The Daily Audio Bible
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40 The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev (the South country) in the land of Canaan, heard that the sons of Israel were coming.
41 They moved out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. 42 Then they moved out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. 43 They moved out from Punon and camped at Oboth. 44 They moved out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, on the border of Moab. 45 They moved out from Iyim (Iye-abarim) and camped at Dibon-gad. 46 They moved out from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim. 47 They moved out from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before [Mount] Nebo. 48 They moved out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho [their last stop on the journey to Canaan]. 49 They camped by the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.
Law of Possessing the Land
50 Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, saying, 51 “Say to the children of Israel, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you and destroy all their sculpted images, and destroy all their cast idols and completely eliminate all their [idolatrous] high places, 53 and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess. 54 You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the large tribe you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the small tribe you shall give a smaller inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to any man, that shall be [the location of] his [inheritance]. According to the tribes of your fathers (ancestors) you shall inherit. 55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those you let remain of them will be like pricks in your eyes and like thorns in your sides, and they will attack you in the land in which you live. 56 And as I [the Lord] planned to do to them, so I will do to you.’”
Instruction for Apportioning Canaan
34 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the Israelites, ‘When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall be yours as an inheritance, the land of Canaan according to its boundaries, 3 your southern region shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along the side of Edom, and your southern boundary from the end of the Salt (Dead) Sea eastward. 4 Your boundary shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and continue on to Zin, and its limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it shall go on to Hazar-addar and pass on to Azmon. 5 Then the boundary shall turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt (Wadi el-arish), and its limit shall be at the [Mediterranean] Sea.
6 ‘As the western boundary you shall have the Great [Mediterranean] Sea and its coastline. This shall be your western boundary.
7 ‘And this shall be your north border: from the Great [Mediterranean] Sea mark out your boundary line to [a]Mount Hor; 8 from Mount Hor you shall mark out your boundary to the entrance of Hamath, and the limit of the border shall be at Zedad; 9 then the [northern] boundary shall go on to Ziphron, and its limit shall be at Hazar-enan. This shall be your northern boundary.
10 ‘You shall mark out your eastern boundary from Hazar-enan to Shepham; 11 the [eastern] boundary shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and shall descend and reach to the [b]slope on the east of the Sea of Chinnereth [the Sea of Galilee]; 12 and the [eastern] boundary shall go down to the Jordan [River], and its limit shall be at the Salt (Dead) Sea. This shall be your land according to its boundaries all around.’”
13 So Moses commanded the Israelites, saying, “This is the land you are to inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to be given to the nine tribes and the half-tribe [of Manasseh], 14 for the tribe of the sons of Reuben and the tribe of the sons of Gad have received their inheritance by their fathers’ households, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their possession. 15 The two and a half tribes have received their inheritance across the Jordan [River] opposite Jericho, eastward toward the sunrise.”
16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “These are the names of the men who shall divide the land among you as an inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. 18 You shall take one leader from every tribe to divide the land for the inheritance. 19 These are the names of the men: From the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 20 from the tribe of the sons of Simeon, Samuel the son of Ammihud; 21 from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon; 22 from the tribe of the sons of Dan a leader, Bukki the son of Jogli; 23 of the sons of Joseph: from the tribe of the sons of Manasseh a leader, Hanniel the son of Ephod; 24 from the tribe of the sons of Ephraim a leader, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan; 25 from the tribe of the sons of Zebulun a leader, Elizaphan the son of Parnach; 26 from the tribe of the sons of Issachar a leader, Paltiel the son of Azzan; 27 from the tribe of the sons of Asher a leader, Ahihud the son of Shelomi; 28 from the tribe of the sons of Naphtali a leader, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.” 29 These are the [twelve] men whom the Lord commanded [to work with Joshua and Eleazar] to divide the inheritance to the sons of Israel in the land of Canaan.
Cities for the Levites
35 Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan [across from] Jericho, saying, 2 “Command the Israelites to give to the Levites cities to live in from the inheritance of their possession; and you shall give to the Levites pasture lands around the cities. 3 The cities shall be theirs to live in; and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle and for their herds and for all their livestock.
4 “The pasture lands around the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits (1,500 ft.) around. 5 You shall also measure outside the city on the east, south, west, and north sides two thousand cubits (3,000 ft.), with the city in the center. This shall belong to the Levites as pasture lands for the cities.
Cities of Refuge
6 [Among] the cities which you give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall provide for the one who commits manslaughter to flee to; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities [to the Levites]. 7 So you shall give to the Levites forty-eight cities in all, together with their pasture lands. 8 As for the cities which you shall give from the possession of the Israelites, from the larger tribes you shall take many and from the smaller tribes few; each tribe shall give [at least some] of its cities to the Levites in proportion to [the size of] its inheritance which it possesses.”
9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When you cross the Jordan [River] into the land of Canaan, 11 then you shall select for yourselves cities to be cities of refuge, so that the one who kills any person unintentionally may escape there. 12 The cities shall be to you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the one who has caused the death of another will not be killed until he has had a [fair] trial before the congregation. 13 The cities which you are to provide shall be your six cities of refuge. 14 You shall provide three cities on this [east] side of the Jordan [River], and three [more] cities in the land of Canaan; they are to be the cities of refuge. 15 These six cities shall be a refuge for the Israelites and for the stranger and the resident alien among them; so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may escape there.
16 ‘But if he struck [c]his victim down [intentionally] with an iron object so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall certainly be put to death. 17 If he struck his victim down [intentionally] with a stone in hand, which may cause a person to die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall certainly be put to death. 18 Or if he struck his victim down [intentionally] with a wooden object in hand, which may cause a person to die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall certainly be put to death. 19 The blood avenger shall himself put the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him. 20 But if he pushed his victim out of hatred or threw something at him with malicious intent, and he died, 21 or if, in enmity, he struck the victim down with his hand, and he died, the one that struck the victim shall certainly be put to death; he is a murderer. The blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
22 ‘But if he pushed the victim suddenly, not in enmity, or threw anything at him without malicious intent, 23 or without seeing him hit him [accidentally] with a stone object that could kill him, and he died, and [the offender] was not his enemy nor intending to harm him, 24 then the congregation shall judge between the offender and the blood avenger according to these ordinances. 25 The congregation shall rescue the offender from the hand of the blood avenger and return him to his city of refuge, [the place] to which he had escaped; and he shall live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the sacred oil. 26 But if at any time the one guilty of manslaughter comes outside the border of his city of refuge to which he fled, 27 and the blood avenger finds him outside the border of his city of refuge and kills the offender, the blood avenger will not be guilty of murder, 28 because the offender should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the high priest’s death the offender shall return to the land of his possession.
29 ‘These things shall be a statute for you throughout your generations wherever you may be.
30 ‘If anyone kills a person [intentionally], the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of [two or more] witnesses; but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of [only] one witness. 31 Moreover, you shall not accept a ransom [in exchange] for the life of a murderer guilty and sentenced to death; but he shall certainly be put to death. 32 You shall not accept a ransom for him who has escaped to his city of refuge, so that he may return to live in his [own] land before the death of the high priest. 33 So you shall not pollute and defile the land in which you live; for [the shedding of innocent] blood pollutes and defiles the land. No atonement (expiation) can be made for the land for the [innocent] blood shed in it, except by the blood (execution) of him who shed it. 34 You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I live, for I, the Lord, live among the people of Israel.’”
The Leper and the Paralytic
12 While Jesus was in one of the cities, there came a man covered with [an advanced case of] leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean and well.”(A) 13 And Jesus reached out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 Jesus ordered him to tell no one [that he might happen to meet], “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your purification, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony (witness) to them [that this is a work of Messiah].”(B) 15 But the news about Him was spreading farther, and large crowds kept gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their illnesses. 16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray [in seclusion].
17 One day as He was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the Law sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present with Him to heal. 18 Some men came carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed, and they tried to bring him in and lay him down in front of Jesus.(C) 19 But finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the [a]roof [and removed some tiles to make an opening] and lowered him through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. 20 When Jesus saw their [active] faith [springing from confidence in Him], He said, “Man, your sins are forgiven.” 21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to consider and question [the implications of what He had said], saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies [by claiming the rights and prerogatives of God]? Who can forgive sins [that is, remove guilt, nullify sin’s penalty, and assign righteousness] except God alone?” 22 But Jesus, knowing their [hostile] thoughts, answered them, “Why are you questioning [these things] in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But, in order that you may know that the Son of Man (the Messiah) has authority and power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralyzed man, “I say to you, get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.” 25 He immediately stood up before them, picked up his stretcher, and went home glorifying and praising God. 26 They were all astonished, and they began glorifying God; and they were filled with [reverential] fear and kept saying, “We have seen wonderful and incredible things today!”
Call of Levi (Matthew)
27 After this Jesus went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi (Matthew) sitting at the tax booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk].”(D) 28 And he left everything behind and got up and began to follow Jesus [as His disciple].
God’s Abundant Favor to Earth and Man.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song.
65 To You belongs silence [the submissive wonder of reverence], and [it bursts into] praise in Zion, O God;
And to You the vow shall be performed.
2
O You who hear prayer,
To You all mankind comes.
3
Wickedness and guilt prevail against me;
Yet as for our transgressions,
You forgive them [removing them from Your sight].
4
Blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near
To dwell in Your courts.
We will be filled with the goodness of Your house,
Your holy temple.
5
By awesome and wondrous things You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation,
You who are the trust and hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea;
6
Who creates the mountains by His strength,
Being clothed with power,
7
Who stills the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the tumult of the peoples,
8
So they who dwell at the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs [the evidence of Your presence].(A)
You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.
9
You visit the earth and make it overflow [with water];
You greatly enrich it;
The stream of God is full of water;
You provide their grain, when You have prepared the earth.
10
You water its furrows abundantly,
You smooth its ridges;
You soften it with showers,
You bless its growth.
11
You crown the year with Your bounty,
And Your paths overflow.
12
The pastures of the wilderness drip [with dew],
And the hills are encircled with joy.
13
The meadows are clothed with flocks
And the valleys are covered with grain;
They shout for joy and they sing.
23
The desire of the righteous brings only good,
But the expectation of the wicked brings wrath.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.