)perform the service of Yahweh before Him with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings, so that your sons will not say to our sons in time to come, “You have no portion in Yahweh.”’ ²⁸ Therefore we said, ‘It will also be that if they say this to us or to our generations in time to come, then we shall say, “See the copy of the altar of Yahweh which our fathers made, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice; rather it is a witness between us and you.”’ ²⁹ Far be it from us to rebel against Yahweh and turn away from following Yahweh this day, by ^(F)building an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering or for sacrifice, besides the altar of Yahweh our God which is before His ^[d]tabernacle.”

³⁰ So Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him, heard the words which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spoke. And it was good in their sight. ³¹ And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Manasseh, “Today we know that ^(G)Yahweh is in our midst because you have not committed this unfaithful act against Yahweh; so then you have delivered the sons of Israel from the hand of Yahweh.”

³² Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and brought back word to them. ³³ And the word was good in the sight of the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel ^(H)blessed God; and they did not speak of going up against them in war to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living. ³⁴ And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad ^(I)called the altar Witness; “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that Yahweh is God.”

Joshua Calls All Israel

23 Now it happened after many days, after Yahweh had given ^(J)rest to Israel from all their enemies ^[e]on every side, and Joshua was old, advanced in years, ² that ^(K)Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and their heads and their judges and their officers, and said to them, “I am old, advanced in years. ³ And you have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to all these nations because of you, for ^(L)Yahweh your God is He who has been fighting for you. ⁴ See, ^(M)I have allotted to you these nations which remain as an inheritance for your tribes, with all the nations which I have cut off, from the Jordan even to the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun. ⁵ And Yahweh your God, He will thrust them out from before you and ^(N)dispossess them before you; and ^(O)you will possess their land, just as Yahweh your God ^[f]promised you. ^6 (P)Be very strong, then, to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, ⁷ so that you will not go along with these nations, these which remain among you, and you will not ^(Q)mention the name of their gods, and you will not ^(R)make anyone swear by them, and you will not ^(S)serve them, and you will not bow down to them. ⁸ But you are to cling to Yahweh your God, as you have done to this day. ^9 (T)For Yahweh has dispossessed great and mighty nations from before you; and as for you, ^(U)no man has stood before you to this day. ^10 (V)One of your men will pursue one thousand, for Yahweh your God is ^(W)He who fights for you, just as He ^[g]promised you. ¹¹ So keep your souls very carefully to love Yahweh your God. ¹² For if you ever turn back and ^(X)cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and ^(Y)intermarry with them, so that you go along with them and they with you, ¹³ know with certainty that Yahweh your God will not continue to dispossess these nations from before you; but they will be a ^(Z)snare and a trap to you and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you.

¹⁴ “Now behold, today ^(AA)I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that ^(AB)not one word of all the good words which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. ¹⁵ And it will be that just as all the good words which Yahweh your God spoke to you have come upon you, so ^(AC)Yahweh will bring upon you all the calamitous words, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you. ^16 (AD)When you trespass against the covenant of Yahweh your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of Yahweh will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which He has given you.”

The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

^27 (A)Now some of the ^(B)Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Him, ²⁸ and they questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(C)if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should ^[a]marry the wife and raise up ^[b]seed for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers; and the first married a wife and died childless, ³⁰ and the second ³¹ and the third ^[c]married her; and in the same way, ^[d]all seven ^[e]died, leaving no children. ³² Finally the woman died also. ³³ Therefore, this woman—in the resurrection—whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as a wife.”

³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “The sons of ^(D)this age marry and are given in marriage, ³⁵ but those who are considered worthy to attain to ^(E)that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶ For they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels and are ^(F)sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. ³⁷ But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed in ^(G)the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the ^[f]Lord ^(H)the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ^38 (I)Now He is not the God of the dead but of the living; for ^(J)all live to Him.” ³⁹ And some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.” ⁴⁰ For ^(K)they did not dare to question Him any longer about anything.

^41 (L)Then He said to them, “How is it that they say the ^[g]Christ is ^(M)David’s son? ⁴² For David himself says in the book of Psalms,

⁴⁴ Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord,’ so how is He his son?”

^45 (P)And while all the people were listening, He said to the disciples, ⁴⁶ “Beware of the scribes, ^(Q)who want to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, and best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, ⁴⁷ who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”