The Daily Audio Bible
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What the Religious Leaders and Levites Are to Receive
18 “The Levite religious leaders of the family group of Levi will have no share of the land given to Israel. They will live on the gifts given to the Lord by fire. 2 They will have no share of the land among their brothers. The Lord is their share, as He promised them.
3 “When the people bring their gifts, a bull or a sheep, the religious leader is to be given the shoulder, the parts of the face, and the stomach. 4 Give him the first of your grain, your wine, and your oil, and the first wool of your sheep. 5 For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your families, to stand and serve in the name of the Lord forever.
6 “If a Levite comes whenever he desires from any of the towns in Israel to the place the Lord chooses, 7 then he may work in the name of the Lord his God, like all his brother Levites who stand there before the Lord. 8 They will all eat the same share of food, except what they receive from what is sold of their fathers’ lands.
Stay Away from What Is Sinful
9 “When you go into the land the Lord your God gives you, do not learn to follow the hated and sinful ways of those nations. 10 There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or uses secret ways, or does witchcraft, or tells the meaning of special things, or is a witch, 11 or uses secret power on people, or helps people talk to spirits, or talks to spirits himself, or talks with the dead. 12 For the Lord hates whoever does these things. And because of these hated things, the Lord your God will drive them out from in front of you. 13 You must be without blame before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations that you are about to take listen to those who do witchcraft and use secret ways. But the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.
A Man Who Speaks for God
15 “The Lord your God will give you a man who speaks for God like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. 16 This is what you asked of the Lord your God at Sinai on the day of the meeting, when you said, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again. Do not let me see this fire any more, or I will die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will give them a man who speaks for God like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth. And he will make known to them all that I tell him. 19 He will speak in My name. And I will punish whoever will not listen to him. 20 But that man of God will die who is not careful and speaks in My name what I did not tell him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods.’ 21 You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know which words the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 When a man who speaks for God speaks in the name of the Lord, and what he says does not come true, that word is not from the Lord. The man has spoken on his own. Do not be afraid of him.
The Cities to Be a Safe Place
19 “The Lord your God will destroy the nations whose land the Lord your God gives you. You will take their place and live in their cities and in their houses. At that time 2 you should set apart three cities for yourself in the land the Lord your God gives you for your own. 3 Make the roads good that lead to these cities. Divide into three parts the land the Lord your God gives you for your own. Any man who kills another may run to a city and be safe.
4 “This is the law of the person who kills another and runs to a city to save his life. He might have killed his friend without meaning to, a friend he did not hate in the past. 5 He could have gone among the trees with his friend to cut wood. As he was using his ax to cut down a tree, the ax head could have come off the stick and hit his friend, killing him. Then he may run to one of these cities and live. 6 Or else the one who is angry will want to punish him for the killing, and will catch him and kill him. But the killer should not be put to death, because he had not hated the man in the past. 7 So I tell you, ‘Set apart three cities for yourself.’ 8 The Lord your God will give you even more land, as He has promised your fathers. He will give you all the land which He promised to give your fathers, 9 if you are careful to obey all the Laws I tell you today. Love the Lord your God. Walk in His ways always. Then you will add three other cities to these three. 10 So the person without guilt will not be put to death in the land the Lord your God gives you as a gift. And you will not be guilty of blood.
11 “But there might be a man who hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, goes against him, and hurts him so that he dies. After this he might run to one of these cities. 12 Then the leaders of his city should send men to take him from there and bring him to the one who wants to punish him for the killing that he may die. 13 Do not pity him. In Israel be free from the blood of those that are not guilty. Then it will go well with you.
14 “Do not move your neighbor’s land-mark which the fathers of long ago have set in the land the Lord your God gives you for your own.
15 “One person will not prove the guilt of a sin another man may have done. It will take two or three people who know about the sin to prove the man’s guilt. 16 If an angry person speaks against a man, saying that he did something wrong, 17 then both men who are arguing should stand before the Lord, in front of the religious leaders and the judges who are at work at that time. 18 The judges will choose careful questions to ask about the problem. If the man lied who said his brother is guilty, 19 then you should do to him just what he wanted to do to his brother. In this way you will get rid of the sin among you. 20 The rest of the people will hear and be afraid. They will never do such a sinful thing among you again. 21 Do not pity him. It will be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
About Battles
20 “When you go to battle against those who hate you and see more horses and war-wagons and soldiers than you have, do not be afraid of them. For the Lord your God, Who brought you from the land of Egypt, is with you. 2 When you are coming near the battle, the religious leader will come near and speak to the people. 3 He will say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel. Today you are going into battle against those who hate you. Do not let your hearts become weak. Do not be afraid and shake in fear before them. 4 For the Lord your God is the One Who goes with you. He will fight for you against those who hate you. And He will save you.’ 5 The leaders will speak to the people also, saying, ‘Is there anyone among you who has built a new house and has not given it to God? Let him go and return to his house or he might die in battle and another man will give it to God. 6 Is there anyone who has planted grape vines and has not begun to eat their fruit? Let him go and return to his house or he might die in the battle and another man will begin to eat the fruit. 7 Is there a man who is promised in marriage to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house or he might die in the battle and another man marry her.’ 8 Then the leaders will say to the people, ‘Is there a man here who is afraid and is weak in heart? Let him go and return to his house so he will not make his brothers’ hearts afraid like his heart.’ 9 When the leaders have finished speaking to the people, they will choose heads of the army to lead the people.
10 “When you come near a city to fight against it, ask the people of the city if they would rather have peace. 11 If they agree to make peace with you and open their gates to you, all the people who are found there will be made to work for you and serve you. 12 But if they do not make peace with you and fight against you, you must take the city in battle. 13 When the Lord your God gives the city to you, you must kill all the men in it with the sword. 14 Take for yourselves what is left, the women, the children, all the animals, and all that is in the city. Use what is left of those who fought against you, which the Lord your God has given you. 15 Do this to all the cities that are very far from you and are not of the cities of the nations that are near. 16 But in the cities of these nations that the Lord your God is giving you for your own, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 Destroy everything and everyone in them, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has told you. 18 Then they will not teach you to do all the hated and sinful things they have done for their gods, and make you sin against the Lord your God.
19 “When you stay around a city a long time, to make war against it and take it, do not destroy its trees with the ax. You may eat from them but do not cut them down. For are trees of the field men that they should be killed? 20 You may destroy and cut down only the trees you know are not fruit trees. Then you may build walls with the trees to help you fight against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.
A Look at What Jesus Will Be Like (A)
28 About eight days after Jesus had said these things, He took Peter and James and John with Him. They went up on a mountain to pray. 29 As Jesus prayed, He was changed in looks before them. His clothes became white and shining bright. 30 Two men talked with Jesus. They were Moses and Elijah. 31 They looked like the shining-greatness of heaven as they talked about His death in Jerusalem which was soon to happen.
32 But Peter and those with him had gone to sleep. When they woke up, they saw His shining-greatness and the two men who stood with Him. 33 As the two men went from Jesus, Peter said to Him, “Teacher, it is good for us to be here. Let us build three tents to worship in. One will be for You. One will be for Moses. One will be for Elijah.” He did not know what he was saying. 34 While he was talking, a cloud came over them. They were afraid as the cloud came in around them.
35 A voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, the One I have chosen. Listen to Him!” 36 When the voice was gone, Jesus was standing there alone. From that time on, they kept these things to themselves. They told no one what they had seen.
A Boy with a Demon Is Healed (B)
37 The next day they came down from the mountain and many people met Jesus. 38 A man from among the people cried out, “Teacher, I beg of You to look at my son. He is my only child. 39 See, a demon takes him and makes him cry out. It takes hold of him and makes him shake. Spit runs from his mouth. He has marks on his body from being hurt. The demon does not want to go from him. 40 I begged Your followers to put the demon out, but they could not.”
41 Then Jesus said, “You people of this day do not have faith. You turn from what is right! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring your son to Me.” 42 While the boy was coming, the demon threw him down and made him lose the use of his mind for awhile. Jesus spoke sharp words to the demon. He healed the child and gave him back to his father.
Jesus Tells of His Death the Second Time (C)
43 They were all surprised at the great power of God. They all were thinking about the special things Jesus had done. And Jesus said to His followers, 44 “Remember these words. For the Son of Man will be given over into the hands of men.” 45 They did not understand these words because it was hidden from them. They did not know what Jesus meant and were afraid to ask Him.
Jesus Teaches about the Faith of a Child (D)
46 The followers argued among themselves about which of them would be the greatest. 47 Jesus knew what they were thinking. He put a child beside Him. 48 He said to the followers, “Whoever receives this child in My name, receives Me. Whoever receives Me, receives Him Who sent Me. The one who is least among you is the one who is great.”
The Sharp Words Against the Followers
49 John said, “Teacher, we saw someone putting out demons in Your name. We told him to stop because he was not following us.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him. He who is not against us is for us.”
The Good and the Sinful
73 For sure God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet came close to falling. My steps had almost tripped. 3 For I was jealous of the proud when I saw that all was going well with the sinful. 4 For they suffer no pain in their death, and their body is fat. 5 They do not have the troubles of other men or suffer like other men. 6 So they wear pride around their neck. Fighting covers them like a coat. 7 They are so fat that their eyes are pushed out. The crazy thoughts of their hearts run wild. 8 They laugh at the truth, and speak sinful things about making it hard for others. They speak from a high place. 9 They say bad things against heaven, and their tongue walks through the earth.
10 And so his people return to this place and drink water from a full cup. 11 They say, “How does God know? Is there much learning with the Most High?”
12 See, this is what the sinful are like. They always have it easy and their riches grow. 13 For no good reason I have kept my heart pure and have not sinned. 14 For I have suffered all day long. I have been punished every morning.
15 I would not have been true to Your children if I had spoken this way. 16 It was too hard for me when I tried to understand this, 17 until I went into the holy place of God. Then I understood their end. 18 For sure, You set the sinful in places where there is danger at every step. You throw them down to be destroyed. 19 How they are destroyed right away! They come to an end with much fear. 20 Like a dream when one wakes up, so You will hate what they look like when You rise up, O Lord.
21 My heart was troubled and I was hurt inside. 22 I was without reason and did not know better. I was like an animal before You. 23 Yet I am always with You. You hold me by my right hand. 24 You will lead me by telling me what I should do. And after this, You will bring me into shining-greatness.
25 Whom have I in heaven but You? I want nothing more on earth, but You. 26 My body and my heart may grow weak, but God is the strength of my heart and all I need forever. 27 For, see, those who are far from You will be lost from You forever. You have destroyed all those who are not faithful to You. 28 But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my safe place. So I may tell of all the things You have done.
10 A man who is right with God cares for his animal, but the sinful man is hard and has no pity.
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