The Daily Audio Bible

²² You gave kingdoms and nations to your people. The borders of their land reached a long way. The land of King Sihon of Heshbon became their own land. So did the land of King Og of Bashan. ²³ You caused your people to have many descendants, as many as the stars in the sky. You brought them to the land that you had promised to their ancestors. You had told them to go and live in it. ²⁴ Their descendants went there and they took the land for themselves. You gave them power over the Canaanites and the other kings and nations who lived there. They could do whatever they wanted with those people. ²⁵ They took their strong cities and their good land for themselves. The houses of those people were full of many good things. Your people could use the things that were already there. They had their wells, their vineyards, their olive trees and other fruit trees. They had as much food as they could eat, so they became fat. The many good things that you gave them made them very happy.

²⁶ But your people did not obey you. They turned against you. They stopped obeying your laws. You sent your prophets to warn your people to return to you. But they killed the prophets that you sent to them. Your people insulted you in many bad ways. ²⁷ So you put them under the power of their enemies. And their enemies were cruel to them. Then your people called to you for help because they were in trouble. You heard them from your home in heaven. Because you are so kind, you gave them strong leaders. And those leaders saved them from their enemies.

²⁸ But when your people were living safely again, they did evil things again. So you left them to the power of their enemies. Your people called to you again for help. You heard them again from your home in heaven. Because you are so kind, you rescued them like that many times. ²⁹ You warned them to obey your laws. But they refused to listen to you. They did not obey your commands. You had given them rules which would help them to have true life if they obeyed them. But they would not obey your laws. They turned away from you and they continued to do bad things.

³⁰ You continued to help your people for many years. You sent your prophets to tell them messages from your Spirit. You warned them, but they refused to listen. So you put them under the power of the nations who lived near them. ³¹ But because you are very kind, you did not turn away from them or destroy them. You are a God who is very kind and you forgive people.

³² So we pray to you, our God. You are great and powerful. You continue to love your people as you have promised in your covenant with us. Please see how much trouble has come to us! Our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets and our ancestors and your people all belong to you. We have all had many great troubles since the time that the kings of Assyria attacked us. ³³ But when you punished us like that, you were right to do it. You have always been faithful. It is us who have done wicked things. ³⁴ Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our ancestors have not obeyed your laws. They have not listened to your commands. You warned them but they would not listen. ³⁵ When they had their own kingdom, they still would not agree to serve you. You gave them a good land to live in, with plenty of food. They enjoyed your good gifts, but they would not obey you. They did not stop doing evil things.

³⁶ So today we live like slaves. Yes, we are slaves in the land that you gave to our ancestors. You wanted them to enjoy all the good things that grow here. ³⁷ But because of our sins you have caused foreign kings to rule over us. They take the food that grows in our fields. They use us and our animals in any way that they like. So we are very upset!’

The people promise to obey the Lord

³⁸ ‘Because of this we Israelite people are all making a promise. We are writing down our agreement to serve the Lord. Our leaders, our Levites and our priests will write their names on it to give it their authority.’

10 These people put their mark of authority on the promise that they had written:

⁹ The Levites were:

²⁸ The other people joined their leaders to make the same promise. They were priests, Levites, guards, singers and temple servants. There were also people who had kept themselves separate from their foreign neighbours so that they could obey God's Law. Their wives, sons and daughters also joined with them, as well as children who were old enough to understand. ²⁹ All these people joined with their leaders and they promised to obey the agreement. They agreed that God should punish them if they did not obey all of God's Law. That was the Law that God had given to his servant Moses. They promised very strongly to obey all the commands, rules and laws of the Lord, our Lord.

³⁰ They said, ‘We promise not to let our daughters marry the foreign people of this land. We will not let our sons marry their daughters. ³¹ If foreign traders come to us on a Sabbath day, we will not buy their things. We will not buy their things on Sabbath days or on any special feast day. Every seventh year we will not plant any crops. We will also remove the debts of other people in every seventh year. They will not have to pay us back.

³² We will obey the command to give a third of a shekel each year to take care of the temple of our God.^{[a] 33} That will pay for the special bread on the table in the temple. It will also pay for grain offerings and burnt offerings each day, as well as offerings on Sabbath days, feasts at each new moon, and other festivals. We will also use it for the sin offerings that take away Israel's guilt. And we will use it for all the work in the temple of our God.

³⁴ Each year we will throw dice to decide when different families must bring wood to the temple of our God. The priests, the Levites and the other people must do this. The wood will burn sacrifices on the altar of the Lord our God. We will do this in the way that the Law of the Lord our God teaches. ³⁵ We will also agree to bring the first crops from our land each year and the first fruits from our trees. We will bring these to the Lord's temple. ³⁶ We will also bring our firstborn sons, as well as the first babies that our cows, sheep and goats give birth to. We will bring them to the priests who serve our God in the temple. That is what God's Law teaches us to do. ³⁷ We will also bring the first of everything that is ready for us to eat. That includes flour, fruit, wine, olive oil and other special offerings. We will bring them all to the priests and they will store them in the rooms of the temple. We will give tithes of the crops that grow on our land to the Levites. They receive the tithes that belong to them in each of the towns where we work. ³⁸ When the Levites receive their tithes, a priest of Aaron's family will be with them. Then the Levites will bring a tenth part of the tithes that they received to store in the temple. ³⁹ The Levites and the other Israelites will bring their gifts of grain, wine and olive oil to store in the temple's rooms. The priests will store them with the things that they use to serve God in the temple. That is the place where the priests who are working at that time, the temple guards and the singers stay.

We agree that we will always take care of the temple of our God.’

¹⁹ Yes, I am a free man. I am not anybody's slave. But I choose to serve everybody like a slave. I do that so that I can help many more people to believe in Christ. ²⁰ When I was among Jews, I lived like they do, because I wanted to bring Jews to Christ. The Law that God gave to Moses no longer has authority over me. But I chose to obey that Law when I was among Jewish people who obey it. I did that so that I could help them to believe in Christ. ²¹ With Gentile people, who do not have Moses' Law, I lived like they do. I continued to respect God's Law. Yes, I obey Christ's law. But I lived like a Gentile, so that I could help Gentiles to believe in Christ. ²² With weak people, I became like someone who is weak too. I did that so that I could bring weak people to believe in Christ. Whoever I am living among, I live like they do. I want to do everything that I can to save some of them.

²³ I want to help people to accept God's good news. That is why I do all these things. I want to share in the good things that the good news gives to believers.

²⁴ Think about how people run in a race. All the runners run, but only one of them receives the prize. You must run like that, to win the race. ²⁵ People who run in races prepare their bodies well. They make themselves work very hard. They do this so that they will win a prize that will quickly become spoiled. But we work hard to receive a prize that will never become spoiled.

²⁶ Because of that, I do not run with no purpose. I do not fight like someone who only hits the air. ²⁷ I make my body do what I want it to do. I make it like my slave. I have told God's message to other people. I do not want to lose the prize myself. So I try very much to obey the rules of the race.

Idols

10 My Christian friends, remember what happened to our Israelite ancestors. Moses led them out of Egypt long ago. While they followed Moses, they all walked under the same cloud. All of them walked across the Red Sea.^{[a] 2} It is like God baptized all of them in the cloud and in the sea. In that way, they became people who followed Moses. ³ All our ancestors ate the same spiritual food.^{[b] 4} All of them drank the same spiritual drink. They drank water from the spiritual rock that went with them. Christ was that rock.^{[c] 5} They all received the same help from God, but most of them did not please God. God caused most of them to die in the wilderness.^[d]

⁶ We must learn from those things that happened to our ancestors. We must not want to do very bad things, like they did. ⁷ Do not worship idols, as some of them did. The Bible says: ‘The people sat down to eat and to drink. After that, they got up from their meal and they danced.’^[e]

⁸ Nor must we ever have sex in wrong ways. Some of our ancestors did that, and 23,000 of them died in one day as a result.^[f]

⁹ Nor must we do bad things to see whether the Lord will punish us. Some of our ancestors did that, and God sent snakes to destroy them.^[g]

¹⁰ Do not complain against God. Some of our ancestors spoke like that, and God sent an angel of death to kill them.^[h]

¹¹ All these things happened to our ancestors so that we would learn from them. They are written in the Bible to teach us important lessons. We are people who live at a time when all things will become complete.

¹² If you think that you are standing strongly, be careful! Do not fall down! ¹³ You may often want to do wrong things. The things that are difficult for you are difficult for other people too. Remember that God is always there to help you. He will not let any bad thing be too difficult for you. He will help you to stand against it. When you want to do something wrong, God will make you strong in your spirit. He will show you a way out, so that you do not do anything wrong.

David wrote this song when he made the Philistine king think that he was crazy. He wanted the king to send him away.^[a]

God is great!^[b]