The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the ESV. Switch to the ESV to read along with the audio.
The Lord Will Judge Moab
15 This is an oracle[a] about Moab:
Indeed, in a night it is devastated,
Ar of Moab is destroyed!
Indeed, in a night it is devastated,
Kir of Moab is destroyed!
2 They went up to the temple;[b]
the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament.[c]
Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba,[d] Moab wails.
Every head is shaved bare,
every beard is trimmed off.[e]
3 In their streets they wear sackcloth;
on their roofs and in their town squares
all of them wail;
they fall down weeping.
4 The people of[f] Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.
For this reason Moab’s soldiers shout in distress;
their courage wavers.[g]
5 My heart cries out because of Moab’s plight,[h]
and for the fugitives[i] stretched out[j] as far as Zoar and Eglath Shelishiyah.
For they weep as they make their way up the ascent of Luhith;
they loudly lament their demise on the road to Horonaim.[k]
6 For the waters of Nimrim are gone;[l]
the grass is dried up,
the vegetation has disappeared,
and there are no plants.
7 For this reason what they have made and stored up,
they carry over the Stream of the Poplars.
8 Indeed, the cries of distress echo throughout Moabite territory;
their wailing can be heard in Eglaim and Beer Elim.[m]
9 Indeed, the waters of Dimon[n] are full of blood!
Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon.[o]
A lion will attack[p] the Moabite fugitives
and the people left in the land.
16 Send rams as tribute to the ruler of the land,[q]
from Sela in the wilderness[r]
to the hill of Daughter Zion.
2 At the fords of the Arnon[s]
the Moabite women are like a bird
that flies about when forced from its nest.[t]
3 “Bring a plan, make a decision.[u]
Provide some shade in the middle of the day.[v]
Hide the fugitives! Do not betray[w] the one who tries to escape.
4 Please let the Moabite fugitives live[x] among you.
Hide them[y] from the destroyer!”
Certainly[z] the one who applies pressure will cease;[aa]
the destroyer will come to an end;
those who trample will disappear[ab] from the earth.
5 Then a trustworthy king will be established;
he will rule in a reliable manner,
this one from David’s family.[ac]
He will be sure to make just decisions
and will be experienced in executing justice.[ad]
6 We have heard about Moab’s pride—
their great arrogance—
their boasting, pride, and excess.[ae]
But their boastful claims are empty.[af]
7 So Moab wails over its demise[ag]—
they all wail!
Completely devastated, they moan
about what has happened to the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.[ah]
8 For the fields of Heshbon are dried up,
as well as the vines of Sibmah.
The rulers of the nations trample all over its vines,
which reach Jazer and spread to the wilderness;
their shoots spread out and cross the sea.
9 So I weep along with Jazer[ai]
over the vines of Sibmah.
I will saturate you[aj] with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh,
for the conquering invaders shout triumphantly
over your fruit and crops.[ak]
10 Joy and happiness disappear from the orchards,
and in the vineyards no one rejoices or shouts;
no one treads out juice in the wine vats[al]—
I have brought the joyful shouts to an end.[am]
11 So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp,[an]
my inner being sighs[ao] for Kir Hareseth.[ap]
12 When the Moabites plead with all their might at their high places,[aq]
and enter their temples to pray, their prayers will be ineffective.[ar]
13 This is the message the Lord previously announced about Moab. 14 Now the Lord makes this announcement: “Within exactly three years[as] Moab’s splendor will disappear, along with all her many people; there will be only a few insignificant survivors left.”[at]
The Lord Will Judge Damascus
17 This is an oracle[au] about Damascus:
“Look, Damascus is no longer a city,
it is a heap of ruins!
2 The cities of Aroer are abandoned.[av]
They will be used for herds,
which will lie down there in peace.[aw]
3 Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim,
and Damascus will lose its kingdom.[ax]
The survivors in Syria
will end up like the splendor of the Israelites,”
says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
4 “At that time[ay]
Jacob’s splendor will be greatly diminished,[az]
and he will become skin and bones.[ba]
5 It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest,
and his hand gleans the ear of grain.
It will be like one gathering the ears of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 There will be some left behind,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top,
four or five on its fruitful branches,”
says the Lord God of Israel.
7 At that time[bb] men will trust in their Creator;[bc]
they will depend on[bd] the Holy One of Israel.[be]
8 They will no longer trust in[bf] the altars their hands made,
or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made.[bg]
9 At that time[bh] their fortified cities will be
like the abandoned summits of the Amorites,[bi]
which they abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.
10 For you ignore[bj] the God who rescues you;
you pay no attention to your strong protector.[bk]
So this is what happens:
You cultivate beautiful plants
and plant exotic vines.[bl]
11 The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow;[bm]
the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout.
Yet the harvest will disappear[bn] in the day of disease
and incurable pain.
12 Beware, you many nations massing together,[bo]
those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves.[bp]
Beware, you people making such an uproar,[bq]
those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves.[br]
13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves,[bs]
when he shouts at[bt] them, they will flee to a distant land,
driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,
or like dead thistles[bu] before a strong gale.
14 In the evening there is sudden terror;[bv]
by morning they vanish.[bw]
This is the fate of those who try to plunder us,
the destiny of those who try to loot us![bx]
The Lord Will Judge a Distant Land in the South
18 Beware, land of buzzing wings,[by]
the one beyond the rivers of Cush,
2 that sends messengers by sea,
who glide over the water’s surface in boats made of papyrus.
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people,[bz]
to a people that are feared far and wide,[ca]
to a nation strong and victorious,[cb]
whose land rivers divide.[cc]
3 All you who live in the world,
who reside on the earth,
you will see a signal flag raised on the mountains;
you will hear a trumpet being blown.
4 For this is what the Lord has told me:
“I will wait[cd] and watch from my place,
like scorching heat produced by the sunlight,[ce]
like a cloud of mist[cf] in the heat[cg] of harvest.”[ch]
5 For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted,
and the ripening fruit appears,[ci]
he will cut off the unproductive shoots[cj] with pruning knives;
he will prune the tendrils.[ck]
6 They will all be left[cl] for the birds of the hills
and the wild animals;[cm]
the birds will eat them during the summer,
and all the wild animals will eat them during the winter.
7 At that time
tribute will be brought to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned,
a people that are feared far and wide,
a nation strong and victorious,
whose land rivers divide.[cn]
The tribute[co] will be brought to the place where the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion.[cp]
Salutation
1 From Paul,[a] an apostle (not from men, nor by human agency, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead) 2 and all the brothers with me, to the churches of Galatia. 3 Grace and peace to you[b] from God the Father and our[c] Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever! Amen.
Occasion of the Letter
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one[d] who called you by the grace of Christ[e] and are following[f] a different[g] gospel— 7 not that there really is another gospel,[h] but[i] there are some who are disturbing you and wanting[j] to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach[k] a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you,[l] let him be condemned to hell![m] 9 As we have said before, and now I say again, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be condemned to hell![n] 10 Am I now trying to gain the approval of people,[o] or of God? Or am I trying to please people?[p] If I were still trying to please[q] people,[r] I would not be a slave[s] of Christ!
Paul’s Vindication of His Apostleship
11 Now[t] I want you to know, brothers and sisters,[u] that the gospel I preached is not of human origin.[v] 12 For I did not receive it or learn it from any human source;[w] instead I received it[x] by a revelation of Jesus Christ.[y]
13 For you have heard of my former way of life[z] in Judaism, how I was savagely persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it. 14 I[aa] was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my nation,[ab] and was[ac] extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.[ad] 15 But when the one[ae] who set me apart from birth[af] and called me by his grace was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in[ag] me so that I could preach him[ah] among the Gentiles, I did not go to ask advice from[ai] any human being,[aj] 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me, but right away I departed to Arabia,[ak] and then returned to Damascus.
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas[al] and get information from him,[am] and I stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles[an] except James the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you[ao] that, before God, I am not lying about what I am writing to you![ap] 21 Afterward I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 But I was personally[aq] unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They were only hearing, “The one who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the good news[ar] of the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 So[as] they glorified God because of me.[at]
Psalm 58[a]
For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style;[b] a prayer[c] of David.
58 Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions?[d]
Do you judge people[e] fairly?
2 No![f] You plan how to do what is unjust;[g]
you deal out violence in the earth.[h]
3 The wicked turn aside from birth;[i]
liars go astray as soon as they are born.[j]
4 Their venom is like that of a snake,[k]
like a deaf serpent[l] that does not hear,[m]
5 that does not respond to[n] the magicians,
or to a skilled snake charmer.
6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths!
Smash the jawbones of the lions, O Lord.
7 Let them disappear[o] like water that flows away.[p]
Let them wither like grass.[q]
8 Let them be[r] like a snail that melts away as it moves along.[s]
Let them be like[t] stillborn babies[u] that never see the sun.
9 Before the kindling is even placed under your pots,[v]
he[w] will sweep it away along with both the raw and cooked meat.[x]
10 The godly[y] will rejoice when they see vengeance carried out;
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Then[z] observers[aa] will say,
“Yes indeed, the godly are rewarded.[ab]
Yes indeed, there is a God who judges[ac] in the earth.”
12 Apply[a] your heart to instruction
and your ears to the words of knowledge.
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.