The Daily Audio Bible

²¹ Then the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel: ²² “God of gods is Adonai! God of gods is Adonai! He knows, and may Israel itself know! If we acted in rebellion or in treachery against Adonai, don’t spare us this day! ²³ If we have built an altar to turn away from following Adonai, or if it was to offer burnt offering or grain offering on it, or to offer sacrifices of fellowship offerings on it, let Adonai Himself require it. ²⁴ But we have done this rather out of anxious concern, for a reason, saying: ‘In the future, your children might say to our children: “What have you to do with Adonai, God of Israel? ²⁵ For Adonai has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad—you have no share in Adonai!” So your children may make our children stop fearing Adonai.

²⁶ “Therefore we said: ‘Let’s now build an altar for ourselves—not for burnt offering or for sacrifice— ²⁷ but as a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, so that we may do the service of Adonai before Him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices and with our fellowship offerings. Then your children may not say to our children in times to come. “You have no share in Adonai!”’ ²⁸ Therefore we said: ‘If they say such to us or to our future generations, then we will say, “See the replica of the altar of Adonai which our fathers made—not for burnt offering or for sacrifice, but as a witness between us and you.”’ ²⁹ Far be it from us that we should rebel against Adonai and turn away this day from following Adonai, by building an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering or for sacrifice, besides the altar of Adonai our God that stands before His Tabernacle.”

³⁰ So when Phinehas the kohen and the leaders of the congregation—the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him—heard the words that the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well. ³¹ So Phinehas son of Eleazar the kohen said to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh, “Today we know that Adonai is in the midst of us, because you have not committed this treachery against Adonai. Now you have delivered Bnei-Yisrael from the hand of Adonai.”

³² Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the kohen and the leaders returned from the children of Reuben and from the children of Gad, from the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to Bnei-Yisrael, and brought back a report to them. ³³ The report pleased Bnei-Yisrael, and Bnei-Yisrael blessed God, and they did not speak of going up against them in war, to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and the children of Gad were living. ³⁴ So the children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar, “for it is a witness between us that Adonai is God.”

Keep and Do Torah

23 Now it came about after many days, when Adonai had given rest to Israel from all their enemies around them, and Joshua was old and advanced in years, ² that Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders, their heads, their judges and their officials, and said to them: “I have grown old and am advanced in years. ³ Now you have seen all that Adonai your God has done to all these nations because of you, for it was Adonai your God who was fighting for you. ⁴ Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance, according to your tribes, these nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun. ⁵ So Adonai your God, He Himself will thrust them out from before you, and drive them from before you, so you will possess their land, just as Adonai your God spoke to you.

⁶ “Be very resolute to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the Torah of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right or to the left, ⁷ and not intermingle with these nations who are still remaining among you. Do not mention the names of their gods or swear by them or worship them or bow down to them. ⁸ But cling to Adonai your God, as you have done to this day. ⁹ For Adonai has driven out from before you great and mighty nations. As for you, no one remained standing before you to this day. ¹⁰ One of you can put a thousand to flight, for Adonai your God, He Himself is fighting for you, just as He said to you. ¹¹ For your own sake, therefore, be most mindful to love Adonai your God. ¹² For if you ever go back and cling to the remnant of these nations that are still remaining among you, and intermarry with them, and you associate with them and they with you, ¹³ know for certain that Adonai your God will no longer drive these nations out from before you. Instead they will become a snare and a trap for you, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which Adonai your God has given you.

¹⁴ “Now today I am about to go the way of all the earth. You will know with all your heart and with all your soul that not one word of the good things which Adonai your God spoke concerning you has failed to happen. All of them have come to pass for you; not one word has failed. ¹⁵ Now it will be that just as all the good things which Adonai your God has spoken to you have come upon you, so all the evil things will Adonai bring upon you, until He has wiped you off this good land which Adonai your God has given you. ¹⁶ When you transgress the covenant of Adonai your God, which He commanded you, and go and worship other gods and bow down to them, then will the anger of Adonai burn against you, and you will perish quickly off this good land which He has given you.”

²⁷ Then some of the Sadducees (who deny there is a resurrection) came and questioned Yeshua. ²⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies’ having a wife ‘but no children, then his brother should take the widow and father children for his brother.’ ^{[a] 29} Now there were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and died childless; ³⁰ and the second ³¹ and the third took her, but in this same way, each of the seven brothers died and left no children. ³² Finally the woman died too. ³³ So in the resurrection, whose wife is she? For all seven had married her.

³⁴ Yeshua said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those considered worthy to reach the olam ha-ba and the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶ For they can no longer die, because they are like angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. ³⁷ But at the burning bush even Moses revealed that the dead are raised, when he calls Adonai ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ^{[b] 38} Now He is God not of the dead but of the living, for to Him they all are living.”

³⁹ Some of the Torah scholars replied, “Teacher, You have said it well.” ⁴⁰ For they no longer dared to question Him about anything.

⁴¹ Then Yeshua said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah is Ben-David? ⁴² For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,

⁴⁴ David then calls Him ‘Lord’; so how is He his son?”

⁴⁵ Then with all the people listening, Yeshua said to the disciples, ⁴⁶ “Beware of the Torah scholars, who like to walk around in long robes. They love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and places of honor at feasts. ⁴⁷ They devour widows’ houses and make long prayers as a show. These men will receive greater condemnation!”

The Wise and the Foolish