The Daily Audio Bible

God’s Loving-Kindness—Israel Not Faithful

¹⁴ The Lord Who bought you and sets you free, the Holy One of Israel, says, “Because of you I have sent to Babylon, and will bring down all their leaders, even the Babylonians, into the ships in which they find joy. ¹⁵ I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Maker of Israel, your King.” ¹⁶ This is what the Lord says, Who makes a way through the sea and a path through the powerful waters, ¹⁷ Who brings out the war-wagon and the horse, the army and the strong man, (They will lie down together and will not rise again. They are destroyed, put out like the fire of a little light): ¹⁸ “Do not remember the things that have happened before. Do not think about the things of the past. ¹⁹ See, I will do a new thing. It will begin happening now. Will you not know about it? I will even make a road in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. ²⁰ The wild animals will honor Me, the wild dogs and the ostriches. For I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. ²¹ The people whom I made for Myself will make known My praise.

²² “Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob! You have become tired of Me, O Israel! ²³ You have not brought the sheep of your burnt gifts to Me in worship. You have not honored Me with your gifts on the altar. I have not made you bring gifts or special perfume to Me. ²⁴ You have not bought Me any sweet smelling plants with money. And you have not given Me the fat of your gifts on the altar. Instead you have put the weight of your sins upon Me. You have made Me tired with your wrong-doing.

²⁵ “I, even I, am the One Who takes away your sins because of Who I am. And I will not remember your sins. ²⁶ Make Me remember, and let us talk together. Make your cause known, that you may be shown not to be guilty. ²⁷ Your first father sinned, and those who have spoken for you have sinned against Me. ²⁸ So I will make unclean the leaders of the holy place. I will give Jacob over to be destroyed, and Israel to sharp words of shame.

Good Will Come to Israel

44 “But now listen, O Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. ² This is what the Lord Who made you, Who put you together before you were born, Who will help you, says, ‘Do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant, and you Jeshurun whom I have chosen. ³ For I will pour water on the thirsty land and rivers on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your children, and will bring good to your children’s children. ⁴ They will grow like grass in the fields, and like poplar trees by the rivers.’ ⁵ This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s.’ And that one will call on the name of Jacob. Another will write on his hand, ‘I belong to the Lord,’ and will name Israel’s name with honor.”

Only One God

⁶ The Lord, the King of Israel and the One Who saves and frees from sin, the Lord of All, says, “I am the first and I am the last. There is no God besides Me. ⁷ Who is like Me? Let him make it known. Yes, let him tell Me what happened from the time I made people long ago. And let him tell the things that are coming and what is going to happen. ⁸ Do not fear. Do not be afraid. Have I not made it known to you from long ago? And you have heard Me. Is there a God besides Me? No, there is no other Rock. I know of none.”

Following False Gods Is Sinful

⁹ All who make objects to worship are for nothing. The things they think are worth much are worth nothing. Those who speak for them do not see or know, so they will be put to shame. ¹⁰ Who has made a false god or an object of worship that is of no worth? ¹¹ See, all his friends will be put to shame, for the workmen themselves are only men. Let them all gather, let them stand up, let them shake with fear, and let them together be put to shame.

¹² The one who works with iron makes a sharp tool for cutting, working over a fire. He makes it by beating it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry and has no strength. He drinks no water and becomes tired. ¹³ One works with wood, he marks it, and draws on it with a red marker. He makes it smooth and makes it like a man, like the beauty of a man, so that it may sit in a house. ¹⁴ He cuts down cedar trees, and takes a cypress or an oak, and lets it grow strong among the trees. He plants a fir tree, and the rain makes it grow. ¹⁵ Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself. He makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it. He makes an object of worship and bows down in front of it. ¹⁶ He burns half of it in the fire. Over this half he eats meat as he makes it ready, and is filled. He also warms himself and says, “O, I am warm. I see the fire.” ¹⁷ But he makes the rest of it into a god, his object of worship. He bows down in front of it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Bring me out of my trouble, for you are my god.”

¹⁸ They do not know, and they do not understand. For the Lord has covered their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot understand. ¹⁹ And no one remembers about it, or knows or understands enough to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire, and have baked bread over the fire. I have cooked the meat over a fire and have eaten it. Should I make the rest of it into an object the Lord hates? Should I bow down in front of a block of wood?” ²⁰ He eats ashes! A false idea in his heart has led him the wrong way. And he cannot save himself or say, “Is not what I have here in my right hand a lie?”

The Lord Does Not Forget Israel

²¹ “Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel, for you are My servant. I have made you, you are My servant. O Israel, I will not forget you. ²² I have taken away your wrong-doing like a dark cloud, and your sins like a fog. Return to Me, for I have bought you and set you free.” ²³ Call out for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done it! Call out for joy, you deep places of the earth. Break out into singing, you mountains and every tree. For the Lord has bought Jacob and set him free and has shown His shining-greatness in Israel!

People Will Live in Jerusalem Again

²⁴ The Lord, Who makes you, bought you and saves you, and the One Who put you together before you were born, says, “I am the Lord, Who made all things. I alone spread out the heavens, and I alone spread out the earth. ²⁵ I allow trouble to come on the special things done by men who lie and speak in pride. I make fools out of those who tell the future using their secret ways. I turn back wise men, and make their learning foolish. ²⁶ I make the word of My servant sure, and act upon the words of the men who speak for Me. It is I Who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will have people living in her,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built.’ And I will build her up again. ²⁷ It is I Who says to the deep sea, ‘Dry up!’ And I will dry up your rivers. ²⁸ It is I Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he will do all that I want him to do,’ even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ and of the house of God, ‘Your first stones will be laid again.’”

Cyrus to Lead

45 This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, whom He has chosen, whose right hand He has held, “I send him to put nations under his power, and to take away the power of kings. And I will open doors in front of him so that gates will not be shut. ² I will go before you and make the hard places smooth. I will break the brass doors to pieces, and cut through their iron gates. ³ I will give you riches hidden in the darkness and things of great worth that are hidden in secret places. Then you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by name. ⁴ For the good of Jacob My servant and Israel My chosen one, I called you by your name. I gave you a name of honor, when you had not known Me. ⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other. There is no God besides Me. I will give you strength, even though you have not known Me. ⁶ Then men may know from sunrise to sunset that there is no God besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. ⁷ I make light and I make darkness. I bring good and I make trouble. I am the Lord Who does all these things.

⁸ “Send down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down what is right and good. Let the earth open up and bring the fruit of saving power. And let what is right and good grow with it. I the Lord have made it.

⁹ “It is bad for the one who works against His Maker. He is just a clay pot among the other pots of earth. Will the clay say to the pot-maker, ‘What are you doing?’ or, your work say, ‘He has no hands’? ¹⁰ It is bad for him who says to his father, ‘To what are you giving life?’ or to a woman, ‘To what are you giving birth?’”

3 I, Paul, am in prison because I am a missionary for Jesus Christ to you who are not Jews. ² I am sure you have heard that God trusted me with His loving-favor. ³ I wrote a little about this to you before. In a special way, God showed me His secret plan. ⁴ When you read this, you will understand how I know about the things that are not easy to understand about Christ. ⁵ Long ago men did not know these things. But now they have been shown to His missionaries and to the early preachers by the Holy Spirit. ⁶ Let me tell you that the Good News is for the people who are not Jews also. They are able to have life that lasts forever. They are to be a part of His church and family, together with the Jews. And together they are to receive all that God has promised through Christ.

⁷ God asked me to preach this Good News. He gave me the gift of His loving-favor. He gave me His power to preach it. ⁸ Of all those who belong to Christ, I am the least important. But this loving-favor was given to me to preach to the people who are not Jews. I was to tell them of the great riches in Christ which do not come to an end. ⁹ I was to make all men understand the meaning of this secret. God kept this secret to Himself from the beginning of the world. And He is the One Who made all things. ¹⁰ This was done so the great wisdom of God might be shown now to the leaders and powers in the heavenly places. It is being done through the church. ¹¹ This was the plan God had for all time. He did this through Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² We can come to God without fear because we have put our trust in Christ. ¹³ So I ask you not to lose heart because of my suffering for you. It is to help you.

Paul’s Prayer for the Church

¹⁴ For this reason, I bow my knees and pray to the Father. ¹⁵ It is from Him that every family in heaven and on earth has its name. ¹⁶ I pray that because of the riches of His shining-greatness, He will make you strong with power in your hearts through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ I pray that Christ may live in your hearts by faith. I pray that you will be filled with love. ¹⁸ I pray that you will be able to understand how wide and how long and how high and how deep His love is. ¹⁹ I pray that you will know the love of Christ. His love goes beyond anything we can understand. I pray that you will be filled with God Himself.

²⁰ God is able to do much more than we ask or think through His power working in us. ²¹ May we see His shining-greatness in the church. May all people in all time honor Christ Jesus. Let it be so.

The God of Israel at Sinai

68 May God rise up. May those who hate Him be divided. And may they run away from Him. ² Drive them away like smoke in the wind. Let the sinful be destroyed before God like a candle melts by the fire. ³ But let those who are right and good be glad. Let them be happy before God. Yes, let them be full of joy. ⁴ Sing to God. Sing praises to His name. Make a road for Him Who goes through the deserts. The Lord is His name. Be full of joy before Him.

⁵ God in His holy house is a father to those who have no father. And He keeps the women safe whose husbands have died. ⁶ God makes a home for those who are alone. He leads men out of prison into happiness and well-being. But those who fight against Him live in an empty desert.

⁷ O God, when You went out before Your people, when You walked through the desert, ⁸ the earth shook. The heavens poured down rain before God. And Sinai shook before God, the God of Israel. ⁹ You sent a heavy rain, O God. You brought life back to Your promised land when it was dry. ¹⁰ Your people made it their home. O God, You gave the poor what they needed because You are good.

¹¹ The Lord gives the Word. And the women who tell the good news are many. ¹² The kings of armies run. They run away. And she who stays at home divides the riches. ¹³ When you lie down among the sheep, you are like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and the end of its wings with shining gold. ¹⁴ When the All-powerful divided the kings there, snow was falling in Zalmon.

¹⁵ A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan. A mountain of many high tops is the mountain of Bashan. ¹⁶ O mountains of many high tops, why do you look with jealousy at the mountain which God has chosen for His home? For sure, the Lord will live there forever. ¹⁷ The war-wagons of God are 20,000, even thousands of thousands. The Lord is among them, as at Sinai, in the holy place. ¹⁸ You have gone up on high. You have taken those who were held with You. You have received gifts of men, even among those who fought against You. So the Lord God may live there with them.

24 Do not be jealous of sinful men. Do not want to be with them. ² For their hearts make plans to hurt others and their lips talk about trouble.