The Daily Audio Bible

Moses Recalls Wilderness Journey

2 “Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness by the way to the Sea of Reeds, just as Adonai told me. We went around the hill country of Seir for many days.

² “Adonai spoke to me saying, ³ ‘You have gone around this hill country long enough—turn to the north. ⁴ Command the people saying, “You are about to cross into the territory of your relatives, the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful. ⁵ Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land—not even a footprint—because I have given the hill country of Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You are to buy food from them for money so that you may eat, and you are also to buy water from them for money so that you may drink. ⁷ For Adonai your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand—He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These 40 years Adonai your God has been with you—you have lacked nothing.”’

⁸ “So we went on past our relatives the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the way of the Arabah from Elath and Ezion-geber. We turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

⁹ “Adonai said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or engage them in battle. For I will not give you any of his land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession. ¹⁰ (The Emim used to live there—a great and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ These people also are considered Rephaim, like the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim. ¹² Now the Horites used to live in Seir, but the sons of Esau drove them out and destroyed them from before themselves and settled in their place—just as Israel did to the land of its possession that Adonai gave to them.) ¹³ Now rise up, and cross over the Wadi Zered.’ So we went over the Wadi Zered.

¹⁴ “The time that we traveled from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Wadi Zered was 38 years—until all the generation of the men of war from within the camp came to an end, as Adonai had sworn to them. ¹⁵ Indeed, the hand of Adonai was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they came to their end.^[a]

¹⁶ “Now when all the men of war had finished dying from among the people, ¹⁷ Adonai spoke to me saying, ¹⁸ ‘Today you are about to cross the border of Moab at Ar. ¹⁹ When you come opposite the sons of Ammon, do not harass or provoke them—for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon for a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession. ²⁰ (That also is considered a land of Rephaim. Rephaim used to live there, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim— ²¹ a great and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim. But Adonai destroyed them from before them, and the Ammonites dispossessed them and settled in their place. ²² It was just as Adonai did for the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites before them. They drove them out and settled in their place even to this day. ²³ As for the Avvim who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim who came from Crete destroyed them and settled in their place.)

Defeat of Sihon and Og

²⁴ “‘Rise up, journey on, and cross over the Wadi Arnon. See, I have handed over Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land—begin to possess it! Engage him in battle! ²⁵ This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven. When they hear the report about you, they will tremble and twist in anguish because of you.’

²⁶ “So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of shalom saying, ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land—I will go only by way of the road. I will not turn to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You will sell me food for money so that I may eat and give me water for money so that I may drink. Just let me pass through on foot— ²⁹ as the sons of Esau dwelling in Seir and the Moabites in Ar did for me—until I cross over the Jordan into the land that Adonai our God is giving to us.’ ³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, because Adonai your God stiffened his spirit and hardened his heart, in order to hand him over to you this very day.^[b]

³¹ “Adonai said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you—begin to take possession in order to take hold of his land.’

³² “Then Sihon came out against us—he and all his people—to battle at Jahaz. ³³ Adonai our God gave him over to us, and we struck him down along with his sons and all his people. ³⁴ We captured all his cities at that time, and utterly put under a ban of judgment every city—men, women and children. We left no survivor. ³⁵ We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, as the spoils of the cities we captured. ³⁶ From Aroer which is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon and the city by the wadi, all the way up to the Gilead, there was not a town too high for us. Adonai our God gave everything over to us. ³⁷ Only you did not come near the land of the sons of Ammon—all along the Wadi Jabbok and the cities of the hill country and wherever Adonai our God had commanded.

3 “Next we turned and went up the way to the Bashan. King Og of the Bashan came out against us—he and all his people—for battle at Edrei. ² But Adonai said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him over and all his people and his land. You will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’

³ “So Adonai our God also handed over King Og of the Bashan and all his people, and we struck him down until no survivor was left. ⁴ We captured all his cities at that time—there was not a town that we did not take from them—sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in the Bashan. ⁵ All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, in addition to a great many unwalled towns. ⁶ We utterly destroyed them, just as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every city—men, women and children. ⁷ But all the livestock and the spoils of the cities we took as plunder for ourselves.

⁸ “So at that time we took from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land across the Jordan, from the Wadi 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 the Gilead and all the Bashan, as far as Salcah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in the Bashan. ¹¹ (For only King Og of the Bashan survived from the remnant of the Rephaim. In fact, his bed was made of iron—is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length and four cubits its width, according to the cubit of a man.)

Possession East of Jordan

¹² “This land we took in possession at that time—from Aroer by the Wadi Arnon and half the hill country of the Gilead and its cities—I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites. ¹³ The rest of the Gilead and all of the Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh—all the region of the Argob. (All the Bashan is called the land of Rephaim. ¹⁴ Jair son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites. He called them—the Bashan—after his own name, Havvoth-jair’s Villages, as it is the case to this day.)

¹⁵ “To Machir I gave the Gilead. ¹⁶ To the Reubenite and Gadites I gave from the Gilead as far as the Wadi Arnon—the middle of the wadi as the border—and as far as Jabbok, the wadi that is the border of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁷ and the Arabah, with the Jordan as the border from Kinneret as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward.

¹⁸ “I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘Adonai your God has given you this land to possess it. Ready for battle, you will cross over ahead of your brothers Bnei-Yisrael—all the men of valor. ¹⁹ Only your wives and your little ones and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) may stay in your cities that I have given you, ²⁰ until Adonai gives rest to your brothers as He has for you, and they also possess the land that Adonai your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then you may return, each man to his possession that I have given you.’

²¹ “I commanded Joshua at that time saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that Adonai your God has done to these two kings. Adonai will do the same to all the kingdoms you are about to cross into. ²² You must not fear them, for it is Adonai your God who fights for you.’

Parashat Va’etchanan

Moses Pleads to Enter

²³ “I pleaded with Adonai at that time, saying, ²⁴ ‘O Lord Adonai, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand—for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do deeds and mighty acts like Yours? ²⁵ Please! Let me cross over and see the good land across the Jordan—that good hill country and the Lebanon.’

²⁶ “But Adonai was angry with me because of you, so He would not listen to me. ‘Enough!’ Adonai said to me, ‘Do not speak to Me anymore about this matter. ²⁷ Go up to the top of Pisgah, look around to the west and the north and the south and the east, and see with your eyes—for you will not cross over this Jordan. ²⁸ But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will cross over before this people, and he will enable them to inherit the land that you will see.’ ²⁹ So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

Appointing the Twelve

¹² And it was during these days that Yeshua went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent all night in prayer to God. ¹³ When day came, He called His disciples, choosing from among them twelve whom He also named emissaries— ¹⁴ Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and Jacob and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; ¹⁵ and Matthew and Thomas; Jacob the son of Alphaeus; Simon who was called the Zealot; ¹⁶ Judah the son of Jacob; and Judah from Kriot, who became a traitor.

The Sermon on the Plain

¹⁷ Then Yeshua came down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of His disciples and a multitude of people, from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. Even those disturbed by defiling spirits were being healed. ¹⁹ Everyone in the crowd was trying to touch Him, because power flowed from Him and He was healing them all.

²⁰ And looking up at His disciples, He said,

²³ Rejoice in that day and jump for joy! For behold, your reward is great in heaven! For their fathers used to treat the prophets the same way.”^[a]

²⁷ “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for the ones who mistreat you. ²⁹ To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. And from the one who takes your cloak, do not hold back your shirt. ³⁰ Give to every one who asks you; and whoever takes something of yours, make no demands upon him.

³¹ “Do to others as you would have them do to you. ³² If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are doing good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do this. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect to take, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same.

³⁵ “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.^[c] Then your reward will be great and you will be sons of Elyon, for He is kind to the ungrateful and evil ones. ³⁶ Be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate to you.”

³⁷ Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Pardon, and you will be pardoned. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you—a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, will be given into your lap. For whatever measure you measure out will be measured back to you.”

Let All Peoples Praise You

Psalm 67