The Daily Audio Bible
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17 Then the Lord said to Moses, 18 “Say to the people of Israel, ‘When you come into the land where I bring you 19 and when you eat of the food of the land, you must lift up a gift in worship to the Lord. 20 Give a loaf of bread as a gift from the first of your grain. Give it as the gift of the grain-floor. 21 From the first of your grain you and all your children-to-come must give a gift to the Lord.
22 ‘Without knowing it you might not obey all these Laws which the Lord has spoken to Moses, 23 even all that the Lord has told you to do through Moses, from the day when the Lord told you and through all your children-to-come. 24 If this is done without the people knowing it, then all the people must give one bull for a burnt gift. It will be a pleasing smell to the Lord. It must be brought with its grain gift and its drink gift, by the Law, and with one male goat for a sin gift. 25 Then the religious leader will pay for the sins of all the people of Israel, and they will be forgiven. Because it was a mistake, they brought their gift, a gift by fire to the Lord, and their sin gift to the Lord, for their mistake. 26 So all the people of Israel and the stranger who stays among them will be forgiven. For it happened to all the people by mistake.
27 ‘If one person sins without knowing it, he must bring a one year old female goat for a sin gift. 28 And the religious leader before the Lord will pay for the sin of the person who sins without knowing it. He will pay for his sin so he may be forgiven. 29 You will have one Law for him who does anything without knowing it, for him who is one of the people of Israel and for the stranger who lives among them. 30 But if a person born in the land or a stranger does anything wrong and means to do it, he is speaking against the Lord. That person must be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has hated the Word of the Lord and has broken His Law, that person must be cut off for sure. His guilt will be on him.’”
Punishment for Those Who Worked on the Day of Rest
32 While the people of Israel were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the Day of Rest. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the people. 34 They put him in chains, because they did not know what should be done to him for gathering wood on the Day of Rest. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses: “The man must be put to death. All the people must kill him with stones away from the tents.” 36 So all the people took him away from the tents and killed him with stones, just as the Lord had told Moses.
37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel. Tell them that they and all their children-to-come are to make tassels for themselves on the corners of their clothing. And they are to put a blue rope on the tassel of each corner. 39 It will be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the Laws of the Lord, and to do them. Do not follow your own heart and your own eyes, as you did when you acted like a woman selling the use of her body. 40 It will be so that you may remember to obey all My Laws, and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God Who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.”
Korah Works against Moses
16 Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, caused trouble. 2 They came in front of Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel. They had chosen 250 leaders of the people of Israel, well-known men. 3 They all gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why do you honor yourselves more than the people of the Lord?”
4 When Moses heard this, he bowed to the ground. 5 He said to Korah and all who were with him, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is His, and who is holy. He will have him come near to Him. He will bring near to Himself the one whom He will choose. 6 Do this, Korah and all who are with you. Take pots for burning special perfume. 7 Put fire in them, and put special perfume upon them before the Lord tomorrow. The man whom the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You have gone too far, you sons of Levi!”
8 Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi. 9 Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the rest of the people of Israel? He has brought you near to Himself. He has you do the work around the meeting tent of the Lord. And He has you stand in front of the people to care for them. 10 He has brought you near to Him, Korah, and all your brothers who are the sons of Levi, with you. Would you try to be the religious leaders also? 11 So you and all who are with you are gathered together against the Lord. But as for Aaron, who is he that you complain against him?”
12 Then Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come up. 13 Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the desert? Must you make yourself a ruler over us also? 14 More than this, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey. You have not given us any land with fields and grape vines. Would you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!”
15 Moses became very angry. He said to the Lord, “Do not respect their gift! I have not taken one donkey from them. And I have not hurt one of them.” 16 Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all who are with you be before the Lord tomorrow, you and they, and Aaron. 17 Each of you take his fire pot and put special perfume on it. And each of you bring his fire pot before the Lord, 250 fire pots. Let both you and Aaron bring his fire pot also.” 18 So each man took his fire pot and put fire in it and put special perfume on it. And they stood at the door of the meeting tent with Moses and Aaron. 19 Korah gathered together all the people against them at the door of the meeting tent. And the shining-greatness of the Lord was seen by all the people.
20 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Go away from these people, so I may destroy them at once.” 22 But they fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with all the people?” 23 Then the Lord said to Moses, 24 “Say to the people, ‘Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’”
25 Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the leaders of Israel following him. 26 And he said to the people, “Go away now from the tents of these sinful men. Touch nothing that belongs to them, or you will be destroyed because of all their sin.” 27 So they went away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. 28 Moses said, “By this you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works. For this is not my doing. 29 If these men die in the same way all men die, or if what happens to everyone happens to them, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But the Lord will do something new. The ground will open its mouth and take them with all that belongs to them. And they will go down alive into the place of the dead. Then you will understand that these men have turned against the Lord.”
31 As soon as he stopped speaking, the ground under them opened up. 32 The earth opened its mouth and took them and all those of their house, and all Korah’s men and all that belonged to them. 33 They and all that belonged to them went down alive to the place of the dead, and the earth closed over them. They were destroyed from among the people. 34 And all Israel who were around them ran away at their cry. For they said, “The earth may take us too!” 35 Then fire came from the Lord and destroyed the 250 men who had brought the special perfume.
36 The Lord said to Moses, 37 “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the religious leader to take the fire pots out of the fire. For they are holy. Then spread the burning pieces far apart. 38 Let the fire pots of these men who have sinned and lost their lives be made into beaten plates to cover the altar. For they did bring them to the Lord and they are holy. They will be something special for the people of Israel to see.” 39 So Eleazar the religious leader took the brass fire pots which the men who were burned had brought. And they beat them into plates to cover the altar. 40 They were to make the people of Israel remember that no man who is not a religious leader and a son of Aaron should come to burn special perfume before the Lord. Or he might become like Korah and those who were with him, as the Lord said to Eleazar through Moses.
Jesus Before Pilate (A)
15 Early in the morning the head religious leaders of the Jews and other leaders and the teachers of the Law and all the court gathered together to talk about Jesus. Then they tied up Jesus and led Him away. They handed Him over to Pilate. 2 Pilate asked Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?” He said to Pilate, “What you say is true.”
3 The religious leaders spoke many things against Him. Jesus did not say a word. 4 Pilate asked Him again, “Have You nothing to say? Listen to the things they are saying against You!” 5 Jesus did not say a word. Pilate was much surprised and wondered about it.
Jesus or Barabbas Is to Go Free (B)
6 Each year at the special supper Pilate would let one person who was in prison go free. It would be the one the people asked for. 7 The name of one of those in prison was Barabbas. He, together with others, had killed people while working against the leaders of the country. 8 All the people went to Pilate and asked him to do as he had done before. 9 Pilate said, “Do you want me to let the King of the Jews go free?” 10 He knew the religious leaders had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous. 11 The religious leaders talked the people into thinking that Pilate should let Barabbas go free. 12 Pilate said to them again, “What do you want me to do with the Man you call the King of the Jews?” 13 They spoke with loud voices again, “Nail Him to a cross.” 14 Then Pilate said to them, “Why? What bad thing has He done?” They spoke with loud voices all the more, “Nail Him to a cross!”
The Crown of Thorns (C)
15 Pilate wanted to please the people. He gave Barabbas to them and had Jesus beaten. Then he handed Him over to be nailed to a cross. 16 The soldiers led Jesus away to a large room in the court. They called all the soldiers together. 17 The soldiers put a purple coat on Him. They put a crown of thorns on His head, 18 and said to Him, “Hello, King of the Jews!” 19 They hit Him on the head with a stick and spit on Him. They got down on their knees and worshiped Him. 20 After they had made fun of Him, they took the purple coat off of Him and put His own clothes back on Him. Then they led Him away to be nailed to a cross.
21 They came to a man called Simon who was coming from the country of Cyrene. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. They made Simon carry the cross of Jesus.
Jesus on the Cross (D)
22 They led Jesus to a place called Golgotha. This name means the place of the skull. 23 They gave Him wine with something in it to take away the pain, but He would not drink it. 24 When they had nailed Jesus to the cross, they divided His clothes by drawing names to see what each man should take. 25 It was about nine o’clock in the morning when they nailed Him to the cross. 26 Over Jesus’ head they put in writing what they had against Him, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
The Two Robbers (E)
27 They nailed two robbers on crosses beside Jesus. One was on His right side and the other was on His left side. 28 *It happened as the Holy Writings said it would happen, “They thought of Him as One Who broke the Law.” (F)
29 Those who walked by shook their heads and laughed at Jesus. They said, “You were the One Who could destroy the house of God and build it again in three days. 30 Save Yourself and come down from the cross.” 31 The head religious leaders and the teachers of the Law made fun of Him also. They said to each other, “He saved others but He cannot save Himself. 32 Let Christ, the King of the Jews, come down from the cross. We want to see it and then we will believe.” Those who were on the crosses beside Jesus spoke bad things to Him.
The Death of Jesus (G)
33 From noon until three o’clock it was dark over all the land. 34 At three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You left Me alone?”
35 When some of those who stood by heard that, they said, “Listen! He is calling for Elijah.” 36 One of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with sour wine. He put it on a stick and gave it to Him to drink. He said, “Let Him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come and take Him down.”
The Powerful Works at the Time of His Death (H)
37 Then Jesus gave a loud cry. He gave up His spirit and died. 38 The curtain in the house of God was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 The captain of the soldiers was looking at Jesus when He cried out. He saw Him die and said, “For sure, this Man was the Son of God.”
The Women at the Cross (I)
40 Women were looking on from far away. Among them was Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome. 41 These cared for Him when He was in the country of Galilee. There were many other women there who had followed Him to Jerusalem.
The Grave of Jesus (J)
42 It was the day to get ready for the Day of Rest and it was now evening. 43 Joseph, who was from the city of Arimathea, was an important man in the court. He was looking for the holy nation of God. Without being afraid, he went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised and wondered if Jesus was dead so soon. He called the captain of the soldiers and asked if Jesus was already dead.
45 After the captain said that Jesus was dead, Pilate let Joseph take the body. 46 Joseph took the body of Jesus down from the cross. He put the linen cloth he had bought around the body. Then he laid the body in a grave which had been cut out in the side of a rock. He pushed a stone over to cover the door of the grave. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where He was laid.
Prayer for a Safe Place
54 Save me by Your name, O God. And stand with me by Your power. 2 Hear my prayer, O God. Listen to the words of my mouth. 3 For strangers have risen against me. And men who hurt others want to take my life. They do not think about God.
4 See, God is my Helper. The Lord is the One Who keeps my soul alive. 5 He will punish those who hate me, for the wrong they have done. He will destroy them because He is faithful.
6 I will be glad to give You a gift on the altar. I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good. 7 For He has taken me out of all trouble. And my eyes have looked without fear upon those who hate me.
5 Those right with God, who are without blame, make a straight way for themselves, but the sinful will fall by their own wrong-doing.
6 Being right with God will save the honest man, but those who hurt others will be trapped by their wrong desires.
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