Month: August 2019

Posted on

08/21/2019 DAB Transcript

Job 1:1-3:26, 1 Corinthians 14:1-17, Psalms 37:12-29, Proverbs 21:25-26

Today is the 21st day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we continue our journey through this week and as we continue the steps that take us through the entire Bible in a year. And, so, here we are at the threshold of a brand-new book in the Old Testament and we’re kind of gonna change complexions here now for the next little bit. We’re going to be exploring some of some of the darker parts of our lives, some of the pain of our lives and we’ll begin that journey with the next book that we’re moving into, the book of Job.

Introduction to the book of Job:

And Job, you know, and for that matter Ecclesiastes, which comes next, these…these books are about the difficulties of…of life. And, so, they kind of have a reputation. And so, when we get to this point in the Bible, this is some of my favorite parts of the Bible because the Bible becomes a friend and a companion in these kinds of seasons and normally when we’re in these kinds of seasons we go to the Bible to find the verses that will tell us that that it’s gonna be over soon and it’s going to be awesome, right? We’re looking for words of comfort, which is totally fine, but normally we’re trying to escape what’s happening instead of actually staying in it and being in it and inviting God into it without having any need to be false, without having any need to put frosting on top…like…to allow it to be what it is. And, so we’re about to begin the book of Job. So, let’s just get kind of get our bearings. So, Job is, I mean, historically, one of the most beautiful pieces of literature in the Bible and for that matter in all of history. And it’s a work that very poetically deals with the problem of evil and of suffering. It’s as if Job is ultimately asking, “why me? Like, why is this happening to me?” And then…and then wrestling for an answer to that question. So, when scholars try to figure out like, where did this story, where did Job come from, who was Job, then there’s a lot of dispute because there’s really not any historical context, and the book doesn’t really name anything that’s historical or any kind of historical figures that are known, like that could be searched from other directions. And, so, when you don’t have context then you have conjecture, you have to guess, which makes lots of people guess in lots of directions. And, so, you have disputes despite this. Scholars have come to a lot of consensus that Job may be of the most ancient books in the Bible and this happens for a lot of reasons. Even Jewish tradition has disparities, but some scholars believe that because the Hebrew is archaic in the original manuscripts and because there’s a uniqueness of words, like Job uses Hebrew words that are nowhere else in the whole Bible, that Job may have been contemporary with a patriarch like Abraham, or maybe Jacob. And then others believe that Job was written by maybe a scribe that was coming back from exile whose native tongue, even though they were Hebrew, they had been exiled, so their native language wasn’t Hebrew. And then many follow tradition that Job was written or at least collected by Moses. And if Moses wrote this book then he would be like writing an oral tradition that had been passed down for millennia or maybe…maybe he was writing theology on dealing with suffering and pain as a parable. So, you see like there’s…it’s so old and there’s so few clues that it cannot be pinned down. This isn’t the only book in the Bible that’s like that and we’ll talk about that as we go forward. But as we moved to through this book we’ll be dealing with the question of basically undeserved suffering and we’ll see that Job feels very, very much like he is experiencing undeserved suffering. And his friends are gonna come around him and they’re gonna help…they’re gonna try to help Job find the answers. And the interesting thing is that Job’s friends, as they’re giving advice to their friend who’s hurting, it’s not bad advice, like it’s valid advice. It’s the kind of advice we might be giving to a friend who’s suffering as well only to find out in the end that all of their good advice, as good as it might’ve been, they did not know at all what they were talking about. And, so, we’ll discover that as we’re shaking our fist at the sky, we’re demanding our answers for our suffering and then contrast that with…with the glory of God…that words fail…like…there’s nothing to say. God’s glory is infinite. His…His power is unknowable. His…His beauty is indescribable. It’s only God who can sustain our lives, but when we’re suffering, we’re usually asking why and we can’t always find an answer to that question, at least not immediately. And, so, the more that we demand the answers the more we become aware that we’ve…we’ve kind of put ourselves in a position of the highest judge, even to the point that we get angry and judge God, which is an incredibly scary thing to say and an even more scary thing to do even though we’re all guilty of it. So ultimately we’ll find that we can spend our whole lives looking for these answers. And I’ve spent lots of my life looking for these answers. But life has this way of leading us back to this same place, a precipice, where we have to take a deep of faith. Like at some point we can spend our whole life trying to find answers or we can spend our whole life trying to find God, which is what Job is trying to do and that distinction makes a huge difference in the outcomes of things and our understandings of things. And, so, with that, let’s begin. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week and we will read the first three chapters of the book of Job.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we began the book of Job, we read the first three chapters. So, we’re kind of launched into the predicament, right, so the situation that Job found himself in, which will be the theme of all the exploration and conversation that happens next. So, Job has a day like no other day, like no other day I have ever heard of in anyone’s life, right? So, systematically…and Job was a highly influential, highly respected, highly prosperous person, highly visible person. And, so, he had a lot of things going on and in one day, systematically, it all fell apart, right, from his flocks being raided and his servants being killed all the way to the wind that came out of the desert and blew on the four corners of his oldest son’s house, killing all of his children. It’s like one thing after the other and we all have probably said that, “like it’s one thing after the other” but not like Job, right? So, that puts some things into context because one thing after the other happened to him until by the end of the day everything is gone. What’s riveting, and this is one of the most riveting things in the Bible to me. Like when we get here every year, I stand in awe of a couple of things that happen in Job but one of them today because…because it’s the worst day imaginable…like I literally do not even know how to imagine that kind of day that Job had…I mean with…with the culmination being the death of his children. So yeah, I mean it's…it’s like…if anybody had any right at all to be bitter at this point its Job. Like, he has every right to be angry and confused and upset and just ranging but he doesn’t. He does tear his clothes. He does through ashes and dirt on his head and up in the air. He does all of that and that that’s customary. We do different things, but he has every right to do what he’s doing, but after he did all of the rituals that showed that he was grieving and morning he…he sat down and worshiped God. “Naked I came into this world, naked I will return. The Lord gave the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” What’s so riveting about that is just, I mean, when I face disruption, I might be able to stay in that place for five minutes and I have a faced anything like Job faced. So, like, we can all say that. Like we should all stand around this global campfire thinking of this predicament that Job’s in in awe because of his response, because of the posture of his heart. And Job’s gonna want to know why God’s letting this happen to him or for that matter he thinks God is doing this to him and he wants to know that. But where Job begins that journey, like where he begins to explore that question is in worship and that is striking. So, we met some of Job’s friends today. They came after they heard about the tragedy. And, so, they came and we’re gonna be…they’re gonna be with him the rest of this journey. And so, we’ll get to know them, we’ll get to know their voices but it’s really interesting what they did when they came, right? So, they came and they saw Job and they saw, wow, it may even be worse than we’ve heard and they wept aloud and they all tore their clothes and they threw dust in the air and on their heads. And then they sat down. They sat down with Job who was sitting down, and they sat down with him for seven days and nights and nobody said anything because they saw how bad he was suffering. And this is Shiva, this is the sitting Shiva, this is an an ancient Hebrew tradition, this is how you grieve. And it’s such a different practice then the way that we mostly grieve, right? So, if we’re grieving and our friends come over to us, then they’re gonna sit with us and they’re gonna try to say things that will make us feel better, “it’s gonna be okay, I’m sorry for your loss” or like these kind of things, try to engage in allowing the person to emote, “get it out” right? Whereas Shiva is a little different. Shiva is when you offer your presence, not your words. Like, you offer yourself, not how you can, you know, say something to make it all go away. You’re acknowledging, this horrible, this is unspeakable, this is…there are no words. And, so, you offer your presence and you sit and when the grieving one wants to speak then you speak. And when the grieving one wants to be silent then you be silent. You just are simply physically making your presence there. They are not alone. They are surrounded but they are not expected to deal with you or to agree with you or all the things that you’re saying because we enter grief really in an uncomfortable situation. And, so, we don’t really know what to say, when very very ancient practice is that you don’t have to say anything. You just have to be together, offer presence. Your words aren’t going to fix it. You don’t have the magic words that are gonna take the loss away or the pain away, but being willing to enter into it and be in it with the one you love, that means more than words. So, we’re just out of the gate but there’s already a lot for us to consider. There’s already so much there that’s just sitting there for us to ponder.

Prayer:

Father we invite You into this next season, this next section of the Scriptures that we are entering into because we have come to this point in the Bible and You’re about to force us to get really honest about a lot of things and we need that because we mask just about everything and we’re hiding in so many ways and You are giving us permission to be honest. So, come Holy Spirit into these next weeks as we move through this territory we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Song:

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord – Brent Bourgeois

May the day perish on which i was born, may the stars of its morning be dimmed.
Why is life given to the bitterness of souls, and to those who stand in anger of HIM?
Oh HE pierce my heart, and HE does not pitty HE rakes me with wound upon wound.
Remember I pray, that
YOU have made me out of clay, and YOU will return me to dust again soon.
Oh naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I shall return.
All the LORD gave, the LORD has taken away, Blessed be the name of the LORD!
He commands the sun and it does not rise, HE treads on the waves of the sea

Posted on

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday August 21, 2019 (NIV)

Job 1-3

Job and His Family

1 There was a man in the country of Uz(A) named Job.(B) He was a man of complete integrity,(C) who feared God and turned away from evil.(D) 2 He had seven sons and three daughters.(E) 3 His estate included seven thousand sheep and goats, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys,(F) and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man among all the people of the east.(G)

4 His sons used to take turns having banquets at their homes. They would send an invitation to their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for[a] all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts.”(H) This was Job’s regular practice.

Satan’s First Test of Job

6 One day the sons of God(I) came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan[b] also came with them. 7 The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

“From roaming through the earth,”(J) Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”

8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity,(K) who fears God and turns away from evil.”(L)

9 Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Haven’t you placed a hedge around(M) him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike(N) everything he owns, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

12 “Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “everything he owns is in your power. However, do not lay a hand on Job himself.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.

13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and reported: “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing nearby, 15 the Sabeans(O) swooped down and took them away. They struck down the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

16 He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported: “God’s fire fell from heaven.(P) It burned the sheep and the servants and devoured them, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

17 That messenger was still speaking when yet another came and reported: “The Chaldeans formed three bands, made a raid on the camels, and took them away. They struck down the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

18 He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported: “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house. 19 Suddenly a powerful wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people so that they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

20 Then Job stood up, tore(Q) his robe, and shaved(R) his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, 21 saying:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,(S)
and naked I will leave this life.[c](T)
The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.(U)

22 Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.[d](V)

Satan’s Second Test of Job

2 One day the sons of God(W) came again to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the Lord. 2 The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

“From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”

3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity,(X) who fears God and turns away from evil.(Y) He still retains his integrity, even though you incited me against him, to destroy him for no good reason.”

4 “Skin for skin!” Satan answered the Lord. “A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and strike(Z) his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

6 “Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “he is in your power; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan left the Lord’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.(AA) 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.(AB)

9 His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

10 “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.[e]

Job’s Three Friends

11 Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite,(AC) Bildad the Shuhite,(AD) and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort(AE) him. 12 When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud,(AF) and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.(AG) 13 Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights,(AH) but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering(AI) was very intense.

Job’s Opening Speech

3 After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born. 2 He said:

3 May the day I was born perish,
and the night that said,
“A boy is conceived.”(AJ)
4 If only that day had turned to darkness!
May God above not care about it,
or light shine on it.
5 May darkness and gloom(AK) reclaim it,
and a cloud settle over it.
May what darkens the day terrify it.
6 If only darkness had taken that night away!
May it not appear[f] among the days of the year
or be listed in the calendar.[g]
7 Yes, may that night be barren;
may no joyful shout(AL) be heard in it.
8 Let those who curse days
condemn(AM) it,
those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.(AN)
9 May its morning stars grow dark.
May it wait for daylight but have none;
may it not see the breaking[h] of dawn.
10 For that night did not shut
the doors of my mother’s womb,
and hide sorrow from my eyes.

11 Why was I not stillborn;
why didn’t I die as I came from the womb?(AO)
12 Why did the knees receive me,
and why were there breasts for me to nurse?(AP)
13 Now I would certainly be lying down in peace;
I would be asleep.(AQ)
Then I would be at rest(AR)
14 with the kings and counselors(AS) of the earth,
who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves,
15 or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses(AT) with silver.
16 Or why was I not hidden like a miscarried child,(AU)
like infants who never see daylight?
17 There the wicked(AV) cease to make trouble,
and there the weary find rest.
18 The captives are completely at rest;(AW)
they do not hear a taskmaster’s voice.(AX)
19 Both small and great are there,
and the slave is set free from his master.(AY)

20 Why is light given to one burdened with grief,
and life to those whose existence is bitter,(AZ)
21 who wait for death,(BA) but it does not come,
and search for it more than for hidden treasure,
22 who are filled with much joy
and are glad when they reach the grave?(BB)
23 Why is life given to a man whose path is hidden,(BC)
whom God has hedged in?
24 I sigh when food(BD) is put before me,[i]
and my groans pour out like water.(BE)
25 For the thing I feared has overtaken me,
and what I dreaded has happened to me.(BF)
26 I cannot relax or be calm;
I have no rest,(BG) for turmoil has come.

Footnotes:

  1. 1:5 Lit for the number of
  2. 1:6 Or the adversary
  3. 1:21 Lit will return there; Ps 139:13,15
  4. 1:22 Lit or ascribe blame to God
  5. 2:10 Lit sin with his lips
  6. 3:6 LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg; MT reads rejoice
  7. 3:6 Lit or enter the number of months
  8. 3:9 Lit the eyelids
  9. 3:24 Or My sighing serves as my food

Cross references:

  1. 1:1 : Jr 25:20; Lm 4:21
  2. 1:1 : Ezk 14:14,20; Jms 5:11
  3. 1:1 : Jb 2:3; 8:20; 9:20-22
  4. 1:1 : Jb 28:28; Pr 3:7
  5. 1:2 : Jb 42:13
  6. 1:3 : Jb 42:12
  7. 1:3 : 1Kg 4:30; Is 11:14; Jr 49:28; Ezk 25:4,10
  8. 1:5 : Jb 42:8
  9. 1:6 : Gn 6:2,4; Jb 2:1; 38:7
  10. 1:7 : 1Pt 5:8
  11. 1:8 : Ps 25:21; Pr 29:10
  12. 1:8 : Jb 28:28; Pr 3:7; 13:19; 14:16; 16:6,17
  13. 1:10 : Ps 34:7
  14. 1:11 : Jb 2:5; 4:5; 5:19
  15. 1:15 : Gn 10:7; Jb 6:19; Is 45:14
  16. 1:16 : Gn 19:24; 1Kg 18:38; 2Kg 1:10-14
  17. 1:20 : Gn 37:29,34; Jos 7:6; Jb 2:12
  18. 1:20 : Jr 7:29; Ezk 7:18; Mc 1:16
  19. 1:21 : Jb 3:10-11; 10:17-18; Jr 20:17-18
  20. 1:21 : Ps 139:13,15
  21. 1:21 : Jb 38:1; Ps 113:2; 118:26
  22. 1:22 : Jb 2:10
  23. 2:1 : Gn 6:2,4; Jb 1:6; 38:7
  24. 2:3 : Jb 6:29
  25. 2:3 : Jb 1:1,8; 28:28; Pr 3:7
  26. 2:5 : Jb 1:11; 4:5; 19:21
  27. 2:7 : Dt 28:27,35
  28. 2:8 : 2Sm 13:19; Jb 42:6
  29. 2:11 : Gn 36:34; 1Ch 1:45; Jb 42:9
  30. 2:11 : Gn 25:2; Jb 8:1; 18:1
  31. 2:11 : Jb 42:11; Ps 69:20; Jr 16:5
  32. 2:12 : Jdg 21:2; Ru 1:9,14; 2Sm 13:36
  33. 2:12 : Jos 7:6; Lm 2:10; Ezk 27:30
  34. 2:13 : Gn 50:10; Ezk 3:15; 45:21
  35. 2:13 : Gn 34:5; Jb 16:6; Ps 39:2
  36. 3:3 : Jb 5:7; Pr 23:25; Is 7:14
  37. 3:5 : Jb 10:21-22; 12:22; 28:3
  38. 3:7 : Jb 20:5; Ps 63:5
  39. 3:8 : Nm 22:11,17; Jb 5:3; Pr 11:26
  40. 3:8 : Jb 41; Ps 74:14; 104:26
  41. 3:10-11 : Jb 1:21; 10:17-18; Jr 20:17-18
  42. 3:12 : Sg 8:1; Is 66:12; Jl 2:16
  43. 3:13 : Ps 13:3; Jr 51:39,57; Mt 8:24
  44. 3:13 : Jb 17:16; Dn 12:13; Rv 14:13
  45. 3:14 : Is 14:9; Jr 51:57; Ezk 32:29
  46. 3:15 : Jb 17:13; 30:23; Ec 12:5
  47. 3:16 : Nm 12:12; Ps 58:8; Ec 6:3
  48. 3:17 : Jb 9:22; 11:20; 18:5
  49. 3:18 : Pr 1:33; Jr 30:10; 46:27
  50. 3:18 : Ex 3:7; 5:10,13-14; Jb 39:7
  51. 3:19 : Jb 9:22; Ec 9:2-3; Is 14:9-10
  52. 3:20 : Jb 23:2; Ps 71:20; Lm 1:4
  53. 3:21 : 1Kg 19:4; Jb 7:15; Jnh 4:3
  54. 3:22 : Jb 5:26; 10:19; 17:1
  55. 3:23 : Jb 19:8; Lm 3:9; Hs 2:6
  56. 3:24 : Jb 6:7; 33:20; Ps 102:4
  57. 3:24 : Ps 6:6; 22:1,14; 32:3
  58. 3:25 : Jb 9:28; 13:11; 30:15
  59. 3:26 : Jb 30:17; Pr 25:2; Ec 2:23
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.

1 Corinthians 14:1-17

Prophecy: A Superior Gift

14 Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. 2 For the person who speaks in another tongue[a](A) is not speaking to people but to God, since no one understands him; he speaks mysteries in the Spirit.[b] 3 On the other hand, the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening,[c] encouragement, and consolation. 4 The person who speaks in another tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. 5 I wish all of you spoke in other tongues,[d] but even more that you prophesied. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up.

6 So now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in other tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you with a revelation(B) or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 7 Even lifeless instruments that produce sounds—whether flute or harp(C)—if they don’t make a distinction in the notes, how will what is played on the flute or harp be recognized? 8 In fact, if the bugle makes an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?(D) 9 In the same way, unless you use your tongue for intelligible speech, how will what is spoken be known? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There are doubtless many different kinds of languages in the world, none is without meaning. 11 Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner[e] to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me. 12 So also you—since you are zealous(E) for spiritual gifts,[f](F) seek to excel in building up the church.

13 Therefore the person who speaks in another tongue should pray that he can interpret. 14 For if I pray in another tongue, my spirit(G) prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.(H) 15 What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing praise with the spirit, and I will also sing praise with my understanding. 16 Otherwise, if you praise with the spirit,[g] how will the outsider[h] say “Amen”(I) at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you may very well be giving thanks, but the other person is not being built up.

Footnotes:

  1. 14:2 language, also in vv. 4,13,14,19,26,27
  2. 14:2 Or in spirit, or in his spirit
  3. 14:3 Lit building up
  4. 14:5 languages, also in vv. 6,18,21,22,23,39
  5. 14:11 Gk barbaros, or barbarian
  6. 14:12 Lit zealous of spirits
  7. 14:16 Or praise by the Spirit
  8. 14:16 Lit the one filling the place of the uninformed

Cross references:

  1. 14:2 : 1Co 12:10
  2. 14:6 : 1Pt 4:13
  3. 14:7 : Rv 5:8; 14:2; 15:2
  4. 14:8 : Nm 10:9; Is 58:1; Jr 4:19; Ezk 33:3-6; Jl 2:1
  5. 14:12 : Nm 25:13; Gl 1:14
  6. 14:12 : Ps 51:11; Lk 11:34; Jn 1:33; Ac 2:4; Rm 8:9; Gl 5:25; Ti 3:5; 1Jn 4:1; Rv 3:22
  7. 14:14 : Ps 51:12
  8. 14:14 : Gl 5:22; Ti 3:14
  9. 14:16 : Ps 72:19; Rv 22:21
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 37:12-29

12 The wicked person schemes against the righteous
and gnashes his teeth at him.(A)
13 The Lord laughs at him(B)
because he sees that his day is coming.(C)

14 The wicked have drawn the sword and strung the[a] bow
to bring down the poor and needy
and to slaughter those whose way is upright.(D)
15 Their swords will enter their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.(E)

16 The little that the righteous person has is better
than the abundance of many wicked people.(F)
17 For the arms of the wicked will be broken,(G)
but the Lord supports the righteous.(H)

18 The Lord watches over the blameless all their days,
and their inheritance will last forever.(I)
19 They will not be disgraced in times of adversity;
they will be satisfied in days of hunger.(J)

20 But the wicked will perish;
the Lord’s enemies, like the glory of the pastures,
will fade away—
they will fade away like smoke.(K)

21 The wicked person borrows and does not repay,
but the righteous one is gracious and giving.(L)
22 Those who are blessed by the Lord will inherit the land,
but those cursed by him will be destroyed.(M)

23 A person’s steps are established by the Lord,
and he takes pleasure in his way.(N)
24 Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed,
because the Lord supports him with his hand.(O)

25 I have been young and now I am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned
or his children begging for bread.(P)
26 He is always generous, always lending,
and his children are a blessing.(Q)

27 Turn away from evil, do what is good,
and settle permanently.(R)
28 For the Lord loves justice
and will not abandon his faithful ones.(S)
They are kept safe forever,
but the children of the wicked will be destroyed.(T)
29 The righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it permanently.(U)

Footnotes:

  1. 37:14 Lit their

Cross references:

  1. 37:12 : Ps 31:13,20; 35:16
  2. 37:13 : Ps 2:4; 59:8; Hab 1:10
  3. 37:13 : 1Sm 26:10
  4. 37:14 : Ps 11:2; Lm 2:4
  5. 37:15 : 1Sm 2:4; Ps 46:9
  6. 37:16 : Pr 15:16; 16:8
  7. 37:17 : Ps 10:15
  8. 37:17 : Ps 145:14
  9. 37:18 : Ps 1:6
  10. 37:19 : Jb 5:20; Ps 33:19
  11. 37:20 : Ps 68:2; Hs 13:3
  12. 37:21 : Ps 112:5,9
  13. 37:22 : Pr 3:33
  14. 37:23 : 1Sm 2:9; Ps 66:9
  15. 37:24 : Ps 145:14; Pr 24:16; Mc 7:8
  16. 37:25 : Is 41:17
  17. 37:26 : Dt 15:8; Ps 112:5,9; Mt 5:42
  18. 37:27 : Ps 34:14; 102:28
  19. 37:28 : Dt 31:6; Heb 13:5
  20. 37:28 : Ps 21:10; Pr 2:22
  21. 37:29 : Pr 2:21; Is 60:21
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 21:25-26

25 A slacker’s craving will kill him
because his hands refuse to work.(A)
26 He is filled with craving[a] all day long,
but the righteous give and don’t hold back.(B)

Footnotes:

  1. 21:26 Lit He craves a craving

Cross references:

  1. 21:25 : Pr 10:4; 12:24; 13:4; 19:15,24
  2. 21:26 : Ps 37:26; Pr 11:24-25
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.

Posted on

08/20/2019 DAB Transcript

Esther 8:1-10:3, 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13, Psalms 37:1-11, Proverbs 21:23-24

Today is the 20th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and of course every day is…well…is a wonderful day to come around the global campfire together and just allow God’s word to speak to us, give ourselves permission for a few moments of serenity and focus, knowing that whatever is happening, it’ll have its space and time for us to deal with. Right now, we’re here together and we’ll be concluding the book of Esther. So, we started Esther a couple days ago and we’ll reach the conclusion of that story today before moving into our reading from first Corinthians. So, we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Esther chapters 8 through 10.

Commentary:

Okay. So, today we finished the book of Esther. Obviously, the story of Esther is incredibly dramatic, and it really comes at a welcome time after we’ve moved to so much genealogical record and just how…how profoundly the exiles affected the story. So, coming into Esther is like a breath of fresh air. So, I always enjoy reaching this point and actually all the points come next. So, it’s good to be here. But especially interesting thing about the book of Esther, the Greek Septuagint, which is a very early translation of the Bible from Hebrew into Greek has some additional versus, additional things in it than some of the original Hebrew manuscripts or the Latin Vulgate. Unless we think like we’re talking like…like recent translations, these are translations are way…like a thousand years older than the King James translation, so like way back. And, so, it’s really interesting. I’ve read the additions to Esther. And, so, when we’re reading like through Esther in the Bible now, we find Mordechai, you know, going to the Queen and saying, “for such a time as this” basically. And she knows that she has to risk her life. And, so, her attendants, they’re going to fast and pray and she instructs Mordechai to get people together to fast and pray, right? And, so some of these additions to Esther are those prayers, what they were praying for. So, if that’s fascinating to you, that kind of stuff is fascinating to me. I have read the additions to Esther. Like I’ve read that complete version of Esther, including the additions to Esther as well as some of the other apocryphal books and those are available in the Daily Audio Bible shop. Having completed that project. That was a long project. But I’ve read some of them. And, so, it’s a lot of historical information between the Old and New Testaments and stuff like that. So, if that’s intriguing to you, those are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop and the additions to Esther are there as well.

So, we concluded Esther and we haven’t concluded first Corinthians, but we’ve definitely gotten to the heart of this letter and we’ve reached one of the…like one of the most famous well-known pieces of Scripture in the whole Bible is first Corinthians chapter 13, right, the love chapter. So, a lot…you know…we’re mostly aware of this and many of you can quote this whole chapter but we don’t usually…and this is the funny thing about famous passages of Scripture. We know the passage, whether it’s one verse or even if it’s a whole chapter but we don’t know where it’s sitting, right, the context of where it’s sitting. So, what about this love chapter? What is the context? So, when we were reading first Corinthians yesterday Paul’s discussing spiritual gifts, and he shows like how everybody has a unique place and together all of our gifts make a whole, like a mosaic, like we’re all a piece of a greater whole, but together we make a whole. And he used our physicality, our human body as an example. Like, we have many parts to our bodies. Some of them you can see, some of them you can’t see, but all the different parts of the body are important to making up the whole body. And that’s how it is with what we call the body of Christ. We collectively, together on this earth are disciples of Jesus and we each are uniquely gifted, we’re each uniquely placed somewhere on this earth, and we each have full, complete permission to be exactly who we were created to be. In fact, that’s the point. We have to become who we were created to be in order for this body to be whole, in order for this body to thrive, right? So, that’s when Paul’s like, “I can’t say to the ear, I don’t need you or I can’t say to the foot…”, like it’s all needed for the body to thrive. And, so, a finger can’t say to a toe, “I don’t need you”. A finger actually needs to fully be a finger in order for the body to thrive. So, Paul’s showing us we’re all unique. We all need to be who we are. We all need each other. And because there are gifts in the mix they’re all needed. That’s what Paul’s discussing today - apostles and prophets, teachers, people who could work a miracle, people who could work with the gift of healing, people who are helpful, who are administrative, who are leaders, those who can speak in unknown languages. Paul’s basically saying, “look…we look at each other’s giftings and we wish we had those giftings things but can all of us have all of these things?” And, of course, that’s no. We can’t all be all of those things, but there is one thing that all of those gifting’s require, one thing that ties it all together, one thing that makes many separate things a whole -  love which is how we get to the love chapter. Paul says, “desire the greater gifts”, right? So, yes, desire and press into these gifting’s but I will show you an even better way. That’s what launches us into, “if I speak with the tongues of men of angels”. Like, that’s what gets us to the love chapter. And as we get into love chapter, right, he’s naming all these gifts…” if I speak with the tongues of men of angels, if I have the gift of prophecy, if I understand mysteries and knowledge, if I have faith that can even move mountains, if I give away everything I have, if I even give over my body, if I don’t have love, then these gifts have no purpose and they are not animated. Without love all of these gifting’s are nothing, right? Now, when you sit with that for second you understand the context of the love chapter then you realize, yeah, the love chapter stands on its own, but its context is incredibly disruptive because we’re chasing giftings, we’re like really trying to worship gifting’s. We’re being jealous and envious of each other’s gifting’s when what Paul is saying, yeah these are gifts. Nobody’s earned these gifts. They were bestowed. Everyone has gifts. Every gift is necessary to make up the whole body. We are all in this together whether we like it or not. We are part of the same whole.” But when we’re running around trying to worship the gifting or to perfect the gifting or get the gifting to get us attention or get us something and we don’t have love, then it’s empty. There’s nothing to it. Love is the thing that makes the gift work. Okay. So, then understanding that now we understand why Paul is trying to create a definition of what love looks like because nothing else will work without it. That’s when we get to the very famous part of this chapter. “Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, love is not boastful. Love is not arrogant. Love is not rude. Love is not self-seeking. Love is not irritable, and it does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. So, what Paul’s doing here is defining the characteristics of love certainly, but if you have a gifting and you do not have love, as defined here, then it doesn’t mean anything, right? So, if you are a great teacher, but you are boastful and arrogant and rude and self-seeking, then your gift does not matter, right? If you are a great manager, if you are a great administrator, like if you are a great strategic planner, but you aren’t patient and you are kind and you are envious, well then it just doesn’t matter, you’re only after what you can get. Like, you’re using your gifting for your own exaltation. It’s like a banging gong or a clanging cymbal according to the Scriptures. And Paul, after he defines this, he goes on. He’s like, “listen, all of these gifts everybody’s so enamored with. Like oh your gift is better than my gift or your gift is more prominent or more visible than my gift, all those things are all going away. All that we have right now is partial. We are moving toward the whole. The whole is coming and when the whole comes, like when we become fully whole then all the things that are in part will go away. So, like, don’t put all your stock in all of your gifting’s and all of your notoriety. Put it all in love because love is the only common denominator that’s going to go through all of this. All the other stuff will pass away.” In fact, Paul says, “look, in the end three things will be left standing - faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.

Prayer:

Father that…that takes us through some complex territory to get to something very fundamental and easy to understand because we understand love. We can’t explain love, but we can’t live without love and we know what love is. And, so, when we know when we are experiencing love, we know when we are giving love and we know when love is absent. And so often, we’re just not paying attention, we’re trying to develop our gifting’s, we’re trying to get somewhere, we’re trying to get somewhere even for You. We’re trying to use our gifting’s to build Your kingdom and not focusing on the question, “am I doing this in love? Like, is love the thing that’s animating this motivation?” So, help us to know Lord. If it’s not, then it’s going nowhere. It never could. We’re trying to push a boulder up a mountain if we don’t have love. So, come Holy Spirit, we invite You into that. How are we loving? That is what we will be known by, that is what our Savior Jesus said, “we will be known by our love” and now we’re seeing the apostle Paul say, “without it, nothing means anything and everything that we’re chasing is going to pass away anyway except love and faith and hope.” And, so we invite You into that today. What have we been chasing and not doing it in love at all? Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Posted on

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday August 20, 2019 (NIV)

Esther 8-10

Esther Intervenes for the Jews

8 That same day King Ahasuerus awarded Queen Esther the estate(A) of Haman, the enemy of the Jews.(B) Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed her relationship to Mordecai.(C) 2 The king removed his signet ring he had recovered from Haman(D) and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther put him in charge of Haman’s estate.

3 Then Esther addressed the king again.(E) She fell at his feet, wept, and begged(F) him to revoke the evil of Haman the Agagite(G) and his plot he had devised against the Jews.(H) 4 The king extended the gold scepter(I) toward Esther, so she got up and stood before the king.

5 She said, “If it pleases the king and I have found favor before him, if the matter seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes,(J) let a royal edict be written. Let it revoke the documents the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.(K) 6 For how could I bear to see the disaster that would come on my people?(L) How could I bear to see the destruction of my relatives?” (M)

7 King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther,(N) and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked[a] the Jews.(O) 8 Write in the king’s name whatever pleases you(P) concerning the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring.(Q) A document written in the king’s name and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”(R)

9 On the twenty-third day of the third month(S)—that is, the month Sivan—the royal scribes were summoned. Everything was written exactly as Mordecai(T) commanded for the Jews, to the satraps,(U) the governors, and the officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush.(V) The edict was written for each province in its own script, for each ethnic group in its own language,(W) and to the Jews in their own script and language.

10 Mordecai wrote in King Ahasuerus’s name and sealed the edicts with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers,(X) who rode fast horses(Y) bred in the royal stables.

11 The king’s edict gave the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate every ethnic and provincial army hostile to them, including women and children, and to take their possessions as spoils of war.(Z) 12 This would take place on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar.(AA)

13 A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to all the peoples(AB) so the Jews could be ready to avenge themselves against their enemies on that day. 14 The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses at the king’s urgent command. The law was also issued in the fortress of Susa.(AC)

15 Mordecai went from the king’s presence clothed in royal purple and white, with a great gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen.(AD) The city of Susa shouted and rejoiced,(AE) 16 and the Jews celebrated[b] with gladness, joy, and honor.(AF) 17 In every province and every city, wherever the king’s command and his law reached, joy and rejoicing took place among the Jews. There was a celebration and a holiday.[c](AG) And many of the ethnic groups of the land professed themselves to be Jews because fear of the Jews(AH) had overcome them.

Victories of the Jews

9 The king’s command and law(AI) went into effect on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month,(AJ) the month Adar. On the day when the Jews’ enemies(AK) had hoped to overpower them, just the opposite happened. The Jews overpowered those who hated them.(AL) 2 In each of King Ahasuerus’s provinces(AM) the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who intended to harm them.[d] Not a single person could withstand them; fear of them(AN) fell on every nationality.(AO)

3 All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the royal civil administrators[e](AP) aided the Jews because they feared Mordecai.(AQ) 4 For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace,(AR) and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful.(AS)

5 The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them.(AT) They did what they pleased to those who hated them. 6 In the fortress of Susa(AU) the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, 7 including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha. 10 They killed these ten sons(AV) of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews.(AW) However, they did not seize[f] any plunder.(AX)

11 On that day the number of people killed in the fortress of Susa was reported to the king. 12 The king said to Queen Esther, “In the fortress of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? Whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you seek will also be done.”(AY)

13 Esther answered, “If it pleases the king, may the Jews who are in Susa also have tomorrow(AZ) to carry out today’s law,(BA) and may the bodies of Haman’s ten sons(BB) be hung on the gallows.”(BC) 14 The king gave the orders for this to be done, so a law was announced in Susa, and they hung the bodies of Haman’s ten sons. 15 The Jews in Susa assembled again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar(BD) and killed three hundred men in Susa, but they did not seize any plunder.(BE)

16 The rest of the Jews in the royal provinces assembled, defended themselves, and gained relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand[g] of those who hated them,(BF) but they did not seize any plunder. 17 They fought on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar and rested on the fourteenth, and it became a day of feasting and rejoicing.

18 But the Jews in Susa had assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of the month. They rested on the fifteenth day of the month, and it became a day of feasting and rejoicing.(BG) 19 This explains why the rural Jews who live in villages observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a time of rejoicing and feasting. It is a holiday when they send gifts to one another.(BH)

20 Mordecai(BI) recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all of King Ahasuerus’s provinces, both near and far. 21 He ordered(BJ) them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar every year 22 because during those days the Jews gained relief from(BK) their enemies. That was the month when their sorrow was turned into rejoicing and their mourning into a holiday.(BL) They were to be days of feasting,(BM) rejoicing, and of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.

23 So the Jews agreed to continue the practice they had begun, as Mordecai had written them to do. 24 For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews,(BN) had plotted against the Jews to destroy them. He cast the Pur—that is, the lot—to crush and destroy them.(BO) 25 But when the matter was brought before the king,(BP) he commanded by letter that the evil plan Haman had devised against the Jews return on his own head(BQ) and that he should be hanged with his sons on the gallows.(BR) 26 For this reason these days are called Purim, from the word Pur.(BS) Because of all the instructions in this letter as well as what they had witnessed and what had happened to them, 27 the Jews bound themselves, their descendants, and all who joined(BT) with them to a commitment that they would not fail to celebrate these two days each and every year according to the written instructions and according to the time appointed. 28 These days are remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim will not lose their significance in Jewish life[h] and their memory will not fade from their descendants.(BU)

29 Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail,(BV) along with Mordecai the Jew,(BW) wrote this second letter with full authority(BX) to confirm the letter about Purim. 30 He sent letters with assurances of peace and security[i] to all the Jews who were in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, 31 in order to confirm these days of Purim at their proper time just as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had established them and just as they had committed themselves and their descendants to the practices of fasting(BY) and lamentation.(BZ) 32 So Esther’s command confirmed these customs of Purim, which were then written into the record.

Mordecai’s Fame

10 King Ahasuerus imposed a tax throughout the land(CA) even to the farthest shores.[j](CB) 2 All of his powerful and magnificent accomplishments(CC) and the detailed account of Mordecai’s great rank with which the king had honored him,(CD) have they not been written in the Book of the Historical Events of the Kings of Media and Persia?(CE) 3 Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus.(CF) He was famous among the Jews and highly esteemed by many of his relatives.(CG) He continued to pursue prosperity for his people and to speak for the well-being of all his descendants.(CH)

Footnotes:

  1. 8:7 Lit stretched out his hand against
  2. 8:16 Lit had light
  3. 8:17 Lit good day
  4. 9:2 Lit cities to send out a hand against the seekers of their evil
  5. 9:3 Lit and those who do the king’s work; Est 3:9
  6. 9:10 Lit not put their hands on, also in vv. 15,16
  7. 9:16 Some LXX mss read 10,107; other LXX mss read 15,000
  8. 9:28 LXX reads will be celebrated into all times
  9. 9:30 Or of peace and faithfulness
  10. 10:1 Or imposed forced labor on the land and the coasts of the sea

Cross references:

  1. 8:1 : Est 3:9; 5:11
  2. 8:1 : Est 3:10; 7:6
  3. 8:1 : Est 2:7,10
  4. 8:2 : Est 3:10,12
  5. 8:3 : Est 7:3-4,6
  6. 8:3 : Est 7:7
  7. 8:3 : Ex 17:8-16; Est 3:1
  8. 8:3 : Est 3:5-6,8-15
  9. 8:4 : Est 4:11; 5:2
  10. 8:5 : Est 2:17; 5:8; 7:3
  11. 8:5 : Est 3:13-14
  12. 8:6 : Est 4:13-14; 7:3-4
  13. 8:6 : Est 3:13
  14. 8:7 : Est 3:9; 5:11; 8:1; Pr 13:22
  15. 8:7 : Est 7:9-10
  16. 8:8 : Est 3:11
  17. 8:8 : Est 3:10,12; 8:2; Hg 2:23
  18. 8:8 : Est 1:19; Dn 6:8,12
  19. 8:9 : Est 3:7,12
  20. 8:9 : Est 3:12
  21. 8:9 : Ezr 8:36
  22. 8:9 : Est 1:1; 3:13; 9:30
  23. 8:9 : Neh 13:24; Est 1:22; 3:12
  24. 8:10 : Est 3:12-13
  25. 8:10 : 1Kg 4:26,28
  26. 8:11 : Est 3:13; 9:10
  27. 8:12 : Est 3:7
  28. 8:13 : Est 3:14
  29. 8:14 : Est 3:15
  30. 8:15 : Gn 41:42; Est 5:11; Dn 5:29
  31. 8:15 : Est 3:15
  32. 8:16 : Ezr 4:1-3; Ps 97:11
  33. 8:17 : Est 4:3
  34. 8:17 : Dt 11:25; Est 9:3
  35. 9:1 : Est 8:7-8,10
  36. 9:1 : Est 3:7; 8:12
  37. 9:1 : Est 3:10; 7:6; 8:1
  38. 9:1 : 2Sm 22:41; Est 3:5
  39. 9:2 : Est 1:1; 8:9; 9:30
  40. 9:2 : Est 8:17
  41. 9:2 : Est 3:12,14; 8:13,17
  42. 9:3 : Est 3:12; 8:9
  43. 9:3 : Est 8:17
  44. 9:4 : Est 10:2-3
  45. 9:4 : 2Sm 3:1; 1Ch 11:9
  46. 9:5 : Est 3:13
  47. 9:6 : Est 1:2; 3:15; 8:14
  48. 9:10 : Est 5:11
  49. 9:10 : Est 3:10; 7:6; 8:1
  50. 9:10 : Est 3:13; 8:11
  51. 9:12 : Est 5:6; 7:2; 8:8
  52. 9:13 : Est 8:12; 9:1
  53. 9:13 : Est 8:11
  54. 9:13 : Est 5:11
  55. 9:13 : Est 7:9-10
  56. 9:15 : Est 9:1
  57. 9:15 : Est 8:11
  58. 9:16 : Lv 26:7-8; Est 9:5
  59. 9:18 : Est 8:16-17
  60. 9:19 : Neh 8:10,12; Est 9:22
  61. 9:20 : Est 8:15
  62. 9:21 : Est 8:15; 9:3-4
  63. 9:22 : Est 4:14
  64. 9:22 : Ps 30:11
  65. 9:22 : Est 8:17
  66. 9:24 : Est 3:1,10; 7:6
  67. 9:24 : Est 3:6-7
  68. 9:25 : Est 7:3-6
  69. 9:25 : Ps 7:16
  70. 9:25 : Est 5:14; 7:9-10; 9:13-14
  71. 9:26 : Est 3:7
  72. 9:27 : Est 8:17; Is 56:3,6; Zch 2:11
  73. 9:28 : Jos 4:6-7; 1Co 11:24-25
  74. 9:29 : Est 2:7,15
  75. 9:29 : Est 3:4-6; 5:13
  76. 9:29 : Est 8:8; Dn 6:8
  77. 9:31 : Est 4:16
  78. 9:31 : Est 4:1-3
  79. 10:1 : Est 1:1; 8:9
  80. 10:1 : Is 11:11; 24:15
  81. 10:2 : Est 1:4
  82. 10:2 : Est 8:15
  83. 10:2 : Est 2:23; 6:1-2
  84. 10:3 : Gn 41:40-43; 2Ch 28:7; Est 8:15; Dn 5:7
  85. 10:3 : Est 8:16-17
  86. 10:3 : Neh 2:10
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.

1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13

27 Now you are the body of Christ,(A) and individual members of it. 28 And God has appointed these in the church:(B) first apostles, second prophets, third teachers,(C) next miracles,(D) then gifts of healing,(E) helping, administrating, various kinds of tongues.[a] 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in other tongues? Do all interpret?(F) 31 But desire(G) the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way.

Love: The Superior Way

13 If I speak human or angelic tongues[b] but do not have love,(H) I am a noisy gong(I) or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy(J) and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains(K) but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast[c] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient,(L) love is kind. Love does not envy,(M) is not boastful, is not arrogant,(N) 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking,(O) is not irritable,(P) and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.(Q) 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures(R) all things.

8 Love never ends.(S) But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. 12 For now we see only a reflection[d] as in a mirror, but then face to face.(T) Now I know in part, but then I will know fully,(U) as I am fully known.(V) 13 Now these three remain: faith, hope,(W) and love—but the greatest of these is love.

Footnotes:

  1. 12:28 languages, also in v. 30
  2. 13:1 languages, also in v. 8
  3. 13:3 Other mss read body to be burned
  4. 13:12 Lit we see indirectly

Cross references:

  1. 12:27 : Eph 1:23; Col 1:18
  2. 12:28 : Mt 16:18; 1Co 14:4; Rv 1:4
  3. 12:28 : Eph 4:11; Jms 3:1
  4. 12:28 : Mk 13:22
  5. 12:28 : 1Co 12:9
  6. 12:30 : Lk 24:27
  7. 12:31 : Nm 25:13; Jms 4:2
  8. 13:1 : Jn 13:35; 1Jn 4:7-12
  9. 13:1 : Mt 10:9
  10. 13:2 : 1Co 14:1,3-6,22-39; Eph 4:11; 1Th 5:20
  11. 13:2 : Mt 17:20
  12. 13:4 : 1Th 5:14
  13. 13:4 : Nm 25:13; Gl 4:17
  14. 13:4 : 1Co 4:6
  15. 13:5 : Mk 10:45; Php 2:4
  16. 13:5 : Ac 17:16
  17. 13:6 : Ps 119:142; Jn 8:14; 14:6
  18. 13:7 : Jms 1:12
  19. 13:8 : Mt 7:25,27; Lk 6:49; 11:17; 13:4; 16:17; Ac 15:16; Heb 11:30; Rv 11:13; 16:19
  20. 13:12 : 1Jn 3:2
  21. 13:12 : Pr 2:6; Jn 17:3; 1Jn 4:8
  22. 13:12 : 1Co 8:3; Gl 4:9
  23. 13:13 : 1Th 1:3
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 37:1-11

Psalm 37

Instruction in Wisdom

Of David.

1 Do not be agitated by evildoers;
do not envy those who do wrong.(A)
2 For they wither quickly like grass
and wilt like tender green plants.(B)

3 Trust in the Lord and do what is good;(C)
dwell in the land and live securely.[a](D)
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart’s desires.(E)

5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act,(F)
6 making your righteousness shine like the dawn,
your justice like the noonday.(G)

7 Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him;(H)
do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way,
by the person who carries out evil plans.(I)

8 Refrain from anger and give up your rage;
do not be agitated—it can only bring harm.(J)
9 For evildoers will be destroyed,
but those who put their hope in the Lord
will inherit the land.(K)

10 A little while, and the wicked person will be no more;
though you look for him, he will not be there.(L)
11 But the humble will inherit the land(M)
and will enjoy abundant prosperity.(N)

Footnotes:

  1. 37:3 Or and cultivate faithfulness, or and befriend faithfulness

Cross references:

  1. 37:1 : Ps 73:3; Pr 3:31; 23:17; 24:19
  2. 37:2 : Ps 92:7; 129:6; Jms 1:11
  3. 37:3 : Ps 62:8
  4. 37:3 : Pr 2:21
  5. 37:4 : Ps 21:2; 145:19; Is 58:14
  6. 37:5 : Ps 55:22; Pr 16:3; 1Pt 5:7
  7. 37:6 : Ps 97:11; Is 58:8,10
  8. 37:7 : Ps 40:1; Lm 3:26
  9. 37:7 : Jr 12:1
  10. 37:8 : Eph 4:31; Col 3:8
  11. 37:9 : Pr 2:21; Is 57:13; 60:21
  12. 37:10 : Jb 7:10; 24:24; Ps 37:35-36
  13. 37:11 : Mt 5:5
  14. 37:11 : Ps 72:7
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 21:23-24

23 The one who guards his mouth and tongue
keeps himself out of trouble.(A)

24 The arrogant and proud person, named “Mocker,”
acts with excessive arrogance.(B)

Cross references:

  1. 21:23 : Pr 12:13; 13:3; Jms 3:2
  2. 21:24 : Ps 1:1; Pr 1:22; 21:11
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.

Posted on

08/19/2019 DAB Transcript

Esther 4:1-7:10, 1 Corinthians 12:1-26, Psalms 36:1-12, Proverbs 21:21-22

Today is the 19th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s my pleasure, it is a true joy to be here around the global campfire with you as we enter a new workweek. And as we enter this new workweek, we will continue the journey that we began yesterday through the book, known as Esther, which is certainly highly drama…a highly drama filled book with a lot of intrigue and very high stakes. So, let’s pick up where we left off. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Today, Esther chapters 4 through 7.

Commentary:

Okay. So, obviously the book of Esther is a pretty dramatic book, a very dramatic story and a bunch of tension was very, very present in our reading today. Haman devised a plan to destroy the Jewish people throughout the entire Persian kingdom. He got the king to go along with it. Nobody knew that the Queen Esther was a Jewess and then this law is passed instructing the enemies of the Jews to destroy and pillage them, which was to happen on a specific day. And, so, obviously when the news arrived throughout the kingdom the Jews were horrified, and the people were confused. And, so Mordechai put sackcloth and ashes on, he sends word to Esther and he pleads for her to go into the king and plead on behalf of the people and he tells her you may have been made Queen for just such a time as this. Of course, we know that the drama just increases, right? So, Haman’s gonna kill Mordechai on a gallows he has built, but instead the king has an honor Haman and realizes like he’s about to have a downfall and then he goes to this banquet with Queen Esther and boom, that’s the end of Haman. That’s not the end of the story. We’ll get to the end of the story tomorrow.

And in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he’s answering a question about spiritual gifts and he’s basically saying, “look, there are many kinds of spiritual gifts, but there is only one spirit to give these spiritual gifts out and this one Spirit is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit gives out these gifts as He sees fit”, right? So, he outlines the different gifts like wisdom or special knowledge or great faith or healing or miracles or prophecy or discernment or speaking in unknown languages and also the interpretation of unknown languages. He bestows these gifts and they are given to be used to serve the greater whole, which is the body. And then he describes the body of Christ as we know it in terms of a human body, right? There’s many parts in our bodies and no part can really say to any other part, I don’t need you because that’s not true. Every part is needed. And, so, the eye can’t say to the ear, “I don’t need you” or the head can’t look at the feet and say, “I don’t need you” and like the ear can’t look at the eye and say, “well I guess I’m not a part of the body because I’m not an eye.” Every part makes up a whole. The head is Christ and everything that we can do is given by the Spirit. So, it’s clear enough and it’s certainly famous enough that we should probably have this down pat by now, but we don’t because all we have to do is look around and see that were not living like this is described. Paul’s giving us permission to be exactly who we were created to be. We are already irreplaceable. There is great freedom in this. We don’t have to compare our gifting, we don’t have to look at our status in God’s kingdom as if that could be known. We are who we were created to be. We’re supposed to be who we are, ourselves, rather than wishing that we were living somebody else’s life. And so, as we move into this day and further into this week let’s live into that. Like, just…just try it today, right? Like just try, knowing that you have full permission from God to be yourself and you don’t have to look at anybody else and what they’re doing and what they’re gifting’s are to try to find out how well you are doing. It’s an incorrect comparison. They’re telling a different story than you are. You have your story to tell. You are an irreplaceable part of the body of Christ. So, whenever you feel like envy at somebody’s gifting’s, remember that you…you have a unique gift and you’re needed, and God is the source of all our giftings and all of it matters because it all makes up a whole. We’re all needed.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite You into that because it’s a struggle. We’re constantly looking at someone else with envy, wishing we could have what they have or to be able to do what they do or we’re looking at them and just condemning ourselves for not measuring up and it just leads us into all kinds of dark places for no reason. We are Your child. We are Your son or daughter. That…that’s really all there is to say, because after that it’s all downhill. And, so, we are already at the top here. We are Your child and You have allowed us to live upon this earth and reveal Your kingdom as only we can and yet we’re spending so much time trying to be somebody else or trying so hard to change circumstances. And, yeah, circumstances may need to be changed, we may have dug a pit. But every day that we would be true and every day that we would be ourselves and every day that we would follow Your Spirits guidance would be a step in the right direction. So, help us take that next right step today. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, its our Internet house, its home, its where you find out what’s going on around. And, so, be sure to stay tuned and stay connected.

The Daily Audio Bible Family Gathering is coming up in just a couple of weeks and during this coming week we’ll be closing registration. We’ve gotta turn everything into the camp and start getting ready. So, if you wanting to come you can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Look for Family Reunion 2019 and I hope you can be there. We’ll be there and if we’re all there together it’s certain to be a great time and it certainly was last year. So, looking forward to that in a couple of weeks.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link that stays on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Posted on

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday August 19, 2019 (NIV)

Esther 4-7

Mordecai Appeals to Esther

4 When Mordecai learned all that had occurred,(A) he tore his clothes,(B) put on sackcloth and ashes,(C) went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly.(D) 2 He went only as far as the King’s Gate,(E) since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King’s Gate. 3 There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king’s command and edict(F) came. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.(G)

4 Esther’s female servants and her eunuchs came and reported the news to her, and the queen was overcome with fear.(H) She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear so that he would take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept them. 5 Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who attended her, and dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what he was doing and why.[a] 6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the King’s Gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened as well as the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay the royal treasury for the slaughter of the Jews.(I)

8 Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa ordering their destruction, so that Hathach might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and command her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead with him personally for her people.(J) 9 Hathach came and repeated Mordecai’s response to Esther.

10 Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to tell Mordecai, 11 “All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard(K) and who has not been summoned—the death penalty—(L) unless the king extends the gold scepter, allowing that person to live.(M) I have not been summoned to appear before the king(N) for the last[b] thirty days.” 12 Esther’s response was reported to Mordecai.

13 Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, “Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s palace. 14 If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place,(O) but you and your father’s family will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”(P)

15 Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days,(Q) night or day. I and my female servants will also fast(R) in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law.(S) If I perish, I perish.”(T) 17 So Mordecai went and did everything Esther had commanded him.

Esther Approaches the King

5 On the third day,(U) Esther dressed in her royal clothing and stood in the inner courtyard(V) of the palace facing it. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom,[c] facing its entrance. 2 As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she gained favor in his eyes. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.(W)

3 “What is it, Queen Esther?” the king asked her. “Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be given to you.”(X)

4 “If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet(Y) I have prepared for them.”

5 The king said, “Hurry, and get Haman so we can do as Esther has requested.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared.

6 While drinking the[d] wine,(Z) the king asked Esther, “Whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be done.”

7 Esther answered, “This is my petition and my request: 8 If I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and perform my request,(AA) may the king and Haman come to the banquet I will prepare for them.(AB) Tomorrow I will do what the king has asked.”

9 That day Haman left full of joy and in good spirits.[e](AC) But when Haman saw Mordecai at the King’s Gate, and Mordecai didn’t rise or tremble in fear at his presence, Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.(AD) 10 Yet Haman controlled himself and went home. He sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh(AE) to join him. 11 Then Haman described for them his glorious wealth and his many sons. He told them all how the king had honored him and promoted him in rank over the other officials and the royal staff.(AF) 12 “What’s more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she had prepared. I am invited again tomorrow to join her with the king. 13 Still, none of this satisfies me since I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King’s Gate all the time.”

14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows seventy-five feet[f] tall.(AG) Ask the king in the morning to hang Mordecai on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows constructed.(AH)

Mordecai Honored by the King

6 That night sleep escaped(AI) the king, so he ordered the book recording daily events to be brought and read to the king. 2 They found the written report of how Mordecai had informed on Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, when they planned to assassinate King Ahasuerus.(AJ) 3 The king inquired, “What honor and special recognition have been given to Mordecai for this act?” (AK)

The king’s personal attendants replied, “Nothing has been done for him.”

4 The king asked, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman was just entering the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.(AL)

5 The king’s attendants answered him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”

“Have him enter,” the king ordered. 6 Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king wants to honor?” (AM)

Haman thought to himself, “Who is it the king would want to honor more than me?” 7 Haman told the king, “For the man the king wants to honor: 8 Have them bring a royal garment that the king himself has worn(AN) and a horse the king himself has ridden,(AO) which has a royal crown on its head. 9 Put the garment and the horse under the charge of one of the king’s most noble officials.(AP) Have them clothe the man the king wants to honor, parade him on the horse through the city square, and proclaim before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.’”

10 The king told Haman, “Hurry, and do just as you proposed. Take a garment and a horse for Mordecai the Jew,(AQ) who is sitting at the King’s Gate. Do not leave out anything you have suggested.”

11 So Haman took the garment and the horse. He clothed Mordecai and paraded him through the city square, crying out before him, “This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.”

12 Then Mordecai returned to the King’s Gate,(AR) but Haman hurried off for home, mournful and with his head covered.(AS) 13 Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends(AT) everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai is Jewish, and you have begun to fall before him, you won’t overcome him, because your downfall is certain.”(AU) 14 While they were still speaking with him, the king’s eunuchs(AV) arrived and rushed Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared.(AW)

Haman Is Executed

7 The king and Haman came to feast[g](AX) with Esther the queen. 2 Once again, on the second day while drinking wine,(AY) the king asked Esther, “Queen Esther, whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you seek, even to half the kingdom, will be done.”(AZ)

3 Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your eyes, Your Majesty, and if the king is pleased,(BA) spare my life; this is my request. And spare my people; this is my desire.(BB) 4 For my people and I have been sold(BC) to destruction, death, and extermination.(BD) If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves,(BE) I would have kept silent. Indeed, the trouble wouldn’t be worth burdening the king.”

5 King Ahasuerus spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?” [h](BF)

6 Esther answered, “The adversary and enemy(BG) is this evil Haman.”

Haman stood terrified(BH) before the king and queen. 7 The king arose in anger(BI) and went from where they were drinking wine to the palace garden.[i](BJ) Haman remained to beg Queen Esther for his life because he realized the king was planning something terrible for him.(BK) 8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall,[j] Haman was falling on the couch(BL) where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually violate the queen while I am in the house?” As soon as the statement left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.(BM)

9 Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs,(BN) said: “There is a gallows seventy-five feet[k] tall at Haman’s house that he made for Mordecai,(BO) who gave the report that saved[l] the king.”(BP)

The king said, “Hang him on it.”

10 They hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.(BQ) Then the king’s anger subsided.(BR)

Footnotes:

  1. 4:5 Lit what is this and why is this
  2. 4:11 Lit king these
  3. 5:1 Lit house
  4. 5:6 Lit During the banquet of
  5. 5:9 Lit left rejoicing and good of heart
  6. 5:14 Lit 50 cubits
  7. 7:1 Lit drink
  8. 7:5 Lit who would fill his heart to do this
  9. 7:7 Lit the garden of the house, also in v. 8
  10. 7:8 Or the house of wine
  11. 7:9 Lit 50 cubits
  12. 7:9 Lit who spoke good for

Cross references:

  1. 4:1 : Est 3:7-15
  2. 4:1 : 2Sm 1:11; 3:31; Ezr 9:3
  3. 4:1 : Is 58:5; Dn 9:3
  4. 4:1 : Ex 11:6
  5. 4:2 : Est 2:19; 3:2
  6. 4:3 : Est 3:12-15
  7. 4:3 : Est 8:17; Is 58:5; Dn 9:3; Jnh 3:5-6
  8. 4:4 : Est 7:6
  9. 4:7 : Est 3:9-15
  10. 4:8 : Est 7:3-4
  11. 4:11 : Est 5:1
  12. 4:11 : Dn 2:9,12-13
  13. 4:11 : Est 5:2; 8:4
  14. 4:11 : Est 2:14
  15. 4:14 : Gn 50:20
  16. 4:14 : Gn 45:5-7
  17. 4:16 : Est 5:1; Jl 1:14
  18. 4:16 : Est 9:31
  19. 4:16 : Est 5:1-2
  20. 4:16 : Gn 43:14
  21. 5:1 : Est 4:16
  22. 5:1 : Est 4:11
  23. 5:2 : Est 8:4
  24. 5:3 : Est 7:2; Mk 6:23
  25. 5:4 : Est 1:3,5; 2:18
  26. 5:6 : Est 1:7-8,10; 7:1-2
  27. 5:8 : Est 7:3; 8:5
  28. 5:8 : Est 6:14
  29. 5:9 : 1Kg 8:66; 2Ch 7:10; Pr 15:15
  30. 5:9 : Est 2:19; 3:2,5
  31. 5:10 : Est 6:13
  32. 5:11 : Est 3:1
  33. 5:14 : Est 6:4; 7:9-10
  34. 5:14 : Est 6:13
  35. 6:1 : Dn 6:18
  36. 6:1-2 : Est 2:21-23
  37. 6:3 : Est 10:2-3; Dn 2:48
  38. 6:4 : Est 5:14
  39. 6:6 : Est 3:8-9
  40. 6:8-9 : Gn 41:42-43
  41. 6:8 : 1Kg 1:33
  42. 6:9 : Est 5:11
  43. 6:10 : Est 3:6
  44. 6:12 : Est 5:9,13
  45. 6:12 : 2Sm 15:30
  46. 6:13 : Est 5:10,14
  47. 6:13 : Dt 32:10; Zch 2:8
  48. 6:14 : Est 1:10-11
  49. 6:14 : Est 5:7-8
  50. 7:1 : Gn 40:20
  51. 7:2 : Est 5:6
  52. 7:2 : Est 5:3,6
  53. 7:3 : Est 2:17; 5:8
  54. 7:3 : Est 4:12-14
  55. 7:4 : Est 3:9,13; 4:7
  56. 7:4 : Est 3:13; 8:11; 9:5-10
  57. 7:4 : Dt 28:48,68
  58. 7:5 : Est 3:5-6,8-9
  59. 7:6 : Est 3:10
  60. 7:6 : Est 4:4
  61. 7:7 : Est 1:12; Pr 20:2
  62. 7:7 : Est 1:5-6
  63. 7:7 : Est 6:13
  64. 7:8 : Est 1:6
  65. 7:8 : Est 6:12; Jb 9:24
  66. 7:9 : Est 1:12
  67. 7:9 : Est 5:14
  68. 7:9 : Est 2:21-23; 6:1-2
  69. 7:10 : Est 5:14; Ps 7:16; 94:23; Pr 11:5,6; Dn 6:24
  70. 7:10 : Est 1:12; 2:1
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.

1 Corinthians 12:1-26

Diversity of Spiritual Gifts

12 Now concerning spiritual gifts:[a] brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you used to be enticed and led astray by mute(A) idols.(B) 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

4 Now there are different gifts,(C) but the same Spirit. 5 There are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are different activities, but the same God produces each gift in each person. 7 A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person(D) for the common good: 8 to one(E) is given a message of wisdom(F) through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, 9 to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing(G) by the one Spirit, 10 to another, the performing of miracles,(H) to another, prophecy,(I) to another, distinguishing between spirits,(J) to another, different kinds of tongues,[b] to another, interpretation of tongues. 11 One and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as he wills.

Unity Yet Diversity in the Body

12 For just as the body is one(K) and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ.(L) 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.(M) 14 Indeed, the body is not one part but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted.(N) 19 And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. 23 And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable,(O) we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, 24 which our respectable parts do not need.

Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, 25 so that there would be no division(P) in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. 26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Footnotes:

  1. 12:1 Or spiritual things, or spiritual people
  2. 12:10 languages
  3. 12:13 Or with, or in

Cross references:

  1. 12:2 : Ac 8:32; 1Co 14:10; 2Pt 2:16
  2. 12:2 : 1Co 8:4
  3. 12:4 : Rm 12:6; 1Co 14:1; Eph 4:8; Heb 2:4; 1Pt 4:10
  4. 12:7 : Jms 4:5
  5. 12:8-10 : Rm 12:7-8; Eph 4:11; 1Pt 4:11
  6. 12:8 : 1Co 2:6-7
  7. 12:9 : Lk 13:32; Ac 4:22,30; 10:38
  8. 12:10 : Ac 19:11
  9. 12:10 : 1Co 13:2
  10. 12:10 : 1Jn 4:1-3
  11. 12:12 : Jn 11:52
  12. 12:12 : Eph 4:4
  13. 12:13 : Gl 3:28; Eph 2:13-18; Col 3:11
  14. 12:18 : Ps 143:10; Pr 16:9; Jn 5:30; Gl 1:4; Eph 1:9; 1Jn 2:17
  15. 12:23 : Mk 6:4; 1Pt 2:7
  16. 12:25 : 1Co 1:10
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 36

Psalm 36

Human Wickedness and God’s Love

For the choir director. Of David, the Lord’s servant.

1 An oracle within my heart
concerning the transgression of the wicked person:
Dread of God has no effect on him.[a](A)
2 For with his flattering opinion of himself,
he does not discover and hate his iniquity.(B)
3 The words from his mouth are malicious and deceptive;(C)
he has stopped acting wisely and doing good.(D)
4 Even on his bed he makes malicious plans.(E)
He sets himself on a path that is not good,
and he does not reject evil.(F)

5 Lord, your faithful love reaches to heaven,
your faithfulness to the clouds.(G)
6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your judgments like the deepest sea.(H)
Lord, you preserve people and animals.(I)
7 How priceless your faithful love is, God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.(J)
8 They are filled from the abundance of your house.
You let them drink from your refreshing stream.(K)
9 For the wellspring of life is with you.(L)
By means of your light we see light.(M)

10 Spread your faithful love over those who know you,
and your righteousness over the upright in heart.(N)
11 Do not let the foot of the arrogant come near me
or the hand of the wicked drive me away.(O)
12 There! The evildoers have fallen.
They have been thrown down and cannot rise.(P)

Footnotes:

  1. 36:1 Lit There is no dread of God in front of his eyes

Cross references:

  1. 36:1 : Rm 3:18
  2. 36:2 : Dt 29:19; Ps 10:3; 49:18
  3. 36:3 : Ps 10:7
  4. 36:3 : Jr 4:22
  5. 36:4 : Pr 4:16
  6. 36:4 : Ps 10:7; Is 65:2
  7. 36:5 : Ps 57:10; 103:11; 108:4
  8. 36:6 : Ps 71:19
  9. 36:6 : Ps 104:14-15
  10. 36:7 : Ru 2:12; Ps 17:8; 57:1; 91:4
  11. 36:8 : Ps 46:4; 65:4; Jr 31:12-14
  12. 36:9 : Jn 4:10,14
  13. 36:9 : Jn 1:9; Ac 26:18
  14. 36:10 : Pr 11:6; Jr 22:16
  15. 36:11 : Ps 38:16; 119:122
  16. 36:12 : Ps 1:5; 140:10; Is 26:14
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 21:21-22

21 The one who pursues righteousness and faithful love
will find life, righteousness, and honor.(A)

22 A wise person went up against a city of warriors
and brought down its secure fortress.(B)

Cross references:

  1. 21:21 : Pr 3:16; 8:18; 15:9; Mt 5:6; 6:33
  2. 21:22 : 2Sm 5:6-9; Pr 14:26; 24:5; Ec 7:19; 9:14-18
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.

Posted on

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday August 18, 2019 (NIV)

Esther 1-3

Vashti Angers the King

1 These events took place during the days of Ahasuerus,(A) who ruled 127 provinces(B) from India to Cush. 2 In those days King Ahasuerus reigned from his royal throne(C) in the fortress at Susa.(D) 3 He held a feast(E) in the third year of his reign for all his officials and staff, the army of Persia and Media,(F) the nobles,(G) and the officials from the provinces. 4 He displayed the glorious wealth of his kingdom and the magnificent splendor of his greatness(H) for a total of 180 days.

5 At the end of this time, the king held a week-long banquet(I) in the garden courtyard(J) of the royal palace(K) for all the people, from the greatest to the least,(L) who were present in the fortress of Susa.(M) 6 White and violet linen hangings were fastened with fine white and purple linen cords to silver rods on marble[a] columns. Gold and silver couches(N) were arranged on a mosaic pavement of red feldspar,[b] marble, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones.

7 Drinks were served in an array of gold goblets,(O) each with a different design. Royal wine flowed freely, according to the king’s bounty.(P) 8 The drinking was according to royal decree: “There are no restrictions.” The king had ordered every wine steward in his household to serve whatever each person wanted. 9 Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women of King Ahasuerus’s palace.

10 On the seventh day, when the king was feeling good from the wine,(Q) Ahasuerus commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona,(R) Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas—the seven eunuchs(S) who personally served him— 11 to bring Queen Vashti before him with her royal crown. He wanted to show off her beauty to the people and the officials, because she was very beautiful.(T) 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command that was delivered by his eunuchs. The king became furious and his anger burned within him.(U)

The King’s Decree

13 The king consulted the wise men(V) who understood the times,[c](W) for it was his normal procedure to confer with experts in law and justice. 14 The most trusted ones[d] were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan. They were the seven officials(X) of Persia and Media(Y) who had personal access to the king(Z) and occupied the highest positions in the kingdom.(AA) 15 The king asked, “According to the law, what should be done with Queen Vashti, since she refused to obey King Ahasuerus’s command that was delivered by the eunuchs?”

16 Memucan said in the presence of the king and his officials, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but all the officials and the peoples who are in every one of King Ahasuerus’s provinces.(AB) 17 For the queen’s action will become public knowledge to all the women and cause them to despise their husbands and say, ‘King Ahasuerus ordered Queen Vashti brought before him, but she did not come.’ 18 Before this day is over, the noble women of Persia and Media who hear about the queen’s act will say the same thing to all the king’s officials, resulting in more contempt and fury.

19 “If it meets the king’s approval, he should personally issue a royal decree. Let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media, so that it cannot be revoked:(AC) Vashti is not to enter King Ahasuerus’s presence, and her royal position is to be given to another woman who is more worthy than she.(AD) 20 The decree the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom,(AE) so all women will honor their husbands,(AF) from the greatest to the least.”(AG)

21 The king and his counselors approved the proposal, and he followed Memucan’s advice. 22 He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to each province in its own script and to each ethnic group in its own language,(AH) that every man should be master of his own house and speak in the language of his own people.

The Search for a New Queen

2 Some time later,(AI) when King Ahasuerus’s rage(AJ) had cooled down, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what was decided against her.(AK) 2 The king’s personal attendants suggested, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king.(AL) 3 Let the king appoint commissioners(AM) in each province of his kingdom, so that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem at the fortress of Susa.(AN) Put them under the supervision of Hegai, the king’s eunuch,(AO) keeper of the women,(AP) and give them the required beauty treatments. 4 Then the young woman who pleases the king(AQ) will become queen instead of Vashti.”(AR) This suggestion pleased the king, and he did accordingly.

5 In the fortress of Susa, there was a Jewish man named Mordecai(AS) son of Jair, son of Shimei,(AT) son of Kish,(AU) a Benjaminite. 6 He had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the other captives when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took King Jeconiah of Judah into exile.(AV) 7 Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin[e] Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she had no father or mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.(AW)

8 When the king’s command and edict became public knowledge and when many young women were gathered at the fortress of Susa under Hegai’s supervision, Esther was taken to the palace, into the supervision of Hegai, keeper of the women. 9 The young woman pleased him and gained his favor so that he accelerated the process of the beauty treatments and the special diet that she received. He assigned seven hand-picked female servants to her from the palace and transferred her and her servants to the harem’s best quarters.

10 Esther did not reveal her ethnicity or her family background, because Mordecai had ordered her not to make them known. 11 Every day Mordecai took a walk in front of the harem’s courtyard to learn how Esther was doing and to see what was happening to her.

12 During the year before each young woman’s turn to go to King Ahasuerus, the harem regulation required her to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months. 13 When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the palace. 14 She would go in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem under the supervision of the king’s eunuch Shaashgaz, keeper of the concubines.(AX) She never went to the king again, unless he desired her and summoned her by name.(AY)

Esther Becomes Queen

15 Esther was the daughter of Abihail,(AZ) the uncle of Mordecai who had adopted her as his own daughter. When her turn came to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women, suggested. Esther gained favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her.(BA)

16 She was taken to King Ahasuerus in the palace in the tenth month, the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.(BB) 17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women. She won more favor and approval from him than did any of the other virgins. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.(BC) 18 The king held a great banquet for all his officials and staff.(BD) It was Esther’s banquet. He freed his provinces from tax payments and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.(BE)

Mordecai Saves the King

19 When the virgins(BF) were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate.(BG) 20 (Esther had not revealed her family background or her ethnicity, as Mordecai had directed. She obeyed Mordecai’s orders, as she always had while he raised her.)

21 During those days while Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs(BH) who guarded the entrance, became infuriated and planned to assassinate[f] King Ahasuerus. 22 When Mordecai learned of the plot, he reported it to Queen Esther, and she told the king on Mordecai’s behalf.(BI) 23 When the report was investigated and verified, both men were hanged on the gallows.(BJ) This event was recorded in the Historical Record in the king’s presence.

Haman’s Plan to Kill the Jews

3 After all this took place, King Ahasuerus honored Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite.(BK) He promoted him in rank and gave him a higher position than all the other officials.(BL) 2 The entire royal staff at the King’s Gate(BM) bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded this to be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.(BN) 3 The members of the royal staff at the King’s Gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” 4 When they had warned him day after day(BO) and he still would not listen to them, they told Haman in order to see if Mordecai’s actions would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew.

5 When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him homage, he was filled with rage.(BP) 6 And when he learned of Mordecai’s ethnic identity, it seemed repugnant to Haman to do away with[g] Mordecai alone. He planned to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews,(BQ) throughout Ahasuerus’s kingdom.(BR)

7 In the first month, the month of Nisan, in King Ahasuerus’s twelfth year,(BS) the Pur—that is, the lot—was cast before Haman for each day in each month, and it fell on the twelfth month,(BT) the month Adar.(BU) 8 Then Haman informed King Ahasuerus, “There is one ethnic group, scattered throughout the peoples in every province of your kingdom,(BV) keeping themselves separate. Their laws are different from everyone else’s and they do not obey the king’s laws.(BW) It is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.(BX) 9 If the king approves, let an order be drawn up authorizing their destruction, and I will pay 375 tons of silver to[h] the officials for deposit in the royal treasury.”(BY)

10 The king removed his signet ring(BZ) from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jewish people.(CA) 11 Then the king told Haman, “The money and people are given to you to do with as you see fit.”

12 The royal scribes were summoned(CB) on the thirteenth day of the first month, and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded. It was intended for the royal satraps,(CC) the governors of each of the provinces, and the officials of each ethnic group and written for each province in its own script and to each ethnic group in its own language.(CD) It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus(CE) and sealed with the royal signet ring.(CF) 13 Letters were sent by couriers(CG) to each of the royal provinces telling the officials to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jewish people—young and old, women and children—and plunder their possessions on a single day,(CH) the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.[i]

14 A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to all the peoples so that they might get ready for that day. 15 The couriers left, spurred on by royal command, and the law was issued in the fortress of Susa.(CI) The king and Haman sat down to drink, while the city of Susa was in confusion.(CJ)

Footnotes:

  1. 1:6 Or alabaster
  2. 1:6 Or of porphyry
  3. 1:13 Or understood propitious times
  4. 1:14 Lit Those near him
  5. 2:7 Lit uncle’s daughter
  6. 2:21 Lit and they sought to stretch out a hand against
  7. 3:6 Lit to stretch out a hand against
  8. 3:9 Lit will weigh 10,000 silver talents on the hands of
  9. 3:13 LXX adds the text of Ahasuerus’s letter here.

Cross references:

  1. 1:1 : Ezr 4:6; Dn 9:1
  2. 1:1 : Est 8:9; 9:30
  3. 1:2 : 1Kg 1:46
  4. 1:2 : Ezr 4:9; Neh 1:1; Dn 8:2
  5. 1:3 : Gn 40:20; 1Kg 3:15; Est 2:18
  6. 1:3 : Dn 5:28
  7. 1:3 : Est 6:9; Dn 1:3
  8. 1:4 : Dn 4:28-30
  9. 1:5 : Est 2:18
  10. 1:5 : 2Kg 21:18; Est 7:7-8
  11. 1:5 : Est 2:8
  12. 1:5 : Est 1:20
  13. 1:5 : Ezr 4:9
  14. 1:6 : Est 7:8; Ezk 23:41; Am 6:4
  15. 1:7 : Dn 5:1-3
  16. 1:7 : Est 2:18
  17. 1:10 : 2Sm 13:28
  18. 1:10 : Est 7:9
  19. 1:10 : 2Kg 20:18; Est 2:21; 6:14; Mt 19:12
  20. 1:11 : Est 2:7
  21. 1:12 : Est 7:7; Pr 19:12
  22. 1:13 : Jr 10:7; Dn 2:2,12; Mt 2:1
  23. 1:13 : 1Ch 12:32
  24. 1:14 : Ezr 7:14
  25. 1:14 : Dn 5:28
  26. 1:14 : 2Kg 25:19
  27. 1:14 : Dn 2:48-49
  28. 1:16 : Est 1:1,3,5; 9:30
  29. 1:19 : Est 8:8; Dn 6:8,15
  30. 1:19 : Est 2:2,4,17
  31. 1:20 : Est 1:1; 8:9
  32. 1:20 : Est 1:10-12; Eph 5:22,24,33; Col 3:18; 1Tm 2:12; 1Pt 3:1
  33. 1:20 : Est 1:5
  34. 1:22 : Neh 13:24; Est 3:12; 8:9
  35. 2:1 : Est 1:3,10
  36. 2:1 : Est 1:12; 7:10
  37. 2:1 : Est 1:10-12,16-21
  38. 2:2 : 1Kg 1:2
  39. 2:3 : Gn 41:34
  40. 2:3 : Neh 1:1; Est 1:1; Dn 8:2
  41. 2:3 : Est 1:10
  42. 2:3 : Est 2:8-9,12-13
  43. 2:4 : Est 2:17
  44. 2:4 : Est 1:19
  45. 2:5 : Ezr 2:2; Est 2:15; 3:2
  46. 2:5 : 2Sm 6:5-13
  47. 2:5 : 1Sm 9:1
  48. 2:6 : 2Kg 24:10-15; 2Ch 36:10; Jr 24:1; 29:1-2
  49. 2:7 : Est 9:29
  50. 2:14 : 1Kg 11:3; Dn 5:2
  51. 2:14 : Est 4:11
  52. 2:15 : Est 9:29
  53. 2:15 : Est 5:2,8
  54. 2:16 : Est 1:2
  55. 2:17 : Est 1:10-11; 2:4
  56. 2:18 : Est 1:3
  57. 2:18 : Est 1:7
  58. 2:19 : Est 2:12-14
  59. 2:19 : Est 5:13
  60. 2:21 : Est 1:10,12; 2:3,14
  61. 2:22 : Est 6:2-3
  62. 2:23 : Gn 40:19,22; Est 5:14; 7:9-10
  63. 3:1 : Ex 17:8-16; 1Sm 15:20
  64. 3:1 : Est 1:3,21; 2:18
  65. 3:2 : Est 2:19,21
  66. 3:2 : Est 5:9
  67. 3:4 : Gn 39:10
  68. 3:5 : Est 1:12; 2:21; 7:7; Dn 3:19
  69. 3:6 : Est 6:10
  70. 3:6 : Est 9:24; Ps 83:2-4
  71. 3:7 : Est 1:2; 2:16
  72. 3:7 : Est 9:24-28
  73. 3:7 : Ezr 6:15
  74. 3:8 : Est 1:1; 8:11,17; 9:2
  75. 3:8 : Jr 29:7; Ac 16:20-21
  76. 3:8 : Ezr 4:12-15
  77. 3:9 : Est 4:7
  78. 3:10 : Gn 41:42; Est 8:2,8,10; Hg 2:23
  79. 3:10 : Est 7:6; 9:10
  80. 3:12 : Est 8:9
  81. 3:12 : Ezr 8:36
  82. 3:12 : Est 1:22; 8:9
  83. 3:12 : 1Kg 21:8
  84. 3:12 : Est 8:10
  85. 3:13 : 2Ch 30:6; Est 8:14
  86. 3:13 : Est 8:11-13; 9:10
  87. 3:14-15 : Est 8:13-14
  88. 3:15 : Est 7:1; 8:15
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.

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

The Lord’s Supper

17 Now in giving this instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19 Indeed, it is necessary that there be factions(A) among you, so that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20 When you come together, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.(B) 21 For at the meal, each one eats his own supper.[a] So one person is hungry while another gets drunk! 22 Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you in this matter!

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you:(C) On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said,[b] “This is my body, which is[c] for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”(D)

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant(E) in my blood.(F) Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death(G) until he comes.(H)

Self-Examination

27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body[d] and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body,[e] eats and drinks judgment(I) on himself. 30 This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep.(J) 31 If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged, 32 but when we are judged(K) by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned(L) with the world.

33 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, welcome one another.[f] 34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather together you will not come under judgment. I will give instructions about the other matters whenever I come.(M)

Footnotes:

  1. 11:21 Or eats his own supper ahead of others
  2. 11:24 Other mss add “Take, eat.
  3. 11:24 Other mss add broken
  4. 11:27 Lit be guilty of the body
  5. 11:29 Other mss read drinks unworthily, not discerning the Lord’s body
  6. 11:33 Or wait for one another

Cross references:

  1. 11:19 : 2Pt 2:1
  2. 11:20 : Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:14-20; 1Co 10:14-22
  3. 11:23 : Jd 3
  4. 11:24 : Lk 22:19
  5. 11:25 : Lk 22:20
  6. 11:25 : Jn 6:54
  7. 11:26 : Php 2:8; 3:10
  8. 11:26 : Mk 8:38
  9. 11:29 : Mk 12:40; 1Jn 5:16
  10. 11:30 : Jn 11:11; Ac 7:60; 1Th 4:13-15
  11. 11:32 : Jn 5:22-30
  12. 11:32 : Mt 12:41; Jn 5:22
  13. 11:34 : 1Co 4:19
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 35:17-28

17 Lord, how long will you look on?(A)
Rescue me from their ravages;
rescue my precious life from the young lions.(B)
18 I will praise you in the great assembly;
I will exalt you among many people.(C)
19 Do not let my deceitful enemies rejoice over me;
do not let those who hate me without cause(D)
wink at me maliciously.(E)
20 For they do not speak in friendly ways,
but contrive fraudulent schemes[a]
against those who live peacefully in the land.(F)
21 They open their mouths wide against me and say,
“Aha, aha! We saw it!” [b](G)

22 You saw it, Lord; do not be silent.
Lord, do not be far from me.(H)
23 Wake up and rise to my defense,
to my cause, my God and my Lord!(I)
24 Vindicate me, Lord my God,
in keeping with your righteousness,
and do not let them rejoice over me.(J)
25 Do not let them say in their hearts,
“Aha! Just what we wanted.”
Do not let them say,
“We have swallowed him up!” (K)
26 Let those who rejoice at my misfortune
be disgraced and humiliated;
let those who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and reproach.(L)

27 Let those who want my vindication
shout for joy and be glad;
let them continually say,
“The Lord be exalted.
He takes pleasure in his servant’s well-being.”(M)
28 And my tongue will proclaim your righteousness,
your praise all day long.(N)

Footnotes:

  1. 35:20 Lit but devise fraudulent words
  2. 35:21 Lit Our eyes saw!

Cross references:

  1. 35:17 : Ps 13:1; Hab 1:13
  2. 35:17 : Ps 22:20-21
  3. 35:18 : Ps 22:22,25; 40:9-10; Heb 2:12
  4. 35:19 : Ps 38:19; Jn 15:25
  5. 35:19 : Ps 13:4; 30:1; 38:16
  6. 35:20 : Ps 55:21; Jr 9:8; Mc 6:12
  7. 35:21 : Jb 16:10; Ps 22:13; 40:15; 70:3
  8. 35:22 : Ps 10:1; 22:11; 28:1
  9. 35:23 : Ps 7:6; 44:23; 59:4
  10. 35:24 : Ps 26:1; 43:1
  11. 35:25 : Ps 124:3; Lm 2:16
  12. 35:26 : Jb 8:22; Ps 40:14; 109:29
  13. 35:27 : Ps 40:16; 70:4
  14. 35:28 : Ps 71:8,15,24
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 21:19-20

19 Better to live in a wilderness
than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.(A)

20 Precious treasure and oil are in the dwelling of a wise person,
but a fool consumes them.[a](B)

Footnotes:

  1. 21:20 Lit it

Cross references:

  1. 21:19 : Pr 21:9
  2. 21:20 : Jb 20:15,18; Ps 112:3; Pr 10:4; 28:20; Mt 25:1-13
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.

Posted on

08/18/2019 DAB Transcript

Esther 1:1-3:15, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, Psalms 35:17-28, Proverbs 21:19-20

Today is the 18th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we…well…as we collectively do what we do every week at this time, we step through the threshold into a brand-new shiny sparkly week that is just waiting to unfold. The next…the next paragraphs and pages of our story are about to be written as we move through this week and we gather here together every day, every single day to allow God’s word to speak to us and inform what that story is gonna look like. So, welcome to a brand-new week, and as it turns out welcome to a brand-new book. As we begin this week, we also begin the book of Esther. So, we concluded the book of Nehemiah yesterday, but we haven’t concluded the stories that come from exile. So, we remember Ezra, we remember Nehemiah, we know there’s a remnant coming back to Jerusalem but these people had been sent into exile as we know, and so we’re reading of the time of the exile coming to a close while people were still in exile. So, that brings us to the book of Esther. And even though this is a short book, this is a dramatic book and it comes at a good time. It’s like a breath of fresh air just moving in and moving us, ushering us into this new week.

Introduction to the book of Esther:

Esther is the story of Hebrew girl named Hadassah. She was orphaned, right, while in exile in Persia and then so she was taken in by her cousin and he treated her like his own daughter. His name was Mordechai and he was of the tribe of Benjamin. And as we’ve seen in other points in the Bible, people being taken exile sometimes had their names changed to a more localized name that people could understand which would make them on one hand, blend in better and on the other hand, make their names more pronounceable to those in authority. So, Hadassah was given the name Esther. Esther translates to mean star or morning star in Hebrew tradition. And according to the Scriptures, Esther was unspeakably beautiful in her appearance and she possessed a quiet character. And, so when King Ahasuerus who scholars believe to be Xerxes sought to find a replacement for his banished queen, her name was Vashti, he chose Esther. Esther, Hadassah, kept her ethnicity a secret, which proved incredibly important as the story unfolds. And, so, we begin. We’ll read from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Esther chapters 1 through 3.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for this brand-new week that we are entering together. We thank You for the story of Esther that we are moving through. Of course, we know that Esther contains some pretty famous passages in the Scriptures, “for such a time as this.” So, Father as we move into this week we want to be available to You for such a time as this and although the drama and intrigue may be considerably different than in the book of Esther we want to be available and aware and alert to Your leading and to Your guidance in our lives so that we are available for whatever You may lead us to do for such a time as this. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

You can find the social media channels that we are at in the Community section of the website. You can find the Prayer Wall in the Community section of the website. The Daily Audio Bible shop is there So, just stay tuned and stay connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, first of all, thank you profoundly for your partnership. There is a link. It’s 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’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible, this is Dwayne from Wisconsin, all praise and glory to our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today is August 12th today. So, calling in for some of the DABbers. I know there’s a number of you who have called in for your children. First of all, I want to say thank you to those who have prayed for me, all of you that have prayed for me and my shoulder. Things are hearing well. So, I thank you and praise God. No pain at all through the whole ordeal. So that’s a blessing. So, I want to thank all of you. And like I said, I know a number of you have called in for your children. I’m continuing to pray for all of you that have your children. So, we will pick that up again and start doing that here shortly. But today I’m calling in for Ken from Indiana. You called in and expressed your anxiety when calling in. Please continue to call in. I had a little anxiety when I used to call in first, but remember we’re all family, we’re all friends, and we all love you. So, we pray that the Lord will be with you and you’ll be able to call in more. Tracy, you called in letting us know that Robert Willing to Serve had passed on. My hearts and prayers go out to you and his family and friends. And truly, a blessing he was to those of us in the DAB, our community, so we want you to know that we’re praying for you. The sister who called in. a lady called in for her brother Robert whose dealing with alcohol. So, we’re praying for you and your mom. We pray that the Lord will remove that…that temptation in the name of Jesus. I want to lift this all up to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen, God bless, love you all.

[singing] I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever I will sing of the mercies of the Lord [singing stops]. This is Candace from Oregon. I have been witness to the Lord’s grace and mercy and His miraculous intervention once again. I don’t want to neglect to tell you because I had shared with all of you that my niece was in the hospital, she had drank so much alcohol that her liver was failing, she had kidney failure. And the prayer I kept praying was that God would spare her life and that she would be able to return to service to Him and be able to be a mom to her daughter. Well, she’s home. They do not…they say that she does not need a liver transplant, that she will be able to recover on her own. Praise be to God. I rebuke all foul spirits in the name of Jesus. I rebuke the spirit of alcohol from this woman’s life and I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for His life, death, resurrection, and ascension on her behalf and His calling upon her life. And I thank You Jesus for everything that You’re doing and everything that You’re about to do. You are a God who hears and answers prayer. Thank You, King of the universe for everything that You’re doing for us. And thanks DAB family and for joining me…

Hi this is Veronica, I called last week about my brother Robert. I don’t think I left my name last week but I’m Veronica and I just wanted to give an update about my brother who has been gone, binging, he’s an alcoholic. He has been found. He has…the woman he has been seeing picked him up yesterday. So, he had been in a few different hotels. I mean 8 weeks straight of constant heavy binging on hard liquor. So, he is safe…in a safe place now but I am sure he is…he’s going through detox period, which is very violent for him, vomiting up blood. It’s just a very rough thing to go through, but he is in a safe place. So, I am praising God for that. And for those of you that have prayed over this situation, I have felt your prayers and I thank you. Please just help me to continue to pray for him on a daily basis. I feel so hopeless and discouraged with him and I just don’t…I don’t know what to do. I am thinking about running __ I  think I need to do but anyway thank you. I also want to say that my 11-year-old has started listening to the Daily Audio Bible kids on the app which I am just praising God for. So, thank you and for everyone and I just love this community and anyway thank you. Have a blessed day.

Hi this is Nina from Vancouver. I’m just wondering if you guys can all pray for me and my fiancé, we are getting married in two weeks almost. We’re getting married during the August 31st weekend. So, when you are all playing in the water you can think about us. We’re getting married then and it’s just been a whirlwind and an interesting relationship so far, where God has just shown us that He is capable even when we are incapable. And I’m just praying and asking if you could pray for us just protection over the day and over the weeks before and just, yeah, protection from spiritual warfare. It’s just been a bit of a battle lately. And I just pray also that…that you all just have an awesome time together and that it’s just a time of relaxation, that you get to know each other and meet each other. I went to the More Gathering and it was just an awesome time to get to know the faces of people. Anyway, thank you so much and looking forward to seeing how your prayers are answered. Okay. Bye.

Posted on

08/17/2019 DAB Transcript

Nehemiah 12:27-13:31, 1 Corinthians 11:1-16, Psalms 35:1-16, Proverbs 21:17-18

Today is the 17th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s lovely to be here with you as we end another one of our weeks together. And even as we end this week together we will be concluding another book, the book of Nehemiah today, which will lead us into new territory as we begin the new week together tomorrow. But where here now, this is today, and we’ve been reading from the Good News Translation this week and so that’s what we’ll use to conclude the book of Nehemiah today, chapter 12 verse 27 through 13 verse 31.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word, we thank you for allowing us to spend another week together in it, and as we close this week, close the books on this day, and let the week become a part of history, the only thing that it can do, we look forward to all that you will do as we transition into the new week, but we also, Holy Spirit, ask you to come and help us not get ahead of ourselves. We’re here now and this is the day that you have given us, a day on this earth to enjoy your presence. So, come Holy Spirit plant the Scriptures in our hearts and lead us into all truth as you promised and we ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi, it’s Sherry from Kansas. I was born again, I was almost 28 years old and I didn’t know much about God, but I knew when He came into my life and the night I got water baptized I woke up in the middle of the night talking out loud and I thought, “what…who’s waking me up?” and then I realized it was me and I wrote down what I was saying and it was a poem that the Lord gave me and a lot of these things I didn’t know it because I wasn’t raised in the church. So, I just want to recite that for you. K.

I bore your sins in sorrow I bore your sins in shame
I bore your sins upon the cross I took all the blame
that you might walk with head up your eyes toward the sun
the wounds about my body proclaim that it was done
and in you, lives the victory health prosperity and gain
let all the world look upon you I have not died in vain
You are the light of the world and that light must shine
to let them know everywhere that I have called you mine

When I got to that last line and the Lord said “I have called you mine” I wept because for the first time in my life I felt someone wanted me, that I belonged somewhere. And I just hope if somebody doesn’t know the Lord that they hear this and realize that God is who He says He is in the Bible and that your life will completely and utterly change for wonderful when the Lord comes into it and you’ll know, you’ll know. And dear Rebecca I am so sorry for the loss of your friend and I know that many people are praying for you. And, gosh, I just cried. So, I’m praying for you to and may many, many…

[singing] Jesus I need you every moment I need you. Here now this grateful heart sing out your praise forever [singing ends]. Hey everybody it’s Margo from Australia in Liberia and today I am in need of some prayer and I’m feeling a bit frustrated. So, I’ve got just some health problems going on and I don’t think it’s anything too serious but it is making me feel a bit miserable and I feel like, yeah, frustrated and I feel a bit powerless because the opportunities here for, you know, diagnosis and even treatment…well they’re much more limited than what I’m used to and I’m not really sure what to do. And I don’t know that I’m gonna get an answer and it’s getting to me a bit. I have got a trip planned back to Australia in December. I think I can just wait till then and try to get it sorted well I’m there but in the meantime, it is making me feel a bit awful I am frustrated. So, yeah, could you pray for me because I feel like this could really be an attack of Satan because it’s making it hard for me to keep on doing what I’m doing here which is the Lord’s work. So, yeah, he won’t win, Satan will not win. I would love it if you could pray. All right. Love you all. Bye.

Good morning this is PG from NC, I’m calling to pray for Jessica from Michigan, she called in on August 1 we heard it on August 6th, and I’ve been praying for her daily since then and I felt like today we should all pray for her. So, let’s pray. Lord we thank you for this 19-year-old college student that who for a long time didn’t have a community of faith and today you’ve surrounded her with one as she’s entered into college and Lord she’s also found that in the midst of that there can be doctrinal differences that have really challenged her not only her relationship with them but somehow it’s changed and challenged her relationship with you. And, so Lord today I just pray for her. God I pray that you would strengthen her, God I pray that you would help her in several ways, Lord I pray first off that you would send her mentors, God mentors that have walked in the faith longer than she has, longer than her peers have. God, I pray that you would send her people who can encourage her and speak the truth and help her rightly divide the word. God, I pray that Lord you would help her to not read the Bible as an intellectual work but that she would read it as the relational invitation that you intended it to be. God, I pray that Lord that you would help her to avoid questions that would be created in her mind, Lord the Socratic method that surrounds her and other college students’ questions…science…it questions philosophies and theories and even religion, but God I pray that it would not create questions to her faith. Lord that’s the same thing that occurs in Genesis 3 and I just pray that you would guard over her, watch over her. God I pray that you strengthen her and encourage her. Lord anything that she needs to hear truth from, I pray that you would speak it to her, and I pray this in Christs name. Amen. Blessings everyone have a great day.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible my names’ Alicia and I’m calling today to ask for your prayers. I’m an alcoholic and I’ve tried for years to do this on my own to stop drinking and I prayed but I really need your prayers too that God will take this affliction away from me. Thank you.

Posted on

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday August 17, 2019 (NIV)

Nehemiah 12:27-13:31

Nehemiah Dedicates the City Wall

27 When the city wall of Jerusalem was dedicated, the Levites were brought in from wherever they were living, so that they could join in celebrating the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals and harps. 28 The Levite families of singers gathered from the area where they had settled around Jerusalem and from the towns around Netophah, 29 and from Bethgilgal, Geba, and Azmaveth. 30 The priests and the Levites performed ritual purification for themselves, the people, the gates, and the city wall.

31 I assembled the leaders of Judah on top of the wall and put them in charge of two large groups to march around the city, giving thanks to God.

The first group went to the right on top of the wall toward the Rubbish Gate.[a] 32 Hoshaiah marched behind the singers, followed by half the leaders of Judah. 33-35 The following priests, blowing trumpets, marched next: Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah. Next came Zechariah, the son of Jonathan and grandson of Shemaiah. (His ancestors also included Mattaniah, Micaiah, and Zaccur, of the clan of Asaph.) 36 He was followed by other members of his clan—Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani—all of whom carried musical instruments of the kind played by King David, the man of God. Ezra the scholar led this group in the procession. 37 At the Fountain Gate they went up the steps that led to David's City, past David's palace, and back to the wall at the Water Gate, on the east side of the city.

38 The other group of those who gave thanks went to the left along the top of the wall, and I followed with half of the people. We marched past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall, 39 and from there we went past Ephraim Gate, Jeshanah Gate,[b] the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate. We ended our march near the gate to the Temple.

40 So both the groups that were giving thanks to God reached the Temple area.

In addition to the leaders who were with me, 41 my group included the following priests, blowing trumpets: Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah; 42 and they were followed by Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers, led by Jezrahiah, sang at the top of their voices.

43 That day many sacrifices were offered, and the people were full of joy because God had made them very happy. The women and the children joined in the celebration, and the noise they all made could be heard for miles.

Providing for Worship in the Temple

44 At that time men were put in charge of the storerooms where contributions for the Temple were kept, including the tithes and the first grain and fruit that ripened each year. These men were responsible for collecting from the farms near the various cities the contributions for the priests and the Levites which the Law required. All the people of Judah were pleased with the priests and the Levites, 45 (A)because they performed the ceremonies of purification and the other rituals that God had commanded. The Temple musicians and the Temple guards also performed their duties in accordance with the regulations made by King David and his son Solomon. 46 From the time of King David and the musician Asaph long ago, the musicians have led songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 47 In the time of Zerubbabel and also in the time of Nehemiah, all the people of Israel gave daily gifts for the support of the Temple musicians and the Temple guards. The people gave a sacred offering to the Levites, and the Levites gave the required portion to the priests.

Separation from Foreigners

13 (B)When the Law of Moses was being read aloud to the people, they came to the passage that said that no Ammonite or Moabite was ever to be permitted to join God's people. 2 (C)This was because the people of Ammon and Moab did not give food and water to the Israelites on their way out of Egypt. Instead, they paid money to Balaam to curse Israel, but our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 When the people of Israel heard this law read, they excluded all foreigners from the community.

Nehemiah's Reforms

4 The priest Eliashib, who was in charge of the Temple storerooms, had for a long time been on good terms with Tobiah. 5 He allowed Tobiah to use a large room that was intended only for storing offerings of grain and incense, the equipment used in the Temple, the offerings for the priests, and the tithes of grain, wine, and olive oil given to the Levites, to the Temple musicians, and to the Temple guards. 6 While this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, because in the thirty-second year that Artaxerxes[c] was king of Babylon I had gone back to report to him. After some time I received his permission 7 and returned to Jerusalem. There I was shocked to find that Eliashib had allowed Tobiah to use a room in the Temple. 8 I was furious and threw out all of Tobiah's belongings. 9 I gave orders for the rooms to be ritually purified and for the Temple equipment, grain offerings, and incense to be put back.

10 (D)I also learned that the Temple musicians and other Levites had left Jerusalem and gone back to their farms, because the people had not been giving them enough to live on. 11 I reprimanded the officials for letting the Temple be neglected. And I brought the Levites and musicians back to the Temple and put them to work again. 12 (E)Then all the people of Israel again started bringing to the Temple storerooms their tithes of grain, wine, and olive oil. 13 I put the following men in charge of the storerooms: Shelemiah, a priest; Zadok, a scholar of the Law; and Pedaiah, a Levite. Hanan, the son of Zaccur and grandson of Mattaniah, was to be their assistant. I knew I could trust these men to be honest in distributing the supplies to the other workers.

14 Remember, my God, all these things that I have done for your Temple and its worship.

15 (F)At that time I saw people in Judah pressing juice from grapes on the Sabbath. Others were loading grain, wine, grapes, figs, and other things on their donkeys and taking them into Jerusalem; I warned them not to sell anything on the Sabbath. 16 Some people from the city of Tyre were living in Jerusalem, and they brought fish and all kinds of goods into the city to sell to our people on the Sabbath. 17 I reprimanded the Jewish leaders and told them, “Look at the evil you're doing! You're making the Sabbath unholy. 18 This is exactly why God punished your ancestors when he brought destruction on this city. And yet you insist on bringing more of God's anger down on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

19 So I gave orders for the city gates to be shut at the beginning of every Sabbath, as soon as evening[d] began to fall, and not to be opened again until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my men at the gates to make sure that nothing was brought into the city on the Sabbath. 20 Once or twice merchants who sold all kinds of goods spent Friday night outside the city walls. 21 I warned them, “It's no use waiting out there for morning to come. If you try this again, I'll use force on you.” From then on they did not come back on the Sabbath. 22 I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to go and guard the gates to make sure that the Sabbath was kept holy.

Remember me, O God, for this also, and spare me because of your great love.

23 (G)At that time I also discovered that many of the Jewish men had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or some other language and didn't know how to speak our language. 25 I reprimanded the men, called down curses on them, beat them, and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath in God's name that never again would they or their children intermarry with foreigners. 26 (H)I told them, “It was foreign women that made King Solomon sin. Here was a man who was greater than any of the kings of other nations. God loved him and made him king over all of Israel, and yet he fell into this sin. 27 Are we then to follow your example and disobey our God by marrying foreign women?”

28 (I)Joiada was the son of Eliashib the High Priest, but one of Joiada's sons married the daughter of Sanballat, from the town of Beth Horon, so I made Joiada leave Jerusalem.

29 Remember, God, how those people defiled both the office of priest and the covenant you made with the priests and the Levites.

30 I purified the people from everything foreign; I prepared regulations for the priests and the Levites so that all of them would know their duties; 31 I arranged for the wood used for burning the offerings to be brought at the proper times, and for the people to bring their offerings of the first grain and the first fruits that ripened.

Remember all this, O God, and give me credit for it.

Footnotes:

  1. Nehemiah 12:31 The two groups started somewhere on the southwestern part of the city wall and went in opposite directions until they met in front of the Temple in the northeastern part of the city.
  2. Nehemiah 12:39 Ephraim Gate, Jeshanah Gate; or Ephraim Gate (also called the Old Gate).
  3. Nehemiah 13:6 As emperor of Persia, Artaxerxes also had the title “King of Babylon.”
  4. Nehemiah 13:19 The Jewish day begins at sunset.

Cross references:

  1. Nehemiah 12:45 : 1Chr 25:1-1Chr 25:8; Neh 12:45; 1Chr 26:12
  2. Nehemiah 13:1 : Deut 23:3-Deut 23:5
  3. Nehemiah 13:2 : Num 22:1-Num 22:6
  4. Nehemiah 13:10 : Deut 12:19
  5. Nehemiah 13:12 : Mal 3:10
  6. Nehemiah 13:15 : Exod 20:8-Exod 20:10; Deut 5:12-Deut 5:14; Jer 17:21; Jer 17:22
  7. Nehemiah 13:23 : Exod 34:11-Exod 34:16; Deut 7:1-Deut 7:5
  8. Nehemiah 13:26 : 2Sam 12:24; 2Sam 12:25; Neh 13:26; 1Kgs 11:1-1Kgs 11:8
  9. Nehemiah 13:28 : Neh 4:1
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

1 Corinthians 11:1-16

11 (A)Imitate me, then, just as I imitate Christ.

Covering the Head in Worship

2 I praise you because you always remember me and follow the teachings that I have handed on to you. 3 But I want you to understand that Christ is supreme over every man, the husband is supreme over his wife, and God is supreme over Christ. 4 So a man who prays or proclaims God's message in public worship with his head covered disgraces Christ. 5 And any woman who prays or proclaims God's message in public worship with nothing on her head disgraces her husband; there is no difference between her and a woman whose head has been shaved. 6 If the woman does not cover her head, she might as well cut her hair. And since it is a shameful thing for a woman to shave her head or cut her hair, she should cover her head. 7 (B)A man has no need to cover his head, because he reflects the image and glory of God. But woman reflects the glory of man; 8 (C)for man was not created from woman, but woman from man. 9 Nor was man created for woman's sake, but woman was created for man's sake. 10 On account of the angels, then, a woman should have a covering over her head to show that she is under her husband's authority. 11 In our life in the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman was made from man, in the same way man is born of woman; and it is God who brings everything into existence.

13 Judge for yourselves whether it is proper for a woman to pray to God in public worship with nothing on her head. 14 Why, nature itself teaches you that long hair on a man is a disgrace, 15 but on a woman it is a thing of beauty. Her long hair has been given her to serve as a covering. 16 But if anyone wants to argue about it, all I have to say is that neither we nor the churches of God have any other custom in worship.

Cross references:

  1. 1 Corinthians 11:1 : 1Cor 4:16; Phil 3:17
  2. 1 Corinthians 11:7 : Gen 1:26; Gen 1:27
  3. 1 Corinthians 11:8 : Gen 2:18-Gen 2:23
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Psalm 35:1-16

A Prayer for Help[a]

35 Oppose those who oppose me, Lord,
and fight those who fight against me!
2 Take your shield and armor
and come to my rescue.
3 Lift up your spear and war ax
against those who pursue me.
Promise that you will save me.

4 May those who try to kill me
be defeated and disgraced!
May those who plot against me
be turned back and confused!
5 May they be like straw blown by the wind
as the angel of the Lord pursues them!
6 May their path be dark and slippery
while the angel of the Lord strikes them down!

7 Without any reason they laid a trap for me
and dug a deep hole to catch me.
8 But destruction will catch them before they know it;
they will be caught in their own trap
and fall to their destruction!

9 Then I will be glad because of the Lord;
I will be happy because he saved me.
10 With all my heart I will say to the Lord,
“There is no one like you.
You protect the weak from the strong,
the poor from the oppressor.”

11 Evil people testify against me
and accuse me of crimes I know nothing about.
12 They pay me back evil for good,
and I sink in despair.
13 But when they were sick, I dressed in mourning;
I deprived myself of food;
I prayed with my head bowed low,
14 as I would pray for a friend or a brother.
I went around bent over in mourning,
as one who mourns for his mother.

15 But when I was in trouble, they were all glad
and gathered around to make fun of me;
strangers beat me
and kept striking me.
16 Like those who would mock a cripple,[b]
they glared at me with hate.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 35:1 HEBREW TITLE: By David.
  2. Psalm 35:16 Probable text Like those … cripple; Hebrew unclear.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Proverbs 21:17-18

17 Indulging in luxuries, wine, and rich food will never make you wealthy.

18 The wicked bring on themselves the suffering they try to cause good people.

Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society