12/31/2018 DAB Transcript

Malachi 3:1-4:6, Revelation 22:1-21, Psalms 150:1-6, Proverbs 31:25-31

Today is December 31st. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is such a deep honor to come to this threshold with you as we’re completing our complete revolution through the Bible this year. So, this is step 365 and this is the 365th day of the year and every day this year we showed up together to take the next step forward and it has led us to this point, the precipice, the conclusion of our complete reading for the Bible this year. So, let’s take that step. Let’s get to it. We will conclude the book of Malachi today. We’re reading from the contemporary English version today. Malachi chapter 3 verse 1 through 4 verse 6.

Prayer:

Father for the last time for this year and we will never be returning back this way again, we will not be returning to this year, so for the final time, we thank you for your word and we thank you for all that it represents in our lives, we thank you for the twists and turns and highs and lows, the peaks and valleys the mountaintop experiences and the depths of suffering all found in the Scriptures and all found at one point or another in our own human experience. We thank you for the way that the Scriptures speak into our lives where we are right when we need it. We thank you for how dynamic it is so that no matter how many times we take the journey it’s a different journey and you are speaking to us right where we are as we move forward and take steps forward through our lives. So once again, Holy Spirit, come, plant the words not only spoken today but all that has been…all that has been talked about this year. And we’ve spent a lot of time together this year talking about a lot of things. You have truly touched every part of our lives at one point or another during this year. All of the tender places inside of us that need healing, all of the places of pride that need to be crushed to powder, all of the places that pull us away from you, and all the things that draw us to you, you’ve touched them all. Your word has spoken into our lives and we are grateful, and it is true. We look back now at the beginning of our journey and we look in the mirror and the face staring back, the eyes looking into our own, something’s different, something has changed. And we could say, well, it’s just…it’s just what a year does to you, you’re a year-older, but it’s actually not that we’re worse off and have more lines on our face, it’s that wisdom is setting in, its that your Spirit has guided us into all truth and although we haven’t perfectly walked that path, we have walked it and we are better for it and we are being sanctified and transformed and we’re seeing that. We are being remade into your image. And, so, we thank you for what your word does in that process, and we’re grateful. So, father, we release this year. It is becoming a part of our history. It is certainly a part of who we are but it is becoming a part of the past and we look forward to all that you will do in our lives in the coming year and we stand here in your presence in the present with grateful hearts. Thank you father for your word and thank you for the gift of community. Thank you for letting us live at this time in human history where we can be a community no matter where we are on this planet, no matter what time of day or night, no matter what is going on in our lives. We are in this together and we thank you for each other and I thank you for what we have represented in each other’s lives this year as we have followed your Holy Spirit. And, so, once again we pray. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

And that’s it. Friends…it just always hits me…December 31st…here we are. We read those last words and it's…I mean…for me…it's…you know…on one on one hand it’s just another day because we don’t stop, this rhythm doesn’t stop. And, so, the rhythm will continue tomorrow and we’ll turn back to page 1 of the Bible and start over but it just never…it just takes my breath when we get to the final words of the Bible and the Old Testament closes and the New Testament and the Psalms and the Proverbs and that’s it. And then all of everything that has come this year, like all that has been faced, victories and defeats right, like this…the whole of life. I don't…somehow it just kind of gets encapsulated and floods into my heart at this moment where we conclude the Bible. And, so, it has been quite a year this year of hope. And yeah, I didn’t have that word, “hope”, to remind me…there were some hopeless days. I’m sure that’s true for you too and yet there were some days that were full of hope as well, as is the case in life. But hope, knowing that hope is the road, that faith drives on has reminded me so often when I’m feeling hopeless that, okay, there’s nowhere to go from here. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. And, so, have to get out of the chaos and find hope. And what I have found was it’s always there. It’s available, it’s not absent, it doesn’t go anywhere, we just stop paying attention to it. And, so, it’s been a good year and I’m looking forward to this new word, “maintain”, in the coming year and I’m sure we will have plenty…plenty to talk about as we as we dive into it in the new year, but we’re not there yet, that’s still out in front of us and here we are at this moment where we’ve come to the conclusion of our journey and I always realize that…I mean I think part of the melancholy of this day for me is that, even though tomorrow is a new day and a new year and we just keep continuing marching forward, it’ll be new. I realize that some of you have taken this journey and you’re feeling like, “there, I did it, I read the Bible and I’m going to do this and I’m gonna do that or I’m gonna do the other. And, so you’ll be…you’ll be off on your way. And, so, it’s been an honor, a joy, a privilege to be in community with you this year. And if that’s what you’re doing…if you’re moving into some other things now, God is leading you in other directions, then I bless you for sure and I just want you to remember, as long as God will allow us to be here, we’ll be here waiting, we’ll still be here, don’t be a stranger. And I realize for a lot of us, we’ll be taking…stepping through the next threshold together and we will be marching into the new year and off we will go for another revolution around the sun and a every word of the Bible will be read during that time and we’ll find ourselves here, one year from now having concluded the Bible again. And I realize that there are thousands of you listening right now that are still trying, like you’ve been kind of checking things out the last week, you just found out about this and you’re trying to find the rhythm and we greet you and believe me, you won’t be a stranger for long. There aren’t really strangers in the Daily Audio Bible. We have a…we have a very special thing…a beautiful thing where we are all over the world and in all kinds of stripes and flavors and denominations, but we’re centered around one thing and that one thing is that each and every day we will allow the Bible to speak for itself and we will do this in community because life is very difficult to navigate on your own. And to know that no matter what is going on you aren’t alone, that we are the body of Christ, and we are in this together makes all the difference in the world to a journey through a year of life. And, so, here we are, we’re at the end and we’re about to make a new beginning and a new community will form around the rhythm as we go into the new year, but for now, whether you’re taking the journey again or whether you’re hopping off the train or whether you’re try to figure out what’s going on, may the Lord bless you and keep you, may he make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, may he lift his countenance upon you and give you peace, may the strength of God to go with you, may the wisdom of God instruct you, may the hand of God protect you, may the word of God direct you, may you be sealed in Christ this day and forever more. Amen.

I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here next year.

Song:

Glory - David Crosby

When you roam

You’re traveling alone

Tryin’ to catch each grain of sand

Slipping through your hands

And the wind

Is weathering your skin

And all that’s on the outside

Is breaking you in

Let me be

The oil upon a glove

Moving in the creases

Soften what’s [dark?]

(Glory) In the blink of an eye

(Glory) In a moment of weakness

(Glory) I will be your armor

(Glory) I will be your witness

(Glory) You can’t lose me, no

(Glory) No, you can’t lose me

And when the weight

Is layered in rounds

Like [?] clouds

You can’t find your way out

Let me be (Let me be)

Your glory in the sky (Your glory in the sky)

Circling your shadow

Cradling the light

(Glory) In the blink of an eye

(Glory) In a moment of weakness

(Glory) I will be your armor

(Glory) I will be your witness

(Glory) You can’t lose me

(Glory) You can’t lose me

Sleepless night, wake again

The strength of the heart isn’t continuing

Let me take no your [?] hands

If love could lift us then I would carry them

And your shield

Of skin and bones

Stumbles in the sand

To carry you home

Let me be a torch

To bear the light

To stock the cellar

For the long night

Glory, Glory

Glory, Glory

Glory, Glory

Glory, Glory

Shining glory

Glory, Glory

Glory, Glory

You are a shining glory

Glory, Glory

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday December 31, 2018 (NIV)

Malachi 3-4

The Promised Messenger

I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will send my messenger
to prepare the way for me.
Then suddenly the Lord
you are looking for
will appear in his temple.
The messenger you desire
is coming with my promise,
and he is on his way.

A Day of Change

On the day the Lord comes, he will be like a furnace that purifies silver or like strong soap in a washbasin. No one will be able to stand up to him. The Lord will purify the descendants of Levi,[a] as though they were gold or silver. Then they will bring the proper offerings to the Lord, and the offerings of the people of Judah and Jerusalem will please him, just as they did in the past.

Don’t Cheat God

The Lord All-Powerful said:

I’m now on my way to judge you. And I will quickly condemn all who practice witchcraft or cheat in marriage or tell lies in court or rob workers of their pay or mistreat widows and orphans or steal the property of foreigners or refuse to respect me.

Descendants of Jacob, I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I never change. That’s why you haven’t been wiped out, even though you have ignored and disobeyed my laws ever since the time of your ancestors. But if you return to me, I will return to you.

And yet you ask, “How can we return?”

You people are robbing me, your God. And, here you are, asking, “How are we robbing you?”

You are robbing me of the offerings and of the ten percent that belongs to me.[b] That’s why your whole nation is under a curse. 10 I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test. Bring the entire ten percent into the storehouse, so there will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing.[c] 11 I will also stop locusts[d] from destroying your crops and keeping your vineyards from producing. 12 Everyone of every nation will talk about how I have blessed you and about your wonderful land. I, the Lord All-Powerful, have spoken!

13 You have said horrible things about me, and yet you ask, “What have we said?”

14 Here is what you have said: “It’s foolish to serve the Lord God All-Powerful. What do we get for obeying him and from going around looking sad? 15 See how happy those arrogant people are. Everyone who does wrong is successful, and when they put God to the test, they always get away with it.”

Faithfulness Is Rewarded

16 All those who truly respected the Lord and honored his name started discussing these things, and when God saw what was happening, he had their names[e] written as a reminder in his book.

17 Then the Lord All-Powerful said:

You people are precious to me, and when I come to bring justice, I will protect you, just as parents protect an obedient child. 18 Then everyone will once again see the difference between those who obey me by doing right and those who reject me by doing wrong.

The Day of Judgment

The Lord said:

The day of judgment is certain to come. And it will be like a red-hot furnace with flames that burn up proud and sinful people, as though they were straw. Not a branch or a root will be left. I, the Lord All-Powerful, have spoken! But for you that honor my name, victory will shine like the sun with healing in its rays, and you will jump around like calves at play. When I come to bring justice, you will trample those who are evil, as though they were ashes under your feet. I, the Lord All-Powerful, have spoken!

Don’t ever forget the laws and teachings I gave my servant Moses on Mount Sinai.[f]

I, the Lord, promise to send the prophet Elijah before that great and terrible day comes. He will lead children and parents to love each other more, so that when I come, I won’t bring doom to the land.

Footnotes:

  1. 3.3 descendants of Levi: The priests.
  2. 3.8 the ten percent. . . to me: The people of Israel were supposed to give a tenth of their harvests and of their flocks and herds to the Lord (see Leviticus 27.30-33; Deuteronomy 14.22-29).
  3. 3.10 open the windows. . . blessing: This may refer to rain, since there seems to have been a terrible drought at this time.
  4. 3.11 locusts: A kind of grasshopper that comes in swarms and causes great damage to plant life.
  5. 3.16 names: Or “deeds.”
  6. 4.4 Sinai: Hebrew “Horeb.”

Revelation 22

22 The angel showed me a river that was crystal clear, and its waters gave life. The river came from the throne where God and the Lamb were seated. Then it flowed down the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river are trees[a] that grow a different kind of fruit each month of the year. The fruit gives life, and the leaves are used as medicine to heal the nations.

God’s curse will no longer be on the people of that city. He and the Lamb will be seated there on their thrones, and its people will worship God and will see him face to face. God’s name will be written on the foreheads of the people. Never again will night appear, and no one who lives there will ever need a lamp or the sun. The Lord God will be their light, and they will rule forever.

The Coming of Christ

Then I was told:

These words are true and can be trusted. The Lord God controls the spirits of his prophets, and he is the one who sent his angel to show his servants what must happen right away. Remember, I am coming soon! God will bless everyone who pays attention to the message of this book.

My name is John, and I am the one who heard and saw these things. Then after I had heard and seen all this, I knelt down and began to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown it to me.

But the angel said,

Don’t do that! I am a servant, just like you. I am the same as a follower or a prophet or anyone else who obeys what is written in this book. God is the one you should worship.

10 Don’t keep the prophecies in this book a secret. These things will happen soon.

11 Evil people will keep on being evil, and everyone who is dirty-minded will still be dirty-minded. But good people will keep on doing right, and God’s people will always be holy.

12 Then I was told:

I am coming soon! And when I come, I will reward everyone for what they have done. 13 I am Alpha and Omega,[b] the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

14 God will bless all who have washed their robes. They will each have the right to eat fruit from the tree that gives life, and they can enter the gates of the city. 15 But outside the city will be dogs, witches, immoral people, murderers, idol worshipers, and everyone who loves to tell lies and do wrong.

16 I am Jesus! And I am the one who sent my angel to tell all of you these things for the churches. I am David’s Great Descendant,[c] and I am also the bright morning star.[d]

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”

Everyone who hears this[e] should say, “Come!”

If you are thirsty, come! If you want life-giving water, come and take it. It’s free!

18 Here is my warning for everyone who hears the prophecies in this book:

If you add anything to them, God will make you suffer all the terrible troubles written in this book. 19 If you take anything away from these prophecies, God will not let you have part in the life-giving tree and in the holy city described in this book.

20 The one who has spoken these things says, “I am coming soon!”

So, Lord Jesus, please come soon!

21 I pray that the Lord Jesus will be kind to all of you.

Footnotes:

  1. 22.2 trees: The Greek has “tree,” which is used in a collective sense of trees on both sides of the heavenly river.
  2. 22.13 Alpha and Omega: See the note at 1.8.
  3. 22.16 David’s Great Descendant: See the note at 5.5.
  4. 22.16 the bright morning star: Probably thought of as the brightest star (see 2.27,28).
  5. 22.17 who hears this: The reading of the book of Revelation in a service of worship.

Psalm 150

The Lord Is Good to His People

150 Shout praises to the Lord!
Praise God in his temple.
Praise him in heaven,
his mighty fortress.
Praise our God!
His deeds are wonderful,
too marvelous to describe.

Praise God with trumpets
and all kinds of harps.
Praise him with tambourines
and dancing,
with stringed instruments
and woodwinds.
Praise God with cymbals,
with clashing cymbals.
Let every living creature
praise the Lord.
Shout praises to the Lord!

Proverbs 31:25-31

25 She is strong and graceful,[a]
as well as cheerful
about the future.
26 Her words are sensible,
and her advice
is thoughtful.
27 She takes good care
of her family
and is never lazy.
28 Her children praise her,
and with great pride
her husband says,
29 “There are many good women,
but you are the best!”

30 Charm can be deceiving,
and beauty fades away,
but a woman
who honors the Lord
deserves to be praised.
31 Show her respect—
praise her in public
for what she has done.

Footnotes:

  1. 31.25 She. . . graceful: Or “The clothes she makes are attractive and of good quality.”

12/30/2018 DAB Transcript

Malachi 1:1-2:17, Revelation 21:1-27, Psalms 149:1-9, Proverbs 31:10-24

Today is the 30th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is pleasure, of course, it’s an honor every day to come together around the global campfire that is our community. And, well, it’s December 30th. We’ve got a brand-new shiny, sparkly week out in front of us and before this week is out we will have entered a brand-new shiny, sparkly, new year. So, if you can believe it, we have two stops left to take of the 365 steps that we take each year, leading us through the entire Bible. There are only two steps left and today is one of them and today brings us to the final book that we will encounter in the Bible, and that is the final book of the Old Testament the book of Malachi

Introduction to the book of Malachi:

Malachi is also the last of the minor prophets and the name Malachi means my messenger. And this has left scholars trying to consider whether or not the title of the book is supposed to be attributed to an author that’s named Malachi or whether it was written by someone else and the title is referring to the content. So, for our purposes we’ll assume the author was a prophet of God named Malachi who was likely a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah. The hard part about things like this, and we’ve encountered this in some of the other minor prophets, pretty much nothing else is known about Malachi outside of the book. Malachi would’ve lived about 100 years or so after the Persians defeated the Babylonians. So, we know the story…like…we’ve spent a lot of time this year on exile. So, we know that the Babylonians defeated the southern kingdom of Judah and defeated Jerusalem and carried Judah off into exile. The Persians subsequently defeated the Babylonians and then they began to allow the Jewish people to return to their ancestral homeland even though they never had like an autonomous government again. So, Malachi lived about hundred years after that and it had been more than ½ a century since the temple spurred on by the prophetic voices of Haggai and Zechariah as we will remember because we just read through those books. So, a half a century after the temple and been rebuilt, but the promises of restoration and prominence and former glories, these had remained unfulfilled. So, the people were in their ancient homeland but, you know, the glory of their ancient homeland and their former days, that had not come back, that had not materialized, and they existed in the land but as a discouraged and distant and tiny province of the Persian Empire. And because of the circumstance the people had been become disinterested in their passion for God. And, of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this in the Bible and it’s not the first time, you know, we’ve experienced it in our culture and even in our own lives. And it brought about, like, moral and spiritual decline and became apparent and that’s what happens and we’ve seen it over and over in the Bible. So, for example, sacrifices that were offered to God, according to the Mosaic law, were to be spotless and without blemish. And in this time when Malachi’s prophesying, the priests had begun to use blind and blemished animals and the law was becoming more and more irrelevant as sort of like the centerpiece or the plumb line for the culture. So, into all of this came the prophetic voice of Malachi. He was probably the actual final prophet of the Old Testament age. And he rebuked the doubt and faithlessness of the people and called them, like so many of the other prophets had done, to return to God. And after Malachi, so we have these two days in this prophetic word, but after Malachi it would be another 400 years before God sent another prophetic voice and that prophetic voice would be one that was crying out in the wilderness and his name would be John the Baptist, which would then mark the onset of the New Testament era. And, you know, we might wonder what happened during the period of silence between the Testaments. And, so, for that, in part, we can turn to the books known as the Apocrypha. In many Christian traditions, some or all of those books are considered Scripture. Others avoid them or hold them as suspect but I mean the reality of our church history is that many traditional printed versions of the Scripture include the apocryphal books. Others don’t and I’m not suggesting that you go from here tomorrow, we finish the Bible, and then you go into the Apocrypha unless you just kind of want a historical glimpse at just understanding what was happening in that 400 here because many of them come from that time. It’s called the inter-testamental period. And, so, they kind of offer some insight on the path that led to the New Testament era and the coming of the Savior. And maybe the best articulation or understanding of these books, maybe that’s found in the Geneva Bible, which was published in 1560, which predates the King James version in English. And, incidentally, the original King James version in English included the Apocrypha but the Geneva Bible comes about a half-century before the King James version and according to the Geneva Bible these apocryphal books were to be considered as works written by godly men and, I’m quoting, were received to be read for the advancement and furtherance of the knowledge of history and for the instruction of godly manners. So, again, you know, it’s not a plug for the Apocrypha, it’s just that, you know, we’ll read Malachi today and tomorrow and then we will finish the year and then we can begin again on January 1st, but 400 years, right, so 400 years passes between those two days and between the Testaments. So, having said all of that we begin the final book that we will encounter this year. Malachi chapters 1 and 2 and we’re reading from the Contemporary English Version.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us this far into Your word. This leaves us at the threshold, we have one more step to take and that will be taken tomorrow, and we will have concluded the entire the entire Bible. And, so, yes, this is definitely a week of reflection where we consider what the trajectory of our lives is going to look like as we move into the new year. We have some goals that we would like to achieve, some things that we would like to see shifted and accomplished and we’ve invited You into that. And we acknowledge how grateful we are for Your word and how much it has influenced those sorts of decisions as we consider what is coming next for us. And, so, we invite You, once again, come Holy Spirit, plant the words that we’ve read deep into our hearts and lives. Let our hearts be fertile soil so that the fruit of the spirit may be yielded in abundance as we go into this new year. Come Jesus we pray. In Your mighty name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is, of course, the website, its home base, its we’re you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay tuned and stay connected.

Reminding you, tomorrow’s the last day of December and when we move into the new year we have to reset all of the channels and all of the feeds and it’s a fairly intense project that requires absolute perfection. And, so, thank you for your prayers over that but also just, you know, we’re resetting the year. And, so, we’re starting over. And, so, the old year will pass away. So, anything you haven’t downloaded from 2018 that you want to keep, this is the time. If you’re a little bit behind in certain areas or you want to pass the word along, we usually keep the last couple of weeks of December up for little bit so that those who are just a little bit behind can kind of finish strong. Those, like, if you’ve gotten months and months behind, you’re not even gonna hear this, but this is the way that it works. It’s a daily rhythm through the year and that requires quite a little dance at the end of the year for all of us. So, that’s a reminder.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in this year and would like that to be receipted to you as a tax deductible contribution for this year than that has to happen this year. Thank you profoundly, profoundly, humbly, and gratefully for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at 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 mail, 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 and we’ll lock arms and hearts and we’ll put our foot forward and take a step through the final threshold and complete our reading of the entire Bible tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning, it is December 26th, this is Joanne Marie from Southern California and I just want to wish everybody a post Merry Christmas. We’re still in the Christmas season and I want to wish everyone a very happy and a blessed New Year’s and just a quick prayer that I am reading. Father, we are Your people, the sheep of Your flock. Heal the sheep you are wounded, touch the sheep who are in pain, clean the sheep who are soiled, warm the lambs who are cold. Okay my fellow by the Christ followers. Have a great day, God bless you. Ciao.

Hello, this is the Greatest Trucker from way out West. Don’t take much to be the greatest trucker, sometimes the greatest trucker, well, he ain’t so great. I’m calling in today for Prodigal as many people have been and I hear that on the prayer line. And I would like to say the Prodigal that there is a job for you, like to have you do while you’re still here and that is to pray for a little boy named Ezra in Oregon, I think. And there’s a lot of us that are praying for this little boy named Ezra. He got beat up by somebody as a baby, almost killed. He’s still struggling but he’s actually gaining a little bit and doing better. And, so, between doing that and counting whatever blessings you have, maybe there’s just one or two, keep doing that, just keep praying for Ezra and counting the one or two blessings you have in your life and I believe that that will pull you through, I really do. You just hang onto the name of Jesus until your last breath brother no matter what. God bless you and we’re all playing for you, we’re all pulling for you. So, hang in there. Don’t give up. We love you and pray for Ezra. Adios.

Hi this is Sharon the Victorious, not really Victorious. I want to thank you all for all your prayers. __ my daughter passed away I don’t know how I can do it anymore. My husband and I were supposed to go away but he left me, he went by himself and I’m here alone. And I don’t like the thoughts they hurt my head. I miss my daughter terribly. I’m here alone. __ . Please pray for us because I can’t deal with being alone right now without my daughter and my husband. And I don’t how I can even do Christmas this year by myself. And you need to pray for me because I don’t know what I must do. I’m scared and need prayer. I don’t want to do something to myself, but I don’t see any way out. I can’t deal with it anymore. Thank you, guys for all your prayers. You have a Merry Christmas.

Hello DAB family, Merry Christmas to you. This is Abby calling from Maryland. I just wanted to wish you all a Merry, Merry Christmas. I know I missed the call, you know, I missed calling in last week but I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas. I want to thank God for the family and the community I have in Daily Audio Bible and I really want to give God the glory because three years ago I called early in the morning asking you guys for prayers because I was so scared. I was having pregnancy complications and to the glory of God later that evening I had my daughter. She was 9lbs and 1 ounce. She was a big baby and today’s her birthday and I just wanted to just call and thank you all to give a praise report that she’s doing well, my family is doing well. I call in, I listen to all the prayer requests, and I just want to keep you all encouraged, God is good, He’s always God, He will come through, He always comes through in every situation He always comes through. He’s never late. He’s always on time. So, Merry Christmas, I love you guys so much. Very Merry Christmas to Viola from Maryland, to Blind Tony, to just everyone that I’m not even mentioning. Merry Christmas to you all. God bless you this is Abby from Maryland. I love you all and Merry Christmas Brian and Jill and just the whole family. I just really, really love you all. Thank you so much for all you do. Merry Christmas and happy new year. Bye.

Hi DAB family this is Wendy calling from California. I’m calling this Christmas morning with an extremely heavy heart. And yesterday was my birthday and this past Friday me and my husband got into physical __ and he assaulted me. And I called before about him being bipolar and having episodes and yesterday night on my birthday I watched him, I watched him __ . And I’m feeling so much guilt and hurt that it had to come to this level. Please pray for him to get some help and my heart is so heavy that he’s in jail for Christmas. So, I just ask that God is watching over him, that He performs a miracle in his heart and mind and with the judges that he can actually get through this and not have it destroy his life. I just…I need prayer. My heart is so heavy right now and it’s so sad. I really am. I love my husband and I just know he needs help. And he’s been doing this all along. I just want to call in and reach out to my family and I truly ask you guys. This is so hard. __. So, please pray for me and my family. My husband’s name is Jonathan. Thank you family.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday December 30, 2018 (NIV)

Malachi 1-2

I am Malachi. And this is the message that the Lord gave me for Israel.

The Lord’s Love for Israel

Israel, I, the Lord, have loved you. And yet you ask in what way have I loved you. Don’t forget that Esau was the brother of your ancestor Jacob, but I chose Jacob instead of Esau. And I turned Esau’s hill country into a barren desert where jackals[a] roam. Esau’s descendants may say, “Although our nation Edom is in ruins, we will rebuild.”

But I, the Lord All-Powerful, promise to tear down whatever they build. Then everyone will know that I will never stop being angry with them as long as they are so sinful.

Israel, when you see this, you will shout, “The Lord’s great reputation reaches beyond our borders.”

Judgment against Priests

I, the Lord All-Powerful, have something to say to you priests. Children respect their fathers, and servants respect their masters. I am your father and your master, so why don’t you respect me? You priests have insulted me, and now you ask, “How did we insult you?”

You embarrass me by offering worthless food on my altar. Then you ask, “How have we embarrassed you?” You have done it by saying, “What’s so great about the Lord’s altar?”

But isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are blind, crippled, or sick? Just try giving those animals to your governor. That certainly wouldn’t please him or make him want to help you. I am the Lord God All-Powerful, and you had better try to please me. You have sinned. Now see if I will have mercy on any of you.

10 I wish someone would lock the doors of my temple, so you would stop wasting time building fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you priests, and I refuse to accept any more of your offerings. 11 From dawn until dusk my name is praised by every nation on this earth, as they burn incense and offer the proper sacrifices to me. 12 But even you priests insult me by saying, “There’s nothing special about the Lord’s altar, and these sacrifices are worthless.”

13 You get so disgusted that you even make vulgar signs at me.[b] And for an offering, you bring stolen[c] animals or those that are crippled or sick. Should I accept these? 14 Instead of offering the acceptable animals you have promised, you bring me those that are unhealthy. I will punish you for this, because I am the great King, the Lord All-Powerful, and I am worshiped by nations everywhere.

True and False Priests

I, the Lord All-Powerful, have something else to say to you priests. You had better take seriously the need to honor my name. Otherwise, when you give a blessing, I will turn it into a curse. In fact, I have already done this, because you haven’t taken to heart your duties as priests. I will punish your descendants and rub your faces in the manure from your animal sacrifices, and then be done with you.[d]

I am telling you this, so I can continue to keep my agreement with your ancestor Levi. I blessed him with a full life, as I had promised, and he kept his part of the agreement by honoring me and respecting my name. He taught the truth and never told lies, and he led a lot of people to turn from sin, because he obeyed me and lived right.

You priests should be eager to spread knowledge, and everyone should come to you for instruction, because you speak for me, the Lord All-Powerful. But you have turned your backs on me. Your teachings have led others to do sinful things, and you have broken the agreement I made with your ancestor Levi. So I caused everyone to hate and despise you, because you disobeyed me and failed to treat all people alike.

A Broken Agreement

10 Don’t you know that we all have God as our Father? Didn’t the one God create each of us? Then why do you cheat each other by breaking the agreement God made with your ancestors? 11 You people in Judah and Jerusalem have been unfaithful to the Lord. You have disgraced the temple that he loves, and you have committed the disgusting sin of worshiping other gods.[e] 12 I pray that the Lord will no longer let those who are guilty belong to his people, even if they eagerly decide to offer the Lord a gift.[f]

13 And what else are you doing? You cry noisily and flood the Lord’s altar with your tears, because he isn’t pleased with your offerings and refuses to accept them. 14 And why isn’t God pleased? It’s because he knows that each of you men has been unfaithful to the wife you married when you were young. You promised that she would be your partner, but now you have broken that promise. 15 Didn’t God create you to become like one person with your wife?[g] And why did he do this? It was so you would have children, and then lead them to become God’s people. Don’t ever be unfaithful to your wife. 16 The Lord God All-Powerful of Israel hates anyone who is cruel enough to divorce his wife. So take care never to be unfaithful!

17 You have worn out the Lord with your words. And yet, you ask, “How did we do that?”

You did it by saying, “The Lord is pleased with evil and doesn’t care about justice.”

Footnotes:

  1. 1.3 jackals: Desert animals related to wolves, but smaller.
  2. 1.13 me: Or “the altar.”
  3. 1.13 stolen: Or “injured.”
  4. 2.3 and then be done with you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  5. 2.11 worshiping other gods: Or “marrying the worshipers of other gods.”
  6. 2.12 even if. . . gift: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  7. 2.15 Didn’t. . . wife: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

Revelation 21

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21 I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had disappeared, and so had the sea. Then I saw New Jerusalem, that holy city, coming down from God in heaven. It was like a bride dressed in her wedding gown and ready to meet her husband.

I heard a loud voice shout from the throne:

God’s home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people. He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone forever.

Then the one sitting on the throne said:

I am making everything new. Write down what I have said. My words are true and can be trusted. Everything is finished! I am Alpha and Omega,[a] the beginning and the end. I will freely give water from the life-giving fountain to everyone who is thirsty. All who win the victory will be given these blessings. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

But I will tell you what will happen to cowards and to everyone who is unfaithful or dirty-minded or who murders or is sexually immoral or uses witchcraft or worships idols or tells lies. They will be thrown into that lake of fire and burning sulfur. This is the second death.[b]

The New Jerusalem

I saw one of the seven angels who had the bowls filled with the seven last terrible troubles. The angel came to me and said, “Come on! I will show you the one who will be the bride and wife of the Lamb.” 10 Then with the help of the Spirit, he took me to the top of a very high mountain. There he showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down from God in heaven.

11 The glory of God made the city bright. It was dazzling and crystal clear like a precious jasper stone. 12 The city had a high and thick wall with twelve gates, and each one of them was guarded by an angel. On each of the gates was written the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 Three of these gates were on the east, three were on the north, three more were on the south, and the other three were on the west. 14 The city was built on twelve foundation stones. On each of the stones was written the name of one of the Lamb’s twelve apostles.

15 The angel who spoke to me had a gold measuring stick to measure the city and its gates and its walls. 16 The city was shaped like a cube, because it was just as high as it was wide. When the angel measured the city, it was about fifteen hundred miles high and fifteen hundred miles wide. 17 Then the angel measured the wall, and by our measurements it was about two hundred sixteen feet high.

18 The wall was built of jasper, and the city was made of pure gold, clear as crystal. 19 Each of the twelve foundations was a precious stone. The first was jasper,[c] the second was sapphire, the third was agate, the fourth was emerald, 20 the fifth was onyx, the sixth was carnelian, the seventh was chrysolite, the eighth was beryl, the ninth was topaz, the tenth was chrysoprase, the eleventh was jacinth, and the twelfth was amethyst. 21 Each of the twelve gates was a solid pearl. The streets of the city were made of pure gold, clear as crystal.

22 I did not see a temple there. The Lord God All-Powerful and the Lamb were its temple. 23 And the city did not need the sun or the moon. The glory of God was shining on it, and the Lamb was its light.

24 Nations will walk by the light of that city, and kings will bring their riches there. 25 Its gates are always open during the day, and night never comes. 26 The glorious treasures of nations will be brought into the city. 27 But nothing unworthy will be allowed to enter. No one who is dirty-minded or who tells lies will be there. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life[d] will be in the city.

Footnotes:

  1. 21.6 Alpha and Omega: See the note at 1.8.
  2. 21.8 second death: See the note at 2.11.
  3. 21.19 jasper: The precious and semi-precious stones mentioned in verses 19,20 are of different colors. Jasper is usually green or clear; sapphire is blue; agate has circles of brown and white; emerald is green; onyx has different bands of color; carnelian is deep-red or reddish-white; chrysolite is olive-green; beryl is green or bluish-green; topaz is yellow; chrysoprase is apple-green; jacinth is reddish-orange; and amethyst is deep purple.
  4. 21.27 book of life: See the note at 3.5.

Psalm 149

A New Song of Praise

149 Shout praises to the Lord!
Sing him a new song of praise
when his loyal people meet.
People of Israel, rejoice
because of your Creator.
People of Zion, celebrate
because of your King.
Praise his name by dancing
and playing music on harps
and tambourines.
The Lord is pleased
with his people,
and he gives victory
to those who are humble.
All of you faithful people,
praise our glorious Lord!
Celebrate and worship.
Praise God with songs
on your lips
and a sword in your hand.
Take revenge and punish
the nations.
Put chains of iron
on their kings and rulers.
Punish them as they deserve;
this is the privilege
of God’s faithful people.
Shout praises to the Lord!

Proverbs 31:10-24

In Praise of a Good Wife

10 A truly good wife
is the most precious treasure
a man can find!
11 Her husband depends on her,
and she never
lets him down.
12 She is good to him
every day of her life,
13 and with her own hands
she gladly makes clothes.

14 She is like a sailing ship
that brings food
from across the sea.
15 She gets up before daylight
to prepare food
for her family
and for her servants.[a]
16 She knows how to buy land
and how to plant a vineyard,
17 and she always works hard.
18 She knows when to buy or sell,
and she stays busy
until late at night.
19 She spins her own cloth,
20 and she helps the poor
and the needy.
21 Her family has warm clothing,
and so she doesn’t worry
when it snows.
22 She does her own sewing,
and everything she wears
is beautiful.

23 Her husband is a well-known
and respected leader
in the city.
24 She makes clothes to sell
to the shop owners.

Footnotes:

  1. 31.15 and. . . servants: Or “and to tell her servants what to do.”

12/29/2018 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 14:1-21, Revelation 20:1-15, Psalms 148:1-14, Proverbs 31:8-9

Today is the 29th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is a pleasure to be here with you at the close of the…I mean…this is the last close of a week that we have together in this revolution through the Bible in this year. So, we’ll be closing our final week together and also closing the second to the last book in the Old Testament, the book of Zechariah. We’ll finish that today and then move forward in Malachi tomorrow for the final two days of the year. So, if it hasn’t been obvious, like we’re on the threshold of ending the year and getting ready to gear up and start a new year together. So, we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible all this week, which of course, concludes with today. Zechariah chapter 14 verses 1 through 21.

Commentary:

Okay. So, I mean it’s pretty obvious that we’re just days away from concluding the year, which, I mean, in concluding the year and concluding a complete reading of the entire Bible and preparing our hearts to start over again. And, so, as we continue the journey between the holidays…we’ve already talked about how it’s a contemplative time…we’re setting new goals and, you know, our lives have been disrupted a bit by the holidays. And, so, we’re thinking about what we want the next year to look like and we’ve even talked about how the Proverbs speak into that because it’s easy enough to go, well, I mean we’re just days away, let’s just finish this thing up and we’re not really paying attention, but the Bible is still speaking because it still has some things to say. The years not…like…we’re not done. And, so, we can turn again to the Proverbs to guide us in our resolution making and focus our hearts on what’s the next weeks and months are gonna look like. And, so, today in the book of Proverbs we’re directed to look outside, beyond ourselves, and to respond. So, we’re told, “speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves, ensure justice for those being crushed, speak of the poor and helpless and see that they get justice.” And the truth is, it’s probably…it’s pretty unlikely that we don’t all agree with what the Proverbs saying…but it’s also easy to agree with the sentiment and remain passive. But the Proverb isn’t describing, like, a posture or, like, a mindset or a philosophy. It’s giving actions that are we’re supposed to live into. “Speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves”, like, that’s an action. “Ensure justice for those being crushed”, that’s an action. “Speak up for the poor and helpless. See that they get justice”. This is, like, a participatory thing, not just something you can shake your head up and down and agree with. And, boy, you know, a proverb like this, it’s so easy to ambush a proverb like this and like you know, throw it into the stew that is the political climate of our day and, you know, make it rhetoric and make it a talking point or try to figure out who’s supposed actually be doing that when we’re all supposed to be doing that. Like it’s not proverb that was written for elected officials running government agencies. We’re supposed to obey the voice of wisdom. So, it’s not really supposed to be a political thing. I mean, maybe, you are supposed to engage in political discourse. But we gotta remember, like, Proverbs wasn’t written last week and it wasn’t written this century and it’s not speaking specifically to our political climate the issues of injustice. These are ancient issues and we’re just living through what it looks like right now. And the reason that this is important is that as we contemplate the new year our sense of justice does indeed shape our convictions and we’ve certainly had plenty of opportunity this year as we’ve gone through the Bible to bear witness to the erosion that takes place when justice is obscured. And, so, Proverbs isn’t giving like a posture or sentiment. Justice is a defining characteristic of God’s people, it’s all through the Bible and it it’s absolutely gonna shape our year. We may not think of it, like, we might not actively be thinking about it, but our sense of what is right and wrong, what is just and what is unjust will shape our convictions and will shape our year whether we ignore the proverb or not. And if we choose to kind of incorporate this into what we’re looking at in the new year, like, to pay more attention to the downtrodden in some sort of way, that’s gonna look different for everybody and it basically, I mean, like, we all agree, we all agree with the Scriptures say. So, it’s gonna boil down to whether we’re paying attention, but ignoring a proverb like this is like ignoring one of our most fundamental core understandings of God, right? One of our core understandings of God is that He is just and good. And we can think, okay, God is just and He’s good and He should bring justice to the poor and helpless or we can understand what has always been true, that we are invited to collaborate and participate with God as actual hands and feet, boots on the ground for His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven and that He uses our hands and feet our flesh and bone to bring blessing and glory upon the earth. So, one of those blessings is supposed to be…like one of the things in his kingdom supposed to be that the poor and helpless are treated justly. And, so, rather than just thinking that we’re doing our part by having random, heated social media, political debates…I mean…why don't…this doesn’t have to be like that. Why don’t we invite the Holy Spirit to speak to us individually about how it is that we can participate in bringing His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven and reflecting His glory upon the earth as the body of Christ. I mean, so, like, rather than figuring out whether we’re conservative brothers and sisters or whether we’re liberal brothers and sisters or all the different persuasions of politics and governments around the world that represent who we are as a Daily Audio Bible community, rather than try to figure out how to unpeel the onion there, why don’t we just ask God, you know, what does this look like for me? What is it You would like me to be aware of? How should I pay attention this year? How do I be made in your image? How do I be Christ like when it comes to what is just and good?

Prayer:

Father, obviously a worthy question because You brought it up in the Scriptures. You know it’s one that is definitely, definitely overwhelmed by the political climate of the day, but we’re kind of stepping away from all that noise and just saying, what are You saying  to me? How do You want me to incorporate this into my life and my actions as I take steps forward every day with You in the coming year? How is it that I can be Your hands and feet? How can I be flesh and bone? How can I be the body of Christ in every situation that I step into this coming year? So, we invite Your Holy Spirit. You are the Creator of all things and You know all of the answers to all things in and yet You are one of the last people’s that gets consulted. And, so, before we ever enter into the new year we’re consulting You, we’re asking You to begin to break our hearts for the things that break Your heart. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here, and there’s always something or another going around on around here.

Of course we’re about to end a year and that’s going on around here and we’re about to prepare to begin a new year, which will be year 14 of Daily Audio Bible. So, we’re about to complete 13 years seven days a week of this, which just blows my mind. And, so, that’s going on around here. But this is one of the ways to stay connected at dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in these remaining days of this year’s then thank you profoundly, humbly, deeply for your support and partnership. There is a link on the homepage at 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 is it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is To Be a Blessing in California wanting to just let Terry the Trucker know that I’m praying for you as you continue on your journey of healing. Also wanting to lift up Miguel from Santa Rosa, Blind Tony, Jay from Tennessee, Lee from New Jersey, Drew from the Bay Area. Also wanting to present before you a young man who lost his job, his girlfriend broke up with him, and he is just struggling with deep deep depression stemming from a childhood and a lifetime of rejection. So, if you would lift up Alex __ for me that would be awesome. He’s a lovely young man. Father God, You know…You know where we are, You know what we need and when we need it. So, I’m just thanking You in the name of Jesus for being so sweet to us. I pray that You impress each Daily Audio Bible member, Brian and Jill, China and the others for everything __ dear God that You would be glorified. Thank You for loving us and giving us Jesus, the greatest gift ever. Amen. God bless You. Take good care.

Hello my DAB family community. This is Michael again, I’m sorry, I know I’m not supposed to call in back to back but I know sometimes you get on here and two minutes goes by so fast and then I guess I kind of ramble sometimes when I get talking and not realizing and not watching the time. And the next thing you know a way over the time. So, I know I was talking about my marriage and I guess I just need prayers on direction and what I need to do. I mean I need a __ to grow on where I need to be in this situation and that’s it. I’m just tired of fighting and trying to be in a positive state in this whole situation. So, I love you guys, I love this DAB family. Like I said…I don’t where I’d be without it. I’m just glad that glad the Lord led me here four years, almost five years ago and it’s been awesome…it’s been an awesome campfire to be around enjoying you guys and hopefully I’ll get to attend some of the things in the future. That’s my plan. Anyways, but I may be a week behind. I missed the Christmas thing again this year, but I love you guys. Thank you, Brian, thank you Jill and thank you China. Got to thank China also, she’s awesome. She’s definitely got ___ the Lord is definitely leading her __ . Appreciate this group and thanks for all the prayer warriors, the people who call in and many of you people __ who call all the time and hear the voices. Love you guys. Talk to again soon.

Hello, I wanted to say something to John the Prodigal. I know that you have lost so many things this year and you really don’t know how to how to live, how to go on with your life. And I just wanted to remind you, the apostle Paul in Philippians 4, he found the secret of being able to live with plenty or nothing at all. And the secret was Christ’s presence with them. And, so, the secret really is for all of us, Christ with us, the power we face anything, that’s how we can face tomorrow. And it’s such a thought that it’s Christmas time and that God sent Jesus into this broken world because we need it, so much help, we need it to know how to live. And, so, John the Prodigal, I just wanted to bless you with this Christmas present, this Christmas gift of speaking God’s word over you. Lord I thank You for the wisdom in the scope of this prayer. I fall down on my knees and pray to the Father of all the great family of God. Some of them are already in heaven and some down here on earth but out of His glorious unlimited resources He will give You, John the Prodigal, the mighty and strengthening of His Holy Spirit and I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your heart living within you as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love and may you be able to feel and understand as our God’s children shared…

Hi, this message is for the ICU nurses who called in. I forget your names, I’m so sorry, but I know that you are nurses and that you are work in the ICU. I am a medical student, which means that I don’t know half as much as what you guys know and that I learn mostly from nurses, but I respect the place where you’re coming from, you’re coming from a very humanistic, a very humble place when you reflect upon how your experiences…how you’ve been affected by experiences. And I wanted to share that it’s so courageous for both of you to just be so transparent about how you feel. That’s very uncommon, at least to me it’s seems it’s a little uncommon in the medical community and I very much respect and have been very thoughtful of both of you just for being able to be so forthcoming about how you feel and how you experience life, you know, as an ICU nurse. And I just wanted to pray a prayer of blessing and strength over both of you. And I pray that God’s love would surround you everywhere that you go and that His joy would be your strength every moment of every day and that God would bless the work of your hands, that He would bless and multiply your land, that you would prosper in everything that you do, and that you would be at peace, and in him that you would do all things, and that you would do above and beyond anything you could ask or imagine…

It is so hard to believe the 2018 is closing. I tell you, this family has definitely pulled out all the stops this year. There are so many of you to thank, especially those behind the scenes. SarahJane and the entire crew, Brian, and Jill Hardin, your children. This community has blessed my life so much and I cannot believe it’s 13 years. I just can’t believe it. For all of you who have had hardships this year, I pray that you’re ending the year on a strong note regardless of our circumstances. Something that I keep telling myself is we walk by faith and not by sight. We walk by faith and not by sight. And God is not finished with you yet. Having said that, John the Prodigal, I know you have had a year of loss like many of us. And I’m not trying to minimize that but brother you are still here like Walda said. God opened your eyes, He got you up, He is not finished with you yet. No matter what, you keep pressing forward. For all of those of you who are struggling with addictions I challenge you to get an accountability partner, get in a recovery group, get someone that is going to hold you accountable and that you can reach out to. For all of you battling illnesses, I am praying protection and healing and restoration of your body from the top of her head to the soles of your feet. I love this community dearly. I thank you all for your prayers. I thank all of you will listen and don’t call in but pray in the background. Know that we are all prayer warriors. 2019 is going to be a wonderful year and as Brian says, it’s not how we start it but how we end the journey and let’s end it well. I love you. Cheers! Asia and Munich.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday December 29, 2018 (NIV)

Zechariah 14

The Lord’s Triumph and Reign

14 Look, a day belonging to the Lord is coming(A) when the plunder taken from you will be divided in your presence. I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle.(B) The city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.

Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations as he fights on a day of battle.(C) On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,(D) which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge valley, so that half the mountain will move to the north and half to the south. You will flee by my mountain valley,[a] for the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled[b] from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah.(E) Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones(F) with him.[c](G)

On that day there will be no light; the sunlight and moonlight will diminish.[d][e](H) It will be a unique day known only to the Lord,(I) without day or night, but there will be light at evening.

On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem,(J) half of it toward the eastern sea[f] and the other half toward the western sea,[g] in summer and winter alike. On that day the Lord will become King over the whole earth(K)—the Lord alone, and his name alone.(L) 10 All the land from Geba(M) to Rimmon(N) south of Jerusalem will be changed into a plain. But Jerusalem will be raised up and will remain[h] on its site from the Benjamin Gate(O) to the place of the First Gate,[i] to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses.(P) 11 People will live there, and never again will there be a curse of complete destruction. So Jerusalem will dwell in security.

12 This will be the plague with which the Lord strikes all the people who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day a great panic from the Lord will be among them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of one will rise against the other. 14 Judah will also fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected: gold, silver, and clothing in great abundance.(Q) 15 The same plague as the previous one will strike[j] the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the animals that are in those camps.

16 Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.(R) 17 Should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Armies, rain will not fall on them. 18 And if the people[k] of Egypt will not go up and enter, then rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague the Lord inflicts on the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.

20 On that day, the words Holy to the Lord will be on the bells of the horses.(S) The pots in the house of the Lord will be like the sprinkling basins before the altar. 21 Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of Armies. All who sacrifice will come and use the pots to cook in. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite[l] in the house of the Lord of Armies.

Footnotes:

  1. 14:5 Some Hb mss, LXX, Sym, Tg read The valley of my mountains will be blocked
  2. 14:5 LXX reads It will be blocked as it was blocked
  3. 14:5 Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg, Tg, Syr; other Hb mss read you
  4. 14:6 LXX, Sym, Syr, Tg, Vg read no light or cold or ice
  5. 14:6 Lit no light; the precious ones will congeal
  6. 14:8 = the Dead Sea
  7. 14:8 = the Mediterranean Sea
  8. 14:10 Or will be inhabited
  9. 14:10 Or the former gate
  10. 14:15 Lit be on
  11. 14:18 Lit family
  12. 14:21 Or merchant
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Revelation 20

Satan Bound

20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key to the abyss(A) and a great chain(B) in his hand. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan,[a](C) and bound(D) him for a thousand years. He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it(E) so that he would no longer deceive the nations(F) until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.

The Saints Reign with Christ

Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge.(G) I also saw the souls of those(H) who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus(I) and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands.(J) They came to life(K) and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.(L) The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.

This is the first resurrection. Blessed(M) and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! The second death(N) has no power[b] over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.(O)

Satanic Rebellion Crushed

When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations(P) at the four corners of the earth,(Q) Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle.(R) Their number is like the sand of the sea.(S) They came up across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city.(T) Then fire came down from heaven[c] and consumed them.(U) 10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are,(V) and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.(W)

The Great White Throne Judgment

11 Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.(X) 12 I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.(Y) Another book was opened, which is the book of life,(Z) and the dead were judged according to their works(AA) by what was written in the books. 13 Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades(AB) gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works. 14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.(AC) This is the second death, the lake of fire.[d] 15 And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Footnotes:

  1. 20:2 Other mss add who deceives the whole world
  2. 20:6 Or authority
  3. 20:9 Other mss add from God
  4. 20:14 Other mss omit the lake of fire
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Psalm 148

Psalm 148

Creation’s Praise of the Lord

Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.(A)
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly armies.(B)
Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars.(C)
Praise him, highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens.(D)
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded, and they were created.(E)
He set them in position forever and ever;
he gave an order that will never pass away.(F)

Praise the Lord from the earth,
all sea monsters and ocean depths,(G)
lightning[a] and hail, snow and cloud,
stormy wind that executes his command,(H)
mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,(I)
10 wild animals and all cattle,
creatures that crawl and flying birds,(J)
11 kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all judges of the earth,(K)
12 young men as well as young women,
old and young together.(L)
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted.
His majesty covers heaven and earth.(M)
14 He has raised up a horn for his people,
resulting in praise to all his faithful ones,
to the Israelites, the people close to him.(N)
Hallelujah!

Footnotes:

  1. 148:8 Or fire
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Proverbs 31:8-9

Speak up[a] for those who have no voice,[b](A)
for the justice of all who are dispossessed.[c]
Speak up, judge righteously,(B)
and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.(C)

Footnotes:

  1. 31:8 Lit Open your mouth, also in v. 9
  2. 31:8 Lit who are mute
  3. 31:8 Lit all the sons of passing away
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

12/28/2018 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 12:1-13:9, Revelation 19:1-21, Psalms 147:1-20, Proverbs 31:1-7

Today is the 28th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s awesome to be here with you today in these final days of the year. We start every year with 365 steps out in front of us and we are down to the last four steps. What a journey it has been. And we can do this, four steps, we can do this and complete the entire Bible. So, let’s dive in. We’ve been reading through the book of Zechariah. So, it was like a blur there for a little while. We were moving through the shorter letters of the New Testament and then bam, we’re right into the minor prophets and we’re moving through one of those a day. And then finally we’ve reached Zechariah, which has slowed things down for the last week. And we’ll be in Zechariah today and tomorrow before moving into our final book in the Old Testament. But even though the end is in sight, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Today Zechariah chapter 12 verse 1 to 13 verse 9. And we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, have you ever noticed that at this time of year, like, this point between the holidays, that it’s like the whole world starts to get reflective? In fact, if you’re like…if you’re brand-new…so many brand-new brothers and sisters come around the Daily Audio Bible between Christmas and New Year’s, in part because a lot of new technology gets given out for Christmas, but it’s a time where, like, the whole world gets reflective and we start to think about our spirituality and our goals. And, so, welcome but even for those of us who have taken this whole journey, like, we’re this far in the year and we started last year or maybe even years ago, this is still time where the world gets reflective. Like, there’s all kinds of TV shows, like hours and hours of programming that offer us the opportunity to look back, right, look back at all that has happened in the last 12 months. And, like, we can be in the grocery store and there’s magazines dedicated to the biographies of those that we’ve celebrated this year and lost, events that have happened this year. And we’ve been reflecting too over the past few days about what it is that’s gonna inform our choices, our decisions, our resolutions for what comes next in the new year. And the book of Psalms today offers us some insight, actually something powerful to contemplate as we do the kind of contemplation that we’re doing, the reflection, the look back, the look forward. So, the psalmist says, “the Lord’s delight is in those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His unfailing love.” And this whole year has been a year where we’ve kind of focused ourselves on that word, “hope”. And, so, here at the end of the year we see it showing up in crystal clarity. “The Lord’s delight is in those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His unfailing love. And, so, I mean, the obvious question is, okay, who are those who put their hope in his unfailing love? Like, how do I become one of those people? And why is that important as I consider my New Year’s resolutions and what that should look like? So, the word hope here in the Psalms is referring to an expectation, right? Like waiting expectantly for a specific desired outcome. So, if we think of it, like, with a modern analogy, if you put a little bit of money away every paycheck, if we can do that, if we invest a little bit of our income into maybe a retirement fund, then we will weight in expectation that it will grow over the years and produce the desired outcome that will offer us financial stability in our later years. So, the kind of person that’s being described in the Psalm is a person who has invested all of their hope in the unfailing love of God. And what was their desired outcome? That the Lord might delight in them. So, that contrasts with a lot of our normal New Year’s resolutions because a lot of our normal New Year’s resolutions are self-focused, right, whether they’re focused on our interior lives or exterior lives, they’re focused around ourselves. This is normal. I mean we’re resolving to make changes about ourselves for the better. So, yeah, this is the time we focus on ourselves and where were going. However, a wholly self-focused posture leaves little room for things that they may matter even more, things that may even matter most, things like becoming the delight of the Lord. So, as we’re thinking, you know, there’s only a couple days, the hours are winding down on this year and whether we like it or not, we will spring forward into a new year. And as we consider what that’s gonna look like, maybe we should consider investing all of our hope in God in this coming year, all of it, and fear Him with awe and respect and wait expectantly in His unfailing love because if we’ll do that, according to psalmist, the Lord will delight in us. And, I mean, if we boil it all down, what else is there? What, else is there? What else are we looking for? We can continue to try to create, you know, whatever kind of destiny we want, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever we achieve, we’re not contented for long. Like, we think we might think, if I can just get that job, if I can just get that promotion, if I can just get that weight off, if I could just, if I could just, if I could just…but then even if we discipline ourselves and achieve those things it only leads us to the next achievement, right? What if we invested all of our hope in God and let all that other stuff kind of diminish and fade away and find itself in our lives in its proper orientation and make the goal of our hearts to be delighted in by God. What would a year of that be like? Like if that was our goal and we set it now and we come to this day one year from today and that’s what we’d done, we’d invested all of our hope in God and we wait expectantly in His unfailing love, the Scriptures tell us that the Lord will delight in us. I would…I think I would like to sign up for that. What would a year of the Lord’s delight be like? Something to consider as we make our resolutions for the new year.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that here as we come to the final moments of this week and enter into a new week that will bring us into a new year. We thank You for all that You’ve brought us through this year, all that You have taught us, the ways in which You have transformed us, we thank You. And, so, now from this place of transformation after a year in Your word, we invite You to lead us forward into what the new year should look like. Last year we made resolutions and we followed through on some of them. And this coming through the entire Bible has been one of those. And, so, here we are, but here we are with a new perspective because coming all the way through the rhythm of this year has changed us. So, we invite You Lord. We want to be Your delight. And, so, we put our hope in You, all of it, and we wait expectantly in Your unfailing love. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

It’s where the Prayer Wall lives, where people are praying for each other all the time. It’s where all the links to connect with your brothers and sisters with the Daily Audio Bible on social media, it’s where those are. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in the waning moments of this year than thank you profoundly, humbly for your partnership. There is a link that is on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. And of course, your contributions to the Daily Audio Bible and the mission that we share together as a community are tax-deductible. And, so, we will certainly send you a receipt for this year. If you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174. And if you want that to be counted for this for this year, just make sure the postmark is by December 31st

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello to my Daily Audio Bible, this is Diana calling from Virginia and I feel so bad because I was meaning to call for the holiday greeting but, you know, I let the __  and everything take a hold of me and I missed that. So, I just wanted to give a shout out to all of you here and I wanted to say thank you for all the contributions, the prayers, and just making this Daily Audio Bible so meaningful. I adhere to the Daily Audio Bible every morning when I’m starting my day and it’s been so instrumental to my life. And since I cannot send a holiday or Christmas card to everybody I just wanted to call in and give a shout out to all of you and wish you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. I did want to give a shout out to some people here like Asia from Munich, I haven’t heard from you in a while. Slave of Jesus, Viola from Maryland, and Pastor Gene in Florida. I wanted to give a shout out to Walda in North Carolina, Jay from New Jersey. There are so many of you here I cannot even remember to give a shout out by name but I wanted to just let you know I’m thinking about all of you and I hope that this holiday season is a time for you to just take a minute and be joyful. It may be sad. If you’re like me, I know some of us during December and it’s always hard, but I always take a minute to think about what my mom would say and she always wanted me to…she always loved to celebrate Christmas. So, I find joy in knowing that she would want me to take a moment and remember what Christmas is all about and hopefully that we can get some peace and some joy from that. Merry Christmas to all of you and a happy new year.

Hi beautiful family, this is Pastor Jenny from Bradenton Florida and I want to speak directly to any woman that is listening and I want to recommend the More Conference. I am praying. I really want to go. I’m not sure if I’m gonna be able to afford it to be completely honest but I want to tell you guys __ that I went to years ago. It was one of the best decisions I could’ve made. I’m 50 years old. I’ve been walking with Jesus since nine. So, I’ve walked with the Lord for 41 years and I still learn things in that conference and discover things about myself in that conference that I have not experienced before. I will tell you that the fellowship is fantastic, the preaching is fantastic, but most importantly it is __ at times. __ pray for Brian, pray for this conference because God is __. One of the most important things that I learned in that conference that has stayed with me and will probably stay with me __ is that sometimes the enemy speak lies into our life and we buy those lies and we believe those lies and we give them the category of truth in our lives. And when we do that, although they’re lies, they can control us, they can enslave us, they can bind us. And family, the Lord delivered me from some of those lies in that conference. And every time Satan would start to come and enslave me again I have been able to speak the things because I remember __. So, I want to encourage you to attend the conference. I want to encourage you, if you’re a man and you have someone to send, I want to encourage you __ . I love you family this is Pastor Gene from Bradenton Florida.

Hi this is Sherry from Kansas, I called in and you played my prayer request from December the 8th and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who prayed for me and to Pamela for the Scripture from Isaiah. And it really helped and one of the things I said is I really needed to feel…know God’s love and I have seen God’s love in the outpouring of prayer. So, thank you all very much. While my situations are not yet remedied, I feel much stronger and much more able to stay connected with God in the process of all this and I love you all. Thank you so much again and I am now hooked on Daily Audio Bible. So, I’m sure that I’m going to been praying for others as well that call in. I hope you all have a blessed holiday, and may this new year see us all drawing closer to God, each other, and seeing our prayers answered for those around us. Thank you very much. Goodbye.

Greetings my beloved friends, this is Angel from California. It’s Friday, December 21st, 2019. I’m sorry, it’s 2018. I’m ahead of myself. Anyway, this year was a wonderful year for me, for my husband, my children, and I have three puppies, Murphy, Luna, and Lucky. I love them so much. I want to wish you all a blessed Christmas and a very prosperous new year, 2019. I want to say thank you Brian and Jill and your family. May the Lord bless you for everything that you do. I pray always for the people who call in . And recently, Kevin from rolling hills from Arkansas, he called in and I want to say that I’m praying for him and also a gentleman by the…he goes by the name of the Prodigal. And I want to say to you, thank you for calling and I know that God has wonderful things for you. I want to say that our words have creative power. Whenever we speak something either good or bad we give life to what we are saying. Too many people say negative things about themselves, about their families, and about their futures. They say things such as, I never will be successful, or that sickness will get the best of me, business is slow, I don’t think I can make it, Flu season is coming I’ll probably catch it. They don’t realize they are prophesying their futures. The Scripture says we will eat the fruit of our words. That means we will get exactly what we we’ve been saying. So….

Hey Daily Audio Bible friends, I’m calling from my brother in Christ, Prodigal. Thank you for reaching out to this community brother. I believe you just blessed yourself by engaging the community of thousands of believers all over this world that are now gonna be praying for you. Man, life all too often crashes down upon us and leaves us feeling like there’s just no way out. I’ve been there too brother and like you I found myself researching whether or not I be forgiven or end up in hell for my final sin. But either way we find ourselves face-to-face with our Creator who would then ask us, did you know that your life is not your own for I bought you for a price? But He did that because He loves us immensely no matter what we’ve done. I believe that He has much bigger plans for our lives than just the hundred or so years that we’re here on this planet. I mean, think about it. If we’re gonna live forever with Jesus then this life is just the blink of an eye no matter how terrible it gets. So, hold on brother. And God‘s surely gonna reward you for the suffering that you endure. And remember, there’s now literally of thousands us praying for you. Love you brother.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday December 28, 2018 (NIV)

Zechariah 12-13

Judah’s Security

12 A pronouncement:

The word of the Lord concerning Israel.
A declaration of the Lord,
who stretched out the heavens,(A)
laid the foundation of the earth,(B)
and formed the spirit of man within him.

“Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering(C) for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah.(D) On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.(E) On that day”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness.(F) I will keep a watchful eye on(G) the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness. Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Armies, their God. On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile,(H) like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and the left, while Jerusalem continues to be inhabited on its site, in Jerusalem. The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David’s house and the glory of Jerusalem’s residents may not be greater than that of Judah. On that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem,(I) so that on that day the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord, before them.(J) On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

10 “Then I will pour out a spirit[a](K) of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at[b] me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.(L) 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, every family by itself: the family of David’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Nathan’s[c](M) house by itself and their women by themselves; 13 the family of Levi’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Shimei[d](N) by itself and their women by themselves; 14 all the remaining families, every family by itself, and their women by themselves.

God’s People Cleansed

13 “On that day a fountain(O) will be opened for the house of David and for the residents of Jerusalem, to wash away sin and impurity.(P) On that day”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—“I will remove the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered.(Q) I will banish the prophets[e] and the unclean spirit from the land. If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him: You cannot remain alive because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord. When he prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through.(R) On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not put on a hairy cloak(S) in order to deceive. He will say: I am not a prophet; I work the land, for a man purchased[f] me as a servant since my youth.(T) If someone asks him: What are these wounds(U) on your chest?[g]—then he will answer: I received the wounds in the house of my friends.

Sword, awake against my shepherd,
against the man who is my associate—
this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;(V)
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
In the whole land—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
two-thirds[h] will be cut off and die,
but a third will be left in it.
I will put this third through the fire;
I will refine them as silver is refined
and test them as gold is tested.(W)
They will call on my name,
and I will answer them.(X)
I will say: They are my people,
and they will say: The Lord is our God.”(Y)

Footnotes:

  1. 12:10 Or out the Spirit
  2. 12:10 Or to
  3. 12:12 = a son of David
  4. 12:13 = a descendant of Levi
  5. 13:2 = false prophets
  6. 13:5 Or sold
  7. 13:6 Lit wounds between your hands
  8. 13:8 Lit two-thirds in it
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Revelation 19

Celebration in Heaven

19 After this I heard something like the loud voice of a vast multitude(A) in heaven, saying,

Hallelujah!(B)
Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God,(C)
because his judgments are true[a] and righteous,(D)
because he has judged the notorious prostitute(E)
who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality;
and he has avenged the blood of his servants
that was on her hands.(F)

A second time they said,

Hallelujah!
Her smoke ascends forever and ever!(G)

Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God,(H) who is seated on the throne, saying,

Amen! Hallelujah!(I)

A voice came from the throne, saying,

Praise our God,
all his servants, and the ones who fear him,
both small and great!(J)

Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters,(K) and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying,

Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty,
reigns!(L)
Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory,(M)
because the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has prepared herself.(N)
She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure.(O)

For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.(P)

Then he[b] said to me,(Q) “Write: Blessed are those invited to the marriage feast(R) of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These words of God are true.”(S) 10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “Don’t do that!(T) I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters who hold firmly to the testimony of Jesus.(U) Worship God, because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit[c] of prophecy.”

The Rider on a White Horse

11 Then I saw heaven opened,(V) and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True,(W) and he judges and makes war with justice.(X) 12 His eyes were like a fiery flame,(Y) and many crowns[d] were on his head.(Z) He had a name written that no one knows except himself.(AA) 13 He wore a robe dipped in blood,(AB) and his name is called the Word of God.(AC) 14 The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. 15 A sharp[e] sword(AD) came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it.(AE) He will rule[f] them with an iron rod.(AF) He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God,(AG) the Almighty. 16 And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.(AH)

The Beast and Its Armies Defeated

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he called out in a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying high overhead, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of military commanders, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and of their riders, and the flesh of everyone, both free and slave, small and great.”(AI)

19 Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies(AJ) gathered together to wage war(AK) against the rider on the horse and against his army. 20 But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with it the false prophet, who had performed the signs in its presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image with these signs.(AL) Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.(AM) 21 The rest were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds ate their fill of their flesh.

Footnotes:

  1. 19:2 Valid; Jn 8:16; 19:35
  2. 19:9 Probably an angel; Rv 17:1; 22:8-9
  3. 19:10 Or the Spirit
  4. 19:12 Or diadems
  5. 19:15 Other mss add double-edged
  6. 19:15 Or shepherd
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Psalm 147

Psalm 147

God Restores Jerusalem

Hallelujah!
How good it is to sing to our God,
for praise is pleasant and lovely.(A)

The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem;(B)
he gathers Israel’s exiled people.(C)
He heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.(D)
He counts the number of the stars;
he gives names to all of them.(E)
Our Lord is great, vast in power;
his understanding is infinite.[a](F)
The Lord helps the oppressed
but brings the wicked to the ground.(G)

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
play the lyre to our God,(H)
who covers the sky with clouds,
prepares rain for the earth,
and causes grass to grow on the hills.(I)
He provides the animals with their food,
and the young ravens, what they cry for.(J)

10 He is not impressed by the strength of a horse;
he does not value the power of a warrior.[b](K)
11 The Lord values those who fear him,
those who put their hope in his faithful love.(L)

12 Exalt the Lord, Jerusalem;
praise your God, Zion!(M)
13 For he strengthens the bars of your city gates
and blesses your children within you.(N)
14 He endows your territory with prosperity;[c](O)
he satisfies you with the finest wheat.(P)

15 He sends his command throughout the earth;
his word runs swiftly.(Q)
16 He spreads snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes;(R)
17 he throws his hailstones like crumbs.
Who can withstand his cold?(S)
18 He sends his word and melts them;
he unleashes his winds,[d] and the water flows.(T)

19 He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and judgments to Israel.(U)
20 He has not done this for every nation;
they do not know his judgments.(V)
Hallelujah!

Footnotes:

  1. 147:5 Lit understanding has no number
  2. 147:10 Lit the legs of the man
  3. 147:14 Or peace
  4. 147:18 Or breath
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Proverbs 31:1-7

The Words of Lemuel

31 The words of King Lemuel,
a pronouncement[a](A) that his mother taught him:

What should I say, my son?
What, son of my womb?(B)
What, son of my vows?
Don’t spend your energy(C) on women
or your efforts on those who destroy kings.(D)
It is not for kings, Lemuel,
it is not for kings(E) to drink wine(F)
or for rulers to desire beer.
Otherwise, he will drink,
forget what is decreed,(G)
and pervert justice for all the oppressed.[b](H)
Give beer to one who is dying
and wine to one whose life is bitter.(I)
Let him drink so that he can forget his poverty
and remember his trouble no more.(J)

Footnotes:

  1. 31:1 Or of Lemuel, king of Massa, or of King Lemuel, a burden
  2. 31:5 Lit sons of affliction
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

12/27/2018 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 10:1-11:17, Revelation 18:1-24, Psalms 146:1-10, Proverbs 30:33

Today is the 27th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is a pleasure, it is a joy, and an honor to be here with you now, two day’s removed dry from Christmas, right? And we’re marching towards the end of this year and the beginning of the new year as fast as we possibly can and as slow as we possibly can because we have no control over it. It’s coming towards us but we do have control over how we finish this year and we have had a rhythm all year long, of allowing the Scriptures to speak into our lives in community among friends knowing that we’re not on this journey alone, not in the Scriptures, and not in life. And, so, that’s what we will continue to do, and we will finish this year strong. And, so, the next step forward leads us back into the book of Zechariah and today we will read chapters 10 and 11 of the book of Zechariah before moving back into the book of Revelation in the New Testament. And we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Zechariah 10:1 through 11:17.

Commentary:

Okay, so, how, fast Christmas comes and goes, right? A couple days removed and it’s like, you know, maybe you leave your Christmas lights up all the way through the new year, maybe you leave them up all the way through January, I don’t know, but a lot of us are thinking, “I just want to get thus stuff down, I want to get myself prepared, I want to get everything clean, you know, I want to go to the new yeur right.” And, so, how quickly it comes and goes, but just like we mentioned yesterday, there’s one thing that’s unique during the weeks between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s that our hearts naturally sense that a new beginning is coming. And that’s partly brought about because of the Advent season, because of the waiting and the longing for Christmas to arrive and for joy to be felt and for goodwill toward men to be felt all around the world as we rejoice together. And then we naturally sense that something new is coming. And, so, we start to consider the trajectory of our lives more than any other time of the year and that’s partly because our pace is disrupted. And, so, you know, this is the time we renew the gym memberships, this is the time we start to contemplate spirituality, this is the time we start thinking the deeper things, like, you know, we need to work harder at our marriage it. It's…that…we start thinking about what we’re gonna do next year and what we’re gonna become and achieve, what we’re gonna withdraw from. And one thing that we really should have noticed all year long, but one thing that we can deeply notice right now is that the book of Proverbs can be invaluable as a resource in figuring that out, in figuring out where we’re gonna go and what we’re gonna do, like what comes next with this next season that is upon us is going to look like, because Proverbs leads us deeper. Like, it leads us down toward the essence and the source of our desire for change. Because a lot of times, you know, like our New Year’s resolutions are balanced into our exterior lives. We want to lose some weight because we want to look better, right? And it’s less about, we want to lose weight because we want our organs to function more properly so that we can live longer. So, it’s like this balance where things are skewed to the exterior. We want a promotion at work or want to de-clutter our houses. But, Proverbs…Proverbs speaks to the deeper matters of the soul and it’s like the age worn wisdom of all time. And, so, it helps us to expose the motives of for why it is we want to make some sort of change, why we want to do something to improve ourselves. And the fact is that the wisdom of Proverbs has stood the test of time through lots and lots and lots of New Year’s days, way more New Year’s days then we get to experience upon this earth. And it stood the test of time. So, like, for example, what we read in Proverbs today is, you know, is short and compact but it’s direct and full of truth in the way that it tells us what’s obvious, but we usually ignore it. So, we were told the beating of cream will yield butter and striking the nose is gonna can cause bleeding, and so stirring up anger will cause quarrels. So, yeah, it’s like dah, if we churn cream butter will happen it. It’s true. Like, I can remember doing that as a kid once. And, yeah, you stir it and you stir it and you stir it and you stir it and it starts to get thicker and thicker and thicker and pretty soon you have butter. And, so, yeah, and also if you get punched in the nose you’re probably gonna get a bloody nose and it’s not gonna be a good scene. So, we would agree, like, yeah, that what happens. But we usually aren’t considering that the proverb has attached something else that is supposed to be obvious, like just as obvious as if you churn cream it will make butter or, if you punch someone in the nose it’s gonna bleed. Stirring up anger causes quarrels. So, let’s think about it. What do we want in the new year, more conflict or less conflict? Because Proverbs is telling us how to achieve either one of those goals. So, like, if we just thrive on turmoil and chaos well then, we should stir up more anger because that will get us where we want to go. But if we’d like to kind of reduce the chaos and the quarreling and the strife and the tension that just lingers like a cloud in  tumultuous relational times, then we need to stir up less anger, right? Proverbs is just telling us what is obvious and true without any prejudice or any nuance, just the truth. We usually hear the stark truth and will start formulating why it has to be the way that it has to be. Proverbs just like cuts through the crap and says, this is your choice, right? So, you want more conflict and strife, then stir up more anger and you will get it. But if you’re trying to reduce those things in your life, those stresses, and actually find something more harmonious then you gotta stir up less anger. And, so, to be clear, like, there are times we have to step into critical situations that may be confrontational, right? So, like, eliminating all anger isn’t gonna eliminate all conflict, but Proverbs is talking about our intentionality. So, like, churning cream is an intentional act and the outcome is butter. A punch in the nose is an intentional act. And deliberately stirring up anger by provoking somebody, whether your spouse or your child or your coworker or the by the person that might cut in front of you at the 75% off sale today, right? That’s an intentional thing and it’s nothing more than picking a fight. And if we’re gonna instigate a quarrel then, I mean, then we’re gonna get a quarrel. But we’re gonna get…we’re gonna get what we want. So, if we’ll incorporate this wisdom into our lives, this can become a rescue from so much unnecessary conflict as we move into the new year. And so, if we would achieve this, then we’re gonna have a lot more peace in our lives in the coming year, right? There’s gonna be a lot more harmony and continuity in our relationships, which is gonna allow us to pursue more meaningful and fruitful goals, which means that our New Year’s resolutions can be bigger than what….like…we can raise the bar…we can look higher…we can go farther. So, let’s remember, let’s remember Proverbs as a guide toward the changes that we want to shift into in the new year.

Prayer:

So, Holy Spirit, we invite You into that. What’s next Lord? What You seem to be speaking through Your word is that…that’s it’s deeper…it’s deeper than just what we can rearrange. Like, we can rearrange the furniture in our lives, but that’s all we’ve done is just move things around to make them look different when You are inviting us to do the deep work of the soul that will fundamentally shift us because we are then collaborating and cooperating with the work of sanctification. We are being transformed into Your likeness, we’re becoming Christlike, we’re becoming like You. And, so, when we do this work inside all these other things, this furniture moving around in our lives becomes unnecessary or we’re just moving things around naturally to accommodate a bigger life. So, come Holy Spirit as we contemplate what comes next, we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and it’s we’re you find out what’s going on around here.

And I have something to tell you that’s going on around here. And I did really good. Like, I didn’t cry during any readings or anything today. And I didn't…like…I kept the main thing the main thing, which is the Bible, but I am giddy to tell you this…and I would’ve told you yesterday, but everybody that needed to be told hadn’t been told and I’m not driving this ship, but now I’m told that I can tell. So, in a very, very well executed plan our daughter China’s boyfriend Ben, yeah, the boy did everything right and he completely kept his girlfriend off from…and she can figure out just about anything. It’s like really, really hard to surprise me and it’s really, really hard to surprise my daughter, but he did. And, so, on the evening of Christmas after everything was over and everyone was gone a little story was told in our living room and it ended up with…it ended up with Ben on his knees asking for China’s hand and her acceptance of his proposal. And, so we announce the engagement of our daughter China who has been a voice around here for the last decade, reading Daily Audio Bible kids and Daily Audio Bible teens and now Daily Audio Bible Chronological. And, so, new seasons are upon us and we couldn't…we couldn’t be more happy. She’s found her match and he’s found his match. And we think they’re a good match. And you can be a good match if you’re willing to put the work in and they seem to be willing to do that. you  So, Jill and I are, of course, you know, bringing up all the memories of her entire life that we can think of that…I mean…I don’t know…we look at a flower outside and it’s a memory of China, we look up at the sky and it’s a memory of China, we look at our car and it’s a memory of China or we look at the pavement and its memory of China or the sidewalk or…because everything right now is just reminding us…all those memories are flooding. Like, wow, how did it happen that this girl grew? She was…she was just little…how did this happen? Which is kind of how it works. Here we are at the end of the year. How did this happen? It seems we just started this journey and we’re like, right at the end of this journey as we’re going through the Bible. It just happens. And it happens pretty quick if you’re not paying attention. And, so, here we are, but we are very, very excited and truly overjoyed for what the future will bring. And, yeah, we always wondered, you know, what kind of man will capture this woman’s heart. And she found, you know, she’s been wise. She’s been a wise young lady her whole life and she’s done well. And we’re very, very excited about this coming year and what it holds and all that is out in front of us. So, together we [clapping]. I should get like some sort of…some sound effect. Hold on. [applause sound effect]. It’s always nice to…I should have let that play for a while. It’s always nice to share good news and we’ve shared all the news. You know, our families been in this Daily Audio Bible and committed to it for…well…we’re in the 14th year. And it’s been a seven day a week thing. And, so, that has profound effects over time. When you’re doing something every single day it becomes part of the rhythm of life. And, so, we’ve shared hard news among this community and difficulties along the way, but it’s always a joy to share welcome news, happy news and this is truly happy news. So, we congratulate China and Ben on their engagement. And, so, what do you say after that other than to say, you know, I love you and thank you…and thank you for sharing in this joyful moment with us as a part of this community as we move into the final days of this year.

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:

Love never fails. Father, thank You for Your mercy this day. Father, thank You for our sister in Christ, Janelle, a warrior of God, a blessing to her family, the loved ones You gifted her with. We are all a witnesses to Your glory as she demonstrates the power of the living word of God in her life and this prayer wall. Father, I stand ready with them, fully armored, learning, listening, loving, growing together, connected in the body forever, here, right now, today, this day You have made in love. Indeed Father, love  is the greatest of all, Your love, breathing the breath of life in her for all those You bring into her path today, truly a light, bright and clear in awe of You, Your power, the fear of God. Father, You are pure love that is more that we can think or imagine good, yet we are given each moment we choose to receive, a growing understanding. Each moment we seek You finding You the love that You’ve made in us in Your image from the beginning. Love is who we are, seeking You, finding You as You said in Your word, finding light everlasting You gave us through Your son, Your only child, Your love to believe, to become whose we are, children of the most high God, royalty of the King of Kings, whose blood covers us, whose DNA is inside us, and the Holy Spirit given to us the moment we choose to believe the living word. Father, thank You for Your love that cannot fail. Father You said You will not will not will not fail us three times most high God, three times. In the name of the Father the son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Eben in Tallahassee. I’m calling for the first time today. I’ve been listening all year and I’m in the October month right now but it’s December and I’ve been listening because I’m trying to become a minister and part of my process includes taking exams and one of them is what is in the Bible. And, so, I found you and I discovered a brand-new universe of connected Christians. And, so, I’m so thankful for all of you and for your prayers and for the Scripture and for the daily activity. And I just wanted to share that with you today. I’m on my way to a meeting that is part of my process and takes me to a next level to become a candidate and that from the is a game changer. And following this, I take the Bible content exam. So, I have you guys in my mind and in my heart and my soul as I take a step forward and I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for being there and thank you for listening to me and to each other and for having an open heart to God. Blessings to all of you. Amen.

This is Bobby It Is Well. I’m calling actually for confession. I know that the Lord…if I want to work on a weakness…I need to confess it, and this is one of the best places I know to do that. My confession is of fear of what others think of me. I know that this is a fear that we all struggle with. What do I say to people? How do I look? Do I look okay? Do they like me? And this is a weakness because I need to trust in God because it doesn’t matter. I need to trust in God that He is the only one who can help me. So, dear heavenly father, please help me as I repent of this sin of fear, a fear that led Peter into trouble into denying Christ three times, a fear that led Saul into no longer being your anointed. Dear heavenly father, help me let go of this fear, that you are the one who needs to know what I am doing and how I am. And if I am pleasing you than I am pleasing anyone else. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Hi, my name is Angelique and I am from the Pacific Northwest, Washington state and I am calling in regard to a prayer request I heard from Sharon from Southern California over a week ago or so. I have been praying for you, Sharon, and I just wanted to share that my mom, who’s now with Jesus, she passed away a year ago, she suffered from manic-depression. And, so I am familiar with the highs and lows and the pain that’s caused from that chemical in balance. But I’m just praying for you that her meanness will be turned to kindness, and anger will be turned to love, and her heart for you so that you’ll be able to see your grandkids again. I’ll also be praying for your relationship with her to be whole and healed, restored. That happened for me with my mom. And the last 14, 15 years of her life she didn’t want to hurt me anymore. She __ and she told me she was going to take her medicine consistently, which she did. And she was open to…just my comments when I noticed her behavior…her personality was changing she would go get checked out at the doctor and get her medicine adjusted. And, so, I’m hopeful and I saw God do amazing things in her life, actually all throughout her life. Her life is a testimony to God and I am so grateful that God gave me…

Hey, this is PG from NC, I’m calling, literally, I had to pull over the car and stop. I just heard Brian share the word of the year being “Maintain.” And I think it’s easy to think, maintain, that’s kind of a bland kind of blah kind of word, but when you said it Brian, I mean I literally had to stop the podcast of listening to the Christmas party because it exploded in me. And I’m not one who get alliteration. Like I don’t hear…I don’t think that way. And, so, I just want to really quickly tell you what I really believe I heard the Lord say. If we we’ll maintain our path He will our place. If we will maintain our pace He’ll maintain our priorities. It we’ll maintain our perspective He’ll maintain our purpose. If we’ll maintain our purity He’ll maintain our progress. And if we’ll maintain our prayer He’ll maintain our power. I don’t know about you but I’m really excited about 2019.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday December 27, 2018 (NIV)

Zechariah 10-11

The Lord Restores His People

10 Ask the Lord for rain
in the season of spring rain.
The Lord makes the rain clouds,
and he will give them showers of rain
and crops in the field for everyone.(A)
For the idols speak falsehood,
and the diviners(B) see illusions;
they relate empty dreams
and offer empty comfort.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.
My anger burns against the shepherds,
so I will punish the leaders.[a]
For the Lord of Armies has tended his flock,
the house of Judah;
he will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
The cornerstone(C) will come from Judah.[b]
The tent peg(D) will come from them
and also the battle bow(E) and every[c] ruler.
Together they will be like warriors in battle
trampling down the mud of the streets.
They will fight because the Lord is with them,
and they will put horsemen to shame.
I will strengthen the house of Judah
and deliver the house of Joseph.[d]
I will restore[e] them
because I have compassion on them,
and they will be
as though I had never rejected them.(F)
For I am the Lord their God,
and I will answer them.
Ephraim(G) will be like a warrior,
and their hearts will be glad as if with wine.
Their children will see it and be glad;(H)
their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.

I will whistle(I) and gather them
because I have redeemed(J) them;
they will be as numerous as they once were.
Though I sow(K) them among the nations,
they will remember(L) me in the distant lands;
they and their children will live and return.
10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to the land of Gilead(M)
and to Lebanon,
but it will not be enough for them.
11 The Lord[f] will pass through the sea of distress
and strike the waves of the sea;
all the depths of the Nile will dry up.(N)
The pride of Assyria will be brought down,
and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.
12 I will strengthen(O) them in the Lord,
and they will march(P) in his name—

this is the Lord’s declaration.

Israel’s Shepherds: Good and Bad

11 Open your gates, Lebanon,
and fire will consume your cedars.(Q)
Wail, cypress,(R) for the cedar has fallen;
the glorious trees are destroyed!
Wail, oaks of Bashan,(S)
for the stately forest has fallen!
Listen to the wail(T) of the shepherds,(U)
for their glory is destroyed.
Listen to the roar of young lions,(V)
for the thickets of the Jordan(W) are[g] destroyed.

The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter. Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished.(X) Those who sell them say: Blessed be the Lord because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them. Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue it from their hand.”(Y)

So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the oppressed of the flock.[h] I took two staffs, calling one Favor(Z) and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. In one month I got rid of three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let what is dying die, and let what is perishing perish; let the rest devour each other’s flesh.” 10 Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples. 11 It was annulled on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock[i] who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed my wages, thirty pieces of silver.(AA)

13 “Throw it to the potter,”[j] the Lord said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord, to the potter.[k](AB) 14 Then I cut in two my second staff, Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 The Lord also said to me: “Take the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are perishing, and he will not seek the lost[l] or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy,[m] but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep(AC) and tear off their hooves.

17 Woe to the worthless shepherd
who deserts the flock!(AD)
May a sword strike[n] his arm
and his right eye!
May his arm wither away
and his right eye go completely blind!”

Footnotes:

  1. 10:3 Lit male goats
  2. 10:4 Lit him
  3. 10:4 Lit also from him the..., from him every
  4. 10:6 = the northern kingdom
  5. 10:6 Other Hb mss, LXX read settle
  6. 10:11 Lit He
  7. 11:3 Lit for the majesty of the Jordan is
  8. 11:7 LXX reads slaughter that belonged to the sheep merchants
  9. 11:11 LXX reads and the sheep merchants
  10. 11:13 Syr reads treasury
  11. 11:13 One Hb ms, Syr read treasury
  12. 11:16 Or young
  13. 11:16 Or exhausted
  14. 11:17 Lit be against
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Revelation 18

The Fall of Babylon the Great

18 After this I saw another angel with great authority coming down from heaven,(A) and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. He called out in a mighty voice:

It has fallen,[a]
Babylon the Great has fallen!(B)
She has become a home for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
and a haunt[b] for every unclean and despicable beast.[c](C)
For all the nations have drunk[d]
the wine of her sexual immorality,
which brings wrath.(D)
The kings of the earth
have committed sexual immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth
have grown wealthy from her sensuality and excess.(E)

Then I heard another voice from heaven:

Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins(F)
or receive any of her plagues.
For her sins are piled up[e] to heaven,(G)
and God has remembered her crimes.(H)
Pay her back the way she also paid,(I)
and double it according to her works.(J)
In the cup in which she mixed,(K)
mix a double portion for her.
As much as she glorified herself and indulged her sensual and excessive ways,
give her that much torment and grief.
For she says in her heart,
“I sit as a queen;
I am not a widow,
and I will never see grief.”(L)
For this reason her plagues will come in just one day—
death and grief and famine.(M)
She will be burned up with fire,(N)
because the Lord God who judges(O) her is mighty.(P)

The World Mourns Babylon’s Fall

The kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and shared her sensual and excessive ways will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from her burning. 10 They will stand far off in fear of her torment,(Q) saying,

Woe, woe, the great city,(R)
Babylon, the mighty city!
For in a single hour
your judgment has come.

11 The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any longer— 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of fragrant wood products; objects of ivory; objects of expensive wood, brass,[f] iron, and marble; 13 cinnamon, spice,[g] incense, myrrh,[h] and frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine flour, and grain; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and slaves—human lives.(S)

14 The fruit you craved has left you.
All your splendid and glamorous things are gone;
they will never find them again.

15 The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, 16 saying,

Woe, woe, the great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet,
adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls;(T)
17 for in a single hour
such fabulous wealth was destroyed!

And every shipmaster, seafarer, the sailors, and all who do business by sea, stood far off 18 as they watched the smoke from her burning and kept crying out: “Who was like the great city?” (U) 19 They threw dust on their heads and kept crying out, weeping, and mourning,(V)

Woe, woe, the great city,(W)
where all those who have ships on the sea
became rich from her wealth;
for in a single hour she was destroyed.
20 Rejoice over her, heaven,
and you saints, apostles, and prophets,(X)
because God has pronounced on her the judgment(Y) she passed on you!

The Finality of Babylon’s Fall

21 Then a mighty angel(Z) picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,

In this way, Babylon the great city
will be thrown down violently(AA)
and never be found again.(AB)
22 The sound of harpists, musicians,
flutists, and trumpeters
will never be heard in you again;(AC)
no craftsman of any trade
will ever be found in you again;
the sound of a mill
will never be heard in you again;
23 the light of a lamp
will never shine in you again;
and the voice of a groom and bride
will never be heard in you again.(AD)
All this will happen
because your merchants
were the nobility of the earth,
because all the nations were deceived
by your sorcery.
24 In her was found the blood of prophets and saints,(AE)
and of all those slaughtered on the earth.(AF)

Footnotes:

  1. 18:2 Other mss omit It has fallen
  2. 18:2 Or prison
  3. 18:2 Other mss omit the words and a haunt for every unclean beast. The words and despicable then refer to the bird of the previous line.
  4. 18:3 Some mss read collapsed; other mss read fallen
  5. 18:5 Or sins have reached up
  6. 18:12 Or bronze, or copper
  7. 18:13 Other mss omit spice
  8. 18:13 Or perfume
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Psalm 146

Psalm 146

The God of Compassion

Hallelujah!
My soul, praise the Lord.(A)
I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing to my God as long as I live.(B)

Do not trust in nobles,
in a son of man,[a] who cannot save.(C)
When his breath[b] leaves him,
he returns to the ground;
on that day his plans die.(D)

Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,(E)
the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea and everything in them.(F)
He remains faithful forever,(G)
executing justice for the exploited
and giving food to the hungry.(H)
The Lord frees prisoners.(I)
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.(J)
The Lord raises up those who are oppressed.[c](K)
The Lord loves the righteous.(L)
The Lord protects resident aliens
and helps the fatherless and the widow,(M)
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.(N)

10 The Lord reigns forever;
Zion, your God reigns for all generations.(O)
Hallelujah!

Footnotes:

  1. 146:3 Or a mere mortal
  2. 146:4 Or spirit
  3. 146:8 Lit bowed down
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Proverbs 30:33

33 For the churning of milk produces butter,
and twisting a nose draws blood,
and stirring up anger produces strife.(A)

Cross references:

  1. 30:33 : Pr 10:12; 29:22
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.