The Daily Audio Bible

³ The people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai. ⁴ So they went out to fool him, as men from another land. They took old bags on their donkeys, and skin bags of wine that were old and torn and mended. ⁵ They wore old and mended shoes on their feet, and old clothes on themselves. All their bread was dry and broken. ⁶ They went to Joshua among the tents at Gilgal. And they said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country. Now make an agreement with us.” ⁷ The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “It may be that you are living within our land. How then can we make an agreement with you?” ⁸ But they said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Then Joshua said to them, “Who are you? Where do you come from?” ⁹ They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard about Him and all He did in Egypt. ¹⁰ We heard what He did to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan who was at Ashtaroth. ¹¹ So our leaders and all the people of our country said to us, ‘Take what you need for traveling. Go to meet them and tell them, “We are your servants. Now make an agreement with us.’” ¹² Our bread was warm when we took it along with what we needed from our houses on the day we left to come to you. But now look, it is dry and broken. ¹³ These skin bags that we filled with wine were new. Now look, they are torn. And our clothes and shoes have become old because of the very long way we had to travel.” ¹⁴ So the men of Israel took some of their food. They did not ask the Lord what they should do. ¹⁵ Joshua made peace with them and made an agreement with them, to let them live. And the leaders of the people made a promise to them.

¹⁶ But three days after they had made an agreement with them, they heard that they were neighbors who lived in their land. ¹⁷ Then the people of Israel left that place and came to their cities on the third day. Their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim. ¹⁸ But the people of Israel did not kill them because the leaders of the people had made a promise to them by the Lord the God of Israel. All the people complained against the leaders. ¹⁹ Then all the leaders said to all the people, “We have made a promise to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Now we cannot touch them. ²⁰ This is what we will do to them. We will let them live, or anger would be upon us for the promise we swore to them.” ²¹ And the leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they cut wood and brought water for all the people, as the leaders had told them.

²² Joshua called them and said, “Why have you lied to us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you are living within our land? ²³ Now you are cursed. You will never stop being servants, cutting wood and bringing water, for the house of my God.” ²⁴ They answered Joshua, “Because it was told to your servants that the Lord your God had told His servant Moses to give you all the land and kill all the people of the land in front of you. We were very much afraid for our lives because of you. That is why we have done this thing. ²⁵ Now see, we are in your hands. Do to us whatever you think is good and right in your eyes.” ²⁶ So he did this to them. He saved them from the hands of the people of Israel. They did not kill them. ²⁷ But on that day Joshua made them cut wood and bring water for the people of Israel and for the altar of the Lord, at whatever place He chooses. That was to be their work to this day.

10 Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and had destroyed it. Joshua had done the same thing to Ai and its king that he had done to Jericho and its king. Adoni-zedek heard that the people of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them. ² He was very much afraid. Because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the cities of a king. It was larger than Ai. All its men were strong. ³ So Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon. He said to them, ⁴ “Come and help me. Let us go fight against Gibeon. For it has made peace with Joshua and the people of Israel.” ⁵ So the five kings of the Amorites, the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon, gathered together with all their armies. And they went and set up their tents by Gibeon, to fight against it.

⁶ Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua at the tents at Gilgal, saying, “Do not leave your servants alone. Hurry and help us. For all the kings of the Amorites who live in the hill country have gathered against us.” ⁷ So Joshua went up from Gilgal. He took with him all the men of war and all the strong soldiers. ⁸ The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them. For I have given them into your hands. Not one of them will stand in front of you.” ⁹ So Joshua came upon them by surprise by traveling all night from Gilgal. ¹⁰ The Lord brought trouble upon the Amorites in front of Israel. He killed many of them at Gibeon, and went after them on the way up to Beth-horon. He killed them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. ¹¹ They ran from Israel. And while they ran from Beth-horon, the Lord made large hail-stones fall from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. More died from the hail-stones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

¹² Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord made the Amorites lose the war against the sons of Israel. He said, in the eyes of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon. O moon, stand still in the valley of Aijalon.” ¹³ So the sun stood still and the moon stopped, until the nation punished those who fought against them. Is it not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the center of the sky. It did not hurry to go down for about a whole day. ¹⁴ There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man. For the Lord fought for Israel. ¹⁵ Then Joshua and all Israel returned to the tents at Gilgal.

¹⁶ Now these five kings had run away and hidden themselves in the cave at Makkedah. ¹⁷ Joshua was told, “The five kings have been found hiding in the cave at Makkedah.” ¹⁸ And Joshua said, “Roll large stones against the opening of the cave. Then put men there to watch over them. ¹⁹ But do not stay there yourselves. Go after those who hate you. Follow after them and fight. Do not let them go into their cities. For the Lord your God has given them into your hand.” ²⁰ Joshua and the sons of Israel finished killing many of them, until they were destroyed. Those who were left alive went into their strong cities. ²¹ Then all the people returned to Joshua at the tents at Makkedah in peace. No one said a word against any of the people of Israel.

²² Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me.” ²³ The five kings were brought to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. ²⁴ When they brought those kings out to Joshua, he called for all the men of Israel. He said to the leaders of the men of war who had gone with him, “Come near. Put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came and put their feet on their necks. ²⁵ Then Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid or troubled. Be strong and have strength of heart. For the Lord will do this to all who hate you and fight against you.” ²⁶ After this Joshua killed the kings. He hanged them on five trees, and they hung on the trees until evening. ²⁷ When the sun went down, Joshua had them taken down from the trees and thrown into the cave where they had hidden. Large stones were put over the opening of the cave. And they are there to this day.

²⁸ Joshua took Makkedah on that day. He destroyed it and its king with the sword. He destroyed all of it and every person in it. No one was left alive. He did the same to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.

²⁹ Then Joshua and all Israel went from Makkedah to fight against Libnah. ³⁰ The Lord gave it and its king into the hands of Israel also. Joshua destroyed it and every person in it with the sword. He left no one alive. So he did the same to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.

³¹ Joshua and all Israel went from Libnah to Lachish. They stayed beside it and fought against it. ³² And the Lord gave Lachish into the hands of Israel. Joshua took it on the second day. He destroyed it and every person in it with the sword, just as he had done to Libnah.

³³ Horam king of Gezer came to help Lachish. But Joshua won the battle against him and his people. He left no one alive.

³⁴ Joshua and all Israel went from Lachish to Eglon. They stayed beside it and fought against it. ³⁵ And they took it on that day and destroyed it with the sword. He destroyed every person who was in it that day, just as he had done to Lachish.

³⁶ Joshua and all Israel went from Eglon to Hebron. And they fought against it. ³⁷ They took it and destroyed it. They destroyed its king, all its cities and all who were in it with the sword. He left no one alive, just as he had done to Eglon. He destroyed all of it and every person in it. ³⁸ Then Joshua and all Israel returned to Debir. And they fought against it. ³⁹ He took it, its king and all its cities. He destroyed them with the sword. Every person in it was destroyed. No one was left alive. He did the same to Debir and its king as he had done to Hebron and Libnah and their kings.

⁴⁰ So Joshua won the war against the whole land, the hill country, the Negev, the valleys, the hill-sides, and all their kings. He left no one alive. He destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had told him. ⁴¹ Joshua killed them from Kadesh-barnea as far as Gaza. He killed them in all the country of Goshen as far as Gibeon. ⁴² Joshua took all these kings and their lands at the same time. Because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. ⁴³ Then Joshua and all Israel returned to the tents at Gilgal.

The Rich Man and the Man Who Begged for Food

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who dressed in purple linen clothes everyday. He lived like a king would live with the best of food. ²⁰ There was a poor man named Lazarus who had many bad sores. He was put by the door of the rich man. ²¹ He wanted the pieces of food that fell from the table of the rich man. Even dogs came and licked his sores.

²² “The poor man who asked for food died. He was taken by the angels into the arms of Abraham. The rich man died also and was buried. ²³ In hell the rich man was in much pain. He looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus beside him. ²⁴ He cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, take pity on me. Send Lazarus. Let him put the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in much pain in this fire.’ ²⁵ Abraham said, ‘My son, do not forget that when you were living you had your good things. Lazarus had bad things. Now he is well cared for. You are in pain. ²⁶ And more than all this, there is a big deep place between us. No one from here can go there even if he wanted to go. No one can come from there.’

²⁷ “Then the rich man said, ‘Father, then I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house. ²⁸ I have five brothers. Let him tell them of these things, or they will come to this place of much pain also.’ ²⁹ Abraham said, ‘They have the Writings of Moses and of the early preachers. Let them hear what they say.’ ³⁰ But the rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham. If someone goes to them from the dead, they will be sorry for their sins and turn from them.’ ³¹ Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and to the early preachers, they will not listen even if someone is raised from the dead.’”

Jesus Teaches about Forgiving

17 Jesus said to His followers, “For sure, things will come that will make people sin. But it is bad for the person who makes someone else sin. ² It would be better for him to have a large rock put around his neck and be thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

³ “Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, speak sharp words to him. If he is sorry and turns from his sin, forgive him. ⁴ What if he sins against you seven times in one day? If he comes to you and says he is sorry and turns from his sin, forgive him.”

⁵ The followers said to the Lord, “Give us more faith.” ⁶ The Lord said, “If your faith was as a mustard seed, you could say to this tree, ‘Be pulled out of the ground and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Jesus Teaches about Being Faithful

⁷ “What if you owned a servant who was working in the field or taking care of sheep? Would you say to him when he came in from his work, ‘Come and sit down to eat?’ ⁸ No, instead you would say, ‘Get my supper ready. Dress yourself and care for me until I am through eating and drinking. Then you can eat and drink.’ ⁹ Does the servant get thanks for doing what he was told to do? I am sure he does not. ¹⁰ It is the same with you also. When you do everything you have been told to do, you must say, ‘We are not any special servants. We have done only what we should have done.’”

A Prayer for Israel

83 O God, do not keep quiet. Do not be quiet, O God, and do not hold Your peace. ² For, look, those who hate You are making much noise. Those who fight against You have honored themselves. ³ They make bad plans against Your people. They plan against those You care for. ⁴ They say, “Come, let us destroy them as a nation. Let the name of Israel be remembered no longer.” ⁵ For they plan together with one mind. They make an agreement against You: ⁶ The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagarites; ⁷ Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with those who live in Tyre; ⁸ Assyria has joined them also. They help the children of Lot.

⁹ Do to them as You did to Midian, and to Sisera and Jabin at the river of Kishon. ¹⁰ They were destroyed at Endor. They were spread over the field. ¹¹ Make their respected men like Oreb and Zeeb. Make their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, ¹² who said, “Let us take for ourselves the fields of God.”

¹³ O my God, make them like dust turning in the wind, like parts of the grass that have no worth and are blown away. ¹⁴ As the fire that burns up the trees and spreads over the mountains, ¹⁵ so go behind them with Your storm. Make them afraid with Your storm. ¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame, so they will look to Your name, O Lord. ¹⁷ Let them be ashamed and afraid forever. Let them be put to shame and lost. ¹⁸ Then they may know that You alone, Whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

⁴ The soul of the lazy person has strong desires but gets nothing, but the soul of the one who does his best gets more than he needs.