The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the EHV. Switch to the EHV to read along with the audio.
12 And Samuel said to all Israel, I have listened to you in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you.
2 And now, behold, the king walks before you. And I am old and gray, and behold, my sons are with you. And I have walked before you from my childhood to this day.
3 Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and Saul His anointed. Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded or oppressed? Or from whose hand have I received any bribe to blind my eyes? Tell me and I will restore it to you.
4 And they said, You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.
5 And Samuel said to them, The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.
6 And Samuel said to the people, It is the Lord Who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of Egypt.
7 Now present yourselves, that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord which He did for you and for your fathers.
8 When Jacob and his sons had come into Egypt [and the Egyptians oppressed them], and your fathers cried to the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.
9 But when they forgot the Lord their God, He sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of Hazor’s army, and into the hands of the Philistines and of the king of Moab, and they fought those foes.
10 And they cried to the Lord, saying, We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.
11 And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel, and He delivered you out of the hands of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt safely.
12 But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, No! A king shall reign over us—when the Lord your God was your King!
13 Now see the king whom you have chosen and for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you.
14 If you will revere and fear the Lord and serve Him and hearken to His voice and not rebel against His commandment, and if both you and your king will follow the Lord your God, it will be good!
15 But if you will not hearken to the Lord’s voice, but rebel against His commandment, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers.
16 So stand still and see this great thing the Lord will do before your eyes now.
17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to the Lord and He will send thunder and rain; then you shall know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord in asking for a king for yourselves.
18 So Samuel called to the Lord, and He sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.
19 And [they] all said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil—to ask for a king.
20 And Samuel said to the people, Fear not. You have indeed done all this evil; yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve Him with all your heart.
21 And turn not aside after vain and worthless things which cannot profit or deliver you, for they are empty and futile.
22 The Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake, for it has pleased Him to make you a people for Himself.
23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way.
24 Only fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; for consider how great are the things He has done for you.
25 But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king shall be swept away.
13 Saul was [a][forty] years old when he began to reign; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
2 Saul chose 3,000 men of Israel; 2,000 were with [him] in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and 1,000 with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent away, each one to his home.
3 Jonathan smote the Philistine garrison at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear!
4 All Israel heard that Saul had defeated the Philistine garrison and also that Israel had become an abomination to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.
5 And the Philistines gathered to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and troops like sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.
6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in a tight situation—for their troops were hard pressed—they hid in caves, holes, rocks, tombs, and pits or cisterns.
7 Some Hebrews had gone over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
8 Saul waited seven days, according to the set time Samuel had appointed. But Samuel had not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from Saul.
9 So Saul said, Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering [which he was forbidden to do].
10 And just as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came! Saul went out to meet and greet him.
11 Samuel said, What have you done? Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were assembled at Michmash,
12 I thought, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord. So I forced myself to offer a burnt offering.
13 And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly! You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which He commanded you; for the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever;
14 But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord has sought out [David] a man after His own [b]heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince and ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.
15 And Samuel went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were left with him, [only] about 600.
16 Saul and Jonathan his son and the people with them remained in Gibeah of Benjamin, but the Philistines encamped at Michmash.
17 And raiders came out of the Philistine camp in three companies; one company turned toward Ophrah, to the land of Shual,
18 Another turned toward Beth-horon, and another toward the border overlooking the Valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
19 Now there was no metal worker to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.
20 But each of the Israelites had to go down to the Philistines to get his plowshare, mattock, axe, or sickle sharpened.
21 And the price for plowshares and mattocks was a pim, and a third of a shekel for axes and for setting goads [with resulting blunt edges on the sickles, mattocks, forks, axes, and goads.]
22 So on the day of battle neither sword nor spear was found in the hand of any of the men who were with Saul and Jonathan; but Saul and Jonathan his son had them.
23 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.
7 After this, Jesus went from place to place in Galilee, for He would not travel in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.
2 Now the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was drawing near.
3 So His brothers said to Him, Leave here and go into Judea, so that [a]Your disciples [there] may also see the works that You do. [This is no place for You.]
4 For no one does anything in secret when he wishes to be conspicuous and secure publicity. If You [must] do these things [if You must act like this], show Yourself openly and make Yourself known to the world!
5 For [even] His brothers did not believe in or adhere to or trust in or rely on Him either.
6 Whereupon Jesus said to them, My time (opportunity) has not come yet; but any time is suitable for you and your opportunity is ready any time [is always here].
7 The world cannot [be expected to] hate you, but it does hate Me because I denounce it for its wicked works and reveal that its doings are evil.
8 Go to the Feast yourselves. I am not [yet] going up to the Festival, because My time is not ripe. [My term is not yet completed; it is not time for Me to go.]
9 Having said these things to them, He stayed behind in Galilee.
10 But afterward, when His brothers had gone up to the Feast, He went up also, not publicly [not with a caravan], but by Himself quietly and as if He did not wish to be observed.
11 Therefore the Jews kept looking for Him at the Feast and asking, Where can He be? [Where is that Fellow?]
12 And there was among the mass of the people much whispered discussion and hot disputing about Him. Some were saying, He is good! [He is a good Man!] Others said, No, He misleads and deceives the people [gives them false ideas]!
13 But no one dared speak out boldly about Him for fear of [the leaders of] the Jews.
14 When the Feast was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple [[b]court] and began to teach.
15 The Jews were astonished. They said, How is it that this Man has learning [is so versed in the sacred Scriptures and in theology] when He has never studied?
16 Jesus answered them by saying, My teaching is not My own, but His Who sent Me.
17 If any man desires to do His will (God’s pleasure), he will know (have the needed illumination to recognize, and can tell for himself) whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from Myself and of My own accord and on My own authority.
18 He who speaks on his own authority seeks to win honor for himself. [He whose teaching originates with himself seeks his own glory.] But He Who seeks the glory and is eager for the honor of Him Who sent Him, He is true; and there is no unrighteousness or falsehood or deception in Him.
19 Did not Moses give you the Law? And yet not one of you keeps the Law. [If that is the truth] why do you seek to kill Me [for not keeping it]?
20 The crowd answered Him, You are possessed by a demon! [You are raving!] Who seeks to kill You?
21 Jesus answered them, I did one work, and you all are astounded.(A)
22 Now Moses established circumcision among you—though it did not originate with Moses but with the previous patriarchs—and you circumcise a person [even] on the Sabbath day.
23 If, to avoid breaking the Law of Moses, a person undergoes circumcision on the Sabbath day, have you any cause to be angry with (indignant with, bitter against) Me for making a man’s whole body well on the Sabbath?
24 Be honest in your judgment and do not decide at a glance (superficially and by appearances); but judge fairly and righteously.
25 Then some of the Jerusalem people said, Is not this the Man they seek to kill?
26 And here He is speaking openly, and they say nothing to Him! Can it be possible that the rulers have discovered and know that this is truly the Christ?
27 No, we know where this Man comes from; when the Christ arrives, no one is to know from what place He comes.
28 Whereupon Jesus called out as He taught in the temple [[c]porches], Do you know Me, and do you know where I am from? I have not come on My own authority and of My own accord and as self-appointed, but the One Who sent Me is true (real, genuine, steadfast); and Him you do not know!
29 I know Him [Myself] because I come from His [very] presence, and it was He [personally] Who sent Me.
30 Therefore they were eager to arrest Him, but no one laid a hand on Him, for His hour (time) had not yet come.
Psalm 108
A song. A Psalm of David.
1 O God, my heart is fixed (steadfast, in the confidence of faith); I will sing, yes, I will sing praises, even with my glory [all the faculties and powers of one created in Your image]!
2 Awake, harp and lyre; I myself will wake very early—I will waken the dawn!
3 I will praise and give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; and I will sing praises unto You among the nations.
4 For Your mercy and loving-kindness are great and high as the heavens! Your truth and faithfulness reach to the skies!(A)
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let Your glory be over all the earth.
6 That Your beloved [followers] may be delivered, save with Your right hand and answer us! [or me]!
7 God has promised in His holiness [regarding the establishment of David’s dynasty]: I will rejoice, I will distribute [Canaan among My people], dividing Shechem and [the western region and allotting the eastern region which contains] the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is My stronghold and the defense of My head; Judah is My scepter and lawgiver.(B)
9 Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom [My slave] My shoe I cast [to be cleaned]; over Philistia I shout [in triumph].
10 Who will bring me [David] into the strong, fortified city [of Petra]? Who will lead me into Edom?
11 Have You not cast us off, O God? And will You not go forth, O God, with our armies?
12 Give us help against the adversary, for vain is the help of man.
13 Through and with God we shall do valiantly, for He it is Who shall tread down our adversaries.(C)
4 A gentle tongue [with its healing power] is a tree of life, but willful contrariness in it breaks down the spirit.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation