The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the NLT. Switch to the NLT to read along with the audio.
The Sin of Achan
16 So Joshua got up early in the morning and brought Israel forward by [a]tribes, and the tribe of Judah was selected. 17 So he brought the family of Judah forward, and he selected the family of the Zerahites; then he brought the family of the Zerahites forward man by man, and Zabdi was selected. 18 And he brought his household forward man by man; and (A)Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was selected. 19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, (B)give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.” 20 So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and [b]this is what I did: 21 when I saw among the spoils a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I (C)wanted them and took them; and behold, they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath it. 23 So they took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel; and they [c]laid them out before the Lord. 24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his [d]oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to (D)the Valley of [e]Achor. 25 And Joshua said, “Why have you (E)brought disaster on us? The Lord will bring disaster on you this day.” And all Israel stoned [f]them with stones; and they burned them with fire [g]after they had stoned them with stones. 26 Then they erected over him a large heap of stones that stands to this day, and the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called (F)the Valley of [h]Achor to this day.
The Conquest of Ai
8 Now the Lord said to Joshua, “(G)Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you. Arise, go up to Ai; see, (H)I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall (I)take only its spoils and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. [i]Set an ambush for the city behind it.”
3 So Joshua rose up with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night. 4 He commanded them, saying, “See, you are (J)going to ambush the city from behind [j]it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. 5 Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out to meet us as they did the first time, (K)we will flee before them. 6 They will come out after us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us just as they did the first time.’ So we will flee before them. 7 Then you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city, for the Lord your God will hand it over to you. 8 Then it will be when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it (L)in accordance with the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you.” 9 So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.
10 Now Joshua (M)got up early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai. 11 Then all the people of war who were with him went up and approached, and arrived in front of the city; and they camped on the north side of Ai. And there was a valley between him and Ai. 12 Then he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between (N)Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the [k]city. 13 So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley. 14 And it came about, when the king of Ai saw them, that the men of the city hurried and got up early, and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 Then Joshua and all Israel [l]pretended to be defeated before them, and fled (O)by the way of the wilderness. 16 And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and (P)were lured away from the city. 17 So not a man was left in Ai or Bethel, [m]but they had all gone out after Israel, and they left the city [n]unguarded and pursued Israel.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “(Q)Reach out with the sword that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand it over to you.” So Joshua reached out with the sword that was in his hand toward the city. 19 Then the men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had reached out with his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire. 20 When the men of Ai turned [o]back and looked, behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers. 21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and [p]killed the men of Ai. 22 [q]The others came out from the city to confront them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, [r]some on this side and some on that side; and they [s]killed them until there was not (R)one [t]left who escaped or survived. 23 But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 Now when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed, then all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. 25 So (S)all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the [u]people of Ai. 26 For Joshua (T)did not withdraw his hand with which he reached out with the sword until he had [v]utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 (U)Israel took only the cattle and the spoils of that city as plunder for themselves, in accordance with the word of the Lord which He had commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it (V)a refuse heap forever, a desolation until this day. 29 And (W)he hanged the king of Ai on [w]a tree until evening; but at sunset Joshua gave the command and they took his body down from [x]the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and erected over it a large heap of stones that stands to this day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on (X)Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, (Y)an altar of uncut stones on which no one had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And he (Z)wrote there on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which [y]he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel. 33 (AA)And all Israel with their elders, officers, and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of (AB)Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at first to bless the people of Israel. 34 Then afterward he read all the words of the Law, the blessing and the curse, according to everything that is written in (AC)the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel (AD)with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were [z]living among them.
Deception by the Gibeonites
9 Now it came about when (AE)all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, the lowland, and on all the (AF)coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, (AG)the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard about it, 2 that they met together with (AH)one [aa]purpose, to fight with Joshua and with Israel.
The Unrighteous Manager
16 Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was [a]reported to him as (A)squandering his possessions. 2 And he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3 And the manager said to himself, ‘What am I to do, since my [b]master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to [c]dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.’ 5 And he summoned each one of his [d]master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred [e]jugs of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred [f]kors of wheat.’ He *said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 And his [g]master complimented the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of (B)this age are more shrewd in relation to their own [h]kind than the (C)sons of light. 9 And I say to you, (D)make friends for yourselves by means of the [i](E)wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it [j]is all gone, (F)they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.
10 “(G)The one who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and the one who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much. 11 Therefore if you have not [k]been faithful in the use of unrighteous [l](H)wealth, who will entrust the true wealth to you? 12 And if you have not [m]been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13 (I)No [n]servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and [o](J)wealth.”
14 Now the Pharisees, who were (K)lovers of money, were listening to all these things and (L)were [p]ridiculing Him. 15 And He said to them, “You are the ones who (M)justify yourselves in the sight of people, but (N)God knows your hearts; because that which is highly esteemed among people is detestable in the sight of God.
16 “(O)The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John came; since that time (P)the gospel of the kingdom of God [q]has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17 (Q)But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one [r]stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.
18 “(R)Everyone who [s]divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is [t]divorced from a husband commits adultery.
Unjust Judgments Rebuked.
A Psalm of Asaph.
82 God takes His (A)position in [a]His assembly;
He (B)judges in the midst of the (C)gods.
2 How long will you (D)judge unjustly
And (E)show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 (F)Vindicate the weak and fatherless;
Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.
4 (G)Rescue the weak and needy;
Save them from the hand of the wicked.
5 They (H)do not know nor do they understand;
They (I)walk around in darkness;
All the (J)foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 [b]I (K)said, “You are gods,
And all of you are (L)sons of the Most High.
7 Nevertheless (M)you will die like men,
And fall like (N)one of the princes.”
8 (O)Arise, God, (P)judge the earth!
For You (Q)possess all the nations.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.