The Daily Audio Bible
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15 For thus says the High and Lofty One
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place
and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
16 For I will not contend forever,
nor will I always be angry;
for the spirit would grow faint before Me,
and the souls whom I have made.
17 For the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;
I hid My face and was wrathful,
and he went on turning away in the way of his heart.
18 I have seen his ways but will heal him;
I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,
19 by creating the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,
says the Lord, and I will heal him.
20 But the wicked are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest,
whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21 There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.
The Chosen Fast
58 Cry aloud, do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet,
and show My people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek Me daily
and delight to know My ways,
as a nation that has done righteousness
and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for the ordinances of justice;
they take delight in approaching God.
3 “Why have we fasted
and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves
and You take no notice?”
Certainly, on the day of your fast you find your desire
and are exacting on all your laborers.
4 Certainly, you fast for strife and debate
and to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You do not fast as you do this day,
to make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen,
a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast
and an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens,
and to let the oppressed go free,
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
and bring the poor who are outcasts into your house?
When you see the naked, to cover him
and not hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then your light shall break forth as the morning,
and your healing shall spring forth quickly,
and your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your reward.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord shall answer;
you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am.
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 and if you give yourself to the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted soul,
then your light shall rise in obscurity,
and your darkness shall become as the noonday.
11 And the Lord shall guide you continually,
and satisfy your soul in drought,
and strengthen your bones;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
12 Those from among you shall rebuild the old waste places;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
and you shall be called, the Repairer of the Breach,
the Restorer of Paths in which to Dwell.
13 If because of the Sabbath you turn away your foot
from doing your pleasure on My holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight,
the holy day of the Lord honorable,
and honor it, not doing your own ways,
nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,
14 then you shall delight yourself in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
The Consequence of Sin
59 Certainly, the hand of the Lord is not so short that it cannot save,
nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have made a separation between
you and your God,
and your sins have hidden His face from you
so that He will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue has muttered perverseness.
4 No one calls for justice,
nor does anyone plead for truth.
They trust in vanity and speak lies;
they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs
and weave the spider’s web;
he who eats of their eggs dies,
and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments,
nor shall they cover themselves with their works;
their works are works of iniquity,
and an act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
devastation and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their ways;
they have made their paths crooked;
whoever walks in them does not know peace.
The Confession of Sin
9 Therefore, justice is far from us,
nor does righteousness overtake us;
we wait for light, but there is darkness,
for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope along the wall like the blind,
and we grope as if we had no eyes;
we stumble at noonday as in the night;
among those who are vigorous, we are as dead men.
11 We all roar like bears
and mourn sadly like doves;
we look for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us.
And as for our iniquities, we know them:
13 transgressing, and lying against the Lord,
and departing away from our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned backward,
and righteousness stands far off;
for truth is fallen in the street,
and equity cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Redeemer of Zion
Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him
that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man
and was astonished that there was no intercessor;
therefore, His own arm brought salvation to Him,
and His righteousness sustained Him.
17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate
and a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing
and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds,
accordingly He will repay:
fury to His adversaries,
recompense to His enemies;
to the islands He will make recompense.
19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west
and His glory from the rising of the sun;
when the enemy shall come in like a flood,
the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
20 The Redeemer shall come to Zion
and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,
says the Lord.
21 As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says the Lord: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your descendants, nor out of the mouth of your descendants’ descendants, says the Lord, from this time forth and forever.
Salutation
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians
3 I thank my God for every reminder of you. 4 In every prayer of mine for you all, I have always made requests with joy, 5 due to your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.
7 It is right for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonments and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are fellow partakers of my grace. 8 For God is my witness, how I long after you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all discernment, 10 that you may approve things that are excellent so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God.
To Live Is Christ
12 But I want you to know, brothers, that the things which happened to me have resulted in advancing the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonments in Christ have become known throughout the entire palace guard and to all the rest. 14 And a great many of the brothers in the Lord, having become confident because of my incarcerations, have dared to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed are preaching Christ out of envy and strife, and some also from good will. 16 The former preach Christ out of contention, not sincerely, intending to add trouble to my circumstance. 17 But the latter preach out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice.
Indeed, I will rejoice. 19 For I know that through your prayer and the support of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will result in my deliverance. 20 Accordingly, it is my earnest expectation and my hope that I shall be ashamed in nothing, but that with all boldness as always, so now also, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. 21 For to me, to continue living is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor to me. Yet I do not know what I shall choose. 23 I am in a difficult position between the two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake. 25 Having this confidence, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your joyful advancement of the faith, 26 so that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ when I am in your presence again.
Psalm 71(A)
1 In You, O Lord, I seek refuge;
may I never be put to shame.
2 Deliver me in Your righteousness and help me escape;
incline Your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my rock of refuge
to enter continually;
You have given commandment to save me;
for You are my rock and my stronghold.
4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
out of the hand of the unjust and cruel man.
5 For You are my hope, O Lord God;
You are my confidence from my youth.
6 On You I have supported myself from the womb;
You took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise will continually be about You.
7 I am like a wondrous sign to many;
You are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth will be filled with Your praise
and with Your glory all the day.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies speak against me;
and those who watch for my life take counsel together,
11 saying, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and catch him,
for there is none to deliver him.”
12 O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, act quickly to help me.
13 May the adversaries of my life be ashamed and confused;
may those who seek my harm
be enveloped in scorn and dishonor.
14 But I will hope continually,
and will add to all Your praise.
15 My mouth will declare Your righteousness
and Your salvation all the day,
for I cannot know their numbers.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.
17 O God, You have taught me from my youth;
and until now I have proclaimed Your wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and gray,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I have proclaimed Your strength to this generation,
and Your power to everyone who is to come.
19 Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heights;
You have done great deeds;
O God, who is like You?
20 You who have shown me great distresses and troubles
will revive me again,
and will bring me up again
from the depths of the earth.
21 You will increase my greatness,
and You will encircle and comfort me.
22 I will give You thanks with the harp,
even Your truth, O my God;
to You I will sing with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will rejoice
when I sing to You,
and my soul, which You have redeemed.
24 My tongue also will speak of Your righteousness
all the day long;
for those who seek my harm are ashamed,
for they have been put to shame.
9 The thought of foolishness is sin,
and the scorner is an abomination to men.
Saying Twenty-Five
10 If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.