The Daily Audio Bible
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37 1-2 The power of the Lord was upon me and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley full of old, dry bones that were scattered everywhere across the ground. He led me around among them, 3 and then he said to me:
“Son of dust, can these bones become people again?”
I replied, “Lord, you alone know the answer to that.”
4 Then he told me to speak to the bones and say: “O dry bones, listen to the words of God, 5 for the Lord God says, ‘See! I am going to make you live and breathe again! 6 I will replace the flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you shall live and know I am the Lord.’”
7 So I spoke these words from God, just as he told me to; and suddenly there was a rattling noise from all across the valley, and the bones of each body came together and attached to each other as they used to be. 8 Then, as I watched, the muscles and flesh formed over the bones, and skin covered them, but the bodies had no breath. 9 Then he told me to call to the wind and say: “The Lord God says: Come from the four winds, O Spirit, and breathe upon these slain bodies, that they may live again.” 10 So I spoke to the winds as he commanded me, and the bodies began breathing; they lived and stood up—a very great army.
11 Then he told me what the vision meant: “These bones,” he said, “represent all the people of Israel. They say: ‘We have become a heap of dried-out bones—all hope is gone.’ 12 But tell them, ‘The Lord God says: My people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again and return to the land of Israel. 13 And, then at last, O my people, you will know I am the Lord. 14 I will put my Spirit into you, and you shall live and return home again to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have done just what I promised you.’”
15 Again a message from the Lord came to me, saying:
16 “Take a stick and carve on it these words: ‘This stick represents Judah and her allied tribes.’ Then take another stick and carve these words on it: ‘This stick represents all the other tribes of Israel.’ 17 Now hold them together in your hand as one stick. 18-20 Tell these people (holding the sticks so they can see what you are doing), the Lord God says: ‘I will take the tribes of Israel and join them to Judah and make them one stick in my hand.’”
21 For the Lord God says: “I am gathering the people of Israel from among the nations and bringing them home from around the world to their own land, 22 to unify them into one nation. One king shall be king of them all; no longer shall they be divided into two nations. 23 They shall stop polluting themselves with idols and their other sins, for I will save them from all this foulness. Then they shall truly be my people and I their God.
24 “And David, my Servant—the Messiah—shall be their King, their only Shepherd; and they shall obey my laws and all my wishes. 25 They shall live in the land of Israel where their fathers lived, the land I gave my servant Jacob. They and their children after them shall live there, and their grandchildren, for all generations. And my Servant David, their Messiah, shall be their Prince forever. 26 And I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting pact. I will bless them and multiply them and put my Temple among them forever. 27 And I will make my home among them. Yes, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 And when my Temple remains among them forever, then the nations will know that I, the Lord, have chosen Israel as my very own.”
38 Here is another message to me from the Lord:
2-3 “Son of dust, face northward[a] toward the land of Magog and prophesy against Gog king of Meshech and Tubal. Tell him that the Lord God says: ‘I am against you, Gog. 4 I will put hooks into your jaws and pull you to your doom. I will mobilize your troops and armored cavalry and make you a mighty host, all fully armed. 5 Peras, Cush, Put shall join you too with all their weaponry, 6 and so shall Gomer and all his hordes and the armies of Togarmah from the distant north, as well as many others. 7 Be prepared! Stay mobilized. You are their leader, Gog!
8 “‘A long time from now you will be called to action. In distant years you will swoop down onto the land of Israel that will be lying in peace after the return of its people from many lands. 9 You and all your allies—a vast and awesome army—will roll down upon them like a storm and cover the land like a cloud. 10 For at that time an evil thought will have come to your mind. 11 You will have said, “Israel is an unprotected land of unwalled villages! I will march against her and destroy these people living in such confidence! 12 I will go to those once-desolate cities that are now filled with people again—those who have returned from all the nations—and I will capture vast amounts of loot and many slaves. For the people are rich with cattle now, and the whole earth revolves around them!”’
13 “But Sheba and Dedan[b] and the merchant princes of Tarshish with whom she trades will ask, ‘Who are you to rob them of silver and gold and drive away their cattle and seize their goods and make them poor?’”
14 The Lord God says to Gog: “When my people are living in peace in their land, then you will rouse yourself. 15-16 You will come from all over the north with your vast host of cavalry and cover the land like a cloud. This will happen in the distant future—in the latter years of history.[c] I will bring you against my land, and my holiness will be vindicated in your terrible destruction before their eyes, so that all the nations will know that I am God.”
17 The Lord God says: “You are the one I spoke of long ago through the prophets of Israel, saying that after many years had passed, I would bring you against my people. 18 But when you come to destroy the land of Israel, my fury will rise! 19 For in my jealousy and blazing wrath, I promise a mighty shaking in the land of Israel on that day. 20 All living things shall quake in terror at my presence; mountains shall be thrown down; cliffs shall tumble; walls shall crumble to the earth. 21 I will summon every kind of terror against you,” says the Lord God, “and you will fight against yourselves in mortal combat! 22 I will fight you with sword, disease, torrential floods, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone! 23 Thus will I show my greatness and bring honor upon my name, and all the nations of the world will hear what I have done and know that I am God!
19 Dear brothers, don’t ever forget that it is best to listen much, speak little, and not become angry; 20 for anger doesn’t make us good, as God demands that we must be.
21 So get rid of all that is wrong in your life, both inside and outside, and humbly be glad for the wonderful message we have received, for it is able to save our souls as it takes hold of our hearts.
22 And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. So don’t fool yourselves. 23 For if a person just listens and doesn’t obey, he is like a man looking at his face in a mirror; 24 as soon as he walks away, he can’t see himself anymore or remember what he looks like. 25 But if anyone keeps looking steadily into God’s law for free men, he will not only remember it but he will do what it says, and God will greatly bless him in everything he does.
26 Anyone who says he is a Christian but doesn’t control his sharp tongue is just fooling himself, and his religion isn’t worth much. 27 The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father’s point of view, is the one who takes care of orphans and widows, and who remains true to the Lord—not soiled and dirtied by his contacts with the world.
2 Dear brothers, how can you claim that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, if you show favoritism to rich people and look down on poor people?
2 If a man comes into your church dressed in expensive clothes and with valuable gold rings on his fingers, and at the same moment another man comes in who is poor and dressed in threadbare clothes, 3 and you make a lot of fuss over the rich man and give him the best seat in the house and say to the poor man, “You can stand over there if you like or else sit on the floor”—well, 4 judging a man by his wealth shows that you are guided by wrong motives.
5 Listen to me, dear brothers: God has chosen poor people to be rich in faith, and the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs, for that is the gift God has promised to all those who love him. 6 And yet, of the two strangers, you have despised the poor man. Don’t you realize that it is usually the rich men who pick on you and drag you into court? 7 And all too often they are the ones who laugh at Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear.
8 Yes indeed, it is good when you truly obey our Lord’s command, “You must love and help your neighbors just as much as you love and take care of yourself.” 9 But you are breaking this law of our Lord’s when you favor the rich and fawn over them; it is sin.
10 And the person who keeps every law of God but makes one little slip is just as guilty as the person who has broken every law there is. 11 For the God who said you must not marry a woman who already has a husband also said you must not murder, so even though you have not broken the marriage laws by committing adultery, but have murdered someone, you have entirely broken God’s laws and stand utterly guilty before him.
12 You will be judged on whether or not you are doing what Christ wants you to. So watch what you do and what you think; 13 for there will be no mercy to those who have shown no mercy. But if you have been merciful, then God’s mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you.
14 Dear brothers, what’s the use of saying that you have faith and are Christians if you aren’t proving it by helping others? Will that kind of faith save anyone? 15 If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing, 16 and you say to him, “Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat hearty,” and then don’t give him clothes or food, what good does that do?
17 So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good works is no faith at all—it is dead and useless.
117 Praise the Lord, all nations everywhere. Praise him, all the peoples of the earth. 2 For he loves us very dearly, and his truth endures. Praise the Lord.
28 The wicked flee when no one is chasing them! But the godly are bold as lions!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.