The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the CSB. Switch to the CSB to read along with the audio.
The Response of the Tribes
21 Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh responded to the heads of the divisions of Israel:
22 By God, the true God, the Lord! By God, the true God, the Lord![a] He knows, and Israel will know too. If we acted in rebellion or if we acted in unfaithfulness against the Lord, do not spare us this day. 23 If we acted to build an altar for ourselves to turn from the Lord, or if we acted to offer up burnt offerings or grain offerings on it, or if we acted to make sacrifices of fellowship offerings on it, let the Lord himself demand an accounting from us.
24 But in truth, we did this because we were concerned that in the future your children would say to our children, “What connection do you have to the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 The Lord placed a border between us and you people of Reuben and Gad, namely, the Jordan. You have no portion in the Lord.” Then your children would stop our children from fearing the Lord.
26 So we said, “Come on now, let us build an altar—but not for burnt offerings and not for sacrifice.” 27 Rather, it is to be a witness between us and you and between our generations after us concerning our right to perform the worship of the Lord before him by our burnt offerings, by our sacrifices, and by our fellowship offerings, so that your children cannot say in the future to our children, “You have no share in the Lord.”
28 So we said, “If they say that to us and to our generations in the future, then we will say, ‘Look at the replica of the altar of the Lord that our fathers made—but not for burnt offerings and not for sacrifice. Rather it is a witness between us and you.’”
29 Far be it from us to rebel[b] against the Lord and to turn today from the Lord by building an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for fellowship offerings apart from the altar of the Lord our God that is in front of his dwelling.
War Avoided
30 Phinehas the priest heard this, as did the tribal leaders of the community and the heads of the divisions of the tribes of Israel who were with him. They heard the words that the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the people of Manasseh spoke, and they were pleased. 31 So Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, said to the people of Reuben, to the people of Gad, and to the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is among us since you did not act unfaithfully against the Lord. Now you have saved the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”
32 So the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar and the leaders returned from the people of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead to the people of Israel in the land of Canaan, and they brought them a report. 33 The report pleased the people of Israel, so the people of Israel blessed God, and they did not say anything more about going to war against them to destroy the land that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were living in.
34 The people of Reuben and the people of Gad named the altar “Witness” because they said, “It is a witness between us that the Lord is the one God.”
A Warning and a Promise
23 After many days,[c] when the Lord had given Israel rest from all its enemies all around, when Joshua had grown old and advanced in years, 2 Joshua summoned all Israel—its elders, its heads, its judges, and its officers, and he said to them:
I have grown old and advanced in years. 3 You yourselves have seen everything that the Lord your God has done for you against all these nations. Yes, the Lord your God was fighting for you! 4 See now, I have allotted to your tribes an inheritance from these nations that remain unconquered, as well as from the nations that I have destroyed. It extends from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God himself will push them away from you and drive them out of your presence, ⎣until they perish. He will send wild animals among them until he completely destroys them and their kings from your presence⎦[d] and you will take possession of their land, just as the Lord your God promised you. 6 You must be very resolute in carrying out all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses by not turning from it to the right or to the left, 7 by not intermingling with these nations that remain with you. Do not ever call on or swear by the names of their gods. Never serve them and never bow down to them. 8 But hold fast to the Lord your God, just as you have been doing to this day.
9 The Lord has driven out great and powerful nations from among you. As for you, no one has stood up against you to this day. 10 One of you would put a thousand to flight because the Lord your God himself was fighting for you, just as he promised you. 11 Therefore, for your own sakes be very careful to love the Lord your God.
12 But if you do turn away and keep close company with the remnant of these nations that remain with you, and if you intermarry with them and intermingle with them and they with you, 13 then know for certain that the Lord your God will not continue to drive out these nations from among you, but they will become a trap and a snare for you, a whip for your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from your good land that the Lord your God has given you.
14 See now, I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and with all your soul that not one promise out of all the good promises that the Lord your God promised you has failed. All of them have come true for you. Not one promise from him has failed.[e]
15 But just as every good promise that the Lord your God promised to you has come true for you, likewise the Lord will cause every promise of disaster to come true for you until he has destroyed you from this good land that the Lord your God has given you. 16 If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God that he commanded you, and you go and serve other gods, and you bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from the good land that he has given you.
The God of the Living
27 Some of the Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to him. 28 They asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, his brother should take the wife and raise up children for his brother.[a] 29 So there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died childless. 30 The second took her as a wife,[b] 31 and so did the third, and in the same way the seven died and left no children. 32 Finally the woman died too. 33 So in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”
34 Jesus said to them, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy to experience that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 In fact, they cannot die any more, for they are like the angels. They are sons of God, because they are sons of the resurrection.
37 “Even Moses showed in the account about the burning bush that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord: ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[c] 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”
39 Some of the experts in the law answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 Then they no longer dared to ask him anything.
David’s Son and David’s Lord
41 Jesus said to them, “How is it that they say that the Christ is David’s son? 42 David himself says in the book of Psalms:
The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand, 43 until I make your enemies
a footstool under your feet.”[d]
44 “So David calls him ‘Lord.’ Then how is he his son?”
Beware
45 While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the experts in the law, who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses and offer long prayers to look good. They will receive greater condemnation.”
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
Mercy and truth are right in front of you.
The Security of God’s People
15 How blessed are the people who know the joyful cry.
Lord, they walk in the light from your face.
16 In your name they celebrate all day long.
In your righteousness they are lifted up.
17 For you are the beauty of their strength,
and by your favor you exalt our Horn.[a]
18 Indeed, our Shield belongs to the Lord,
our King to the Holy One of Israel.
The Promise to David
19 Once you spoke in a vision to your favored ones.
You said:
I have granted help to a warrior.
I have raised up a young man from among the people.
20 I found David my servant.
With my holy oil I have anointed him.
21 He is the one whom my hand will sustain.
Surely my arm will strengthen him.
22 No enemy will subject him to tribute.
No violent man will oppress him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and mercy will be with him,
and through my name his horn[b] will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.
26 He will call out to me, “You are my Father,
my God and the Rock that saves me.”
27 I will also make him the Firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my mercy for him forever,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.
29 I will establish his seed forever.
His throne will endure like the days of the heavens.
The Terms of the Covenant
30 If his sons forsake my law,
and they do not walk according to my judgments,
31 if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commands,
32 I will punish their rebellion with the rod, their guilt with whipping.
33 But I will not break off my mercy from him.
I will not let my truth become false.
34 I will not violate my covenant.
I will not alter what comes out of my lips.
35 Once and for all, I have sworn by my holiness—
surely I will not lie to David—
36 that his seed will continue forever,
and his throne will endure before me like the sun.
37 It will be established forever like the moon. Interlude
This witness in the sky is faithful.
17 A wicked[a] messenger falls into trouble,
but a trustworthy envoy brings healing.
18 A person who ignores discipline ends up with poverty and shame,
but one who conforms to correction will be honored.
19 A desire that is fulfilled tastes sweet to the soul,
but to fools it is disgusting[b] to turn from evil.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.