The Daily Audio Bible
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Micah’s Idolatry
17 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you cursed [the thief] and also spoke about in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son before the Lord.” 3 He returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and she said, “I had truly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son (in his name) to make an image [carved from wood and plated with silver] and a cast image [of solid silver]; so now, I will return it to you.” 4 So when he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made of it an image [of silver-plated wood] and a cast image [of solid silver]; and they were in the house of Micah. 5 Now the man Micah had a house of gods (shrine), and he made an ephod and teraphim and dedicated and installed one of his sons, who became his [personal] priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.
7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, from the family [of the tribe] of Judah, who was a [a]Levite; and he was staying there [temporarily]. 8 Then the man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah, to stay wherever he could find a place; and as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah. 9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I can find a place.” 10 And Micah said to him, “Live here with me and be a father and a [personal] priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver each year, a supply of clothing, and your sustenance (room and board).” So the Levite went in. 11 The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became to Micah like one of his sons. 12 So Micah dedicated (installed) the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will favor me and make me prosper because I have a Levite as my priest.”
Danites Seek Territory
18 In those days there was no king in Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance [of land] for themselves to live in, for until then an [b]inheritance had not been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel. 2 So the sons of Dan sent from the total number of their [extended] family five brave men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to scout the land and to explore it; and they said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3 When they passed near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite, and they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?” 4 And he said to them, “Micah has done this and that for me, and he has hired me and I have become his priest.” 5 And they said to him, “Please ask of God, so that we may know whether our journey on which we are going will be successful.” 6 The priest said to them, “Go in peace; the journey on which you are going is acceptable to the Lord.”
7 Then the five men went on and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, [how they were] living securely in the style of the Sidonians, quiet and peaceful; and there was no oppressive magistrate in the land humiliating them in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 8 The five men came back [home] to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, “What do you have to report?” 9 They said, “Arise, let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good (fertile). Will you sit still and do nothing? Do not hesitate to go, to enter, to take possession of the land. 10 When you enter, you will come to people [feeling] safe and secure with a spacious land [widely extended on all sides]; for God has given it into your hands—a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”
11 Then from the [tribal] family of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war set out. 12 They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they have called that place [c]Mahaneh-dan to this day; it is west of Kiriath-jearim. 13 They went on from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.
Danites Take Micah’s Idols
14 Then the five men who had gone to scout the country of Laish said to their relatives, “Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod, teraphim, an image [of silver-plated wood], and a cast image [of solid silver]? Now therefore, consider what you should do.” 15 So they turned in that direction and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and asked him how he was doing. 16 Now the six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, stood at the entrance of the gate. 17 Now the five men who had gone to scout the land went up and entered the house and took the image [of silver-plated wood], the ephod, the teraphim, and the cast image [of solid silver], while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war. 18 When these [five men] went into Micah’s house and took the [plated] image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the cast image, the priest asked them, “What are you doing?” 19 They said to him, “Keep quiet, put your hand over your mouth and come with us, and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be a priest to a tribe and family in Israel?” 20 The priest’s heart was glad [to hear that], and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the image, and went among the people.
21 So they turned and left, and they put the children, the livestock, and the valuables and supplies in front of them. 22 When they had gone some distance from the house of Micah, the men who were [living] in the houses near Micah’s house assembled [as a militia] and overtook the sons of Dan. 23 They shouted to the Danites, who turned and said to Micah, “What is your reason for assembling [against us]?” 24 He said, “You have taken away my gods which I have made, and the priest, and have gone away; what else do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What is your reason?’” 25 The sons of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice [of complaint] be heard among us, or else angry men will assault you and you will lose your life, along with the lives of [everyone in] your household.” 26 Then the Danites went on their way; and Micah saw that they were too strong for him, so he turned and went back to his house.
27 They took the [idolatrous] things that Micah had made, and his priest, and they came to Laish, to a people who were quiet and secure; and they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. 28 And there was no one to rescue them because it was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley which belongs to Beth-rehob. And they rebuilt the city and lived in it. 29 They named the city Dan, after Dan their forefather who was born to Israel (Jacob); however, the original name of the city was Laish. 30 The [tribe of] the sons of Dan set up the image [of silver-plated wood] for themselves; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of [d]Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity and exile from the land. 31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s [silver-plated wooden] image which he had made, and kept it throughout the time that the house (tabernacle) of God was at Shiloh.
The New Birth
3 Now there was a certain man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler (member of the Sanhedrin) among the Jews, 2 who came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi (Teacher), we know [without any doubt] that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs [these wonders, these attesting miracles] that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot [ever] enter the kingdom of God.(A) 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh [the physical is merely physical], and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be surprised that I have told you, ‘You must be born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be possible?” 10 Jesus replied, “You are the [great and well-known] teacher of Israel, and yet you do not know nor understand these things [from Scripture]? 11 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, we speak only of what we [absolutely] know and testify about what we have [actually] seen [as eyewitnesses]; and [still] you [reject our evidence and] do not accept our testimony. 12 If I told you earthly things [that is, things that happen right here on earth] and you do not believe, how will you believe and trust Me if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has gone up into heaven, but there is One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man [Himself—whose home is in heaven]. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross],(B) 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life [after physical death, and will actually live forever].
16 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] [a]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because [b]he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him]. 19 This is the judgment [that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the [c]darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.(C) 20 For every wrongdoer hates the Light, and does not come to the Light [but shrinks from it] for fear that his [sinful, worthless] activities will be exposed and condemned. 21 But whoever practices truth [and does what is right—morally, ethically, spiritually] comes to the Light, so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—accomplished in God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence on Him].”
The Lord’s Care over All His Works.
104 Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2
[You are the One] who covers Yourself with light as with a garment,
Who stretches out the heavens like a tent curtain,
3
Who lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters [above the firmament],
Who makes the clouds His chariot,
Who walks on the wings of the wind,
4
Who makes winds His messengers,
Flames of fire His ministers.(A)
5
He established the earth on its foundations,
So that it will not be moved forever and ever.(B)
6
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters were standing above the mountains.(C)
7
At Your rebuke they fled;
At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away.
8
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
To the place which You established for them.
9
You set a boundary [for the waters] that they may not cross over,
So that they will not return to cover the earth.
10
You send springs into the valleys;
Their waters flow among the mountains.
11
They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild donkeys quench their thirst there.
12
Beside them the birds of the heavens have their nests;
They lift up their voices and sing among the branches.(D)
13
He waters the mountains from His upper chambers;
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works.
14
He causes grass to grow for the cattle,
And all that the earth produces for cultivation by man,
So that he may bring food from the earth—
15
And wine which makes the heart of man glad,
So that he may make his face glisten with oil,
And bread to sustain and strengthen man’s heart.
16
The trees of the Lord drink their fill,
The cedars of Lebanon which He has planted,
17
Where the birds make their nests;
As for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
18
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
The rocks are a refuge for the [a]shephanim.
19
He made the moon for the seasons;
The sun knows the [exact] place of its setting.
20
You [O Lord] make darkness and it becomes night,
In which prowls about every wild beast of the forest.
21
The young lions roar after their prey
And seek their food from God.
22
When the sun arises, they withdraw
And lie down in their dens.
23
Man goes out to his work
And remains at his labor until evening.
24
O Lord, how many and varied are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all;
The earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures.
20
The poor man is hated even by his neighbor,
But those who love the rich are many.
21
He who despises his neighbor sins [against God and his fellow man],
But happy [blessed and favored by God] is he who is gracious and merciful to the poor.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.