Month: January 2018

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday January 26, 2018 (NIV)

Exodus 2:11-3:22

Moses runs away to Midian

11 One day after Moses had become an adult, he went out among his people and he saw their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 He looked around to make sure no one else was there. Then he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

13 When Moses went out the next day, he saw two Hebrew men fighting with each other. Moses said to the one who had started the fight, “Why are you abusing your fellow Hebrew?”

14 He replied, “Who made you a boss or judge over us? Are you planning to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?”

Then Moses was afraid when he realized: They obviously know what I did. 15 When Pharaoh heard about it, he tried to kill Moses.

But Moses ran away from Pharaoh and settled down in the land of Midian. One day Moses was sitting by a well. 16 Now there was a Midianite priest who had seven daughters. The daughters came to draw water and fill the troughs so that their father’s flock could drink. 17 But some shepherds came along and rudely chased them away. Moses got up, rescued the women, and gave their flock water to drink.

18 When they went back home to their father Reuel,[a] he asked, “How were you able to come back home so soon today?”

19 They replied, “An Egyptian man rescued us from a bunch of shepherds. Afterward, he even helped us draw water to let the flock drink.”

20 Reuel said to his daughters, “So where is he? Why did you leave this man? Invite him to eat a meal with us.”

21 Moses agreed to come and live with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses as his wife. 22 She gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, “because,” he said, “I’ve been an immigrant[b] living in a foreign land.”

23 A long time passed, and the Egyptian king died. The Israelites were still groaning because of their hard work. They cried out, and their cry to be rescued from the hard work rose up to God. 24 God heard their cry of grief, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God looked at the Israelites, and God understood.

Moses at the burning bush

3 Moses was taking care of the flock for his father-in-law Jethro,[c] Midian’s priest. He led his flock out to the edge of the desert, and he came to God’s mountain called Horeb. 2 The Lord’s messenger appeared to him in a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. Moses saw that the bush was in flames, but it didn’t burn up. 3 Then Moses said to himself, Let me check out this amazing sight and find out why the bush isn’t burning up.

4 When the Lord saw that he was coming to look, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

Moses said, “I’m here.”

5 Then the Lord said, “Don’t come any closer! Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground.” 6 He continued, “I am the God of your father, Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God, and Jacob’s God.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the Lord said, “I’ve clearly seen my people oppressed in Egypt. I’ve heard their cry of injustice because of their slave masters. I know about their pain. 8 I’ve come down to rescue them from the Egyptians in order to take them out of that land and bring them to a good and broad land, a land that’s full of milk and honey, a place where the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites all live. 9 Now the Israelites’ cries of injustice have reached me. I’ve seen just how much the Egyptians have oppressed them. 10 So get going. I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh and to bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12 God said, “I’ll be with you. And this will show you that I’m the one who sent you. After you bring the people out of Egypt, you will come back here and worship God on this mountain.”

God’s special name

13 But Moses said to God, “If I now come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they are going to ask me, ‘What’s this God’s name?’ What am I supposed to say to them?”

14 God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am.[d] So say to the Israelites, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’” 15 God continued, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God, and Jacob’s God, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever; this is how all generations will remember me.

16 “Go and get Israel’s elders together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me. The Lord said, “I’ve been paying close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 I’ve decided to take you away from the harassment in Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land full of milk and honey.”’ 18 They will accept what you say to them. Then you and Israel’s elders will go to Egypt’s king and say to him, ‘The Lord, the Hebrews’ God, has met with us. So now let us go on a three-day journey into the desert so that we can offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ 19 However, I know that Egypt’s king won’t let you go unless he’s forced to do it. 20 So I’ll use my strength and hit Egypt with dramatic displays of my power. After that, he’ll let you go.

21 “I’ll make it so that when you leave Egypt, the Egyptians will be kind to you and you won’t go away empty-handed. 22 Every woman will ask her neighbor along with the immigrant in her household for their silver and their gold jewelry as well as their clothing. Then you will put it on your sons and daughters, and you will rob the Egyptians.”

Footnotes:

  1. Exodus 2:18 Also called Jethro
  2. Exodus 2:22 Heb ger sounds like Gershom.
  3. Exodus 3:1 Also called Reuel
  4. Exodus 3:14 Or I Will Be Who I will Be.
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Matthew 17:10-27

10 The disciples asked, “Then why do the legal experts say that Elijah must first come?”

11 Jesus responded, “Elijah does come first and will restore all things. 12  In fact, I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they didn’t know him. But they did to him whatever they wanted. In the same way the Human One[a] is also going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples realized he was telling them about John the Baptist.

Healing of a boy who was demon-possessed

14 When they came to the crowd, a man met Jesus. He knelt before him, 15 saying, “Lord, show mercy to my son. He is epileptic and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire or the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”

17 Jesus answered, “You faithless and crooked generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Then Jesus spoke harshly to the demon. And it came out of the child, who was healed from that time on.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and said, “Why couldn’t we throw the demon out?”

20 “Because you have little faith,” he said. “I assure you that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Go from here to there,’ and it will go. There will be nothing that you can’t do.”[b]

Second prediction of Jesus’ death and resurrection

22 When the disciples came together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Human One[c] is about to be delivered over into human hands. 23  They will kill him. But he will be raised on the third day.” And they were heartbroken.

Paying the temple tax

24 When they came to Capernaum, the people who collected the half-shekel temple tax came to Peter and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

25 “Yes,” he said.

But when they came into the house, Jesus spoke to Peter first.“What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect taxes, from their children or from strangers?”

26 “From strangers,” he said.

Jesus said to him, “Then the children don’t have to pay. 27  But just so we don’t offend them, go to the lake, throw out a fishing line and hook, and take the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a shekel coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us.”

Footnotes:

  1. Matthew 17:12 Or Son of Man
  2. Matthew 17:20 17:21 is omitted in most critical editions of the Gk New Testament This kind doesn’t come out except through prayer and fasting.
  3. Matthew 17:22 Or Son of Man
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Psalm 22:1-18

Psalm 22

For the music leader. According to the “Doe of Dawn.” A psalm of David.

22 My God! My God,
why have you left me all alone?
Why are you so far from saving me—
so far from my anguished groans?
2 My God, I cry out during the day,
but you don’t answer;
even at nighttime I don’t stop.
3 You are the holy one, enthroned.
You are Israel’s praise.
4 Our ancestors trusted you—
they trusted you and you rescued them;
5 they cried out to you and they were saved;
they trusted you and they weren’t ashamed.

6 But I’m just a worm, less than human;
insulted by one person, despised by another.
7 All who see me make fun of me—
they gape, shaking their heads:
8 “He committed himself to the Lord,
so let God rescue him;
let God deliver him
because God likes him so much.”
9 But you are the one who pulled me from the womb,
placing me safely at my mother’s breasts.
10 I was thrown on you from birth;
you’ve been my God
since I was in my mother’s womb.
11 Please don’t be far from me,
because trouble is near
and there’s no one to help.

12 Many bulls surround me;
mighty bulls from Bashan encircle me.
13 They open their mouths at me
like a lion ripping and roaring!
14 I’m poured out like water.
All my bones have fallen apart.
My heart is like wax;
it melts inside me.
15 My strength is dried up
like a piece of broken pottery.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you’ve set me down in the dirt of death.
16 Dogs surround me;
a pack of evil people circle me like a lion—
oh, my poor hands and feet!
17 I can count all my bones!
Meanwhile, they just stare at me, watching me.
18 They divvy up my garments among themselves;
they cast lots for my clothes.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Proverbs 5:7-14

7 Now children, listen to me,
and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
8 Stay on a path that is far from her;
don’t approach the entrance to her house.
9 Otherwise, you will give your strength to others,
your years to a cruel person.
10 Otherwise, strangers will sap your strength,
and your hard work will end up in a foreigner’s house.
11 You will groan at the end
when your body and flesh are exhausted,
12 and you say, “How I hated instruction!
How my heart despised correction!

13 I didn’t listen to the voice of my instructor.
I didn’t obey my teacher.
14 I’m on the brink of utter ruin
in the assembled community.”

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

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01/25/2018 DAB Transcript

Genesis 50:1-Exodus 2:10, Matthew 16:13-17:9, Psalms 21:1-13, Proverbs 5:1-6

Today is the 25th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s wonderful to be here with you today. And we reach a milestone today. So, well done for reaching it even though you may not know what it is yet. We will complete our first book of the Bible today. We will conclude the book of Genesis and then move our way into the second book of the Old Testament, which is called Exodus. And we’ll talk about Exodus when we get there. But first, we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week. Genesis chapter 50 and then Exodus chapter 1 verse 1 through 2:10 today.

Exodus:

Okay. So, that concludes the book of Genesis, which moves us into the book of Exodus, which is the second book in the Bible, the second book of the Torah. And, in the original language, Exodus means departure. And true to its name, the book is the epic retelling of God’s deliverance of his people from slavery. And it’s in this book that we meet Moses. And Moses becomes an actual part of the story. So, as we completed Genesis, we read about Joseph and how his being sold into slavery was ultimately used by God to save his family and the land of Egypt from famine and starvation. So, Joseph’s family was ultimately brought to Egypt during this famine so that they can be cared for. And they were cared for and they began to prosper and multiply rapidly. And as we move now into the book of Exodus, we’re fast forwarding. So, we finished the book of Genesis just now, we are fast forwarding over 400 years as we begin the book of Exodus. And Joseph is now gone as we just read about. But this vast family line remains in the land. And over these centuries they’ve become enslaved to the Egyptians. So, the story of the children of Israel being enslaved, Moses becoming their leader, and then the dramatic way in which God humbles Egypt and sets his people free covers the first third of this book. And then the center portion of Exodus chronicles the drama in the desert as the children of Israel learn to trust God the hard way. And in the final portion of the book describes the tabernacle and its many utensils as well as the modes of sacrifice and offering of worship to God. And the tabernacle will become the centerpiece of the culture. As the children of Israel are moving, are spending their time in the desert, essentially, a portable temple, and it sits in the heart of their camp. So, it’s where God is seen to dwell among His people. So, we’re going to begin to see what happens next in the story. And then by the time we’re done with the book of Exodus we will see that a formation of a completely new culture has begun. And we’re sitting right in the front row watching it happen. And, so we begin the book of Exodus.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another day to spend feasting upon Your word in community. We thank You for bringing us to this point, where we’ve concluded the first book of the Bible and we’re moving into the next part of the story. And Father, even as we do move into this next part of the story and have jumped centuries into the future and now this promise of a people that covers the land has become a reality, but the reality of the promise land is not complete, but You’ve allowed us to enter into that story and see how things develop and evolve. And in so many ways, on so many levels, this is our story too. And so, we invite Your Holy Spirit to speak to us as we move through the book of Exodus. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Next up on the calendar is February 7th, which is two weeks from yesterday, and I will be speaking in Bakersfield California at New Life Church. So, looking forward to that. If you are in the vicinity, please come say hello. Love to meet you, shake your hand, hug your neck, spend some time with the brothers and sisters on the west coast. So, looking forward to that. You can get the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Events section, everything you would need to know. This is a Wednesday evening. So, looking forward to it very much and we’ll see you soon.

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And that’s it for today. Well done. We’ve completed our first book of the Bible. We’re well on our way and I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow. So, that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi DAB. It’s Joe the protector from Georgia. Sorry I haven’t called in a while. I’ve just been busy with work and family. I’m still listening to the DAB and hearing prayers and everything. Right now I’ve got a request of my own. I’ve mentioned her before, but it’s my older daughter Madison, she’ll be 19 the 27th of this month. She’s in the hospital right now. She’s been in there for the last three days and she’s just been losing a lot of weight, hasn’t been eating, and just hasn’t had a desire to eat. So, she’s lost about 20 something pounds, but she’s down to 80 something pounds. And we took her to the hospital to try to figure out what was going on and they have diagnosed her now with such severe depression that it’s life-threatening. So, if my DAB family will please, please lift her, and myself, and my wife up, and our family as were going through this time. And we’re waiting also for a bed in a psychiatric unit. So, that’s another one of our concerns, is getting in a facility that’s fairly close to our home due to transportation reasons and being closer to her. So, I appreciate all of you all’s prayers and I love you all. And I listen to all you all’s prayers as well and pray over them as well. So, thank you for all you all do. Love you all. Bye.

This Marilyn in Houston. Oh, Brian and China I want to tell you so much for your daily commitment in giving us God’s word. Brian, I wanted to say that I love the both of you prayers, all of your prayers. And over Christmas, you, in one of the beautiful prayers, you were thanking God for His many gifts, the gift of the Son, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Word. And I thank God for the gifts that you have come to give me. Thank you, you’ve given a new hunger to hear God’s word. I hear both of your podcasts several times a day and I always look forward to that moment when you post it for the following day. I get a head start. Thank you for that gift. And I thank God for the gift of my DAB family. Apparently, you have given me a fever and a love for people. You have taught me how to pray and I thank you for that. And the one who read the prayer, I believe, saying thank you God __. So, I thank God for giving me…taking away my pain. I thank Him now. Thank You dear God. I want to thank you that the pain is gone. I want to thank you right now for what You’ve done as well as what You will be doing in 2018. Praise God. So, thank you DAB family. You are loved.

Hi this is Victoria S. I’m just calling tonight pray for some of the DABbers. I wanted to pray for…wanted to say welcome to Leah…and I wanted to pray for her to make it through the fast that she’s going through in her church. It’s going to be a great thing to see God work in your life through fasting and praying. It’s such a wonderful thing and it will definitely strengthen your prayer life Leah. Thank you for being a part of the Daily Audio Bible. I want to pray for Mike. He’s been with us since 2010. And I wanted to say thank you to Brian and Jill also. I want to also pray for Paul Houston. He was praying for Judith and her brother. I want to pray for them. I want to also pray for David, he and his young wife, I want to pray for them and whatever challenges they’re going through and whatever things the enemy may come against them on. I want to pray for Emily and her father-in-law, who’s struggling with cancer. And I want to pray for God’s victory and healing in his life. Gracious Father, we just come before Your throne of grace once again. Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, we just thank You. We praise You and we lift You up. We put our prayer before You today of those who are going through…those who are having challenges Lord. Lord, we want to pray for the father-in-law with the cancer Lord. We know that You’re a doctor that never lost a case. Oh Lord, You can do anything but fear. You heal 10 dead lepers. One with cancer is not a problem for You. There’s nothing too hard for You God. You can do anything. Lord, we just ask You to heal, we ask You to heal whatever way you see fit in the name of Jesus. You have a plan for his life and whatever future and hope, we let it be in You. Lord we just thank You Lord. We pray for that brother, that brother that is going through…Lord we don’t know what…

I love you of Lord my strength for it is You who light my lamp. The Lord my God lightens my darkness. I’ve got to say, I’m actually loving Psalm 18 at the moment. I’ve been reading the Psalms in my morning quiet times and this one’s __ to date. Anyway, that’s not the reason why I called in. But the real reason is to remind you of the importance of being to laugh at ourselves and left our mistakes and that we learn from them. So, something I learned at church last night was the importance of having the memory of a goldfish. So, like, in tennis, tennis players, when they serve and it’s actually rubbish. You know, and then  you’ve got to take serve again. Well, what he’s gotta do is totally forget that rubbish serve and serve again as of the first serve never happened. You know, it’s forgetting that mistake. Memory of goldfish, that never happened. And doing it as if it was the first time. Yes, pretty much. I tend to carry around my failures with me and I think that that…even like silly mistakes. Like, I was in a friend’s car last night, doing him a favor, and I was there looking for how to turn the lights on, and it was a newer car, so they came on automatically, and it was kind of like, ah, what are you doing? You know, silly little things like that. But choosing today to laugh at yourself, make a joke of it, forget about it and move on, and leave it with…leave it with God. Because, like I said, I tend to punish myself with all of that. Si, it’s like in Matthew the other week, it’s leaving our burdens of the cross. You know, even silly mistakes like that, and knowing that we can forget about it, you know, forget about it and move on, because it’s not important. I hope you have a blessed day wherever you are. This is Beloved by Him from Gloucester in the UK. Bye.

Hello DAB family. This is Abiding in Him. I’d like to pray for Pelham and Molly Addicted to Christ. Heavenly Father, we come before You for our beautiful brother and sister, they’re family, whose lives we’ve been able to share in __ testimony. We’ve seen You __ together, how you pull them up from __ of addiction and to set them in the right mind, clothe them with your Spirit, and bound them up in love Lord. We’ve seen how You’ve carried them and made them into a beautiful family Lord. But their family is under attack and their hearts are being crushed and they’re looking to you Lord to see what You’re going to do. Are You a God that leaves Your children abandoned, that brings them out to the wilderness and let them die? Or are You the God of the Bible that protected Your children and brought them to the promised land? Lord, show up for this family that cries out to You. Show up for this family who turned their backs from addiction to be addicted to you instead. Give them strength to persevere, to take the next step forward so they can see the end of this thing to know that You are there urging them on, and being there with them, carrying them. Oh Lord, don’t let them slip through your fingers. You are God and You have never failed and we trust You completely and totally now. Show up for them in a very special way. Bless their hearts and let them know they are not alone. They are very much loved and You will see them through this. We give You all the praise, honor, and glory that You deserve. In the holy name of Jesus we pray.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday January 25, 2018 (NIV)

Genesis 50:1 - Exodus 2:10

50 Joseph fell across his father’s body, wept over him, and kissed him. 2 Joseph then ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 They mourned for him forty days because that is the period required for embalming. Then the Egyptians mourned him for seventy days. 4 After the period of mourning had passed, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s household: “If you approve my request, give Pharaoh this message: 5 My father made me promise, telling me, ‘I’m about to die. You must bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now, let me leave and let me bury my father, and then I will return.”

6 Pharaoh replied, “Go, bury your father as you promised.”

7 So Joseph left to bury his father. All of Pharaoh’s servants went with him, together with the elder statesmen in his household and all of the elder statesmen in the land of Egypt, 8 Joseph’s entire household, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only the children, flocks, and cattle remained in the land of Goshen. 9 Even chariots and horsemen went with him; it was a huge collection of people. 10 When they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan River, they observed a solemn, deeply sorrowful period of mourning. He grieved seven days for his father.

11 When the Canaanites who lived in the land saw the observance of grief on Atad’s threshing floor, they said, “This is a solemn observance of grief by the Egyptians.” Therefore, its name is Abel-mizraim.[a] It is on the other side of the Jordan River. 12 Israel’s sons did for him just as he had ordered. 13 His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as burial property from Ephron the Hittite. 14 Then[b] Joseph returned to Egypt, he, his brothers, and everyone who left with him to bury his father.

Joseph and his brothers in Egypt

15 When Joseph’s brothers realized that their father was now dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us, and wants to pay us back seriously for all of the terrible things we did to him?” 16 So they approached[c] Joseph and said, “Your father gave orders before he died, telling us, 17 ‘This is what you should say to Joseph. “Please, forgive your brothers’ sins and misdeeds, for they did terrible things to you. Now, please forgive the sins of the servants of your father’s God.”’” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

18 His brothers wept[d] too, fell down in front of him, and said, “We’re here as your slaves.”

19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I God? 20 You planned something bad for me, but God produced something good from it, in order to save the lives of many people, just as he’s doing today. 21 Now, don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.” So he put them at ease and spoke reassuringly to them.

22 Thus Joseph lived in Egypt, he and his father’s household. Joseph lived 110 years 23 and saw Ephraim’s grandchildren. The children of Machir, Manasseh’s son, were also born on Joseph’s knees. 24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m about to die. God will certainly take care of you and bring you out of this land to the land he promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Joseph made Israel’s sons promise, “When God takes care of you, you must bring up my bones out of here.” 26 Joseph died when he was 110 years old. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.

1 These are the names of the Israelites who came to Egypt with Jacob along with their households: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 The total number in Jacob’s family was seventy. Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Eventually, Joseph, his brothers, and everyone in his generation died. 7 But the Israelites were fertile and became populous. They multiplied and grew dramatically, filling the whole land.

Israel is oppressed

8 Now a new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “The Israelite people are now larger in number and stronger than we are. 10 Come on, let’s be smart and deal with them. Otherwise, they will only grow in number. And if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and then escape from the land.” 11 As a result, the Egyptians put foremen of forced work gangs over the Israelites to harass them with hard work. They had to build storage cities named Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they grew and spread, so much so that the Egyptians started to look at the Israelites with disgust and dread. 13 So the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. 14 They made their lives miserable with hard labor, making mortar and bricks, doing field work, and by forcing them to do all kinds of other cruel work.

15 The king of Egypt spoke to two Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah: 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth and you see the baby being born, if it’s a boy, kill him. But if it’s a girl, you can let her live.” 17 Now the two midwives respected God so they didn’t obey the Egyptian king’s order. Instead, they let the baby boys live.

18 So the king of Egypt called the two midwives and said to them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the baby boys live?”

19 The two midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because Hebrew women aren’t like Egyptian women. They’re much stronger and give birth before any midwives can get to them.” 20 So God treated the midwives well, and the people kept on multiplying and became very strong. 21 And because the midwives respected God, God gave them households of their own.

22 Then Pharaoh gave an order to all his people: “Throw every baby boy born to the Hebrews into the Nile River, but you can let all the girls live.”

Moses’ birth

2 Now a man from Levi’s household married a Levite woman. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that the baby was healthy and beautiful, so she hid him for three months. 3 When she couldn’t hide him any longer, she took a reed basket and sealed it up with black tar. She put the child in the basket and set the basket among the reeds at the riverbank. 4 The baby’s older sister stood watch nearby to see what would happen to him.

5 Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, while her women servants walked along beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds, and she sent one of her servants to bring it to her. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child. The boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. She said, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children.”

7 Then the baby’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Would you like me to go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

8 Pharaoh’s daughter agreed, “Yes, do that.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I’ll pay you for your work.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10 After the child had grown up, she brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I pulled him out[e] of the water.”

Footnotes:

  1. Genesis 50:11 Or the Egyptians’ observance of grief
  2. Genesis 50:14 LXX; MT includes after he buried his father.
  3. Genesis 50:16 LXX, Syr; MT they commanded
  4. Genesis 50:18 Or came
  5. Exodus 2:10 Heb mashah sounds like Moses (moshe).
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Matthew 16:13-17:9

Peter’s declaration about Jesus

13 Now when Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Human One[a] is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

15 He said, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 Then Jesus replied, “Happy are you, Simon son of Jonah, because no human has shown this to you. Rather my Father who is in heaven has shown you. 18  I tell you that you are Peter.[b] And I’ll build my church on this rock. The gates of the underworld won’t be able to stand against it. 19  I’ll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Anything you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. Anything you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered the disciples not to tell anybody that he was the Christ.

First prediction of Jesus’ death and resurrection

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and legal experts, and that he had to be killed and raised on the third day. 22 Then Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him: “God forbid, Lord! This won’t happen to you.” 23 But he turned to Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stone that could make me stumble, for you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”

Saving and losing life

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. 25  All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will find them. 26  Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? 27  For the Human One[c] is about to come with the majesty of his Father with his angels. And then he will repay each one for what that person has done. 28  I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see the Human One[d] coming in his kingdom.”

Jesus’ transformation

17 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain. 2 He was transformed in front of them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.

3 Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Lord, it’s good that we’re here. If you want, I’ll make three shrines: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, look, a bright cloud overshadowed them. A voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love. I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!” 6 Hearing this, the disciples fell on their faces, filled with awe.

7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Don’t tell anybody about the vision until the Human One[e] is raised from the dead.”

Footnotes:

  1. Matthew 16:13 Or Son of Man
  2. Matthew 16:18 Peter means rock.
  3. Matthew 16:27 Or Son of Man
  4. Matthew 16:28 Or Son of Man
  5. Matthew 17:9 Or Son of Man
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Psalm 21

Psalm 21

For the music leader. A psalm of David.

21 The king celebrates your strength, Lord;
look how happy he is about your saving help!
2 You’ve given him what his heart desires;
you haven’t denied what his lips requested. Selah
3 You bring rich blessings right to him;
you put a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked you for life,
and you gave it to him, all right—
long days, forever and always!
5 The king’s reputation is great
because of your saving help;
you’ve conferred on him glory and grandeur.
6 You grant him blessings forever;
you make him happy
with the joy of your presence.
7 Because the king trusts the Lord,
and because of the Most High’s faithful love,
he will not stumble.

8 Your hand will catch all your enemies;
your strong hand will catch all who hate you.
9 When you appear, Lord,
you will light them up like an oven on fire.
God will eat them whole in his anger;
fire will devour them.
10 You will destroy their offspring from the land;
destroy their descendants from the human race.
11 Because they sought to do you harm,
they devised a wicked plan—but they will fail!
12 Because you will make them turn and run
when you aim your bow straight at their faces!

13 Be exalted, Lord, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power!

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Proverbs 5:1-6

Avoid the mysterious woman

5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom.
Bend your ear to what I know,
2 so you might remain discreet,
and your lips might guard knowledge.
3 The lips of a mysterious woman drip honey,
and her tongue is smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead to the grave.[a]
6 She doesn’t stay on the way of life.
Her paths wander, but she doesn’t know it.

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 5:5 Heb Sheol
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Posted on

01/24/2018 DAB Transcript

Genesis 48:1-49:33, Matthew 15:29-16:12, Psalms 20:1-9, Proverbs 4:20-27

Today is the 24th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we move through the middle of the week. And this week we’ve been reading from the Common English Bible. And we’ve spent our Old Testament time reading through the story of Joseph and how the first generation of the children of Israel ended up in Egypt. So, we’ll pick up that story today, Genesis chapter 48 and 49.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the Old Testament we said goodbye to another of the patriarchs. So, we began with Abram, who became Abraham, and we went through his life, and the son of promise that came from his union with his wife Sarah was Isaac. And then we went through Isaac’s life and saw his sons and his promise continued through Jacob and Jacob’s name became Israel. And then when he had children they were, most literally, the children of Israel. And it’s he who passes away today. And one of Jacob, Israel’s, final requests before dying was that her wouldn’t be buried in Egypt, he would be taken back to the land of Canaan, and would be buried in the tomb that his grandfather, Abraham, had bought from the Hittites, the cave of Machpelah. And you remember when we read of Abraham actually buying that cave from the Hittites and burying Sarah there, I said this place will keep showing up, like, we never pay attention to it, but we’ll keep returning to this landmark. It’s like this geographical point that we keep circling back to. And we’ll see that continue. So, Abraham is buried in this cave of Machpelah. Sarah is buried there. Isaac is buried there. Rebecca is buried there. And now, Jacob has requested that he be buried there as well. And as I’ve said this cave of Machpelah still exists until today. It’s now called the Tomb of the Patriarchs because the Patriarchs were buried there. And it exists within the city of Hebron, modern-day Hebron.

Announcements:

I have mentioned the Promised Land films as a companion to going through the Bible. These are films that we shot over the…well…that we can continue to shoot…we shot over the course of several years being in Israel. And we went into Hebron one time to film some of the ancient ruins of Hebron, some that date back to Abraham’s time, and to film the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is a very, very contentious place, because it’s a holy place for Christians and for Jews and for Muslims as well. So, it’s fortified and heavily guarded, but we were able to get permission to go in. And, so, we went in the Jewish side and filmed, but we were also given permission to go into the mosque side and film in there as well, which is rare. And, even more rare, we were able to get permission from the Israeli military to fly above it, so, to get drone footage of it. And, as far as I know, this is the only aerial footage of the Tomb of Patriarchs that exists. So, this place that we’re talking about, where the patriarchs are buried. We can see  what’s become of this. I mean, the cave of Machpelah is down below the structure that now, kind of, encases the whole thing. And the structure that encases the whole thing, that’s half synagogue, half mosque, dates all the way back to the time of King Herod. And King Herod, he was pretty messed up guy, historically; however, he was probably one of the most prolific developers that ancient Israel ever had, if not the most prolific developer. So many of the structures that he erected are still standing. And it was Herod who fortified and expanded the temple that Jesus would have visited. So, the structure that covers the cave of Machpelah and the Tomb of the Patriarchs dates back to that time. So, you can see that in the Promised Land films as well as so many of these other places that we’ve already discussed in the Bible, like Ephrathah, which is a Bethlehem, or Beersheba, or Dan, or Jerusalem, like all of these places. The Sea of Galilee all of the cities and places where Jesus did ministry, all of that’s in the Promised Land films. We’ve filmed it specifically for this reason. As we’re going through the Bible, it’s nice to be able to tune in and go, okay, this is that place, this is where we were situated today in our reading, this is what it looks like.

So, you may want to check that out. You can find the Promised Land films in the Daily Audio Bible Shop in the Music and Film category. And, so, when you get Promised Land films, we’ll send the double DVD set to you, but then also give you instant access to be able to download the films. And you can download them, watch them on your computer or transfer them to some kind of streaming device or however you want. So, you can see a lot of the places that we visit as we travel through the Bible this year.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link, it’s the homepage. Thank you, humbly, and truly for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi there. My name is Deborah from Michigan and on 19th of January I was listening to a program and the caller, I didn’t catch your name or where you’re from, but it’s the lady that said her daughter is suffering from a severe mental illness, she’s stealing from you. Anyway, I’m a psychologist here and I am just praying for you my dear lady. I can’t imagine how difficult this must be as a mother, but I pray that the Lord will send a good psychiatrist to your daughter who can really get her medication straightened out. And I just withdraw from prayer Lord, even now, that this young lady will be freed from this awful illness Lord that is bugging her mind. I pray Lord that You would bless her with a godly Christian counselor who can help her and her mother sort through this illness Lord. I pray that You would just give this dear family Lord healing and that this young lady would come back to church, come back to you Lord. And I’m convinced that she’s not there yet, not because of anything that she’s done, but Lord, because of this horrible illness. I praise You and I thank You Lord and I just pray for this mom in Jesus’ name. Amen.

A DABbers this is Jill in Colorado, Nobody Gets Left Behind. I’m calling in for a prayer request for my friend Mandy, who recently started listening. I just pray, I hope she hears this, and she hears all of us praying for her, because that’s what this community does for each other. We pray for each other and it’s just awesome. I love you guys prayers. I love listening to Jay and I heard Addicted to Christ in Birmingham and that just warmed up my heart to hear you speak about flames of light across the world. It does definitely remind us of our DAB family. There’s a song called Light Up the Sky, I believe that’s what it’s called, and one of my very favorite songs. And it’s so true, I just feel like all of our prayer and worship, we just light up the sky as we try and we have it going on. And I imagine God looking down and just smiling at us. And I just…I pray for strength and wisdom for you brother, and for your finances, and I just want to say to all of you all that I love you all dearly and I hope to call in more this year.

Hi. My name is Janin Lopez from New York. I’m 11 years old and right now I’m going through a tough time. I’ve listened to the DAB Audio Bible with my grandmother every morning and we started a few years ago. She got me into it and it’s been really, really good. I also would like to ask for prayer for my mother. Right now she is in a situation that isn’t really good and she’s left me with my stepfather and it’s really hard __ . I’d also like to ask for prayer for my stepdad. I consider him like my dad. He’s been going through a tough time especially with his work, with school, and with my mother. I’d like to ask for prayer for my grandmother because she’s blind and she’s helped me through everything. I would like to ask for a prayer for myself because ___. This weekend I have to go to a therapist and they will determine my faith from there. So, please pray for me. Thank you.

Hello, my DAB family this is Mark S in Sydney Australia. Today is the 20th of January. I’ve just finished listening to Friday the 9th podcast and God put in my heart to just reach out to Pelham, Addicted to Christ, that you’re going through a season… a bit of a hardship. And it’s no surprise to me that your call came on after today’s reading about Joseph and his struggle, where things kept on appearing to go from worse to worse, even though he was following exactly the word of God. We all have these phases and your words blessed me too Pelham. And I’m sure a lot of people out there can see that you have faith in God. And keep having that faith in God Pelham, because you know what, I’ve found over the years too, that going through these hard periods, that that cross teaches us more, and prepares us more for the next part of the journey that God is going to put us onto. And I know it’s hard, and I’ve certainly gone through financial hardships, still are. And the more that we trust in God, the closer we become to Him as well. So, keep trusting Pelham. I love you. And I love the rest of you community. And looking forward to continuing this journey with all of you this year. Mark S from Sydney Australia. Bye-bye.

Hello Sarah from Connecticut. This is Dr. John from Jordan New York. I just heard your call on the 20th and just wanted to give you some reassurance. I had a similar situation, where I had to testify in federal court, it was a federal case, for a patient that needed their story to come out about the trauma that she experienced. And her faith was a part of our treatment. And so, first off, I would just tell you to pray for the Holy Spirit to give you the words to say what needs to be said and just pray for peace. I was very comforted when I was testifying when the lawyer who was cross-examining me was more nervous than I was. And I give that to God. But let us know when you’ll be testifying and we will cover you in prayer and God will be with you. I would counsel you to include the faith part of your treatment. I’m sure there are studies out there that are going to support the use of a person’s faith in terms of their treatment for any medical condition. Of course, you got to use the diagnostic criteria and how you came up with the diagnosis, but don’t shy away from bringing God into that courtroom. I didn’t and I don’t regret it and my patient on our case and her lawyer said that I was instrumental in helping her. So good luck to you. We love you. We’ll be supporting you. Please let us know when that is so we can help. Love you. Bye-bye.

Posted on

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. 2 When Jacob was informed,[b] “Your son Joseph is here now,” he[c] pulled himself together and sat up in bed. 3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty[d] appeared to me in Luz in the land of Canaan. He blessed me 4 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.’ 5 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. 6 Your family who is born to you after them are yours, but their inheritance will be determined under their brothers’ names. 7 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.”

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

9 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.

2 Assemble yourselves and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to Israel your father.
3 Reuben, you are my oldest son,
my strength and my first contender,[i]
superior in status and superior in might.
4 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.
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers,
weapons of violence their stock in trade.
6 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.
7 Cursed be their anger; it is violent,
their rage; it is relentless.
I’ll divide them up within Jacob
and disperse them within Israel.
8 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.
9 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.

2 But he replied, “At evening you say, ‘It will be nice weather because the sky is bright red.’ 3  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. 4  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

5 When the disciples arrived on the other side of the lake, they had forgotten to bring bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

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

8 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? 9  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.
2 Let God send help to you from the sanctuary
and support you from Zion.
3 Let God recall your many grain offerings;
let him savor your entirely burned offerings. Selah
4 Let God grant what is in your heart
and fulfill all your plans.
5 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!

6 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.
7 Some people trust in chariots, others in horses;
but we praise the Lord’s name.
8 They will collapse and fall,
but we will stand up straight and strong.

9 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

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01/23/2018 DAB Transcript

Genesis 46:1-47:31, Matthew 15:1-28, Psalms 19:1-14, Proverbs 4:14-19

Today is the 23rd day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is wonderful to have this time together to just kind of let everything else that is going on fade away and just center ourselves in the rhythm of the Scripture in our lives. And as we do every day, we’ll pick up where we left off. And Joseph has revealed himself to his brothers, who are absolutely struck speechless, can’t believe what is happening. And they’ve been sent back to tell their father, Jacob, that Joseph, his son that he thought was dead, is actually alive and in command of Egypt. So, he, Jacob is obviously struck speechless as well, can’t believe this. And now they’re going head back to Egypt to see Joseph. Genesis chapter 46 and 47. We’re reading from the Common English Bible this week.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s pay attention to the stark voice of wisdom, the simple, stark, voice of wisdom found in the Proverbs today, where we’re just told directly, ‘don’t go on the way of the wicked, don’t walk on the path of evil people. Avoid it. Don’t turn onto it. Stay off of it and keep going.’ And we could say, well, that’s kind of dah, that’s kind of, like, obvious. And if it is that stark and that clear and sort of obvious, then why don’t we do it? And we can say, well, it’s kind of complicated, life kind of flies at us with 100 decisions a minute, and we don’t always know whether we’re making the right decision. And, so, sometimes we end up in a place that we didn’t expect. Yeah, but we know right from wrong. We can’t be walking with God and we have no sense that we’re walking into gray. And if we’re walking into gray, out of the light, into the gray, then we are certainly walking toward the darkness. So, if we’re walking into the gray and we keep walking, we will end up in the darkness. And things don’t go well in the darkness as we probably all can testify to. On the other hand, the Proverb tells us that the way of the righteous is like morning light. It keeps getting brighter and brighter till it’s full day. Right? So, if we’re walking into a gray area and we realize that it’s getting darker and we turn around, we’d be walking back into the light and it will get more and more light instead of more and more dark. This is a very, very simple truth, a very simple juxtaposition between darkness and light. It’s something that we can all understand. And yet, its implications are profound. This little proverb here between darkness and light and where were going to walk, if we obeyed just this it would have a profound effect on our lives and the outcome and impact of our lives. Life may be flying at us at a 100 decisions a minute, but that doesn’t mean we have to be swept away. It means we have to stay rooted and centered in Christ and invite the Holy Spirit to navigate these decisions, because He has the capacity to handle 100 decisions a minute flying at you. He has the capacity to navigate in life with you, in collaboration. He can tell you, this doesn’t need to be decided right now, you need to sleep on this. On this one, this is the way to go. On this one, do not even make that decision, don’t even go there. And we can say, man, life is just too busy for that. Like, there’s no way to slow down and listen like that. Like, who has that kind of time? If we don’t have time to walk with God then we have lost the plot of our story and we will never be able to walk out of the darkness into the full glory of the light.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that - the busyness the chaos, just the way that the world works. Through Jesus, You are showing us in the Gospels that we don’t have to live in the chaos of all that. We have to re-center ourselves. That’s not going to take the chaos away. That’s not going to take everything that’s going on away. It will center us and root us in You and then we will not be navigating the chaos alone. We will be collaborating in a life that is meaningful. And, so, Father we pray along with King David in the Psalms. Clear us of any unknown sin. Save us from the sins that we’ve committed willfully. Don’t let them rule us. Then we’ll be blameless. Then we’ll be innocent before You. Father, let the words of our months, and let the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You, because You are our rock and our Redeemer. You are our only hope. And, so, we center ourselves in You. We find our place in You. We reconnect with You. And we watch all the chaos that’s swirling around us be put into its perspective. There is nothing more important than that we walk with You today. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay. I want to talk to you a little bit about the new Daily Audio Bible app. For some of you it’s working perfect and for others of you it’s not working very great. So, I want to talk to you about a couple of the pain points, because it’s not like we’re sitting back here oblivious. Like, we’re studying everything, figuring out everything. We did a beta test with the app last year. For those of you who are new, that’s new news. For those of you who were here last year, you know that. And we did it with 500 people to identify any issues that would come up that we could. And then it’s, you know, it’s quite a different thing when you’ve got tens of thousands of people using the app. That reveals a lot more. So, one of the primary things that we experienced going into the new year was simple server meltdown, like, overload. There were 5 to 10 requests per second at the server level, which forced some significant upgrades. And I talked about that back at the beginning of January, which helped alleviate a bunch of stuff. And then, so after we got that in place, we could see residual things. And it’s important to at least acknowledge what we released is 1.0. So, like, the beginning point. So, we released the first update to the app addressing so many of the different issues, especially with the different flavors of Android that are out there. So, I just want to let everyone know to update your app. I mean, if you have automatic updates on your Apple or Android device then your good. But if you don’t and you update manually, then update. There aren’t a lot of cosmetic changes or anything like that. It’s more back end stuff. We got this out over the weekend and were able to just see what it was doing on server load and was drastically, even those who have automatically updated, it was drastically reducing the calls to the server, which immediately made everything work better. So, when you update the app it should be a little bit more responsive, a little bit more zippy, and be more stable. Those of you who were experiencing app crashes on Androids around the, you know, 8, 10, 12 minute mark, where it would just kind of crash on you, that had to do a lot with the way that Android does power saving measures. The way that it was explained to me is that there’s a couple of levels of that on an Android. And the second one is when the phone goes to sleep. And when that was happening it cuts off all streams. It cuts off, it actually cuts off the Internet in general. And, so, that’s been fixed and you should stop experiencing that. And that’s a pretty significant update for Android. Those of you using an iPhone or iPad or some other Apple device should experience just a lot more responsiveness.

And one other thing that I want to talk about, because we hear from a lot of people about it, is the checkboxes. So, we built the checkboxes, you know, to show you when you’ve listened to a day automatically. And that hasn’t been working right. And it hasn’t been working right for a couple of reasons, but one of the main reasons is server overload. So, with this new update we’re drastically reducing that load, so things should smooth out. But I know that’s been a little bit confusing. So, I can tell you this. The next update to the app, what’s being worked on right now, will enable you to do this manually. So, when you go into an episode page and push play and listen to the Daily Audio Bible, at the bottom, you’ll see a little checkbox, and you can check that box off yourself. Now, that’s not in this update that I’m talking about right now. But I will certainly be announcing it once we get that in place and out there. So, that will be in the next update. So, I don’t have an exact ETA on that, other than that’s what’s being worked on right now and that it has to be tested and testing for a gazillion devices is not the easiest thing in the world do. But that’s coming in the next update. But in the meantime, things should smooth out significantly and be much more responsive.

So, if you haven’t updated to the newest version of the app, do that and you should experience a good improvement in performance.

Okay. One other thing I want to say about the app, because we’ve received a number of inquiries about it, is making episodes available off-line. Now, when you load up the app and go to a page for an episode, you’ll see the tab that says ‘make available off-line’. If you check that, that’s what it will do going forward. If you want to manage that, then what you need to do is click the little drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. It’s like three lines, it’s a little drawer. If you click that button, a little drawer will pop out. And that’s how you get to the Daily Audio Bible shop, that’s how you get to the Prayer Wall, that’s where that stuff is. At the very bottom of that page is your account. If you’re using the app as a guest, then you don’t have one, but if you’re logged in, so that you can take notes, write in the journal that kind of stuff. Down at the bottom, you’ll see a little gear icon. That’s the settings. Click that. You can manage all of the settings for your account, including how you want to manage off-line episodes that are being downloaded.

So, we’re off and running with 1.05. We’ve got a little update, that’s actually a huge update behind the scenes and will help everything run smoother and more responsively for everyone. And, I mean, like I said last year when we were just about to make this go into the wild world out there, pray. I mean, if you experience a difficulty on the app, let us know, sure. Also pray, because I can’t understate this, this whole thing has been under a canopy of prayer the whole time, all 12 years. The prayers of God’s people has sustained what we’ve done together over all of these years. And I don’t think it will ever be any different. So, continue to pray as we continue to build the best experience for moving through the Bible in a year in community that we can dream up. Thank you for your prayers.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that lives right on the homepage. And I thank you, profoundly, for your partnership. This is truly, truly a community endeavor. We are truly doing this together, and if we didn’t do it together we wouldn’t be able to do it all. So, thank you. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is Nathan from Bloomington Illinois. I hope everybody is doing okay and surviving the frosty winter at least in the United States Midwest section. Hey, the last few days Brian has mentioned a few things that’s been consistent about when things happen, you know, a column is built or a stone or stones are piled in remembrance of. So, when people pass by, they recall, this is what this is for. Actually, what I look at is very similar to hiking. Now, I like hiking in the upper altitudes of the Colorado Rockies because a lot of people to get up there and you see some really cool things, but when you get so high, sometimes a trail is really hard to decipher. And, so, hikers, have piled rocks so you can find from one point to another where to get to. They’re called Cairn’s. So, when you get to one Cairn, you look for the next one and it guides you to the next path, and you follow the Cairn until your destination. Well, I guess, from that perspective, God is our Cairn and we look for guidance, we look for that direction so we know where to go. If those stone piles were not there we could possibly get lost, or get off the path, wondering into an area that we shouldn’t be in. And that’s the way that God provides guidance to us. He provides reminders of which direction should be heading, which path we should be on, and that comes right out of the Bible. The Bible is pretty clear on how we need to live our lives. And I know we fail daily, but I just thought I’d throw that out there to you. Hope you have a great day. Make it a great day.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. It’s Linda calling. I listened to the January 13th podcast and to the prayer requests __. Vicki, I am so sorry to hear that your son took his own life. My daughter took her life in 2003. And it’s a difficult situation to deal with. I know for sure. I only gotten through this, I’ve been in way or another in leaning on God every single day. I have questions that I think will never be answered here on earth. I miss my daughter terribly. We’re moving up to her 35th birthday and I still wonder what she would be doing and what we would be doing together. I know it’s difficult Vicki. I know it’s so hard to deal with and my heart goes out to you. And I send you all my love and you’ll be in my prayers. Take care Vicki. Bye-bye.

Good morning DAB family this is Joyful Noise from Southern California. I am calling in today to share how much I love you and how much I love this community. It is a privilege to lift one another up in prayer. And scripture tells us that prayer opens the floodgates of heaven. Like, imagine the biggest power on this earth, like a nuclear bomb, I don’t even know what the biggest power is now, but it’s so much more than that. It’s the most powerful thing in the universe, like the power of God, it unleashes the power of heaven. My gosh, it’s like we just can even get our minds around it, or I can’t. And, so, it is a privilege to be able to join with you all in requesting God’s favor, God’s deliverance, God’s protection, whatever it is that we are seeking as a community and as a family, it is a privilege. So, thank you again, Brian, Jill, and also the Hardin family for all you do to keep this ministry going. I cannot even imagine the __ stuff that you guys deal with and have to do every single day no matter what No period. Matter period. What period. Way period. So, I’m calling in today because I heard some prayer request and I just want to let you all know that I’m partnering with you in prayer. First off, his little Sharif, who is praying for all of us and she’s also praying for her son and his several months new, I believe new, marriage. And, so, little Shariff, I just want you to know that I’m praying for your son and daughter-in-law. And I’m going to be lifting them up. I’m also praying for a woman, and I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name, but you were talking about China and how impressed you were that she’s been reading the Bible through for 10 years, and how we are all impressed. And then you mentioned your prodigal son who was a heroin addict. And I just want to come alongside you my sister, oh my gosh, just such a burden there, and do not be in a place where you compare yourself at all. It sounded like you were doing…

Hi. This message is for Sherry the social worker from Colorado Springs. I’m Abby from Nashville and I was just calling to pray for you. I heard you and just wanted you to know that you are not alone. So, let me pray for you. Dear God, I just pray for my sister. I pray that You would just strengthen her. Lord God, I ask that You restore to her the joy of salvation. Father, I pray that she could walk into any empty and unclear situation Lord __ because her center is in You, and her joy is in You. Father, I just ask that You would honor Your word because You say in Isaiah, when we fast and we seek you, that you break the prisoners free, that the chains fall off Lord God, and that the captives are relieved. And so, I just, in Jesus name, declare Your promises over Sherry in her life Lord God, that right now You are speaking to her, and that right now You are giving her clarity, and that right now You will strengthen her because You never leave us Lord God. Father, I just pray for her situation at work, that You would bring light. Lord God that you would bring life to that, that You would remind her of her purpose there Lord God, and if it’s the right time to deliver her from this situation, that You would just open doors and close doors Lord God. I pray for clarity for her. Lord God I just pray that You would mix up her life for the better and that she would know You more today than she did yesterday. Father, bless my sister, bless her staff. I pray you would speak loudly and I thank you for her. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hey family. This is Jordan from Michigan. I just wanted to call and thank you all for your prayers. They really do make a huge difference in ___. Thank you for interceding on my behalf. I want to humbly request more prayer. I am at a crossroads in my life. I don’t necessarily like my job right now. On my free time I find myself thinking about the things of God. And when at the school teaching, at a secular school, it seems to distract me from the things of God and there are evils in the school system that are very insidious and are a stumbling block for me. And, right now, I am in sin. There’s some sin in my life that is…that’s what the job is…I’m just miserable. So…not all the time but enough to call in and ask for prayer, urgently. But I will say this, I’m thankful for God. I’m thankful for His mercy. I’m thankful for His grace. And I would be so thankful if you would take the time to pray for me. Thank you. And I love you. Bye.

Good morning family my name is Erin from Michigan and I am __ thrilled to call in this morning. Today is Friday morning, January 19th and I’m headed off to the final day of exams for my seniors in high school. And I just praise the Lord for this class that I have today. It’s a two-hour class and it’s just, it’s everything I believe about education. It’s problem-solving, it’s having students be able to choose what they study and really go with their interests. So, I am very blessed and praise Jesus every day that I get to teach that class. So that’s A, praise the Lord. B) I would like to talk about today how Brian talked about the unforgivable sin, the unpardonable sin. I too was raised in a church that, praise Jesus, taught the power of the blood and the need for salvation, but this looming and very ominous unforgivable sin was just always out there, always on the young mind. And I was one of those that would ask Jesus to save me again every Sunday to make sure I didn’t burn in hell’s fire. And I don’t at all mean to make light of any of that, but thank you Brian for your commentary today about the unpardonable sin and how we come close to it but should steer very far away. And in my last few seconds I’d like to lift up my brother Bruce and my niece Jackie and just Lord God, wrap them in the hollow of your hand, keep them safe from __ and from themselves. And Lord help me to be a support and a love and the light for you. Thank you, family. I love you and have a most fabulous weekend. Bye.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday January 23, 2018 (NIV)

Genesis 46-47

Jacob’s household moves to Egypt

46 Israel packed up everything he owned and traveled to Beer-sheba. There he offered sacrifices to his father Isaac’s God. 2 God said to Israel in a vision at night, “Jacob! Jacob!” and he said, “I’m here.” 3 He said, “I am El,[a] your father’s God. Don’t be afraid to go down to Egypt because I will make a great nation of you there. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I promise to bring you out again. Joseph will close your eyes when you die.” 5 Then Jacob left Beer-sheba. Israel’s sons put their father Jacob, their children, and their wives on the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 They took their livestock and their possessions that they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and arrived in Egypt, Jacob and all of his children with him. 7 His sons and grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters—all of his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.

8 These are the names of the Israelites who went to Egypt, including Jacob and his sons. Jacob’s oldest son was Reuben. 9 Reuben’s sons were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 Simeon’s sons were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, whose mother was a Canaanite. 11 Levi’s sons were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 Judah’s sons were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. Er and Onan both died in the land of Canaan. Perez’s sons were Hezron and Hamul. 13 Issachar’s sons were Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron. 14 Zebulun’s sons were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These are the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram. Her daughter was Dinah. All of these persons, including his sons and daughters, totaled 33.

16 Gad’s sons were Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17 Asher’s sons were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. Beriah’s sons were Heber and Malchiel. 18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah. She bore these to Jacob, a total of 16 persons.

19 The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. 20 To Joseph, in the land of Egypt, were born Manasseh and Ephraim. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis,[b] bore them to him. 21 Benjamin’s sons were Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22 These are Rachel’s sons who were born to Jacob, a total of 14 persons.

23 Dan’s son[c] was Hushim. 24 Naphtali’s sons were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. She bore these to Jacob, a total of 7 persons. 26 All of the persons going to Egypt with Jacob—his own children, excluding Jacob’s sons’ wives—totaled 66 persons. 27 Joseph’s sons born to him in Egypt were 2 persons. Thus, all of the persons in Jacob’s household going to Egypt totaled 70.

28 Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph so that Joseph could explain the way to Goshen. Then they arrived in the land of Goshen. 29 Joseph hitched up his chariot and went to meet his father Israel in Goshen. When he arrived, he threw his arms around his neck and wept, embracing him for a long time. 30 Israel said to Joseph, “I can die now after seeing your face. You are really still alive!”

Jacob’s household settles in Egypt

31 Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “Let me go up and inform Pharaoh and tell him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household who were in the land of Canaan have arrived. 32 The men are shepherds, because they own livestock. They’ve brought with them their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ 33 When Pharaoh summons you and says, ‘What do you do?’ 34 say, ‘Your servants have owned livestock since we were young, both we and our ancestors,’ so that you will be able to settle in the land of Goshen, since Egyptians think all shepherds are beneath their dignity.”

47 Joseph went to inform Pharaoh and said, “My father and brothers with their flocks, herds, and everything they own have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen.” 2 From all of his brothers, he selected five men and presented them before Pharaoh.

3 Pharaoh said to Joseph’s brothers, “What do you do?”

They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our ancestors.” 4 They continued, “We’ve come to the land as immigrants because the famine is so severe in the land of Canaan that there are no more pastures for your servants’ flocks. Please allow your servants to settle in the land of Goshen.”

5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since your father and brothers have arrived, 6 the land of Egypt is available to you. Settle your father and brothers in the land’s best location. Let them live in the land of Goshen. And if you know capable men among them, put them in charge of my own livestock.”

7 Joseph brought his father Jacob and gave him an audience with Pharaoh. Jacob blessed Pharaoh, 8 and Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “I’ve been a traveler for 130 years. My years have been few and difficult. They don’t come close to the years my ancestors lived during their travels.” 10 Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left Pharaoh’s presence. 11 Joseph settled his father and brothers and gave them property in the land of Egypt, in the best location in the land of Rameses, just as Pharaoh had ordered. 12 Joseph provided food for his father, his brothers, and his father’s entire household, in proportion to the number of children.

Joseph centralizes power in Egypt

13 There was no food in the land because the famine was so severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan dried up from the famine. 14 Joseph collected all of the silver to be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain, which people came to buy, and he deposited it in Pharaoh’s treasury. 15 The silver from the land of Egypt and from the land of Canaan had been spent, and all of the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes, just because the silver is gone?”

16 Joseph said, “Give me your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock if the silver is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food for the horses, flocks, cattle, and donkeys. He got them through that year with food in exchange for all of their livestock.

18 When that year was over, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We can’t hide from my master that the silver is spent and that we’ve given the livestock to my master. All that’s left for my master is our corpses and our farmland. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, we and our farmland too? Buy us and our farms for food, and we and our farms will be under Pharaoh’s control. Give us seed so that we can stay alive and not die, and so that our farmland won’t become unproductive.” 20 So Joseph bought all of Egypt’s farmland for Pharaoh because every Egyptian sold his field when the famine worsened. So the land became Pharaoh’s. 21 He moved the people to the cities[d] from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 However, he didn’t buy the farmland of the priests because Pharaoh allowed the priests a subsidy, and they were able to eat from the subsidy Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they didn’t have to sell their farmland.

23 Joseph said to the people, “Since I’ve now purchased you and your farmland for Pharaoh, here’s seed for you. Plant the seed on the land. 24 When the crop comes in, you must give one-fifth to Pharaoh. You may keep four-fifths for yourselves, for planting fields, and for feeding yourselves, those in your households, and your children.”

25 The people said, “You’ve saved our lives. If you wish, we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” 26 So Joseph made a law that still exists today: Pharaoh receives one-fifth from Egypt’s farmland. Only the priests’ farmland didn’t become Pharaoh’s.

Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

27 Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. They settled in it, had many children, and became numerous. 28 After Jacob had lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years, and after he had lived a total of 147 years, 29 Israel’s death approached. He summoned his son Joseph and said to him, “If you would be so kind, lay your hand under my thigh, and be loyal and true to me. Don’t bury me in Egypt. 30 When I lie down with my fathers, carry me from Egypt and bury me in their grave.”

Joseph said, “I will do just as you say.”

31 Israel said, “Give me your word!” and Joseph gave his word. Then Israel slumped down at the head of the bed.

Footnotes:

  1. Genesis 46:3 Or God
  2. Genesis 46:20 Heb On
  3. Genesis 46:23 Or sons
  4. Genesis 47:21 Sam, LXX he made the people slaves
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Matthew 15:1-28

Rules from the elders

15 Then Pharisees and legal experts came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why are your disciples breaking the elders’ rules handed down to us? They don’t ritually purify their hands by washing before they eat.”

3 Jesus replied, “Why do you break the command of God by keeping the rules handed down to you? 4  For God said, Honor your father and your mother,[a] and The person who speaks against father or mother will certainly be put to death.[b] 5  But you say, ‘If you tell your father or mother, “Everything I’m expected to contribute to you I’m giving to God as a gift,” then you don’t have to honor your father.’ 6  So you do away with God’s Law for the sake of the rules that have been handed down to you. 7  Hypocrites! Isaiah really knew what he was talking about when he prophesied about you, 8 This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. 9 Their worship of me is empty since they teach instructions that are human rules.”[c]

10 Jesus called the crowd near and said to them, “Listen and understand. 11  It’s not what goes into the mouth that contaminates a person in God’s sight. It’s what comes out of the mouth that contaminates the person.”

12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended by what you just said?”

13 Jesus replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be pulled up. 14  Leave the Pharisees alone. They are blind people who are guides to blind people. But if a blind person leads another blind person, they will both fall into a ditch.”

15 Then Peter spoke up, “Explain this riddle to us.”

16 Jesus said, “Don’t you understand yet? 17  Don’t you know that everything that goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? 18  But what goes out of the mouth comes from the heart. And that’s what contaminates a person in God’s sight. 19  Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adultery, sexual sins, thefts, false testimonies, and insults. 20  These contaminate a person in God’s sight. But eating without washing hands doesn’t contaminate in God’s sight.”

Canaanite woman

21 From there, Jesus went to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from those territories came out and shouted, “Show me mercy, Son of David. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.” 23 But he didn’t respond to her at all.

His disciples came and urged him, “Send her away; she keeps shouting out after us.”

24 Jesus replied, “I’ve been sent only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel.”

25 But she knelt before him and said, “Lord, help me.”

26 He replied, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and toss it to dogs.”

27 She said, “Yes, Lord. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall off their masters’ table.”

28 Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith. It will be just as you wish.” And right then her daughter was healed.

Footnotes:

  1. Matthew 15:4 Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16
  2. Matthew 15:4 Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9
  3. Matthew 15:9 Isa 29:13
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Psalm 19

Psalm 19

For the music leader. A psalm of David.

19 Heaven is declaring God’s glory;
the sky is proclaiming his handiwork.
2 One day gushes the news to the next,
and one night informs another what needs to be known.
3 Of course, there’s no speech, no words—
their voices can’t be heard—
4 but their sound[a] extends throughout the world;
their words reach the ends of the earth.

God has made a tent in heaven for the sun.
5 The sun is like a groom
coming out of his honeymoon suite;
like a warrior, it thrills at running its course.
6 It rises in one end of the sky;
its circuit is complete at the other.
Nothing escapes its heat.

7 The Lord’s Instruction is perfect,
reviving one’s very being.[b]
The Lord’s laws are faithful,
making naive people wise.
8 The Lord’s regulations are right,
gladdening the heart.
The Lord’s commands are pure,
giving light to the eyes.
9 Honoring the Lord is correct,
lasting forever.
The Lord’s judgments are true.
All of these are righteous!
10 They are more desirable than gold—
than tons of pure gold!
They are sweeter than honey—
even dripping off the honeycomb!
11 No doubt about it:
your servant is enlightened by them;
there is great reward in keeping them.
12 But can anyone know
what they’ve accidentally done wrong?
Clear me of any unknown sin
13 and save your servant from willful sins.
Don’t let them rule me.
Then I’ll be completely blameless;
I’ll be innocent of great wrongdoing.

14 Let the words of my mouth
and the meditations of my heart
be pleasing to you,
Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 19:4 LXX, Vulg, Sym; MT line or string
  2. Psalm 19:7 Or soul
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Proverbs 4:14-19

14 Don’t go on the way of the wicked;
don’t walk on the path of evil people.
15 Avoid it! Don’t turn onto it;
stay off of it and keep going!
16 They don’t sleep unless they do evil;
they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.
17 They eat the bread of evil,
and they drink the wine of violence.
18 The way of the righteous is like morning light
that gets brighter and brighter till it is full day.
19 The path of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they don’t know where they will stumble.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

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01/22/2018 DAB Transcript

Genesis 44:1-45:28, Matthew 14:14-36, Psalms 18:35-50, Proverbs 4:11-13

Today is the 22nd day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today…like…I pushed record before I was really situated here…hang on…let me just…coffee to the left…and…just adjust…okay…so…we’re locked and loaded and ready to go. So, today we will be, obviously, picking up where we left off yesterday. We’re reading from the Common English Bible and we’re moving our way in the Old Testament through the story of Joseph and all of the drama that surrounded his really interesting life and how that carries the promise forward. Genesis chapter 44 and 45 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers in today’s reading in a truly heartfelt scene, where tears are flowing and healing is just flooding into the situation. It’s really beautiful, but Joseph says some things that reveal his heart. So, we’ve watched this story, and it’s a story of hardship. Pretty sizable obstacles in a person’s life, to be human trafficked, to be a slave, to be thrown into a dungeon, to stay years in a dungeon, only to be whisked out of there and become second in command and in all of Egypt. So, it’s quite a pretty dramatic story. But in the story, we’ve watched Joseph cling to God in all of it, in spite of all of it. And we see what he’s thinking as he reveals himself to his brother. He tells them. Listen, don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves that you sold me here. Right? So, he’s offering forgiveness. And it’s such a huge exhale in this story. But then he reveals how we could even have that posture, what it is that he’s been clinging to. So, he tells them, don’t be mad at yourselves, that you did what you did. Actually, God sent me here. He sent me here to save lives. He sent me ahead of you so that you would survive this. And this invites us, as we’re going through seasons of testing and trial and wilderness experiences that feel very disconnected, we get the chance to observe ourselves, because usually in those times we get very, very self-absorbed and focused. It’s all about what we are going through in the moment and how we want God to get us out of it. But rarely do we go to God and believe that there’s something bigger going on, that we are on our way through something to somewhere else and it’s not purposeless. Joseph didn’t do that. He held on. He remembered the dreams that he had as a young man. So, even when he’s unjustly thrown into a dungeon and has to stay in prison for years, he stays rooted and connected to the fact that there is something bigger going on here. And it may have nothing to do with our current discomfort that we’re working so hard to get rid of. We may be going through something and we’re going to wind up somewhere else that will have dramatic impact on people that we love or people that we don’t even know. So, the story of Joseph invites us to kind of zoom out and get more of a bird’s eye view of what’s going on instead of this very narrow self-focused view. There is always more to the story. There is always more going on than we know. And the only way we will navigate that is in a first-person, first-hand conversational intimacy with God. And we see this in the life of Joseph.

Prayer:

Father, this reinterprets a lot of things because it’s true, when we find ourselves with challenges, we focus very, very much on those challenges and they are they are mostly connected to some kind of discomfort inside of us. And, so, we get really, really focused on those things and sometimes forget that there’s more going on. And we have gotten so self-focused that we’ve lost connection with You. And, so, it feels like we’re completely lost because we have no way of navigating on our own. And, so, once again, we re-center ourselves in You. You are our only hope. We cling to You and invite Your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us forward. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here.

Looking at the calendar, February 7th is the next time I’ll be out on the road speaking and that will be in Bakersfield, California. We’ll be at New Life Church. Looking forward to that. It’s about two and half weeks from now. So, if you are in the area, definitely check it out at dailyaudiobible.com in the Events section.  This is a Wednesday night and looking forward to it very much. You can get the maps, details, phone numbers, websites, all that at dailyaudiobible.com.

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And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey everybody. This is Addicted to Christ or Pelham down in Birmingham Alabama. I’m calling…I’ve been calling a couple times here recently. I’m really struggling. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what’s going to happen to my family. I found…God blessed me with a new job with a great company but I’m making less than half of the money I was making before and I’m working twice as hard, doing stuff that I used to do in high school, and I know God’s in control and he will be there for a reason, there’s a reason for everything, but I’m struggling, and I don’t know how we’re going to pay our bills, I don’t know how we’re going pay rent, and power, and gas. We moved to Birmingham and we found a house and it was well within our means when my job with the pizza truck was going well, but I didn’t see what was coming, and the guy that, you know, he…the owner just closed it down without any warning, and I had to find a job, and I, thankfully, found one, but it’s not…on paper it’s not looking good I don’t know what to do. The Morris family needs prayer. My marriage is falling apart. I’m falling apart. I’m doing the best I can, but they’re killing me at this new job. It’s a salary position and am working way more than 40 hours a week. It’s just a constant…I’ve had one day off in almost three weeks now. Since Christmas I’ve had one full day off because everybody else keeps getting sick. And I just don’t know what to do. Please help. I’m calling for help. This is Pelham, the Morris family in Birmingham. I love you guys. Bye.

Hi DAB family. This is Bill from beautiful Bozeman Montana. It’s been a while since I’ve called. And I’ve been listening and praying for others. I’ve posted a few times on the…I’d say it’s maybe a couple times…you know…on the DAB Friends on Facebook. And we’re in a new year. I’ve started a new job, a new career, and it’s going well. You know, it’s a slow process, but I’m working for my father-in-law. And I’ve prayed for him for years, that the Lord would not let him leave this life without knowing Jesus as his Lord and Savior. So, I’m close friends with him. I respect him and love him and thank God for this opportunity. I think it’s a great opportunity. He’s going blind and as a business that he’s been running for years. And, so, I’m in the office and out the field, which I really like. So, prayers for that, prayer request for that. Also, we are in a temporary living situation and we’re trying to find a place to live. And we found a place but, man, rent is so high around this place. So, just pray God will work that out. There are other things that are going on, but God is good. I love you all. I love hearing you all speak and pray and share and all the new voices as well. I’m praying for you. God bless you, Brian and Jill. Thank you for what you do. Bye.

Hello, my name is Mary and I am a physician. And I’m calling with a prayer request of my own but also comment and a prayer for Vicki who lost her son. I want to let everybody know that the current way we say this in medicine, and I think it’s so important, is not that somebody took their life but that they died by suicide. Depression and loss of hope is actually not anyone’s fault. And, so, Vicki, I want you to know that your son didn’t take his own life. He died by suicide which is a horrible disease and something that we all need to prayer about in our society. My prayer request is for a patient of mine named Daniel, who is having a severely tough time. And his family and I are praying daily. And I ask the support of the community as well. Bless you all and thank you, so much, for this wonderful resource, for all of us who are seeking a better way. Thanks.

Hi Daily Audio Bible Family. It’s James, the teacher, ___ Redeemed Teacher from LA. I need you guys to…not just pray for me…but pray for some families. I just got an email tonight that another student…former student of mine of the last 12 months was gunned down last night and just died. This young man, 23, has a daughter and another one on the way, was married and was one of the sweetest kids I ever had the privilege of teaching. I can imagine who or why anyone would want him dead and I pray that you would pray for his wife and his children. But, even more, I’m realizing, that it seems like the last time I saw this guy was a blink of an eye ago. I got another email tonight __ a kid I used to know in fourth grade, came to my wedding, and graduating from high school this year. And I am feeling like time is moving faster and faster and I don’t know if I’m engage in all of it for the Kingdom. So, please pray for me that I’ll be engaged with Christ, engaged for the community, because time a short. Anyway, I love you guys. Thank you. Bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Dwayne from Wisconsin. All praise and glory to God. I just wanted to say to the young lady who called in and read a story or a prayer about thanking God for things that have yet taken place. That was great. Sorry you didn’t leave your name, but thank you that. That was great to hear, encouraging, appreciate that. I’m calling in for Kelly who is a first-time caller. She’s asking us to pray for deliverance and that she’s having some health issues with her digestive system. So, we want to lift her up to the Lord, that we thank, and pray that she’s a part of our family now. We want to welcome you Kelly, and we pray that the Lord will give you comfort and peace and take care of the digestive issue that you have. Calling in for Vicki, whose son tragically took his life back in December and left a five-year-old daughter behind. Vicki, we ask the Lord to give you peace and comfort in this time of hardship. We ask that He will give you peace and understanding and that you know that the Daily Audio Bible is here for you. We will continue to pray for you and we welcome you and we pray that you will get the comfort you need and the understanding that you need upon this tragedy. And we also want to lift up your friend Julie who has been diagnosed with cancer. We pray that the Lord will lay his healing hand upon you, that the doctors be of the knowledge and resources they need so they can treat Julie, to make her comfortable, and she resist cancer. I lift this all up in Jesus’ name. Amen. God, bless. Love you all.

Hello DAB family. This is Shawnee from Arizona. I haven’t called in for a while, but I am calling in now, urgently, seeing if you will stand with me in prayer. I have a prodigal son who has been prodigal for two…like…three years…a while. I’m calling because it’s an urgent time. Last night I went to the woman’s prayer meeting at my church and the woman pastor had a dream the night before that a family member who was living in sin causing chaos, his sin was going to be exposed and his cycle of sin that had been going on for quite some time was about to be broken, that the family member who has been wayward and lost was…everything was exposed. He, only he, was paying the cost of the consequences for his choices and his actions. And that the family, the person, who was silent and standing and praying during it, all of this, was not affected. And I finally had a chance to speak and be heard. And that dream was for me. I was the only one in the room who was bawling my eyes out. So, now is the time for breakthrough. God, I mean to speak to her and to speak to room full of women like that, and that is, that is for me. That breakthrough is coming. So, please stand with me and that this happens today, as urgently as possible. That other woman is upset at my husband, they’ve been fighting, and she hasn’t responded. He has, still, an appetite for chasing other women, he watches porn, he drinks and goes out a lot. It’s a mess, but God can breakthrough all of that and break the cycle…

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday January 22, 2018 (NIV)

Genesis 44-45

Joseph tests his brothers

44 Joseph gave commands to his household manager: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they’ll hold, and put each man’s silver at the top of his sack. 2 Put my cup, the silver cup, on top of the youngest brother’s sack, together with the silver for his grain.” So he did just as Joseph told him to do.

3 At dawn, the men and their donkeys were sent off. 4 They had left the city but hadn’t gone far when Joseph said to his household manager, “Get ready, go after the men and catch up with them! Ask them, ‘Why have you repaid hospitality with ingratitude?[a] 5 Isn’t this the cup[b] my master drinks from and uses to discover God’s plans?[c] What you’ve done is despicable.’”

6 When he caught up to them, he repeated these words. 7 They replied, “Why does my master talk to us like this? Your servants would never do such a thing. 8 The silver that we found at the top of our sacks, we’ve just brought back to you from the land of Canaan. We didn’t steal silver or gold from your master’s house. 9 Whoever of your servants is found with it will be put to death, and we’ll be my master’s slaves.”

10 He said, “Fine. We’ll do just as you’ve said. Whoever is found with it will be my slave, and the rest of you will go free.” 11 Everyone quickly lowered their sacks down to the ground and each opened his sack. 12 He searched the oldest first and the youngest last, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 At this, they tore their clothing. Then everyone loaded their donkeys, and they returned to the city.

14 When Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground in front of him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What’s this you’ve done? Didn’t you know someone like me can discover God’s plans?”[d]

16 Judah replied, “What can we say to my master? What words can we use? How can we prove we are innocent? God has found your servants guilty. We are now your slaves, all of us, including the one found with the cup.”

17 Joseph said, “I’d never do such a thing. Only the man found with the cup will be my slave. As for the rest of you, you are free to go back to your father.”

Judah appeals for Benjamin

18 Judah approached him and said, “Please, my master, allow your servant to say something to my master without getting angry with your servant since you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My master asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or brother?’ 20 And we said to my master, ‘Yes, we have an elderly father and a young brother, born when he was old. His brother is dead and he’s his mother’s only child. But his father loves him.’ 21 You told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him.’ 22 And we said to my master, ‘The young man can’t leave his father. If he leaves, his father will die.’ 23 You said to your servants, ‘If your youngest brother doesn’t come down with you, you’ll never see my face again.’

24 “When we went back to my father your servant, we told him what you said. 25 Our father told us, ‘Go back and buy for us a little food.’ 26 But we said, ‘We can’t go down. We will go down only if our youngest brother is with us. We won’t be able to gain an audience with the man without our youngest brother with us.’ 27 Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave birth to two sons for me. 28 One disappeared and I said, “He must have been torn up by a wild animal,” and I haven’t seen him since. 29 And if you take this one from me too, something terrible will happen to him, and you will send me—old as I am—to my grave in despair.’ 30 When I now go back to your servant my father without the young man—whose life is so bound up with his— 31 and when he sees that the young man isn’t with us,[e] he will die, and your servants will have sent our father your servant—old as he is—to his grave in grief. 32 I, your servant, guaranteed the young man’s safety to my father, telling him, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, it will be my fault forever.’ 33 Now, please let your servant stay as your slave instead of the young man so that he can go back with his brothers. 34 How can I go back to my father without the young man? I couldn’t bear to see how badly my father would be hurt.”

Joseph reveals his identity

45 Joseph could no longer control himself in front of all his attendants, so he declared, “Everyone, leave now!” So no one stayed with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers. 2 He wept so loudly that the Egyptians and Pharaoh’s household heard him. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m Joseph! Is my father really still alive?” His brothers couldn’t respond because they were terrified before him.

4 Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me,” and they moved closer. He said, “I’m your brother Joseph! The one you sold to Egypt. 5 Now, don’t be upset and don’t be angry with yourselves that you sold me here. Actually, God sent me before you to save lives. 6 We’ve already had two years of famine in the land, and there are five years left without planting or harvesting. 7 God sent me before you to make sure you’d survive[f] and to rescue your lives in this amazing way. 8 You didn’t send me here; it was God who made me a father to Pharaoh, master of his entire household, and ruler of the whole land of Egypt.

9 “Hurry! Go back to your father. Tell him this is what your son Joseph says: ‘God has made me master of all of Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t delay. 10 You may live in the land of Goshen, so you will be near me, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and everyone with you. 11 I will support you there, so you, your household, and everyone with you won’t starve, since the famine will still last five years.’ 12 You and my brother Benjamin have seen with your own eyes that I’m speaking to you. 13 Tell my father about my power in Egypt and about everything you’ve seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 He threw his arms around his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder. 15 He kissed all of his brothers and wept, embracing them. After that, his brothers were finally able to talk to him.

Joseph’s brothers return for Jacob

16 When Pharaoh’s household heard the message “Joseph’s brothers have arrived,” both Pharaoh and his servants were pleased. 17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Give your brothers these instructions: Load your pack animals and go back to the land of Canaan. 18 Get your father and your households and come back to me. Let me provide you with good things from the land of Egypt so that you may eat the land’s best food. 19 Give them these instructions too: Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your children and wives, and pick up your father and come back. 20 Don’t worry about your possessions because you will have good things from the entire land of Egypt.”

21 So Israel’s sons did that. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh instructed, and he gave them provisions for the road. 22 To all of them he gave a change of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing. 23 To his father he sent ten male donkeys carrying goods from Egypt, ten female donkeys carrying grain and bread, and rations for his father for the road. 24 He sent his brothers off; and as they were leaving, he told them, “Don’t be worried about the trip.”[g]

25 So they left Egypt and returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 They announced to him, “Joseph’s still alive! He’s actually ruler of all the land of Egypt!” Jacob’s heart nearly failed, and he didn’t believe them.

27 When they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons Joseph had sent to carry him, Jacob recovered. 28 Then Israel said, “This is too much! My son Joseph is still alive! Let me go and see him before I die.”

Footnotes:

  1. Genesis 44:4 LXX adds Why have you stolen my silver cup?
  2. Genesis 44:5 Syr; MT lacks cup.
  3. Genesis 44:5 Or uses for divination
  4. Genesis 44:15 Or can practice divination
  5. Genesis 44:31 Sam, LXX; MT lacks with us.
  6. Genesis 45:7 Or survive on earth
  7. Genesis 45:24 Or Don’t quarrel during the trip.
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Genesis 44-45

Joseph tests his brothers

44 Joseph gave commands to his household manager: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they’ll hold, and put each man’s silver at the top of his sack. 2 Put my cup, the silver cup, on top of the youngest brother’s sack, together with the silver for his grain.” So he did just as Joseph told him to do.

3 At dawn, the men and their donkeys were sent off. 4 They had left the city but hadn’t gone far when Joseph said to his household manager, “Get ready, go after the men and catch up with them! Ask them, ‘Why have you repaid hospitality with ingratitude?[a] 5 Isn’t this the cup[b] my master drinks from and uses to discover God’s plans?[c] What you’ve done is despicable.’”

6 When he caught up to them, he repeated these words. 7 They replied, “Why does my master talk to us like this? Your servants would never do such a thing. 8 The silver that we found at the top of our sacks, we’ve just brought back to you from the land of Canaan. We didn’t steal silver or gold from your master’s house. 9 Whoever of your servants is found with it will be put to death, and we’ll be my master’s slaves.”

10 He said, “Fine. We’ll do just as you’ve said. Whoever is found with it will be my slave, and the rest of you will go free.” 11 Everyone quickly lowered their sacks down to the ground and each opened his sack. 12 He searched the oldest first and the youngest last, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 At this, they tore their clothing. Then everyone loaded their donkeys, and they returned to the city.

14 When Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground in front of him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What’s this you’ve done? Didn’t you know someone like me can discover God’s plans?”[d]

16 Judah replied, “What can we say to my master? What words can we use? How can we prove we are innocent? God has found your servants guilty. We are now your slaves, all of us, including the one found with the cup.”

17 Joseph said, “I’d never do such a thing. Only the man found with the cup will be my slave. As for the rest of you, you are free to go back to your father.”

Judah appeals for Benjamin

18 Judah approached him and said, “Please, my master, allow your servant to say something to my master without getting angry with your servant since you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My master asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or brother?’ 20 And we said to my master, ‘Yes, we have an elderly father and a young brother, born when he was old. His brother is dead and he’s his mother’s only child. But his father loves him.’ 21 You told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him.’ 22 And we said to my master, ‘The young man can’t leave his father. If he leaves, his father will die.’ 23 You said to your servants, ‘If your youngest brother doesn’t come down with you, you’ll never see my face again.’

24 “When we went back to my father your servant, we told him what you said. 25 Our father told us, ‘Go back and buy for us a little food.’ 26 But we said, ‘We can’t go down. We will go down only if our youngest brother is with us. We won’t be able to gain an audience with the man without our youngest brother with us.’ 27 Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave birth to two sons for me. 28 One disappeared and I said, “He must have been torn up by a wild animal,” and I haven’t seen him since. 29 And if you take this one from me too, something terrible will happen to him, and you will send me—old as I am—to my grave in despair.’ 30 When I now go back to your servant my father without the young man—whose life is so bound up with his— 31 and when he sees that the young man isn’t with us,[e] he will die, and your servants will have sent our father your servant—old as he is—to his grave in grief. 32 I, your servant, guaranteed the young man’s safety to my father, telling him, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, it will be my fault forever.’ 33 Now, please let your servant stay as your slave instead of the young man so that he can go back with his brothers. 34 How can I go back to my father without the young man? I couldn’t bear to see how badly my father would be hurt.”

Joseph reveals his identity

45 Joseph could no longer control himself in front of all his attendants, so he declared, “Everyone, leave now!” So no one stayed with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers. 2 He wept so loudly that the Egyptians and Pharaoh’s household heard him. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m Joseph! Is my father really still alive?” His brothers couldn’t respond because they were terrified before him.

4 Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me,” and they moved closer. He said, “I’m your brother Joseph! The one you sold to Egypt. 5 Now, don’t be upset and don’t be angry with yourselves that you sold me here. Actually, God sent me before you to save lives. 6 We’ve already had two years of famine in the land, and there are five years left without planting or harvesting. 7 God sent me before you to make sure you’d survive[f] and to rescue your lives in this amazing way. 8 You didn’t send me here; it was God who made me a father to Pharaoh, master of his entire household, and ruler of the whole land of Egypt.

9 “Hurry! Go back to your father. Tell him this is what your son Joseph says: ‘God has made me master of all of Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t delay. 10 You may live in the land of Goshen, so you will be near me, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and everyone with you. 11 I will support you there, so you, your household, and everyone with you won’t starve, since the famine will still last five years.’ 12 You and my brother Benjamin have seen with your own eyes that I’m speaking to you. 13 Tell my father about my power in Egypt and about everything you’ve seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 He threw his arms around his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder. 15 He kissed all of his brothers and wept, embracing them. After that, his brothers were finally able to talk to him.

Joseph’s brothers return for Jacob

16 When Pharaoh’s household heard the message “Joseph’s brothers have arrived,” both Pharaoh and his servants were pleased. 17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Give your brothers these instructions: Load your pack animals and go back to the land of Canaan. 18 Get your father and your households and come back to me. Let me provide you with good things from the land of Egypt so that you may eat the land’s best food. 19 Give them these instructions too: Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your children and wives, and pick up your father and come back. 20 Don’t worry about your possessions because you will have good things from the entire land of Egypt.”

21 So Israel’s sons did that. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh instructed, and he gave them provisions for the road. 22 To all of them he gave a change of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing. 23 To his father he sent ten male donkeys carrying goods from Egypt, ten female donkeys carrying grain and bread, and rations for his father for the road. 24 He sent his brothers off; and as they were leaving, he told them, “Don’t be worried about the trip.”[g]

25 So they left Egypt and returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 They announced to him, “Joseph’s still alive! He’s actually ruler of all the land of Egypt!” Jacob’s heart nearly failed, and he didn’t believe them.

27 When they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons Joseph had sent to carry him, Jacob recovered. 28 Then Israel said, “This is too much! My son Joseph is still alive! Let me go and see him before I die.”

Footnotes:

  1. Genesis 44:4 LXX adds Why have you stolen my silver cup?
  2. Genesis 44:5 Syr; MT lacks cup.
  3. Genesis 44:5 Or uses for divination
  4. Genesis 44:15 Or can practice divination
  5. Genesis 44:31 Sam, LXX; MT lacks with us.
  6. Genesis 45:7 Or survive on earth
  7. Genesis 45:24 Or Don’t quarrel during the trip.
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Psalm 18:35-50

35 You’ve given me the shield of your salvation;
your strong hand has supported me;
your help has made me great.
36 You’ve let me walk fast and safe,
without even twisting an ankle.
37 I chased my enemies and caught them!
I didn’t come home until I finished them off.
38 I struck them down;
they couldn’t get up again;
they fell under my feet.
39 You equipped me with strength for war;
you brought my adversaries down underneath me.
40 You made my enemies turn tail from me;
I destroyed my foes.
41 They cried for help,
but there was no one to save them.
They cried for help to the Lord,
but he wouldn’t answer them.
42 I crushed them
like dust blown away by the wind;
I threw them out
like mud dumped in the streets.
43 You delivered me from struggles with many people;
you appointed me the leader of many nations.
Strangers come to serve me.
44 After hearing about me, they obey me;
foreigners grovel before me.
45 Foreigners lose their nerve;
they come trembling out of their fortresses.[a]

46 The Lord lives! Bless God, my rock!
Let the God of my salvation be lifted high!
47 This is the God who avenges on my behalf,
who subdues people before me,
48 who delivers me from my enemies.
Yes, you lifted me high above my adversaries;
you delivered me from violent people.
49 That’s why I thank you, Lord,
in the presence of the nations.
That’s why I sing praises to your name.
50 You are the one who gives great victories to your king,
who shows faithful love to your anointed one—
to David and to his descendants forever.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 18:45 Or prisons
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Proverbs 4:11-13

11 I teach you the path of wisdom.
I lead you in straight courses.
12 When you walk, you won’t be hindered;
when you run, you won’t stumble.
13 Hold on to instruction; don’t slack off;
protect it, for it is your life.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Posted on

01/21/2018 DAB Transcript

Genesis 42:18-43:34, Matthew 13:47-14:13, Psalms 18:16-34, Proverbs 4:7-10

Today is the 21st day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you at this threshold that we get to cross every seven days, the threshold of a shiny, sparkly, brand-new week, where everything that is gone before us is in the past, and the week is out in front of us. And we can choose to live within the counsel and wisdom of the Scriptures as they’re a part of our lives every day. So, this week we’re going to read from the Common English Bible. And we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday. We’re in the story of Joseph and it’s a drama packed story that is so much of a mirror into our own lives and motives and responses. And Joseph is now dealing with seeing the very family members, his brothers, who trafficked him into slavery. Genesis chapter 42 verse 18 through 43 verse 34 today.

Okay. So, Joseph is seeing his brothers. He has seen his brothers but they don’t know that they’re seeing Joseph. And because Joseph can speak Hebrew as well as it the Egyptian languages that he needs in the country that he’s in, he can understand what they’re saying. So, he knows what’s going on. And it’s going all the way to his heart, like, we find them leaving the room to weep. But he’s not revealing his identity yet. Right? So, these people are Joseph’s brothers, but they are also the people that sold him into slavery. They trafficked their own brother. So, Joseph, being coy or cunning with them isn’t so much revenge on his part. If it was revenge that he wanted it would be revenge that he could get. He could label them all as spies, he could reveal who he is, and he could have them executed. Rather, Joseph is testing them. He’s finding out where their hearts are, but he’s not just finding out where their hearts are for himself. Their hearts are being revealed to themselves. This secret of selling Joseph into slavery goes back a couple of decades. It’s been something they’ve been sitting on for a long time. They’ve let their father believe that Joseph was killed long, long ago. And, so, all of this is being surfaced in them. It’s revealing their hearts. So, we’ll have to wait and let the story unfold and see how Joseph ends up dealing with all of this, but it’s good for us to remember that, when we enter into a time of testing, it’s going to surface in us all kinds of things, but it’s also going to surface what we believe about God. So, if we enter into a season of wilderness, a season of testing, and we find ourselves jumping up and down and running in circles and shaking our fists at the sky world, well then, we have revealed what we think about our relationship with God. And, yet, when we enter those times and they’re shaking us up and they’re rough and tumble times and we hold onto God for dear life, not accusing Him of anything or blaming Him for stuff that He has nothing to do with, but holding on to Him for dear life, for direction, and clarity, and guidance, and fellowship, and intimacy, well then, we’re revealing what we really feel about God. So, we’re seeing this kind of stuff happen inside of Joseph’s brothers lives as they consider the predicament that they’re in. The truth of their hearts is coming to the surface and being revealed. And, so, we can consider this as we go through our own times of testing.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite You into that. We first begin by apologizing for the way that we’ve thrashed around and flailed and blamed and tried to sidestep all kinds of things in these times that shake us up. We’ve done that. We confess that. It reveals our hearts and it’s not the way that we want it to be. We want to hold on to You for dear, dear life. You are our only hope. And, so, we cling to You in all things, and allow You to work through all things, sanctifying us, perfecting us, making us like You. And we invite You, Jesus, into all of that, all the things that come up when were shaken. And when everything else shakes loose we want to see that the bedrock, the most important relationship, the most important connection in our entire existence, is the one we share with You. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi. Daily Audio Bible. This is Leah calling from Georgetown Delaware. Hi. This is my first time calling and I’ve been listening to the daily Bible for about a year now, on and off. But 2018 is my first year listening all the way through and I’m really excited. I’m enjoying it every day. I just wanted to say that it’s really blessed my life. I am 26 years old and this year, this past year, 2017, has been a real of breakthrough and deliverance for me in Christ. And I’m just really thankful for that and amazed at what God’s been doing in my heart and life. I’ve been getting stronger in my faith. I just want to ask for pray…I just when ask for prayer for…right now…my church is doing a fast…and I just would ask for prayer right now as I’m praying…trying to seek the Lord, that the Lord would strengthen my faith and walk in Him and that I would become more confident in the Lord. I would just really appreciate that. And I also want to respond quickly to a prayer request call that came in from a girl, who, I’m trying to remember her name, I think it was Kelly, a few days ago who said she was in her late 20s and she is learning how to walk out her faith. And she’s a new listener as well and her first time calling in. I just want to reach out to her and tell her that I’m praying for you girl, I’m praying for you. God bless you and I’m keeping you in my prayers as you walk out your faith. I know what it’s like to learn how to walk out your faith and learn to be bold and confident in Christ alone. And, know that you’re not alone, know that you are loved and that there are other people out there who are learning. You know, after maybe, like for me, learning how to walk in Christ alone, how to have faith in Christ alone, and what that means, and what it means to have community around you in Christ, brothers and sisters who love you. Maybe after walking away for a long time…

Hey Brian, this is Mike. I just want to thank you. I always listen to the DAB while I’m in the shower and I’ve been listening to you since 2010, when I lived in Hollywood. Since then I’ve lived in many places. And as I heard your voice today and talking about how Jacob wrestled with the Lord, I thought, a year ago, I was in Louisiana, now I’m in Colorado, soon to be moving to New York City again. And, I just really want to tell you I appreciate you. You’ve been with me, your voice at least, since 2010. And that’s just like about eight years and I love DAB and I just can’t believe how your steadfastness touches so many people. I mean the power of media, the power of the word of God hitting media, you probably minister to like millions of people, maybe every day. __ man. Jesus is amazing and He works in you and through you and through your awesomely deep raspy voice every day and I love you and I appreciate it. Amen. Keep it up. Thanks.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Paul from Houston and I’m calling to pray from Judith from England for her adopted brother who’s been having some problems with behavior challenges that a been difficult for the family. I just want to pray now. Lord, I thank You Lord for Judith’s brother Lord. I thank You Lord that You would be with him Lord. Lord, I ask Lord that the wounds, hurts, anything that has been in his life Lord I ask Lord that You would show him how merciful and loving You are Lord and I ask that You would be with their family, give them peace. Lord, I ask that there would be peace of their family and I thank You Lord that there couldn’t be any division. And I thank You Lord that You would protect them and guide them, guard them, put Your spirit around them to protect them and can I ask Lord that You would reveal Yourself to this brother who’s been adopted Lord? I thank You Lord that we’ve all…we all have been adopted one way or another to You Lord and Lord we ask that You pour Your spirit out on this family God and on this brother and just be with them. Give them peace Lord in the middle of the pain and any of the other struggles that they have Lord just give them a vision for help for their son Lord. I thank You Lord for giving them a vision for what You are to do with them Lord so that they get a focus and direction for his life in Jesus name and I thank You for that. Thank you Daily Audio Bible. This is Paul from Houston.

Hi. My name is David and I’m a child of God in Northern California, San Francisco Bay Area. And the reason I’m calling is, it’s is my first time calling. I’ve been listening for about a year. Some of my family members and friends listen as well now. But the reason I called is I am a young life leader. I don’t know how many thousands of people around the world that are young life leaders. And our mission in young life is to introduce adolescents to Jesus and to help them grow in their faith. And in our area, we need prayer. We’re feeling attacked and we need God’s direction. So, I appreciate this community. I’m so thankful for your prayers. And I would just ask, could you please be praying for, first of all, your young life, your area, young life areas, young life leaders that might be in your area. But secondly, would you pray for San Francisco Bay region and specifically the Delta area of the San Francisco Bay region, that we would be encouraged, and that we would get direction from God to guide us and lead adolescents Christ. Thank you so much for this community. Thank you for the opportunity to send this prayer request as well. God bless you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Emily in Germany, well, in Europe. I haven’t called in for a really long time. I’ve been putting off the call, not because I didn’t want to call in, just because I’m really busy. In June, 2016, I was listening to the community prayer line and somebody praying for people who are suffering with dementia, that their minds will become clear, and they would be able to hear from God, and we have a friend whose mom is suffering with dementia and Alzheimer’s and we’ve been praying for her salvation for a really long time. And the Holy Spirit, when I was listening to that community podcast, the Holy Spirit told me to pray for her. And, so I just ___ pray for her at that moment. And at that moment her daughter was there visiting her and she prayed the Lord’s prayer with her. And her mom repeated, her mom was Catholic. And then she just, it came to her that maybe I should pray the sinners prayer, because the mom is not usually very…she doesn’t talk very much…she was like interacting well and repeating well what her daughter was saying and so she prayed the sinners prayer and her mom pray the sinners prayer after her and when she came back and shared with our home group but it happened, it was the same day, it was the same moment that I was praying for her. And I just really wanted to thank you for calling in. You never know when you’re…whatever your praying is going to be answered or how, or how it’s going to touch people around the world. So, thank you for that. And I also just wanted to ask for prayer for my father-in-law. He has lung cancer and he’s only got a few months left and it’s just really hard on my family. Please pray for his salvation and my husband and my brother-in-law as they care for him. Bye-bye.

Daily Audio Bible friends. This is Lara in San Diego. I woke up this morning just feeling it on my heart to call in and pray for those who face anxiety, depression, and suicide. In the name of Jesus, we come against the enemy, we rebuke anxiety, depression, and suicide. We know these are the tools of the enemy. I pray for anyone who’s affected by these. Lord, we pray that the people who are facing these demons would stand and speak rebuke to them in the name and power of Jesus. By his blood we are set free, we are cleansed, we are whole, we are made new, and we stand in faith. We pray Lord, I pray for those who I know personally who face these things on a daily basis or for years. And I pray Lord Jesus that they would take these strengths in Your word and Your truth, that they would be able to stand against the enemy. I pray for anyone who’s listening to the Daily Audio Bible. The Lord Jesus has saved you. Take heart and stand in this truth. Write it on your mirror, speak it with your own lips, stand with it, get up out of your bed, go open the shades, go outside, and stand in the truth that the Lord Jesus has saved you. He is a good Shepherd. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thy God and thy staff comfort me. Lord Jesus lead us out into green pastures beside still waters. Let us take heart in your good shepherding and Lord in the power that your blood has earned. Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for our sins. May we stand in the truth of who you are. I love you Jesus. Amen.