The Daily Audio Bible
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The Tower of Babylon
11 At first, the people of the whole world had only one language and used the same words. 2 As they wandered about in the East, they came to a plain in Babylonia and settled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come on! Let's make bricks and bake them hard.” So they had bricks to build with and tar to hold them together. 4 They said, “Now let's build a city with a tower that reaches the sky, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth.”
5 Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which they had built, 6 and he said, “Now then, these are all one people and they speak one language; this is just the beginning of what they are going to do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want! 7 Let us go down and mix up their language so that they will not understand each other.” 8 So the Lord scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 The city was called Babylon,[a] because there the Lord mixed up the language of all the people, and from there he scattered them all over the earth.
The Descendants of Shem(A)
10 These are the descendants of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he had a son, Arpachshad. 11 After that, he lived another 500 years and had other children.
12 When Arpachshad was 35 years old, he had a son, Shelah; 13 after that, he lived another 403 years and had other children.
14 When Shelah was 30 years old, he had a son, Eber; 15 after that, he lived another 403 years and had other children.
16 When Eber was 34 years old, he had a son, Peleg; 17 after that, he lived another 430 years and had other children.
18 When Peleg was 30 years old, he had a son, Reu; 19 after that, he lived another 209 years and had other children.
20 When Reu was 32 years old, he had a son, Serug; 21 after that, he lived another 207 years and had other children.
22 When Serug was 30 years old, he had a son, Nahor; 23 after that, he lived another 200 years and had other children.
24 When Nahor was 29 years old, he had a son, Terah; 25 after that, he lived another 119 years and had other children.
26 After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The Descendants of Terah
27 These are the descendants of Terah, who was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot, 28 and Haran died in his hometown of Ur in Babylonia, while his father was still living. 29 Abram married Sarai, and Nahor married Milcah, the daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah. 30 Sarai was not able to have children.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, who was the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, Abram's wife, and with them he left the city of Ur in Babylonia to go to the land of Canaan. They went as far as Haran and settled there. 32 Terah died there at the age of 205.
God's Call to Abram
12 (B)The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's home, and go to a land that I am going to show you. 2 I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing.
3 (C)I will bless those who bless you,
But I will curse those who curse you.
And through you I will bless all the nations.”[b]
4 When Abram was seventy-five years old, he started out from Haran, as the Lord had told him to do; and Lot went with him. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the wealth and all the slaves they had acquired in Haran, and they started out for the land of Canaan.
When they arrived in Canaan, 6 Abram traveled through the land until he came to the sacred tree of Moreh, the holy place at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were still living in the land.) 7 (D)The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “This is the country that I am going to give to your descendants.” Then Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 After that, he moved on south to the hill country east of the city of Bethel and set up his camp between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There also he built an altar and worshiped the Lord. 9 Then he moved on from place to place, going toward the southern part of Canaan.
Abram in Egypt
10 But there was a famine in Canaan, and it was so bad that Abram went farther south to Egypt, to live there for a while. 11 When he was about to cross the border into Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “You are a beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will assume that you are my wife, and so they will kill me and let you live. 13 (E)Tell them that you are my sister; then because of you they will let me live and treat me well.” 14 When he crossed the border into Egypt, the Egyptians did see that his wife was beautiful. 15 Some of the court officials saw her and told the king how beautiful she was; so she was taken to his palace. 16 Because of her the king treated Abram well and gave him flocks of sheep and goats, cattle, donkeys, slaves, and camels.
17 But because the king had taken Sarai, the Lord sent terrible diseases on him and on the people of his palace. 18 Then the king sent for Abram and asked him, “What have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say that she was your sister, and let me take her as my wife? Here is your wife; take her and get out!” 20 The king gave orders to his men, so they took Abram and put him out of the country, together with his wife and everything he owned.
Abram and Lot Separate
13 Abram went north out of Egypt to the southern part of Canaan with his wife and everything he owned, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram was a very rich man, with sheep, goats, and cattle, as well as silver and gold. 3 Then he left there and moved from place to place, going toward Bethel. He reached the place between Bethel and Ai where he had camped before 4 and had built an altar. There he worshiped the Lord.
The Sermon on the Mount
5 Jesus saw the crowds and went up a hill, where he sat down. His disciples gathered around him, 2 and he began to teach them:
True Happiness(A)
3 “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor;
the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!
4 (B)“Happy are those who mourn;
God will comfort them!
5 (C)“Happy are those who are humble;
they will receive what God has promised!
6 (D)“Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires;
God will satisfy them fully!
7 “Happy are those who are merciful to others;
God will be merciful to them!
8 (E)“Happy are the pure in heart;
they will see God!
9 “Happy are those who work for peace;
God will call them his children!
10 (F)“Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires;
the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!
11 (G)“Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. 12 (H)Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted.
Salt and Light(I)
13 (J)“You are like salt for the whole human race. But if salt loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again. It has become worthless, so it is thrown out and people trample on it.
14 (K)“You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 (L)No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. 16 (M)In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.
Teaching about the Law
17 “Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true. 18 (N)Remember that as long as heaven and earth last, not the least point nor the smallest detail of the Law will be done away with—not until the end of all things.[a] 19 So then, whoever disobeys even the least important of the commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be least in the Kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys the Law and teaches others to do the same, will be great in the Kingdom of heaven. 20 I tell you, then, that you will be able to enter the Kingdom of heaven only if you are more faithful than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees in doing what God requires.
Teaching about Anger
21 (O)“You have heard that people were told in the past, ‘Do not commit murder; anyone who does will be brought to trial.’ 22 But now I tell you: if you are angry[b] with your brother you will be brought to trial, if you call your brother ‘You good-for-nothing!’ you will be brought before the Council, and if you call your brother a worthless fool you will be in danger of going to the fire of hell. 23 So if you are about to offer your gift to God at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar, go at once and make peace with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift to God.
25 “If someone brings a lawsuit against you and takes you to court, settle the dispute while there is time, before you get to court. Once you are there, you will be turned over to the judge, who will hand you over to the police, and you will be put in jail. 26 There you will stay, I tell you, until you pay the last penny of your fine.
A Prayer for Protection[a]
5 Listen to my words, O Lord,
and hear my sighs.
2 Listen to my cry for help,
my God and king!
I pray to you, O Lord;
3 you hear my voice in the morning;
at sunrise I offer my prayer[b]
and wait for your answer.
4 You are not a God who is pleased with wrongdoing;
you allow no evil in your presence.
5 You cannot stand the sight of the proud;
you hate all wicked people.
6 You destroy all liars
and despise violent, deceitful people.
7 But because of your great love
I can come into your house;
I can worship in your holy Temple
and bow down to you in reverence.
8 Lord, I have so many enemies!
Lead me to do your will;
make your way plain for me to follow.
9 (A)What my enemies say can never be trusted;
they only want to destroy.
Their words are flattering and smooth,
but full of deadly deceit.
10 Condemn and punish them, O God;
may their own plots cause their ruin.
Drive them out of your presence
because of their many sins
and their rebellion against you.
11 But all who find safety in you will rejoice;
they can always sing for joy.
Protect those who love you;
because of you they are truly happy.
12 You bless those who obey you, Lord;
your love protects them like a shield.
24 I have been calling you, inviting you to come, but you would not listen. You paid no attention to me. 25 You have ignored all my advice and have not been willing to let me correct you. 26 So when you get into trouble, I will laugh at you. I will make fun of you when terror strikes— 27 when it comes on you like a storm, bringing fierce winds of trouble, and you are in pain and misery. 28 Then you will call for wisdom, but I will not answer. You may look for me everywhere, but you will not find me.
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.