The Daily Audio Bible

The Passover

16 “Remember the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God. For the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt during the night in the month of Abib. ² Give the Passover gift to the Lord your God from the flock and the cattle, in the place where the Lord chooses to put His name. ³ Do not eat bread made with yeast. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, the bread of sorrow, because you came out of the land of Egypt in a hurry. So all the days of your life you will remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. ⁴ For seven days there is to be no yeast around in all your land. And none of the flesh you give in worship on the evening of the first day will be kept through the night until morning. ⁵ You are not allowed to give the Passover gift in any of your towns the Lord your God gives you. ⁶ But give it at the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name. You must kill the Passover gift in the evening when the sun goes down, at the time that you came out of Egypt. ⁷ Make it ready and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses. Then return to your tents in the morning. ⁸ For six days eat bread made without yeast. On the seventh day there will be a holy meeting to the Lord your God. Do no work on this day.

The Supper of Weeks

⁹ “Number seven weeks. Begin to number seven weeks from the time you begin to cut the standing grain. ¹⁰ Then keep the Special Supper of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a free-will gift. Give as the Lord your God has given to you. ¹¹ Be full of joy before the Lord your God, you and your son and daughter, your men and women servants, the Levite who is in your town, the stranger, the child whose parents have died, and the woman whose husband has died. Be full of joy in the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name. ¹² Remember that you were servants in Egypt. And be careful to obey these Laws.

¹³ “Keep the Special Supper of Tents seven days after you have gathered your grain and wine. ¹⁴ Be full of joy during your special supper, you and your son and daughter, your men and women servants, the Levite, the stranger, the child whose parents have died, and the woman whose husband has died, who are in your towns. ¹⁵ Seven days you will have a special supper to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses. You will be full of joy because the Lord your God will bring good to you in all the food you grow and in all the work you do. ¹⁶ All your males must show themselves before the Lord your God three times a year in the place He chooses, at the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast, the Special Supper of the First Fruits of the Land, and the Special Supper of Tents. They must not show themselves before the Lord with nothing in their hands. ¹⁷ Every man should give as he is able, as the Lord your God has given to you.

Those Who Judge

¹⁸ “Choose judges and other leaders for all your towns the Lord your God is giving you, among each of your family groups. They must be wise in judging the people. ¹⁹ Be fair and do not show favor. Do not take pay in secret for doing wrong. Such pay blinds the eyes of the wise and causes them to change the words of a good man. ²⁰ Follow what is right, and only what is right. Then you will live and receive the land the Lord your God is giving you.

²¹ “When you make an altar for the Lord your God, do not put beside it a wooden god like the false goddess Asherah. ²² Do not set up for yourself a pillar for worship that the Lord your God hates.

17 “Do not give to the Lord your God a bull or a sheep which is not perfect. For that is a hated thing to the Lord your God.

² “You may find among you, within any of your towns the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who does what is sinful in the eyes of the Lord your God by sinning against the Lord’s agreement. ³ If he has served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon or the stars, which I have told him not to worship, ⁴ and if someone told you about this, then you should do your best to find out if it is true. If it is true that this hated thing has been done in Israel, ⁵ then bring that man or woman who has done this sinful act to your gates, and kill the man or woman with stones. ⁶ If two or three people tell what they know against this person, he who is to die must be put to death. But he should not be put to death if only one person speaks against him. ⁷ Those who speak against him should be first to put him to death. And then all the people should join them. You must get rid of all sin from among you.

⁸ “There may be a problem too hard for you to decide, between two kinds of killing, between two kinds of questions about the law, between two kinds of hurting, problems argued about in your courts. Then get up and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. ⁹ Go to the Levite religious leader or the judge who is at work at that time. Ask them, and they will tell you what they decide. ¹⁰ Then do what should be done by what they tell you they have decided at that place which the Lord chooses. Be careful to do all they tell you. ¹¹ Do what they teach you about the Law and about what they decide. Do not turn aside from what they tell you to do, to the right or to the left. ¹² The man must die who does foolish things and will not listen to the judge or the religious leader who serves the Lord your God. You must get rid of sin from Israel. ¹³ Then all the people will hear and be afraid. They will not act in a foolish way again.

A King

¹⁴ “When you go into the land the Lord your God gives you, and own it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will have a king rule over me like all the nations around me,’ ¹⁵ then you will set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. Set a king over you from among your brothers. Do not give a stranger power over you if he is not your brother. ¹⁶ He must not take many horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get many horses. Because the Lord has told you, ‘You must never again return that way.’ ¹⁷ He must not take many wives for himself or his heart may turn away. And he must not gather much silver and gold for himself.

¹⁸ “When he sits on the throne of his nation, he should write this Law for himself in a book in front of the Levite religious leaders. ¹⁹ It should be kept with him and he should read it all the days of his life. Then he will learn to fear the Lord his God, by being careful to obey all the words of these Laws. ²⁰ And he will not think he is better than his brothers. He will not turn aside from the Law, to the right or to the left, so that he and his children may live long in his nation in Israel.

John the Baptist Is Killed ^(A)

⁷ Now Herod the leader heard of all that had been done by Jesus. He was troubled because some people said that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead. ⁸ Some people said that Elijah had come back. Others thought one of the early preachers had been raised from the dead. ⁹ Then Herod said, “I had John’s head cut off. But who is this Man that I hear these things about?” He wanted to see Jesus.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand ^(B)

¹⁰ The twelve followers came back. They told Jesus what they had done. Jesus took them to a desert near the town of Bethsaida. There they could be alone. ¹¹ When the people knew where Jesus was, they followed Him. Jesus was happy to see them and talked to them about the holy nation of God. He healed all who were sick.

¹² When the day was about over, the twelve followers came to Jesus. They said, “Send these many people away so they can go to the towns and country near here. There they can find a place to sleep and get food. We are here in a desert.” ¹³ But Jesus said to them, “Give them something to eat.” They said, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish. Are we to go and buy food for all these people?” ¹⁴ There were about five thousand men. Jesus said to His followers, “Have them sit down in groups of fifty people.” ¹⁵ They did as He told them. They made all of the people sit down. ¹⁶ As Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two fish, He looked up to heaven and gave thanks. He broke them in pieces and gave them to His followers to give to the people. ¹⁷ They all ate and were filled. They picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish after the people finished eating.

Peter Says Jesus Is the Christ ^(C)

¹⁸ While Jesus was praying alone, His followers were with Him. Jesus asked them, “Who do people say that I am?” ¹⁹ They said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah. Others say that one of the early preachers has been raised from the dead.” ²⁰ Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said, “You are the Christ of God.”

Jesus Tells of His Death for the First Time ^(D)

²¹ Then Jesus spoke to them and told them to tell no one. ²² He said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. The leaders and the religious leaders and the teachers of the Law will have nothing to do with Him. He must be killed and be raised from the dead three days later.”

Giving Up Self and One’s Own Desires

²³ Then Jesus said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow Me, he must give up himself and his own desires. He must take up his cross everyday and follow Me. ²⁴ If anyone wants to keep his own life safe, he must lose it. If anyone gives up his life because of Me, he will save it. ²⁵ For what does a man have if he gets all the world and loses or gives up his life? ²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of Me and My Words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His own shining-greatness and of the Father’s and of the holy angels. ²⁷ I tell you the truth, some standing here will not die until they see the holy nation of God.”

A Prayer for the King

72 O God, make the king right in what he decides. Make the king’s son right with You. ² May he be right when he decides who is right and who is wrong and may he be fair to the poor. ³ Let mountains and hills bring peace to the people through what is right and good. ⁴ May he stand by those who are poor, save the children of those in need, and destroy the bad power over them.

⁵ May all the children-to-come fear You as long as the sun and the moon last. ⁶ May He come down like rain upon the cut grass, like rain that waters the earth. ⁷ In His days may all go well with those who are right and good. And may there be much peace until the moon is no more.

⁸ May he also rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. ⁹ Those who live in the desert will put their faces to the ground before Him. And those who hate Him will kiss the dust. ¹⁰ Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring gifts. Let the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. ¹¹ Yes, let all kings fall down at His feet, and all nations serve Him.

¹² For He will take out of trouble the one in need when he cries for help, and the poor man who has no one to help. ¹³ He will have loving-pity on the weak and those in need. He will save the lives of those in need. ¹⁴ He will take them from the bad power that is held over them and from being hurt. Their blood will be of much worth in His eyes. ¹⁵ He will live, and the gold of Sheba will be given to Him. Prayer will be given for Him all the time. Let them honor Him all day long.

¹⁶ May there be much grain in the land on top of the mountains. May its fruit grow like the trees of Lebanon. And may those of the city grow like the grass of the earth. ¹⁷ May His name last forever. May His name become bigger as long as the sun shines. And let men respect themselves through Him. Let all nations honor Him.

¹⁸ Honor and thanks be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone does great things. ¹⁹ And honor be to His great name forever. May the whole earth be filled with His shining-greatness. Let it be so.

²⁰ The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

⁸ A man will be praised for his wisdom, but a man with a sinful mind will be hated.

⁹ A man who has only a little honor and has a servant is better than one who honors himself and does not have bread.