The Daily Audio Bible

Years in the Desert

2 “Then we turned and went into the desert by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord said to me. We went around Mount Seir for many days. ² And the Lord said to me, ³ ‘You have traveled around this mountain long enough. Now turn north. ⁴ Tell the people, “You will pass through the land of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful. ⁵ Do not make them angry. For I will not give you any of their land, not even enough for a foot to step on. I have given Mount Seir to Esau for his own. ⁶ You will pay them with money for the food you eat. And you will pay them with money for the water you drink. ⁷ For the Lord your God has brought good to you in all you have done. He knows about your traveling through this big desert. The Lord your God has been with you these forty years. You have not been without a thing.”’

⁸ “So we moved on from our brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and Ezion-geber. We turned and went by the way of the desert of Moab. ⁹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not bring trouble to Moab or fight them in war. For I will not give you any of their land for your own. I have given Ar to the children of Lot for their own.’ ¹⁰ (The Emim had lived there before. These people were many and powerful, and as tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ They are known as Rephaim also, like the Anakim. But the Moabites call them Emim. ¹² The Horites once lived in Seir also. But the sons of Esau took their place. They destroyed them and took the land for themselves, as Israel did to the land which the Lord gave them for their own.) ¹³ ‘Now get up and go over the river Zered.’ So we went over the river Zered. ¹⁴ It was thirty-eight years from the time we left Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the river Zered. By that time all the men of war among us had died, as the Lord had said they would. ¹⁵ The hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them within their tents until they were all dead.

¹⁶ “When all the men of war had died from among the people, ¹⁷ the Lord said to me, ¹⁸ ‘Today you will cross over Ar and into Moab. ¹⁹ But when you come near the land of the sons of Ammon, do not bring them trouble or make them angry. For I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon for your own. Because I have given it to the sons of Lot for their own.’ ²⁰ (It is known as the land of the Rephaim also. For Rephaim once lived in it. But the Amorites call them Zamzummin, ²¹ a people as great, as many and as tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them, and the sons of Ammon took their place and lived in their land. ²² It was as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir. He destroyed the Horites, and the sons of Esau took their place and live in their land even to this day. ²³ And the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor destroyed the Avvim who lived in towns as far as Gaza. Then they lived in their place.) ²⁴ ‘Now rise up and go on your way. Pass through the valley of Arnon. See, I have given you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take it for your own, and fight with him in battle. ²⁵ This day I will begin to put much fear of you upon the nations everywhere under the heavens. When they hear about you, they will shake with fear and be filled with trouble because of you.’

Battle with King Sihon

²⁶ “So I sent men carrying news from the desert of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace. They said, ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land. I will travel only on the road. I will not turn to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You will sell me food for money so I may eat, and give me water for money so I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot ²⁹ as the sons of Esau did for us in Seir and the Moabites in Ar. Do this until I cross over the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’ ³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us pass through his land. For the Lord your God made his spirit and heart hard, so He might give him into your hand, as he is today. ³¹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take it for your own, so you may live in it.’

³² “Then Sihon and all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz. ³³ The Lord our God gave him to us. We won the fight against him, his sons and all his people. ³⁴ So we took all his cities at that time, and destroyed every man, woman and child in them. We left no one alive. ³⁵ We took only the animals for our own, and the things that were left behind in the cities. ³⁶ There was no city too strong for us, from Aroer by the valley of Arnon, and from the city which is in the valley, as far as Gilead. The Lord our God gave all to us. ³⁷ Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country. You did not go where the Lord our God told us not to go.

Battle with King Og

3 “Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan. Og king of Bashan and all his people came out to meet us in battle. ² But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not be afraid of him. For I have given him and all his people and his land to you. Do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon.’ ³ So the Lord our God gave us Og king of Bashan and all his people also. We destroyed them until no one was left alive. ⁴ And we took all his cities at that time. There was not a city which we did not take from them. We took sixty cities, the whole land of Argob, the nation of Og in Bashan. ⁵ All these cities were built strong, with high walls, gates and iron. There were many towns without walls also. ⁶ We destroyed them, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon. We destroyed every man, woman and child in every city. ⁷ But we took for ourselves all the animals and what was left in the cities. ⁸ So we took the land at that time from the two kings of the Amorites who were on the east side of the Jordan, from the valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon ⁹ (Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir). ¹⁰ We took all the cities of the plain and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the nation of Og in Bashan. ¹¹ (For only Og king of Bashan was left of the children of the Rephaim. His bed was made of iron. It is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. It was as long as five steps, and as wide as two long steps.)

Dividing the Land East of the Jordan

¹² “So we took this land for ourselves at that time. I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites the land from Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead. ¹³ I gave to the half-family of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the nation of Og, all the land of Argob. It is called the land of Rephaim. ¹⁴ Manasseh’s son Jair took all the land of Argob as far as the land of the Geshurites and the Maacathites. He called Bashan after his own name, Havvothjair. And that is its name to this day. ¹⁵ I gave Gilead to Machir. ¹⁶ To the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave from Gilead to the valley of Arnon, from the center of the valley to the river Jabbok, beside the Ammonites. ¹⁷ I gave them the Arabah also, with the Jordan as its west side, from Chinnereth as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, at the bottom of the hills of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸ “At that time I told you, ‘The Lord your God has given you this land for your own. All you men with strength of heart will cross over ready to fight before your brothers, the sons of Israel. ¹⁹ But your wives, your little ones and your animals (I know you have many animals) will stay in your cities that I have given you. ²⁰ They will stay until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and until they own the land the Lord your God will give them on the other side of the Jordan. Then every one of you may return to what is his, which I have given you.’ ²¹ And then I told Joshua, ‘Your eyes have seen all the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the nations through which you pass. ²² Do not be afraid of them. For the Lord your God is the One fighting for you.’

Moses Not Allowed to Cross the Jordan

²³ “After that I begged the Lord, ²⁴ ‘O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your great power and Your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and powerful acts as You do? ²⁵ I ask of You, let me cross over and see the good land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ ²⁶ But the Lord was angry with me because of you. He would not listen to me. The Lord told me, ‘Enough! Speak to Me no more about this. ²⁷ Go up to the top of Pisgah, and look to the west and north and south and east. See it with your eyes, for you will not cross over this Jordan. ²⁸ But tell Joshua what is to be done. Comfort him and give him strength. For he will cross in front of this people. And he will give them for their own the land that you will see.’ ²⁹ So we stayed in the valley beside Beth-peor.

Jesus Calls His Twelve Followers ^(A)

¹² One day Jesus went up on a mountain to pray. He prayed all night to God. ¹³ In the morning He called His followers to Him. He chose twelve of them and called them. ¹⁴ There were Simon, whom He also named Peter, and his brother Andrew. There were James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, ¹⁵ Matthew and Thomas. There were James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Canaanite. ¹⁶ There were Judas, who was the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot who would hand Jesus over to be killed.

Jesus Heals Many People ^(B)

¹⁷ Then Jesus came down and stood on a plain with many of His followers. Many people came from the country of Judea and from Jerusalem and from the cities of Tyre and Sidon. They came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. ¹⁸ Those who were troubled with demons came and were healed. ¹⁹ All the people tried to put their hands on Jesus. Power came from Him and He healed them all.

Jesus Teaches on the Mountain ^(C)

²⁰ He looked at His followers and said, “Those of you who are poor are happy, because the holy nation of God is yours. ²¹ Those of you who are hungry now are happy, because you will be filled. Those of you who have sorrow now are happy, because you will laugh. ²² You are happy when men hate you and do not want you around and put shame on you because you trust in Me. ²³ Be glad in that day. Be full of joy for your reward is much in heaven. Their fathers did these things to the early preachers.

²⁴ “It is bad for you who are rich. You are receiving all that you will get. ²⁵ It is bad for you who are full. You will be hungry. It is bad for you who laugh now. You will have sorrow and you will cry. ²⁶ It is bad for you when everyone speaks well of you. In the same way, their fathers spoke well of the false teachers.

Jesus Teaches What the Law Says about Love

²⁷ “I say to you who hear Me, love those who work against you. Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Respect and give thanks for those who try to bring bad to you. Pray for those who make it very hard for you. ²⁹ Whoever hits you on one side of the face, turn so he can hit the other side also. Whoever takes your coat, give him your shirt also. ³⁰ Give to any person who asks you for something. If a person takes something from you, do not ask for it back. ³¹ Do for other people what you would like to have them do for you.

³² “If you love those who love you, what pay can you expect from that? Sinners also love those who love them. ³³ If you do good to those who do good to you, what pay can you expect from that? Sinners also do good to those who do good to them. ³⁴ If you let people use your things and expect to get something back, what pay can you expect from that? Even sinners let sinners use things and they expect to get something back. ³⁵ But love those who hate you. Do good to them. Let them use your things and do not expect something back. Your reward will be much. You will be the children of the Most High. He is kind to those who are not thankful and to those who are full of sin.

Jesus Teaches about Finding Bad in Others

³⁶ “You must have loving-kindness just as your Father has loving-kindness. ³⁷ Do not say what is wrong in other people’s lives. Then other people will not say what is wrong in your life. Do not say someone is guilty. Then other people will not say you are guilty. Forgive other people and other people will forgive you.

³⁸ “Give, and it will be given to you. You will have more than enough. It can be pushed down and shaken together and it will still run over as it is given to you. The way you give to others is the way you will receive in return.”

Nations Praise God

67 May God show loving-kindness toward us and bring good to us. May He make His face shine upon us. ² May Your way be known on the earth, and Your saving power among all nations. ³ May the people praise You, O God. May all the people praise You. ⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy. For You will be fair when You judge the people and rule the nations of the earth. ⁵ May the people praise You, O God. May all the people praise You. ⁶ The earth has given its fruit. God, our God, will bring good to us. ⁷ God will bring good to us, and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.

²⁷ He who looks for good finds favor, but he who looks for wrong-doing will have bad come to him.