The Daily Audio Bible
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The people agree to serve the Lord
24 Joshua called all the Israelite tribes to meet together at Shechem.[a] He called the leaders of clans, the rulers, the judges and the officers to stand in front of the tabernacle. 2 Joshua said to the people, ‘This is what the Lord, Israel's God, says:
“A long time ago, your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates river. They included Terah who was the father of Abraham and Nahor. They worshipped other gods. 3 But I took Abraham, your ancestor, away from that land beyond the Euphrates river. I brought him here and I led him through all the land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants. I gave him a son, Isaac. 4 I gave to Isaac two sons, Jacob and Esau. I gave to Esau the hills of Seir. But Jacob and his sons went down to live in Egypt.
5 I sent Moses and Aaron to lead the Israelites when they were in Egypt. I punished the people of Egypt, and I brought you out from there. 6 When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, they reached the Red Sea. The Egyptians chased after them to the sea, with soldiers on horses and in chariots. 7 But your ancestors called to the Lord for help. He made the space between them and the Egyptians become dark. He caused the Egyptian soldiers to drown in the sea. Your ancestors saw what I did to the Egyptians with their own eyes. After that, they lived in the desert for a long time.
8 I brought you to the land of the Amorites, on the east side of the Jordan River. They fought against you, but I helped you to win the fight. I destroyed them in front of you, and you took their land. 9 The king of Moab, Zippor's son Balak, prepared to attack you. When he did this, he asked Balaam, son of Beor, to curse you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam. So he could not curse you but he continued to bless you. In that way I saved you from Balak's power.
11 Then you went across the Jordan River and you came to Jericho city. The people of Jericho fought against you. So did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites. I helped you to win against all those people. 12 I sent great fear on your enemies as you moved into the land.[b] I chased them all away, as well as the two kings of the Amorites. You did not win because of your strong weapons, but because of me. 13 The land was a gift from me. I gave you a land where you had not worked in its fields. I gave you towns to live in that you did not build. You eat grapes and olives from trees that you did not plant.” ’
14 Joshua said to the people, ‘Now you must serve the Lord with fear. You must worship him. You must continue to trust him. Throw away the gods that your ancestors worshipped when they lived beyond the Euphrates river and in Egypt. Worship the Lord. 15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then you should choose another god to worship. Decide today! Will you serve the gods that your ancestors worshipped across the river? Will you serve the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living? You choose! But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.’
16 The people answered Joshua, ‘We would never turn against the Lord to serve other gods! 17 We and our fathers were slaves in Egypt. But the Lord our God brought us out from there. We saw the great miracles that he did there. He kept us safe all the time on our journey, as we travelled through other nations. 18 The Lord chased all the nations out as we moved into the land. He chased out the Amorites and the other people who lived in the land. So we too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.’
19 Joshua said to them, ‘The Lord is a holy God. You will not be able to serve him. He wants you to belong to him. If you turn against him or you do not obey him, he will not forgive you. 20 If you turn away from the Lord and you serve foreign gods, he will turn against you. He has been kind and he has helped you until now. But he will bring trouble to you and he will destroy you, if you turn away from him.’
21 The people said to Joshua, ‘Never! We will only serve the Lord.’
22 Joshua said to them, ‘You yourselves have chosen to serve the Lord. Agree now that you have done that.’
They replied, ‘Yes, we agree!’
23 Joshua said, ‘So now you must throw away the foreign gods that you still keep. Trust the Lord, Israel's God, and obey him.’
24 The people said to Joshua, ‘We will serve the Lord our God and we will obey him.’
25 That same day, Joshua made an agreement for the people to accept. There at Shechem, he made a list of rules and laws for them to obey. 26 Joshua wrote these things in the Book of God's Law. Then he took a big stone. He stood it there under the oak tree that was near the Lord's holy place.
27 Joshua said to all the people, ‘Look at this stone! It has heard everything that the Lord has said to us today! It will speak against you if you fail to obey your God!’[c]
28 Then Joshua sent the people away. They went to the parts of the land that now belonged to each of them.
Joshua dies
29 After this, the Lord's servant, Joshua, son of Nun, died at the age of 110. 30 The Israelites buried him in his own land that was at Timnah Serah. That was in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31 The people of Israel continued to serve the Lord while Joshua and the old men were still alive. Joshua and those men had seen everything that the Lord had done to help Israel.
32 The Israelites had brought Joseph's bones up from Egypt, to bury him at Shechem.[d] This land was in the field that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father. Jacob had paid them 100 pieces of silver for the land. Now the land belonged to Joseph's descendants.
33 Aaron's son, Eleazar, also died. The people buried him at Gibeah, in the hill country of Ephraim. That land had been given to Eleazar's son Phinehas.
Jesus talks about people who give things to God
21 Then Jesus looked up and saw something that was happening in the temple. There was a box for money there. Many rich people were putting their gifts of money into the box.
2 Then he saw a woman coming there. Her husband had died and she was very poor. She put two small coins that had only a little value into the box. 3 ‘Let me tell you this,’ Jesus said. ‘This poor woman has put a better gift into the box than all the other people have put in there. 4 All those rich people have plenty of money. They only gave a small part of that. But this woman has almost nothing. She put everything that she had into the box. That money was what she needed to live.’
Jesus talks about things that will happen
5 Some of Jesus' disciples were talking about the temple. They spoke about the many beautiful stones in the walls. They also spoke about the many gifts to God that people had put there. 6 Jesus said to them, ‘You can see all these beautiful things now. But a day is coming when enemies will completely destroy it all. Not even one stone will remain on top of another stone.’
7 ‘Teacher,’ they asked, ‘When will all these things happen? What will show us that they will soon happen?’
8 Jesus replied. ‘Be careful! Some people will tell you things that are not true. Do not believe them. Many people will say that they have come on my behalf. They will say, “I am the Messiah.” They will say, “Now is the time!” Do not agree with those people. 9 You will hear about wars and people fighting each other. Do not be afraid. Those things must happen first, but the end of everything will not happen immediately.’
10 Jesus then said to them, ‘People from one country will attack the people from another country. Kings and their armies will fight against other kings and their armies. 11 The ground will shake, so that people will be afraid. In many different places, people will be hungry, with no food. Diseases will go from one person to another. Many people will die. Things will also happen in the sky that will frighten people.
12 But before all those things happen, people will take hold of you. They will do bad things to you and give you pain. They will take you to the leaders in their meeting places and they will keep you in prisons. They will make you stand in front of kings and rulers. All this will happen because you are my disciples. 13 This will be the time to tell them the good news about me. 14 So prepare your minds. You must decide not to think about how to answer the questions of kings and rulers. Wait until that time comes. 15 I will give you the right words to speak at that time. I will help you to be wise. The people who are against you will not be able to argue with you. They will just be quiet. 16 Even your parents and other people in your family will take hold of you. They will make you stand in front of kings and rulers. They will even kill some of you. 17 Everybody will hate you because you are my disciples. 18 But your life will be safe with me. You will not lose even one hair from your head. 19 Yes, you will have true life, if you remain strong.
20 One day you will see Jerusalem with armies all around it. Then you will know that enemies will soon destroy that city. 21 People in Judea must then run away to the hills to hide. People that are inside the city must leave it. People that are outside in the fields must not go back into the city. 22 This is when God will punish Israel's people. Then all the things will happen that his servants wrote about in the Bible. 23 That will be a very 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! Yes, very bad things will happen to all the people of this country. God will be very angry with the people who live here. 24 At that time, enemies will fight God's people and kill many of them in war. They will take some of them away as prisoners to live in all the other countries. They will not be free to return home. People that are not Jews will destroy Jerusalem. They will rule here until it is time for them to stop.’[a]
25 ‘You will see strange things happen to the sun and to the moon and to the stars. Down on earth, things that happen will make people in many countries very afraid. The sea will move up and down and make a lot of noise. There will be great storms. 26 These things will frighten people because they do not understand them. The powerful things in the sky will shake. People will be very afraid about what will happen next in the world. They will become very weak and fall to the ground. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man. He will come in a cloud. He will have great power and bright glory. 28 When these things begin to happen, stand up. And look up, because God will then save you very soon.’
A sad song
38 But now you have turned against your king.
You have become angry with the king that you have chosen.
39 You have spoiled the covenant
that you made with your servant.
You have thrown his crown into the dirt.
40 You have knocked down all the walls of his city.
You have destroyed all his strong places.
41 Every stranger robs him of his things.
His neighbours laugh at him.
42 You have made his enemies strong,
so that they win against him and they are happy.
43 You have made his weapons useless,
so that he cannot beat his enemies in war.
44 You have taken away his authority as king.
You have knocked down his throne to the ground.
45 He no longer has the strength of a young man.
You have dressed him in clothes of shame.
Selah.
46 Lord, how long will this continue?
Will you hide yourself from us for ever?
Will your anger continue to burn like a fire?
47 Remember that my life is very short!
People are weak and their lives seem useless.
Why do you make people like that?
48 Nobody can continue to live and never die.
Nobody can escape from the power of death.
49 My Lord, where is the faithful love
that you showed to us in past times?
Where are the blessings that you promised to David?
50 My Lord, look at how people are insulting me!
People from all nations laugh at me, your servant.
51 Lord, your enemies insult the king that you have chosen.
Wherever I go, they insult me!
52 Praise the Lord as he deserves!
Yes! Amen! We agree!
20 If you have wise people as your friends, you will become wise yourself.
But if you have foolish friends, you will hurt yourself.
21 Trouble chases sinners and it catches them.
But righteous people will receive good things.
22 When a good person dies, he leaves good things for his grandchildren.
But a sinner's riches will belong to righteous people in the end.
23 Even a poor man's field may give him enough food.
But he loses it because wicked people rob him.
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