The Daily Audio Bible

Conquest and Division of Transjordan

32 Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle; and they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for cattle. ² So the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Elea′zar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation, ³ “At′aroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elea′leh, Sebam, Nebo, and Be′on, ⁴ the land which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle; and your servants have cattle.” ⁵ And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession; do not take us across the Jordan.”

⁶ But Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, “Shall your brethren go to the war while you sit here? ⁷ Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them? ⁸ Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Ka′desh-bar′nea to see the land. ⁹ For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land which the Lord had given them. ¹⁰ And the Lord’s anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying, ¹¹ ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me; ¹² none except Caleb the son of Jephun′neh the Ken′izzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.’ ¹³ And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was consumed. ¹⁴ And behold, you have risen in your fathers’ stead, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel! ¹⁵ For if you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all this people.”

¹⁶ Then they came near to him, and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our flocks, and cities for our little ones, ¹⁷ but we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁸ We will not return to our homes until the people of Israel have inherited each his inheritance. ¹⁹ For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond; because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.” ²⁰ So Moses said to them, “If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the Lord for the war, ²¹ and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the Lord, until he has driven out his enemies from before him ²² and the land is subdued before the Lord; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. ²³ But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out. ²⁴ Build cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do what you have promised.” ²⁵ And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. ²⁶ Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle, shall remain there in the cities of Gilead; ²⁷ but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord orders.”

²⁸ So Moses gave command concerning them to Elea′zar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. ²⁹ And Moses said to them, “If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, every man who is armed to battle before the Lord, will pass with you over the Jordan and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession; ³⁰ but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.” ³¹ And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, “As the Lord has said to your servants, so we will do. ³² We will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.”

³³ And Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manas′seh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land and its cities with their territories, the cities of the land throughout the country. ³⁴ And the sons of Gad built Dibon, At′aroth, Aro′er, ³⁵ At′roth-sho′phan, Jazer, Jog′behah, ³⁶ Beth-nim′rah and Beth-har′an, fortified cities, and folds for sheep. ³⁷ And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon, Elea′leh, Kiriatha′im, ³⁸ Nebo, and Ba′al-me′on (their names to be changed), and Sibmah; and they gave other names to the cities which they built. ³⁹ And the sons of Machir the son of Manas′seh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. ⁴⁰ And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manas′seh, and he settled in it. ⁴¹ And Ja′ir the son of Manas′seh went and took their villages, and called them Hav′voth-ja′ir.^{[a] 42} And Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.

The Stages of Israel’s Journey from Egypt

33 These are the stages of the people of Israel, when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. ² Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage, by command of the Lord; and these are their stages according to their starting places. ³ They set out from Ram′eses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the passover the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians, ⁴ while the Egyptians were burying all their first-born, whom the Lord had struck down among them; upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments.

⁵ So the people of Israel set out from Ram′eses, and encamped at Succoth. ⁶ And they set out from Succoth, and encamped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. ⁷ And they set out from Etham, and turned back to Pi-hahi′roth, which is east of Ba′al-ze′phon; and they encamped before Migdol. ⁸ And they set out from before Hahi′roth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and they went a three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped at Marah. ⁹ And they set out from Marah, and came to Elim; at Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there. ¹⁰ And they set out from Elim, and encamped by the Red Sea. ¹¹ And they set out from the Red Sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. ¹² And they set out from the wilderness of Sin, and encamped at Dophkah. ¹³ And they set out from Dophkah, and encamped at Alush. ¹⁴ And they set out from Alush, and encamped at Reph′idim, where there was no water for the people to drink. ¹⁵ And they set out from Reph′idim, and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai. ¹⁶ And they set out from the wilderness of Sinai, and encamped at Kib′roth-hatta′avah. ¹⁷ And they set out from Kib′roth-hatta′avah, and encamped at Haze′roth. ¹⁸ And they set out from Haze′roth, and encamped at Rithmah. ¹⁹ And they set out from Rithmah, and encamped at Rim′mon-per′ez. ²⁰ And they set out from Rim′mon-per′ez, and encamped at Libnah. ²¹ And they set out from Libnah, and encamped at Rissah. ²² And they set out from Rissah, and encamped at Kehela′thah. ²³ And they set out from Kehela′thah, and encamped at Mount Shepher. ²⁴ And they set out from Mount Shepher, and encamped at Hara′dah. ²⁵ And they set out from Hara′dah, and encamped at Makhe′loth. ²⁶ And they set out from Makhe′loth, and encamped at Tahath. ²⁷ And they set out from Tahath, and encamped at Terah. ²⁸ And they set out from Terah, and encamped at Mithkah. ²⁹ And they set out from Mithkah, and encamped at Hashmo′nah. ³⁰ And they set out from Hashmo′nah, and encamped at Mose′roth. ³¹ And they set out from Mose′roth, and encamped at Bene-ja′akan. ³² And they set out from Bene-ja′akan, and encamped at Hor-haggid′gad. ³³ And they set out from Hor-haggid′gad, and encamped at Jot′bathah. ³⁴ And they set out from Jot′bathah, and encamped at Abro′nah. ³⁵ And they set out from Abro′nah, and encamped at E′zion-ge′ber. ³⁶ And they set out from E′zion-ge′ber, and encamped in the wilderness of Zin (that is, Kadesh). ³⁷ And they set out from Kadesh, and encamped at Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom.

³⁸ And Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at the command of the Lord, and died there, in the fortieth year after the people of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month. ³⁹ And Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

The Man with an Unclean Spirit

³¹ And he went down to Caper′na-um, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the sabbath; ³² and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority. ³³ And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon; and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴ “Ah!^[a] What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” ³⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. ³⁶ And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” ³⁷ And reports of him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

Healings at Simon’s House

³⁸ And he arose and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they besought him for her. ³⁹ And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her; and immediately she rose and served them.

⁴⁰ Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. ⁴¹ And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

Jesus Preaches in the Synagogues

⁴² And when it was day he departed and went into a lonely place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them; ⁴³ but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” ⁴⁴ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.^[b]

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

5 While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennes′aret. ² And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³ Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴ And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, ⁷ they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” ⁹ For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, sons of Zeb′edee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” ¹¹ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Prayer for Protection from Enemies

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.