The Daily Audio Bible
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Crossing the Jordan
3 Then Joshua rose up early in the morning, and he and all Bnei-Yisrael set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan. They lodged there before crossing over. 2 Now it came about after three days that the officials went through the camp 3 and they charged the people saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of Adonai your God and the Levitical kohanim carrying it, then you must set out from your place and follow it. 4 Yet keep a distance between you and it of about 2,000 cubits by measure. Don’t come near it, so you may know the way by which you should go, for you haven’t travelled this way before.”
5 Then Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow Adonai will do wonders in your midst.” 6 Joshua spoke to the kohanim saying: “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.
7 Now Adonai said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 You are to command the kohanim who are carrying the ark of the covenant saying: ‘When you reach the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you are to stand still in the Jordan.’”
9 So Joshua said to Bnei-Yisrael, “Come here, and listen to the words of Adonai your God.” 10 Joshua said, “By this you will know that the living God is among you, and that He will certainly drive out from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite and the Jebusite. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Sovereign of all the earth is advancing before you into the Jordan. 12 So now, take for yourselves twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe. 13 It will come to pass when the soles of the feet of the kohanim who are carrying the ark of Adonai, Sovereign of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the Jordan’s waters will be cut off. The waters coming downstream will stand up in one heap.”
14 So it came to pass. When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the kohanim were carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of the people. 15 Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as those who were carrying the ark came into the Jordan and the feet of the kohanim carrying the ark dipped in the edge of the water, 16 the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the town next to Zarethan. What was flowing down to the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 Yet the kohanim carrying the ark of the covenant of Adonai stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until the entire nation had finished crossing over the Jordan.
Twelve Memorial Stones
4 Now when all the nation had finished crossing over the Jordan, Adonai spoke to Joshua saying: 2 “Take for yourself twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, 3 and command them saying, ‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the feet of the kohanim are standing firm, and carry them over with you, and deposit them at the place where you will lodge tonight.”
4 Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from Bnei-Yisrael, one man from each tribe. 5 Joshua said to them, “Cross over before the ark of Adonai your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you, lift up a stone on his shoulder, for the number of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael. 6 Let this be a sign among you. When your children ask later saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 then you will say to them: ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Adonai—when it crossed the Jordan—the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones will be a reminder to Bnei-Yisrael forever.”
8 So Bnei-Yisrael did so, as Joshua commanded. They lifted twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as Adonai had said to Joshua, for the number of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael. Then they carried them over with them to the lodging place and put them down there. 9 Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the spot where the feet of the kohanim carrying the ark of the covenant were standing—they are there to this day.
10 The kohanim who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything that Adonai had commanded Joshua to speak to the people was completed, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried across, 11 and when all the people had finished crossing over, the ark of Adonai and the kohanim crossed over in the presence of the people. 12 Also the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed ahead of Bnei-Yisrael, just as Moses had said to them— 13 about 40,000 equipped for war crossed over before Adonai for battle to the plains of Jericho.
14 On that day Adonai exalted Joshua in the eyes of all Israel. So they revered him, just as they had revered Moses all the days of his life.
15 Then Adonai spoke to Joshua saying: 16 “Command the kohanim who are carrying the ark of the testimony to come up from the Jordan.” 17 Joshua therefore commanded the kohanim saying, “Come up from the Jordan!” 18 As soon as the kohanim who were carrying the ark of the covenant of Adonai came up from the middle of the Jordan and the soles of the feet of the kohanim were drawn up to the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.
19 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. 20 Those twelve stones, which they had taken out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. 21 Then he said to Bnei-Yisrael saying, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come saying: ‘What are these stones?’ 22 then you will inform your children saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For Adonai your God dried up the waters of Jordan before you until you crossed—just as Adonai your God did to the Sea of Reeds, which He dried up before us until we crossed over— 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know Adonai’s hand is mighty, and so that you may fear Adonai your God forever.”
7 Yeshua began telling a parable to those who had been invited, when He noticed how they were choosing the seats of honor. He said to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding, don’t take the seat of honor, for someone more highly esteemed than you may have been invited by him. 9 Then the one who invited both of you will come to you and say, ‘Give up this seat.’ And with shame, you would proceed to take the lowest seat. 10 But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest seat so that when the one who invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you shall be honored in the presence of all those who are dining with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”[a]
12 Then Yeshua was also saying to the one who invited Him, “When you host a luncheon or dinner, don’t invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors. Otherwise they might invite you in return as your payback. 13 But when you host a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind; 14 and you will be blessed, since they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
15 Now hearing this, one of those dining with Yeshua said to Him, “Blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God.”
16 But Yeshua said to him, “A certain man was hosting a large banquet, and he invited many. 17 At the time for the banquet, he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, everything is already prepared.’
18 “But every one of them began to beg off. The first said to him, ‘I bought a farm, and I’m obligated to go out to see it. I’m asking you to have me excused.’ 19 Then another one said, ‘I’ve purchased five teams of oxen, and I’m going to check them out. I’m asking you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I’ve married a wife, so I cannot come.’[b]
21 “The slave came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house got angry and said to his slave, ‘Quickly go out into the squares and alleys of the city and bring here the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame.’
22 “And the slave said, ‘Master, I have done as you instructed, and still there is room.’
23 “So the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the thoroughfares and fenced areas, and press them to come in so my home may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’”
Telling Parables Along the Road
25 Now great crowds were traveling with Yeshua; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters—and yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.
28 “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and figure out the cost, to see if he has enough to finish it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and isn’t able to finish everything, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish!’
31 “Or what king, going to make war against another king, won’t first sit down to consider whether he is able with ten thousand to confront the one coming against him with twenty thousand? [c] 32 If not, while the other is still far away, he sends an ambassador and asks for peace. 33 So in the same way, whoever does not renounce all that he has, cannot be My disciple.
34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if the salt should lose its flavor, how shall it be made salty again? 35 It is not suitable for the soil or for a manure heap—it is thrown out. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Restore Us, Revive Us
Psalm 80
1 For the music director, on “Lilies,”[a] a testimony: a psalm of Asaph.
2 Give ear, Shepherd of Israel,
You who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are enthroned upon the cheruvim, shine forth!
3 Before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up Your might, and come to save us.
4 O God, restore us, make Your face shine,
and we will be saved.
5 Adonai-Tzva’ot, how long will You be angry
with the prayer of Your people?
6 You have fed them the bread of tears
and made them drink a measure of tears.
7 You make us a contention to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock as they please.
8 Elohei-Tzva’ot, restore us, and make Your face shine,
and we will be saved.
9 You pulled out a vine from Egypt.
You drove out nations and planted it.
10 You cleared a place for it,
and it took deep root and filled the land.
11 The mountains were covered by its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
12 It sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the river.
13 Why have You broken down its fences,
so all who pass by the way pick its fruit?
14 A boar from the forest ravages it,
whatever moves in the field feeds on it.
15 Elohei-Tzva’ot, please return!
Look down from heaven and see!
Now take care of this vine—
16 the shoot Your right hand planted—
the son You strengthened for Yourself.
17 It is burned with fire, it is cut down.
They perish from the rebuke of Your face.
18 Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand—
the son of man
You made strong for Yourself.
19 Then we will not turn away from You.
Revive us, and we will call on Your Name.
20 Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, restore us.
Make Your face shine, and we will be saved.
27 A lazy person does not roast his game,
but a diligent person prizes his possessions.
28 In the path of righteousness is life—
it is a path to immortality.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.