The Daily Audio Bible
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The last words of Moses
33 Before his death, God's servant Moses spoke this blessing to all the Israelites. 2 He said this:
‘The Lord came from Sinai.
He appeared to his people
like the sun that rises over the hills of Edom.
He shone on his people from Mount Paran.
Thousands of angels came with him.
In his right hand, he held his Law that burned with fire.
3 Yes, the Lord loves his people.
He takes care of all his holy people.
They sit near to him and they listen to his teaching.
4 Moses gave us the Lord's teaching.
It is very valuable to us, the descendants of Jacob.
5 When the leaders of the people and all the tribes met together,
the Lord became king of Israel.[a]
6 I pray this for the tribe of Reuben:
May they continue to live and have many descendants.
7 I pray this for the tribe of Judah:
Lord, please listen to their prayers for help.
May they join again with the other tribes.
Please make them strong,
so that they can fight against their enemies.
8 I pray this for the tribe of Levi:
Lord, your Urim and Thummim belong to your faithful servants, the Levites.
You tested them at Massah.
You argued with them at the springs of water at Meribah.[b]
9 The Levites left their own families
so that they could serve you well.
They obeyed your word.
They were faithful to your covenant.
10 They teach your rules and your laws to Jacob's descendants, the Israelites.
They offer incense to you, as a sweet smell.
They burn offerings on your altar.
11 Lord, please bless their work.
May everything that they do give you pleasure.
Knock down anyone who attacks them.
Destroy all their enemies completely.
12 I pray this for the tribe of Benjamin:
The Lord loves the tribe of Benjamin.
They will live with him and they will be safe.
The Lord protects them all the time.
He keeps them near to him.
13 I pray this for the tribe of Joseph:
Lord, please bless their land.
Send rain from the sky above,
and springs of water from under the ground.
14 May the sun give them a good harvest of food,
with the best crops every month.
15 May they have a harvest of good fruits
from the mountains and hills that have been there since long ago.
16 Please fill their land with many good things.
Lord who appeared in the burning bush,
please be kind to them.
Please bless Joseph's descendants.
He became a leader, separate from his brothers.
May this blessing be like a crown on his head!
17 Joseph is as strong as a bull.
He has horns like a wild ox.
Those two horns are the armies of Ephraim and Manasseh![c]
With them, he attacks other nations.
He chases them to the edges of the world.
18 I pray this for the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar:
Be happy, Zebulun's people, as you travel far from home.
Be happy, Issachar's people, as you live in your homes.
19 They will call other people to come to their mountain.
They will offer the right sacrifices there.
They will become rich from their work on the seas,
and from things that are hidden in the sand on the shore.
20 I pray this for the tribe of Gad:
Praise the Lord, who will give more land to Gad's people!
Gad lives there like a hungry lion.
He will tear off the arm or the head of his enemies.
21 He has chosen the best part of the land for himself.
When Israel's leaders met together,
Gad's tribe received the land that a leader deserves.
Gad's people obeyed the Lord's good laws.
They obeyed the Lord's commands for Israel.
22 I pray this for the tribe of Dan:
Dan's tribe is like a young lion.
They jump out from Bashan to attack their enemies.
23 I pray this for the tribe of Naphtali:
The Lord has blessed Naphtali's tribe very much.
He has been very kind to them.
Land in the west and in the south will belong to them.
24 I pray this for the tribe of Asher:
May the Lord bless Asher's tribe more than the other tribes.
May their brothers be pleased with them.
May Asher's people be rich enough to wash their feet in olive oil.
25 They will use iron and bronze to make the gates of their towns strong.
May they be strong for as long as they live.
26 Israelites, there is no god like your God.[d]
He rides across the sky to help you.
He travels with great authority on the clouds.
27 He is the God who lives for ever.
He is the safe place where you can hide.
His strong arms are always there, to hold you safely.
He will chase away your enemies as you attack them.
He says to you, “Destroy them!”
28 So Israel's people can now live safely.
Jacob's descendants have a safe place to live.
They have a land that will give them grain and wine.
Rain falls from the sky to make the ground wet.
29 Israelites, how happy you are!
There is no other nation like you.
The Lord himself has rescued you.
He is the one who keeps you safe, like a soldier's shield.
He is like a sword that you use to win against your enemies.
Your enemies will fall down with fear in front of you.
You will walk all over them.’
Stop doing wrong things or die
13 At that time, some people were with Jesus. They told him what happened to some people from Galilee. They had been burning animals as a gift for God. Pilate sent some soldiers to kill them.[a]
2 Jesus replied, ‘Think about those people from Galilee. Perhaps you think that they had done more bad things than other people from Galilee. Do you think that is why they had to die? 3 No! But I tell you this. All of you have done many bad things. So you must change how you live and you must turn to God. If you do not, you will also die as they did.
4 And you remember what happened to those 18 people in Siloam. A high building fell down and it killed them. Perhaps you think that they had done more bad things than the other people in Jerusalem. 5 But I tell you, no, they had not. All of you have also done many bad things. So you must change how you live and you must turn to God. If you do not, you will also die as they did.’
A story about a fig tree
6 Then Jesus told this story. ‘A man had a garden where he grew fruit. He had planted a fig tree there. But when he came to look for fruit on it, he could not find any. 7 So he said to his gardener, “Look, for three years, I have come to look for fruit on this tree. But I have never found any. So cut the tree down! I do not think that it should be here. It is wasting the ground.”
8 “Master,” the gardener replied, “please leave the tree in the ground for one more year. Let me dig round it and let me put some good soil there.[b] 9 If I do that, next year, the fig tree may have some fruit on it. If it does not, I will cut it down for you.” ’[c]
Jesus makes a sick woman well again
10 One day, Jesus was teaching in a Jewish meeting place. It was the Jewish day of rest.
11 There was a woman there that had a bad spirit inside her. It had lived in her for 18 years and it had made her ill. Her back was bent. She could not stand up straight. 12 Jesus saw her and he called her to come to him. He said, ‘Woman, you are now better from your illness.’ 13 He put his hands on her and immediately she could stand up straight. She praised God.
14 But the leader of the meeting place was angry because Jesus had made a sick person well on their day of rest. He said to the people there, ‘There are six days each week when we should work. Come on any of those days and get well. But you should not come on our day of rest to get well.’
15 ‘You are wrong,’ the Lord Jesus said to him. ‘You teach one thing but you do something different yourselves. On the day of rest you will undo the rope on your ox or your donkey and take it outside. You then give it water to drink. Is that not true?[d] 16 Now look at this woman. She belongs to the family of Abraham. But a bad spirit from the Devil has made her ill for 18 years. It is like he has tied her up. So it must be right to make her free on our day of rest.’
17 These words made the leaders of the meeting place feel ashamed. But the other people there were very happy. They were happy because they had seen Jesus do many good and powerful things.
Jesus tells stories about seeds and yeast
18 Then Jesus said to them, ‘I will tell you a story about the kingdom of God and what it is like. 19 It is like a very small seed of the plant called mustard. A man took this seed and he planted it in his garden. The seed grew and it became a tree. It was so big that birds came and made their nests among its branches.’
20 Jesus then said, ‘Here is another example of what the kingdom of God is like. 21 It is like how yeast works. A woman took some of it and she mixed it into three large bowls of flour. Then the yeast went through all the flour so that it grew big.’
65 Then the Lord woke up,
like someone had woken him from sleep.
He shouted loudly,
like a soldier who has drunk a lot of wine.
66 He chased his enemies away.
He caused them to be ashamed for ever.
67 He chose not to live among Joseph's descendants.
He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah.
He chose Mount Zion,
the place which he loves.
69 There he built a temple for himself,
to be like his home in heaven.
He made it to be strong, like the earth itself,
so that it would always be there.
70 Also, he chose his servant, David.
He took David away from the fields,
71 so that he no longer took care of his father's sheep.
He became like a shepherd,
to lead his people, Jacob's descendants.
He ruled the people that belonged to God,
the Israelite people.[a]
72 David took care of them with an honest heart.
He was wise in the way that he led them.
25 If you worry all the time, it will make you sad.
But kind words will make you happy.
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