The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the CSB. Switch to the CSB to read along with the audio.
Joshua Speaks to the People at Shechem
24 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel together at Shechem. He called the elders, the leaders, the judges, and the officers of Israel, and they came into the presence of God. 2 (A)Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has to say: ‘Long ago your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. One of those ancestors was Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor. 3 (B)Then I took Abraham, your ancestor, from the land across the Euphrates and led him through the whole land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4 (C)and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Edom as his possession, but your ancestor Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5 (D)Later I sent Moses and Aaron, and I brought great trouble on Egypt. But I led you out; 6 (E)I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and cavalry. But when your ancestors got to the Red Sea 7 they cried out to me for help, and I put darkness between them and the Egyptians. I made the sea come rolling over the Egyptians and drown them. You know what I did to Egypt.
“‘You lived in the desert a long time. 8 (F)Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the east side of the Jordan. They fought you, but I gave you victory over them. You took their land, and I destroyed them as you advanced. 9 (G)Then the king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, fought against you. He sent word to Balaam son of Beor and asked him to put a curse on you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you, and in this way I rescued you from Balak. 11 (H)You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought you, as did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I gave you victory over them all. 12 (I)As you advanced, I threw them into panic in order to drive out the two Amorite kings. Your swords and bows had nothing to do with it. 13 (J)I gave you a land that you had never worked and cities that you had not built. Now you are living there and eating grapes from vines that you did not plant, and olives from trees that you did not plant.’
14 “Now then,” Joshua continued, “honor the Lord and serve him sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the gods which your ancestors used to worship in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only the Lord. 15 If you are not willing to serve him, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for my family and me, we will serve the Lord.”
16 The people replied, “We would never leave the Lord to serve other gods! 17 The Lord our God brought our fathers and us out of slavery in Egypt, and we saw the miracles that he performed. He kept us safe wherever we went among all the nations through which we passed. 18 As we advanced into this land, the Lord drove out all the Amorites who lived here. So we also will serve the Lord; he is our God.”
19 Joshua said to the people, “But you may not be able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God and will not forgive your sins. He will tolerate no rivals, 20 and if you leave him to serve foreign gods, he will turn against you and punish you. He will destroy you, even though he was good to you before.”
21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”
22 Joshua told them, “You are your own witnesses to the fact that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”
“Yes,” they said, “we are witnesses.”
23 “Then get rid of those foreign gods that you have,” he demanded, “and pledge your loyalty to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
24 The people then said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God. We will obey his commands.”
25 So Joshua made a covenant for[a] the people that day, and there at Shechem he gave them laws and rules to follow. 26 Joshua wrote these commands in the book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up under the oak tree in the Lord's sanctuary. 27 He said to all the people, “This stone will be our witness. It has heard all the words that the Lord has spoken to us. So it will be a witness against you, to keep you from rebelling against your God.” 28 Then Joshua sent the people away, and everyone returned to their own part of the land.
Joshua and Eleazar Die
29 After that, the Lord's servant Joshua son of Nun died at the age of a hundred and ten. 30 (K)They buried him on his own land at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.
31 As long as Joshua lived, the people of Israel served the Lord, and after his death they continued to do so as long as those leaders were alive who had seen for themselves everything that the Lord had done for Israel.
32 (L)The body of Joseph, which the people of Israel had brought from Egypt, was buried at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver. This land was inherited by Joseph's descendants.
33 Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, the town in the hill country of Ephraim which had been given to his son Phinehas.
The Widow's Offering(A)
21 Jesus looked around and saw rich people dropping their gifts in the Temple treasury, 2 and he also saw a very poor widow dropping in two little copper coins. 3 He said, “I tell you that this poor widow put in more than all the others. 4 For the others offered their gifts from what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, gave all she had to live on.”
Jesus Speaks of the Destruction of the Temple(B)
5 Some of the disciples were talking about the Temple, how beautiful it looked with its fine stones and the gifts offered to God. Jesus said, 6 “All this you see—the time will come when not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one will be thrown down.”
Troubles and Persecutions(C)
7 (D)“Teacher,” they asked, “when will this be? And what will happen in order to show that the time has come for it to take place?”
8 Jesus said, “Watch out; don't be fooled. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time has come!’ But don't follow them. 9 Don't be afraid when you hear of wars and revolutions; such things must happen first, but they do not mean that the end is near.”
10 He went on to say, “Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. 11 There will be terrible earthquakes, famines, and plagues everywhere; there will be strange and terrifying things coming from the sky. 12 Before all these things take place, however, you will be arrested and persecuted; you will be handed over to be tried in synagogues and be put in prison; you will be brought before kings and rulers for my sake. 13 This will be your chance to tell the Good News. 14 (E)Make up your minds ahead of time not to worry about how you will defend yourselves, 15 because I will give you such words and wisdom that none of your enemies will be able to refute or contradict what you say. 16 You will be handed over by your parents, your brothers, your relatives, and your friends; and some of you will be put to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a single hair from your heads will be lost. 19 Stand firm, and you will save yourselves.
Jesus Speaks of the Destruction of Jerusalem(F)
20 “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that it will soon be destroyed. 21 Then those who are in Judea must run away to the hills; those who are in the city must leave, and those who are out in the country must not go into the city. 22 (G)For those will be ‘The Days of Punishment,’ to make come true all that the Scriptures say. 23 How terrible it will be in those days for women who are pregnant and for mothers with little babies! Terrible distress will come upon this land, and God's punishment will fall on this people. 24 Some will be killed by the sword, and others will be taken as prisoners to all countries; and the heathen will trample over Jerusalem until their time is up.
The Coming of the Son of Man(H)
25 (I)“There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the roar of the sea and the raging tides. 26 People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. 27 (J)Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory. 28 When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near.”
Lament over the Defeat of the King
38 But you are angry with your chosen king;
you have deserted and rejected him.
39 You have broken your covenant with your servant
and thrown his crown in the dirt.
40 You have torn down the walls of his city
and left his forts in ruins.
41 All who pass by steal his belongings;
all his neighbors laugh at him.
42 You have given the victory to his enemies;
you have made them all happy.
43 You have made his weapons useless
and let him be defeated in battle.
44 You have taken away his royal scepter[a]
and knocked his throne to the ground.
45 You have made him old before his time
and covered him with disgrace.
A Prayer for Deliverance
46 Lord, will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your anger burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my life is;
remember that you created all of us mortal!
48 Who can live and never die?
How can we humans keep ourselves from the grave?
49 Lord, where are the former proofs of your love?
Where are the promises you made to David?
50 Don't forget how I, your servant, am insulted,
how I endure all the curses[b] of the heathen.
51 Your enemies insult your chosen king, O Lord!
They insult him wherever he goes.
52 Praise the Lord forever!
Amen! Amen!
20 (A)Keep company with the wise and you will become wise. If you make friends with stupid people, you will be ruined.
21 Trouble follows sinners everywhere, but righteous people will be rewarded with good things.
22 Good people will have wealth to leave to their grandchildren, but the wealth of sinners will go to the righteous.
23 Unused fields could yield plenty of food for the poor, but unjust people keep them from being farmed.[a]
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.