The Daily Audio Bible
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16 So Joshua got up early in the morning and brought forward Israel by their tribes. The tribe of Judah was selected. 17 He brought forward the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was selected. He brought forward the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zimri was selected. 18 He brought forward the household of Zimri man by man, and Achan son of Karmi, son of Zimri, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was selected.
19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “O my son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give Him praise! Tell me what you have done! Do not hold back anything from me.”
20 Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed, I sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I did: 21 When I saw among the plundered goods a beautiful robe from Babylon, two hundred shekels of silver,[a] and a gold bar weighing fifty shekels,[b] I coveted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground in my tent. The silver is underneath them.”
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. There it all was hidden in the ground with the silver underneath. 23 They took it from the tent and brought it to Joshua and all the children of Israel. They spread it out before the Lord.
24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all he had, and brought them up to the Valley of Achor. 25 Then Joshua said, “Why have you brought trouble on us? The Lord will trouble you today!”
So all Israel stoned him. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. 26 Then they erected over him a large pile of stones, which is still there today. So the Lord turned from His burning anger. Therefore the name of the place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.
Ai Destroyed
8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you. Arise, and go up to Ai. See, I have given the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land into your hand. 2 Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, except you may plunder its spoils and its livestock. Now set an ambush for the city behind it.”
3 So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, mighty men of valor, and sent them out at night. 4 He commanded them, “You shall ambush the city from behind. Do not go very far from the city. All of you be ready. 5 I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to engage us as before, we will flee from them. 6 They will come after us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will think, ‘They are fleeing from us as before!’ So we will flee from them. 7 Then you shall rise up for the ambush and take possession of the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hands. 8 When you have seized the city, set it on fire. Act according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you.”
9 So Joshua sent them out. They went to the place of ambush and took up a position between Bethel and Ai, westward of Ai, and Joshua spent the night among the people.
10 Joshua got up early in the morning and mustered the people. He and the elders of Israel went up before the people to Ai. 11 All the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near to the city. They camped north of Ai, and there was a valley between them and Ai. 12 He took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, westward of the city. 13 So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley.
14 When the king of Ai saw this, the men of the city hurriedly got up early and went out to engage Israel in battle at the assembly point near the Arabah. Yet he did not know that there was an ambush for him behind the city. 15 So Joshua and all Israel allowed themselves to be beaten before them, and they fled in the direction of the wilderness. 16 All the people who were in Ai were assembled to pursue them, so they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. 17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city wide open, and they pursued Israel.
18 The Lord said to Joshua, “Point toward Ai with the sword that is in your hand, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua pointed toward the city with the sword in his hand. 19 When his hand pointed, the men in ambush got up quickly from their place and ran. They came into the city, captured it, and quickly set the city on fire.
20 The men of Ai turned around and looked, and there from the city came smoke rising to the sky! They could not flee in any direction, and the people who had fled into the wilderness had turned back toward their pursuers. 21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city and that smoke rose from it, they turned and struck down the men of Ai. 22 Then the men in the city came out to engage them in battle, so they were now in the middle, with Israel on each side. Israel struck them down until neither survivors nor escapees were left. 23 They took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 When Israel completed killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they had pursued them, and when all of them had finally fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. 25 All who had fallen that day, men and women, numbered twelve thousand, all the people of Ai. 26 Joshua did not draw back his hand with the stretched-out sword until he destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Israel plundered only the livestock and the spoil of that city for themselves, according to the word of the Lord that He had commanded Joshua.
28 Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. 29 The king of Ai hanged on a tree until evening. At sunset, Joshua commanded that the people take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the city gate. They erected a large heap of stones over it that remains to this day.
The Covenant Renewal at Mount Ebal
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal, 31 as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel. As is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, it was “an altar of uncut stones not shaped by iron tools.” They sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord on it, as well as peace offerings. 32 There in the presence of the children of Israel he wrote a copy of the Law of Moses on the stones. 33 All Israel, resident alien and native alike, with its elders, officials, and judges, were standing on either side of the ark in front of the Levite priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded from the beginning, in order to bless the people of Israel.
34 After this, Joshua read out all the words of the law, both blessing and curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word from all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read out before the whole assembly of Israel, with the women, the children, and the resident aliens who were among them.
The Gibeonite Deception
9 When all the kings west of the Jordan in the hill country, in the low country, and along all the coast of the Mediterranean Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite kings—heard this, 2 they gathered together as one to wage war against Joshua and Israel.
The Parable of the Dishonest Steward
16 He told His disciples: “There was a rich man who had a steward who was accused to the man of wasting his resources. 2 So he called him and said, ‘How is it that I hear this about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you may no longer be steward.’
3 “Then the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, for my master is taking away the stewardship from me? I cannot dig. I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what to do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, others may receive me into their houses.’
5 “So he called each of his master’s debtors, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 “He said, ‘Eight hundred gallons[a] of oil.’
“He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write four hundred.’
7 “Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“He said, ‘One thousand bushels[b] of wheat.’
“He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eight hundred.’
8 “The master commended the dishonest steward, because he had acted prudently. For the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light. 9 I say to you, make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when you fall short, they may receive you into eternal dwellings.
10 “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much. And he who is dishonest in the least is dishonest also in much. 11 So if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who will give you that which is your own?
13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
The Law and the Kingdom of God(A)
14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things and derided Him. 15 He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed before men is an abomination before God.
16 “The Law and the Prophets were preached until John. Since then the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. 17 It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of the law to fail.
18 “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced by her husband commits adultery.
Psalm 82
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 God stands among the divine council;
He renders judgment among the gods.
2 “How long will you all judge unjustly
and accept partiality of the wicked? Selah
3 Defend the poor and fatherless;
vindicate the afflicted and needy.
4 Grant escape to the abused and the destitute,
pluck them out of the hand of the false.
5 “They have neither knowledge nor understanding;
they walk in darkness:
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.”
6 I have said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you,
7 but you all shall die like men,
and fall like a man, O princes.”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth,
for You shall inherit all nations.
2 A man will eat well by the fruit of his mouth,
but the soul of the transgressor will eat violence.
3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life,
but he who opens wide his lips will have destruction.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.