The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the NIV. Switch to the NIV to read along with the audio.
1 An oracle.[a] The word of the Lord to Israel through[b] Malachi.
An Oracle From the Lord:
God’s Love for Israel
2 I have loved you, says the Lord.
But you say, “How have you loved us?”
Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? declares the Lord. I loved Jacob, 3 but I hated Esau. I turned Esau’s mountains into a desolate place, and I turned the territory he possessed over to the wild jackals.
4 Edom will certainly say, “We have been beaten down, but we will return, and we will rebuild the ruins.”
This is what the Lord of Armies says. They may rebuild, but I will tear it down. Edom will be called a wicked territory, and the Edomites will be called the people whom the Lord has denounced forever. 5 Your eyes will see this, and you will say, “The Lord is great—even beyond the border of Israel!”
An Oracle From the Lord:
Improper Sacrifices Insult God
6 A son honors his father. A servant honors his master. If I am a father, where is my honor? If I am a master, where is the reverence owed to me? This is what the Lord of Armies says to you. The priests are the ones who despise my name.
You say, “How have we despised your name?”
7 You despise my name by bringing defiled food to my altar.
But you say, “How have we defiled you?”
You defile me when you say, “The Lord’s table deserves no respect.” 8 When you bring a blind animal as a sacrifice, isn’t that evil? When you bring something lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Try bringing that to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he receive you with favor? This is what the Lord of Armies says.
Interjection by Israel
9 Now ask for God’s favor so that he may be gracious to us.
An Oracle From the Lord:
Improper Sacrifices Insult God
With offerings like this from your hand, will he receive you with favor? This is what the Lord of Armies says. 10 I wish there was someone among you who would shut the temple doors so you would not keep lighting useless fires on my altar! I find nothing pleasing about you, says the Lord of Armies. I am not pleased with an offering from your hand.
11 Yes, from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, my name will be great among the nations! In every place incense and a pure offering will be presented to my name, because my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of Armies.
12 But you are profaning my name when you say, “The Lord’s table is polluted, and we despise the things offered on it, the food that is on it.” 13 You also say, “What drudgery!” and you snort at it with contempt, says the Lord of Armies. You bring something torn,[c] something lame, something sick, and present it as an offering. Should I be pleased with something like that from your hand? says the Lord.
14 Cursed is the cheater who vows to offer a male animal from his flock, but then he sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord instead. Indeed, I am a great king, says the Lord of Armies, and my name will be feared among the nations.
A Warning to the Priests From the Lord
2 Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If you do not listen, if you do not set your heart on giving glory to my name, says the Lord of Armies, then I will send the curse[d] against you. I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already cursed your offerings because you are not putting your heart into it. 3 Yes, I will rebuke your offspring.[e] I will smear animal bowels and their contents on your faces, the bowels produced by your festivals, and you will be hauled off with them.[f]
4 You will know that I sent you this commandment, so that my covenant with Levi may continue, says the Lord of Armies. 5 My covenant with him was life and peace, which I gave to him. It was a covenant of reverence,[g] and he revered me. He respected my name. 6 The true law was in his mouth, and no injustice was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness. He turned many away from guilt. 7 The lips of a priest should be guardians of knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth because he is a messenger of the Lord of Armies.
8 But you priests have turned from the way. You have made many people stumble in regard to the law.[h] You have ruined the covenant with Levi, says the Lord of Armies. 9 So I have made you despised and humiliated in the view of all the people, because you are not keeping my ways but are showing favoritism in carrying out the law.
Instruction From the Prophet:
The Covenant Is Broken by Divorce
10 Don’t we all have one Father? Hasn’t one God created us? Why then do we violate our vows to each other, polluting the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has acted unfaithfully. A detestable thing was done in Israel and in Jerusalem when Judah polluted the holy place[i] of the Lord, which the Lord loves. Judah is married to the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any man who does this, both the one who is awake and the one who answers,[j] even if he brings an offering to the Lord of Armies!
13 This is the second thing you do: You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and crying, because there is no longer any favorable response to your offering, and God is not pleased with anything from your hand. 14 So you ask, “Why is this happening?” This is why—because the Lord is a witness in the case between you and the wife you married when you were young, because you have betrayed her—though she was your partner, the wife with whom you made a covenant! 15 No one has done this who has a remnant of the Spirit.[k] And why one? He is seeking offspring from God.[l] So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not act unfaithfully against the wife you married when you were young. 16 He hates divorce! That is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. He hates it when a person wears violence as a garment. That is what the Lord of Armies says. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be unfaithful.
17 You have made the Lord weary with your words. You say, “How have we made him weary?” Whenever you say that anyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s eyes or that the Lord takes pleasure in evildoers. Or whenever you say, “Where is the God of justice?”
The New Heaven and the New Earth
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And the sea no longer existed. 2 And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And from the throne[a] I heard a loud voice that said, “Look! God’s dwelling is with people. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain, because the former things have passed away.”
5 The one who was seated on the throne said to me, “Look, I am making everything new!” He also said, “Write, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me:
It is done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
To anyone who is thirsty,
I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
7 The one who overcomes
will inherit these things.
I will be his God,
and he will be my son.
8 But those who are cowardly, unbelieving, detestable,
murderers, adulterers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all the liars
will have their share in the lake burning with fire and sulfur,
which is the second death.
The New Jerusalem
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls that were filled with the seven last plagues came and spoke with me. He said, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
10 He carried me away in spirit to a great and high mountain, and he showed me the[b] Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It has the glory of God. Its radiance is similar to a very precious stone, like crystal-clear jasper.
12 It has a large, high wall. It has twelve gates. Twelve angels are at the gates, and twelve names are engraved on the gates, the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. 13 Three gates are on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. 14 The city’s wall also has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the Lamb’s twelve apostles.
15 The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod so that he could measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city is laid out as a square. Its length and width are equal. He measured the city with the measuring rod: 12,000 stadia.[c] Its length, width, and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall by human measurement, which was what the angel used: 144 cubits.
18 The wall is made of jasper, and the city is pure gold, like pure glass. 19 The foundations of the city’s wall had been adorned with every kind of precious stone.
The first foundation is jasper,
the second sapphire,
the third agate,
the fourth emerald,
20 the fifth onyx,
the sixth ruby,[d]
the seventh diamond,[e]
the eighth beryl,
the ninth topaz,
the tenth turquoise,[f]
the eleventh jacinth,
the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates are twelve pearls. Each of the gates is made out of one pearl. And the street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God has given it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations[g] will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory[h] into it. 25 There is no day when its gates will be shut, for there will be no night in that place. 26 They will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. 27 Nothing that is unclean and no one who does what is detestable or who tells lies will ever enter it, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Psalm 149
Praise Him, All His People
Praise Him, All His People
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
The Church Triumphant
Sing to the Lord a new song.
Sing his praise in the congregation of his favored ones.
2 Let Israel rejoice in its Maker.
Let the people of Zion celebrate for their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing.
With hand drum and lyre let them make music to him.
4 For the Lord is pleased with his people.
He adorns the humble with salvation.
5 Let those he favors rejoice in honor.
Let them shout for joy on their beds.
The Church Militant
6 May high praise of God be in their throats,
and a two-edged sword in their hands,
7 to inflict vengeance on the nations
and punishments on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles with iron shackles,
9 to carry out the judgment written against them.
This is the glory of all his favored people.
Praise the Lord.
The Strong Wife[a]
10 Who can find a wife with strong character?[b]
Her value is greater than that of gems.
11 Her husband’s heart trusts her,
and he never lacks wealth.[c]
12 She does good for him and not evil
all the days of her life.
13 She obtains wool and flax.
She eagerly works it with her hands.
14 She is like merchant ships.
She brings her food from far away.
15 She rises while it is still night.
She gives food[d] to her household.
She gives their share to her female servants.
16 She considers a field and acquires it.
From her own income,[e] she plants a vineyard.
17 She wraps strength around her waist like a belt,
and she makes her arms strong.
18 She realizes that she makes a good profit.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
19 She stretches out her hands for the distaff,
and the palms of her hands grasp the spindle.[f]
20 She opens the palm of her hand to the oppressed,
and she stretches out her hands to the needy.
21 She does not fear for her household on account of snow,
because her entire household is clothed in scarlet clothing.[g]
22 She makes bedspreads for herself.
Fine linen and purple cloth are her clothing.
23 Her husband is known at the city gates,
where he sits with the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and she delivers belts to the merchants.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.