The Daily Audio Bible
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There’s always an explanation in the Book of Joshua when the people of Israel are defeated in their battles for the promised land, and that explanation is not that God has been unfaithful. It’s the other way around: God tells the people of Israel to do something, and they don’t. God allows their defeats so that they can see the error of their ways. He corrects His people and punishes them so that they may learn to do better.
16 So Joshua arose early, and the Israelites passed before him, tribe by tribe. First the tribe of Judah was chosen by lot. 17 From the clans of Judah, the clan of the Zerahites was chosen, and from that clan, the family of Zabdi. 18 From that family, the Lord indicated that Achan (the son of Carmi, grandson of Zabdi, and great-grandson of Zerah from the tribe of Judah) had taken the banned items.
Joshua (to Achan): 19 My son, I urge you now to show honor and thanksgiving to the Eternal One, the God of Israel, and confess. Tell me what you have done, and tell the truth.
Achan: 20 It’s true. I am the one who broke the commandment of the Eternal God of Israel. 21 Among the spoils of the city, I found a beautiful Babylonian robe, 5 pounds of silver, and 20 ounces of gold. When I saw them, I wanted them and I took them. They are buried now in the ground inside my tent with the silver at the very bottom of the hole.
22 Joshua sent men to Achan’s tent, and there they found the valuables with the silver at the bottom just as he had described. 23 They carried them back from the tent to Joshua, displayed them in front of the Israelites, and offered them to the Eternal. 24 Then Joshua and all Israel led Achan, the son of Zerah, with the robe and silver and gold he had taken, with all his sons and daughters, with all his cattle and livestock, and with his tent and everything he possessed, to the valley of Achor.
Joshua: 25 Why did you bring such trouble upon us? Well, now the Eternal is bringing trouble on you.
The people stoned Achan and his family and burned them and all their belongings. 26 Afterward they erected a pile of stones over Achan that still stands today. When all of this was done, the Eternal put away His anger; so to this day that place is called the valley of Achor, which means “trouble.”
8 Eternal One (to Joshua): Don’t be afraid or discouraged. Take all of your fighters up to Ai. Watch; I will hand over the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land to you. 2 You will do to Ai exactly as you did to Jericho and its king, except you may keep only the cattle and spoil for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.
3 So Joshua and all his fighting force got ready to depart for Ai, and he chose 30,000 of them and sent them out by night 4 with instructions.
Joshua: I want you all to lie in wait behind the city in ambush. Stay close, and stay alert. 5 I will bring the others up to the front of the city; and when they come out to fight us, we will run from them. 6 Their forces will all come out of the city to chase us because they will think everything is happening the way it did the first time. But when we have lured them all out and away from the city, 7 I want you to move in and take it, for the Eternal One, your God will give it to us. 8 When you have taken the city, burn it. This is the word of the Eternal and my command.
9 The ambush force made its way into the hills and took a position between Bethel and Ai, while Joshua and the remaining fighters spent the night in the camp. 10 In the morning, Joshua rose early and roused the people, and he and the elders went on to Ai in front of the people. 11 All the fighting men with him went up and moved in close to the city and set up camp in front and north of Ai, with a ravine between the camp and Ai. 12 The other force, numbering about 5,000, remained hidden west of the city between Bethel and Ai. 13 With his forces situated with men to the north and west of the city, Joshua camped in the valley that night.
14 When the king of Ai arose the next morning and saw the Israelites lined up against him, he gathered his forces on the plain to bring the battle to Israel, not knowing that an ambush squad was hidden behind the city. 15 When the battle was joined, Joshua and the Israelites pretended they were defeated and once again were fleeing toward the wilderness. 16 All of the men of Ai came out to pursue them and were drawn farther and farther away from the city. 17 At last, not one man was left in Ai or Bethel, since all had gone out to pursue Israel, leaving the city open and defenseless.
Eternal One (to Joshua): 18 Raise your javelin toward Ai, for now I will give it into your hands.
Joshua raised his javelin toward the city; 19 and as he did so, the forces he had hidden in ambush rushed into the city, seizing it and setting it on fire.
20-21 The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke rising from their city into the sky; and when Joshua saw that his ambush had been successful, he turned the fleeing Israelites around to crush the disheartened men of Ai. There was nowhere for the men of the city to retreat. Before them, the Israelites turned to attack; 22 behind them, the ambush force came out against them from the burning city. So they were surrounded on all sides by their attackers, who killed all of them, 23 except for Ai’s king, who was captured alive and carried to Joshua.
24 When the last of Ai’s men in the field and wilderness had been killed by the sword, the Israelites returned to Ai and killed everyone inside the city. 25 Twelve thousand fell that day—men and women, all of the people of Ai, 26 for Joshua did not lower his javelin until the destruction was complete. 27 The people of Israel then took the livestock and the goods of the city for themselves, as the Eternal One had instructed Joshua to do. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a city of ruins, as it is to this day, 29 and he executed the king of Ai by hanging. At sunset Joshua had them take down his body for burial, as the law commands, put it where once the city gate had stood, and heap over his body a grave of stones that still stands to this day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Eternal God of Israel on Mount Ebal. 31 He had it built just as Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded the Israelites and is recorded in the book of the law,[a] an altar of stones that had not been cut with iron tools. They offered sacrifices to the Eternal there—burnt offerings and peace offerings— 32 and with the Israelites gathered, Joshua had the law of Moses engraved on the stones. 33 Israel, the elders, the officers, and the judges gathered around the covenant chest of the Eternal, which was carried by the Levite priests, a gathering Moses had commanded, including Israelites and sojourners. They lined the valley, half in front of Mount Ebal and half in front of Mount Gerizim, as Moses, servant of the Eternal One, had commanded before he died, so that the people could be blessed. 34-35 Joshua read out all the words of the law, blessings and curses alike. Every word written, every word that Moses had commanded, Joshua read to the men, women, and children of Israel, and to the sojourners residing among them.
It’s important to remember who you are and what you’re fighting for. By gathering everyone and reading the law of Moses to them, Joshua unites the people of Israel in their shared past, present, and future and orients them toward God in their new land.
9 Now when the kings of the land who were beyond the Jordan in the highlands and along the coast of the Mediterranean—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—heard what had happened, 2 they unified to oppose Joshua and Israel.
The parable ends. Jesus never reveals how it came out. Did the older brother join the party and reconcile with his younger, wayward brother? Or did he stay outside, fuming over the seeming injustice of his father’s extravagant love? The story remains unresolved because it is, in fact, an invitation—an invitation to the Pharisees and other opponents of Jesus to join Him in welcoming sinners and other outsiders into the joyful party of the Kingdom.
16 Here’s a parable He told the disciples:
Jesus: Once there was a rich and powerful man who had an asset manager. One day, the man received word that his asset manager was squandering his assets.
2 The rich man brought in the asset manager and said, “You’ve been accused of wrongdoing. I want a full and accurate accounting of all your financial transactions because you are really close to being fired.”
3 The manager said to himself, “Oh, no! Now what am I going to do? I’m going to lose my job here, and I’m too weak to dig ditches and too proud to beg. 4 I have an idea. This plan will mean that I have a lot of hospitable friends when I get fired.”
5 So the asset manager set up appointments with each person who owed his master money. He said to the first debtor, “How much do you owe my boss?” 6 The debtor replied, “A hundred barrels[a] of oil.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your bill by half. Just write 50 on this contract.” 7 Then he said to the second debtor, “How much do you owe?” This fellow said, “A hundred bales[b] of wheat.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your debt by 20 percent. Just write down 80 bales on this contract.”
8 When the manager’s boss realized what he had done, he congratulated him for at least being clever. That’s how it is: those attuned to this evil age are more clever in dealing with their affairs than the enlightened are in dealing with their affairs!
9 Learn some lessons from this crooked but clever asset manager. Realize that the purpose of money is to strengthen friendships, to provide opportunities for being generous and kind. Eventually money will be useless to you—but if you use it generously to serve others, you will be welcomed joyfully into your eternal destination.
10 If you’re faithful in small-scale matters, you’ll be faithful with far bigger responsibilities. If you’re crooked in small responsibilities, you’ll be no different in bigger things. 11 If you can’t even handle a small thing like money, who’s going to entrust you with spiritual riches that really matter? 12 If you don’t manage well someone else’s assets that are entrusted to you, who’s going to give over to you important spiritual and personal relationships to manage?
13 Imagine you’re a servant and you have two masters giving you orders. What are you going to do when they have conflicting demands? You can’t serve both, so you’ll either hate the first and love the second, or you’ll faithfully serve the first and despise the second. One master is God and the other is money. You can’t serve them both.
14 The Pharisees overheard all this, and they started mocking Jesus because they really loved money.
Jesus (to the Pharisees): 15 You’ve made your choice. Your ambition is to look good in front of other people, not God. But God sees through to your hearts. He values things differently from you. The goals you and your peers are reaching for God detests.
16 The law and the prophets had their role until the coming of John the Baptist. Since John’s arrival, the good news of the kingdom of God has been taught while people are clamoring to enter it. 17 That’s not to say that God’s rules for living are useless. The stars in the sky and the earth beneath your feet will pass away before one letter of God’s rules for living become worthless.
18 Take God’s rules regarding marriage for example. If a man divorces his wife and marries somebody else, then it’s still adultery because that man has broken his vow to God. And if a man marries a woman divorced from her husband, he’s committing adultery for the same reason.
Psalm 82
A song of Asaph.
Psalm 82 provides an image of a heavenly scene in which God accuses His heavenly messengers of not caring for the poor and pursuing justice.
1 The True God stands to preside over the heavenly council.
He pronounces judgment on the so-called gods.
2 He asks: “How long will you judge dishonestly
and be partial to the wicked?”
[pause][a]
3 “Stand up for the poor and the orphan;
advocate for the rights of the afflicted and those in need.
4 Deliver the poor and the needy;
rescue them from their evil oppressors.”
5 These bullies are ignorant; they have no understanding of My ways.
So as they walk in darkness,
the foundations of the earth tremble.
6 I said, “Though you are gods[b]
and children of the Most High,
7 You will die no differently than any mortal;
you will fall like one of the princes.”
8 Rise up, O True God; judge the rulers of the earth,
for all the nations are Yours.
2 A person eats well when he speaks wisely,
but the treacherous crave violence.
3 Those who guard their speech insure they will take another breath,
but those who talk without thinking guarantee their demise.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.