The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday March 10, 2017 (NIV)

Numbers 14:1-15:16

The People Complain

14 All night long the people cried out in distress. They complained against Moses and Aaron, and said, “It would have been better to die in Egypt or even here in the wilderness! Why is the Lord taking us into that land? We will be killed in battle, and our wives and children will be captured. Wouldn't it be better to go back to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt!”

Then Moses and Aaron bowed to the ground in front of all the people. And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of the spies, tore their clothes in sorrow and said to the people, “The land we explored is an excellent land. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will take us there and give us that rich and fertile land. (A)Do not rebel against the Lord and don't be afraid of the people who live there. We will conquer them easily. The Lord is with us and has defeated the gods who protected them; so don't be afraid.” 10 The whole community was threatening to stone them to death, but suddenly the people saw the dazzling light of the Lord's presence appear over the Tent.

Moses Prays for the People

11 The Lord said to Moses, “How much longer will these people reject me? How much longer will they refuse to trust in me, even though I have performed so many miracles among them? 12 I will send an epidemic and destroy them, but I will make you the father of a nation that is larger and more powerful than they are!”

13 (B)But Moses said to the Lord, “You brought these people out of Egypt by your power. When the Egyptians hear what you have done to your people, 14 they will tell it to the people who live in this land. These people have already heard that you, Lord, are with us, that you appear in plain sight when your cloud stops over us, and that you go before us in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you kill all your people, the nations who have heard of your fame will say 16 that you killed your people in the wilderness because you were not able to bring them into the land you promised to give them. 17 So now, Lord, I pray, show us your power and do what you promised when you said, 18 (C)‘I, the Lord, am not easily angered, and I show great love and faithfulness and forgive sin and rebellion. Yet I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents.’ 19 And now, Lord, according to the greatness of your unchanging love, forgive, I pray, the sin of these people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”

20 The Lord answered, “I will forgive them, as you have asked. 21 (D)But I promise that as surely as I live and as surely as my presence fills the earth, 22 none of these people will live to enter that land. They have seen the dazzling light of my presence and the miracles that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, but they have tried my patience over and over again and have refused to obey me. 23 They will never enter the land which I promised to their ancestors. None of those who have rejected me will ever enter it. 24 (E)But because my servant Caleb has a different attitude and has remained loyal to me, I will bring him into the land which he explored, and his descendants will possess the land 25 in whose valleys the Amalekites and the Canaanites now live. Turn back tomorrow and go into the wilderness in the direction of the Gulf of Aqaba.”

The Lord Punishes the People for Complaining

26 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 27 “How much longer are these wicked people going to complain against me? I have heard enough of these complaints! 28 Now give them this answer: ‘I swear that as surely as I live, I will do to you just what you have asked. I, the Lord, have spoken. 29 (F)You will die and your corpses will be scattered across this wilderness. Because you have complained against me, none of you over twenty years of age will enter that land. 30 I promised to let you live there, but not one of you will, except Caleb and Joshua. 31 You said that your children would be captured, but I will bring them into the land that you rejected, and it will be their home. 32 You will die here in this wilderness. 33 (G)Your children will wander in the wilderness for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last one of you dies. 34 You will suffer the consequences of your sin for forty years, one year for each of the forty days you spent exploring the land. You will know what it means to have me against you! 35 I swear that I will do this to you wicked people who have gathered together against me. Here in the wilderness every one of you will die. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”

36-37 The men Moses had sent to explore the land brought back a false report which caused the people to complain against the Lord. And so the Lord struck them with a disease, and they died. 38 Of the twelve spies only Joshua and Caleb survived.

The First Attempt to Invade the Land(H)

39 When Moses told the Israelites what the Lord had said, they mourned bitterly. 40 Early the next morning they started out to invade the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go to the place which the Lord told us about. We admit that we have sinned.”

41 But Moses said, “Then why are you disobeying the Lord now? You will not succeed! 42 Don't go. The Lord is not with you, and your enemies will defeat you. 43 When you face the Amalekites and the Canaanites, you will die in battle; the Lord will not be with you, because you have refused to follow him.”

44 Yet they still dared to go up into the hill country, even though neither the Lord's Covenant Box nor Moses left the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived there attacked and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hormah.

Laws about Sacrifice

15 The Lord gave Moses the following regulations for the people of Israel to observe in the land that he was going to give them. A bull, a ram, a sheep, or a goat may be presented to the Lord as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice in fulfillment of a vow or as a freewill offering or as an offering at your regular religious festivals; the odor of these food offerings is pleasing to the Lord. 4-5 Whoever presents a sheep or a goat as a burnt offering to the Lord is to bring with each animal 2 pounds of flour mixed with 2 pints of olive oil as a grain offering, together with 2 pints of wine. When a ram is offered, 4 pounds of flour mixed with 3 pints of olive oil are to be presented as a grain offering, together with 3 pints of wine. The odor of these sacrifices is pleasing to the Lord. When a bull is offered to the Lord as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice in fulfillment of a vow or as a fellowship offering, a grain offering of 6 pounds of flour mixed with 4 pints of olive oil is to be presented, 10 together with 4 pints of wine. The odor of this sacrifice is pleasing to the Lord.

11 That is what shall be offered with each bull, ram, sheep, or goat. 12 When more than one animal is offered, the accompanying offering is to be increased proportionately. 13 All native Israelites are to do this when they present a food offering, an odor pleasing to the Lord. 14 And if at any time foreigners living among you, whether on a temporary or a permanent basis, make a food offering, an odor that pleases the Lord, they are to observe the same regulations. 15 For all time to come, the same[a] rules are binding on you and on the foreigners who live among you. You and they are alike in the Lord's sight; 16 (I)the same laws and regulations apply to you and to them.

Footnotes:

  1. Numbers 15:15 Some ancient translations the same; Hebrew the congregation the same.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Mark 14:53-72

Jesus before the Council(A)

53 Then Jesus was taken to the High Priest's house, where all the chief priests, the elders, and the teachers of the Law were gathering. 54 Peter followed from a distance and went into the courtyard of the High Priest's house. There he sat down with the guards, keeping himself warm by the fire. 55 The chief priests and the whole Council tried to find some evidence against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they could not find any. 56 Many witnesses told lies against Jesus, but their stories did not agree.

57 Then some men stood up and told this lie against Jesus: 58 (B)“We heard him say, ‘I will tear down this Temple which men have made, and after three days I will build one that is not made by men.’” 59 Not even they, however, could make their stories agree.

60 The High Priest stood up in front of them all and questioned Jesus, “Have you no answer to the accusation they bring against you?”

61 But Jesus kept quiet and would not say a word. Again the High Priest questioned him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God?”

62 (C)“I am,” answered Jesus, “and you will all see the Son of Man seated at the right side of the Almighty and coming with the clouds of heaven!”

63 The High Priest tore his robes and said, “We don't need any more witnesses! 64 (D)You heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?”

They all voted against him: he was guilty and should be put to death.

65 Some of them began to spit on Jesus, and they blindfolded him and hit him. “Guess who hit you!” they said. And the guards took him and slapped him.

Peter Denies Jesus(E)

66 Peter was still down in the courtyard when one of the High Priest's servant women came by. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked straight at him and said, “You, too, were with Jesus of Nazareth.”

68 But he denied it. “I don't know … I don't understand what you are talking about,” he answered, and went out into the passageway. Just then a rooster crowed.[a]

69 The servant woman saw him there and began to repeat to the bystanders, “He is one of them!” 70 But Peter denied it again.

A little while later the bystanders accused Peter again, “You can't deny that you are one of them, because you, too, are from Galilee.”

71 Then Peter said, “I swear that I am telling the truth! May God punish me if I am not! I do not know the man you are talking about!”

72 Just then a rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows two times, you will say three times that you do not know me.” And he broke down and cried.

Footnotes:

  1. Mark 14:68 Some manuscripts do not have Just then a rooster crowed.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Psalm 53

Human Wickedness[a](A)

53 (B)Fools say to themselves,
“There is no God.”
They are all corrupt,
and they have done terrible things;
there is no one who does what is right.

God looks down from heaven at people
to see if there are any who are wise,
any who worship him.
But they have all turned away;
they are all equally bad.
Not one of them does what is right,
not a single one.

“Don't they know?” God asks.
“Are these evildoers ignorant?
They live by robbing my people,
and they never pray to me.”

But then they will become terrified,
as they have never been before,
for God will scatter the bones of the enemies of his people.
God has rejected them,
and so Israel will totally defeat them.

How I pray that victory
will come to Israel from Zion.
How happy the people of Israel will be
when God makes them prosperous again!

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 53:1 HEBREW TITLE: A poem by David.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Proverbs 11:4

Riches will do you no good on the day you face death, but honesty can save your life.

Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society