The Daily Audio Bible
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18 The Lord gave this message to me: 2 ‘You say this proverb about Israel: “The fathers have eaten bitter fruit, but it causes their children's teeth to hurt.” Why do you say that?[a] 3 Now I, the Lord God, tell you this: You will no longer say that proverb in Israel! 4 Everyone who lives belong to me. I have authority over the life of the father and over the life of the son. It is the people who do wrong things who will die because of their sins.
5 There may be a truly good man who does what is right and fair. 6 He does not go up the mountains and eat the food of idols. He does not pray to the idols that other Israelites worship. He does not have sex with another man's wife. He does not have sex with a woman when she is unclean. 7 He is not cruel to other people. When he lends money to someone, he gives back anything that he has taken as a guarantee. He does not take things that belong to other people. He gives food to hungry people. He gives clothes to poor people. 8 He does not lend money to someone and then ask to receive more money back. He refuses to do anything that is wrong. He helps people in a way that is right and fair. 9 He faithfully obeys my laws and my rules.
A man like that is righteous. He will continue to live. That is what the Almighty Lord says.
10 But that man may have a son who is cruel and violent. He may kill other people. He may do those bad things that his father never did. 11 He may go up the mountains and eat the food of idols. He might have sex with another man's wife. 12 He might be cruel to people who are poor and weak. He might take things that belong to other people. He might not give back things that he took as a guarantee. He prays to idols. He does disgusting things. 13 When he lends money to people, he wants them to pay back a lot more money to him.
A man like that will not continue to live! He will certainly die, because he himself has done all these disgusting things. He is guilty, so he himself must die as his punishment.
14 But this wicked man might have a son himself. The son sees all the sins that his father has done. He thinks about them. Then he decides that he will not live as his father has lived. 15 He does not go up the mountains to eat the food of idols. He does not pray to the idols that other Israelites worship. He does not have sex with another man's wife. 16 He is not cruel to anyone. He does not keep anything that he has taken from someone as a guarantee. He does not rob other people. But he gives food to hungry people. He gives clothes to poor people. 17 He refuses to do anything that is wrong. When he lends money to people, he does not take more back money back from them. He obeys my rules and my laws.
This man will certainly continue to live. He will not die because of his father's sins. 18 But his father will die as punishment for his own sins. He cheated people. He robbed people. He did evil things among his own people. So he will die because of his own sins.
19 You should not say, “Surely the son should receive punishment because of his father's sins.” If the son does what is good and right, and he obeys my laws and my rules, he will continue to live. 20 It is the person who does wrong things who will die. A son will not receive punishment because of his father's sins. And a father will not receive punishment because of his son's sins. Righteous people will receive the good things that they deserve for the good things that they have done. But wicked people will receive the punishment that they deserve for the wicked things that they have done.
21 But a wicked person might turn away from the sins that he has been doing. He might decide to obey my laws and do things that are right and good. If he does that, he will certainly continue to live. He will not die as his punishment. 22 I would no longer say that he is guilty because of the sins that he has done. Instead, he will continue to live, because he has done things that are right. 23 It does not make me happy when a wicked person dies. I want wicked people to stop doing wicked things. Then I am happy because they will continue to live. That is what the Almighty Lord says.
24 A righteous person may stop doing things that are good and right. He may start to do the same disgusting things that wicked people do. Then he will not continue to live. I will not remember any of the good things that he did. Instead, I will punish him because of the sins that he has done. He has not been faithful to me, so he will die.
25 But you say, “The Lord is not doing what is right!” So listen to me, Israel's people. It is you who are not doing what is right! It is not me! 26 If a righteous person stops doing good things and he does bad things instead, he will die. Yes, he will die because of the wrong things that he has done. 27 And if a wicked person stops doing wicked things and he does things that are right, he will continue to live. 28 That wicked person realized that he was doing bad things. So he turned away from his sins. Because of that he will certainly continue to live. He will not die. 29 But you, Israel's people, say, “The Lord is not doing what is right!” Do you really think that is true? No, you are the people who do not do what is right, you Israelites!
30 The Almighty Lord says this to you, Israel's people: I will judge each of you as you deserve for the way that you live. So change how you live! Turn away from all the wicked things that you do. Then your sins will not finally destroy you. 31 Stop doing all the sins that you have been doing. Instead, think with new thoughts. Live with a new spirit inside you.[b] You do not need to die, Israel's people! 32 It does not make me happy when anyone has to die. Turn away from your sins so that you continue to live! That is what the Almighty Lord says.’
19 ‘Sing this sad funeral song for the leaders of Israel.
2 Say this:
“Your mother was like a great lion among the other lions.
She lay among strong young lions.
She helped her children to grow safely.
3 She taught one of her children to catch animals for food.
As he grew, he started to eat people.
4 The people of other nations heard about him.
They dug a hole and they caught him in their trap.
They put hooks in him and they took him to Egypt.
5 His mother waited for him to return home.
He did not come and she stopped hoping for him.
She helped another of her sons to become a strong young lion.
6 He grew to be strong among the other lions.
He learned to catch wild animals and to eat them.
He also learned to eat people.
7 He attacked their strong buildings and he destroyed their cities.
When he roared, the noise frightened everyone in the land.
8 Men from other nations near there came to attack him.
They threw a net over him.
They caught him in their trap.
9 They tied hooks around his neck.
They took him to the king of Babylon.
There they put him in prison to stop him roaring.
The people on the hills of Israel could not hear his voice any longer.
10 Your mother was like a vine that was growing near a stream.
It grew well because there was plenty of water there.
It made many branches and it had a lot of fruit.
11 Its branches became big and strong.
They were strong enough to make a ruler's stick of authority.
The vine grew taller than all the other trees around it.
Everyone could see that it was very tall and strong.
12 But the Lord became angry with that vine.
He pulled up its roots and he threw it down to the ground.
The east wind made it dry and destroyed its fruit.
Its strong branches broke and they became useless.
Fire destroyed them.
13 Now that vine is growing in a desert.
It is in a hot, dry place where there is no water.
14 Fire started to burn its strongest branch.
From there the fire destroyed its other branches and its fruit.
No strong branch remained in the vine.
Now there was nothing to make a ruler's stick of authority.”
This is a funeral song. It tells a very sad story.’
The old agreement and the tabernacle
9 The first agreement included rules about how people should worship God. It also spoke about a special place for people to worship God on this earth. 2 Israel's people made a special tent for God.[a] The first room in that tent was called the holy place. The special lampstand was in this room. The special table with the bread which they offered to God was there too.[b]
3 Behind a second curtain, there was a very special room. It was called the Most Holy Place. 4 The gold altar for incense was in there.[c] The Covenant Box was there too.[d] The box had gold on all its sides. Inside the box was the gold pot that contained the special food called manna.[e] The box also contained Aaron's stick that had grown leaves.[f] It also contained the two flat stones on which God had written the rules of his agreement with his people. 5 The shapes of two special angels stood on the top of the box. They were made from gold and they showed that God was there with great power. The angels held out their wings over the lid of the box. That lid was the place where God forgave the people's sins. But we cannot explain everything about these things now.
6 So that was how they prepared the special tent. Then the priests would go into the first room of the tent every day. They went in there to serve God, as his rules taught. 7 But only the special leader of the priests could go into the second room. He went in there only once every year.[g] He had to take with him blood from an animal that they had killed. He offered the blood to God on his own behalf, so that God would forgive his sins. He also offered it on behalf of the people. Then God would forgive their mistakes too.
8 In this way, God's Holy Spirit was showing that the most holy place was not yet open to everyone. While the tent with its first room was still there, those were the rules for people to worship God. 9 This is like a picture that means something for us today. It teaches us about the gifts and sacrifices that people offered to God, to worship him. When someone gave those things to God, it could not make him clean again in his mind. 10 The old rules taught people about different kinds of food and drink. They taught about how people should wash in special ways. Those rules were about people's bodies. They had authority only until the time when God would make things new and better.
32 At Meribah springs, the Israelites made God angry.
What they did there caused Moses to have trouble.
33 Moses was so upset that he spoke in a careless way.[a]
34 The Lord commanded his people
to destroy the nations of Canaan,
But they did not obey the Lord's command.
35 Instead, they mixed with those nations
and they learned their way of life.
36 They worshipped their idols
which caught them in a trap.
37 They even killed their sons and their daughters
as sacrifices for those idols of demons!
38 Their sons and their daughters did not deserve to die,
but they killed them as sacrifices for the idols of Canaan.
Those murders made the land unclean.
39 The things that the Lord's people did
made them unclean.
They were not faithful to the Lord,
like a wife who is not faithful to her husband.
40 So the Lord became angry with his people.
They belonged to him
but he turned away from them.
41 He let other nations have power over them.
Their enemies ruled over them.
42 Their enemies had power to hurt them,
and they were cruel to them.
43 Many times, the Lord rescued his people,
but they had decided not to obey him.
Their sins made them weaker and weaker.
44 But the Lord still saw when they were in trouble.
He answered them when they called to him for help.
45 He remembered the covenant that he had made with them.
Because of his faithful love for his people,
he stopped punishing them.
46 He caused all their enemies to be kind to them.
47 Lord, our God, please save us!
Bring us safely home from among the other nations.[b]
Then we will thank you!
We will shout aloud to praise your holy name.
48 Praise the Lord, Israel's God,
as he deserves!
Praise him now and for ever!
Let everybody say, ‘Amen! We agree!’
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord![c]
10 Do not forget your friends or your father's friends.
If you are in trouble, do not ask your relatives to help you.
A friend who is a neighbour will be more help than a relative who lives far away.
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