The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday April 20, 2018 (NIV)

Joshua 21:1-22:20

Levi’s Towns

21 1-2 While the Israelites were still camped at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, the family leaders of the Levi tribe went to speak to the priest Eleazar, Joshua, and the family leaders of the other Israelite tribes. The leaders of Levi said, “The Lord told Moses that you have to give us towns and provide pastures for our animals.”[a]

Since the Lord had said this, the leaders of the other Israelite tribes agreed to give some of the towns and pastures from their tribal lands to Levi. The leaders asked the Lord to show them[b] in what order the clans of Levi would be given towns, and which towns each clan would receive.

The Kohath clans were first. The descendants of Aaron, Israel’s first priest,[c] were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. The other members of the Kohath clans received ten towns from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and West Manasseh. The clans that were descendants of Gershon were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and East Manasseh. The clans that were descendants of Merari[d] received twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

The Lord had told Moses that he would show the Israelites which towns and pastures to give to the clans of Levi, and he did.

Towns from Judah, Simeon, Benjamin

9-19 The descendants of Aaron from the Kohath clans of Levi were priests, and they were chosen to receive towns first. They were given thirteen towns and the pastureland around them. Nine of these towns were from the tribes of Judah and Simeon and four from Benjamin.

Hebron, Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, Holon, Debir, Ashan,[e] Juttah, and Beth-Shemesh were from Judah and Simeon. Hebron, located in the hill country of Judah, was earlier called Arba’s Town.[f] It had been named after Arba, the ancestor of the Anakim.[g] Hebron’s pasturelands went along with the town, but its farmlands and the villages around it had been given to Caleb.[h] Hebron was also one of the Safe Towns for people who had accidentally killed someone.

Gibeon, Geba, Anathoth, and Almon were from Benjamin.

Towns from Ephraim, Dan, West Manasseh

20-26 The rest of the Kohath clans of the Levi tribe received ten towns and the pastureland around them. Four of these towns were from the tribe of Ephraim, four from Dan, and two from West Manasseh.

Shechem, Gezer, Kibzaim, and Beth-Horon were from Ephraim. Shechem was located in the hill country, and it was also one of the Safe Towns for people who had accidentally killed someone.

Elteke, Gibbethon, Aijalon, and Gath-Rimmon were from Dan.

Taanach and Jibleam[i] were from West Manasseh.

Towns from East Manasseh, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali

27-33 The clans of Levi that were descendants of Gershon received thirteen towns and the pastureland around them. Two of these towns were from the tribe of East Manasseh, four from Issachar, four from Asher, and three from Naphtali.

Golan in Bashan and Beeshterah were from East Manasseh.

Kishion, Daberath, Jarmuth, and En-Gannim were from Issachar.

Mishal, Abdon, Helkath, and Rehob were from Asher.

Kedesh in Galilee, Hammothdor, and Kartan were from Naphtali. Golan in Bashan and Kedesh in Galilee were also Safe Towns for people who had accidentally killed someone.

Towns from Zebulun, Reuben, Gad

34-40 The rest of the Levi clans were descendants of Merari, and they received twelve towns with the pastureland around them. Four towns were from the tribe of Zebulun, four from Reuben, and four from Gad.

Jokneam, Kartah, Rimmonah,[j] and Nahalal were from Zebulun.

Bezer, Jazah, Kedemoth, and Mephaath were from Reuben. Bezer was located in the desert flatlands east of the Jordan River across from Jericho.[k]

Ramoth in Gilead, Mahanaim, Heshbon, and Jazer were from Gad.

Bezer and Ramoth in Gilead were Safe Towns[l] for people who had accidentally killed someone.

41-42 The people of the Levi tribe had a total of forty-eight towns within Israel, and they had pastures around each one of their towns.

Israel Settles in the Land

43 The Lord gave the Israelites the land he had promised their ancestors, and they captured it and settled in it. 44 There still were enemies around Israel, but the Lord kept his promise to let his people live in peace. And whenever the Israelites did have to go to war, no enemy could defeat them. The Lord always helped Israel win. 45 The Lord promised to do many good things for Israel, and he kept his promise every time.

The Two and a Half Tribes Return Home

22 Joshua had the men of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh come for a meeting, and he told them:

2-3 You have obeyed every command of the Lord your God and of his servant Moses. And you have done everything I’ve told you to do. It’s taken a long time, but you have stayed and helped your relatives. The Lord promised to give peace to your relatives, and that’s what he has done. Now it’s time for you to go back to your own homes in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan River.

Moses taught you to love the Lord your God, to be faithful to him, and to worship and obey him with your whole heart and with all your strength. So be very careful to do everything Moses commanded.

6-9 You’ve become rich from what you’ve taken from your enemies. You have big herds of cattle, lots of silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and plenty of clothes. Take everything home with you and share with the people of your tribe.

I pray that God will be kind to you. You are now free to go home.

The tribes of Reuben and Gad started back to Gilead, their own land. Moses had given the land of Bashan to the East Manasseh tribe, so they started back along with Reuben and Gad. God had told Moses that these two and a half tribes should conquer Gilead and Bashan, and they had done so.

Joshua had given land west of the Jordan River to the other half of the Manasseh tribe, so they stayed at Shiloh in the land of Canaan with the rest of the Israelites.

10-11 The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh reached the western side of the Jordan River valley[m] and built a huge altar there beside the river.

When the rest of the Israelites heard what these tribes had done,[n] 12 the Israelite men met at Shiloh to get ready to attack the two and a half tribes. 13 But first they sent a priest, Phinehas the son of Eleazar, to talk with the two and a half tribes. 14 Each of the tribes at Shiloh sent the leader of one of its families along with Phinehas.

15 Phinehas and these leaders went to Gilead and met with the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. They said:

16 All of the Lord’s people have gathered together and have sent us to find out why you are unfaithful to our God. You have turned your backs on the Lord by building that altar. Why are you rebelling against him? 17 Wasn’t our people’s sin at Peor[o] terrible enough for you? The Lord punished us by sending a horrible sickness that killed many of us, and we still suffer because of that sin.[p] 18 Now you are turning your backs on the Lord again.

If you don’t stop rebelling against the Lord right now, he will be angry at the whole nation. 19 If you don’t think your land is a fit place to serve God, then move across the Jordan and live with us in the Lord’s own land, where his sacred tent is located. But don’t rebel against the Lord our God or against us by building another altar besides the Lord’s own altar.[q] 20 Don’t you remember what happened when Achan was unfaithful[r] and took some of the things that belonged to God? This made God angry with the entire nation. Achan died because he sinned, but he also caused the death of many others.

Footnotes:

  1. 21.1,2 The Lord told Moses. . . animals: See Numbers 35.1-8.
  2. 21.4 asked the Lord to show them: Hebrew “cast lots to find out.” See the note at 14.1-5.
  3. 21.4 The descendants. . . priest: Hebrew text; three ancient translations “The priests, the descendants of Aaron.” The male descendants of Aaron would also be priests.
  4. 21.4-7 Kohath. . . Gershon. . . Merari: Sons of Levi, the ancestor of the tribe of Levi.
  5. 21.9-19 Ashan: One ancient translation and the parallel in 1 Chronicles 6.59; Hebrew “Ain.”
  6. 21.9-19 Arba’s Town: See the note at 14.15.
  7. 21.9-19 Anakim: See the note at 11.21.
  8. 21.9-19 Caleb: See 14.6-14.
  9. 21.20-26 Jibleam: One ancient translation and the parallel in 1 Chronicles 6.70; Hebrew “”Gath-Rimmon.”“
  10. 21.34-40 Rimmonah: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  11. 21.34-40 Bezer. . . Jericho: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  12. 21.34-40 Bezer and Ramoth in Gilead were Safe Towns: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Ramoth in Gilead was a Safe Town.”
  13. 22.10,11 western. . . valley: Or “the town of Geliloth, which is in the land of Canaan near the Jordan River.”
  14. 22.10,11 built a huge altar. . . tribes had done: According to Deuteronomy 12.5-14, the Lord wanted the Israelites to have only one altar for offering sacrifices. To build another altar would be to disobey the Lord.
  15. 22.17 our people’s sin at Peor: See Numbers 25.
  16. 22.17 we still. . . sin: Or “There are still people in Israel who want to worship other gods.”
  17. 22.19 or against. . . altar: Or “by building another altar besides the Lord’s own altar. That would even make us into rebels along with you.”
  18. 22.20 Achan was unfaithful: See 7.1,26.

Luke 20:1-26

A Question about Jesus' Authority

20 One day, Jesus was teaching in the temple and telling the good news. So the chief priests, the teachers, and the nation’s leaders asked him, “What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”

Jesus replied, “I want to ask you a question. Who gave John the right to baptize? Was it God in heaven or merely some human being?”

They talked this over and said to each other, “We can’t say that God gave John this right. Jesus will ask us why we didn’t believe John. And we can’t say that it was merely some human who gave John the right to baptize. The crowd will stone us to death, because they think John was a prophet.”

So they told Jesus, “We don’t know who gave John the right to baptize.”

Jesus replied, “Then I won’t tell you who gave me the right to do what I do.”

Renters of a Vineyard

Jesus told the people this story:

A man once planted a vineyard and rented it out. Then he left the country for a long time. 10 When it was time to harvest the crop, he sent a servant to ask the renters for his share of the grapes. But they beat up the servant and sent him away without anything. 11 So the owner sent another servant. The renters also beat him up. They insulted him terribly and sent him away without a thing. 12 The owner sent a third servant. He was also beaten terribly and thrown out of the vineyard.

13 The owner then said to himself, “What am I going to do? I know what. I’ll send my son, the one I love so much. They will surely respect him!”

14 When the renters saw the owner’s son, they said to one another, “Someday he will own the vineyard. Let’s kill him! Then we can have it all for ourselves.” 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Jesus asked, “What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do? 16 I’ll tell you what. He will come and kill those renters and let someone else have his vineyard.”

When the people heard this, they said, “This must never happen!”

17 But Jesus looked straight at them and said, “Then what do the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘The stone that the builders tossed aside is now the most important stone of all’? 18 Anyone who stumbles over this stone will get hurt, and anyone it falls on will be smashed to pieces.”

19 The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses knew that Jesus was talking about them when he was telling this story. They wanted to arrest him right then, but they were afraid of the people.

Paying Taxes

20 Jesus' enemies kept watching him closely, because they wanted to hand him over to the Roman governor. So they sent some men who pretended to be good. But they were really spies trying to catch Jesus saying something wrong. 21 The spies said to him, “Teacher, we know that you teach the truth about what God wants people to do. And you treat everyone with the same respect, no matter who they are. 22 Tell us, should we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?”

23 Jesus knew that they were trying to trick him. So he told them, 24 “Show me a coin.” Then he asked, “Whose picture and name are on it?”

“The Emperor’s,” they answered.

25 Then he told them, “Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God.” 26 Jesus' enemies could not catch him saying anything wrong there in front of the people. They were amazed at his answer and kept quiet.

Psalm 88:1-13

(A song and a psalm by the people of Korah for the music leader. To the tune “Mahalath Leannoth.”[a] A special psalm by Heman the Ezrahite.)

A Prayer When You Can’t Find the Way

88 You keep me safe, Lord God.
So when I pray at night,
please listen carefully
to each of my concerns.

I am deeply troubled
and close to death;
I am as good as dead
and completely helpless.
I am no better off
than those in the grave,
those you have forgotten
and no longer help.

You have put me in the deepest
and darkest grave;
your anger rolls over me
like ocean waves.
You have made my friends turn
in horror from me.
I am a prisoner
who cannot escape,
and I am almost blind
because of my sorrow.

Each day I lift my hands
in prayer to you, Lord.
10 Do you work miracles
for the dead?
Do they stand up
and praise you?
11 Are your love and loyalty
announced
in the world
of the dead?
12 Do they know of your miracles
or your saving power
in the dark world below
where all is forgotten?

13 Each morning I pray
to you, Lord.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 88 To. . . Leannoth: Or “For the flutes,” one possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

Proverbs 13:15-16

15 Sound judgment is praised,
but people without good sense
are on the way to disaster.[a]
16 If you have good sense,
you will act sensibly,
but fools act like fools.

Footnotes:

  1. 13.15 people. . . disaster: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

04/19/2018 DAB Transcript

Joshua 19:1-20:9; Luke 19:28-48; Ps. 88:1-18; Pr. 1:12-14

Today is the 19th day of April.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful as it always is to be together around the global campfire that is our community. The Word of God is burning bright. And we all come in out of the cold or whatever the distraction of the day has been and warm ourselves together as it washes over us. So I’m glad and thankful and deeply grateful that we can have another day in the Scriptures. And today we’ll be journeying back out into the book of Joshua where the Promised Land is being settled. From the Contemporary English Version this week,  Joshua chapter 19 and 20 today.

Commentary
Okay. So in the book of Proverbs today we come to a very very famous very quotable Proverb. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life. And hope is something that we’re looking at in the Scriptures this year. And if we look back from where we are now, right?  We’re about thirty percent through the Bible this year. So if rather than facing forward to the next day, if we just turn around and look at where we’ve been. In all of these stories that we see, where would any of them lead without hope? If we look at Abraham who had a promise that he was never going to see but aimed his life accordingly. Would that have ever worked if there were no hope?  What about this son of promise,  Isaac. About this time next year you will be holding your own son,  Sarah was told. And she laughed, right?  Because that was a hopeless declaration in her mind. But she was told again,  no,  this is what is going to happen and it did. And that changed things. If we go through the story of Isaac, if we go through the story of Jacob working for a couple of decades for his uncle, hoping one day to return to the land of his birth. How would that story have ever played out without hope?  If we look at the story of Joseph who was human trafficked by his own family into Egypt. How would that story have ever worked without hope?  If we look at the story of the Exodus. How would that story work without hope? If we look at the children of Israel in the wilderness, grumbling and complaining, we see when they lose their hope and we see God continue to restore them. How do we even get into the book of Joshua where we are now in the Promised Land without hope? The Proverb tells us hope delayed or deferred makes the heart sick. I mean, all we have to do is look in our own lives, look at our own situations and know that that’s the truth. And what we’re not talking about is anticipation,  right?  Like you order something from Amazon and it’s not Amazon Prime. It’s like you’re gonna have to wait all week for it. And you’re jumping up and down because this is the thing that’s gonna change your life and you gotta wait. It’s delayed.  It’s deferred. And then you look and you find out, ahh it was supposed to be delivered today but it’s not. It’s gonna be maybe in the next day or two. So, yeah, that’s a bummer, but that’s just your anticipation showing itself, right?  You still believe it’s going to arrive. This package is going to get here. It’s taking longer than it was supposed to, but it is going to get here.  Hope deferred is when you’re not sure it’s actually going to come. So you are anticipating something in your life. It’s probably not going to be a package. You are anticipating something, a trajectory, a dream fulfilled, something that you believe you’ve been promised or something that you’ve been aiming toward for a long time. And hope actually is the engine that keeps you taking steps forward. Hope is actually the thing, the bridge between you and that outcome. It’s the thing that keeps you where you are right now but connected to that thing in the future that you believe will be yours. When that gets deferred or delayed you become heartsick. And there’s a reason. Because fear has washed down the gully and washed your bridge away. You’re not sure anymore that this really will happen. And usually with hope, there’s threads of it still kind of reaching across that washed out gully to what you had hoped for. And so we have terms like,  I’m holding on by a thread. But what we’re actually saying is the possibility that this is not going to come to fruition has been introduced and now it is growing inside of me producing fear within me. And fear is like Kryptonite to your hope just like it was the sapping of the strength of Superman. I’m not big into sports analogies or Marvel comics or anything like that. But I can remember that as a kid. I can remember playing Superman having this rock. That this was the kryptonite. And the kryptonite would make Superman normal, right?  He wouldn’t have any of his special powers. That’s what fear does to or hope. So pretty much if your hope is deferred and your heart is sick, you don’t have to look too far to find fear. And you start looking at fear and you’re gonna find it all around the situation. And that is what is stealing your hope. I mean, it may not materialize as terror, like what we would associate fear with, some sort of terror. It is simply the idea that this might not work out. And the child of that fear, that thought, that introduction into the equation, is only going to be anxiety. So if your life right now is full of fear, that anxiety that can’t be really named that’s just churning inside of you continually, than your hope is probably deferred. And just being able to say that out loud, just being able to name that is really helpful. Because it’s not a resolution, right?  Hope is your connection to something that is not, but you want it to be. You are believing that it will be. Nothing has changed. Fear has washed down the gully and washed away your hope so that you are hanging by a thread, which has produced an incredible amount of anxiety. But nothing has really changed here. Hope is always going to be out in front of you.  You don’t have to hope for what you already have. Hope is the thing that brings near. Hope is the road that faith drives on. But a road that’s been washed out is a closed road, right?  It needs to be repaired. And a road that’s just left unmaintained is gonna get full of potholes and all kinds of other problems and will eventually deteriorate into nothing. Hope has to be repaired. And hope has to be maintained. And it’s gonna be stretched. Sometimes, you know, when a wall of fear comes pounding down upon your bridge of hope, you have to hold on for dear life and whether the storm and then fix it. But I also know from the Scriptures and from life itself there is always hope. It’s never unavailable. But our hope will first need to be in God and not in that thing or that event or that outcome that we are looking for. If all of our attention and obsession and hope is in an outcome and not in God to bring about the outcome, we’re going to get washed out. So some things to think about today. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Prayer

Father, we acknowledge that you are very clear about why you came. That we might have life. But we’re also pretty clear from our own life experience that that isn’t going to work disconnected from you. Which requires that the very hope of life itself is in you and you alone. And so we mend those fences, ask your Holy Spirit to come and show us where we’re just holding on by a thread even to that. Our hope is in you and in you alone because there is no other place to put our hope. We can put our hope anywhere we want but it’s not going to work if our hope is not in you. And so all of the things that we’re hoping for, all the things that we’re wishing for, all that’s out in front of us pulling us forward. All those things are real. But we acknowledge that our hope for any of it is in you and you alone. Because you are the source of life. We invite your Holy Spirit to make this a reality for us today. Something that peels back the layers and gets us down to our foundation. Because hope is a foundational thing to our very existence. So come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus name we ask. And we put all of our hope in you and you alone. In Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements

Dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here.  So be sure to check that out.

Check out the prayer wall. Check out ways to connect in community. Check out the resources that are available at dailyaudiobible.com for the journey through the Scriptures in a year.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com.  There’s a link on the homepage. I thank you.  I thank you profoundly that the Daily Audio Bible exists and it only exists because we’re in this journey together. So thank you for your partnership. So there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or the mailing address if you prefer is P.O 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

Good morning. This is Steve from Manchester, New Hampshire.  And I’m calling in regards to, I hope I get the name right,  Nicola from New York who called in regards to her sister Rebecca who has been dealing with health issues for many years. When your request came in my heart was moved and quickened to me was a Scripture from Luke 13 verse 16. And it says, and ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan kept bound loe these 18 years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And I want to pray that your sister be loosed from all the health issues, the thyroid problem and (oppression) that has been caused as a result of these health issues. Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for every assignment that the enemy has against Rebecca to be broken in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Chains be broken now. In Jesus name. And we pray the Rebecca would be free, spirit, soul and body. In Jesus mighty name. God bless.

Hi. This is Joanne from? Valley. And it’s April 16. I just heard a call from anonymous saying that she’s tired of her husband. I kind of felt that way too. He drove me crazy he (was) very self centered, he didn’t have much nice to say to me. He never hurt me. I never felt unsafe with him, but I just got tired of taking care of him, being ignored by him. And then one day he died right on front of me. And I remember widows saying to me you’ll feel differently when he’s gone. And I just kind of laughed, but you do. I know that in his family he was kind of ignored and his father didn’t pay much attention to his mother, he was very arrogant so I understand where he’s coming from now. But I also remember times when I think I could have reached out to him because he was so arrogant he was trying to hide…
To be continued.


My name is Mad go. I’m a first time caller from Iowa. I’m calling for prayers please for my marriage. I’ve been married about seven years. My husband and I are not on the same page as far as a church home. It’s very devisive and very painful in my family. Would you please pray that God would show him how abandoned we feel by him spiritually. Please pray that he will stop living in denial and please pray that God would heal some wounds that he has carried since childhood. Anonymous, you called in. Your message was played on 4/16 and I am praying for you. You’ve been married for twenty some years and you were asking for prayer for your arrogant husband and I just want you to know that my heart goes out to you. Arrogance takes many forms. Sometimes it’s denial, but it is still hurtful. So sister, I am praying for you. Thank you all for praying for my family from Iowa.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is wrapped in His unfailing love. And I first of all want to thank I believe it was Elaine and Dwayne who prayed for my son Brian and thank you for all those who prayed for Brian. He’s doing much better and continue to keep him in your prayers. I’m calling today for anonymous. And I had to chuckle a little bit that you’re tired of your husband and I’m sure there are many women that feel that way. But, you know, I just wanna encourage you. You have your husband. And there’s so many of us that, I for one, that would just love to have one more day with mine. I think it really is about love and respect. Men need to be respected and women need love and we all need that. We all wanna feel cherished. So I’m gonna encourage you to find something that you can be thankful for everyday that you have a partner to walk through life with. That God would just bless you, anonymous. That you would realize the blessing you have in him and that he would realize the blessing he has in you. That you’re walking together and he’s a man of faith and you’re a woman of God. And love is just not a feeling its a commitment. And you have that. So Lord, I lift up anonymous and her marriage to you. And I ask that you would bless her richly in love for her husband and he for her. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.


Hi Daily Audio Bible. I was listening on April 16 2018 to anonymous caller that is tired in her marriage. I just want to let you know I’m praying for you. I’m with you in this and the Lord has laid you on my heart. And also I’m going through the same thing. So lifting you up and I appreciate you sharing what’s on your heart. Thank you.

Hi everybody. This is Cherry Chase Cherry Pie I hope everybody is?? I am calling in for the? Today. It’s Monday. Oh Lord, it’s the 17th 16th. I don’t know. But it’s Monday. I’m calling in. We had an anonymous call called in? I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with you, called in about you husband with, you know, your nerves honey. I am glad that you are so transparent. A lot of us feel the same way but a lot of is not gonna say it. I just had this conversation the other day with someone. And it’s great that you’re transparent. I am definitely gonna lift you up into prayer. In prayer I’m gonna keep you covered, girl. Keep pushing. It’s gonna be okay. We’ve all (getting in)  a hard place in our marriage. And I know you said you’ve been married for years. I’ve been married going on five and let me tell you sometimes it gets hard. Sometimes I wanna run and I.

To be continued

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday April 19, 2018 (NIV)

Joshua 19-20

Simeon’s Land

19 Simeon was the second tribe chosen to receive land, and the region for its clans was inside Judah’s borders. 2-6 In one region of Simeon’s tribal land there were the following thirteen towns with their surrounding villages:

Beersheba, Shema,[a] Moladah, Hazar-Shual, Balah, Ezem, Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, Ziklag, Beth-Marcaboth, Hazar-Susah, Beth-Lebaoth, and Sharuhen.

In another region, Simeon had the following four towns with their surrounding villages:

Enrimmon,[b] Tachan,[c] Ether, and Ashan.

Simeon’s land also included all the other towns and villages as far south as Baalath-Beer, which is also called Ramah of the South.

Simeon’s tribal land was actually inside Judah’s territory. Judah had received too much land for the number of people in its tribe, so part of Judah’s land was given to Simeon.

Zebulun’s Land

10-12 Zebulun was the third tribe chosen to receive land. The southern border for its clans started in the west at the edge of the gorge near Jokneam. It went east to the edge of the land that belongs to the town of Dabbesheth, and continued on to Maralah and Sarid. It took in the land that belongs to Chislothtabor, then ended at Daberath.

The eastern border went up to Japhia 13 and continued north to Gath-Hepher, Ethkazin, and Rimmonah,[d] where it curved[e] toward Neah 14 and became the northern border. Then it curved south around Hannathon and went as far west as Iphtahel Valley.

15 Zebulun had twelve towns with their surrounding villages. Some of these were Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Jiralah,[f] and Bethlehem.[g]

16 This is the tribal land, and these are the towns and villages of the Zebulun clans.

Issachar’s Land

17-23 Issachar was the fourth tribe chosen to receive land. The northern border for its clans went from Mount Tabor east to the Jordan River. Their land included the following sixteen towns with their surrounding villages:

Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem, Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, Debirath,[h] Kishion, Ebez, Remeth, En-Gannim, Enhaddah, Beth-Pazzez, Tabor,[i] Shahazumah and Beth-Shemesh.[j]

Asher’s Land

24-26 Asher was the fifth tribe chosen to receive land, and the region for its clans included the following towns:

Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph, Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal.

Asher’s southern border ran from the Mediterranean Sea southeast along the Shihor-Libnath River at the foot of Mount Carmel, 27 then east to Beth-Dagon. On the southeast, Asher shared a border with Zebulun along the Iphtahel Valley. On the eastern side their border ran north to Beth-Emek, went east of Cabul, and then on to Neiel, 28 Abdon,[k] Rehob, Hammon, Kanah, and as far north as the city of Sidon. 29-31 Then it turned west to become the northern border and went to Ramah[l] and the fortress-city of Tyre.[m] Near Tyre it turned toward Hosah and ended at the Mediterranean Sea.

Asher had a total of twenty-two towns with their surrounding villages, including Mahalab,[n] Achzib, Acco,[o] Aphek, and Rehob.

Naphtali’s Land

32-34 Naphtali was the sixth tribe chosen to receive land. The southern border for its clans started in the west, where the tribal lands of Asher and Zebulun meet near Hukkok. From that point it ran east and southeast along the border with Zebulun as far as Aznoth-Tabor. From there the border went east to Heleph, Adami-Nekeb, Jabneel,[p] then to the town called Oak in Zaanannim,[q] and Lakkum. The southern border ended at the Jordan River, at the edge of the town named Jehudah.[r] Naphtali shared a border with Asher on the west.

35-39 The Naphtali clans received this region as their tribal land, and it included nineteen towns with their surrounding villages. The following towns had walls around them:

Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, Adamah, Ramah,[s] Hazor, Kedesh, Edrei,[t] Enhazor, Iron, Migdalel, Horem, Beth-Anath, and Beth-Shemesh.[u]

Dan’s Land

40-46 Dan was the seventh tribe chosen to receive land, and the region for its clans included the following towns:

Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-Shemesh,[v] Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, Elon, Timnah, Ekron, Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, Jehud, Azor,[w] Beneberak, Gath-Rimmon, Mejarkon, and Rakkon.

Dan’s tribal land[x] went almost as far as Joppa. 47-48 Its clans received this land and these towns with their surrounding villages.

Later, when enemies[y] forced them to leave their tribal land, they went to the town of Leshem. They attacked the town, captured it, and killed the people who lived there. Then they settled there themselves and renamed the town Dan after their ancestor.

Joshua’s Land

49-51 The Israelites were still gathered in Shiloh in front of the sacred tent,[z] when Eleazar the priest, Joshua, and the family leaders of Israel finished giving out the land to the tribes. The Lord had told the people to give Joshua whatever town he wanted. So Joshua chose Timnath-Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people gave it to him. Joshua went to Timnath-Serah, rebuilt it, and lived there.

The Safe Towns

20 One day the Lord told Joshua:

When Moses was still alive, I had him tell the Israelites about the Safe Towns. Now you tell them that it is time to set up these towns. 3-4 If a person accidentally kills someone and the victim’s relatives say it was murder, they might try to take revenge.[aa] Anyone accused of murder can run to one of the Safe Towns and be safe from the victim’s relatives. The one needing protection will stand at the entrance to the town gate and explain to the town leaders what happened. Then the leaders will bring that person in and provide a place to live in their town.

One of the victim’s relatives might come to the town, looking for revenge. But the town leaders must not simply hand over the person accused of murder. After all, the accused and the victim had been neighbors, not enemies. The citizens of that Safe Town must come together and hold a trial. They may decide that the victim was killed accidentally and that the accused is not guilty of murder.

Everyone found not guilty[ab] must still live in the Safe Town until the high priest dies. Then they can go back to their own towns and their homes that they had to leave behind.

The Israelites decided that the following three towns west of the Jordan River would be Safe Towns:

Kedesh in Galilee in Naphtali’s hill country, Shechem in Ephraim’s hill country, and Kiriath-Arba in Judah’s hill country. Kiriath-Arba is now called Hebron.

The Israelites had already decided on the following three towns east of the Jordan River:

Bezer in the desert flatlands of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead, which was a town that belonged to Gad, and Golan in Bashan, which belonged to Manasseh.

These Safe Towns were set up, so that if Israelites or even foreigners who lived in Israel accidentally killed someone, they could run to one of these towns. There they would be safe until a trial could be held, even if one of the victim’s relatives came looking for revenge.

Footnotes:

  1. 19.2-6 Shema: One ancient translation and some manuscripts of another ancient translation (see also the list at 15.21-32); Hebrew and some manuscripts of one ancient translation “Sheba.” The list in 1 Chronicles 4.28 does not have either “Shema” or “Sheba.”
  2. 19.7 Enrimmon: Some Hebrew manuscripts and one ancient translation; most Hebrew manuscripts “Ain, Rimmon.”
  3. 19.7 Tachan: Some manuscripts of one ancient translation; the Hebrew text does not have this word.
  4. 19.13 Rimmonah: Or “Rimmon.”
  5. 19.13 Rimmonah. . . curved: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  6. 19.15 Jiralah: Some Hebrew manuscripts and two ancient translations; most Hebrew manuscripts “Idalah.”
  7. 19.15 Bethlehem: This town is different from the Bethlehem in 15.58,59.
  8. 19.17-23 Debirath: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Rabbith.” Debirath is probably the same place as Daberath in verse 12.
  9. 19.17-23 Mount Tabor. . . Tabor: In Hebrew the name “Tabor” is used only once. It was probably intended as the name of a town located at the foot of Mount Tabor and which formed one point on the northern border of Issachar.
  10. 19.17-23 Beth-Shemesh: Not the same Beth-Shemesh as in 15.10 or 19.35-39.
  11. 19.28 Abdon: A few Hebrew manuscripts and one ancient translation; most Hebrew manuscripts “Ebron.”
  12. 19.29-31 Ramah: Not the same “Ramah” as in 18.25-28 or 19.35-39.
  13. 19.29-31 fortress-city of Tyre: Tyre was a walled city built on an island about half a mile from shore.
  14. 19.29-31 Mahalab: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  15. 19.29-31 Acco: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Ummah.”
  16. 19.32-34 Jabneel: This town is not the same Jabneel as in 15.11.
  17. 19.32-34 the town. . . Zaanannim: Or “the oak tree in the town of Zaanannim.”
  18. 19.32-34 at. . . Jehudah: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  19. 19.35-39 Ramah: Not the same “Ramah” as in 18.25-28 or 19.29-31.
  20. 19.35-39 Edrei: Not the same Edrei as the town in Bashan east of the Jordan River where King Og had lived (see 12.4; 13.11,12,30,31).
  21. 19.35-39 Beth-Shemesh: Not the same Beth-Shemesh as in 15.10 or 19.17-23.
  22. 19.40-46 Ir-Shemesh: Possibly the same town as the Beth-Shemesh of 15.10.
  23. 19.40-46 Azor: Some manuscripts of one ancient translation; the Hebrew text does not have this word.
  24. 19.40-46 Gath-Rimmon, Mejarkon, and Rakkon. Dan’s tribal land: Or “Gath-Rimmon, and Rakkon. Dan’s tribal land also included the Yarkon River and.”
  25. 19.47,48 enemies: Probably the Philistines.
  26. 19.49-51 sacred tent: Or “meeting tent.”
  27. 20.3,4 revenge: At this time in Israel’s history, the clan could appoint a close male relative to find and kill a person who had killed a member of their clan.
  28. 20.6 not guilty: If the person was found to be guilty of murder, the citizens of the Safe Town were to let the victim’s relatives kill the murderer (see Deuteronomy 19.11-13).

Luke 19:28-48

Jesus Enters Jerusalem

28 When Jesus had finished saying all this, he went on toward Jerusalem. 29 As he was getting near Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples on ahead. 30 He told them, “Go into the next village, where you will find a young donkey that has never been ridden. Untie the donkey and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks why you are doing that, just say, ‘The Lord[a] needs it.’”

32 They went off and found everything just as Jesus had said. 33 While they were untying the donkey, its owners asked, “Why are you doing that?”

34 They answered, “The Lord[b] needs it.”

35 Then they led the donkey to Jesus. They put some of their clothes on its back and helped Jesus get on. 36 And as he rode along, the people spread clothes on the road[c] in front of him. 37 When Jesus was starting down the Mount of Olives, his large crowd of disciples were happy and praised God because of all the miracles they had seen. 38 They shouted,

“Blessed is the king who comes
in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven
and glory to God.”

39 Some Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, make your disciples stop shouting!”

40 But Jesus answered, “If they keep quiet, these stones will start shouting.”

41 When Jesus came closer and could see Jerusalem, he cried 42 and said:

It is too bad that today your people don’t know what will bring them peace! Now it is hidden from them. 43 Jerusalem, the time will come when your enemies will build walls around you to attack you. Armies will surround you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will level you to the ground and kill your people. Not one stone in your buildings will be left on top of another. This will happen because you did not see that God had come to save you.[d]

Jesus in the Temple

45 When Jesus entered the temple, he started chasing out the people who were selling things. 46 He told them, “The Scriptures say, ‘My house should be a place of worship.’ But you have made it a place where robbers hide!”

47 Each day, Jesus kept on teaching in the temple. So the chief priests, the teachers of the Law of Moses, and some other important people tried to have him killed. 48 But they could not find a way to do it, because everyone else was eager to listen to him.

Footnotes:

  1. 19.31,34 The Lord: Or “The master of the donkey.”
  2. 19.31,34 The Lord: Or “The master of the donkey.”
  3. 19.36 spread clothes on the road: This was one way that the Jewish people welcomed a famous person.
  4. 19.44 that God had come to save you: The Jewish people looked for the time when God would come and rescue them from their enemies. But when Jesus came, many of them refused to obey him.

Psalm 88

(A song and a psalm by the people of Korah for the music leader. To the tune “Mahalath Leannoth.”[a] A special psalm by Heman the Ezrahite.)

A Prayer When You Can’t Find the Way

88 You keep me safe, Lord God.
So when I pray at night,
please listen carefully
to each of my concerns.

I am deeply troubled
and close to death;
I am as good as dead
and completely helpless.
I am no better off
than those in the grave,
those you have forgotten
and no longer help.

You have put me in the deepest
and darkest grave;
your anger rolls over me
like ocean waves.
You have made my friends turn
in horror from me.
I am a prisoner
who cannot escape,
and I am almost blind
because of my sorrow.

Each day I lift my hands
in prayer to you, Lord.
10 Do you work miracles
for the dead?
Do they stand up
and praise you?
11 Are your love and loyalty
announced
in the world
of the dead?
12 Do they know of your miracles
or your saving power
in the dark world below
where all is forgotten?

13 Each morning I pray
to you, Lord.
14 Why do you reject me?
Why do you turn from me?
15 Ever since I was a child,
I have been sick
and close to death.
You have terrified me
and made me helpless.[b]

16 Your anger is like a flood!
And I am shattered
by your furious attacks
17 that strike each day
and from every side.
18 My friends and neighbors
have turned against me
because of you,
and now darkness
is my only companion.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 88 To. . . Leannoth: Or “For the flutes,” one possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  2. 88.15 and made me helpless: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

Proverbs 13:12-14

12 Not getting what you want
can make you feel sick,
but a wish that comes true
is a life-giving tree.
13 If you reject God’s teaching,
you will pay the price;
if you obey his commands,
you will be rewarded.

14 Sensible instruction
is a life-giving fountain
that helps you escape
all deadly traps.

4/18/2018 DAB Transcript

Joshua 16-18; Luke 19:1-27; Psalm 87; Proverbs 13:11

Today is the 18th day of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian as I am everyday. It’s good to be here with you and I’m excited as I normally am that we can take this next step forward in the Scriptures together as we move through this month and this week as a community. So we’ve been working our way through the book of Joshua. And, you know, we can see it’s a totally different kind of thing than early stories that we read and the giving of the law and all of that that we went through. This is a different kind of thing. We’re in a new era. And so we will continue with the children of Israel as they settle in the promised land. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. Joshua chapter 16 through chapter 18 today.

Prayer

Thank you, Father, for your Word. Lord, thank you for another day in your Word as we gather together around this global campfire that is the community of the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you that we can come in out of the chaos of life no matter where we are, no matter what time it is and allow your Word to wash over us and wash us clean and reorient our perspectives. Cause there’s plenty of things pulling at us for attention. And a lot of them are stressful and a lot of them are anxiety ridden and a lot of them bring us into dark places where we’re not sure what’s going on. And everyday your Word, your Word brings peace and it brings comfort. It brings guidance and direction. It confronts us. It’s not afraid to stare us in the face and say you’re not doing this right. This is not going anywhere. And we thank you for that. And we thank you for the community that we share with each other that has just grown up around it organically. We thank you that we have each other. And no matter what we’re going through we know we’re not going through it alone. We know we have brothers and sisters who are willing to pray for us. We know that we are all on a journey through life at the same time on planet earth. And that we’re all facing similar kinds of challenges and that your Holy Spirit is present in and among us. So come, Holy Spirit, we pray. Plant the words that we’ve heard deep into our lives today. And we open ourselves fully to their transformational power inside of us. Come Jesus we pray. In your precious name we ask. Amen

Announcements


Dailyaudiobible.com is the website. And it’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

And I have an announcement. Announcement that comes a couple of times a year. Brief announcement because it only lasts a couple of days. We have in stock right now Daily Audio Bible Klean Kanteens. If you have been around a while and you’re wanting one of these, you’re probably already going there to dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re brand new and you’re like, wait, what’s the big deal? It’s kind of a long story, but the short version of the story we’ve been roasting our own Windfarm branded coffee, which is our brand, in Colorado for a long time. Bit of a coffee snob. And I love it. Love the different regions, different growing regions, different soils, all this kind of stuff. And several years ago I went on a search for the best thing to drink coffee out of because I drink it every day. I’m drinking it right now. Hold on, I’m gonna take a sip. Ahh. From my Klean Kanteen. Because I was looking for what would keep my coffee hot. Because I don’t sit and just pound a cup of coffee. I like to savor it and take my time with it while I’m doing other things. So I used to have a coffee mug with one of those little hot plate things. You know what I’m talking about? You can plug it in and they’ll keep your cup hot? But the thing is it turns your coffee into basically what tastes like liquid pencil lead over a couple of hours. And so I’m like, is there something that could just keep this hot, fresh? And I was in Oregon and I found the Klean Kanteen in a coffee shop. Never had heard of it, looked at it and it was like, man, this thing is pretty solid. I wonder if this could work? It was kind of expensive. I didn’t know, but I plopped down the money, have never turned back. I fell in love with the Klean Kanteen and then went to their website, checked it all out. And just wondering if we could brand Daily Audio Bible on the Klean Kanteen because the one that I bought was from a coffee shop and they had their logo on it. And sure enough, after jumping through some hoops, blah, blah, blah, we got our own Klean Kanteens. But they’re pretty expensive. They’re very expensive for us to get in the first place and then keep in stock and so we just get them a couple of times a year. And they go really fast. So within a couple of days these will be gone. These ones… For the longest time they were brushed stainless steel with the Daily Audio Bible logo in black. Then at Christmas time, this past Christmas, we did a special did a special edition that was red. Roasted pepper was the colour with the white logo cause that’s more in tune with what the Daily Audio Bible is. And those, of course, went within like two days like they do. And I was trying to get some more of those. Unfortunately, it was going to take months to get them. So these actually aren’t brushed stainless. They are mat black with white logo. One of a kinds. I’ve never had any that look like this and I like them a lot. They’re classy. So you can find them while supplies last. And I’m telling you, supplies won’t last but a couple of days. You can find them in the Daily Audio Bible shop in the lifestyle section. Get ‘em while you can. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. Every time that they’re gone, we get a bunch of emails saying, are they gone? And yeah, they’ll be gone. Until a later point in the year. But if you want the perfect coffee mug for your Windfarm coffee, this is the best one that I have found. And it’s not just for coffee. I mean, if you’re a tea drinker. I literally make coffee first thing in the morning and pour my coffee into my Klean Kanteen and come down and get to work on the Daily Audio Bible. And I can still sip my coffee six hours later  and it still tastes good like coffee not like liquid pencil. And it’s still warm. But you can use it for cold as well, which I have also done. I have put some ice into my Klean Kanteen, poured it full of fresh water, taken it to bed with me, come back 24 hours later and there’s still ice in it. So once you have one of these they’ll last forever. But the stock won’t last forever. That’ll only last for a couple of days. So jump in and grab your Klean Kanteens while we have them in the Daily Audio Bible shop in the lifestyle section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the common mission that we share to continue to speak aloud God’s Word and allow it to wrap itself via the Internet all the way around the world so that it’s being spoken out somewhere in somebody’s ears all of the time. And so anywhere, any time, anyone who wants to hear God’s Word can hear it. And as we continue to build community around it,  we know that we are never alone on this journey.  If that is life giving to you in your life and you believe in what I’m saying, than thank you for your partnership.  We can’t do this, not at the level that we’re doing it, if we don’t do it together. And we’ve always done it together. So thank you for your partnership.  There’s a link on the homepage. 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 P.O Box 1996, Spring Hill, Tennessee, 37174. And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, there are a number of numbers that you can call depending on where you are in the world. In the Americas,  877-942-4253. If you are in the UK or Europe, 44-20-3608-8078. And if you are in Australia or the lands down under, 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is Cameron from Detroit. I’m a listener but this is my first time calling. And I’m calling for Karen on April 13th. Karen, I wanted to reach out and let you know that I had MS like symptoms for years and years with headaches and numbness and tingling and the Lord healed me. He brought me through different things and led me to diagnoses and the help that I needed. And I wanted to reach out and leave my information. And maybe I could help medically point you somewhere or at the very least I could give encouragement. So please email me cameronms1@yahoo.com. And also keep praying for Jordan. Jordan is an incredible young man and I know that the Lord is good doing great things in his life. So, I just encourage everyone to keep praying for him. Thank you all so much. This community is incredible and I’m glad to be a part of it. God bless.

Shalom DAB family. This is Blessed from New Jersey and it’s April 15th. If you’ve not listened to today’s readings from Brian, take the time to go back and especially listen to Luke 17, then pray and ask God what does He want you to know from the story of the 10 lepers. Before I heard Brian’s commentary earlier this morning at church I had a strong desire to do something for Jesus to show my gratefulness in a way that only He would be pleased. So, I volunteered to serve in our upcoming DBS. I know to most of you this seems no big deal; however, for me it stepping out on faith. My job requires me to be able to travel. And, so, I’m rarely home during the week and in my opinion I’m not the best with kids. Brian challenged us today to be that one to turn back and thank Jesus for what He has done as opposed to the other nine that were healed but just kept going. My commitment to DBS, or vacation Bible school, is all about Jesus wanting us to serve and leaving the what if’s to Him. So, Father I thank you that Your word speaks personally to us every single day, every single time we need it no matter what season of life we are in. Bless Brian for sharing Your thoughts about how You value our things as was evident when You asked, where were the other nine that receive the same healing as the one that returned to give you praise. I thank You for this in Jesus name. Shalom. This is Blessed from New Jersey.

Hi family this is His Little Sharee from Canada. And today Brian read the story about the 10 lepers who were healed and the one who returned to thank the Lord and how important it is for us to be deliberate about noticing our blessings and thanking the Lord. And I just wanted to share a gratitude game, I call it, that has really helped me to be more deliberate about gratitude. So, every day I keep a gratitude list handy and I jot down specific things that happen during the day that I’m thankful for, big or small, and there’s usually about five or six things. And then at the end of the day I post that note on my bulletin board until I’ve got a months’ worth. And at the end of each month I take down all those notes and read through them. And it’s amazing to read through a months’ worth of gratitude. But then from all those notes I pick out a few of the things that seem very significant to me and I write them on slips of paper that go in my jar for the year. And at the end of the year, usually New Year’s Day, I make sure that I have some time and that I won’t be disturbed and I sit on my bed and I dump out all those notes from the whole year and I read through them. And it never fails to overwhelm me, reading through a years’ worth of blessings and miracles. And I’m just reminded how much God has done for me over the year. So, I’ve done this for couple of years now and I am basically addicted to it now. And maybe some version of this kind of gratitude game will help you. So, thank you for listening family. God bless you. Bye for now.

Hi neighbors. This is Lisa the Encourager. I wanted to call in pray for Diana’s sister who has had a 19 year battle with liver disease. And I decided to read a little bit about our liver and again, just being in awe of God and the creation that he gave each one of us in our body. So, our amazing liver, it’s the second largest organ next to the skin. So, it’s actually bigger than the heart, which I thought was interesting. And it’s like a supercomputer itself, it’s like a supercomputer because it performs over 200 functions simultaneously inside of your body. It stores nutrients and creates protein and it’s a detoxifier, you know, for things like alcohol so it won’t hurt our body. And also, it creates blood in the body. So, we would not survive without our liver. And it also converts medication, like prescribed medications, it converts them and helps so that they can be healthy for our body. And so, I just thought it was amazing, because it’s an amazing organ inside of our body that God created. I’m so thankful that I have a healthy liver. And an honor of Diana’s sister I want to pray for her today. Dear God, I thank You so much for having the privilege to pray for our dear sister, Diana’s sister, who is having the battle of the disease of her liver God. And I just pray and lift her up in Your almighty more powerful name. And I know that You can heal her and rid her of this awful disease God. And I know and believe that. And I pray God that Diana will be a blessing to her sister and that she will love her sister and hold her hand and believe with her that she can be healed Lord. And I just pray God that You will help her to be a light in her every day, every time she’s around her…

It is about 10:30 on the East Coast at night and the spirit of prayer and intercession fell on me. And in my spirit, I heard that I should call the daily audio Bible and pray for those who are in the midst of depression, who are battling suicidal thoughts. And I just wanted to reach out to you in this moment and be obedient to the Holy Spirit to let you know that there is hope. And I pray in the mighty name of Jesus that He will begin to make you a prisoner of hope, that you would realize that God is the lifter of your head, He is the strength of your faith, and your life is not over, but there is purpose and destiny yet on board. And God has you in the midst of His hands. So, for all those who find themselves in the low place know that God himself is coming to see about you, that He is going to give you joy for the ashes, He’s going to give you beauty for the ashes, and He’s going to allow the spirit of praise to come upon you. And, so, I come against the spirit of heaviness and I bind it in the mighty name of Jesus. And I loose the mighty name of Jesus upon you now and I pray that His angels will go before you, that He will dispatch His ministering angels to minister unto you and to uplift your heart and infuse it with hope and with joy and peace. Hold on. Do not give up because joy is coming in the morning. Hallelujah. Be blessed, be encouraged, keep the faith, and know that God is fighting for you and in you and through you and your greatest moments are yet before you and not behind you. Dear DABbers and Bible family community, be encouraged. I love you. This is Prophetic Intercessor from North Carolina. Be blessed. In Jesus’ name.

Hi DABbers. It’s Margo from Australia. I am just calling today, I’ve been listening to the community prayer and I had a few thoughts on a couple of things. There are a couple of people, a couple of our DABbers at the moment who are talking about having a relationship with someone who isn’t a Christian. And they are really in love with the person, genuinely in love I’m sure, and even would maybe like to get married. There’s also a couple of our DABbers who have been ringing in with spouses who aren’t saved. And there’s a lot of pain and a lot of suffering in that situation. I want to point out to those of you that are in a relationship with an unsaved person that, I guess you’ve been sort of describing it as a choice of what to do, but really, according to the Bible, and I say this in love, there is no choice. You know what to do. The Bible says do not be yoked to an unbeliever. So, you have before you a right choice or a wrong choice. I can only encourage you that when you do the right thing God will be with you. He will give you His peace. It will not be easy. If you’re going to break off a relationship with someone because they’re not saved it’s going to be very painful, but that’s kind of inconsequential. We do right, regardless. There’s a reason they call it the straight and narrow road. It’s not an easy road. If you are with someone and your unequally yoked, please choose right. If you make the wrong decision there will always be consequences and there will be very great pain. God is your number one priority and what He says in His word is your priority. I pray for each of you that He will help you to do the right thing. I’m really praying for you guys. Love you all. Bye.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday April 18, 2018 (NIV)

Joshua 16-18

Ephraim’s Land

16 1-4 Ephraim and Manasseh are the two tribes descended from Joseph, and the following is a description of the land they received. The southern border of their land started at the Jordan River east of the spring at Jericho. From there it went west through the desert up to the hill country around Bethel. From Bethel it went to Luz and then[a] to the border of the Archites in Ataroth.[b] It continued west down to the land that belonged to the Japhlet clan, then went on to Lower Beth-Horon, Gezer, and the Mediterranean Sea.

The following is a description of the land that was divided among the clans of the Ephraim tribe. Their southern border started at Ataroth-Addar and went west to Upper Beth-Horon 6-8 and the Mediterranean Sea. Their northern border started on the east at Janoah, curved a little to the north, then came back south to Michmethath and Tappuah, where it followed the Kanah Gorge west to the Mediterranean Sea.

The eastern border started on the north near Janoah and went between Janoah on the southwest and Taanath-Shiloh on the northeast. Then it went south to Ataroth, Naarah, and on as far as the edge of the land that belonged to Jericho. At that point it turned east and went to the Jordan River. The clans of Ephraim received this region as their tribal land. Ephraim also had some towns and villages that were inside Manasseh’s tribal land.

10 Ephraim could not force the Canaanites out of Gezer, so there are still some Canaanites who live there among the Israelites. But now these Canaanites have to work as slaves for the Israelites.

Manasseh’s Land West of the Jordan River

17 1-6 Manasseh was Joseph’s oldest son, and Machir was Manasseh’s oldest son. Machir had a son named Gilead, and some of his descendants had already received the regions of Gilead and Bashan because they were good warriors. The other clans of the Manasseh tribe descended from Gilead’s sons Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. The following is a description of the land they received.

Hepher’s son Zelophehad did not have any sons, but he did have five daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. One day the clans that were descendants of Zelophehad’s five daughters went to the priest Eleazar, Joshua, and the leaders of Israel. The people of these clans said, “The Lord told Moses to give us land just as he gave land to our relatives.”[c]

Joshua followed the Lord’s instructions and gave land to these five clans, as he had given land to the five clans that had descended from Hepher’s brothers.[d] So Manasseh’s land west of the Jordan River was divided into ten parts.

The land of the Manasseh tribe went from its northern border with the Asher tribe south to Michmethath, which is to the east of Shechem. The southern border started there, but curved even farther south to include the people who lived around Tappuah Spring.[e] The town of Tappuah was on Manasseh’s border with Ephraim. Although the land around Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, the town itself belonged to Ephraim.

9-10 Then the border went west to the Kanah Gorge and ran along the northern edge of the gorge to the Mediterranean Sea. The land south of the gorge belonged to Ephraim. And even though there were a few towns that belonged to Ephraim north of the gorge, the land north of the gorge belonged to Manasseh.

The western border of Manasseh was the Mediterranean Sea, and the tribe shared a border with the Asher tribe on the northwest and with the Issachar tribe on the northeast.

11 Manasseh was supposed to have the following towns with their surrounding villages inside the borders of Issachar’s and Asher’s tribal lands:

Beth-Shan, Ibleam, Endor, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor, which is also called Naphath.[f]

12 But the people of Manasseh could not capture these towns, so the Canaanites kept on living in them. 13 When the Israelites grew stronger, they made the Canaanites in these towns work as their slaves, though they never did force them to leave.

Joseph’s Descendants Ask for More Land

14 One day the Joseph tribes[g] came to Joshua and asked, “Why didn’t you give us more land? The Lord has always been kind to us, and we have too many people for this small region.”

15 Joshua replied, “If you have so many people that you don’t have enough room in the hill country of Ephraim, then go into the forest that belonged to the Perizzites and the Rephaim.[h] Clear out the trees and make more room for yourselves there.”

16 “Even if we do that,” they answered, “there still won’t be enough land for us in the hill country. And we can’t move down into Jezreel Valley, because the Canaanites who live in Beth-Shan and in other parts of the valley have iron chariots.”

17 “Your tribes do have a lot of people,” Joshua admitted. “I’ll give you more land. Your tribes are powerful, 18 so you can have the rest of the hill country, but it’s a forest, and you’ll have to cut down the trees and clear the land. You can also have Jezreel Valley. Even though the Canaanites there are strong and have iron chariots, you can force them to leave the valley.”

Joshua Gives Out the Rest of the Land

18 After Israel had captured the land, they met at Shiloh and set up the sacred tent.[i] There were still seven tribes without any land, 3-7 so Joshua told the people:

The Judah tribe has already settled in its land in the south, and the Joseph tribes[j] have settled in their land in the north. The tribes of Gad, Reuben, and East Manasseh already have the land that the Lord’s servant Moses gave them east of the Jordan River. And the people of Levi won’t get a single large region of the land like the other tribes. Instead, they will serve the Lord as priests.

But the rest of you haven’t done a thing to take over any land. The Lord God who was worshiped by your ancestors has given you the land, and now it’s time to go ahead and settle there.

Seven tribes still don’t have any land. Each of these tribes should choose three men, and I’ll send them to explore the remaining land. They will divide it into seven regions, write a description of each region, and bring these descriptions back to me. I will find out[k] from the Lord our God what region each tribe should get.

Just before the men left camp, Joshua repeated their orders: “Explore the land and write a description of it. Then come back to Shiloh, and I will find out from the Lord how to divide the land.”

The men left and went across the land, dividing it into seven regions. They wrote down a description of each region, town by town, and returned to Joshua at the camp at Shiloh. 10 Joshua found out from the Lord how to divide the land, and he told the tribes what the Lord had decided.

Benjamin’s Land

11 Benjamin was the first tribe chosen to receive land. The region for its clans lay between the Judah tribe on the south and the Joseph tribes[l] on the north. 12 Benjamin’s northern border started at the Jordan River and went up the ridge north of Jericho, then on west into the hill country as far as the Beth-Aven Desert. 13-14 From there it went to Luz, which is now called Bethel. The border ran along the ridge south of Luz, then went to Ataroth-Orech[m] and on as far as the mountain south of Lower Beth-Horon. At that point it turned south and became the western border. It went as far south as Kiriath-Baal, a town in Judah now called Kiriath-Jearim.

15 Benjamin’s southern border started at the edge of Kiriath-Jearim and went east to the ruins[n] and on to Nephtoah Spring. 16 From there it went to the bottom of the hill at the northern end of Rephaim Valley. The other side of this hill faces Hinnom Valley, which is on the land that slopes south from Jerusalem.[o] The border went down through Hinnom Valley until it reached Enrogel.

17 At Enrogel the border curved north and went to Enshemesh and on east to Geliloth,[p] which is across the valley from Adummim Pass. Then it went down to the Monument of Bohan,[q] who belonged to the Reuben tribe. 18 The border ran along the hillside north of Beth-Arabah,[r] then down into the Jordan River valley. 19 Inside the valley it went south as far as the northern hillside of Beth-Hoglah. The last section of the border went from there to the northern end of the Dead Sea,[s] at the mouth of the Jordan River. 20 The Jordan River itself was Benjamin’s eastern border.

These were the borders of Benjamin’s tribal land, where the clans of Benjamin lived.

21-24 One region of Benjamin’s tribal land had twelve towns with their surrounding villages. Those towns were Jericho, Beth-Hoglah, Emek-Keziz, Beth-Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, Chephar-Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba.

25-28 In the other region there were the following fourteen towns with their surrounding villages: Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, Zelah, Haeleph, Gibeah, Kiriath-Jearim,[t] and Jerusalem, which is also called Jebusite Town.

These regions are the tribal lands of Benjamin.

Footnotes:

  1. 16.1-4 it. . . then: Or “which is also called Luz, it went.”
  2. 16.1-4 Ataroth: This is the same Ataroth as Ataroth-Addar in verse 5, but a different Ataroth from the one in verses 6-8.
  3. 17.1-6 The Lord told Moses. . . relatives: See Numbers 27.1-11; 36.1-12.
  4. 17.1-6 the clans that were descendants of Zelophehad’s five daughters. . . Hepher’s brothers: Or “Zelophehad’s five daughters went to the priest Eleazar, Joshua, and the leaders of Israel. The five sisters said, <The Lord told Moses to give us land just as he gave land to our relatives.’ Joshua followed the Lord’s instructions and gave land to these five sisters, as he had given land to Hepher’s brothers.”
  5. 17.7 to include. . . Tappuah Spring: Hebrew; one ancient translation “to Jassiben-Tappuah” or “and turns toward Tappuah Spring.”
  6. 17.11 Dor. . . Naphath: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  7. 17.14 Joseph tribes: Ephraim and the half of Manasseh that lived west of the Jordan River.
  8. 17.15 Rephaim: See the note at 12.4.
  9. 18.1 sacred tent: Or “meeting tent.”
  10. 18.3-7 Joseph tribes: See the note at 17.14.
  11. 18.3-7 find out: Hebrew “cast lots to find out” (see the note at 14.1-5).
  12. 18.11 Joseph tribes: See the note at 17.14.
  13. 18.13,14 Ataroth-Orech: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Ataroth-Addar.”
  14. 18.15 the ruins: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  15. 18.16 Jerusalem: Hebrew “the Jebusite town.”
  16. 18.17 Geliloth: Probably another name for Gilgal.
  17. 18.17 Monument of Bohan: See the note at 15.6.
  18. 18.18 hillside north of Beth-Arabah: One ancient translation (see also the border description in 15.6); Hebrew “the northern hillside overlooking the Jordan River valley.”
  19. 18.19 northern. . . Dead Sea: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  20. 18.25-28 Kiriath-Jearim: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Kiriath.”

Luke 19:1-27

Zacchaeus

19 Jesus was going through Jericho, where a man named Zacchaeus lived. He was in charge of collecting taxes[a] and was very rich. 3-4 Jesus was heading his way, and Zacchaeus wanted to see what he was like. But Zacchaeus was a short man and could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree.

When Jesus got there, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down! I want to stay with you today.” Zacchaeus hurried down and gladly welcomed Jesus.

Everyone who saw this started grumbling, “This man Zacchaeus is a sinner! And Jesus is going home to eat with him.”

Later that day Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “I will give half of my property to the poor. And I will now pay back four times as much[b] to everyone I have ever cheated.”

Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Today you and your family have been saved,[c] because you are a true son of Abraham.[d] 10 The Son of Man came to look for and to save people who are lost.”

A Story about Ten Servants

11 The crowd was still listening to Jesus as he was getting close to Jerusalem. Many of them thought that God’s kingdom would soon appear, 12 and Jesus told them this story:

A prince once went to a foreign country to be crowned king and then to return. 13 But before leaving, he called in ten servants and gave each of them some money. He told them, “Use this to earn more money until I get back.”

14 But the people of his country hated him, and they sent messengers to the foreign country to say, “We don’t want this man to be our king.”

15 After the prince had been made king, he returned and called in his servants. He asked them how much they had earned with the money they had been given.

16 The first servant came and said, “Sir, with the money you gave me I have earned ten times as much.”

17 “That’s fine, my good servant!” the king said. “Since you have shown that you can be trusted with a small amount, you will be given ten cities to rule.”

18 The second one came and said, “Sir, with the money you gave me, I have earned five times as much.”

19 The king said, “You will be given five cities.”

20 Another servant came and said, “Sir, here is your money. I kept it safe in a handkerchief. 21 You are a hard man, and I was afraid of you. You take what isn’t yours, and you harvest crops you didn’t plant.”

22 “You worthless servant!” the king told him. “You have condemned yourself by what you have just said. You knew that I am a hard man, taking what isn’t mine and harvesting what I’ve not planted. 23 Why didn’t you put my money in the bank? On my return, I could have had the money together with interest.”

24 Then he said to some other servants standing there, “Take the money away from him and give it to the servant who earned ten times as much.”

25 But they said, “Sir, he already has ten times as much!”

26 The king replied, “Those who have something will be given more. But everything will be taken away from those who don’t have anything. 27 Now bring me the enemies who didn’t want me to be their king. Kill them while I watch!”

Footnotes:

  1. 19.2 in charge of collecting taxes: See the note at 3.12.
  2. 19.8 pay back four times as much: Both Jewish and Roman law said that a person must pay back four times the amount that was taken.
  3. 19.9 saved: Zacchaeus was Jewish, but it is only now that he is rescued from sin and placed under God’s care.
  4. 19.9 son of Abraham: As used in this verse, the words mean that Zacchaeus is truly one of God’s special people.

Psalm 87

(A psalm and a song by the people of Korah.)

The Glory of Mount Zion

87 Zion was built by the Lord
on the holy mountain,
and he loves that city
more than any other place
in all of Israel.
Zion, you are the city of God,
and wonderful things
are told about you.

Egypt,[a] Babylonia, Philistia,
Phoenicia,[b] and Ethiopia[c]
are some of those nations
that know you,
and their people all say,
“I was born in Zion.”

God Most High will strengthen
the city of Zion.
Then everyone will say,
“We were born here too.”
The Lord will make a list
of his people,
and all who were born here
will be included.

All who sing or dance will say,
“I too am from Zion.”

Footnotes:

  1. 87.4 Egypt: The Hebrew text has “Rahab,” the name of a monster that stands for Egypt (see Isaiah 30.7).
  2. 87.4 Phoenicia: See the note at 83.7.
  3. 87.4 Ethiopia: See the note at 68.31.

Proverbs 13:11

11 Money wrongly gotten
will disappear bit by bit;
money earned little by little
will grow and grow.

04/17/2018 DAB Transcript

Joshua 15:1-63, Luke 18:18-43, Psalms 86:1-17, Proverbs 13:9-10

Today is the 17th day of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you as is the case everyday. And I’m glad that we can take the next step forward together as we continue our journey through the Scriptures this year. And we have been reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. And we’ll head back into the book of Joshua and read chapter 15 today.

Prayer

Thank you Father for your word. And as we say so often, thank you for another day that we can be in it together. We thank you for all that you you are doing as we move into new seasons. New seasons in life, new seasons on the earth. And we are grateful for your word that counsels us and guides us and gives us clarity on so many levels and in so many ways. And so we are grateful. And like Bartimaeus of old, we wanna see. And so Holy Spirit come. Increase our faith so that we can see more and more and more in your word and in the road ahead. Come, Holy Spirit, we ask. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Announcements

Dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base, of course. It’s where you find out what is going on around here. So be sure to check it out.

Check in at the prayer wall while you’re there and maybe pray for some people. Check out the community section. Find out where we’re at on social media. Get involved there. There’s always conversation happening and updates happening at the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page. And there’s always ongoing conversation at places like DAB Friends on Facebook. So you can find all the links to that in the community section at dailyaudiobible.com.

Also check out the Daily Audio Bible shop, where there are some resources available for the road ahead as we continue to make our journey through the Scriptures this year. So check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, 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 P.O 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 family this is His Little Sharee in Canada and I’m calling because I heard Seeking from Dallas leave her prayer request. And Seeking, I just wanted to tell you that I had an interesting conversation today with a fella I know who travelled to see the eclipse this past summer. And he was telling me that, of course, he knew that the sun was a star and the moon was orbiting the earth and that he himself was a spec living on planet that was hurtling through space. He knew all that but when he saw the eclipse, when he saw the sun and the moon converge in such an unusual way, suddenly all the things that he’d known intellectually became viscerally real. And that’s what I’m going to be praying for you and for myself and for everyone who may feel lonely, who may want to really encounter the Lord’s love. Because we believe that He’s real and that He loves us, but so much of the time it’s intellectual and we need an eclipse. So, that’s what I’m praying for us. Father, I pray that You would give us an eclipse, that our faith that You love us would intersect with the experience of Your love and it would no longer be just something that we’ve been told all of our lives but something tangible, something that burns on the inside of us God. I pray that You would do this for Seeking, for all of us Lord that want to know You and want to experience Your love in a way that changes us, changes who we are and what we want. God, I just pray that You minister, as only you can by Your Holy Spirit to our deep need to be loved by You. And I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Thank you, family. Bye, for now.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Monica in Kentucky and I just heard Karen in Pennsylvania…just heartbroken cry about her son Jacob possibly having MS and the numbness in his legs and the pain. And I’m going to be praying for this situation because I had a roommate in college with MS and I’ve got a staff person with MS. So, I understand how scary this can be, but they are making breakthroughs and you’re going to learn quickly from being connected with the MS community how to address his needs. But I really want to focus on your very karma like notion that you, falling in love with the nonbeliever and wanting to move is somehow tied to your son’s diagnosis. And I just want to nip that in the bud. God does not work that way. If you’re a believer you have grace. And what you described is a very quid pro quo and it also puts a whole lot of power on you. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but you falling in love with the nonbeliever does not reap the consequences of a debilitating disease in your son. It just does not work that way. Consequences of sin is more like what Jay in New Jersey/Maryland has confessed. He had all the sexual sins and then he became estranged from the woman he loved and estranged from his child and estranged from his church. It was actually a consequence directly related to the sin that he committed. So, I think that you need to rethink that, give yourself a break. Love your son. Concentrate on his health. If the relationship with a nonbeliever is something that you know is wrong, then deal with that, but don’t connect the two. Give yourself a break. Love your son and reevaluate your long-distance relationship. God will give you the answers. Focus on what’s right. Pour into Scripture and…

Hi this is Raquel from the Los Angeles area. I’ve been listening for about four years and this is my first time calling. I wanted to call in to reach out to Seeking and Dallas. Sister, I am there with you. I will be 49 next month and I am single, never married, and I just wanted to let you know that I will be praying for you, for your healing. Just remember to reach out to God in that time and to just get in the word so that you can just study God’s love for you. Thank you. And I know the rest of the DABbers will be praying for you as well. Bye-bye.

Hi DABbers, it’s been a while since I’ve called. This is Dependent on Him. And I’ve called for prayer before for my marriage and for marriage counseling that I was going to for my divorce not to go through. And he went through with the divorce. I’m still standing for this marriage. I am still fighting for my husband and my family DABbers. And I ask you to please come together and pray. Pray please. I’m just so tired. There’s so many divorces going on around me. It’s just…it’s like an epidemic. I’m standing for my marriage and I’m standing for marriage in general and the covenant and what God created marriage to be. Please pray for my husband that he hears the stirring of the Holy Spirit, and that he answers that call, and that he turns back to Christ, and that he turns back and just feels the conviction. Pray for his heart, pray for our marriage, pray for our souls, and pray for the restoration. I will stand fighting for him and for a family and for God until this marriage is restored. I trust Him, I believe in Him. Our God is good. I just ask for your prayers, please.

Hi. Good evening. This is XYZ calling in. I was calling because I heard a call from a woman a couple days ago. Today is Friday the 13th and it’s about 6:40 or so, 6:40pm. There was a woman that called in and she was really sad about not having a family. And that call really just touched me because I understand. I’m in the same position and I really just wanted to let you know that I heard your call, I relate to your call, I understand your call, I understand the sorrow, I understand just crying out to God and asking, you know, where is that partner, where is that family? I just wanted to call. I just wanted to let you know that I did hear your call. I want to let you know that you’re in my thoughts and my prayers. And I just pray strength for you. I pray God gives you…I just pray that God just comes down and just touches your heart and just speaks to your heart. And, so, I hope that you keep calling in. I hope that you keep letting us know how you’re doing. And I am praying for you. Have a good night and I’m sure I’ll be talking to you again soon. Bye.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday April 17, 2018 (NIV)

Joshua 15

Judah’s Land

15 The clans of the Judah tribe were given land that went south along the border of Edom, and at its farthest point south it even reached the Zin Desert. Judah’s southern border started at the south end of the Dead Sea. As it went west from there, it ran south of Scorpion Pass[a] to Zin, and then came up from the south to Kadesh-Barnea. It continued past Hezron up to Addar, turned toward Karka, and ran along to Azmon. After that, it followed the Egyptian Gorge and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. This was also Israel’s southern border.

Judah’s eastern border ran the full length of the Dead Sea.

The northern border started at the northern end of the Dead Sea.[b] From there it went west up to Beth-Hoglah, continued north of Beth-Arabah, and went up to the Monument of Bohan,[c] who belonged to the Reuben tribe. From there, it went to Trouble Valley[d] and Debir,[e] then turned north and went to Gilgal,[f] which is on the north side of the valley across from Adummim Pass. It continued on to Enshemesh, Enrogel, and up through Hinnom Valley on the land sloping south from Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem itself belonged to the Jebusites.

Next, the border went up to the top of the mountain on the west side of Hinnom Valley and at the north end of Rephaim Valley. At the top of the mountain it turned and went to Nephtoah Spring and then to the ruins[g] on Mount Ephron. From there, it went to Baalah, which is now called Kiriath-Jearim.

10 From Baalah the northern border curved west to Mount Seir and then ran along the northern ridge of Mount Jearim, where Chesalon is located. Then it went down to Beth-Shemesh[h] and over to Timnah. 11 It continued along to the hillside north of Ekron, curved around to Shikkeron, and then went to Mount Baalah. After going to Jabneel, the border finally ended at the Mediterranean Sea, 12 which was Judah’s western border.

The clans of Judah lived within these borders.

Caleb’s Land

13 Joshua gave Caleb some land among the people of Judah, as God had told him to do. Caleb’s share was Hebron, which at that time was known as Arba’s Town,[i] because Arba was the famous ancestor of the Anakim.[j]

14 Caleb attacked Hebron and forced the three Anakim clans of[k] Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai to leave. 15 Next, Caleb started a war with the town of Debir, which at that time was called Kiriath-Sepher. 16 He told his men, “The man who captures Kiriath-Sepher can marry my daughter Achsah.”

17 Caleb’s nephew Othniel[l] captured Kiriath-Sepher, and Caleb let him marry Achsah. 18 Right after the wedding, Achsah started telling Othniel that he[m] ought to ask her father for a field. She went to see her father, and while she was getting down from[n] her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What’s bothering you?”

19 She answered, “I need your help. The land you gave me is in the Southern Desert, so I really need some spring-fed ponds[o] for a water supply.”

Caleb gave her a couple of small ponds, named Higher Pond and Lower Pond.[p]

Towns in Judah’s Land

20 The following is a list of the towns in each region given to the Judah clans:

21-32 The first region was located in the Southern Desert along the border with Edom, and it had the following twenty-nine towns with their surrounding villages:

Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, Kinah, Dimonah, Aradah,[q] Kedesh, Hazor of Ithnan,[r] Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, Hazor-Hadattah, Kerioth-Hezron, which is also called Hazor, Amam, Shema, Moladah, Hazar-Gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-Pelet, Hazar-Shual, Beersheba and its surrounding villages,[s] Baalah, Iim, Ezem, Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah, Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, Lebaoth, Shilhim, and Enrimmon.[t]

33-36 The second region was located in the northern part of the lower foothills, and it had the following fourteen towns with their surrounding villages:

Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, Zanoah, En-Gannim, Tappuah, Enam, Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, Shaaraim, Adithaim, Gederah, and Gederothaim.

37-41 The third region was located in the southern part of the lower foothills, and it had the following sixteen towns with their surrounding villages:

Zenan, Hadashah, Migdalgad, Dilan, Mizpeh, Joktheel, Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, Cabbon, Lahmas,[u] Chitlish, Gederoth, Beth-Dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah.

42-44 The fourth region was located in the central part of the lower foothills, and it had the following nine towns with their surrounding villages:

Libnah, Ether, Ashan, Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah.

45-47 The fifth region was located along the Mediterranean seacoast, and it had the following towns with their surrounding settlements and villages:

Ekron and the towns between there and the coast, Ashdod and the larger towns nearby, Gaza, the towns from Gaza to the Egyptian Gorge, and the towns along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

48-51 The sixth region was in the southwestern part of the hill country, and it had the following eleven towns with their surrounding villages:

Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, Dannah, Kiriath-Sannah, which is now called Debir, Anab, Eshtemoh,[v] Anim, Goshen, Holon, and Giloh.

52-54 The seventh region was located in the south-central part of Judah’s hill country, and it had the following nine towns with their surrounding villages:

Arab, Dumah,[w] Eshan, Janim, Beth-Tappuah, Aphekah, Humtah, Kiriath-Arba, which is now called Hebron, and Zior.

55-57 The eighth region was located in the southeastern part of the hill country, and it had the following ten towns with their surrounding villages:

Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, Jezreel,[x] Jokdeam,[y] Zanoah, Kain, Gibeah,[z] and Timnah.

58-59 The ninth region was located in the central part of Judah’s hill country, and it had the following six towns with their surrounding villages:

Halhul, Beth-Zur, Gedor, Maarath, Beth-Anoth, and Eltekon.

The tenth region was located in the north-central part of Judah’s hill country, and it had the following eleven towns with their surrounding villages:

Tekoa, Ephrath, which is also called Bethlehem, Peor, Etam, Culon, Tatam, Shoresh, Kerem, Gallim, Bether, and Manahath.[aa]

60 The eleventh region was located in the northern part of Judah’s hill country, and it had the following two towns with their surrounding villages:

Rabbah, and Kiriath-Baal, which is also called Kiriath-Jearim.

61-62 The twelfth region was located in the desert along the Dead Sea, and it had the following six towns with their surrounding villages:

Beth-Arabah, Middin, Secacah, Nibshan, Salt Town, and En-Gedi.

The Jebusites

63 The Jebusites lived in Jerusalem, and the people of the Judah tribe could not capture the city and get rid of them. That’s why Jebusites still live in Jerusalem along with the people of Judah.[ab]

Footnotes:

  1. 15.3 Scorpion Pass: Or “Akrabbim Pass.”
  2. 15.5 at. . . Dead Sea: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  3. 15.6 Monument of Bohan: Or “Bohan Rock,” possibly a natural rock formation.
  4. 15.7 Trouble Valley: Or “Achor Valley.”
  5. 15.7 Debir: Not the same town as in 10.38,39.
  6. 15.7 Gilgal: Not the same “Gilgal” as in 4.19.
  7. 15.9 ruins: Hebrew; one ancient translation “towns.”
  8. 15.10 Beth-Shemesh: Probably the same town as the Ir-Shemesh of 19.41-46. Two other towns were also named Beth-Shemesh (see 19.17-23 and 19.35-39).
  9. 15.13 Arba’s Town: See the note at 14.15.
  10. 15.13 Anakim: See the note at 11.21.
  11. 15.14 clans of: Or “warriors.”
  12. 15.17 Caleb’s nephew Othniel: Hebrew “Othniel the son of Caleb’s brother Kenaz.”
  13. 15.18 Achsah. . . Othniel. . . he: Hebrew; one manuscript of one ancient translation and two ancient translations of the parallel in Judges 1.14 “Othniel. . . Achsah. . . she.”
  14. 15.18 getting down from: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  15. 15.19 spring-fed ponds: Or “wells.”
  16. 15.19 small ponds. . . Pond. . . Pond: Or “wells. . . Well. . . Well.”
  17. 15.21-32 Aradah: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  18. 15.21-32 Hazor of Ithnan: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Hazor and Ithnan.”
  19. 15.21-32 its. . . villages: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Biziothiah.”
  20. 15.21-32 Enrimmon: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Ain and Rimmon.”
  21. 15.37-41 Lahmas: Most Hebrew manuscripts; many other Hebrew manuscripts and one manuscript of one ancient translation “Lahmam.”
  22. 15.48-51 Eshtemoh: Another spelling for the name Eshtemoa (see 21.9-19).
  23. 15.52-54 Dumah: Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and one ancient translation “Rumah.”
  24. 15.55-57 Jezreel: Not the same Jezreel as in 19.17-23.
  25. 15.55-57 Jokdeam: Hebrew; one ancient translation “Jorkeam.”
  26. 15.55-57 Gibeah: Not the same Gibeah as in 18.25-28.
  27. 15.58,59 The tenth region. . . Manahath: One ancient translation; the Hebrew text does not have these words.
  28. 15.63 Jebusites. . . Judah: Israel captured Jerusalem in King David’s time, but even then the Jebusites were not forced to leave.

Luke 18:18-43

A Rich and Important Man

18 An important man asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to have eternal life?”

19 Jesus said, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Be faithful in marriage. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not tell lies about others. Respect your father and mother.’”

21 He told Jesus, “I have obeyed all these commandments since I was a young man.”

22 When Jesus heard this, he said, “There is one thing you still need to do. Go and sell everything you own! Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and be my follower.” 23 When the man heard this, he was sad, because he was very rich.

24 Jesus saw how sad the man was. So he said, “It’s terribly hard for rich people to get into God’s kingdom! 25 In fact, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into God’s kingdom.”

26 When the crowd heard this, they asked, “How can anyone ever be saved?”

27 Jesus replied, “There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything.”

28 Peter said, “Remember, we left everything to be your followers!”

29 Jesus answered, “You can be sure that anyone who gives up home or wife or brothers or family or children because of God’s kingdom 30 will be given much more in this life. And in the future world they will have eternal life.”

Jesus Again Tells about His Death

31 Jesus took the twelve apostles aside and said:

We are now on our way to Jerusalem. Everything that the prophets wrote about the Son of Man will happen there. 32 He will be handed over to foreigners,[a] who will make fun of him, mistreat him, and spit on him. 33 They will beat him and kill him, but three days later he will rise to life.

34 The apostles did not understand what Jesus was talking about. They could not understand, because the meaning of what he said was hidden from them.

Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar

35 When Jesus was coming close to Jericho, a blind man sat begging beside the road. 36 The man heard the crowd walking by and asked what was happening. 37 Some people told him that Jesus from Nazareth was passing by. 38 So the blind man shouted, “Jesus, Son of David,[b] have pity on me!” 39 The people who were going along with Jesus told the man to be quiet. But he shouted even louder, “Son of David, have pity on me!”

40 Jesus stopped and told some people to bring the blind man over to him. When the blind man was getting near, Jesus asked, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord, I want to see!” he answered.

42 Jesus replied, “Look and you will see! Your eyes are healed because of your faith.” 43 Right away the man could see, and he went with Jesus and started thanking God. When the crowds saw what happened, they praised God.

Footnotes:

  1. 18.32 foreigners: The Romans, who ruled Judea at this time.
  2. 18.38 Son of David: The Jewish people expected the Messiah to be from the family of King David, and for this reason the Messiah was often called the “Son of David.”

Psalm 86

(A prayer by David.)

A Prayer for Help

86 Please listen, Lord,
and answer my prayer!
I am poor and helpless.
Protect me and save me
because you are my God.
I am your faithful servant,
and I trust you.
Be kind to me!
I pray to you all day.
Make my heart glad!
I serve you,
and my prayer is sincere.
You willingly forgive,
and your love is always there
for those who pray to you.
Please listen, Lord!
Answer my prayer for help.
When I am in trouble, I pray,
knowing you will listen.

No other gods are like you;
only you work miracles.
You created each nation,
and they will all bow down
to worship and honor you.
10 You perform great wonders
because you alone are God.

11 Teach me to follow you,
and I will obey your truth.
Always keep me faithful.
12 With all my heart I thank you.
I praise you, Lord God.
13 Your love for me is so great
that you protected me
from death and the grave.

14 Proud and violent enemies,
who don’t care about you,
have ganged up to attack
and kill me.
15 But you, the Lord God,
are kind and merciful.
You don’t easily get angry,
and your love
can always be trusted.
16 I serve you, Lord,
and I am the child
of one of your servants.
Look on me with kindness.
Make me strong and save me.
17 Show that you approve of me!
Then my hateful enemies
will feel like fools,
because you have helped
and comforted me.

Proverbs 13:9-10

The lamp of a good person
keeps on shining;
the lamp of an evil person
soon goes out.
10 Too much pride causes trouble.
Be sensible and take advice.

04/16/2018 DAB Transcript

Joshua 13:1-14:1, Luke 18:1-17, Psalms 85:1-13, Proverbs 13:7-8

Today is the 16th day of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today back in the rolling hills of Tennessee. Ah… Just kind of afterglow from the More Gathering. What a wonderful, wonderful time that we had. So well done ladies. You’re probably all getting home to well done. May all that was deposited into your life make positive and complete transformational change in everything that you do and touch from this day forward. And as a community, just know that you’re being prayed for. So, as we step into this day we will step into the next step. I think I said that wrong. We’re about to take the next step forward in our journey through the Scriptures this year. And this week we’re reading from the Contemporary English Version. And the next step forward is gonna take us back into the book of Joshua, where really the majority of the promised land has been conquered. I mean, some of the most powerful forces that could have and should have destroyed the armies of Israel have been defeated. And so that continues, but we’re starting to get into, okay, now we’ve got this land. What comes next? Joshua chapter 13 and 14 today.

Commentary:

Okay. In the Gospel of Luke, we have three stories that Jesus tells. One that shows how God is, one that shows how people are and one that shows how we should be. And in the book of Proverbs we have a bit of a riddle. So, in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus talks about a widow who keeps pestering the judge. And the judge is not particularly a good man, right? So, he’s a cynical, he’s seen it all, he doesn’t care anymore, he’s tired of people, he doesn’t fear God and he’s lost his faith in humanity. But this widow, she keeps coming every day, every day. Justice, give me justice. Be fair, be fair to me. And even though this judge doesn’t care, doesn’t care what God thinks and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, he gives her what she asks for because he doesn’t want to be bothered by her anymore. And then Jesus says, look, look at how she got what she needed, what she wanted from a crooked, evil judge. Do you think God, the supreme sovereign good fair judge won’t protect his chosen ones who pray to him day and night? Don’t you think he’s gonna be concerned for them? He will surely hurry and help them. The question is will he find anyone on this earth who has faith. So, he’s telling a story showing how the Father is. And then he tells a story about the Pharisee and the tax collector praying. The Pharisee is pompous and looking down on everyone and just basically he’s praying a prayer that is glorifying himself. Then you have the tax collector. And you can see this guy, right? Hat in hand, won’t even look up at the sky standing off in the background, just trying to come into the presence of God, putting his hand to his chest, beating his chest knowing who he is. Knowing that he has no right to be in the presence of God but coming anyway and asking for mercy. Asking for pity, acknowledging who he is. According to Jesus, that’s the man. That’s the one who stood before God and was heard by God. That’s the one who pleased God. The Pharisee is a devout student of the Torah doing everything possible to live according to God’s law. That’s what Pharisee-ism was. Like, that’s who the apostle Paul was. But his heart was hard. Because his heart was arrogant because he thought he was doing it right. And he thought he was good and becoming righteous before God by brute force of obedience. And yet all of this pride was in his heart. And, so, we have two different postures of heart to consider. They’re at the extremes and we find ourselves somewhere in the middle. But we gotta wonder where our center point is. Which side of this equation are we on? And all we have to do is look at our lives. Are we looking down on people? Are we judging people? Are we constantly in that kind of mindset? Or are we humble? Do we remember where we’ve come from? Do we remember the grace and mercy that is offered to us and that we are consuming every day to stay alive?

And then there’s the little children, right? The little children who want to run around Jesus. I mean, they’ve been dragged to wherever Jesus is by their parents, obviously. They didn’t get up in the morning and just run off from their village to find Jesus. Their parents brought them. And, so, there’s kids and their playing like kids do when they get together. And they’re just running around and they wanna be near Jesus. And some of the parents are trying to bring the children to Jesus so he’ll bless them. And it’s the disciples who are like, no he can’t be bothered right now he’s doing important work. He’s got all this important adult stuff to do like healing people and all. He can’t be bothered right now. Jesus is like, hold up. Let the little children come to me. Are you kidding? Don’t try to stop them. You will never get into God’s kingdom unless you enter it like a child. You gotta put that one in your pipe and smoke it for a minute. You gotta think about what it was like to be a child. You gotta think about your own kids. And, I mean, I know we’re all over the map demographically and age wise and so adult children, small children, infants, but you gotta think about what it’s like to be around children. You can sit down with a kid, any kid. And once they’re not afraid of you anymore, have a conversation and it’s unbelievable the way that they think about the world. It’s so starkly possible, right? Everything is so possible. And everything is deeply interesting to them. And so simple. I mean, I’ve had, you know, quite a few kids in my my life. And I got a little guy now, Ezekiel. And I’m usually up early in the morning working on Daily Audio Bible and he wakes up and the first thing he does is come and be with me. And usually it’s the first thing that he does crawl up into my lap, whether I’m reading or busy or whatever. He just… Doesn’t matter. He’s just coming down rubbing his eyes from sleep climbing into my lap. And that actually happened a few minutes ago while I was recording and so the mic was on. So, let’s hear it from a child.

Brian: Hey little buddy

Ezekiel: Hi

Brian: How ya doing?

Ezekiel: Good

Brian: Whatcha been up to? You just looking like you’re a little tired.

Ezekiel:  Yeah.

Brian: So, what are you gonna do today?

Ezekiel:  Uh I don’t know.

Brian:  You don’t know?

Ezekiel:  No

Brian:  Is it gonna be fun?

Ezekiel:  Yeah.

Brian: So, I was wondering. What do you think about Jesus?

Ezekiel:  Uh. Good

Brian: Good?

Ezekiel:  Uh huh.

Brian: What do you think Jesus can do?

Ezekiel: Probably heal people

Brian: What do you think Jesus can’t do?

Ezekiel: Uh… I don’t know.

Brian: You think he can do anything?

Ezekiel: Yeah

Brian: What’s your favorite thing to do?

Ezekiel: Climb tree

Brian:  Yeah?

Ezekiel: Yeah

Brian: That’s kind of a new thing for you, huh? You like climbing all of the sudden.

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian:  Why do you like doing that?

Ezekiel: Cause.

Brian:  It’s fun?

Ezekiel:  Yeah.

Brian:  Who made those trees?

Ezekiel: Jesus

Brian: Yeah?

Ezekiel:  Yeah

Brian: How do you know that?

Ezekiel:  I don’t know.

Brian: You just do?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian: Who made you?

Ezekiel:  Jesus.

Brian: oh

Ezekiel: And God

Brian: Yeah?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian: Do you think God’s gonna take care of you in your life?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian:  Does he take care of you all of your days?

Ezekiel:  Yeah.

Brian:  You just know?

Ezekiel: Yeah, I do know.

Brian:  You like it when it’s sunny or when it’s cloudy?

Ezekiel: Sunny.

Brian: How come?

Ezekiel: Cause it’s warm.

Brian:  Oh, cause it’s more warm.

Ezekiel: Un huh.

Brian: Who made the sun.

Ezekiel: Jesus

Brian: You know when it rains that that’s watering the earth like watering all of the grass and flowers and plants?

Ezekiel: ee… No.

Brian:  You didn’t know that?

Ezekiel: no

Brian: Yeah that’s how it works. You know how sometimes you have to put water on a plant and make it grow?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian:  That’s what the rain does for the whole world.

Ezekiel:  Oh.

Brian:  Who do you think sends the rain to the world?

Ezekiel: Jesus.

Brian: You think so?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian:  How do you know that?

Ezekiel: I don’t know.

Brian:  You just know?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian: So, if something scares you and you’re afraid, what do you do?

Ezekiel: Come to you.

Brian: You come to me?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian: How come?

Ezekiel: Cause

Brian: Cause why?

Ezekiel: I don’t know.

Brian: And what do we do if you’re afraid?

Who do we talk to?

Ezekiel: Jesus.

Brian: Yeah, cause he makes those fears go away, huh?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian: There anything else you wanna talk about?

Ezekiel: uhh yeah

Brian: What?

Ezekiel: I don’t know.

Brian: You don’t know? You just wanna keep talking?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian: How are you growing so fast?

Ezekiel: I don’t know.

Brian: Is there somebody helping you grow up?

Ezekiel: Yeah

Brian: Who?

Ezekiel: Jesus

Brian: You think so?

Ezekiel: Yeah

Brian: You think the Lord is helping you to grow and grow and grow?

Ezekiel: Yeah

Brian: I think so too. Do you think Jesus will always take care of you?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian: You do?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian: Do you think he loves you?

Ezekiel: Yeah.

Brian: I know he does, buddy. And I know I love you too.

Okay. So, there you go. A little morning conversation with Ezekiel. And that would have been a different conversation had it been in the middle of the day when he was wide awake. He probably would have had more to say, but every time I talk to that kid, I’m reminded of the faith of a child because it’s exhibited in him not knowing how he knows something but knowing that he does know it. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to know or what he’s not supposed to know. He just knows what he knows and he’s not sure how. And the world is a wonderful place of discovery. And he doesn’t have to be filled with anxiety because he knows there’s someone looking out for him. And that is embodied in his parents. That’s embodied in me as his father. He does.  If he gets scared, he comes running to me. And normally I’ll tell him, I’ve got you buddy. I’ve got you. It’s okay. And normally we’ll talk to the Lord about it. Because I want him to know that. Because that’s what I do when I’m afraid. But I’ll tell you, Ezekiel’s got me beat on that. He’s got me beat badly on that. Because if he’s afraid and he crawls into my lap and I scoop him up into my arms and I squeeze him tight and I tell him it’s gonna be okay, he believes me. This is what it takes. This is what Jesus is talking about. And Jesus says you can’t be in the kingdom unless you have the faith of a child. And I think in part that’s because you can’t even see the kingdom if you don’t have the faith of a child. Man, when you’re looking through a child’s eyes, anything is possible. Anything. Anything can happen. May we remember this as we go into our day. Because if we would go through our day with the faith of a child, trying to have the eyes of a child, we’ll see the kingdom all around us.

Prayer:

So, Father, we invite your Holy Spirit into that. Give us the faith of a child. Help us to remember the faith of a child because I think we have it. It’s just been overgrown with adult things. It’s just been piled up.  Too many people have shunned us away from all kinds of things, like the disciples shooing the children away. And we’ve been given the constant message, you are on your own. You are on your own. No one is coming for you. You’ve gotta step up. And we’ve forgotten how to innocently look at the world with wonder. And when we are afraid run to you. Come Holy Spirit. Let us remember what that’s like today. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

So, check it out. Check out the Daily Audio Bible shop. Check out the prayer wall. Check out the community section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage. 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 P.O. 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:

My beautiful family, this is Pastor from Gene Bradenton Florida. Leaving work and hitting the shores…woowhoo… I’m so excited. Please join me in prayer. Father, we love You really thank You because Your good all the time, that You love us deeply, so deeply that You gave Your only son to die for us. We thank You. Father, we pray for our sister Diane O. B. And I pray, we pray, that You will heal her mom. We praise You for her stubborn love for You. Oh God, bless our sister. Heal our sister, that she me continue being a shower of joy to others. Father, we pray for our sister Asia and that baby G. We are believing for a miracle, that my sister and her husband will be able to welcome a new baby into this world and raise him in Your fear and admonition. Father, pray for our sister Gloria and her legal battle with her brother over their girls. Her mom has been away to care for her, but we stand with her in prayer asking for open doors. Father, thank You for Pelham and Molly and baby Anderson. Thank You for what You’re doing in their lives, in their marriage, in their souls, in their spirit. Help them to walk in holiness before You. Help them to dedicate their whole lives to You and in so doing I know that You are going to bless their marriage oh God. Father, I pray for MK. She’s entering a variety contest and she wants her participation to be Jesus centered. May it be to the glory of God the Father. And bless each one of my brothers and sisters listening Lord as we continue to pursue You together. You are worthy. And we love You Lord. Amen. This is Pastor Gene from Bradenton Florida. I love You guys. Bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is Pam, Prosperous Pam, from the bay area. I just heard today’s call and I want to say, it’s April the 11th, and I heard two people on the call I just want to lift up in prayer. One person, she called and said it was her first time calling. She’s from Dallas and it sounded like Seeking, but I couldn’t really understand the name. But she said she was a first-time caller and that she had an ache in her heart and that, you know, that she’s been seeking God, you’re seeking the Lord for 20 years, and, I don’t know, it just spoke to my spirit because He’s there right with you. And I don’t have the Scripture because I’m very new to this calling in and speaking up now but God’s been blessing me so much for this past year. But I am also no children and I am 50 years old and I was married before but I’m not anymore. And, so, I just want to lift you up in prayer and just know I’m praying for you. And just, there’s a Scripture, oh I wish I knew it. There is a scripture in the Bible about even when we don’t feel God’s presence He’s there. He’s always there. And I’m just lifting you up in prayer and just don’t give up. Just know that there’s many of us standing in the gap for you. And I’m praying for that ache in your heart and that God knows everything. And that I lift you up in prayer right now. In the name of Jesus. Heavenly Father I pray that You just speak to her heart and just bring Your Holy Spirit comfort her and that she will have the victory, we have the victory in Jesus. Continue to look up to Jesus. And then the second thing is, there was someone who called in, her name, it sounded like Candy from Tulsa. And her family is under attack…

Hi this is Nicola and I’m calling from New York city. I’m calling to ask that you pray for my sister Rebecca. My sister has had chronic illness and pain since she was in middle school and her health has taken a turn for the worse recently. She has this thyroid issue that’s causing a lot of physical pain as well as making her clinically depressed, making it so she doesn’t want to live. She’s about to get married in two months and she has a lot in front of her and I’m praying that you please pray for her so that she can be cured and so that she can be happy and healthy, especially before her wedding. Thank you so much for all of you who pray. That really means so much to me. Thank you again. Bye.

Hi DAB family. This is Sam in Northern California. I’m calling about the More conference. I know there are lots of women who desire going that conference and were not able to go. You know, God knows the desires of your heart and He honors that. I also ask that God place a hedge of protection around the conference, and everything regarding the conference, the women, the equipment, everything. Men at home, I ask that you create a spiritual garden, so your wife can grow when she comes back, right? She’s coming back full of the Holy Spirit. She’s coming back shining bright and she needs a place to grow. So, please guys do not be the __ rain cloud guy, right? Encourage your wife when she gets back. I ask a lot of the guys I talk to, you know, do you pray with your wife? And they are like, yeah, yeah, I pray with my wife. You know, we’re in the same room and we pray with our minds. And I’m like no, no, do you like pray with your wife, do words come out of your mouth when you pray with your wife? And they look at me like a cow looking at the brand-new fence the first time. And there’s just…there’s this pause. Right? So, guys, please I encourage you, pray with your wife. You guys whose wives are there, at the More conference, when your wife comes back, right, just say hey, woman, let’s pray. And pray with your wife. Right? Just some guys I know it’s an everyday thing and there’s no problem and some guys it’s a challenge. So, see you guys. Enjoy the More conference. God, bless.

Hi Daily Audio Bible. I’m just calling anonymously today because I don’t really… It’s just a weird prayer request I have. I… How can I even begin? I’m just at a point in my life where… This is going to sound awful… And this is why I’m calling for prayer though… I’m just tired of my husband. Is that weird? I’m just tired. For me, I’ve dealt with 20 years of, 20+ years. of just a lot of arrogance and it’s just so hard for me now to take it anymore. He did become a Christian about eight years ago and that has definitely helped. And I know, I know all the Bible verses about, you know, loving others even when we do it wrong and all of that. And I looked at myself and looked at myself and it’s like, what am I doing, you know, how can I do things differently? I just need prayer. I need prayer. I just, I’m, oh gosh, I just…I just need prayer. I’m just asking you to pray that I can somehow get through this. You know, we are in our 50s and, you know, we should be able to make it, you know, another 20 years or so at least. But I just, my goodness. There’s just things that are just catching up to us that I’m having a hard time with. So, anyway, I just covet your prayers. Thank you. I love you all very much.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday April 16, 2018 (NIV)

Joshua 13-14

The Land Israel Had Not Yet Taken

13 Many years later, the Lord told Joshua:

Now you are very old, but there is still a lot of land that Israel has not yet taken. 2-7 First, there is the Canaanite territory that starts at the Shihor River just east of Egypt and goes north to Ekron. The southern part of this region belongs to the Avvites and the Geshurites,[a] and the land around Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron belongs to the five Philistine rulers.

The other Canaanite territory is in the north. Its northern border starts at the town of Arah, which belongs to the Sidonians. From there, it goes to Aphek,[b] then along the Amorite border[c] to Hamath Pass.[d] The eastern border starts at Hamath Pass and goes south to Baal-Gad at the foot of Mount Hermon, and its southern boundary runs west from there to Misrephoth-Maim.[e] This northern region includes the Lebanon Mountains and the land that belongs to the Gebalites[f] and the Sidonians who live in the hill country from the Lebanon Mountains to Misrephoth-Maim.

With my help, Israel will capture these Canaanite territories and force out the people who live there. But you must divide up the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea[g] among the nine tribes and the half of Manasseh that don’t have any land yet. Then each tribe will have its own land.

The Land East of the Jordan River

Moses had already given land east of the Jordan River to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. This region stretched north from the town in the middle of the Arnon River valley, and included the town of Aroer on the northern edge of the valley. It covered the flatlands of Medeba north of Dibon, 10 and took in the towns that had belonged to Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon. Some of these towns were as far east as the Ammonite border.

11-12 Geshur and Maacah were part of this region, and so was the whole territory that King Og had ruled, that is, Gilead, Mount Hermon, and all of Bashan as far east as Salecah. Og had lived in Ashtaroth part of each year, and he had lived in Edrei the rest of the year. Og had been one of the last of the Rephaim,[h] but Moses had defeated Sihon and Og and their people[i] and had forced them to leave their land. 13 However, the Israelites did not force the people of Geshur and Maacah to leave, and they still live there among the Israelites.

Moses Did Not Give Land to the Levi Tribe

14 Moses did not give any land to the Levi tribe, because the Lord God of Israel had told them, “Instead of land, you will receive the sacrifices offered at my altar.”

Moses Gives Land to the Reuben Tribe

15 Moses gave land to each of the clans in the Reuben tribe. 16 Their land started in the south at the town in the middle of the Arnon River valley, took in the town of Aroer on the northern edge of the valley, and went as far north as the flatlands around Medeba. 17-21 The Amorite King Sihon had lived in Heshbon and had ruled the towns in the flatlands. Now Heshbon belonged to Reuben, and so did the following towns in the flatlands: Dibon, Bamoth-Baal, Beth-Baal-Meon, Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth-Shahar on the hill in the valley, Beth-Peor, Slopes of Mount Pisgah, and Beth-Jeshimoth.

Moses defeated Sihon and killed him and the Midianite chiefs who ruled parts of his kingdom for him. Their names were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. 22 The Israelites also killed Balaam the son of Beor, who had been a fortuneteller.

23 This region with its towns and villages was the land for the Reuben tribe, and the Jordan River was its western border.

Moses Gives Land to the Gad Tribe

24 Moses also gave land to each of the clans in the Gad tribe. 25 It included the town of Jazer, and in the Gilead region their territory took in the land and towns as far east as the town of Aroer[j] just west of Rabbah.[k] This was about half of the land that had once belonged to the Ammonites. 26 The land given to Gad stretched from Heshbon in the south to Ramath-Mizpeh and Betonim in the north, and even further north to Mahanaim and Lidebor.[l] 27 Gad also received the eastern half of the Jordan River valley, which had been ruled by King Sihon of Heshbon. This territory stretched as far north as Lake Galilee,[m] and included the towns of Beth-Haram, Beth-Nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon. 28 These regions with their towns and villages were given to the Gad tribe.

Moses Gives Land to Half of the Manasseh Tribe

29 Moses gave land east of the Jordan River to half of the clans from the Manasseh tribe. 30-31 Their land started at Mahanaim and took in the region that King Og of Bashan had ruled, including Ashtaroth and Edrei, the two towns where he had lived. The villages where the Jair clan settled were part of Manasseh’s land, and so was the northern half of the region of Gilead. The clans of this half of Manasseh had sixty towns in all.

The Manasseh tribe is sometimes called the Machir tribe, after Manasseh’s son Machir.

32 That was how Moses divided up the Moab Plains to the east of Jericho on the other side of the Jordan River, so these two and a half tribes would have land of their own. 33 But Moses did not give any land to the Levi tribe, because the Lord had promised that he would always provide for them.

The Land West of the Jordan River

14 1-5 Nine and a half tribes still did not have any land, although two and a half tribes had already received land east of the Jordan River. Moses had divided that land among them, and he had also said that the Levi tribe would not receive a large region like the other tribes. Instead, the people of Levi would receive towns and the nearby pastures for their sheep, goats, and cattle. And since the descendants of Joseph had become the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, there were still nine and a half tribes that needed land. The Lord had told Moses that he would show those tribes[n] how to divide up the land of Canaan.

When the priest Eleazar, Joshua, and the leaders of the families and tribes of Israel met to divide up the land of Canaan, the Lord showed them how to do it.

Joshua Gives Hebron to Caleb

One day while the Israelites were still camped at Gilgal, Caleb the son of Jephunneh went to talk with Joshua. Caleb belonged to the Kenaz clan, and many other people from the Judah tribe went with Caleb. He told Joshua:

You know that back in Kadesh-Barnea the Lord talked to his prophet Moses about you and me. I was forty years old at the time Moses sent me from Kadesh-Barnea into Canaan as a spy. When I came back and told him about the land, everything I said was true. The other spies said things that made our people afraid, but I completely trusted the Lord God. The same day I came back, Moses told me, “Since you were faithful to the Lord God, I promise that the places where you went as a spy will belong to you and your descendants forever.”

10 Joshua, it was forty-five years ago that the Lord told Moses to make that promise, and now I am eighty-five. Even though Israel has moved from place to place in the desert, the Lord has kept me alive all this time as he said he would. 11 I’m just as strong today as I was then, and I can still fight as well in battle.

12 So I’m asking you for the hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You were there. You heard the other spies talk about that part of the hill country and the large, walled towns where the Anakim[o] live. But maybe the Lord will help me take their land, just as he promised.

13 Joshua prayed that God would help Caleb, then he gave Hebron to Caleb and his descendants. 14 And Hebron still belongs to Caleb’s descendants, because he was faithful to the Lord God of Israel.

15 Hebron used to be called Arba’s Town,[p] because Arba had been one of the greatest[q] of the Anakim.

There was peace in the land.

Footnotes:

  1. 13.2-7 Geshurites: Not the same Geshur as in 12.5 and 13.11. One ancient translation has “Gezerites.” Gezer was a town north of Ekron that the Israelites did not capture (see Judges 1.29).
  2. 13.2-7 Aphek: Not the same Aphek as in 12.9-24.
  3. 13.2-7 Amorite border: What had been the southern border of the old Amorite kingdom of Amurru.
  4. 13.2-7 Hamath Pass: Or “Lebo-Hamath.”
  5. 13.2-7 Misrephoth-Maim: Or “Misrephoth” or “the Misrephoth River.”
  6. 13.2-7 Gebalites: Gebal was another name for Byblos.
  7. 13.2-7 from. . . Sea: One ancient translation; the Hebrew text does not have these words.
  8. 13.11,12 Rephaim: See the note at 12.4.
  9. 13.11,12 Sihon. . . people: Or “the Rephaim.”
  10. 13.25 Aroer: Not the same town as the Aroer in verse 16.
  11. 13.25 Rabbah: The capital city of Ammon.
  12. 13.26 Lidebor: This may be another name for Lodebar, a town a few miles east of the Jordan River and about ten miles south of Lake Galilee.
  13. 13.27 Lake Galilee: See the note at 11.2.
  14. 14.1-5 he would show those tribes: The Hebrew text has “those tribes must cast lots to find out.” Pieces of wood or stone (called “lots”) were used to find out what God wanted his people to do.
  15. 14.12 Anakim: See the note at 11.21.
  16. 14.15 Arba’s Town: Or “Kiriath-Arba.”
  17. 14.15 Arba’s Town, because. . . greatest: Hebrew; one ancient translation “Arba’s Town. It was one of the main towns.”

Luke 18:1-17

A Widow and a Judge

18 Jesus told his disciples a story about how they should keep on praying and never give up:

In a town there was once a judge who didn’t fear God or care about people. In that same town there was a widow who kept going to the judge and saying, “Make sure that I get fair treatment in court.”

For a while the judge refused to do anything. Finally, he said to himself, “Even though I don’t fear God or care about people, I will help this widow because she keeps on bothering me. If I don’t help her, she will wear me out.”

The Lord said:

Think about what that crooked judge said. Won’t God protect his chosen ones who pray to him day and night? Won’t he be concerned for them? He will surely hurry and help them. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find on this earth anyone with faith?

A Pharisee and a Tax Collector

Jesus told a story to some people who thought they were better than others and who looked down on everyone else:

10 Two men went into the temple to pray.[a] One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.[b] 11 The Pharisee stood over by himself and prayed,[c] “God, I thank you that I am not greedy, dishonest, and unfaithful in marriage like other people. And I am really glad that I am not like that tax collector over there. 12 I go without eating[d] for two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all I earn.”

13 The tax collector stood off at a distance and did not think he was good enough even to look up toward heaven. He was so sorry for what he had done that he pounded his chest and prayed, “God, have pity on me! I am such a sinner.”

14 Then Jesus said, “When the two men went home, it was the tax collector and not the Pharisee who was pleasing to God. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.”

Jesus Blesses Little Children

15 Some people brought their little children for Jesus to bless. But when his disciples saw them doing this, they told the people to stop bothering him. 16 So Jesus called the children over to him and said, “Let the children come to me! Don’t try to stop them. People who are like these children belong to God’s kingdom.[e] 17 You will never get into God’s kingdom unless you enter it like a child!”

Footnotes:

  1. 18.10 into the temple to pray: Jewish people usually prayed there early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
  2. 18.10 tax collector: See the note at 3.12.
  3. 18.11 stood over by himself and prayed: Some manuscripts have “stood up and prayed to himself.”
  4. 18.12 without eating: See the note at 2.37.
  5. 18.16 People who are like these children belong to God’s kingdom: Or “God’s kingdom belongs to people who are like these children.”

Psalm 85

(A psalm by the people of Korah for the music leader.)

A Prayer for Peace

85 Our Lord, you have blessed
your land
and made all go well
for Jacob’s descendants.
You have forgiven the sin
and taken away the guilt
of your people.
Your fierce anger is no longer
aimed at us.

Our Lord and our God,
you save us!
Please bring us back home
and don’t be angry.
Will you always be angry
with us and our families?
Won’t you give us fresh life
and let your people be glad
because of you?
Show us your love
and save us!

I will listen to you, Lord God,
because you promise peace
to those
who are faithful
and no longer foolish.
You are ready to rescue
everyone who worships you,
so that you will live with us
in all of your glory.

10 Love and loyalty
will come together;
goodness and peace
will unite.
11 Loyalty will sprout
from the ground;
justice will look down
from the sky above.

12 Our Lord, you will bless us;
our land will produce
wonderful crops.
13 Justice will march in front,
making a path
for you to follow.

Proverbs 13:7-8

Some who have nothing
may pretend to be rich,
and some who have everything
may pretend to be poor.
The rich may have
to pay a ransom,
but the poor don’t have
that problem.

04/15/2018 DAB Transcript

Joshua 11:1-12:24, Luke 17:11-37, Psalms 84::1-12, Proverbs 13:5-6

Today is the 15th day of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we cross the threshold into a new shiny, sparkly, week, which happens to be situated in the middle, the dead center of the month of April. If you can imagine, we are in mid-April. So, it’s exciting to be here with you for the beginning of what comes next, which is what every day is. And today, in a few hours, the More Gathering for women will reach its conclusion and everyone will begin to head home. So, we certainly want to continue to pray over all of that. Now, let’s center ourselves in the Scriptures. We’ll read from the Contemporary English Version this week. Joshua chapter 11 and chapter 12.

Commentary:

Okay. So, this is story that we encounter in the 17th chapter of Luke where 10 men who are lepers - so they’re friends, they’re all hanging out together because they have something in common, a disease that is eating away at their flesh, which marginalizes them by default. On the one hand people don’t want to be around them because they don’t want to catch it. On the other hand, they are perpetually unclean. So, people avoid them. And leprosy disfigures. And, so, depending on what stage that they were in, you know, they don’t look like everybody else. So, they’re marginalized and are banding together and they caught Jesus for pity. And Jesus heals them, but He doesn’t like, you know, He doesn’t put His hand on them and boom, they’re healed. Or He doesn’t do something else, like rubbing mud on them or whatever. He simply tells them to go show themselves to the priests. So, in other words, they have to collaborate. He’s inviting them to be healed and he’s asking them to go show themselves to the priests before anything happens. And they obey. I mean, what do they have to lose. And there healed on the way, but one man realizes it, turns around, and goes back to Jesus. Now, he probably doesn’t just slowly fall behind the other guys and keep it a secret. He probably looks and sees that he’s healed tells them he’s healed and that he’s going back to the one who healed him. For some reason the other nine continue on toward the priests, probably because the priests would be able to certify, right, would be able to declare them clean. That seems to be less important to this one man. He needs to get back to the person who healed him. And the one that goes back happens to be a Samaritan, a person who is already an outcast. And it’s a long story about Samaritans. The short version of the story is that as we move forward in the book of Joshua, right, so like, way back. You know, the children of Israel are conquering the Promise Land as we can see very clearly as we’re reading the book of Joshua. I mean, there’s a lot of conquering going on, including this mighty city of Hazor, which still exists today. We were just there, like last month, or like the month before last, it was February. It was a very, very large, very, very powerful city. And Joshua conquered it and all of the entire region. And we’ve been reading about that and Israel is forming now in this land and becoming a country and they will eventually have a king. And then, after a few generations, Israel will not be one kingdom anymore. It will become two, the northern and the southern kingdom. We’ll get to all of that. But the northern kingdom eventually had its capital city in Samaria. And all kinds of interesting and hybrid ways of worship would be invented in the northern kingdom and they would be led away into idolatry. So, over time, you go over a thousand years say, and you have many conquests and many people moving in and many people being exiled, but you have this kind of kernel of the original worship of the place. But it only remotely resembles the way it used to be. That is Samaria. And that is why Samaritans were looked down upon, because they worshiped completely different. And, so, the Samaritans in Jesus time are the remnants of ancient, of the ancient northern kingdom of Israel. Well, the southern kingdom of Judah outlasted the northern kingdom of Israel and Judah contained the city of Jerusalem where the temple was. And, so, those worshiping in the temple looked down upon the northern Samaritans. And that’s making a long story short, but I’m skipping a lot of stuff, but you get the gist of it. So, I mean, even in Jesus story of the good Samaritan, right? A Samaritan is a part of the story. So, this Samaritan realizes he’s healed and he comes back to Jesus and Jesus responds, where the other nine? Where’s the rest of your friends? And then He tells him he can go, your faith has made you well, which is something that Jesus says often. And if it’s your faith that made you well, if Jesus says that to a person, than He’s indicating a collaboration has taken place. The power of God has been present and you’ve open yourself to it. Your faith has made you well. I have honestly been thinking about this story, not because I’ve read it, we just read it, but I’ve been thinking about for several weeks, personally, because I can so easily catch myself being the other nine. I mean, Jesus can do something in my life or invite me into something and I can obey and just keep going, forgetting to come back and be grateful as if it’s just an assumed thing, that I am perpetually grateful. And I think for the most part I am grateful. But when I become aware that God has done something in my life on my behalf, when that comes to mind I don’t always stop what I’m doing and go back and be grateful out loud, like consciously. A lot of times I just become aware and keep moving. And I’m grateful. But that’s about me. Like, if I’m grateful and like, oh, wow, that could’ve been bad. I think God stepped in here and feel grateful, but I don’t go back and say thank you. Right now, I’m thinking you right now. So, I’ve been thinking about this story because this man, the other nine, they went to the priests, they were going to be declared clean. That’s probably what they were doing, going to get declared clean. That’s what they wanted. That’s what they needed. But the Samaritan guy, that was a secondary thing, like he could go to the priests at any point. He needs to go back to Jesus and thank Him while he could still find Him. So, I’ve been thinking about this story and catching myself in those moments and stopping and going back because I’m not too busy to thank the source of all life. Or if I am then I’m just too distracted. And, at least for me, as I have been catching myself and being in the moment grateful, I’ve become more and more aware of just how much God is doing for all of us, all of the time. If every time we become aware that God has protected us or God is provided for us or God has cared for us or that He’s watched out for our heart in a situation or that He’s been in a conversation or that we woke up this morning with the breath of life still in us, I mean, we begin to realize that this touches everything. And we find we have no reason to not be grateful almost all of the time. And begin to realize that so much of the stuff that we are grumbling and complaining about all of the time, it doesn’t really matter. There’s way more to be grateful for. So, I invite you to try it today. Try it today. Every time you become aware of something that you could of stepped into that could’ve gone a different way, every time that you become aware of God’s goodness in your life, stopping in the moment, going back and being grateful rather than going wow I just dodged a bullet, I better just keep moving and wait for the other shoe to drop, which is kind of how we live a lot of time, but rather stopping and being grateful, we’ll find that we’re grateful a lot. Try it today and you will have a very grateful day. And remember this story because I don’t want to be one of the other nine. Right? I want to be the one. And if this story contains any statistics in it, which I don’t think is the point but it’s still there to see. There were 10 people. 90% of the people didn’t come back and at least say thank you, which is what this one man was doing, right? Verse 16 of Luke 17, he bowed down at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him. He didn’t come back to get something else. He came back to thank him. I want to be one of the 10% and I’m pretty sure you do too. And all it’s gonna take is that we start paying attention. And when we become grateful and we start paying attention to all that God is actually doing for us on any given day, we become far more aware of His presence and it becomes far less about how, you know, what kind of an emotional frenzy we can whip ourselves into on, you know, like a Sunday morning so that we can have some emotional kind of response to God’s presence, which is fine, which is great. But God’s presence, I am finding, is never absent. We don’t have to whip ourselves into anything. We just have to pay attention. And, so, may we do just that.

Prayer:

Jesus, we are grateful. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Your goodness and that’s a fact. Without You sustaining our lives we wouldn’t be here. We may be alive, but it would be a mess, far more than it ever has been. You have led and guided and directed and protected us in so many ways that we have never acknowledged because we haven’t been paying attention or we’ve been just too distracted and kept moving. And yet You are inviting us to see Your presence in action in our lives. So, we respond that by paying attention and we start that by simply saying, thank You. Thank you for all that You have done and all that You have yet to do within us. And Holy Spirit, we ask that we become aware of this and we stop what we’re doing and come back and are grateful. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And today is the ending of the More Gathering for women. So, around lunchtime today that’ll wrap up. Women will grab their suitcases and throw them on buses and head back to airports and get in cars and begin migrating back to home, wherever home is in home is. And home is all over the place. And, so, we, as a community continue to pray over that. It’s not done yet. And, so, we pray over the conclusion and all that the needs to be said and considered as we all begin to move toward home. And then we certainly want to pray over the hearts of all of the women, all of the team, everybody involved as, you know, it’s been…the way the More Gathering works is there’s a lot of deep digging and a lot of hard work and it’s beautiful and new life begins to spring forth, but that’s gotta be incorporated into a new way of looking at the world and being in the world and living. And, so, that’s a process. Just like the process we’re talking about being grateful. Like, it’s a process. We want to pray over everyone so that they can begin the process, continue that process, and allow complete change to take place. And we also want to pray over health and travel and everything involved in kind of, you know, shutting it down and packing it up and moving forward. So, thank you for your continued prayers as a community, raising the canopy of prayer over the conclusion of the More Gathering for this year. It’s important that we finish well.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If what we are as a fellowship, as a community of people, although we may be spread all over the world, if light and life and good news spills into your life because of what we do as a community, then thank you for your partnership. It can’t happen, the servers can’t spin if we don’t do this together. The data can’t run through the big pipes for us to be decoded by your smart device into audio if we don’t do this together. So, thank you 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:

Good morning listeners. My name is Kristin. I was calling in for Robert and his wife Shiloh. I know that she’s not a believer. I want to let you know that I’m in the same situation that you are. My husband, he used to believe and he curses God all the time. And it is a struggle and it is hard, but I want to know that you need to stay strong in your faith and look to the Bible for your answers. God promises. God promises so much for you and for your wife. And if you keep being the example to her then she will come. Whenever me and my husband first got together I was not a follower of Christ but he was. And he brought me to Christ. And for some reason he fell away. And I don’t know why. He hasn’t opened up to me about why, but he brought me to Christ. And I love God so much. And, so, I’m there with you Robert. And I’ll be praying for you. And I’ll be praying for Shiloh. Thanks.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Rachel from Georgia it’s been a little while since I called. This is my second call. I think it was back maybe in January or February that I called requesting prayer for my struggle with depression. And I will tell you that I have really, I have seen a big growth in that area of my life. So, thank you so much to anyone and everyone who said a prayer for me and that area. I still am dealing with it occasionally, but it’s definitely decreased over the last three months. And, so, I’m so thankful for that and I just thank you for that. But I did want to ask for prayer. Basically as I move forward in my career, I am finishing out teaching at my school, my current school, a middle school. I’m teaching chorus and I’m hoping to transition to an elementary school, but I just continue to have…I guess…a lot of insecurity in my ability and in, you know, in the fact that God would even want to use me in this way. And I just want to pray that God will give me confidence in doing what He’s asked me to do. And that if this is not what He wants me to do, if He has something different for me, career wise, I want to find that and I want to live in that and do that. So, if you could just pray that God would just open up the door that He has for me and that I will believe that He’s taking me where He wants me to go and that I will believe in my ability and believe that He has gifted me. So, that’s what I just want to pray, and I want to see grow in my life, is confidence in God’s gift that He’s given me. So, thank you for your prayers. I pray for you all as I listen and I hope you guys have a great day. Bye.

Hi this is Megan calling from Central British Columbia. Robert, I heard your call yesterday and I was prompted to let you know that I’m praying for you and for Shiloh. I don’t know you but I know that God loves you. I know that God loves Shiloh and that His heart is to call her home. Within hearing in the Scripture how our God is one who can make a way with there was no way before. And, so, I know that He is working and Shiloh’s life. He is willing her to himself. I know that His heart is that you should love her and honor her and not to argue with her. You’re never going to argue her into the kingdom. So, I just wanted to encourage you and to let you know that I’m praying for you both.

Hi family. This is Sophie from Oregon calling with much gratitude, much gratitude for the many, many prayers going up on my behalf. I am so…I am humbled, I am blessed and I am grateful. And I fully intend to call back with a complete list of thanks thus far, but that’s not why I’m calling today, not why am calling at this moment. I’m calling for Seeking in Dallas. I just finished listening to the April  11th podcast and I heard your request and your call and that your first time caller. Seeking, my heart here’s your heart, see’s your heart. And just know that I am carrying a burden for you and I will be praying for you. So much of what you’re going through mimics or is so similar to my own struggle and I may have something to offer, but I definitely have my prayers. Feel free to reach out to me – sophiegoss@gmail.com. And sister I hope that you’re going to More. I hope you chose to because you say you’ve never known God’s love. If you go to More I believe you will begin to. It may only just be a beginning, but I believe you’ll begin to. I’m praying for you.