The Daily Audio Bible

²² When two men fight together, perhaps one of them may hit a pregnant woman. As a result of the fight, she may give birth to her child before the right time. If the man has not hurt the woman very much, he must pay money to her husband. He must pay the amount of money that the husband demands. A judge must agree that the money for his punishment is fair. ²³ But if the man has hurt the woman a lot, you must punish him as he deserves. Take a life for a life, ²⁴ an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot. ²⁵ You must give him a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.^[a]

²⁶ If a master hits the eye of his male slave or his female slave, he might destroy it. Then he must let the slave go away as a free person to pay for the loss of their eye. ²⁷ If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, he must also let the slave go away to pay for the loss of the tooth.

Rules about animals

²⁸ Perhaps a bull may attack someone so that the person dies. Then you must throw stones at the bull to kill it. You must not eat the meat from that bull. But do not punish the owner of the bull. ²⁹ But perhaps that bull has attacked people before. Perhaps someone warned the owner about this, but the man did not keep the bull in a safe place. If that happens, and the bull kills someone, you must kill the bull. You must also punish the bull's owner with death. ³⁰ But if the dead person's family demands money, the man can give them money instead of his life. He must pay them what they ask for. ³¹ This law is the same if the bull attacks someone's son or their daughter. ³² If it attacks a male slave or a female slave, the man must pay 30 silver coins to the slave's master. You must also throw stones at the bull to kill it.

³³ If a man digs a hole in the ground, he must cover it. If he leaves a hole open, a cow or a donkey might fall into it. ³⁴ Then the man who dug the hole must pay for the loss of the animal. He must pay money to the animal's owner, but he may keep the dead animal for himself.

³⁵ If one man's bull attacks another man's bull, it may die. Then they must sell the bull that is still alive. Each man can take half of the money and half of the dead bull as well. ³⁶ But perhaps that bull has attacked other animals before. If its owner knows that and he did not do anything, he must pay for the dead bull. He should have kept his bull in a safe place. So he must pay the owner of the dead bull, but he can keep the dead animal for himself.

Rules about things that belong to people

22 Perhaps someone may take another person's cow or sheep for himself. He may kill it or he may sell it. As punishment, he must pay the owner five cows for each cow that he has taken. He must pay four sheep for each sheep that he has taken.

² Perhaps someone may catch a robber as he goes into another person's house. The owner of the house might knock down the robber so that he dies. If this happens at night, the owner of the house is not guilty of murder. ³ But if the owner of the house kills the robber after sunrise, he is guilty of murder.

Anyone who takes something that belongs to someone else must pay back the owner. If he cannot pay for everything that he has taken, he must become a slave. The owner will receive the money that someone has paid for the slave.

⁴ You may find an animal that someone has taken for himself. If the animal is still alive, the person who took it must pay back to the owner twice its value. He must do this, whether it was a cow, a donkey, or a sheep.

⁵ A man's animals might go into someone else's field or vineyard to eat what is growing there. Then the owner of those animals must pay back the value of what they have eaten. He must give his best grain and his best grapes to pay back the other man.

⁶ Someone might light a fire in his field to burn thorn bushes. But the fire might grow and it might burn the crops in another farmer's field. It may destroy the crops that are growing there or the grain that is ready for harvest. It might even destroy the whole field. Then the person who lit the fire must pay the farmer for the crops that the fire has destroyed.

⁷ Perhaps you may give some of your money or your valuable things to your neighbour. You may ask your neighbour to keep them safe for you. But a robber might take those things from your neighbour's house. If you catch the robber, he must pay back twice the value of the things that he took. ⁸ But if you do not find the robber, you must take your neighbour to stand in front of the judges.^[b] They must decide if your neighbour has taken your things for himself.

⁹ Perhaps two people both say that something belongs to them. They may argue about a cow, a donkey, a sheep, some clothes or anything else that they have lost. Then both of them must go to stand in front of the judges. The judges will decide which of them is guilty. The guilty person must pay back twice the value of the thing to the other person.

¹⁰ Perhaps you may ask your neighbour to keep one of your animals safe for you. It may be a donkey, a cow, a sheep or any other animal that belongs to you. Then the animal may die, or something may hurt it. Or perhaps a robber takes it for himself. If nobody has seen what really happened, you must do this: ¹¹ Your neighbour must make a serious promise to the Lord. He must promise that he did not take your animal for himself, or hurt it. Then you must accept what he has said. Do not ask your neighbour to pay you any money. ¹² But if a robber did take the animal from your neighbour, then your neighbour must pay you for it. ¹³ But perhaps a wild animal attacked it. Then your neighbour must show the pieces of your animal that are left. Then he will not have to pay you for the loss of your animal.

¹⁴ Your neighbour might lend one of his animals to you to do some work. Something bad might happen to the animal while its owner is not with it. It might die, or something might hurt it. Then you must pay your neighbour for the loss of the animal. ¹⁵ But if the owner is with his animal when something bad happens to it, you do not have to pay anything. And if you already paid your neighbour some money to use his animal, that will be enough to pay him for the loss.

Rules about life

¹⁶ Perhaps a man may meet a young girl who has not had sex with any man before. He might deceive her to have sex with her. If she has not yet promised to marry another man, he must marry her. He must give the right gifts to her parents. ¹⁷ Her father might refuse to give her to the man to be his wife. But the man must still give the right gifts for a girl who is not married.^[c]

¹⁸ You must punish with death any woman who is a magician.

¹⁹ You must punish with death anyone who has sex with an animal.

²⁰ You must completely destroy anyone who offers a sacrifice to a false god. You must only offer sacrifices to the Lord.

²¹ Never be cruel to a foreign person or give them trouble. Remember that you yourselves lived in Egypt as foreigners.

²² Never give trouble to any widow or to any children who have no family. ²³ If you are cruel to them, I will hear them when they call out to me for help. ²⁴ I will be very angry with you. I will kill you in war. Your wives will become widows. Your children will no longer have any family.

²⁵ You may lend money to any of my people who need help. But do not ask them to pay back more money than you have lent to them. That is what traders in money do. ²⁶ You may take someone's coat as a guarantee that he will pay you back. But you must always return his coat to him before sunset. ²⁷ He needs his coat to keep him warm at night. It is the only warm thing that he has to sleep in. If you keep his coat, I will hear him when he calls out to me for help. And I will help him, because I am very kind to people.

²⁸ Never insult God. Never curse anyone who is a leader of your people.

²⁹ Do not refuse to offer your grain, your wine or your olive oil to me.

You must give your firstborn sons to me.

³⁰ Do the same thing with your cows and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days. But on the eighth day, you must give them to me.

³¹ You must live as my special people. So do not eat any meat from your animals that wild animals have killed. Instead, you must give it as food to the dogs.

Rules for justice

23 Do not make false reports. Do not tell lies in court to help wicked people.

² Do not join a group of bad people to do evil things. When you speak in court, tell the truth so that the judges will decide what is right. Do not tell lies to agree with what everyone else says. ³ Do not speak on behalf of a poor man only because you like him.

⁴ Perhaps you may find your enemy's cow or his donkey when he has lost it. If so, you must give it back to him. ⁵ Perhaps you may see your enemy's donkey when it is carrying a heavy load. If the donkey has fallen down, do not refuse to give help. Do not leave the donkey there.

⁶ Always do what is right for your poor people when they stand in front of a judge. ⁷ Do not help anyone to use lies to accuse another person. Never punish anyone with death if they are not guilty. I will never say that a wicked person is not guilty.

⁸ Do not accept a bribe. A bribe will hide the truth even from honest people. It can make good people tell lies.

⁹ Do not be cruel to a foreign person who lives among you. You yourselves know what that feels like. Remember that you lived in Egypt as foreigners.

Rules about the Sabbath day and Feasts

¹⁰ You must plant seed in your fields for six years. Then you can bring your crops home at harvest time. ¹¹ But in the seventh year, you must let your fields lie empty. Do not dig them and do not plant anything in them. Then poor people among you can eat the food that they find in your fields. After that, the wild animals can eat any food that still remains. Do the same thing with your vineyards and your fields of olive trees.

¹² Do your work for six days each week, but do not work on the seventh day. Then your oxen and your donkeys will have time to rest. Any slave who was born in your home and any foreigner who works for you may also have time to rest. That will help them to be strong.

¹³ Be careful to obey everything that I have told you. Do not pray to other gods for help. Do not even speak about them.

Jesus talks about the temple

24 Jesus left the temple. While he was leaving, his disciples came to him. They began to talk to him about the buildings of the temple. ² So Jesus said to them, ‘Yes, you can see all these beautiful buildings now. But I tell you this: Enemies will completely destroy them.^[a] Not even one stone will remain on top of another stone.’

³ After that, Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives. While he was alone, his disciples came to him. They said to him, ‘Please tell us when all these things will happen. Also tell us what will show us that you will soon return? What will show us that the world will soon end?’

⁴ Jesus said, ‘You must be careful! Some people will tell you things that are not true. Do not believe them. ⁵ Many people will say that they have come on my behalf. They will say, “I am the Messiah.” Many people will believe their false words. ⁶ You will hear about wars. You will hear reports about wars in other places. But you must not be afraid. Those things must happen first, but it is not yet the end of everything. ⁷ People in one country will attack the people in another country. Kings and their armies will fight against other kings and their armies. In some places, people will be hungry, with no food. The ground will shake in many different places. ⁸ All those things will be like the first pains that a mother has before her baby is born.

⁹ Then people will take hold of you and they will give you pain. They will even kill some of you. People in every country will hate you because you are my disciples. ¹⁰ At that time, many people who believe in me will stop believing. They will put some of my disciples in the power of their rulers. They will hate each other. ¹¹ Also at that time, many people will say that they are prophets from God. Their message is false, but many people will believe them. ¹² More and more people everywhere will be doing very bad things. Because of this, many people will no longer love each other in the way that they did before. ¹³ But God will save the person who remains strong until the end. ¹⁴ People will tell the good news about God's kingdom to people all over the world. People in every country will hear the true message from God. Then God will cause the world to come to an end.

¹⁵ Long ago, God's prophet Daniel wrote in the Bible about something that would happen. He said that one day people would put a disgusting thing that causes trouble in the temple. You will see it in the holy place. (When you read this, you must understand what it means.) ¹⁶ At that time, people in Judea must run away to the hills to hide.

¹⁷ A person who is on the roof of his house must not go down into his house.^[b] He must not stop to get anything from his home to take with him. ¹⁸ People who are outside in their fields must not go back to their homes. They must not even go to fetch their coats. ¹⁹ That will be a bad time for women who are soon to have a baby! It will also be a bad time for those women who have little babies! ²⁰ You must pray to God about this time when you have to run away quickly. Pray that this time of trouble will not happen in winter. Pray that it will not happen on your day of rest. ²¹ Great troubles will happen to people at that time. Nothing as bad has ever happened before, since the beginning of the world. Nothing as bad will ever happen again. ²² God will cause those days of great trouble to be not so many. If he did not do that, there would be nobody still alive. But God will cause those days to come to an end. He will do that to help the people that he has chosen. ²³ At that time, someone may say to you, “Look, here is the Messiah.” Or they may say, “There he is!” When they say that, do not believe them. ²⁴ Some people will say to you, “I am the Messiah!” Other people will say, “I am a prophet from God.” But their words will be false. They will do strange and powerful things for people to see. If possible, they would even deceive the people that God has chosen. ²⁵ So be careful! I have told you about these things before they happen.

²⁶ Some people may say to you, “Look, the Messiah is out there in the wilderness.” But do not go out to see who is there. Some people may say to you, “Look, the Messiah is hiding in that secret room.” You must not believe these people. ²⁷ Lightning shines quickly and it lights up the whole of the sky from one side to the other. It will be like that when the Son of Man returns. ²⁸ If the dead body of an animal is lying somewhere, vultures will come together in that place.^[c]

This is a song that David wrote.

The storm^[a]

The adulteress^[a]

⁶ Once I was looking out through the window of my house. ⁷ I saw a group of silly young men. One of them was not wise at all. ⁸ He was walking along the street near the house of a bad woman. ⁹ It was in the evening after it had become dark. ¹⁰ Then the woman came out to meet him! She was wearing the clothes of a prostitute. She knew what she wanted to do.

¹¹ This was a woman who did not respect anyone. She was not ashamed of the bad things that she did. She never stayed at her home. ¹² Instead she would stand in the streets and in the market place. She would wait at the corners of the streets to find a man.

¹³ Now she took hold of the young man and she kissed him. She looked into his eyes without any shame. ¹⁴ She said to him, ‘I offered a sacrifice to God today and I have the meat at my home. ¹⁵ That is why I came out to meet you. I was looking for you, and now I have found you!

¹⁶ I have covered my bed with beautiful blankets and with valuable cloths from Egypt. ¹⁷ I have splashed many kinds of perfume on my bed, like myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. ¹⁸ So come and join me for the night. We can lie in each other's arms. All night, we can enjoy as much sex as we like. ¹⁹ My husband is not at home. He has gone away on a long journey. ²⁰ He took a big bag of money with him. He will not come back until later this month.’

²¹ With those sweet words she deceived the young man. She made him want to be with her. ²² Suddenly he hurried to follow her! He went like an ox that men are leading to its death. He went like a deer that is running towards a trap. ²³ Then an arrow will go straight into its body and kill it! The young man was like a bird that is flying into a trap. He did not know that his life was in danger.