The Daily Audio Bible

⁸ “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the Law of the Lord is with us’? See, the lying hand of the writers has made it into a lie. ⁹ The wise men are put to shame. They are troubled and taken. See, they have turned away from the Word of the Lord, and what kind of wisdom do they have? ¹⁰ So I will give their wives to others, and their fields to new owners. Because from the least to the greatest, every one is always wanting much. From the man of God to the religious leader, no one can be trusted in what he does. ¹¹ They have healed the hurt of My people very little, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. ¹² Were they ashamed because of the hated sin they had done? They were not ashamed at all. They did not even know how to turn red. So they will fall among those who fall. When I punish them, they will be put down,” says the Lord.

¹³ “For sure I will take them away,” says the Lord. “There will be no grapes on the vine, and no figs on the fig tree, and the leaves will dry up. What I have given them will pass away.” ¹⁴ Why are we sitting here? Gather together, and let us go into the strong cities and die there. For the Lord our God has given us up to die. He has given us poison in our water to drink, for we have sinned against Him. ¹⁵ We waited for peace, but no good came. We waited for a time of healing, but see, there is much trouble. ¹⁶ The noise of his horses is heard from Dan. The whole land shakes at the sound of his war horses. For they come and destroy the land and everything that is in it, the city and those who live in it. ¹⁷ “For see, I am sending the worst of snakes against you, poison snakes which cannot be stopped. And they will bite you,” says the Lord.

¹⁸ My sorrow is too much to heal. My heart is weak within me. ¹⁹ Listen! It is the cry of my people from a far away land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” “Why have they made Me angry with their objects of worship, and with strange gods?” ²⁰ “Gathering time is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved.” ²¹ I am hurt because my people are hurt. I am filled with sorrow, and fear has taken hold of me. ²² Is there no healing oil in Gilead? Is there no doctor there? Why then have my people not been healed?

9 If only my head were a well of water, and my eyes a well of tears, that I might cry day and night for my people who have been killed! ² If only I had a place in the desert for travelers to stay, that I might leave my people, and go away from them! For none of them are faithful. They are a gathering of men who cannot be trusted. ³ “They use their tongue like their bow. Lies, and not truth, rule the land. For they go from sin to sin, and they do not know Me,” says the Lord. ⁴ “Let every one watch his neighbor. Do not trust any brother. Because every brother sets traps, and every neighbor goes about hurting people with his talk. ⁵ Every one fools his neighbor, and does not tell the truth. They have taught their tongue to tell lies. They become tired doing so many sins. ⁶ You live in the center of false ways. In their false ways they are not willing to know Me,” says the Lord.

⁷ So the Lord of All says, “See, I will make them pure and test them. For what else can I do with My people? ⁸ Their tongue is an arrow that kills. It lies. A man speaks peace to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he plans to trap him. ⁹ Should I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord. “Should I not make a nation such as this pay for its sins?

¹⁰ “I will cry with a loud voice for the mountains. I will cry out in sorrow for the fields, because they are laid waste. No one passes through them. The sound of the cattle is not heard. The birds of the sky and the wild animals have run away. They are gone. ¹¹ I will break down Jerusalem into pieces, a place where wild dogs live. And I will lay waste the cities of Judah. No people will live there.”

¹² Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may make it known? Why is the land destroyed and laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through? ¹³ And the Lord said, “They have turned away from My Law that I have given them. They have not obeyed My voice and would not be led by it. ¹⁴ But they have followed the strongwill of their own hearts, and have gone after the false gods of Baal, as their fathers taught them.” ¹⁵ So the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “See, I will feed these people with wormwood and put poison in their drinking water. ¹⁶ I will spread them out among the nations whom they and their fathers have not known. And I will go after them with the sword until I have put an end to them.”

Jerusalem Cries for Help

¹⁷ The Lord of All says, “Take thought and call for the women who are filled with sorrow, that they may come. Call for the women who cry for the dead, that they may come. ¹⁸ Let them hurry and cry in a loud voice for us, that tears may come from our eyes, and that our eyes will flow with water. ¹⁹ For a sound of loud crying is heard from Zion: ‘How we are destroyed! We are filled with shame, for we have left the land because they have broken down our houses.’” ²⁰ Now hear the Word of the Lord, O you women. Let your ear receive the Word of His mouth. Teach your daughters a song of sorrow. Every one teach her neighbor a song for the dead. ²¹ For death has come in through our windows. It has come into our beautiful houses of kings. It has cut off the children from the streets, and the young men from the open spaces of the city. ²² Say, “This is what the Lord says: ‘The dead bodies of men will fall like animal waste on the open field, and like grain after the gatherer. But no one will gather them.’”

²³ The Lord says, “Let not a wise man speak with pride about his wisdom. Let not the strong man speak with pride about his strength. And let not a rich man speak with pride about his riches. ²⁴ But let him who speaks with pride speak about this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who shows loving-kindness and does what is fair and right and good on earth. For I find joy in these things,” says the Lord.

²⁵ “See, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will punish all who have gone through the religious act of the Jews, but have not had the sin cut from their heart. ²⁶ I will punish Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all those who live in the desert. For none of these nations have had their flesh cut. And none of the people of Israel have had the sin cut from their heart.”

The New Life Lived by the Power of Christ

3 If then you have been raised with Christ, keep looking for the good things of heaven. This is where Christ is seated on the right side of God. ² Keep your minds thinking about things in heaven. Do not think about things on the earth. ³ You are dead to the things of this world. Your new life is now hidden in God through Christ. ⁴ Christ is our life. When He comes again, you will also be with Him to share His shining-greatness.

The Old Person Put Aside

⁵ Destroy the desires to sin that are in you. These desires are: sex sins, anything that is not clean, a desire for sex sins, and wanting something someone else has. This is worshiping a god. ⁶ It is because of these sins that the anger of God comes down on those who do not obey Him. ⁷ You used to do these sins when you lived that kind of life. ⁸ Put out of your life these things also: anger, bad temper, bad feelings toward others, talk that hurts people, speaking against God, and dirty talk. ⁹ Do not lie to each other. You have put out of your life your old ways. ¹⁰ You have now become a new person and are always learning more about Christ. You are being made more like Christ. He is the One Who made you. ¹¹ There is no difference in men in this new life. Greeks and Jews are the same. The man who has gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew and the one who has not are the same. There is no difference between nations. Men who are servants and those who are free are the same. Christ is everything. He is in all of us.

¹² God has chosen you. You are holy and loved by Him. Because of this, your new life should be full of loving-pity. You should be kind to others and have no pride. Be gentle and be willing to wait for others. ¹³ Try to understand other people. Forgive each other. If you have something against someone, forgive him. That is the way the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And to all these things, you must add love. Love holds everything and everybody together and makes all these good things perfect. ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ have power over your hearts. You were chosen as a part of His body. Always be thankful.

¹⁶ Let the teaching of Christ and His words keep on living in you. These make your lives rich and full of wisdom. Keep on teaching and helping each other. Sing the Songs of David and the church songs and the songs of heaven with hearts full of thanks to God. ¹⁷ Whatever you say or do, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through the Lord Jesus.

³² But still they kept on sinning. They did not believe in His powerful works. ³³ So He made their days come to nothing. He made their years end in fear all at once.

³⁴ When He killed some of them, the others would look for Him. They returned and looked for God. ³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock, and that the Most High God was the One Who set them free. ³⁶ But they gave Him false honor with their mouth. They lied to Him with their tongue. ³⁷ For their heart was not right toward Him. They were not faithful to His agreement. ³⁸ But He showed them loving-kindness and forgave their sins. He did not destroy them. He held back His anger many times. He did not let all of His anger loose. ³⁹ He remembered that they were only flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.

⁴⁰ How many times they went against Him in the desert, and gave Him sorrow in that empty land! ⁴¹ They put God to the test again and again, and troubled the Holy One of Israel. ⁴² They did not remember His power and the day He saved them from those who hated them, ⁴³ when He did His powerful works in Egypt and showed His greatness in the field of Zoan. ⁴⁴ He changed their rivers into blood. They could not drink from their rivers. ⁴⁵ He sent many flies among them that ate them, and frogs that destroyed them. ⁴⁶ He gave their fields of food to the grasshopper, and all they worked for to the locust. ⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with cold. ⁴⁸ He killed their cattle with hail and lightning. ⁴⁹ He sent them His burning anger and trouble. He sent a group of angels to bring trouble and sorrow to them. ⁵⁰ He made a straight path for His anger. He did not save their soul from death. But He gave their lives over to all these troubles. ⁵¹ He killed all the first-born in Egypt, the first children of their strength in the tents of Ham. ⁵² But He brought His people out like sheep. And He led them like a flock in the desert. ⁵³ He led them and kept them safe, so they were not afraid. But the sea covered those who hated them.

⁵⁴ He brought them to His holy land, to the hill country His right hand had taken. ⁵⁵ He drove out the nations before them. He gave them parts of the land for a gift. And He made the families of Israel live in their tents.

²⁷ Get your work done outside. Make your fields ready. Then after that, build your house.