The Daily Audio Bible
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12 Then this message of the Lord came to me:
13 “Son of dust, if the people of a land sin against me, then I will crush them with my fist, break off their food supply, and send famine to destroy both man and beast. 14 Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they alone would be saved by their righteousness, and I would destroy the remainder of Israel,” says the Lord God.
15 “If I send an invasion of dangerous wild animals into the land to devastate the land, 16 even if these three men were there, the Lord God swears that it would do no good—it would not save the people from their doom. Those three only would be saved, but the land would be devastated.
17 “Or if I bring war against that land and tell the armies of the enemy to come and destroy everything, 18 even if these three men were in the land, the Lord God declares that they alone would be saved.
19 “And if I pour out my fury by sending an epidemic of disease into the land, and the plague kills man and beast alike, 20 though Noah, Daniel, and Job were living there, the Lord God says that only they would be saved because of their righteousness.”
21 And the Lord says: “Four great punishments await Jerusalem to destroy all life: war, famine, ferocious beasts, plague. 22 If there are survivors and they come here to join you as exiles in Babylon, you will see with your own eyes how wicked they are, and you will know it was right for me to destroy Jerusalem. 23 You will agree, when you meet them, that it is not without cause that all these things are being done to Israel.”
15 Then this message came to me from the Lord:
2 “Son of dust, what good are vines from the forest? Are they as useful as trees? Are they even as valuable as a single branch? 3 No, for vines can’t be used even for making pegs to hang up pots and pans! 4 All they are good for is fuel—and even so, they burn but poorly! 5-6 So they are useless both before and after being put in the fire!
“This is what I mean,” the Lord God says: “The people of Jerusalem are like the vines of the forest—useless before being burned and certainly useless afterwards! 7 And I will set myself against them to see to it that if they escape from one fire, they will fall into another; and then you shall know I am the Lord. 8 And I will make the land desolate because they worship idols,” says the Lord God.
16 Then again a message came to me from the Lord.
2 “Son of dust,” he said, “speak to Jerusalem about her loathsome sins. 3 Tell her, ‘The Lord God says: You are no better than the people of Canaan—your father must have been an Amorite and your mother a Hittite![a] 4 When you were born, no one cared for you. When I first saw you, your umbilical cord was uncut, and you had been neither washed nor rubbed with salt nor clothed. 5 No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On that day when you were born, you were dumped out into a field and left to die, unwanted.
6-7 “‘But I came by and saw you there, covered with your own blood, and I said, “Live! Thrive like a plant in the field!” And you did! You grew up and became tall, slender and supple, a jewel among jewels. And when you reached the age of maidenhood, your breasts were full-formed and your pubic hair had grown; yet you were naked.
8 “‘Later, when I passed by and saw you again, you were old enough for marriage; and I wrapped my cloak around you to legally declare my marriage vow. I signed a covenant with you, and you became mine. 9-10 Then, when the marriage had taken place, I gave you beautiful clothes of linens and silk, embroidered, and sandals made of dolphin hide. 11 I gave you lovely ornaments, bracelets, and beautiful necklaces, 12 a ring for your nose and two more for your ears, and a lovely tiara for your head. 13 And so you were made beautiful with gold and silver, and your clothes were silk and linen and beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were! 14 Your reputation was great among the nations for your beauty; it was perfect because of all the gifts I gave you,’” says the Lord God.
15 “‘But you thought you could get along without me—you trusted in your beauty instead; and you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was his for the asking. 16 You used the lovely things I gave you for making idol shrines and to decorate your bed of prostitution. Unbelievable! There has never been anything like it before! 17 You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I gave to you and made statues of men and worshiped them, which is adultery against me. 18 You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you—to cover your idols! And used my oil and incense to worship them! 19 You set before them as a lovely sacrifice—imagine it—the fine flour and oil and honey I gave you! 20 And you took my sons and daughters you had borne to me and sacrificed them to your gods; and they are gone. Wasn’t it enough that you should be a prostitute? 21 Must you also slay my children by sacrificing them to idols?
22 “‘And in all these years of adultery and sin you have not thought of those days long ago when you were naked and covered with blood.
23 “‘And then, in addition to all your other wickedness—woe, woe upon you, says the Lord God— 24 you built a spacious brothel for your lovers and idol altars on every street, 25 and there you offered your beauty to every man who came by, in an endless stream of prostitution. 26 And you added lustful Egypt to your prostitutions by your alliance with her. My anger is great.
27 “‘Therefore I have crushed you with my fist; I have reduced your boundaries and delivered you into the hands of those who hate you—the Philistines—and even they are ashamed of you.
28 “‘You have committed adultery with the Assyrians too by making them your allies and worshiping their gods;[b] it seems that you can never find enough new gods. After your adultery there, you still weren’t satisfied, 29 so you worshiped the gods of that great merchant land of Babylon—and you still weren’t satisfied. 30 What a filthy heart you have, says the Lord God, to do such things as these; you are a brazen prostitute, 31 building your idol altars, your brothels, on every street. You have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even charged for your love! 32 Yes, you are an adulterous wife who lives with other men instead of her own husband. 33-34 Prostitutes charge for their services—men pay with many gifts. But not you, you give them gifts, bribing them to come to you! So you are different from other prostitutes. But you had to pay them, for no one wanted you.
35 “‘O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: 36 This is what the Lord God says! Because I see your filthy sins, your adultery with your lovers—your worshiping of idols—and the slaying of your children as sacrifices to your gods, 37 this is what I am going to do: I will gather together all your allies—these lovers of yours you have sinned with, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will make you naked before them that they may see you. 38 I will punish you as a murderess is punished and as a woman breaking wedlock living with other men. 39 I will give you to your lovers—these many nations—to destroy, and they will knock down your brothels and idol altars. They will strip you, take your beautiful jewels, and leave you naked and ashamed. 40-41 They will burn your homes, punishing you before the eyes of many women. And I will see to it that you stop your adulteries with other gods and end your payments to your allies for their love.
18 Yes, the old system of priesthood based on family lines was canceled because it didn’t work. It was weak and useless for saving people. 19 It never made anyone really right with God. But now we have a far better hope, for Christ makes us acceptable to God, and now we may draw near to him.
20 God took an oath that Christ would always be a Priest, 21 although he never said that of other priests. Only to Christ he said, “The Lord has sworn and will never change his mind: You are a Priest forever, with the rank of Melchizedek.” 22 Because of God’s oath, Christ can guarantee forever the success of this new and better arrangement.
23 Under the old arrangement there had to be many priests so that when the older ones died off, the system could still be carried on by others who took their places.
24 But Jesus lives forever and continues to be a Priest so that no one else is needed. 25 He is able to save completely all who come to God through him. Since he will live forever, he will always be there to remind God that he has paid for their sins with his blood.
26 He is, therefore, exactly the kind of High Priest we need; for he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin, undefiled by sinners, and to him has been given the place of honor in heaven. 27 He never needs the daily blood of animal sacrifices, as other priests did, to cover over first their own sins and then the sins of the people; for he finished all sacrifices, once and for all, when he sacrificed himself on the cross. 28 Under the old system, even the high priests were weak and sinful men who could not keep from doing wrong, but later God appointed by his oath his Son who is perfect forever.
106 Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord! How good you are! Your love for us continues on forever. 2 Who can ever list the glorious miracles of God? Who can ever praise him half enough?
3 Happiness comes to those who are fair to others and are always just and good.
4 Remember me too, O Lord, while you are blessing and saving your people. 5 Let me share in your chosen ones’ prosperity and rejoice in all their joys, and receive the glory you give to them.
6 Both we and our fathers have sinned so much. 7 They weren’t impressed by the wonder of your miracles in Egypt and soon forgot your many acts of kindness to them. Instead they rebelled against you at the Red Sea. 8 Even so you saved them—to defend the honor of your name and demonstrate your power to all the world. 9 You commanded the Red Sea to divide, forming a dry road across its bottom. Yes, as dry as any desert! 10 Thus you rescued them from their enemies. 11 Then the water returned and covered the road and drowned their foes; not one survived.
12 Then at last his people believed him. Then they finally sang his praise.
4 Jealousy is more dangerous and cruel than anger.
5 Open rebuke is better than hidden love!
6 Wounds from a friend are better than kisses from an enemy!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.