The Daily Audio Bible
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24 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders of Israel and their heads, their judges, and their officers; they presented themselves before God.
2 Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt in olden times beyond the Euphrates River, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, and they served other gods.
3 And I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates River and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his offspring. I gave him Isaac,
4 And I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau. And I gave to Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.
5 I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it; and afterward I brought you out.
6 I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
7 When they cried to the Lord, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time [forty years].(A)
8 I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land, and I destroyed them before you.
9 Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam son of Beor to curse you.
10 But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you; so I delivered you out of Balak’s hand.(B)
11 You went over the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the men of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I gave them into your hands.
12 I sent the [a]hornet [that is, the terror of you] before you, which drove the two kings of the Amorites out before you; but it was not by your sword or by your bow.(C)
13 I have given you a land for which you did not labor and cities you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat from vineyards and olive yards you did not plant.
14 Now therefore, [reverently] fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
16 The people answered, Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods;
17 For it is the Lord our God Who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, Who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed.
18 And the Lord drove out before us all the people, the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.
19 And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.
20 If you forsake the Lord and [b]serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.
21 And the people said to Joshua, No; but we will serve the Lord.
22 Then Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve Him. And they said, We are witnesses.
23 Then put away, said he, the foreign gods that are among you and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.
24 The people said to Joshua, The Lord our God we will serve; His voice we will obey.
25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.
26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God; and he took a great stone and set it up there under an oak that was in [the court of] the sanctuary of the Lord.
27 And Joshua said to all the people, See, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the Lord spoke to us; so it shall be a witness against you, lest [afterward] you lie (pretend) and deny your God.
28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.
29 After this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old.
30 They buried him at the edge of his inheritance in Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash.
31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the works the Lord had done for Israel.
32 And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem in the portion of ground Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of money; and it became the inheritance of the Josephites.
33 And Eleazar son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah [on the hill] of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
21 Looking up, [Jesus] saw the rich people putting their gifts into the treasury.
2 And He saw also a poor widow putting in two mites (copper coins).
3 And He said, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them;
4 For they all gave out of their abundance (their surplus); but she has contributed out of her lack and her want, putting in all that she had on which to live.
5 And as some were saying of the temple that it was decorated with handsome (shapely and magnificent) stones and consecrated offerings [[a]laid up to be kept], He said,
6 As for all this that you [thoughtfully] look at, the time will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.
7 And they asked Him, Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when this is about to occur?
8 And He said, Be on your guard and be careful that you are not led astray; for many will come in My name [[b]appropriating to themselves the name Messiah which belongs to Me], saying, I am He! and, The time is at hand! Do not go out after them.
9 And when you hear of wars and insurrections (disturbances, disorder, and confusion), do not become alarmed and panic-stricken and terrified; for all this must take place first, but the end will not [come] immediately.
10 Then He told them, Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.(A)
11 There will be mighty and violent earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences (plagues: [c]malignant and contagious or infectious epidemic diseases which are deadly and devastating); and there will be sights of terror and great signs from heaven.
12 But previous to all this, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, turning you over to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be led away before kings and governors for My name’s sake.
13 This will be a time (an opportunity) for you to bear testimony.
14 Resolve and settle it in your minds not to meditate and prepare beforehand how you are to make your defense and how you will answer.
15 For I [Myself] will give you a mouth and such utterance and wisdom that all of your foes combined will be unable to stand against or refute.
16 You will be delivered up and betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and [some] of you they will put to death.
17 And you will be hated (despised) by everyone because [you bear] My name and for its sake.
18 But not a hair of your head shall perish.(B)
19 By your steadfastness and patient endurance you [d]shall win the [e]true life of your souls.
20 But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know and understand that its desolation has come near.
21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside [the city] get out of it, and let not those who are out in the country come into it;
22 For those are days of vengeance [of rendering full justice or satisfaction], that all things that are written may be fulfilled.
23 Alas for those who are pregnant and for those who have babies which they are nursing in those days! For great misery and anguish and distress shall be upon the land and indignation and punishment and retribution upon this people.
24 They will fall by [f]the mouth and the edge of the sword and will be led away as captives to and among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (completed).(C)
25 And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth [there will be] distress (trouble and anguish) of nations in bewilderment and perplexity [[g]without resources, left wanting, embarrassed, in doubt, not knowing which way to turn] at the roaring ([h]the echo) of the tossing of the sea,(D)
26 Men swooning away or expiring with fear and dread and apprehension and expectation of the things that are coming on the world; for the [very] powers of the heavens will be shaken and [i]caused to totter.
27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great (transcendent and overwhelming) power and [all His kingly] glory (majesty and splendor).(E)
28 Now when these things begin to occur, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption (deliverance) is drawing near.
38 But [in apparent contradiction to all this] You [even You the faithful Lord] have cast off and rejected; You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.
39 You have despised and loathed and renounced the covenant with Your servant; You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 You have broken down all his hedges and his walls; You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
41 All who pass along the road spoil and rob him; he has become the scorn and reproach of his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes; You have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 Moreover, You have turned back the edge of his sword and have not made him to stand in battle.
44 You have made his glory and splendor to cease and have hurled to the ground his throne.
45 The days of his youth have You shortened; You have covered him with shame. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
46 How long, O Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? How long shall Your wrath burn like fire?
47 O [earnestly] remember how short my time is and what a mere fleeting life mine is. For what emptiness, falsity, futility, and frailty You have created all men!
48 What man can live and shall not see death, or can deliver himself from the [powerful] hand of Sheol (the place of the dead)? Selah [pause, and calmly consider that]!
49 Lord, where are Your former loving-kindnesses [shown in the reigns of David and Solomon], which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, and earnestly imprint [on Your heart] the reproach of Your servants, scorned and insulted, how I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many and mighty peoples,
51 With which Your enemies have taunted, O Lord, with which they have mocked the footsteps of Your anointed.
52 Blessed be the Lord forevermore! Amen and Amen.
20 He who walks [as a companion] with wise men is wise, but he who associates with [self-confident] fools is [a fool himself and] shall smart for it.(A)
21 Evil pursues sinners, but the consistently upright and in right standing with God is recompensed with good.
22 A good man leaves an inheritance [of moral stability and goodness] to his children’s children, and the wealth of the sinner [finds its way eventually] into the hands of the righteous, for whom it was laid up.
23 Much food is in the tilled land of the poor, but there are those who are destroyed because of injustice.
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