The Daily Audio Bible
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Micah’s Idols
17 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, which you also repeated it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son of Adonai.” 3 And he returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to Adonai for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore. I will return it to you.” 4 So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made it into a graven image and a molten image; and they were kept in the house of Micah. 5 Now the man Micah had a shrine of gods, and he made an ephod and household idols, and consecrated one of his sons to become his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes. 7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem of Judah—of the clan of Judah—who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. 8 Then the man departed from the town, from Bethlehem of Judah, to sojourn wherever he could find a place; and as he journeyed he arrived to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he replied to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem of Judah, and I am travelling to stay wherever I may find a place.” 10 So Micah said to him, “Stay with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, and a suit of apparel, and your provision.” So the Levite went in. 11 And the Levite was content to stay with the man, and the young man became to him as one of his sons. 12 So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that Adonai will do me good, seeing I have a Levite as my priest.”
The Danites Seek a New Home
18 In those days there was no king in Israel, and in those days the tribe of Dan was seeking an inheritance for itself to settle in, for to that day no territory had fallen to them for an inheritance in the midst of the tribes of Israel. 2 So the children of Dan sent five men from their clan, out of their entire population, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it, and said to them, “Go, explore the land.”
When they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. 3 When they were near the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite. So they turned aside there and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?”
4 He said to them, “Thus and thus Micah did for me—he hired me and I became his priest.”
5 “Please inquire of God,” they said to him, “so we may know whether our way that we are going will be successful.”
6 “Go in peace,” the priest said to them. “The way that you are going has Adonai’s approval.”
7 Then the five men left and came to Laish, and saw the people there living securely, like the Zidonians, tranquil and unsuspecting. For there was no humiliation or anything oppressive in the land. Moreover, they were distant from the Zidonians and had no dealings with anybody.
8 When they came back to their kinsmen at Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen asked them, “What do you say?”
9 “Arise, let’s go up against them!” they said. “For we have seen the land—see, it’s very good. Yet you’re sitting still! Don’t be sluggish! Go enter, possess the land! 10 When you get there, you will come to unsuspecting people. The land is spacious. For God has put it in your hand—a place where there is no lack of anything on the earth.”
11 So from the Danite clan from Zorah and Eshtaol, 600 men set out, armed with weapons of war. 12 They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they called that place Mahaneh-Dan to this day—behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim. 13 From there they passed on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.
14 Then the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish said to their kinsmen, “Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, household idols, a carved image and a molten image? Now therefore, consider what you have to do.”
15 So they turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite at Micah’s house, and asked him about his welfare. 16 Now the 600 men of the children of Dan, armed with their weapons of war, were standing by the entrance of the gate. 17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land went up and entered there. They took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols and the molten image, while the priest was standing by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war.
18 Now after these had gone into Micah’s house and taken the carved image, the ephod, the household idols and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
19 “Be quiet!” they said to him. “Put your hand on your mouth and go with us and be to us a father and a priest! Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man or to be priest to a tribe and a clan in Israel?” 20 So the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the household idols and the carved image, and went along among the people.
21 So they turned and set off, and placed the little ones and the cattle and the goods in front of them. 22 When they were at a good distance from Micah’s house, the men that were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered and caught up with the children of Dan. 23 They called out to the children of Dan, who turned their faces around and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you have called them out?”
24 “You have taken away my gods which I made,” he said, “and the priest, and walked away! What do I have left? And how then do you say to me, ‘What’s the matter with you?’”
25 But the children of Dan said to him, “Don’t let your voice be heard among us, lest bitter fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.” 26 Then the children of Dan went on their way, and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.
27 Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and came to Laish, to a tranquil and unsuspecting people, and struck them with the edge of the sword, and they burned the town with fire. 28 There was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon and they had no alliance with anyone. It was in the valley near Beth-rehob.
Then they rebuilt the town and lived in it. 29 So they called the name of the town Dan, after the name of their father Dan born to Israel; however, the former name of the town was Laish. 30 The children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image. Jonathan son of Gershom son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the exile from the land. 31 So they set them up Micah’s carved image that he had made, all the time that the House of God was in Shiloh.
A Pharisee Comes Seeking Truth
3 Now there was a man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jewish people. 2 He came to Yeshua at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You, a teacher, have come from God. For no one can perform these signs which You do unless God is with Him!”
3 Yeshua answered him, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless one is born from above,[a] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus said to Him. “He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”
5 Yeshua answered, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit,[b] he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be surprised that I said to you, ‘You all must be born from above.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
The Father’s Love Revealed
9 “How can these things happen?” Nicodemus said.
10 Yeshua answered him, “You’re a teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things? 11 Amen, amen I tell you, We speak about what We know and testify about what We have seen. Yet you all do not receive Our testimony! 12 If you do not believe the earthly things I told you, how will you believe when I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has gone up into heaven except the One who came down from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,[c] so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life!
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. 18 The one who believes in Him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not put his trust in the name of the one and only Ben-Elohim.
19 “Now this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness instead of the light,[d] because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. 21 But whoever practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be made known that his deeds have been accomplished in God.”
Adonai Rejoices in His Works!
Psalm 104
1 Bless Adonai, O my soul.
Adonai my God, You are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty—
2 wrapping Yourself in light as a robe,
stretching out heaven like a curtain,
3 laying beams for His upper rooms in waters,
making the clouds His chariot,
walking on the wings of the wind,
4 making His angels spirits,
His servants a flaming fire.
5 He set the earth upon its foundations,
so it should not totter forever and ever.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment—
the waters standing above the mountains.
7 At Your rebuke the waters fled.
At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away.
8 The waters go up the mountains,
then down to the valleys—
to the place that You assigned to them.
9 You set a boundary to the waters
that they may not cross over,
so they may not return to cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush into the valleys.
They run between the mountains.
11 They give drink to all the beasts of the field—
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of the sky dwell—
they sing among the branches.
13 He waters mountains from His upper rooms.
The earth is full of the fruit of Your labors.
14 He causes grass to spring up for the cattle,
and vegetation for man to cultivate,
to bring forth bread out of the earth,
15 wine that makes man’s heart glad,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread that sustains man’s heart.
16 The trees of Adonai are satisfied,
the cedars of Lebanon that He planted,
17 where birds make their nests,
and the stork—her home is the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for wild goats,
the cliffs a refuge for rock badgers.
19 He made the moon for appointed times,
the sun knows its going down.
20 You bring darkness, so it becomes night,
when all the beasts of the forest prowl.
21 The young lions roar for prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 But when the sun rises, they gather
and lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes out to his work,
and to his labor until the evening.
24 Adonai, how countless are Your works!
In wisdom You made them all—
the earth is full of Your creatures.
Poverty and Riches
20 The poor is hated even by his neighbor,
but many are those who love the rich.
21 Whoever despises his neighbor sins,
but whoever is gracious to the needy is blessed.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.