The Daily Audio Bible

Married Women and What They Would Get from Their Families

36 The heads of the fathers’ houses of the family group of the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near. They spoke in front of Moses and the leaders, the heads of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel. ² They said, “The Lord told my lord to give the land to the people of Israel by drawing names. And my lord was told by the Lord to give the land of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. ³ But if they marry one of the sons of the other family groups of Israel, then their land would be taken away from what was given to our fathers and would be added to the land of the family group they marry into. So it would be taken from the land that had been given to us. ⁴ When the Year of Jubilee of the people of Israel comes, their land will be added to the land of the family group into which they marry. So their land will be taken from the land of the family group of our fathers.”

⁵ Then Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord said. He said, “The family group of the sons of Joseph are right in what they say. ⁶ This is what the Lord has said about the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘Let them marry whom they think best. Only they must marry within the family group of their father.’ ⁷ This way no land of the people of Israel will go from one family group to another. The people of Israel will each hold to the land of the family group of his fathers. ⁸ Every daughter who comes to own the land of any family group of Israel, must be the wife of one of her father’s family group. So every one of the people of Israel may own the land of his fathers. ⁹ No land will go from one family group to another. For the families of Israel will each hold to his own land.” ¹⁰ The daughters of Zelophehad did just as the Lord had told Moses. ¹¹ Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married sons of their father’s brothers. ¹² They married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph. And their land stayed with their father’s family group.

¹³ These are the Laws which the Lord told the people of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

Israel Told to Go to Canaan

1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan, in the desert, in the Arabah beside Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. ² It takes eleven days to travel from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. ³ On the first day of the eleventh month in the fortieth year, Moses spoke to the children of Israel. He told them all the Lord said they must do. ⁴ This was after he had won the war against Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei. ⁵ On the other side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses talked to the people about this Law. He said, ⁶ “The Lord our God spoke to us at Mount Sinai, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Get ready to travel now. Go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the valley, in the Negev and by the sea, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the big river, the river Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have set the land in front of you. Go in and take for your own the land which the Lord promised to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to their children after them.’

Leaders of Family Groups

⁹ “At that time I said to you, ‘I am not able to take care of you alone. ¹⁰ The Lord your God has made you become many people. Now you are as many as the stars of heaven. ¹¹ May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you 1,000 times as many as you are. May He bring good to you just as He has promised you! ¹² How can I alone carry the weight of your troubles? ¹³ Choose wise, understanding and able men from your family groups. And I will make them leaders over you.’ ¹⁴ You answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do.’ ¹⁵ So I took the leaders of your family groups, wise and able men. I made them leaders over you, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and rulers of your family groups.

¹⁶ “Then I said to your judges at that time, ‘Listen to the problems between your brothers. And be right in what you decide between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him. ¹⁷ Do not show favor as you judge. Listen to the small and the great alike. Do not be afraid of any man, because you are judging for God. Bring to me any problem that is too hard for you, and I will hear it.’ ¹⁸ I told you at that time all the things you should do.

Men Are Sent to Spy Out the Land

¹⁹ “Then we left Mount Sinai. We went through the big desert you saw which fills people with fear, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had told us. And we came to Kadesh-barnea. ²⁰ I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God will give us. ²¹ See, the Lord your God has set the land in front of you. Go and take it for your own, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or troubled.’ ²² Then all of you came to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, to spy out the land for us. They will return and tell us which way we should go and which cities we will come to.’ ²³ What you said pleased me. I took twelve of your men, one man for each family group. ²⁴ They went up into the hill country, came to the valley of Eshcol, and saw what was there. ²⁵ They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. And they told us that it is a good land which the Lord our God is giving us.

²⁶ “Yet you would not go up. You went against what the Lord your God told you to do. ²⁷ You complained in your tents, saying, ‘Because the Lord hates us He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to give us to the Amorites to destroy us. ²⁸ Where would we be going? Our brothers have made our hearts weak with fear, saying, ‘The people are bigger and taller than we. The cities are large, with walls as high as the heavens. And we have even seen the sons of the Anakim there.’” ²⁹ Then I said to you, ‘Do not be afraid of them. ³⁰ The Lord your God Who goes before you will Himself fight for you. He did this for you in Egypt in front of your eyes, ³¹ and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way you have walked until you came to this place.’ ³² But even so, you did not trust the Lord your God, ³³ Who goes before you on your way. He finds a place for you to set up your tents. He uses fire to show you the way to go during the night. During the day He uses a cloud to lead you.

Israel’s Punishment

³⁴ “The Lord heard your words and was angry. He swore, ³⁵ ‘Not one of these men of these sinful people will see the good land I promised to give your fathers, ³⁶ except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it. I will give the land on which he has walked to him and his children because he has always followed the Lord.’ ³⁷ The Lord was angry with me because of you. He said, ‘Not even you will go in there. ³⁸ Joshua the son of Nun, who stands in front of you, will go in there. Tell him to be strong, for he will bring Israel into their new land. ³⁹ And your little ones whom you said would be taken by strange hands, and your children who do not yet know the difference between good and bad, will go in there. I will give the land to them. It will be theirs. ⁴⁰ But as for you, turn around and go into the desert by way of the Red Sea.’

⁴¹ “Then you said to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God told us.’ So every man of you put on his sword and thought it an easy thing to go up into the hill country. ⁴² The Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up or fight. For I am not among you. You would be destroyed by those who hate you.”’ ⁴³ So I spoke to you but you would not listen. You went against what the Lord told you. In your pride you went up into the hill country. ⁴⁴ Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you. They came at you like bees, and crushed you from Seir to Hormah. ⁴⁵ And you returned and cried before the Lord but the Lord did not listen to you. ⁴⁶ So you stayed in Kadesh. Many days you stayed there.

²⁹ Levi made a big supper for Jesus in his house. Many men who gathered taxes and other people sat down with them. ³⁰ The teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers talked against the followers of Jesus. They said, “Why do You eat and drink with men who gather taxes and with sinners?” ³¹ Jesus said to them, “People who are well do not need a doctor. Only those who are sick need a doctor. ³² I have not come to call good people. I have come to call sinners to be sorry for their sins and to turn from them.”

Jesus Teaches about Going without Food So You Can Pray Better ^(A)

³³ They asked Jesus, “Why do the followers of John and of the proud religious law-keepers go without food so they can pray better, but Your followers keep on eating and drinking?” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Can the friends at a wedding be sorry when the man just married is with them? ³⁵ The days will come when the man just married will be taken from them. Then they will not eat food so they can pray better in those days.”

The Picture-Story of the Cloth and the Bags

³⁶ Then Jesus told them a picture-story. He said, “No one sews a piece of cloth from a new coat on an old coat. If he does, the new coat will have a hole. The new piece and the old coat will not be the same. ³⁷ No man puts new wine into old skin bags. If they did, the skins would break and the wine would run out. The bags would be no good. ³⁸ New wine must be put into new bags and both are kept safe. ³⁹ No one wants new wine after drinking old wine. He says, ‘The old wine is better.’”

Jesus Teaches about the Day of Rest ^(B)

6 On the next Day of Rest Jesus was walking through the grain-fields. His followers picked grain. They rubbed it in their hands and ate it. ² Some of the proud religious law-keepers said to them, “Why are you doing what the Law says should not be done on the Day of Rest?” ³ Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his men were hungry? ⁴ He went into the house of God and ate the special bread used in the religious worship. He gave some to those who were with him also. The Law says only the religious leaders may eat that bread. ⁵ The Son of Man is Lord of the Day of Rest also.”

Jesus Heals on the Day of Rest ^(C)

⁶ On another Day of Rest Jesus went into the Jewish place of worship and taught. A man with a dried-up hand was there. ⁷ The teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers watched to see if He would heal on the Day of Rest. They wanted to have something to say against Him. ⁸ Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said to the man with the dried-up hand, “Stand up and come here.” The man stood up and went to Jesus. ⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing. Does the Law say to do good on the Day of Rest or to do bad? To save life or to kill?” ¹⁰ Jesus looked around at them all and said to the man, “Put out your hand.” He put it out and his hand was healed. It was as good as his other hand. ¹¹ The teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers were filled with anger. They talked with each other about what they might do to Jesus.

Song of Praise and Thanks to God

66 Raise the voice of joy to God, all the earth! ² Sing out the honor of His name! Make His praise great! ³ Say to God, “How Your great works make those who hate You afraid! They will have to obey You because of Your great power. ⁴ All the earth will worship You and sing praises to You. They will sing praises to Your name.”

⁵ Come and see what God has done. There is much fear because of His great works toward the children of men. ⁶ He changed the sea into dry land. They passed through the river on foot. There we were full of joy in Him. ⁷ He rules forever by His power. His eyes keep watch over the nations. Do not let those who do not obey You honor themselves.

⁸ Give honor and thanks to God, O people, and let all hear how great He is! ⁹ He keeps us alive, and does not let our feet go out from under us. ¹⁰ For You have tested us, O God. You have made us pure like silver is made pure. ¹¹ You brought us into the net. And You laid a heavy load on our back. ¹² You made men travel over our heads. We went through fire and through water. But You brought us out into a place where we have much more than we need. ¹³ I will come into Your house with burnt gifts. I will give You what I promised, ¹⁴ promises made by my lips and spoken by my mouth when I was in trouble. ¹⁵ I will give You burnt gifts of fat animals with the smoke of rams. I will give You bulls with male goats.

¹⁶ Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell you what He has done for me. ¹⁷ I cried to Him with my mouth and praised Him with my tongue. ¹⁸ The Lord will not hear me if I hold on to sin in my heart. ¹⁹ But it is sure that God has heard. He has listened to the voice of my prayer. ²⁰ Honor and thanks be to God! He has not turned away from my prayer or held His loving-kindness from me.

²⁴ There is one who is free in giving, and yet he grows richer. And there is one who keeps what he should give, but he ends up needing more.

²⁵ The man who gives much will have much, and he who helps others will be helped himself.

²⁶ The people curse him who keeps grain for himself, but good comes to him who sells it.