The Daily Audio Bible
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51 The Lord proclaims:
I’m stirring up a violent wind against Babylon
and those who live in Leb-qamai.[a]
2 I will send mercenaries[b] to Babylon
who will sift her and clear out her land.
They will surround her
on the day of disaster.
3 Let the archers draw their bows;
let them prepare their armor.
Show no mercy to her young men;
wipe out her entire company!
4 They will fall wounded in the land of Babylon,
struck down in her streets.
5 God, the Lord of heavenly forces,
hasn’t abandoned Israel and Judah,
even though they live in a land filled with guilt
before the holy one of Israel.
6 Escape from Babylon;
each of you run for your lives!
Don’t perish because of her guilt,
because this is the time
for the Lord’s retribution,
a day of reckoning for all that Babylon[c] has done.
7 Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand;
it made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine
and went mad.
8 But suddenly Babylon fell
and shattered into pieces.
Wail for her!
Bring medicine for her pain;
perhaps she will recover.
9 We tried to cure Babylon,
but she was beyond help.
Let’s depart from her
and return to your own country, each of you.
Her punishment reaches to heaven
and extends to the clouds.
10 The Lord has come to our defense,
so let’s declare in Zion
what the Lord our God has done!
11 Sharpen your arrows;
prepare your shields.
The Lord is stirring up
the spirit of kings from Media.
He intends to destroy Babylon;
this is the Lord’s retribution,
a day of reckoning for his temple.
12 Set up a flag on the walls of Babylon,
fortify the guards,
post watchmen,
prepare an ambush,
because the Lord has a plan
against the inhabitants of Babylon.
He will accomplish it,
just as he said he would.
13 You live beside a great river,
and you are rich in treasures.
But your time has come;
your cruelty has caught up with you.[d]
14 The Lord of heavenly forces has sworn by his own name:
I’m going to fill your cities[e]
with soldiers like a swarm of locusts;
they will celebrate their victory over you.
15 God made the earth by his might,
shaped the world by his wisdom,
and crafted the skies by his knowledge.
16 At the sound of God’s voice,
the heavenly waters roar.
God raises the clouds from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and sends the wind from his treasuries.
17 Everyone is too foolish to understand;
every smith is shamed by his idols,
for their images are shams;
they aren’t alive.
18 They are a delusion, a charade;
at the appointed time they will be ruined!
19 But the portion of Jacob is utterly different,
for he has formed all things,
including his very own tribe;
the Lord of heavenly forces is his name!
20 You are my hammer,
my weapon of war.
With you I will crush the nations.
With you I will destroy kingdoms.
21 With you I will crush horse and rider.
With you I will crush chariot and driver.
22 With you I will crush men and women.
With you I will crush old and young.
With you I will crush young men and young women.
23 With you I will crush shepherds and flocks.
With you I will crush farmers and oxen.
With you I will crush governors and officials.
24 I will repay Babylon and all its inhabitants
for the terrible things
they have done to Zion in your sight,
declares the Lord.
25 I’m against you, you mountain of destruction,
declares the Lord,
you destroyer of the whole earth!
I will reach out against you;
I will topple you from your heights;
I will turn you into a rubbish heap.
26 They will never remove a cornerstone
or a foundation stone from you.
You will be a wasteland forever,
declares the Lord.
27 Set up a flag in the land;
sound the alarm among the nations!
Prepare them for war against her;
summon kingdoms against her—
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a commander against her;
call up the troops,
like swarms of locusts!
28 Prepare the nations for war against her,
the kings of Media,
its governors, all its officials,
and all the countries they rule.
29 The earth quakes and trembles
because the Lord’s plans against Babylon are fulfilled:
to reduce Babylon to a wasteland,
with no one left in it.
30 Babylon’s warriors quit fighting;
they hide in their fortifications.
Their strength is worn out;
their courage is gone!
Babylon’s houses are burned down,
and its gates are smashed.
31 Courier joins courier,
messenger joins messenger
to relate the news to the king of Babylon
that his entire city has fallen.
32 The river crossings are blocked;
the marshes are on fire;
the soldiers are terrified.
33 The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims:
Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
ready to be trampled down.
In a little while her harvest will come.
34 Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar has eaten us alive;
he’s drained us of strength;
he’s left us for dead.[f]
He’s gobbled us up like a great sea monster;
he’s filled his belly with our treasures;
and he’s spit us out.
35 May Babylon be violated as our bodies were,
say the inhabitants of Zion.
May our blood be on the Babylonians,
say those from Jerusalem.
36 Therefore, the Lord proclaims:
I’m going to defend your cause;
I’ll turn the tables on your attacker.
I’ll dry up her sea;
I’ll shut up her springs.
37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins,
a den of wild dogs, a wasteland
with no one left in it.
38 Like lions they will roar together;
they will growl like lions’ cubs.
39 They are ready to devour,
so I’ll prepare the feast
and mix the drinks!
But after their noisy drunkenness,
they will fall fast asleep.
They will sleep forever,
never to get up,
declares the Lord.
40 I’ll lead them off
like lambs for slaughter,
like rams and goats.
41 How Sheshach[g] has been defeated,
the pride of the whole earth taken captive!
How Babylon has become a wasteland
among the nations!
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;
its pounding waves overwhelm her.
43 Her towns are devastated;
her land is scorched and barren,
a place where no one lives
or dares to pass through.
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon;
I will force him to vomit what he’s consumed.
Then nations will no longer stream to him,
and Babylon’s walls will collapse!
45 Get out of Babylon, my people!
Run for your lives
from the Lord’s fierce anger.
46 Don’t be distracted or frightened
by the rumors you hear in the land.
Sometimes you hear one thing
and another time something else:
rumors of violence and uprisings.
47 The time is coming
when I will deal with Babylon’s idols;
the whole land will be disgraced,
and her wounded will fall in her midst.
48 Then all creation will rejoice over Babylon,
because out of the north
destroying armies will come to attack her,
declares the Lord.
49 Babylon must fall
for the dead in Israel,
as the dead of all the earth
have fallen to Babylon.
50 You survivors of war,
leave now; don’t delay!
Remember the Lord,
from a faraway land.
Keep Jerusalem alive in your hearts.
51 We’re humiliated by their taunts;
we’re disgraced that strangers have violated the sacred places
of the Lord’s temple.
52 The time is coming,
declares the Lord,
when I will deal with her idols,
and the wounded in her land will groan.
53 Even if Babylon scales the heavens
and strengthens its towering defenses,
the destroying armies will still come
against her, at my command,
declares the Lord.
Teaching all people how to be godly
2 But you should talk in a way that is consistent with sound teaching. 2 Tell the older men to be sober, dignified, sensible, and healthy in respect to their faith, love, and patience.
3 Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in their behavior, teaching what is good, rather than being gossips or addicted to heavy drinking. 4 That way they can mentor young women to love their husbands and children, 5 and to be sensible, morally pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, so that God’s word won’t be ridiculed. 6 Likewise, encourage the younger men to be sensible 7 in every way. Offer yourself as a role model of good actions. Show integrity, seriousness, 8 and a sound message that is above criticism when you teach, so that any opponent will be ashamed because they won’t find anything bad to say about us.
9 Tell slaves to submit to their own masters and please them in everything they do. They shouldn’t talk back 10 or steal. Instead, they should show that they are completely reliable in everything so that they might make the teaching about God our savior attractive in every way.
11 The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. 12 It educates us so that we can live sensible, ethical, and godly lives right now by rejecting ungodly lives and the desires of this world. 13 At the same time we wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our great God and savior Jesus Christ. 14 He gave himself for us in order to rescue us from every kind of lawless behavior, and cleanse a special people for himself who are eager to do good actions.
15 Talk about these things. Encourage and correct with complete authority. Don’t let anyone disrespect you.
Psalm 99
99 The Lord rules—
the nations shake!
He sits enthroned on the winged heavenly creatures—
the earth quakes!
2 The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the nations.
3 Let them thank your great and awesome name.
He is holy!
4 Strong king[a] who loves justice,
you are the one who established what is fair.
You worked justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Magnify the Lord, our God!
Bow low at his footstool!
He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel too among those who called on his name.
They cried out to the Lord, and he himself answered them—
7 he spoke to them from a pillar of cloud.
They kept the laws and the rules God gave to them.
8 Lord our God, you answered them.
To them you were a God who forgives
but also the one who avenged their wrong deeds.
9 Magnify the Lord our God!
Bow low at his holy mountain
because the Lord our God is holy!
17 Like yanking the ears of a dog,
so is one who passes by and gets involved in another person’s fight.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible