The Daily Audio Bible
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Oil for the Lamps
24 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the light to keep a lamp burning all the time. 3 Outside the curtain of the Law in the meeting tent, Aaron will keep it burning from evening to morning before the Lord always. It will be a Law forever for all your people. 4 He will take care of the lamps on the pure gold lamp-stand before the Lord all the time.
The Bread Gift
5 “Then take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread. Use two jars of flour for each loaf. 6 Set them side by side in two rows, six in each row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. 7 Put pure, sweet-smelling spices on each row to go with the bread as something to be remembered. It is a gift by fire to the Lord. 8 Every Day of Rest he will set it before the Lord all the time. It is a Law forever for the people of Israel. 9 The bread is for Aaron and his sons who will eat it in a holy place. It is a most holy part for him out of the gifts by fire to the Lord. It is his share forever.”
Punishment for a Person Who Spoke against God
10 Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought with each other among the tents. 11 The son of the Israelite woman swore against the name of the Lord. So they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the family of Dan.) 12 And they kept him shut up until the will of the Lord might be made known to them.
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, 14 “Take the one who has sworn against Me away from the tents. Let all who heard him lay their hands on his head. Then let all the people kill him by throwing stones. 15 Say to the people of Israel, ‘If anyone swears against his God, he will suffer for his own sin. 16 The one who speaks against the name of the Lord will be put to death for sure. All the people will kill him with stones. Both the stranger and those born in the land will be put to death when he speaks against the name of the Lord.
17 ‘If a man takes the life of any human being, he will be put to death for sure. 18 The one who takes the life of an animal will pay for it, a life for a life. 19 If a man hurts his neighbor, it will be done to him just as he has done, 20 broken bone for broken bone, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Just as he has hurt a man, so he will be hurt. 21 So the one who kills an animal will pay for it with an animal. But the one who kills a man will be put to death. 22 You will have the same Law for the stranger and for the one born among you. For I am the Lord your God.’”
23 Then Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And they took the one who swore against God and brought him away from the tents and killed him with stones. So the people of Israel did as the Lord told Moses.
The Seventh Year—a Year of Rest for the Lord
25 The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, ‘When you come to the land I will give you, then the land will have a Year of Rest to the Lord. 3 Six years you will plant seeds in your field. Six years you will take care of your vines and gather their fruit. 4 But the seventh year will be a Year of Rest for the land, a Year of Rest to the Lord. You will not plant seeds in your field or take care of your vines. 5 You will not gather what grows of itself in your field. And do not gather the fruit of the vines that have not been cared for. The land will have a Year of Rest. 6 During the Year of Rest the land will give food for you, for your men and women servants, the man you pay to work for you, and the stranger who lives with you. 7 Even your cattle and the animals in your land will have food to eat.
The Fiftieth Year
8 ‘You are to number seven Years of Rest for yourself, seven times seven years. The time of the seven Years of Rest will be forty-nine years. 9 Then let the horn be heard on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the day to be made free from sin you will let a horn be heard all through your land. 10 You will honor the fiftieth year as holy. And let it be known in all the land that all who are living there are free. It will be a happy time for you. Each of you will return to what is his. Each will return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year will be a happy time for you. You will not plant seeds in the field, or gather the food that grows of itself, or gather fruit from the vines that are not cared for. 12 This is a happy time. It will be holy to you. You will eat from what the field gives.
13 ‘In this Year of Jubilee each one will have what was his. 14 If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, do not do wrong to one another. 15 You will pay your neighbor by the number of years since the Year of Jubilee. And he will sell to you by the number of years the food may be gathered. 16 You will make the price more if there are many years, and make the price less if there are few years. For he is selling you the food that is gathered each year. 17 Do not do wrong to one another, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.
The Seventh Year
18 ‘So keep My Laws and do what I say, and you will be safe living in the land. 19 Then the land will give its food, so you can eat all you want and be safe living there. 20 If you say, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant seeds or gather in the food of our field?” 21 I will let My good come upon you in the sixth year, so it will give you enough food for three years. 22 When you are planting seeds in the eighth year, you can still eat from the old store of food. You can eat the old food until the food of the ninth year is gathered.
23 ‘The land will not be sold to be kept forever. For the land is Mine. You are only strangers staying with Me. 24 For all the land you have, you must be willing to let it go. 25 When your brother becomes poor and sells some of his land, then one in his family who is near to him is to come and buy what his brother has sold. 26 But a man may have no one to buy his land, and he himself may become able to buy it again. 27 Then he should add up the years since he sold it, and pay what is left of the price to the man to whom he sold it. So he will return to his own land. 28 But if he is not able to buy it again for himself, then what he has sold will belong to the one who bought it until the Year of Jubilee. In the Year of Jubilee it will be let go and he may return to it.
29 ‘If a man sells a house within the walls of a city, he has the right to buy it back for a whole year from the time he sold it. He can buy it during that year. 30 But if it is not bought back again for him within a whole year, then the house within the city walls belongs forever to the family of the one who bought it. It will not be returned to him in the Year of Jubilee. 31 But houses in towns that have no walls will be thought of as open fields. They may be let go, and will be returned in the Year of Jubilee. 32 The houses in the cities of the Levites may be returned to the Levites at any time. 33 If a house is not bought again by a Levite, then the house that was sold in one of their cities will be returned to him in the Year of Jubilee. For the houses of the Levites belong to them among the people of Israel. 34 But the open field of their cities must not be sold. It belongs to them forever.
The Poor Paying Money Back
35 ‘If your brother becomes poor and is not able to pay you what he owes, then you should help him as you would help a stranger or visitor. So he may live with you. 36 Do not make him pay for the use of the money he owes you. But fear your God, so your brother may live with you. 37 Do not make him pay for the use of your money or your food. 38 I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
About Servants and Workmen
39 ‘If your brother becomes so poor that he sells himself to you, do not make him work as a servant. 40 He will be as a man who is paid to work for you, as one who is traveling from place to place, until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then he will leave you, he and his children, that he may return to the land of his fathers. 42 For I brought them out of the land of Egypt as My servants. They are not to be sold as a servant. 43 Do not make it hard for him, but fear your God. 44 Those men and women you may have who are sold as servants will be from the nations around you. 45 You may buy from among the children of the strangers who live among you, and from their families that are with you and were born in your land. You may own them. 46 You may give them to your children after you, to receive as their own. You can have them as servants forever. But do not make it hard for your brothers, the people of Israel.
Jesus Gives Thanks for Little Children (A)
13 They brought little children to Jesus that He might put His hand on them. The followers spoke sharp words to those who brought them. 14 Jesus saw this and was angry with the followers. He said, “Let the little children come to Me. Do not stop them. The holy nation of God is made up of ones like these. 15 For sure, I tell you, whoever does not receive the holy nation of God as a little child does not go into it.” 16 He took the children in His arms. He put His hands on them and prayed that good would come to them.
Jesus Teaches about Keeping the Law (B)
17 Jesus was going on His way. A man ran to Him and got down on his knees. He said, “Good Teacher, what must I do to have life that lasts forever?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? There is only One Who is good. That is God. 19 You know the Laws, ‘Do not be guilty of sex sins in marriage. Do not kill another person. Do not take things from people in wrong ways. Do not steal. Do not lie. Respect your father and mother.’” 20 The man said to Jesus, “Teacher, I have obeyed all these Laws since I was a boy.” 21 Jesus looked at him with love and said, “There is one thing for you to do yet. Go and sell everything you have and give the money to poor people. You will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow Me.” 22 When the man heard these words, he was sad. He walked away with sorrow because he had many riches here on earth.
The Danger of Riches
23 Jesus looked around Him. He said to His followers, “How hard it is for rich people to get into the holy nation of God!” 24 The followers were surprised and wondered about His words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children! How hard it is for those who put their trust in riches to get into the holy nation of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven.”
26 They were very surprised and wondered, saying to themselves, “Then who can be saved from the punishment of sin?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “This cannot be done by men but God can do anything.”
28 Then Peter began to say to Him, “We have given up everything we had and have followed You.” 29 Jesus said, “For sure, I tell you, there are those who have given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands because of Me, and the Good News. 30 They will get back one hundred times as much now at this time in houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands. Along with this, they will have very much trouble. And they will have life that lasts forever in the world to come. 31 Many who are first will be last. Many who are last will be first.”
9 But now You have turned from us and have put us to shame. You do not go out with our armies. 10 You made us turn away from those who fight against us. And those who hate us have robbed us. 11 You give us up to be eaten like sheep. You have spread us out among the nations. 12 You sell Your people for nothing, and become no richer from their price. 13 You have made us a shame to our neighbors. Those around us laugh and make fun of us. 14 You have made us hated among the nations. The people laugh at us. 15 All day long my shame is with me and has become too much for me. 16 Those who talk against me, and who hate me are around me and want to punish me.
17 All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You. We have not been false to Your agreement. 18 Our heart has not turned away. And our steps have not turned from Your way. 19 But You have crushed us in a place of wild dogs, and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, or put out our hands to a strange god, 21 would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. 22 But we are killed all day long because of You. We are thought of as sheep that are ready to be killed. 23 Awake, O Lord! Why do You sleep? Rise up! Do not turn away from us forever. 24 Why do You hide Your face? Why do You forget our troubles and our suffering? 25 For our soul is brought down to the dust. Our body holds on to the earth. 26 Rise up and help us! Save us because of Your loving-kindness.
20 The tongue of those who are right with God is like fine silver, but the heart of the sinful is not worth much.
21 The lips of those who are right with God feed many, but fools die for want of understanding.
Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.