The Daily Audio Bible

Gog’s Armies Destroyed

39 And you, mortal, prophesy against Gog and say: Thus says the Lord God: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal!^{(A) 2} I will turn you around and drive you forward and bring you up from the remotest parts of the north and lead you against the mountains of Israel. ³ I will strike your bow from your left hand and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand.^{(B) 4} You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every kind and to the wild animals to be devoured.^{(C) 5} You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, says the Lord God. ⁶ I will send fire on Magog and on those who live securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Lord.^(D)

⁷ My holy name I will make known among my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned any more, and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.^{(E) 8} It has come! It has happened, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken.

⁹ Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and make fires of the weapons and burn them—bucklers and shields, bows and arrows, clubs and spears—and they will make fires of them for seven years.^{(F) 10} They will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any trees in the forests, for they will make their fires of the weapons; they will despoil those who despoiled them and plunder those who plundered them, says the Lord God.^(G)

The Burial of Gog

¹¹ On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers^[a] east of the sea; it shall block the path of the travelers, for there Gog and all his horde will be buried; it shall be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.^{[b](H) 12} Seven months the house of Israel shall spend burying them, in order to cleanse the land. ¹³ All the people of the land shall bury them, and it will bring them honor on the day that I show my glory, says the Lord God.^{(I) 14} They will set apart men to pass through the land regularly and bury any invaders^[c] who remain on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it; for seven months they shall make their search.^{(J) 15} As the searchers^[d] pass through the land, anyone who sees a human bone shall set up a sign by it until the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog.^{[e] 16} (A city Hamonah^[f] is there also.) Thus they shall cleanse the land.

¹⁷ As for you, mortal, thus says the Lord God: Speak to the birds of every kind and to all the wild animals: Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood.^{(K) 18} You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatted calves of Bashan.^{(L) 19} You shall eat fat until you are filled and drink blood until you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. ²⁰ And you shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with warriors and all kinds of soldiers, says the Lord God.^(M)

Israel Restored to the Land

²¹ I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed and my hand that I have laid on them.^{(N) 22} The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. ²³ And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt treacherously with me. So I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword.^{(O) 24} I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions and hid my face from them.^(P)

²⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name.^{(Q) 26} They shall bear their shame, and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to make them afraid,^{(R) 27} when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands and through them have displayed my holiness in the sight of many nations.^{(S) 28} Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations and then gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them behind,^{(T) 29} and I will never again hide my face from them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.^(U)

The Vision of the New Temple

40 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me there.^{(V) 2} He brought me, in visions of God, to the land of Israel and set me down upon a very high mountain on which was a structure like a city to the south.^{(W) 3} When he brought me there, a man was there whose appearance shone like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand, and he was standing in the gateway.^{(X) 4} The man said to me, “Mortal, look closely and listen attentively, and set your mind on all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you; declare all that you see to the house of Israel.”^(Y)

⁵ Now there was a wall all around the outside of the temple area. The length of the measuring reed in the man’s hand was six long cubits, each being a cubit and a handbreadth in length, so he measured the thickness of the wall, one reed, and the height, one reed. ⁶ Then he went into the gateway facing east, going up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed deep.^[g] There were^{(Z) 7} recesses, and each recess was one reed wide and one reed deep, and the space between the recesses, five cubits, and the threshold of the gate by the vestibule of the gate at the inner end was one reed deep.^{(AA) 8} Then he measured the inner vestibule of the gateway, one reed. ⁹ Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, eight cubits, and its posts, two cubits, and the vestibule of the gate was at the inner end. ¹⁰ There were three recesses on either side of the east gate; the three were of the same size, and the posts on either side were of the same size.^{(AB) 11} Then he measured the width of the opening of the gateway, ten cubits, and the width of the gateway, thirteen cubits. ¹² There was a barrier before the recesses, one cubit on either side, and each recess was six cubits square. ¹³ Then he measured the gate from the back^[h] of the one recess to the back^[i] of the other, a width of twenty-five cubits from wall to wall.^{[j] 14} He measured^[k] the vestibule (sixty cubits) and the gate next to the post on every side of the court.^{[l](AC) 15} From the front of the gate at the entrance to the end of the inner vestibule of the gate was fifty cubits. ¹⁶ The recesses and their posts had windows, with shutters^[m] on the inside of the gateway all around, and the vestibules also had windows on the inside all around, and on the posts were palm trees.^(AD)

¹⁷ Then he brought me into the outer court; there were chambers there and a pavement all around the court; thirty chambers fronted on the pavement.^{(AE) 18} The pavement ran along the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates; this was the lower pavement. ¹⁹ Then he measured the distance from the inner front of^[n] the lower gate to the outer front of the inner court, one hundred cubits.^[o](AF)

²⁰ Then he measured the gate of the outer court that faced north—its depth and width. ²¹ Its recesses, three on either side, and its posts and its vestibule were of the same size as those of the first gate; its depth was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits.^{(AG) 22} Its windows, its vestibule, and its palm trees were of the same size as those of the gate that faced toward the east. Seven steps led up to it, and its vestibule was on the inside.^{[p](AH) 23} Opposite the gate on the north, as on the east, was a gate to the inner court; he measured from gate to gate, one hundred cubits.^(AI)

²⁴ Then he led me toward the south, and there was a gate on the south, and he measured its posts and its vestibule; they had the same dimensions as the others.^{(AJ) 25} There were windows all around in it and in its vestibule, like the windows of the others; its depth was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits.^{(AK) 26} There were seven steps leading up to it; its vestibule was on the inside.^[q] It had palm trees on its posts, one on either side.^{(AL) 27} There was a gate on the south of the inner court, and he measured from gate to gate toward the south, one hundred cubits.^(AM)

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith.^{(A) 19} You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.^{(B) 20} Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is worthless?^{[a] 21} Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?^{(C) 22} You see that faith was active along with his works, and by works faith was brought to completion.^{(D) 23} Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”^[b] and he was called the friend of God.^{(E) 24} You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers^[c] and sent them out by another road?^{(F) 26} For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.

Taming the Tongue

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will face stricter judgment.^{(G) 2} For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is mature,^[d] able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.^{(H) 3} If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. ⁴ Or look at ships: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a such a small fire!^{(I) 6} And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of life, and is itself set on fire by hell.^{[e](J) 7} For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, ⁸ but no one can tame the tongue—a restless^[f] evil, full of deadly poison.^{(K) 9} With it we bless the Lord^[g] and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God.^{(L) 10} From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

¹³ Who is wise and knowledgeable among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.^{(M) 14} But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant and lie about the truth. ¹⁵ This is not wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.^{(N) 16} For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.^{(O) 17} But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.^{(P) 18} And the fruit of righteousness^[h] is sown in peace by those who make peace.^(Q)

Psalm 118

A Song of Victory