The Daily Audio Bible
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Judgment Against Three Evil Kings
22 This is what the Lord says.
Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and speak this message there.
2 Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you, your officials, and your people who enter these gates.
3 This is what the Lord says. Do what is just and right. Rescue the person who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, to the fatherless, or to the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place. 4 If you diligently carry this out, then kings who sit on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, then I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this house will become a ruin.
6 Yes, this is what the Lord says about the house of the king of Judah.
You are like Gilead to me,
like the peak of Lebanon.
You can be sure that I will turn you into a wilderness,
like uninhabited towns.
7 I will send destroyers against you,
each of them with his weapons.
They will cut down your best cedars,
and they will throw them into the fire.
8 Many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, “Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city?” 9 And the answer will be, “It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God. They worshipped other gods and served them.”
A Message About Shallum
10 Do not weep for the dead.
Do not mourn for him,
but weep bitterly for the one who is exiled,
because he will never return.
He will never see the land of his birth.
11 For this is what the Lord says about Shallum[a] son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Josiah. He has gone out from this place, but he will never return again. 12 He will die in the place where they have led him captive. He will never see this land again.
A Message About Jehoiakim
13 Woe to him who builds his house through unrighteousness
and his roof with injustice,
who makes his neighbors work for nothing
and does not pay them,
14 who says, “I will build a huge mansion for myself
with spacious upper rooms.”
He makes large windows for it,
panels it with cedar,
and paints it red.
15 Does it make you a king when you are extravagant with cedar?
Didn’t your father eat and drink,
and do what was just and right?
Then it went well for him.
16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
and it went well.
Isn’t this what it means to know me? declares the Lord.
17 But your eyes and your heart are greedy for gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
for oppression, and committing violence.
18 Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning
Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
They will not mourn for him,
“Oh, my brother! Oh, my sister!”
They will not mourn for him,
“Oh, my master! Oh, his glory!”
19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey—
dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out.
Lift your voice in Bashan.
Cry out from Abarim,
because all your lovers have been destroyed.
21 I spoke to you when you were at peace,
but you said, “I will not listen.”
This has been your way since your youth.
You have never listened to me.
22 Your shepherds will be herded by the wind.
Your lovers will go into exile.
Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your evil.
23 You who live in Lebanon,
you who make your nest in the cedars,
how you will groan when pains come upon you,
pains like those of a woman in labor!
A Message About Coniah
24 As I live, declares the Lord, even if you, Coniah[b] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off. 25 I will deliver you into the hand of those who want to take your life, those you fear. I will deliver you into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 I will throw you and the mother who bore you into another country, where neither of you were born, and there you will die. 27 They will never return to the land to which they long to return.
28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken pot?
Is he a jar no one wants?
Why are he and his children thrown out,
cast into a land they do not know?
29 Land, land, O land!
Hear the word of the Lord!
30 This is what the Lord says.
Record this man as childless,
a man who will not prosper in his lifetime.
None of his offspring will prosper
by sitting on David’s throne and ruling in Judah.
The Righteous Branch
23 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! declares the Lord.
2 Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd my people.
You have scattered my flock.
You have driven them away.
You have not taken care of them,
but I will certainly take care of you,
because of the evil things you have done,
declares the Lord.
3 I will gather what is left of my flock
out of all the countries where I have driven them,
and I will bring them back to their pastures.
They will be fruitful and multiply.
4 I will raise up shepherds over them
who will shepherd them.
They will no longer be afraid or terrified,
nor will any be missing, declares the Lord.
5 Listen, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
who will reign wisely as king
and establish justice and righteousness on earth.
6 In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will dwell securely.
This is his name by which he will be called:
The Lord Our Righteousness.
7 So, mark my words, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no longer be said, “As surely as the Lord lives who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,” 8 but, “as surely as the Lord lives who brought up the descendants of the house of Israel and led them out of a land in the north and from all the countries where I had driven them.” Then they will dwell in their own land.
Against False Prophets
9 Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken inside me.
All my bones tremble.
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord,
and because of his holy words.
10 Look, the land is full of adulterers.
Because of the curse, the land mourns.
The pastures in the wilderness are dried up.
Their way of life is evil,
and their use of power is unjust.
11 Both prophet and priest are godless.
I have found their wickedness even in my House,
declares the Lord.
12 Therefore, they will discover that their path
is like slippery places in the darkness.
They will be driven away,
and they will fall there,
because I will bring disaster on them,
the year of their punishment, declares the Lord.
13 Among the prophets of Samaria[c]
I saw something offensive.
They prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
14 Now among the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen something horrifying.
They commit adultery and walk in lies.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns away from his wickedness.
They have all become like Sodom to me.
The people who live there are like Gomorrah.
15 So this is what the Lord of Armies says concerning the prophets.
Watch, I will feed them wormwood
and give them bitter water to drink,
because from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.
16 This is what the Lord of Armies says.
Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They are giving you false hope.
They proclaim visions that come from their own hearts
and not from the mouth of the Lord.
17 They keep saying to those who despise me,
“The Lord has said that you will have peace.”
And to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart,
they say, “No harm will come to you.”
18 But have any of them stood in the council of the Lord,
to see and hear his word?
Who has listened to his word and heard it?
19 Look, a storm from the Lord!
His wrath has gone out,
like a whirlwind twisting down,
whirling over the heads of the wicked.
20 The Lord’s anger will not turn back until he has completely fulfilled the purposes of his heart. In later days you will understand it fully.
Greeting
1 Paul, Silas,[a] and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Judgment at Christ’s Coming
3 We are always obligated to thank God for you, brothers,[b] as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love that each and every one of you has for one another is increasing. 4 So we ourselves boast about you in God’s churches in regard to your patient endurance and faith in all your persecutions and in the trials that you are enduring. 5 This is evidence of God’s righteous verdict that resulted in your being counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also suffer. 6 Certainly, it is right for God to repay trouble to those who trouble you, 7 and to give relief to you, who are troubled along with us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful angels, 8 he will exercise vengeance in flaming fire on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 Such people will receive a just penalty: eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious strength, 10 on that day when he comes to be glorified among his saints, and to be marveled at among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 11 For this reason, we are always praying for you, that our God will make you worthy of your calling and use his power to fulfill every good desire and work of your faith, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him, in keeping with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 83
Surrounded by Enemies
Heading
A song. A psalm by Asaph.
Opening Plea
1 God, do not keep silent.
Do not be deaf. Do not be quiet, God.
A Catalog of Enemies
2 Look! Your enemies are in an uproar,
and those who hate you have raised their head.
3 Against your people they devise deceptive schemes,
and they plot together against the people you treasure.
4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation,
so the name of Israel will not be remembered anymore.”
5 Indeed, with one mind they plot together.
They form an alliance against you—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal[a] and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
8 Even Ashshur has joined with them. Interlude
They have become the arm of the sons of Lot.[b]
Prayer for Destruction of the Enemies
9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the stream Kishon.
10 They perished at Endor.
They became like manure for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take possession of God’s pastures for ourselves.”
13 My God, make them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire burns the forest,
or as a flame sets the mountains on fire,
15 so pursue them with your violent wind,
and terrify them with your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame
so that they will seek your name, O Lord.
17 May they be ashamed and terrified forever.
May they be disgraced and perish.
18 Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord,
you alone are the Most High over all the earth.
11 A word spoken at the right time
is like golden apples in silver settings.
12 To ears that listen, a wise person’s correction
is like a gold ring or like jewelry made of pure gold.
13 To those who send him, a trustworthy messenger
is like cooling snow on a warm day during harvest.
He refreshes his masters’ spirits.
14 A person who brags about a gift that is never given
is like clouds and wind that bring no rain.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.