The Daily Audio Bible
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31 And in the eleventh year [after King Jehoiachin was taken captive to Babylon], in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: Whom are you like in your greatness?
3 Behold, [I will liken you to] Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and with forestlike shade and of high stature, with its top among the thick boughs [even among the clouds].
4 The waters nourished it; the deep made it grow tall; its rivers ran round about its planting, sending out its streams to all the trees of the forest [the other nations].
5 Therefore it towered higher than all the trees of the forest; its boughs were multiplied and its branches became long, because there was much water when they were shot forth.
6 All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs, and under its branches all the wild beasts of the field brought forth their young and under its shadow dwelt all of the great nations.
7 Thus was it beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was by many and great waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide or rival it; the cypress trees did not have boughs like it and the plane trees did not have branches like it, nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful with the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of [a]Eden that were in the garden of God envied it [Assyria].
10 Therefore thus said the Lord God: Because it is exalted in stature and has set its top among the thick boughs and the clouds, and its heart is proud of its height,(A)
11 I will even [b]deliver it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with it. I have driven it out for its wickedness and lawlessness.
12 And strangers, the most terrible of the nations, will cut it off and leave it; upon the mountains and in all the valleys its branches will fall and its boughs will lie broken by all the watercourses of the land, and all the peoples of the earth will go down out of its shade and leave it.
13 Upon its ruins all the birds of the heavens will dwell, and all the wild beasts of the field will be upon [Assyria’s fallen] branches.
14 All this is so that none of the trees by the waters may exalt themselves because of their height or shoot up their top among the thick boughs and the clouds, and that none of their mighty ones should stand upon [their own estimate of] themselves for their height, all that drink water. For they are all delivered over to death, to the lower world, in the midst of the children of men, with those who go down to the pit (the grave).
15 Thus says the Lord God: When [Assyria] goes down to Sheol (the place of the dead), I will cause a mourning; I will cover the deep for it and I will restrain its floods, and the many waters [that contributed to its prosperity] will be stayed; and I will cause Lebanon to be in black gloom and to mourn for it, and all the trees of the field, dismayed, will faint because of it.
16 I will make the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit, and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all [the trees] that drink water, will be comforted in the netherworld [at Assyria’s downfall].
17 They also shall go down into Sheol with it to those who were slain by the sword—yes, those who were its arm, who dwelt under its shadow in the midst of the nations.
18 To whom [O Egypt] among the trees of Eden are you thus like in glory and in greatness? Yet you [also] shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the netherworld. You shall lie among the [c]uncircumcised heathen with those who are slain by the sword. This is [d]how it shall be with Pharaoh and all the multitude of his strength, his tumult, and his store [of wealth and glory], says the Lord God.(B)
32 In the twelfth year [after King Jehoiachin of Judah was taken into exile by the king of Babylon], in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him, You have likened [yourself] to a young lion, leader of the nations, but you are like a [monster] dragon in the seas; you break forth in your rivers and trouble the waters with your feet, and you make foul their rivers [the sources of their prosperity].
3 Thus says the Lord God: I will therefore throw out My net over you with a host of many peoples, and they shall bring you up in My dragnet.
4 Then I will leave you [Egypt] upon the shore; I will cast you on the open field and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle upon you, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with you.
5 And I will scatter your flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with your high heap of corpses and their worms.
6 I will also water with your flowing blood the land, even to the mountains, and the hollows and water channels shall be full of you.
7 And when I have extinguished you, I will cover the heavens [of Egypt] and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give her light.
8 All the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you and set darkness upon your land, says the Lord God.
9 I will also trouble and vex the hearts of many peoples when I bring your breaking and trembling and destruction and carry you captive among the nations, into the countries which you have not known.
10 I will make many peoples amazed and appalled at you [Egypt], and their kings shall shudder and be horribly afraid because of you when I brandish My sword before them; they shall tremble every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your downfall.
11 For thus says the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you.
12 I will cause your multitude, your tumult, and your store [of wealth, strength, and glory] to fall by the swords of the mighty—the most terrible among the nations are they all. And they shall bring to nothing the pomp and pride of Egypt, and all its multitude [with its activity and its wealth in every sphere] shall be destroyed.
13 I will destroy also all its beasts from beside many and great waters, and no foot of man shall trouble them any more, nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
14 Then will I make their waters sink down (subside, be quiet, and become clear); their rivers I will cause to run [slowly and smoothly] like oil, says the Lord God.
15 When I make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country is stripped and destitute of all that of which it was full when I smite all those who dwell in it, then will they know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who requires and calls forth loyalty and obedient service].
16 This is the lamentation with which they shall intone or chant the lament for her; the daughters of the nations shall chant their lament with it; over Egypt and over all her multitude, her tumult, and her wealth in every sphere shall they chant it, says the Lord God.
17 In the twelfth year [after King Jehoiachin of Judah was taken into exile], on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
18 Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous and majestic nations, to the netherworld, with those who go down to the pit;
19 Whom [among them] do you surpass in beauty? Go down and be laid with the uncircumcised (the heathen).
20 They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword; she [Egypt] is delivered to the sword; they draw her down [to her judgment], and all her multitudes [with their noise and stores].
21 The strong among the mighty shall speak of [Pharaoh] out of the midst of Sheol (the place of the dead, the netherworld) with those who helped him; they are gone down; they lie still, even the uncircumcised (the heathen) slain by the sword.
22 Assyria is there and all her company; their graves are round about her, all of them slain, fallen by the sword,
23 Whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit and whose company is round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror to spread in the land of the living.
24 Elam [an auxiliary of Assyria] is there and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised into the netherworld, who caused their terror to spread in the land of the living and have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit.
25 They have set her a bed (a sepulcher) among the slain with all her multitude—their graves round about her, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for their terror had spread in the land of the living, and they henceforth bear their shame with those who go down to the pit; they are laid in the midst of the slain.
26 Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude are there; their graves are round about [Pharaoh], all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for they caused their terror to be spread in the land of the living.
27 And they shall not lie with the mighty who have fallen of the uncircumcised [and] who have gone down to Sheol (the place of the dead, the netherworld) with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid [with honors] under their heads and whose iniquities are upon their bones, for they caused their terror to spread in the land of the living.
28 But you [Meshech and Tubal] shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised and shall lie [without honors] with those who are slain with the sword.
29 Edom is there, her kings and all her princes, who for all their might are laid with those who were slain by the sword; they shall lie with the [e]uncircumcised (the heathen) and with those who go down to the pit.
30 The princes of the north are there, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain; for all the terror which they caused by their might they are put to shame, and they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword and henceforth bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.
31 When Pharaoh sees them, he will comfort himself for all his multitude—even Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, says the Lord God.
32 For I have put his and My terror in the land of the living, and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised (the heathen) with those slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God.(C)
14 Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord.
15 Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it—
16 That no one may become guilty of sexual vice, or become a profane (godless and sacrilegious) person as Esau did, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.(A)
17 For you understand that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected (disqualified and set aside), for he could find no opportunity to repair by repentance [what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], although he sought for it carefully with [bitter] tears.(B)
18 For you have not come [as did the Israelites in the wilderness] to a [material] mountain that can be touched, [a mountain] that is ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging storm,
19 And to the blast of a trumpet and a voice whose words make the listeners beg that nothing more be said to them.(C)
20 For they could not bear the command that was given: If even a wild animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.(D)
21 In fact, so awful and terrifying was the [phenomenal] sight that Moses said, I am terrified (aghast and trembling with fear).(E)
22 But rather, you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering,
23 And to the church (assembly) of the Firstborn who are registered [as citizens] in heaven, and to the God Who is Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous (the redeemed in heaven) who have been made perfect,
24 And to Jesus, the Mediator (Go-between, Agent) of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks [of mercy], a better and nobler and more gracious message than the blood of Abel [which cried out for vengeance].(F)
25 So see to it that you do not reject Him or refuse to listen to and heed Him Who is speaking [to you now]. For if they [the Israelites] did not escape when they refused to listen and heed Him Who warned and divinely instructed them [here] on earth [revealing with heavenly warnings His will], how much less shall we escape if we reject and turn our backs on Him Who cautions and admonishes [us] from heaven?
26 Then [at Mount Sinai] His voice shook the earth, but now He has given a promise: Yet once more I will shake and make tremble not only the earth but also the [starry] heavens.(G)
27 Now this expression, Yet once more, indicates the final removal and transformation of all [that can be] shaken—that is, of that which has been created—in order that what cannot be shaken may remain and continue.(H)
28 Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe;
29 For our God [is indeed] a consuming fire.(I)
Psalm 113
1 Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord!
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever
3 From the rising of the sun to the going down of it and from east to west, the name of the Lord is to be praised!
4 The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens!
5 Who is like the Lord our God, Who has His seat on high,
6 Who humbles Himself to regard the heavens and the earth!(A)
7 [The Lord] raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap and the dung hill,
8 That He may seat them with princes, even with the princes of His people.
9 He makes the barren woman to be a homemaker and a joyful mother of [spiritual] children. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Psalm 114
1 When Israel came forth out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah became [God’s] sanctuary (the Holy Place of His habitation), and Israel His dominion.(B)
3 The [Red] Sea looked and fled; the Jordan [River] was turned back.(C)
4 The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.
5 What ails you, O [Red] Sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
6 You mountains, that you skip like rams, and you little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters.(D)
18 Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit; so he who patiently and faithfully guards and heeds his master shall be honored.(A)
19 As in water face answers to and reflects face, so the heart of man to man.
20 Sheol (the place of the dead) and Abaddon (the place of destruction) are never satisfied; so [the lust of] the eyes of man is never satisfied.(B)
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