The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the CSB. Switch to the CSB to read along with the audio.
God has loved Jacob but not Esau
1 This is the message that the Lord told to Malachi.[a] Malachi knew that he must tell this message to the Israelites.
2 The Lord says, ‘I have loved you.’
But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’[b]
The Lord says, ‘I chose to love Jacob and his descendants. Esau was Jacob's brother. 3 But I have not loved Esau and his descendants.[c]
Instead, I have caused trouble for Esau. I caused Esau's mountains to become a wilderness. Nobody uses that land any longer. Now there are only jackals in the land that belongs to Esau.’
4 Esau's descendants in Edom may say, ‘They have destroyed our towns, but we will build our houses again.’
But the Lord Almighty says, ‘They may build again, but I will knock everything down. People will call Edom, “The Evil Land”.[d] They will call them, “The Nation that the Lord is angry with for ever”. 5 You will see with your own eyes what I will do to them. Then you will say, “The Lord has great power, even beyond Israel's borders.” ’
The priests do not respect God
6 The Lord Almighty says this to the priests:
‘A son respects his father. A servant respects his master. If I am really your father and your master, why do you not respect me? You are my priests, but you insult my name.[e]
But then you ask, “What have we done to insult your name?”
7 You insult my name when you offer unclean sacrifices to me on my altar.
But you ask, “How have we offered unclean sacrifices to you?”
You have shown that you do not respect the Lord's altar as important.[f] 8 You offer blind animals as a sacrifice to me. You know that is wrong. You offer to me animals that cannot walk or animals that are ill. That is also a wrong thing to do. You would not give gifts like that to your city's ruler. If you did, he would surely not accept them. He would not be happy with your gifts.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
9 ‘Now you ask me to be kind to you. You want me to forgive you. But when you offer unclean animals as gifts to me, I will not be happy with your gifts.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
10 ‘It would be better if one of you shut the temple doors! Then you would not be able to offer useless sacrifices on my altar. I am not happy with you. I will not accept any more gifts from you.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
11 ‘People in every nation of the whole world will respect my name. People everywhere will offer incense and pure sacrifices to worship me. They will all know that I am great.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
12 ‘But you priests insult my name. You say that the Lord's altar is not special. You think that the food which you offer to me has no value. 13 You also say, “It is too much trouble to serve the Lord.” You think that you are too important to serve me.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
‘You offer to me animals that cannot walk or that are ill. You have even robbed other people to get some of these animals. Do you think that I will accept these unclean animals from you? Will I be happy with them?’
That is what the Lord says.
14 ‘You may promise to offer to me a valuable male animal from among your sheep. But then you change your mind. Instead, you offer to me an animal that has no value. I will surely punish you when you cheat me like that. Remember that I am a great king. People of all nations in the world respect my name with fear.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
The priests teach wrong things
2 The Lord Almighty says this to the priests:
2 ‘Listen carefully to what I say to you. You must respect my name properly. If not, I will punish you. I will no longer bless you but I will curse you. I am already doing that because you do not respect my name as you should.
3 I will punish your descendants. When you offer an animal as a sacrifice at your festivals, I will cover your faces with its dirty bits. Then they will throw you away with all the other dirty bits. Those are the bits that I cannot accept as clean.’[g]
4 The Lord Almighty says, ‘When I punish you like that, you will know that I have warned you. Then the covenant that I made with Levi and his descendants, the priests, can continue.[h] 5 I promised to give them a good life with many blessings. Levi received what I promised to him. He served me and he respected me, as a priest should do. 6 He taught my true message. He did not teach people anything that was bad. He lived in a good and honest way as he served me. He helped many people to stop doing wrong things.
7 Priests should help people to know the truth about God. People should ask the priests to teach them, because the Lord Almighty has chosen priests to speak his message. 8 But you priests do not serve me in the right way. What you teach causes many people to do wrong things. In that way, you have spoiled the covenant that I made with Levi.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
9 ‘So I have caused all the people to insult you. They no longer respect you, because you do not obey my rules. When you teach my people, you are kind to some of them but you cheat others.’[i]
Judah's people do not obey God
10 You know that we all have one Father. It is God himself who made all of us. But now we turn against each other. We do not respect the covenant that God made with our ancestors.[j]
11 Judah's people have turned against God.[k] As a result, people have done disgusting things in Jerusalem and in all Israel.[l] You have spoiled the holy place, the temple that the Lord loves.[m] You have turned away from the Lord and you worship foreign gods. 12 I pray that the Lord will remove all people like that from among his people. Not one of them will continue to belong to the family of Jacob.[n] They will no longer be able to offer gifts to the Lord Almighty.
13 Also, you weep so much that your tears cover the Lord's altar! You cry because the Lord no longer accepts your gifts. He is not happy with the gifts that you offer to him.
14 You ask, ‘Why is the Lord not happy with our gifts?’ The Lord knows that you men have not done the right thing with your wives. When you married as a young man, you promised to take care of your wife always. But you have sent her away, when the law says that you must stay with her as your wife. 15 The Lord has joined you together, as a man with his wife. Your body and your spirit belong to him. Why did God put you together? He wanted you to have children who would belong to him. So think carefully about how you live. Do not leave the wife that you married when you were a young man.
16 The Lord God of Israel says this: ‘If a man sends his wife away from him, I hate that! He has been cruel to his wife when he should take care of her. So be very careful! Remember your promise to take care of your wife.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
17 The Lord has become tired as he listens to your words.
You ask, ‘Why is he tired? What have we done to cause that?’ You say, ‘The Lord thinks that all people who do evil things are good! He does not punish them but he is happy with them.’ You also say, ‘God is not here to bring justice!’
The new heaven and the new earth
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had gone away. The sea also was not there any more. 2 I saw God's own holy city, called the new Jerusalem. It was coming down out of heaven from God. It was very beautiful, like a bride who is wearing beautiful clothes, ready to meet her husband.
3 I heard a voice that spoke loudly from the throne. It said, ‘Look! God's home is now among people! God will live together with them. They will be his people. God himself will be with them and he will be their God. 4 God will take away all the tears from their eyes. Nobody will ever die again. Nobody will be sad again. Nobody will ever cry. Nobody will have pain again. Everything that made people sad has now gone. That old world has completely gone away.’
5 God, who was sitting on the throne, said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, because these words are true. Everyone should believe them.’
6 He also said to me, ‘Everything is now done! I caused all things to begin and I will cause the end of all things. I am the beginning and the end. If anyone is thirsty, I will give them water to drink. Nobody will have to pay anything for it. That water comes from a spring of water that gives life to people. 7 Everyone who wins against Satan will receive all these things from me. I will be their God and they will be my children.
8 But I will punish other people. They include:
people who are afraid of trouble;
people who do not believe in Jesus;
people who do disgusting things;
people who murder other people;
people who have sex in a wrong way;
people who use magic to hurt people;
people who worship idols;
people who tell lies.
All these people will go into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. That is the second death for people.’
New city of Jerusalem
9 Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls that were full of the seven final troubles came to me. He said, ‘Come with me! I will show you the bride who will become the Lamb's wife.’
10 Then God's Spirit caused me to see and to hear strange things. The angel carried me away to a great mountain that was very high. He showed me God's own holy city, Jerusalem. The city was coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It had the bright glory of God. It shone like a valuable jewel that is called jasper. It shone like clean glass. 12 The city had a very big, high wall round it. The wall had 12 gates in it. 12 angels stood at the 12 gates. The names of the 12 tribes of Israel's people were written on the 12 gates. 13 There were three gates on each side of the city:
three gates were on the east side,
three gates were on the north side,
three gates were on the south side,
three gates were on the west side.
14 The city's wall has a foundation of 12 strong stones. The names of the Lamb's 12 apostles were written on those 12 stones.[a]
15 The angel who talked to me had a long gold stick. He used it to measure things. So he could measure the city and its gates and its walls. 16 The shape of the city was a square. It was as long as it was wide. The angel measured the city with his stick. It was 12,000 stadia (2,400 kilometres) long. It was as wide and as high as it was long. 17 He also measured its wall. The size of the wall was 144 cubits (65 metres). That is the way that humans measure things. The angel also measured in the same way.[b]
18 The wall was made from the jewel that is called jasper. The city was made from pure gold. The light shone through it, as light shines through clean glass. 19 The strong stones that were the foundation of the city's wall were very beautiful. They had valuable jewels in them that were different colours. Each great stone had its own special jewel. They were called:
1. Jasper;
2. Sapphire;
3. Agate;
4. Emerald;
20 5. Onyx;
6. Carnelian;
7. Quartz;
8. Beryl;
9. Topaz;
10. Chrysoprase;[c]
11. Jacinth;
12. Amethyst.
21 The 12 gates were 12 pearls. They had used a single pearl to make each gate. The city's biggest street was made from pure gold. The light shone through it, as light shines through clean glass.
22 When I looked, I saw that there was no temple in the city. The Lord God, who has all power and authority, is there himself. The Lamb is also there. So people do not need a special place to worship him there. 23 Also, the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it. God's bright glory gives light to the city. The Lamb is the lamp that gives it light.
24 People from all the world's nations will live in the city's light. The earth's rulers will bring all their valuable things into it. 25 Nobody will ever shut the city's gates at the end of the day. It will always be day and there will be no night there. 26 People from all the world's nations will bring their beautiful and valuable things into the city. 27 But nothing that is bad or unclean will ever go in there. Nobody who does anything that God hates will go into the city. Nobody who tells lies will go in. Only those people with their names written in the Lamb's book of life can go in there.[d]
The 4th Hallelujah Psalm
149 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Sing a new song to worship the Lord.
When his own people meet together,
they should praise him.
2 People of Israel, be very happy,
because God made you.
People of Zion, be very happy,
because God is your king.
3 Yes, dance to praise the name of the Lord.
Take your harps and tambourines
and make music to praise him with your songs.
4 When the Lord's people serve him,
it makes him happy.
He is happy to help humble people,
so that people respect them.
5 The people who belong to God should be very happy,
because he has made them great.
They should always sing with joy,
even when they lie on their beds at night.
6 They should shout aloud to praise God,
while they hold sharp swords in their hands.
7 That is how they must fight against other nations,
to punish them for their sins.
8 They must tie up the foreign kings with chains,
and put the rulers in prison.
9 They must do that to punish their enemies
in the way that is right.
That is how God will cause his people to become great.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
A poem about a good wife[a]
10 How difficult it is to find a wife who is truly wise! She is worth much more than valuable jewels.
11 Her husband trusts her to help him. He will have everything that he needs.
12 She does good things for him every day of her life. She never tries to hurt him.
13 She is happy to work with her own hands to make clothes with wool and linen.
14 She brings special food from far away, like a ship that travels across the sea.
15 She gets up while it is still night and she prepares food for her family. She also gives some to her female servants.
16 She looks carefully at a field, and she decides to buy it. She uses her own money to plant a vineyard.
17 She is strong and she always works hard.
18 She knows how to make money as she buys and sells things. Even at night, she is still working.
19 She knows how to make cloth.
20 She gives money to poor and helpless people.
21 All her family have warm clothes to wear. She is not afraid when cold weather comes.
22 She makes beautiful cloths to cover the beds. Her own clothes are made with valuable linen and purple cloth.
23 People in the city respect her husband. He meets with the other leaders at the city's gate.
24 She uses linen to make clothes and she sells them. She makes belts to sell to the traders.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.