The Daily Audio Bible
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Harvest gifts
26 You will soon go into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. It will belong to you as your home. 2 This is what you must do the first time that the land provides food for you: At harvest time, when you bring in your crops, put some in a basket. Take it to the special place that the Lord your God will choose for people to worship him. 3 Go to the priest who has authority at that time. Say to him, ‘Today, I say to the Lord our God that I am now living in the land that he promised to us. He made that promise to our ancestors.’
4 Then the priest will take the basket from you. He will put it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then you must say this, so that the Lord your God hears you: ‘My ancestor was an Aramean who moved from place to place. He went to Egypt to live there as a foreigner. At that time, his family was small. But while he lived in Egypt, his family became a great nation of many powerful people. 6 But the Egyptian people were cruel to us. They made us work very hard for them. 7 So we prayed to the Lord, the God of our ancestors. He heard our prayers. He saw that we were in trouble. He saw that we had to do very hard work for cruel people. 8 So the Lord used his great strength and power to bring us out of Egypt. He did powerful miracles which caused the Egyptians to be afraid. 9 Then he brought us to this place. He gave us this land where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. 10 So now I am bringing the first food that has grown in my fields. You, Lord, have given it to me.’
Then you must put the basket down in front of the Lord's altar. Worship him there. 11 In that way, you will enjoy a meal to say ‘thank you’ for all the good things that the Lord your God has given to you and your family. Share your meal with the Levites and the foreign people who live among you.
12 Every third year you must keep safe a tenth part of all your crops. In the third year, you must give that tithe to the Levites, the foreigners who live among you, widows and the children who have no family. Then everyone who lives in your towns can eat all the food that they need.[a]
13 Then you can say to the Lord your God, ‘None of the tithe that belongs to you remains in my house. I have done what you commanded me to do. I have given it to the Levites, foreigners, widows and the children who have no family. I have not forgotten to obey your commands. 14 I have not eaten any of this special food when I was weeping for someone who had died. I did not touched any of it while I was unclean. I have not offered any of it to give honour to a dead person. I have obeyed you completely. I have done everything that you commanded me to do. 15 Please look down from your home in heaven and bless your people, Israel. Please bless the land that you have given to us. You promised our ancestors that you would do that. It is a land where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone.’
Moses warns the people
16 Today, the Lord your God commands you to obey these laws and these rules. So be careful to obey them with all your mind and with all your strength. 17 Today, you have said clearly that the Lord is your God. You have agreed to live in a way that pleases him. You have agreed that you will obey his rules, his commands and his laws. You will do everything that he has told you to do. 18 Today the Lord has accepted you to be his own special people. He already promised that he would do that. As his people, you must obey all his commands. 19 If you do that, he will make you greater than all the other nations that he has made. Other nations will see that you are great. They will praise you and give you honour. You will be a nation that belongs to the Lord your God as his own special people. He has promised to do this.
The altar on Mount Ebal
27 Moses and the leaders of Israel said to the people, ‘Obey all these commands that I am giving you today. 2 You will soon go across the Jordan River and go into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. When you are there, you must put up some large stones on Mount Ebal. Cover them with thick white paint. 3 Then write on them all these laws and teaching. You must do that when you go across the river into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. It is a land where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. He promised your ancestors that he would give it to you. 4 After you go across the Jordan River, you must put these stones on Mount Ebal. Cover them with white paint. Do as I am telling you today.
5 Then you must build an altar there to worship the Lord your God. Do not use iron tools to cut the stones for the altar. 6 Use whole stones that you find to build it. Then offer burnt offerings to the Lord your God on the altar. 7 You must also offer friendship offerings there. Eat them with joy as you meet with the Lord your God. 8 Write all the words of this law on the stones that you will put there. Be sure to write them very clearly.’
The messages from Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim
9 Then Moses and the Levite priests said to all the Israelites, ‘Be quiet and listen carefully! Today, you have become the people who belong to the Lord your God. 10 Obey him. Obey his commands and his rules that I am giving you today.’
11 On the same day, Moses commanded the people, 12 ‘After you have gone across the Jordan River, these tribes must stand on Mount Gerizim: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. They will bless the people. 13 These tribes must stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. They will speak aloud God's curses.’
Curses
14 The Levites will shout this with a loud voice to all the Israelites:
15 ‘God will curse anyone who makes any image of a god and who worships it secretly. The Lord hates all idols that people make with metal or with wood.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
16 ‘God will curse anyone who does not respect his parents.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
17 ‘God will curse anyone who moves the stones at the edge of his neighbour's land.’[b] Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
18 ‘God will curse anyone who leads a blind person along the wrong path.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
19 ‘God will curse anyone who stops foreigners, widows or children who have no family from receiving justice.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
20 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with his father's wife. That would bring shame on his father.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
21 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with any animal.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
22 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with his sister, whether she is his father's daughter or his mother's daughter.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
23 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with his wife's mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
24 ‘God will curse anyone who murders anyone secretly.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
25 ‘God will curse anyone who receives a bribe to kill someone who has done nothing wrong.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
26 ‘God will curse anyone who refuses to obey all the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
Jesus visits the home of Martha and Mary
38 Jesus and his disciples continued their journey. They arrived at a certain village. There, a woman called Martha asked Jesus to come into her home.[a] 39 Martha had a sister called Mary. Mary sat down near Jesus. She was listening to the things that he was teaching. 40 But Martha was thinking to herself, ‘I cannot do all this work alone.’ So she went to Jesus. She said, ‘Master, my sister is not helping me with the work. She has left me to do it alone. You surely do not think that this is right! Tell her that she should help me!’
41 The Lord Jesus replied, ‘Martha, Martha, you have troubles in your mind about many things. 42 But only one thing is really important. That is what Mary has chosen to do. Nobody will take it away from her.’[b]
Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray
11 One day, Jesus was praying in a certain place. He finished praying. Then, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Master, John taught his disciples how to pray. Please teach us as he did.’
2 Jesus replied, ‘When you pray, you should say this:
“God, our Father, we want people to give honour to you.
We want the day when you rule everyone to come soon.
3 Please give to us the food that we need each day.
4 Forgive us for our sins,
because we also forgive everyone who has done wrong things against us.
And do not let us agree to do wrong things.” ’
5 Jesus then told a story to teach them how to pray. He said, ‘Let me tell you about someone who goes to a friend's home at midnight. “My friend,” he says, “please give me three loaves of bread. 6 A friend of mine is on a journey and he has arrived at my house. But I have no food to give him.” 7 But his friend answers from inside his house. He says, “Do not cause problems for me! I have locked my door. My children and I have gone to bed. So I cannot get up and give you any bread.” ’
8 Then Jesus said, ‘I will tell you what will happen. Perhaps your friend will not give you anything just because you are good friends. But if you continue to knock and ask for bread, your friend will get up. He will give you bread, as much as you need.
9 So I tell you this. Continue to ask God for what you need. Then God will give it to you. Continue to look for what you need. Then you will find it. Continue to knock at the door and God will open it for you. 10 Everyone that asks for something will receive it. Everyone that looks for something will find it. God will open the door for everyone that knocks on it. 11 Some of you are fathers. If your son asks you for a fish, you would not give him a snake instead. 12 If he asks you for an egg, you would not give him something dangerous. 13 You are bad. But even you know how to give good things to your children. Your Father in heaven knows much better than you do how to give good things to his children. So he will give the Holy Spirit to everyone who asks him.’[c]
This psalm is a song that Asaph wrote for the music leader. Sing it with the music of stringed instruments.
God has great power
76 People in Judah know who God is.
He is famous in Israel.[a]
2 His home is in Salem.
Yes, he lives in Zion.[b]
3 There he destroyed all the weapons of our enemy,
their arrows, their shields,
and their swords.
He destroyed everything that they use to fight wars.
Selah.
4 God, you are the one who shines with glory!
You are greater than the greatest mountains.
5 You won against brave soldiers,
so that we robbed them of everything.
Now they are sleeping,
and they will never wake up!
They are completely helpless.
6 God of Jacob,
when your enemies heard your battle cry,
both the horses and their riders fell down dead.
7 Yes, everyone is afraid of you, our God!
When you are angry,
nobody can stand against you.
8 From heaven you said how you would judge people.
Everybody on earth became afraid.
They could not say anything!
9 This happened when you came to punish wicked people.
You came to rescue the weak and poor people in the land.
Selah.
10 Everybody will praise you,
even those who are angry against you.
You will show them how angry you really are.[c]
11 Make promises to the Lord your God,
and do what you have promised.
Everyone who serves God should bring gifts to him.
We must respect him with fear.
12 He makes proud rulers become humble.
All the kings of the world should be afraid of him.
15 Foolish people always do what seems right to them.
But wise people listen to advice from others.
16 When a fool becomes angry, everybody knows it!
But a careful person keeps quiet when someone insults him.
17 Honest people speak the truth in court.
But a person who tells lies never says what is true.
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