The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁵ For the high and honored One Who lives forever, Whose name is Holy, says, “I live in the high and holy place. And I also live with those who are sorry for their sins and have turned from them and are not proud. I give new strength to the spirit of those without pride, and also to those whose hearts are sorry for their sins. ¹⁶ I will keep on fighting against you, and will not always be angry, for then your spirit would become weak before Me, the ones to whom I gave life. ¹⁷ Because of the sin of his desire to get more of everything, I was angry. I punished him and hid My face in anger. He went on sinning, following the way of his own heart. ¹⁸ I have seen his ways and will heal him. I will lead him and give comfort to him and to those who have sorrow for him. ¹⁹ I will make the lips to praise. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him.” ²⁰ But the sinful are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest. Its waters throw up mud and dirt. ²¹ “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the sinful.”

Going without Food Pleases God

58 “Cry with a loud voice. Do not hold back. Raise your voice like a horn, and show My people their wrong-doing and the family of Jacob their sins. ² Yet they look for Me day by day, and are happy to know My ways, as a nation that has done what is right and good, and has not turned away from the Law of their God. They ask Me to be fair in what I decide, and they are happy to come near to God. ³ They say, ‘Why have we gone without food, and You do not see it? Why have we put away our pride, and You do not know it?’ See, on the day you do not eat, you do what you want to do, and make it hard for all your workers. ⁴ See, while you go without food you argue and fight and hit with a sinful hand. Going without food as you do today will not help your voice to be heard on high. ⁵ Is it a time without eating like this that I choose, a day for a man to put away his pride? Is it for bowing his head like a piece of grass, and to spread ashes and cloth made from hair for his bed? Will you call this time without eating a day that pleases the Lord? ⁶ Is not the time without eating which I choose, a time to take off the chains of sin, and to take the heavy load of sin off the neck? Is it not a time to let those who suffer under a sinful power go free, and to break every load from their neck? ⁷ Is it not a time to share your food with the hungry, and bring the poor man into your house who has no home of his own? Is it not a time to give clothes to the person you see who has no clothes, and a time not to hide yourself from your own family? ⁸ Then your light will break out like the early morning, and you will soon be healed. Your right and good works will go before you. And the shining-greatness of the Lord will keep watch behind you. ⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take the weight of sin away, and stop putting the blame on others and stop speaking sinful things, ¹⁰ and if you give what you have to the hungry, and fill the needs of those who suffer, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like the brightest time of day. ¹¹ The Lord will always lead you. He will meet the needs of your soul in the dry times and give strength to your body. You will be like a garden that has enough water, like a well of water that never dries up. ¹² And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.

¹³ “If you keep from doing what pleases you on the Day of Rest, on My holy day and call the Day of Rest a happy time, and respect the holy day of the Lord, and if you honor it by turning from your own ways, and from following your own desire and by not talking in a foolish way, ¹⁴ then you will have joy in the Lord. I will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth. And I will feed you with the best from the land given to your father Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Sin Keeps One from God

59 See, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save, and His ear is not closed that it cannot hear. ² But your wrong-doings have kept you away from your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear. ³ For your hands are sinful with blood, your fingers with wrong-doing, your lips have lied, and your tongue talks about sin. ⁴ No one wants what is right and fair in court. And no one argues his cause with the truth. They trust in what is false, and speak lies. They plan to make trouble and do what is sinful. ⁵ They bring young ones from the eggs of deadly snakes and make traps as a spider does. He who eats of their eggs dies, and a snake comes out of the egg that is crushed. ⁶ Clothing cannot be made from the work of the spider, so they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of sin. They hurt others with their hands. ⁷ And they are quick to sin and to kill people who are not guilty. Their thoughts are thoughts of sin. Wherever they go, they destroy and cause suffering. ⁸ They know nothing about peace, and there is nothing fair in their paths. Their roads are not straight. Whoever walks on them does not know peace.

⁹ So what is right and fair is far from us. What is right and good does not come to us. We hope for light, but see darkness. We hope for bright light, but we walk in the dark. ¹⁰ We feel for the wall like blind men. We feel our way like those who have no eyes. We trip at noon as in the night. Among those who are strong, we are like dead men. ¹¹ All of us make noise like bears, and cry inside ourselves like doves. We hope for what is right and fair, but it is not there. We hope to be saved, but it is far from us. ¹² For we have done much wrong before You, and our sins speak against us. Our wrong-doing is with us, and we know our sins. ¹³ We have gone against the Lord and have acted as if we do not know Him. We have turned away from our God. We have made it hard for others. We have thought and spoken lying words from the heart. ¹⁴ What is right and fair is turned back. What is right and good stands far away. Truth has fallen in the street, and what is right cannot come in. ¹⁵ Yes, truth is not there. And he who turns away from sin comes under the anger of sinners.

Now the Lord saw this, and it did not please Him to see that what is right and fair was not being done. ¹⁶ He saw and wondered that there was no man to speak up for what is right. Then His own arm brought saving power, and what is right with Him gave Him strength. ¹⁷ Being right and good was His covering for His breast, saving power was His headcovering, clothing of anger was his covering, and His strong desires were like a coat. ¹⁸ He will pay them back for their works. He will send anger upon those who are against Him, and will punish those who hate Him. He will send punishment on the islands. ¹⁹ They will fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His shining-greatness from the rising of the sun. When the one who hates us comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a wall against him. ²⁰ “The One Who saves from the punishment of sin will come to Zion, and He will come to those of Jacob who turn from their sinful ways,” says the Lord. ²¹ “And as for Me, this is My agreement with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit which is upon you, and My Words which I have put in your mouth, will not leave your mouth, or the mouth of your children, or the mouth of your children’s children,” say the Lord, “from now and forever.”

1 This letter is from Paul and Timothy. We are servants owned by Jesus Christ. This letter is to all who belong to Christ Jesus who are living in the city of Philippi and to the church leaders and their helpers also. ² May you have loving-favor and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul Gives Thanks For the True Christians

³ I thank God for you whenever I think of you. ⁴ I always have joy as I pray for all of you. ⁵ It is because you have told others the Good News from the first day you heard it until now. ⁶ I am sure that God Who began the good work in you will keep on working in you until the day Jesus Christ comes again. ⁷ It is right for me to feel like this about all of you. It is because you are very dear to me. While I was in prison and when I was proving that the Good News is true, you all shared God’s loving-favor with me. ⁸ God knows what I am saying. He knows how much I love you all with a love that comes from Jesus Christ. ⁹ And this is my prayer: I pray that your love will grow more and more. I pray that you will have better understanding and be wise in all things. ¹⁰ I pray that you will know what is the very best. I pray that you will be true and without blame until the day Christ comes again. ¹¹ And I pray that you will be filled with the fruits of right living. These come from Jesus Christ, with honor and thanks to God.

Paul’s Being in Prison Has Turned Out to Be a Good Thing

¹² Christian brothers, I want you to know that what has happened to me has helped spread the Good News. ¹³ Everyone around here knows why I am in prison. It is because I preached about Jesus Christ. All the soldiers who work for the leader of the country know why I am here. ¹⁴ Because of this, most of my Christian brothers have had their faith in the Lord made stronger. They have more power to preach the Word of God without fear.

¹⁵ Some are preaching because they are jealous and want to make trouble. Others are doing it for the right reason. ¹⁶ These do it because of love. They know that I am put here to prove the Good News is true. ¹⁷ The others preach about Christ for what they get out of it. Their hearts are not right. They want to make me suffer while I am in prison. ¹⁸ What difference does it make if they pretend or if they are true? I am happy, yes, and I will keep on being happy that Christ is preached.

¹⁹ Because of your prayers and the help the Holy Spirit gives me, all of this will turn out for good. ²⁰ I hope very much that I will have no reason to be ashamed. I hope to honor Christ with my body if it be by my life or by my death. I want to honor Him without fear, now and always. ²¹ To me, living means having Christ. To die means that I would have more of Him. ²² If I keep on living here in this body, it means that I can lead more people to Christ. I do not know which is better. ²³ There is a strong pull from both sides. I have a desire to leave this world to be with Christ, which is much better. ²⁴ But it is more important for you that I stay. ²⁵ I am sure I will live to help you grow and be happy in your faith. ²⁶ This will give you reason to give more thanks to Christ Jesus when I come to visit you again.

A Prayer of an Old Man

71 I have a safe place in you, O Lord. Let me never be ashamed. ² Because You are right and good, take me out of trouble. Turn Your ear to me and save me. ³ Be a rock to me where I live, where I may always come and where I will be safe. For You are my rock and my safe place. ⁴ O my God, take me from the hand of the sinful, from the hand of the wrong-doer and the man without pity. ⁵ For You are my hope, O Lord God. You are my trust since I was young. ⁶ You have kept me safe from birth. It was You Who watched over me from the day I was born. My praise is always of You.

⁷ I have become a wonder and surprise to many. For You are my strong safe place. ⁸ My mouth is filled with Your praise and with Your honor all day long. ⁹ Do not let me fall by the way when I am old. Do not leave me alone when my strength is gone. ¹⁰ For those who hate me talk against me. Those who want to kill make plans together. ¹¹ They say, “God has turned away from him. Run and catch him, for there is no one to take him out of trouble.”

¹² O God, do not be far from me! O my God, hurry to help me! ¹³ Let those who are against me be ashamed and destroyed. Let those who want to hurt me be without honor and covered with shame. ¹⁴ But as for me, I will always have hope and I will praise You more and more. ¹⁵ My mouth will tell about how right and good You are and about Your saving acts all day long. For there are more than I can know. ¹⁶ I will come in the strength of the Lord God. I will tell about how right and good You are, and You alone.

¹⁷ O God, You have taught me from when I was young. And I still tell about Your great works. ¹⁸ Even when I am old and my hair is turning white, O God, do not leave me alone. Let me tell about Your strength to all the people living now, and about Your power to all who are to come. ¹⁹ O God, You are right and good, as the heavens are high. You have done great things, O God. Who is like You? ²⁰ You have shown me many troubles of all kinds. But You will make me strong again. And You will bring me up again from deep in the earth. ²¹ Add to my greatness, and turn to comfort me.

²² O my God, I will praise You with a harp. I will praise Your truth. I will sing praises to You with different kinds of harps, O Holy One of Israel. ²³ My lips will call out for joy when I sing praises to You. You have set my soul free. ²⁴ My tongue will tell about how right and good You are all day long. For those who want to hurt me are ashamed and troubled.

⁹ Planning to do foolish things is sin, and the man who laughs at the truth is hated by men.

¹⁰ If you are weak in the day of trouble, your strength is small.