The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday January 24, 2018 (NIV)

Genesis 48-49

48 After this happened, Joseph was told,[a] “Your father is getting weaker,” so he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. When Jacob was informed,[b] “Your son Joseph is here now,” he[c] pulled himself together and sat up in bed. Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty[d] appeared to me in Luz in the land of Canaan. He blessed me and said to me, ‘I am about to give you many children, to increase your numbers, and to make you a large group of peoples. I will give this land to your descendants following you as an enduring possession.’ Now, your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt before I arrived in Egypt are my own. Ephraim and Manasseh are just like Reuben and Simeon to me. Your family who is born to you after them are yours, but their inheritance will be determined under their brothers’ names. When I came back from Paddan-aram,[e] Rachel died, to my sorrow, on the road in the land of Canaan, with some distance yet to go to Ephrathah, so I buried her there near the road to Ephrathah,[f] which is Bethlehem.”

When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”

Joseph told his father, “They’re my sons, whom God gave me here.”

Israel said, “Bring them to me and I will bless them.” 10 Because Israel’s eyesight had failed from old age and he wasn’t able to see, Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed and embraced them.

11 Israel said to Joseph, “I didn’t expect I’d see your face, but now God has shown me your children too.” 12 Then Joseph took them from Israel’s knees, and he bowed low with his face to the ground. 13 Joseph took both of them, Ephraim in his right hand at Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand at Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. 14 But Israel put out his right hand and placed it on the head of Ephraim, the younger one, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands because Manasseh was the oldest son. 15 He blessed them[g] and said,

“May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked,
may the God who was my shepherd
from the beginning until this day,
16 may the divine messenger who protected me from all harm,
bless the young men.
Through them may my name be kept alive
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.
May they grow into a great multitude
throughout the land.”

17 When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was upset and grasped his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to his father, “No, my father! This is the oldest son. Put your right hand on his head.”

19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He’ll become a people too, and he’ll also be great. But his younger brother will be greater than he will, and his descendants will become many nations.” 20 Israel blessed them that day, saying,

“Through you, Israel will pronounce blessings, saying,
‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”

So Israel put Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I’m about to die. God will be with you and return you to the land of your fathers. 22 I’m giving you one portion more than to your brothers,[h] a portion that I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”

Jacob reveals his sons’ destinies

49 Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the coming days.

Assemble yourselves and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to Israel your father.
Reuben, you are my oldest son,
my strength and my first contender,[i]
superior in status and superior in might.
As wild as the waters, you won’t endure,
for you went up to your father’s bed,
you went up[j] and violated my couch.
Simeon and Levi are brothers,
weapons of violence their stock in trade.
May I myself never enter their council.
May my honor never be linked to their group;
for when they were angry, they killed men,
and whenever they wished, they maimed oxen.
Cursed be their anger; it is violent,
their rage; it is relentless.
I’ll divide them up within Jacob
and disperse them within Israel.
Judah, you are the one your brothers will honor;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
Judah is a lion’s cub;
from the prey, my son, you rise up.
He lies down and crouches like a lion;
like a lioness—who dares disturb him?
10 The scepter won’t depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from among his banners.[k]
Gifts will be brought to him;
people will obey him.
11 He ties his male donkey to the vine,
the colt of his female donkey to the vine’s branches.
He washes his clothes in wine,
his garments in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth whiter than milk.
13 Zebulun will live at the seashore;
he’ll live at the harbor of ships,
his border will be at Sidon.
14 Issachar is a sturdy donkey,
bedding down beside the village hearths.[l]
15 He saw that a resting place was good
and that the land was pleasant.
He lowered his shoulder to haul loads
and joined the work gangs.
16 Dan[m] will settle disputes for his people,
as one of Israel’s tribes.
17 Dan will be a snake on the road,
a serpent on the path,
biting a horse’s heels,
so its rider falls backward.
18 I long for your victory, Lord.
19 Gad[n] will be attacked by attackers,
but he’ll attack their back.
20 Asher[o] grows fine foods,
and he will supply the king’s delicacies.
21 Naphtali is a wild doe
that gives birth to beautiful fawns.[p]
22 Joseph is a young bull,[q]
a young bull by a spring,
who strides with oxen.[r]
23 They attacked him fiercely and fired arrows;
the archers attacked him furiously.
24 But his bow stayed strong,
and his forearms were nimble,[s]
by the hands of the strong one of Jacob,
by the name of the shepherd, the rock of Israel,
25 by God, your father, who supports you,
by the Almighty[t] who blesses you
with blessings from the skies above
and blessings from the deep sea below,
blessings from breasts and womb.
26 The blessings of your father exceed
the blessings of the eternal mountains,[u]
the wealth of the everlasting hills.
May they all rest on Joseph’s head,
on the forehead of the one set apart from his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a wolf who hunts:
in the morning he devours the prey;
in the evening he divides the plunder.”

28 These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them. He blessed them by giving each man his own particular blessing.

Jacob’s death and burial

29 Jacob ordered them, “I am soon to join my people. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave that’s in the field of Ephron the Hittite; 30 in the cave that’s in the field of Machpelah near Mamre in the land of Canaan that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial property. 31 That is where Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, and where Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and where I buried Leah. 32 It is the field and the cave in it that belonged to the Hittites.” 33 After he finished giving orders to his sons, he put his feet up on the bed, took his last breath, and joined his people.

Footnotes:

  1. Genesis 48:1 LXX, Syr, Tg, Vulg; MT he told
  2. Genesis 48:2 LXX; MT he informed
  3. Genesis 48:2 Heb Israel
  4. Genesis 48:3 Heb El Shaddai or God of the Mountain
  5. Genesis 48:7 Sam, LXX, Syr; MT lacks aram.
  6. Genesis 48:7 Sam; MT Ephrath
  7. Genesis 48:15 LXX; MT Joseph
  8. Genesis 48:22 Heb uncertain
  9. Genesis 49:3 Or first of my power
  10. Genesis 49:4 LXX; MT he went up
  11. Genesis 49:10 Sam; MT his feet
  12. Genesis 49:14 Or stubbornly lying beneath its saddlebags
  13. Genesis 49:16 Or he judges, or settles disputes
  14. Genesis 49:19 Or he attacks or good fortune
  15. Genesis 49:20 LXX, Syr, Vulg; MT from Asher
  16. Genesis 49:21 Or who gives beautiful words
  17. Genesis 49:22 Heb uncertain
  18. Genesis 49:22 Heb uncertain
  19. Genesis 49:24 Heb uncertain; or flexible
  20. Genesis 49:25 Heb Shaddai or the Mountain One
  21. Genesis 49:26 LXX; Heb uncertain
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Matthew 15:29-16:12

Healing of many people

29 Jesus moved on from there along the shore of the Galilee Sea. He went up a mountain and sat down. 30 Large crowds came to him, including those who were paralyzed, blind, injured, and unable to speak, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 So the crowd was amazed when they saw those who had been unable to speak talking, and the paralyzed cured, and the injured walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

Feeding the four thousand

32 Now Jesus called his disciples and said, “I feel sorry for the crowd because they have been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry for fear they won’t have enough strength to travel.”

33 His disciples replied, “Where are we going to get enough food in this wilderness to satisfy such a big crowd?”

34 Jesus said, “How much bread do you have?”

They responded, “Seven loaves and a few fish.”

35 He told the crowd to sit on the ground. 36 He took the seven loaves of bread and the fish. After he gave thanks, he broke them into pieces and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 Everyone ate until they were full. The disciples collected seven baskets full of leftovers. 38 Four thousand men ate, plus women and children. 39 After dismissing the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.

Demand for a sign

16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus. In order to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

But he replied, “At evening you say, ‘It will be nice weather because the sky is bright red.’ And in the morning you say, ‘There will be bad weather today because the sky is cloudy.’ You know how to make sense of the sky’s appearance. But you are unable to recognize the signs that point to what the time is. An evil and unfaithful generation searches for a sign. But it won’t receive any sign except Jonah’s sign.” Then he left them and went away.

Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

When the disciples arrived on the other side of the lake, they had forgotten to bring bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

They discussed this among themselves and said, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

Jesus knew what they were discussing and said, “You people of weak faith! Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you don’t have any bread? Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves that fed the five thousand and how many baskets of leftovers you gathered? 10  And the seven loaves that fed the four thousand and how many large baskets of leftovers you gathered? 11  Don’t you know that I wasn’t talking about bread? But be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he wasn’t telling them to be on their guard for yeast used in making bread. No, he was telling them to watch out for the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Psalm 20

Psalm 20

For the music leader. A psalm of David.

20 I pray that the Lord answers you
whenever you are in trouble.
Let the name of Jacob’s God protect you.
Let God send help to you from the sanctuary
and support you from Zion.
Let God recall your many grain offerings;
let him savor your entirely burned offerings. Selah
Let God grant what is in your heart
and fulfill all your plans.
Then we will rejoice that you’ve been helped.
We will fly our flags in the name of our God.
Let the Lord fulfill all your requests!

Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed one;
God answers his anointed one
from his heavenly sanctuary,
answering with mighty acts of salvation
achieved by his strong hand.
Some people trust in chariots, others in horses;
but we praise the Lord’s name.
They will collapse and fall,
but we will stand up straight and strong.

Lord, save the king!
Let him answer us when we cry out!

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Proverbs 4:20-27

Be careful about what you say

20 My son, pay attention to my words.
Bend your ear to my speech.
21 Don’t let them slip from your sight.
Guard them in your mind.
22 They are life to those who find them,
and healing for their entire body.
23 More than anything you guard, protect your mind, for life flows from it.
24 Have nothing to do with a corrupt mouth;
keep devious lips far from you.
25 Focus your eyes straight ahead;
keep your gaze on what is in front of you.
26 Watch your feet on the way,
and all your paths will be secure.
27 Don’t deviate a bit to the right or the left;
turn your feet away from evil.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible