The Daily Audio Bible
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Hezekiah's mistake
39 At that time, Baladan's son, Merodach-Baladan, was the king of Babylon. Merodach-Baladan sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah. He had heard the news that Hezekiah had been ill, but he was now better. 2 Hezekiah was happy to meet the officers who came from the king of Babylon. Hezekiah showed them the places where he stored his valuable things. He showed them all his silver and gold things, his spices and very valuable olive oil. He also showed them all his weapons. Hezekiah showed them all his valuable things. There was nothing in his palace or in his whole kingdom that he did not show to the king of Babylon's officers.
3 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah. Isaiah asked the king, ‘What did those men say? Where did they come from?’ Hezekiah replied, ‘They came to me from Babylon, far away.’ 4 Isaiah asked, ‘What did they see in your palace?’ Hezekiah said, ‘They saw everything that is in my palace. I showed all my valuable things to them.’
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Listen to this message from the Lord Almighty:
6 “Understand this! One day, soldiers from Babylon will carry away all your valuable things. Everything that you and your ancestors have stored here until now will go to Babylon. They will leave nothing here. 7 Some of your own descendants will also go to Babylon. Soldiers from Babylon will take them away from here. Your descendants will become eunuchs in the king of Babylon's palace.” That is what the Lord says. ’
8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ‘The Lord's message that you have spoken to me is good.’
But he was thinking, ‘While I am still alive, people will live safely without any trouble.’
God's promises to his people
40 Your God says, ‘Comfort my people.
Yes, comfort them.
2 Speak kindly to the people in Jerusalem.
Tell them that their time of trouble has now finished.
Their punishment has been enough.
The Lord has made them pay for their sins.
He has made them pay twice.’
3 Somebody's voice is shouting,
‘Prepare a way in the wilderness for the Lord.
Make a straight road in the desert for our God.
4 Raise up every valley,
and bring down every mountain and hill.
The rough ground and the ground that has rocks
will become flat.
5 Then the great glory of the Lord will appear!
All people will see it at the same time.
The Lord himself has promised this.’
6 A voice is saying, ‘Shout!’
But I say, ‘What should I shout?’
‘Shout that all people are like grass.
Their promises are like the flowers in a field.
7 Grass quickly dies,
and flowers fall to the ground.
The Lord causes this to happen,
when he sends a wind to blow on them.
It is true. People are like grass.
8 Grass quickly dies,
and flowers fall to the ground.
But God's promise will be true for ever.’
9 Zion, you have good news to tell to people!
So go up onto a high mountain.
Yes, Jerusalem, shout the good news!
Shout aloud, and do not be afraid.
Say to the towns in Judah, ‘Here is your God!’
10 Look! The Almighty Lord is coming with power.
He will use his great strength to rule the people.
Look again! He is bringing his gifts with him.
He brings the prize that he has won in battle.
11 He takes care of his people,
like a shepherd who takes care of his sheep.[a]
He picks up the young lambs
and he carries them near to his heart.
He carefully leads the mother sheep that have lambs.
12 Nobody has done what God has done!
He measured all the water of the seas in one hand.
He used his hand to measure the whole sky.
He carefully weighed the soil of the earth.
He carefully weighed the mountains in his scales,
and the hills too.
13 Nobody understands the mind of the Lord.
Nobody can be his advisor,
to tell him what he should do.
14 He does not ask anyone to be his guide.
Nobody can teach him the proper way to do things.
Nobody can give him knowledge.
Nobody can teach him how to understand things.
15 The Lord looks at the nations
as if they are a little bit of water in a bucket.
They are like dust on his scales.
He weighs the islands as he would weigh dust.
16 All the trees from Lebanon's forests are not enough
to make a fire for his altar.
All its animals are not enough to offer to him
as burnt offerings.
17 All the nations in the world are not important to the Lord.
He sees them as empty and useless.
18 You cannot find anyone else who is like God.
There is no image that you can make to be like him.
19 A worker may use special skill to make an idol.
Another worker may cover it with gold.
He may use silver chains to make it beautiful.
20 A poor person may choose special wood for his idol.
He chooses wood that will not quickly become spoiled.
Then he finds a worker to make an idol for him.
He makes it so that it will not fall over!
21 You must surely know what is true!
You must have heard about it.
Somebody must have told you these things
from the beginning.
You should have understood it all
since the time that God made the earth.
22 God sits high above on his throne
where the earth and the sky meet.
The people on the earth seem like grasshoppers to him.
He hangs out the sky like a curtain.
He makes it like a tent for him to live in.
23 He takes away the power of kings.
He causes the rulers of the world to be useless.
24 They are like plants that soon disappear.
Somebody plants them in the ground.
But while their roots are still growing into the soil,
God blows on them and they become dry.
Then the wind carries them away like straw.
25 The Holy God says,
‘You cannot find anyone who is like me.
Nobody is the same as me.’
26 Look up at the sky!
Think about the one who made all the stars.
God is the one who brought together that great army!
He knows how many they are
and he knows each of their names!
When he calls them, each one is there,
because he is so strong and powerful.
27 You Israelites, descendants of Jacob, say,
‘The Lord does not know about our troubles.
He does not bring justice to us.’
Why do you say that?
28 You must surely know what is true!
You must have heard about it.
The Lord is the God who lives for ever.
He made the whole earth, near and far.
He never becomes tired or weak.
He knows and he understands everything.
29 He makes tired people strong again.
When people have become weak,
he gives them more strength.
30 Even young people become tired and weak.
Even strong young men may slip and fall down.
31 But people who wait for the Lord to help them
will receive new strength.
They will rise up high,
as if they have the wings of eagles.
They will run and they will not become tired.
They will walk and they will not become weak.
God judges the nations
41 ‘You islands, be quiet as you listen to me.
The nations need to come and stand in front of me.
So they must be brave and speak to me.
We must meet together to decide who is right.
2 Tell me, who has woken up that king in the east?
Who has chosen that king to serve him?
He has given that king power over many nations,
so that the kings of those nations must obey him.
He uses that king's weapons to destroy other nations.
He blows them away like dust or straw.
3 That king chases quickly after them,
and nothing hurts him.
His feet do not seem to touch the ground!
4 Tell me, who has caused these things to happen?
Who has decided what should happen,
from the beginning, century after century?
It is I, the Lord!
I was there at the beginning,
and I will always be there, through to the end.
5 The people on the islands see what I am doing,
and they are afraid.
People all over the world shake with fear.
They join together and they come near.
6 They help each other,
and they say to one another, “Be strong!” ’
7 The man who makes things with wood speaks to the man who works with gold and the man who works with iron. They help each other to work well. They say, ‘We have done a good job.’ Then they use nails to fix the idol that they have made, so that it does not fall over!
8 ‘But you, Israel, are my servant.
Yes, I have chosen you, descendants of Jacob.
You are descendants of my friend, Abraham.
9 I led you back from the ends of the earth.
I called you to come from places far away.
I have said to you, “You are my servant.
I have chosen you. I have not thrown you away.
10 I am with you,
so do not be afraid.
I am your God,
so do not be upset.
I will make you strong
and I will help you.
My powerful right hand will keep you safe.”
11 Listen to this! Everyone who has been angry with you
will now become completely ashamed.
Those who have attacked you will disappear and die.
12 Even if you look for your enemies,
you will not find them.
They will all disappear!
13 Yes, I am the Lord, your God.
I will hold on to your right hand.
I say to you, “Do not be afraid. I will help you.”
14 Do not be afraid, you Israelites, descendants of Jacob.
You may seem unimportant, like a worm,
but I myself will help you.’
That is what the Lord says.
He is your Redeemer, the Holy God of Israel.
15 ‘Look at this! I will cause you to destroy your enemies,
like a heavy weight that threshes grain.[b]
You will have new sharp metal points that are like teeth.
You will thresh the mountains
and you will break them into pieces.
You will make the hills become like straw.
16 You will throw them into the air,
and the wind will blow them away in all directions!
You will be happy with what the Lord has done for you.
You will boast that the Holy God of Israel is your God.
Paul says ‘Hello’
1 This letter is from me, Paul. God chose me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.
I am writing to you, God's own people who live in Ephesus. You are those who continue to believe in Christ Jesus, and so you belong to him.
2 I pray that God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to help you. I pray that they will give you peace in your minds.
God blesses us as Christians
3 We praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has blessed us in very many ways. Because we belong to Christ, we enjoy all the good things that come from heaven. God blesses our spirits with those good things. 4 Before God made the world, he chose us to be his people because of Christ. He chose us so that we would please him. Because we belong to Christ, God accepts us as completely good. This shows how much he loves us. 5 Long ago, he already decided to accept us into his family as his children, because of Jesus Christ. He chose us to belong to him because it made him very happy. 6 As a result, we praise him, because he is great and he has been so kind to us. He has given us so much because of his Son, whom he loves very much. 7 When Christ died as a sacrifice on the cross, he paid the price to make us free. Because of Christ's death on our behalf, God has forgiven our sins. God is so very kind that he has done all this for us!
8 Even more than that, God has shown how wise he is. He understands what we need. 9 He has let us know his great purpose, which had been a secret before. That plan would make him very happy. It would be possible because of Christ. 10 God will make that plan happen when the time is completely right. At that time, he will bring everything together so that Christ rules all of them. That includes the things that are in heaven, and the things that are on earth.
11 God is able to make all things happen just like he decides. He chose us to be his own people, because we are united with Christ. In the beginning, God had already decided that this was his purpose. 12 We were the first people to trust in Christ, God's special Messiah.[a] God wanted us to show how great he is. He wanted people to praise him because of us. 13 You believers in Ephesus also heard God's true message. You heard the good news about how God saves you. When you believed in Christ, God gave his Holy Spirit to you. He had promised to do that, to show that you belong to him. 14 God has put his Holy Spirit inside us now. As a result, we know that one day we will receive all the good things that God has promised. At that time we will be completely free, because we belong to God. So we praise God and we say that he is great!
Paul prays for the Ephesian Christians
15 People have told me that you continue to trust in the Lord Jesus. They have told me that you love all God's people. Because I have heard these good things about you, 16 I am always thanking God because of you. Whenever I pray to God, I always ask him to help you. 17 God is very great! He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that his Holy Spirit will make you wise. I pray that his Holy Spirit will help you to understand what God is like. Then you will know God better and better. 18 I pray that God will bring light into your minds. Then you will understand about the many good things that he has prepared for you. You know that you will receive those things because he has chosen you to be his people. God has prepared very valuable things for you in heaven. 19 You will also know how very powerful God is. He uses that power to help us now, as we trust in Christ.
God's power is greater than anything we could ever know. 20 He used that power to raise Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. Then he gave Christ a place to sit at his right side in heaven.[b] 21 There, Christ rules over every other ruler and leader. He rules over everything else that has authority. He is greater than any power which people respect. That is true for the rulers of this world now, and also the rulers of the world that will come. 22 God has put all things under Christ's authority. He has made Christ the ruler over all things. He has done this to help his people, the church. 23 The church is like Christ's body and he is its head. Christ fills all things everywhere and he causes the church to become complete.
This psalm is a song for the music leader.
Praise God![a]
66 Everyone on earth, shout aloud to praise God,
because you are very happy.
2 Sing to praise his great name!
Praise him in the way that he deserves.
3 Say to God, ‘You do great things!
Your great power makes your enemies afraid.
They come to you and they bend down to the ground.
4 The whole world bends down to worship you.
Everyone sings to praise your name.’
Selah.
5 Come and see the great things that God has done.
He has done wonderful miracles for people!
6 He caused the Red Sea to become dry land.
Then his people walked across the Jordan River![b]
So we praise him for what he did there!
7 He has the power to rule for ever.
He watches everything that the nations do.
Wicked people should not be proud and turn against him.
Selah.
8 You people from every nation,
agree that our God is great!
Praise him with loud voices,
so that everyone can hear!
9 He keeps our lives safe.
He does not let us fall to the ground.
10 You have tested us, God.
You wanted to make us pure,
as they make silver pure in a hot fire.
11 You caused a trap to catch us,
so that we had much pain and trouble.
12 You gave people power to hurt us.
We went through dangerous fire and water.
But then you brought us into a safe, open place.[c]
13 I will bring burnt offerings to your Temple.
I will bring to you the gifts that I promised.
14 When I was in trouble, I made those promises.
I spoke them aloud.
15 I will offer to you gifts of fat animals,
to burn them as sacrifices.
I will also burn sheep as offerings,
and their smell will please you.
I will also offer to you bulls and goats.
Selah.
16 Come and listen,
all you people who serve God.
I will tell you about the things that God has done for me.
17 I called to him for help,
then I praised him aloud!
18 If I had kept wicked things in my mind,
the Lord would not have listened to me.
19 But God did hear me.
When I called to him,
he listened to my prayer.
20 So I praise God, as he deserves.[d]
He has not refused to listen to me.
He has continued to love me with his faithful love.
25 So make your father and your mother proud of you. Do things that will make your mother happy.
26 17. Listen to me carefully, my son. Watch how I live.
27 Prostitutes are a dangerous trap for men. Women who are not faithful to their husbands can cause men to fall into danger, like a deep well. 28 They are like robbers who wait to attack people. They take more and more men away from their wives.
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