01/31/2020 DAB Transcript

Exodus 12:14-13:16 Matthew 20:29-21:22 Psalms 25:16-22 Proverbs 6:12-15

Today is the 31st day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and this is the last day of the first month of the year. So, we have journeyed a full month into this new year and it has flown by. Probably…it has for me…flown by in life, but it’s like all that comes up in the Bible right out of the gate in the first month is huge and we can see why this is the adventure of a lifetime. I mean, in the Old Testament, which is what we’re about to read from today, alone this month we have begun at the beginning and found out what happened to us. We watched a…a flood of the entire earth, a reset of all things and we watched the heart of mankind as it was separated from God deteriorate and Abram who became Abraham and we met Isaac and we met Jacob, whose name became Israel and then he had kids, the children of Israel and then they sold one of their brothers into slavery in Egypt, which eventually had the whole family in Egypt and then 400 years passed and they’d become this massive people as was promised. And then a person named Moses came onto the scene in a basket in the Nile River. He has now become the…the prophetic voice to the Hebrew people demanding of Pharaoh that God’s people be set free. And as we conclude this first month of the year, that in fact is what we are about to witness. So, we’ve been reading from the Evangelical Heritage Version this week, which is what we’ll continue today. Exodus chapter 12 verse 14 through 13 verse 16.

Commentary:

Okay. So, on this final day of this first month of the year we experienced what is known as the Exodus. So, the children of Israel, who had been enslaved, making their exit, their exodus from Egypt and heading out toward the Sinai Peninsula toward this land of promise. And we will be journeying with them now for quite some time, pretty much for the rest of the Bible. So, as we make this Exodus, we will hear references to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob throughout our time for the rest of this year but let’s not forget that we…we learned their stories. Like, we…we journeyed along with them. We got to know Abram who became Abraham and we got to understand this son of promise, Isaac who was born to parents well beyond the age of childbearing. And we got to meet Isaac’s kids, Jacob and Esau, right, and Jacob was the conniver who had to flee and how it reaped…reaped certainly the…the harvest of his…of his deception. But God also came for him as part of the promise and changed…changed his name to Israel. So, as we move forward into a new month, we’re leaving some of those stories behind, but let’s not forget these stories that we have journeyed through this far.

We get into the book of Matthew today and…and the context for…for the stories that we read today was that Jesus was on a walk from the Galilee to Jerusalem where He was to die. Like, we’re on that walk and it’s a 90-mile walk and it's…a lot of it is uphill especially once you get to Jericho. From thereon it’s all uphill, pretty strenuous hike, 18 miles up to Jerusalem. And that’s kinda where the story begins today, is in Jericho. So, Jesus has…if it’s a 90-mile journey, then in Jesus only has 18 miles left so, He’s already walked a long way, people are following along. He’s informed His disciples very clearly about what’s to happen and they’re quite confused about it, even to the point where some of them, you know, their mom comes and asks for seats at the right and the left hand of Jesus on His throne. They’re expecting once He gets to Jerusalem that there probably will be a throne because this is it. And Jesus has always taught in parables. And, so, even though He’s explicitly telling them He’s gonna be handed over to the religious leaders and then ultimately be turned over to the Gentiles and be killed, it seems that they’re not taking Him seriously or literally. So, you can only just imagine the loneliness of that walk. Just, you’re not alone, but you’re misunderstood and there’s nothing you can do. And, so, it’s isolating, and you can only imagine that. So, Jesus has walked quite a ways, and He’s arrived at Jericho now knowing that He’s gonna be walking uphill for 18 miles and all that work is for one purpose, to die a pretty horrible death. So, when some blind men start calling out to Him, you would understand Him being a little preoccupied, like just wanting to keep moving and just keep focused. But they keep calling and He, according to the Scriptures was moved with compassion. And that is so beautiful, because let’s imagine ourselves in the most stressful situation that we’ve ever faced, like the kinds of stuff, you don’t even want to remember, the kinds of stuff we don’t want to think about, the hardships that we might have gone through where we were like, “I don’t think I’m going to survive this. I don’t think I can…I can do this. I can’t do this another day. I can’t make this.” Like when we’re just really, really overwhelmed. And then just imagine people screaming out for you and you even having the capacity to be moved with compassion in a moment like that because we’re so…you know…when things are so stressful for us we’re self-absorbed and focused on what can be done to alleviate the pain. And Jesus would’ve been walking, you know, step-by-step one step closer to agony and somehow still…still He’s moved with compassion. And, so, He stops, and He asks an important question, really important question that we need to allow to linger with us, to actually become kind of part of the rhythm of our lives as we’re moving forward, a part of what we contemplate this weekend. Jesus stopped and called them and I’m quoting the Scriptures here, “and then He asked, “what do you want me to do for you?””. What they wanted is what we all want. “Lord open our eyes.”

Prayer:

Jesus, we have asked this many, many times and we see this, that you are opening the eyes of physically blind men, but you are moving about the countryside calling for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear the kingdom being revealed. And so, we realize that maybe we have not physically faced blindness. Although many of us have, but we have all faced and face spiritual blindness and we are asking you to open our eyes that we may see. And we confess, indeed, we have prayed prayers like this before, but we are not messing around now. We are serious. Holy Spirit come and open our eyes so that we might see and be irreversibly changed so that the course and trajectory of our lives falls in line with the narrow path that will lead to life. Come Holy Spirit we pray and give us eyes to see. Open our eyes we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday January 31, 2020 (NIV)

Exodus 12:14-13:16

14 This day shall be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. Throughout your generations you must celebrate it as a permanent regulation. 15 For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you must be sure to remove all yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day will be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you are to have a holy convocation; also on the seventh day there is to be a holy convocation. You shall not do any work, except to prepare what everybody needs to eat. That is all you may do.

17 You shall observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your divisions out from the land of Egypt. You shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent regulation. 18 In the first month, you shall eat unleavened bread from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month. 19 No yeast is to be found in your houses for seven days, for whoever eats something leavened must be cut off from the Israelite community, whether a foreigner or native-born of the land. 20 You shall not eat anything leavened. You shall eat unleavened bread in every place you live.

21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take lambs for yourselves according to your family size, and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 You shall take a bundle of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and paint the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you are to go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

24 “You shall observe these instructions as a perpetual regulation for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you just as he said he would, you shall observe this ceremony. 26 So when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Passover to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. When he struck the Egyptians, he spared our houses.’”

The people bowed down and worshipped. 28 The Israelites went and did all this. They did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

The Exodus

29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, even all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 During the night Pharaoh got up—he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians—and there was a loud outcry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not someone dead. 31 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron that night and said, “Get up, get away from my people! Both you and the Israelites, go, serve the Lord, as you have said! 32 Take also your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go! But also bless me!”

33 The Egyptians urged the people to leave the land quickly, for the Egyptians said, “We are all going to die!” 34 The Israelites took their dough before it was leavened. They carried their kneading bowls, which were wrapped in their clothing, on their shoulders. 35 The Israelites did just as Moses had said, and they asked the Egyptians for articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. 36 The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they let the Israelites have what they asked for. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.

37 The Israelites set out from Rameses to Sukkoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides their families. 38 A mixed group of non-Israelites also went up along with them, as well as a large amount of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 The Israelites baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves, for it had not been leavened, because they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay. They also had not prepared any provisions for themselves.

40 The amount of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. 41 At the end of four hundred thirty years, to the very day, all of the Lord’s divisions went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It was a night that the Lord kept vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is dedicated to the Lord. All the Israelites are to keep vigil throughout their generations.

Passover Restrictions

43 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the regulation concerning the Passover: No foreigner may eat it. 44 But any slave whom you have purchased may eat it if you circumcise him. 45 A temporary resident or a hired servant may not eat it. 46 It must be eaten inside one house. You are not to carry any of the meat outside of the house. Do not break any of its bones. 47 The whole community of Israel shall do this. 48 If a resident alien among you wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, every male in his household must be circumcised. Then he may take part in it. He will be treated like a native-born of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it. 49 The same law will apply to the native-born and to the alien who resides among you.” 50 So that is what all the Israelites did. They did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 That same day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, lined up by their divisions.

Instructions for Remembering the Passover

13 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Set apart all the firstborn for me, the firstborn of every mother[a] among the Israelites, both people and animals. The firstborn belongs to me.”

Then Moses said this to the people:

Remember this day when you came out of Egypt, where you were slaves.[b] For by the strength of his hand the Lord brought you out from there. Nothing with leaven[c] may be eaten. Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving. So when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—the land he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to perform this ceremony during this month: Seven days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord. Unleavened bread must be eaten throughout the seven days. No leavened bread is to be seen among you. No yeast is to be seen among you, anywhere in your entire territory. On that day you are to explain this to your son, “It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.” This will serve as a sign for you on your wrist and a reminder on your forehead[d] so that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. 10 You must keep this regulation at its appointed time from year to year.

11 When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites—just as he swore to you and to your fathers—and gives it to you, 12 then you must dedicate the firstborn of every mother to the Lord. Every firstborn of your livestock, the ones that are males, will belong to the Lord. 13 Every firstborn donkey you are to redeem with a lamb. But if you do not want to redeem it, then you are to break its neck. However, you must redeem all the firstborn among your sons.

14 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is this about?” you will say to him, “By the strength of his hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, where we were slaves. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, the firstborn of people and animals. That is why I sacrifice to the Lord the firstborn of every mother, the males, but I redeem every firstborn of my sons.” 16 It will serve as a sign on your wrist and a symbol on your forehead. For by the strength of his hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.

Footnotes:

  1. Exodus 13:2 Literally the opener of every womb. Jewish tradition, however, focuses more on the firstborn sons of fathers. This verse seems to be a general statement of a principle, for which details are given later. It is not clear how the principle was to be applied to flocks.
  2. Exodus 13:3 Literally the house of slaves
  3. Exodus 13:3 Yeast is the most common kind of leaven, but the terms are not synonymous. Yeast is an organism. Leaven is any agent that causes bread to rise. Leaven in the Bible was frequently a clump of fermented dough that had been reserved.
  4. Exodus 13:9 Since the ceremony could not be literally worn on the wrist or forehead, this seems to mean that the ceremony would be a visual aid in the same way that objects worn on the wrist or forehead would be (Deuteronomy 6:8).
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Matthew 20:29-21:22

Jesus Heals Two Blind Men

29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 There were two blind men sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be quiet. But they shouted even louder, “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!”

32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?”

33 They told him, “Lord, open our eyes.”

34 Jesus was moved with compassion and touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight, and they followed him.

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem

21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you. Immediately you will find a donkey tied there along with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

Tell the daughter of Zion: Look, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.[a]

The disciples went and did just as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their outer clothing on them, and he sat on it. A very large crowd spread their outer clothing on the road. Others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them out on the road. The crowds who went in front of him and those who followed kept shouting,

Hosanna[b] to the Son of David!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord![c]
Hosanna in the highest!

10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, asking, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus Cleanses His Father’s House

12 Jesus entered the temple courts[d] and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[e] but you are making it a den of robbers!”[f]

14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the experts in the law saw the wonders he performed and heard the children calling out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant. 16 They said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?”

“Yes,” Jesus told them, “Have you never read,

From the lips of little children and nursing babies
you have prepared praise?”[g]
17 He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

The Withered Fig Tree

18 As he returned to the city early in the morning, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “May there never be fruit from you again!”

Immediately the fig tree withered away. 20 When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

21 Jesus answered them, “Amen I tell you: If you have faith, and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it would be done. 22 Whatever you ask for in prayer, as you believe, you will receive.”

Footnotes:

  1. Matthew 21:5 Isaiah 62:11; Zechariah 9:9
  2. Matthew 21:9 The Greek here simply transliterates the Hebrew Hosanna, which means save us now.
  3. Matthew 21:9 Psalm 118:25-26
  4. Matthew 21:12 Some witnesses to the text add of God.
  5. Matthew 21:13 Isaiah 56:7
  6. Matthew 21:13 Jeremiah 7:11
  7. Matthew 21:16 Psalm 8:2
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Psalm 25:16-22

16 Turn toward me and be gracious to me,
because I am lonely and afflicted.
17 The distress of my heart increases.[a]
Bring me out of my anguish.
18 See my affliction and my trouble,
and take away all my sins.
19 See my enemies—
how they have increased,
and how violently they hate me!
20 Guard my life and rescue me.
Do not let me be put to shame,
for I have taken refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because I wait for you.
22 Redeem Israel, O God, from all its distress!

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 25:17 Or, following an alternate reading of the Hebrew, relieve the distress of my heart
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 6:12-15

Dishonesty Leads to Disaster

12 A worthless, wicked scoundrel,
who goes around with a corrupt mouth,
13 who winks with his eye, signals with his foot,
and gestures with his fingers,
14 who plots evil with a deceitful heart—
he always spreads conflict.
15 Therefore his disaster will come upon him suddenly.
All at once he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.

Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

01/30/2020 DAB Transcript

Exodus 10:1-12:13, Matthew 20:1-28, Psalms 25:1-15, Proverbs 6:6-11

Today is the 30th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today on the eve of the last day of the first month of the new decade 2020. It’s great to be here with you today to take that next step forward. And in the book of Exodus, which is what we have settled into there is a showdown happening between God the most-high, and…and the Pharaoh of Egypt. And the battle is over God’s people who have been enslaved in Egypt. He wants them out and Pharaoh who thinks he’s a God himself isn’t having any of it, but he’s learning some pretty hard lessons in the process. So, we’re reading from the Evangelical Heritage Version this week. Exodus chapter 10 verse 1 through 12 verse 13.

Commentary:

Okay. In the book of Matthew Jesus continues to talk and reveal the kingdom of God. His ministry is centered around this revelation and the interesting thing about the revelation is that it is a different kind of kingdom than anyone is expecting. They are expecting a kingdom that is rooted in the physical world that can be experienced by the senses, right? One in which a great battle and great destruction and lots of blood of the enemies is involved. And Jesus is indeed announcing the kingdom of heaven, but it’s not that. It’s a totally different thing than that. It’s something that is happening now if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. And, so, Jesus gave us another piece of what that looks like today. And, so, He tells a story as He’s prone to do as we’ve already explored. “Indeed, the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.” That’s how Jesus began, and He tells a story of how He hired some workers in the morning and a then, you know, He hired some workers midday and after launch and in the afternoon and getting toward the end of the day with only one hour left to work He hired more workers and they all went into the field. And, so, when everybody lines up to get paid, He starts with the people who got in last and he gives them a denarius, a day’s wage, the agreed-upon days wage from the people who started first. And, so, when He gets to the people that had worked all day, they’re obviously expecting maybe something a little more than what they had agreed to. But at the end of it He gives them what they agreed to, like everybody got the same, everybody got paid. Of course, this angered the ones who felt as if they deserved more. They had agreed to the terms and they were given exactly what they had agreed to but as they compared themselves to others, they got a sense of entitlement that made them feel as if they deserved more. And the response of the master says it all. “Are you envious because I am generous? In the same way the last will be first and the first last.” So, what can we glean here about God’s kingdom from what Jesus is saying? We can say that those who believe that they are owed something or deserve something from God because they have earned somehow something from God will get what they deserved and get it last. Those who realize that they are unspeakably fortunate just to be here at all can appreciate the value of what they’ve been given. Everyone gets the same. Nobody’s better. Nobody deserves more. Nobody deserves more spotlight. And why would this be? Because we’re one body with one head. Nobody can say to anybody else, “I don’t need you.” That’s not true. God’s kingdom is not a kingdom of comparison and selfishness. And as we explore this kingdom that we are a part of and that is happening through the lips of Jesus we are being awakened. We are learning. We are becoming aware. But we can see that Jesus disciples were not completely aware either. After this Story takes place, Jesus is continuing his journey to Jerusalem and this isn’that t for a visit, this…this is…this is Jesus going to die. And, so, He pulls His disciples together on this walk and tells them that He’s going to die, that He’s going to be arrested and turned over to the Gentiles and killed and that He’s gonna come back. And, I mean, just imagine that you had that kind of foreknowledge about your own life. Imagine you knew that…that you’re gona die in a couple of days and you’re trying to kind of comfort everybody and share things. And, so, you say what you’ve gotta say and then a couple of your kids come to you and say, “hey since you’re gonna die can I have your car?” I mean that would be like so out of place, so bizarre. And yet that’s essentially what happened to Jesus. He’s telling His friends, “I’m gonna die.” And He unpacks all of that and then they keep walking and two of Jesus disciples and their mom come home to talk to Jesus and the mom…it’s the mom, she's…she’s doing the requesting. Promise that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on your right hand and one on your left-hand. So, I’m not pointing out that piece of the story to bring us to some kind of application to our lives or some ways to think about this, I’m just pointing out the disconnect. Here we have the son of the living most-high God on planet Earth operating in a kingdom that is being revealed and living a life after a human fashion but completely whole and He’s unpacking all of these parables, He’s teaching privately of the kingdom. And now they’re on their way to His death and this is how disconnected it is, “promise that I get a throne next to your throne. And we can often find that that's…that’s really the motives, that’s really what we’re after is what we want. Like, we’re…we’re in this whole faith thing to get blessed, like to get stuff but if Jesus hasn't…Jesus hasn’t made it clear enough yet, God’s kingdom isn’t a kingdom of stuff. And we can be just as oblivious as Zebedee’s sons sometimes.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word, we thank You for another day to be in Your word, we thank You for what Your word is revealing to us and we thank You that as we do this day by day over and over coming back day after day, changes are happening within us and we are so open to it, we welcome it. We invite You fully to lead us into all truth. Come, Holy Spirit we pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

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

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday January 30, 2020 (NIV)

Exodus 10:1-12:13

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have made his heart unyielding, and his officials’ hearts too, so that I may perform these signs of mine in their midst, and so that you may tell your children and your grandchildren how harshly I dealt with Egypt and about my signs which I did among them. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go so that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let my people go, watch out, because tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. They will cover the surface of the ground so that no one will be able to see the ground. The locusts will eat what little you have left after the hail. They will also eat every tree that you have growing in the field. Your houses, your officials’ houses, and every Egyptian’s house will be filled with them, something neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, from the day that they settled in this land up to this day.” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go so that they may serve the Lord, their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”

So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But who exactly would be going?”

Moses said, “We will go with our young and old, with our sons and daughters. We will go with our flocks and herds, for we are celebrating a festival to the Lord.”

10 But he said to them, “May the Lord be with you if I would ever let you and your families go! I see you are determined to do evil. 11 No! The men may go and serve the Lord, for that is what you have been asking for!” Then they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

12 So the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt so that locusts come up over the land and eat every plant in the land, everything left by the hail.”

13 Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow over the land all that day and all through the night. When morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts. 14 The locusts came up over the entire land of Egypt and settled down in the entire territory of Egypt. There had never been such a large number of locusts before, and there would never be again. 15 They covered the surface of the ground so completely that the land was dark. They ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees—everything left after the hail. Nothing green was left on the trees or on the plants in the field throughout the entire land of Egypt.

16 Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Now please forgive my sin once more, and plead to the Lord your God so that he may also remove this death from me.”

18 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. 19 The Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind. That wind lifted up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not one locust remained in the entire territory of Egypt. 20 But the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart hard, and he did not let the Israelites go.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness that can be felt.” 22 Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in the entire land of Egypt for three days. 23 No one could see anyone else, and for three days none of them moved from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived.

24 Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord. Even your families may also go with you. But you must leave your flocks and herds behind.”

25 But Moses said, “You must also let us take sacrifices with us and burnt offerings to present to the Lord our God. 26 Our livestock must also go with us. Not a hoof is to be left behind, for we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God. We will not know, however, what we will need to serve the Lord until we get there.”

27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. 28 Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you will die!”

29 Moses said, “Just as you have spoken: I will never see your face again.”

The Tenth Plague: The Death of the Firstborn

11 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will certainly drive you completely out of here. Now tell the people that both the men and the women are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” (The Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Even the man Moses was highly regarded in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaoh’s officials and the people.)

So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says. About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the female slave who is behind the hand mill, even all the firstborn of the livestock. There will be a loud outcry in the entire land of Egypt, unlike anything that happened before or anything that will take place again. But among all the Israelites, not a dog will bark[a] at a person or animal, so that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. All these officials of yours will come and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, went out from Pharaoh.

The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” 10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart hard, and he did not let the Israelites go out of his land.

Instructions for the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread

12 The Lord told Moses and Aaron this in the land of Egypt: [b]

This month is to be the beginning of your calendar. It is to be the first month of the year for you. Tell the entire Israelite community that on the tenth day of this month, they are to take a lamb or a young goat[c] for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, one lamb per household. But if the household is too small for a whole lamb, then that person and his neighbor next door to him must select one, based on the number of people. Determine what size lamb is needed according to how much each person will eat.

Your lamb must be unblemished, a year-old male. You may take it from the sheep or the goats. You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. Then the whole assembly of the Israelite community is to slaughter the lambs at sunset.[d] They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat the lamb. That night they shall eat the meat that has been roasted over a fire, along with unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over a fire—with its head, its legs, and its internal organs. 10 You shall not leave any of it until the morning. Whatever remains until the morning, you shall burn in the fire. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt ready for travel,[e] your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

12 For on that night I will pass through the land of Egypt. I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. There will be no plague among you to destroy you when I strike down the land of Egypt.

Footnotes:

  1. Exodus 11:7 Literally wag its tongue
  2. Exodus 12:1 Throughout the translation, long speeches, sets of instructions, and oracles are treated as single documents, not as sets of quotations. Such documents are not set off by quotation marks. Within these documents, regular rules for quotation marks apply.
  3. Exodus 12:3 One Hebrew word means both lamb and kid.
  4. Exodus 12:6 Literally between the evenings, very likely between sunset and darkness
  5. Exodus 12:11 Literally with your hips girded
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Matthew 20:1-28

The Workers in the Vineyard

20 “Indeed the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. After agreeing to pay the workers a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. He also went out about the third hour[a] and saw others standing unemployed in the marketplace. To these he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did the same thing. When he went out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing unemployed. He said to them, ‘Why have you stood here all day unemployed?’

“They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“He told them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When it was evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group and ending with the first.’

“When those who were hired around the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. 10 When those who were hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But they each received a denarius too. 11 After they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner: 12 ‘Those who were last worked one hour, and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not make an agreement with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last one hired the same as I also gave to you. 15 Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 In the same way, the last will be first, and the first, last.”

Again Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection

17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside; and on the way he said to them, 18 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and experts in the law, and they will condemn him to death. 19 They will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, flog, and crucify him. On the third day he will be raised.”

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking something of him. 21 He said to her, “What do you want?”

She said to him, “Promise that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right hand and one on your left hand.”

22 But Jesus answered, “You[b] do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?”

They said to him, “We are.”

23 He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not for me to give; rather these places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the ten heard this, they were angry with the two brothers.

25 But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It will not be that way among you. Instead whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Footnotes:

  1. Matthew 20:3 9 am
  2. Matthew 20:22 Each you in this verse is plural.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Psalm 25:1-15

Psalm 25

Teach Me Your Ways

Heading
By David.

A Prayer for Protection

To you, O Lord, I will lift up my soul.
In you I have trusted, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame.
Do not let my enemies triumph over me.
All who hope in you will never be put to shame,
but those who are treacherous for no reason will be put to shame.

A Prayer for Forgiveness

Make known to me your ways, O Lord.
Teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth and teach me,
because you are the God who saves me.
In you I hope all day long.
Remember, O Lord, your compassion and your mercy,
for they are from eternity.[a]
Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways.
According to your mercy remember me,
because of your goodness, O Lord.
Good and upright is the Lord.
Therefore, he instructs sinners in the right way.
He directs the humble to what is just,
and he teaches the humble his way.
10 All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
11 For the sake of your name, O Lord,
you forgive my guilt, although it is great.

A Prayer for a Godly Life

12 Who, then, is the man who fears the Lord?
The Lord will instruct him in the way he chooses.
13 That man will enjoy a good life,
and his descendants will possess the land.
14 The guidance[b] of the Lord is with those who fear him.
His covenant will give them knowledge.

A Second Prayer for Protection

15 My eyes are always on the Lord,
because he frees my feet from the net.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 25:6 Or from of old
  2. Psalm 25:14 The Hebrew word used here implies the kind of advice given by a close friend and confidant.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 6:6-11

Wisdom Warns Against Laziness

Go to the ant, you slacker![a]
Observe its ways and become wise.
Although it has no overseer, officer, or ruler,
it stores its food in summer.
It gathers its provisions at harvest time.
How long will you lie there, you slacker?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of your hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come on you like a prowler,
and scarcity will come on you like a warrior.

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 6:6 Or you loafer or you lazybones
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

01/29/2020 DAB Transcript

Exodus 8:1-9:35, Matthew 19:13-30, Psalms 24:1-10, Proverbs 6:1-5

Today is the 29th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian like every day, and it’s great to be here with you on this day as we take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we’re kind of settling into this new territory that we’ve begun in the book of Exodus, the story of Moses and the children of Israel. And right now, the children of Israel have been enslaved in Egypt, and God is demanding their release through Moses and Aaron and things have not gone so well so far. And, so, we pick up the story today. We’re reading from the Evangelical Heritage Version this week. Exodus chapter 8 and 9 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have things going on in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, which is the story of the Bible. That’s kind of the story of our every day. But we are definitely seeing the plagues descend upon Egypt and the Bible’s saying God’s hardening Pharaoh’s heart. So, let’s like explore this for minute. What does that mean? Because that would seem kinda unfair right? Like God’s hardened Pharaoh’s heart in advance so that he’s gonna take blow after blow after blow as Egypt is sort of disintegrating but God hardened his heart, so nothing can be done about it. That’s not what’s going on here. Think of yourself from a position of power. Like, you know what you’re doing and you have all the bills paid and you have a little bit in the bank…like you have a little sort of place of security and somebody comes along and tells you what you are going to do. Whether you want to or not, you must submit, and humble yourself and obey. That’s probably gonna harden your heart. And that’s what’s happening to Pharaoh. He is the king of Egypt. He is the Pharaoh, but he also believes he is the son of the gods, he is a deity himself, he is a god himself. So, “no God is coming into my land and telling me what to do. Who is this God of the Hebrews”, right? So, you can see his posture here. And, so, what’s happening is God is systematically certainly showing His authority and power but is also demonstrating to Pharaoh and all of Egypt that the God who has chosen the Hebrew people to be His chosen ones in the world, these are His people that He is doing a new thing through and all of these lesser lower spiritual beings that are being worshiped, all of these false gods that nations and people are following will not stand in the face of the most-high God or the people of the most-high God. Pharaoh hasn’t quite learned that lesson, but he is learning it and we will continue that story tomorrow.

And then we get into the book of Matthew. Really, really interesting conversation happens between a…a really good person who has obeyed the Mosaic law and he’s come to the rabbi teacher Jesus asking, “you know, what else do I need to do? Like what…what act, what posture, what do I need to do to have eternal life?” And Jesus said, “you need to obey the commandments.” And the guys like, “well, which commandments?” And Jesus is like, “you don’t murder, and you don’t commit adultery, and you don’t steal, and you shouldn’t lie, you shouldn’t give false testimony. Honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Now that idea is certainly in the book of Leviticus. I believe it’s also in the book we’re reading, Exodus. I believe it’s also in the book of Deuteronomy. It’s definitely in the New Testament, it’s definitely from the lips of Jesus. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Actually, at a later point Jesus will summarize the entire law of God, the Mosaic law that we will read through by saying, “it…it can all be encapsulated, love the Lord your God with all your soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” So, in other words, if you’re doing those things, you are walking the right path, you are in obedience to God. Love your neighbor as yourself. Generally, we interpret that or understand what’s being said here as…as the Golden rule, treat others as you would like to be treated. Treat your neighbor as you would like to be treated. And that’s right. And that’s good and that’s true, but it’s even deeper than that. We have talked plenty about separation from God as we’ve experienced it in the Bible. We’ve also watched Jesus come on the scene, announcing and revealing a kingdom that exists and is happening and is in and among us. What we’re watching in Jesus is the declaration that the separation that existed between God and man can be bridged and is gone, therefore the separation that we feel from one another is also gone. It’s not about separation anymore, it’s about union. And we…we’ve already mentioned this. In Jesus high priestly prayer, “make them one as we are one.” Paul’s unpacking of all of that describing us as a body with every part irreplaceable and necessary, whether seen or unseen. So, our trajectory is to become aware of this inter connection, this body that we are a part of, that we aren’t acting as individuals but as believers in Jesus. We are Christ on earth in this world as the body of Christ because Christ indwells us. And, so wherever we are there also is Christ and we are all over the world. So, this deepens, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s deeper than just trying to do for others what you would like to be done for you. It’s loving them as yourself. Loving them like they were a part of the you. It’s pretty hard to be selfish if you’re loving your neighbor as if they were a part of you because than anything you are being selfish about what have to include all of yourself. But it goes deeper than that. If everyone in the body of Christ loved their neighbor as themselves the construct that our culture has created for us, the culture of the lack the one that’s telling us constantly that something’s missing and we need to find that something and buy that something kinda goes away because there is no lack, it’s an illusion. We have what we need, we’re not alone, we’re in this together. We are bound together as one body on this earth that is animated by the very Spirit of God. And I’m not making any of that up and I’m not taking any of that out of context. If anything, I mean context is a huge deal for me, that’s what the Bible says. We’ll see that all for ourselves. So, Jesus says, “love your neighbor as you love yourself”, and then the young man says to him, “I have kept all these. What am I still lacking?” Alright, so, there’s this sense that somethings missing. And Jesus told him like, “if you want to be perfect then go sell everything you have and give to the poor and you’ll have treasure in heaven. And then come, follow me.” So, like He’s inviting this guy to become a disciple. “Come follow me.” That’s what He says to all the people that he follow…that He calls. But Jesus has found the one thing and the man leaves saddened because he had a lot of stuff. This was that particular person’s thing, like Jesus found that thing. The guy came to Jesus and was like, “I think…I think I’m doing everything right. I believe that I have earned righteousness before God but I’m just checking with you and Jesus finds the thing that is his hang up and He will find ours too if we’ll let him and then we’ll have to decide if are going to walk away sad or if we’re gonna embrace Him. But we can say some things about this kingdom that Jesus is revealing. We can say that it is a kingdom of forgiveness and that forgiveness is irreplaceable as we talked about yesterday. We can say that this kingdom is in and among everything, it’s sown in among all things. So, among all the evil of the world goodness is everywhere among it. So, that as Jesus says, “no one will be able to say, look over there, there’s the kingdom or here, over here, here it is.” Because it’s within us. It’s among us. we could say that the kingdom of God is a very interconnected one, one in which we understand our interdependence on one another, one in which we understand that the animating life force, the source is God, and it is the Spirit of God that indwells us. Or we could also say that the kingdom of heaven is…is not a kingdom of lack, it’s a kingdom of abundance, but normally we are only measuring that with our five physical senses. We are only measuring abundance by what we can experience with our physicality, with our bodies, ignoring the richness of a sound mind and the beauty of a whole heart. So, if we began to look through the eyes of this kingdom that we’re beginning to discover through the lips of Jesus, we could clearly say that it is in this world and happening right now and we can experience it fully, but we will have to disengage from the kind of cultural traps that we continually find ourselves in - in the world but not of the world. And if we realize that what we’re ultimately after is wholeness here, where our minds and our Spirits and our bodies are in collaboration with the Spirit of the living God within us, then we wouldn’t be able to help, but seeing God everywhere and we wouldn’t have a sense of abandonment or lack. We would understand we have all we need and there is no lack, there is a never ending supply. This entire world and everything in it, no matter how much we think we have our private property and our own couches that are paid for and like these are our things, everything in this world belongs to God. He is the creator of it, and he has no lack. So, we are beginning to see this kingdom and see that we can be in it. We just need eyes to see and ears to hear.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit again, that’s what we ask for, eyes to see and ears to hear. We open ourselves to You. We invite You fully. we declare nothing is off-limits to You after the same fashion that You found the thing that was gonna hold back this rich Young ruler in the book of Matthew, we ask You might reveal those things to us. What are the things that are gonna keep us from seeing Your kingdom? What are the things that are gonna keep us from operating in Your kingdom? A vast wide-open peaceful place where the world can swirl all around us with its chaos, but we are with You and everything is Yours. Come Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday January 29, 2020 (NIV)

Exodus 8-9

The Second Plague: Frogs

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, and tell him that this is what the Lord says: Let my people go so that they may serve me.[a] If you refuse to let them go, watch out. I will send a plague of frogs on your entire territory. The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up and enter into your palace, into your bedroom, onto your bed, into your servants’ houses, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading troughs. The frogs will come up on you, your people, and all your servants.”

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, streams, and ponds, and bring frogs up onto the land of Egypt.’” So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt. The frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. But the magicians did the same thing by their occult practices and brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt.

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

Moses said to Pharaoh, “I give you the honor of setting the time when I should plead for you, your servants, and your people so that the Lord will rid you and your houses of the frogs. They will remain only in the Nile.”

10 Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.”

Moses replied, “It will take place just as you have said, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. 11 The frogs will leave you and your houses, your servants, and your people. They will remain only in the Nile.”

12 Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs, which he had brought upon Pharaoh. 13 The Lord did as Moses said: The frogs from the houses, courtyards, and fields died. 14 The people piled them up into heaps, and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he made his heart unyielding and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

The Third Plague: Lice

16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: ‘Stretch out your staff, and strike the dust of the ground, and it will become lice[b] in the entire land of Egypt.’” 17 They did so. When Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the ground, there were lice on the people and animals. All the dust of the ground became lice in the entire land of Egypt. 18 The magicians tried to produce lice by their occult practices, but they could not. So there were lice on the people and on the animals. 19 The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

The Fourth Plague: Swarms of Flies

20 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh as he is going out to the water. Tell him this is what the Lord says: Let my people go so that they may serve me. 21 For if you will not let my people go, watch out. I will send swarms of flies[c] on you, your servants, and your people, and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies. They will even cover the ground. 22 But on that day, I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people are living. There will not be swarms of flies in Goshen. In this way, you will know that I am the Lord on the earth. 23 I will make a distinction[d] between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will take place.”

24 So that is what the Lord did. Thick swarms of flies went into Pharaoh’s palace and his officials’ houses. Throughout Egypt, the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies.

25 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, offer sacrifices to your God in the land!”

26 But Moses said, “It is not right to do that, because the sacrifices which we will offer to the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are detestable to the Egyptians right in front of them, won’t they stone us? 27 We will go on a three-day journey into the wilderness and offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, just as he tells us.”

28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but do not go very far away. Plead for me.”

29 Moses said, “All right. As soon as I leave you, I will plead to the Lord so that tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Only do not let Pharaoh act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

30 Moses went out from Pharaoh and pleaded to the Lord. 31 The Lord did as Moses said, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Not a fly remained. 32 Pharaoh made his heart unyielding[e] this time also, and he did not let the people go.

The Fifth Plague: Death of Livestock

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go and keep holding them back, watch out, because the hand of the Lord will bring a very severe disease on your livestock which is in the field. It will be on the horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of the Egyptians so that not one of the Israelites’ livestock will die.’” The Lord appointed a set time by saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” So the next day, that is what the Lord did, and all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but none of the livestock of the Israelites died. Pharaoh checked and found out that not even one of the livestock of the Israelites had died. But Pharaoh’s heart was unyielding, and he did not let the people go.

The Sixth Plague: Boils

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a kiln, and have Moses toss it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. It will become fine dust over the entire land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals in the entire land of Egypt.”

10 So they took soot from a kiln and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it toward the sky, and festering boils broke out on people and animals. 11 The magicians could not stand in front of Moses because of the boils, since the boils were on the magicians and all the Egyptians. 12 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said to Moses.

The Seventh Plague: Hail

13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning. Present yourself to Pharaoh, and tell him that this is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may serve me. 14 For at this time I will send all my plagues against you yourself, your servants, and your people, so that you will know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague so that you would have been wiped off the earth. 16 However, for this very reason, I caused you to stand:[f] so that I could show you my power, and that my name would be made known over the entire earth. 17 You still are acting arrogantly against my people by not letting them go. 18 Watch out. At this time tomorrow I will rain down a very severe hailstorm, unlike any other in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19 Now give orders to bring your livestock and everything of yours that is in the open field into shelters. Every person and animal out in the open that is not brought inside will die when the hail falls down on them.”

20 Those among Pharaoh’s officials who feared the word of the Lord made their servants and livestock take refuge inside. 21 But those who did not take the word of the Lord to heart left their servants and livestock in the field.

22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, and let there be hail in the entire land of Egypt: on the people, on the animals, and on every plant in the field throughout the land of Egypt.”

23 Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail. Lightning also flashed down to the ground. The Lord rained down hail upon the land of Egypt. 24 The hail, with lightning flashing through it, was very severe. Nothing like it had happened in the entire land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 Throughout the entire land, the hail struck everything that was in the field, both people and animals. The hail also struck every plant in the field and shattered every tree in the field. 26 But in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail.

27 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. He said to them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is the one who is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Plead to the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you do not have to stay here any longer.”

29 Moses said to him, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will stop, and there will no longer be any hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. 30 But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear the Lord God.”

31 (The flax and the barley were destroyed, because the barley was ripe and the flax was in bloom. 32 But the wheat and the spelt were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)

33 Moses went out from Pharaoh and from the city. He spread out his hands to the Lord. The thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the ground. 34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had stopped, he sinned again. He and his officials made their hearts unyielding.[g] 35 Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.

Footnotes:

  1. Exodus 8:1 In chapter 8, English verses 1-4 equal Hebrew verses 7:26-29. English verses 5-32 equal Hebrew verses 1-28.
  2. Exodus 8:16 The identity of the insects is uncertain. Fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, and gnats are among the suggestions. The requirement is that it be an insect that is on people and animals. Lice is retained as the traditional translation.
  3. Exodus 8:21 The Hebrew simply says swarms. The type of insect is not specified.
  4. Exodus 8:23 The translation follows the Greek and Latin versions. The Hebrew reads I will put a redemption, which does not fit the context.
  5. Exodus 8:32 Literally heavy
  6. Exodus 9:16 The literal rendering of the Hebrew, caused you to stand, may mean “raised you to power” or “let you remain for so long.” Verse 15 suggests the latter.
  7. Exodus 9:34 Or unresponsive or calloused
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Matthew 19:13-30

Jesus Loves Little Children

13 Then some people brought little children to Jesus to have him place his hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them. 14 Then Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”[a] 15 After he placed his hands on them, he left that place.

The Rich Young Ruler

16 There was a man who came to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing should I do that I may have eternal life?”

17 Jesus said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? Only one is good. But if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

18 “Which ones?” the man asked him.

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. 19 Honor your father and mother.’ And, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”[b]

20 The young man said to him, “I have kept all these. What am I still lacking?”

21 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had many possessions. 23 Jesus said to his disciples, “Amen I tell you: It will be very hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?”

26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

27 Then Peter answered, “Look, we have left everything and followed you! What then will we have?”

28 Jesus said to them, “Amen I tell you: In the renewal, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 Everyone who has left homes or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, because of my name, will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

Footnotes:

  1. Matthew 19:14 Or because of such is the kingdom of heaven
  2. Matthew 19:19 Exodus 20:12-16; Deuteronomy 5:16-20; Leviticus 19:18
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Psalm 24

Psalm 24

The King of Glory

Heading
By David. A psalm.

The King of Glory Owns the Whole World

The earth is the Lord’s
and everything that fills it,
the world and all who live in it,
because he founded it on the seas,
and he established it on the rivers.[a]

The King of Glory Is Served by a Holy People

Who may go up to the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
whose soul is not set on what is false,
who does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God who saves him.
Such are the people of Jacob who look for the Lord,
who seek your face.[b] Interlude

The King of Glory Comes

Lift up your heads, you gates.
Lift yourselves up, you ancient doors,
and the King of Glory will come in.
Who is this King of Glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, you gates.
Lift up, you ancient doors,
and the King of Glory will come in.
10 Who is he, this King of Glory?
The Lord of Armies—he is the King of Glory. Interlude[c]

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 24:2 Or ocean currents
  2. Psalm 24:6 Literally this is the generation (or circle) of those who seek him, who seek your face Jacob. The syntax of the verse is difficult. It appears that in the Hebrew Jacob should be understood as an apposition to those who seek him. The Greek reads the generation of those who look for him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
  3. Psalm 24:10 The Hebrew selah seems to indicate a musical interlude for reflection.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 6:1-5

Eighth Address to a Son: Wisdom Avoids Entanglements

My son, if you have guaranteed your neighbor’s debts,
if you have shaken hands for a stranger,
you are trapped by the promises from your mouth;
you are captured by the promises from your mouth.
Because you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands,
go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.
Do not allow your eyes to sleep,
or your eyelids to slumber.
Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of a hunter,
or like a bird from the hand of a trapper.

Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

01/28/2020 DAB Transcript

Exodus 5:22-7:25, Matthew 18:21-19:12, Psalms 23:1-6, Proverbs 5:22-23

Today is January 28th, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today. Looking at the number, January 28th and just realizing we’ve only got a few more days in this month and I’m still scratching my head about where the weeks have gone because I know I just celebrated Christmas but…but I don't…and…and that happens every year and I don’t know why I can’t finally get my…I mean, I’m at this every single day. So, I should be able to mark my days but then I get to the end of January and I’m like, how did that happen so quickly? Anyway, how are you? How’s your day going? You’re probably just like right where you need to be. You’re right centered in the here and now, January 28th, you’re not wondering where the month went. You lived it fully. And that’s great. I want to grow up to be like you. And, so, that’s why I read the Bible every day to us. And I let’s get to it. We’re in the book of Exodus. We have begun to…to get to know Moses who is a major character in the Bible, and we’ll be journeying with Moses for…for a while as I’ve mentioned. So, we’ll get to know him. He has reluctantly obeyed God and gone back to Egypt and confronted Pharaoh who has essentially laughed him out of the palace and made things much more difficult for the Hebrew people. And we can already tell a pretty big showdown is gonna happen at some point. So, let’s take the next step forward. We’re reading from Evangelical Heritage Version this week. Exodus chapter 5 verse 22 through 7 verse 25.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Matthew Jesus brought up a subject that He has already brought up and He was even more direct and forceful with it this time than…than the first time we encountered it because it is, according to Jesus, an irreplaceable component of God’s kingdom, and it’s a word that…I mean…it can…it can be a tricky work, forgiveness. It’s kind of a funny thing because we like the concept of it. We just…we just don’t want to have to do it. We want everybody else to have to do it, but we don’t have to let go. So, the way that this goes down is that Peter’s just asking like, “okay. I see forgiveness is a part of this story. How many times…like define this for me. If…if somebody sins against me, how many times,  seven? Like do I forgive them 7 times.” Jesus is like, “no, like 77,” right? So, like if you forgive somebody 77 times and you’re counting it up and you get to offense number 78 and you tell that person, “I don’t forgive you because I’ve forgive you 77 times” then you probably haven’t forgiven them 77 times. Jesus tells a story - a master and a servant. A servant, who…who owes a great deal, an amount he can’t pay. He falls to his knees and begs for forgiveness. He begs for mercy. He begs for more time. The master forgives him completely and sends him on his way. But then that person will not forgive his brother, his fellow servant who owes them significantly less. He won’t forgive that debt. He throws him into prison. So, just imagine this for a minute. Imagine God saying to you, “you wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt when you bagged me to. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you?” I do not ever, ever, ever want to hear those words from my Father but I’m quoting Jesus here. “This is what my heavenly Father will also do to you, unless each one of you forgives his brother from his heart.” Like that…that’s pretty hard to navigate around. Like, that’s pretty hard to set aside and say, “well it doesn’t really mean what…it’s…it’s not…that’s not what it means” because Jesus has taken away the ability to sort like fake it. He said, “from the heart.” So, it’s like…it’s got to be real and genuine. And this…this can bring up all kinds of things inside of us, because we immediately…you know when we start thinking about forgiveness we have to begin to think about the wounds of our lives and some of them have been fairly significant. Like, none of us…none of us gets out of here without getting hurt in some way and some of us have been hurt pretty bad. And, so, just to even go there at all is a pretty…pretty difficult journey. But to think of forgiveness, you know, it’s really easy to be like, “you just don’t understand. Like you don’t know happened to me, the trauma. Like you just don’t understand. I…I…the guy with the microphone…I…I wouldn't…I’ve been through my own traumas…I wouldn't…but normally we’re not trying to say this to somebody else, we’re trying to say to God, “like I can’t do what you’re asking me to do because it broke me and I’m fragmented and I don’t even know how…how to approach forgiveness when something so wicked has happened. And, so, we can be angry that God would even think about asking us or forcing us into this kind of posture, but let's…let’s just pause for second…and understand like, we’re 19 chapters into the book of Matthew and Matthew is the first of the Gospels and for this year anyway, this is first accounting of Jesus ministry and so we’re getting to know Jesus for this year as we go through the Gospels. And we noticed right away there was something different. Like, we saw right from the get-go, and we began to realize is that we’re looking at somebody who is different because they are whole. Their…their heart and their mind and their bodies are not all detached and living in separate realities. Wholeness, the lack of separation any longer inside of ourselves and from God, this is the message of the gospel. And, so, this is what Jesus is revealing in His ministry as He reveals the kingdom of God. And you could be like, “I am tracking with you there. What has that got to do with forgiveness?” Forgiveness can bring wholeness. Forgiveness isn’t saying, “alright. I guess it was okay that that happened to me. I forgive them for what they did. I guess I have to do that. It’s gotta be okay.” That’s not what forgiveness is. And forgiveness isn’t. “Okay. I’m not gonna talk about that anymore, that wound anymore. I’m not gonna…I’m gonna forget it. Like, I’m gonna…I’m gonna suppress it down and never visit it again.” That’s not it either. Forgiveness is saying, “injustice in some way was done to me. It happened. It shattered to me in some way. I’m broken because of it. There’s poison inside of me like seeping through my veins. It affects my life and it has affected the way my life has gone, and I cannot do this anymore and I cannot get free of this by myself. I’ve tried to medicate. I’ve tried everything. I can’t do it. And, so, I release this to You God. You are the judge. I release this to You. You handle this. I release them to You. God, I can’t handle this anymore. I release them to You. I unchain myself from that person or event and I give it to you.” Forgiveness is one of these things, at least in the ministry of Jesus that is very direct because it’s very important because forgiveness sets us free and unforgiveness does the opposite. And Jesus came to set us free. So, we can hold onto those wounds as if they’ve become a part of our identity. We can hold onto those attachments or things that have hurt us as if we wouldn’t even know how to be ourselves without carrying that around anymore, or we can understand this is part of the process of walking the narrow path that leads to life and wholeness. And I realize I’m…I mean I’m talking to lots and lots of people and there lots and lots of stories. There are plenty of things to release. There are plenty of things to let go of. There are…I mean the posture of forgiveness isn’t a one-off, it’s a lifestyle, it’s always on and never off. And at least in my experience, some of the deepest roots of bitterness and awfulness and frank…frankly darkness and evil happen between spouses. Like that’s ground zero. Like that is your ultimate union with another person and that union then represents your greater union with God. And the thing that will destroy that out right straightaway is unforgiveness. And we all know it. Unforgiveness leads to bitterness, anger, resentment, you name it, and none of that will bring us to God.

Prayer:

Father, it is to You that we want to be led. It is a growing awareness of Your presence in and around and among and through and in all things, including our lives and our relationships and our marriages. And one of the things that flows through all of that in Your kingdom is the ability to let go, the ability to release, the ability to forgive. And all we have to do is look at our own lives and we can find the places that we’ve been bound up because of bitterness and unforgiveness. We were talking about our marriages a minute ago Father and all we have to do is look there really to find places that have been walled off and places that have become battle lines and we might count 7 times or we might count 77 times and then we’re done with it. And, so, we begin the slow, steady, methodical process of dismantling and disintegrating our relationships through this unforgiveness. And You’ve been very clear, very clear in the Scriptures that that is leading nowhere. And, so, Father help us to learn to forgive. Help us to learn to release and let go. And help us to be willing to ask to be forgiven because in one way or another we’re in need of it. Father, it’s our desire to dwell in Your presence in Your kingdom and to reveal it in this world and one of the ways that we will do that is that we walk in forgiveness. Come Holy Spirit we pray into this because it’s a big thing for us. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Song:

Sara Groves - It’s Me

Well, it came and caught us off our guard
We were just laughing, feeling alright
Had such a great time just last night
We walked into a minefield undetected
You took a tone and I took offense
Anger replacing all common sense

Oh, run for your life, all tenderness is gone
In the blink of an eye all goodwill has withdrawn
We mark out our paces and stare out from our faces
Baby, you and I are gone, gone, gone

Incomprehensible layers of isolation
Now you’re the man with a heart of stone
Making me pay by being alone
Soon you will justify righteous indignation
Now I’m a woman who holds all her pain
Looking for somebody else to blame

Oh, run for your life, all tenderness is gone
In the blink of an eye all goodwill has withdrawn
We mark out our paces and stare out from our faces
But baby, you and I are gone, gone, gone

We hold all the keys to our undoing
Cutting me down in small degrees
You know my worst insecurities
I’m making no effort to understand
No one can hurt you like I can

Deep down inside the girl’s waking up
She’s going out to the boy she loves
It’s me, oh, baby, it’s me

How in the world can tenderness be gone
In the blink of an eye?
Oh, how in the world can tenderness be gone
In the blink of an eye?

And the girl in me, she’s calling out
Oh, the girl in me, she’s calling out
To the boy in you, to the boy in you
And the girl in me, she’s calling out
Oh, the girl in me, she’s calling out
To the boy in you

Baby, come back, baby, come back to me
Baby, come back, baby, come back

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday January 28, 2020 (NIV)

Exodus 5:22-7:25

22 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why did you send me? 23 Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

The Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. Because of a mighty hand[a] he will send them away, and because of a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.”

God Promises Deliverance

Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name, the Lord, I was not known to them.[b] I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they were residing as aliens. I certainly have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have remembered my covenant.

“Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from being their slaves. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians. I will bring you to the land which I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”

Moses spoke these words to the Israelites, but they did not listen to Moses because of their broken spirit and because of the hard labor. 10 The Lord spoke to Moses: 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the Israelites go from his land.”

12 But Moses said in the Lord’s presence, “Look, the Israelites have not listened to me. Why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I am a poor speaker?”[c]

The Family Record of Moses and Aaron

13 The Lord again spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and about Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He commanded them to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

14 These were the heads of their fathers’ houses:[d]

The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch and
Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the founders of the clans
of Reuben.
15 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar,
and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the
founders of the clans of Simeon.
16 These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their family records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.
17 The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei. They were founders of clans.
18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years.
19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi.

These were the clans of the Levites according to their family records.

20 Amram[e] married Jochebed, his father’s sister, and she gave birth
to Aaron and Moses for him. Amram lived 137 years.
21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.
22 The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
23 Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the
sister of Nahshon, and she gave birth to Nadab and Abihu,
Eleazar and Ithamar for him.
24 The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These
were the founders of the clans of the Korahites.
25 Eleazar, the son of Aaron, married one of the daughters of Putiel,
and she gave birth to Phinehas for him.

These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites that had become clans.

26 These were the Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the Israelites from the land of Egypt according to their divisions.”[f] 27 These were the same ones who spoke to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, in order to bring the Israelites out from Egypt. These were that same Moses and Aaron.

28 On the day that the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 the Lord said to him, “I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, everything that I tell you.”

30 But Moses said in the Lord’s presence, “You see, I am a poor speaker. Why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

Moses and Aaron Appear Before Pharaoh

The Lord said to Moses, “Look, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. You are to speak everything that I command you, and Aaron your brother is to speak to Pharaoh, so that he will let the Israelites go out from his land. But I will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn. [g]I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my divisions, my people the Israelites, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand over Egypt, and I bring out the Israelites from their midst.”

This is what Moses and Aaron did. Just as the Lord commanded them, that is exactly what they did. Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake

The Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Give us a warning sign,’ then you are to tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’”

10 Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 But then Pharaoh also called for his wise men and sorcerers. Those magicians[h] of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. 12 They each threw down their staffs, and those staffs became snakes. However, Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 But Pharaoh’s heart was hard,[i] and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

The First Plague: Blood

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding.[j] He refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When he goes out by the water, stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him. Take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake.

16 “You are to tell him: ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you. He says, “Let my people go so that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But look, until now you have not listened. 17 So this is what the Lord says: “In this way, you will know that I am the Lord.” Look! With the staff that is in my hand, I will strike the water in the Nile, and it will be turned to blood. 18 The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink water from the Nile.’”

19 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over its rivers, its streams, its ponds, and all the reservoirs—and they will become blood. There will be blood in the entire land of Egypt, even in containers made of wood and stone.’”

20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile. All the water in the Nile was turned to blood. 21 The fish that were in the river died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians were not able to drink water from the Nile. There was blood in the entire land of Egypt. 22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. So Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had told them. 23 Pharaoh turned and went to his palace. He did not take to heart even this. 24 All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they were not able to drink the water from the Nile. 25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

Footnotes:

  1. Exodus 6:1 Or with a strong hand. The question is whether Pharaoh is forcing them to go, or the Lord is forcing him to let them go.
  2. Exodus 6:3 The name Lord does appear in Genesis, so perhaps this means that the full impact and meaning of the name were not experienced by the patriarchs as they were during the events of Exodus. Others solve the problem by reading this as an unmarked question: Did I not make myself known to them?
  3. Exodus 6:12 Literally I am uncircumcised of lips. Also in verse 30.
  4. Exodus 6:14 In each successive generation, the tribal and clan elders were called the fathers of the clan.
  5. Exodus 6:20 From Levi to the birth of Moses is over three hundred years. Only three men are named to cover this period: Levi, Kohath, and Amram. If the Amram in verse 18 is the same man as the Amram in verse 20, it is likely that he is a descendant of Kohath rather than his son. Another possibility is that there are two Amrams: one the founder of the clan, the other the father of Moses.
  6. Exodus 6:26 Or military units
  7. Exodus 7:3 Literally stiff or resistant
  8. Exodus 7:11 Or sacred scribes or occult practitioners
  9. Exodus 7:13 Literally strong
  10. Exodus 7:14 Literally heavy
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Matthew 18:21-19:12

The Unmerciful Servant

21 Then Peter came up and asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother when he sins against me? As many as seven times?”

22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but I tell you as many as seventy-seven times.[a] 23 For this reason the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle them, a man who owed him ten thousand talents[b] was brought to him. 25 Because the man was not able to pay the debt, his master ordered that he be sold, along with his wife, children, and all that he owned to repay the debt.

26 “Then the servant fell down on his knees in front of him, saying, ‘Master, be patient with me, and I will pay you everything!’ 27 The master of that servant had pity on him, released him, and forgave him the debt.

28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred denarii.[c] He grabbed him and began choking him, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’

29 “So his fellow servant fell down and begged him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back!’ 30 But he refused. Instead he went off and threw the man into prison until he could pay back what he owed.

31 “When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were very distressed. They went and reported to their master everything that had taken place.

32 “Then his master called him in and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt when you begged me to. 33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 His master was angry and handed him over to the jailers until he could pay back everything he owed.

35 “This is what my heavenly Father will also do to you unless each one of you forgives his brother from his heart.”

Marriage and Divorce

19 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. Some Pharisees came in order to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

He answered, “Haven’t you read that from the beginning their Maker ‘made them male and female,’[d] and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’?[e] So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate.”

They asked him, “Then why did Moses command a man to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

Jesus said to them, “Because of your hard hearts, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but it was not that way from the beginning. I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the grounds of her sexual immorality, and marries another woman is committing adultery.”[f]

10 His disciples said to him, “If this is the relationship of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For example, there are eunuchs who were born that way, and others who were castrated by people, and others who decided to remain unmarried because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this should accept it.”

Footnotes:

  1. Matthew 18:22 Or seventy times seven
  2. Matthew 18:24 Ten thousand talents was an enormous amount equal to sixty million days’ wages. Each talent was worth six thousand denarii. A denarius was one day’s wage.
  3. Matthew 18:28 This was one hundred days’ wages, since one denarius was equal to one day’s wage.
  4. Matthew 19:4 Genesis 1:27
  5. Matthew 19:5 Genesis 2:24
  6. Matthew 19:9 Some witnesses to the text add And the one who marries the divorced woman also commits adultery.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Psalm 23

Psalm 23

The King of Love My Shepherd Is

Heading
A psalm by David.

The Shepherd Provides for His People

The Lord is my shepherd.
I lack nothing.
He causes me to lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

The Shepherd Protects His People

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

The Royal Host Provides for His People

You set a table for me in the presence of my foes.
You drench my head with oil.[a]
My cup is overflowing.
Surely goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.[b]

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 23:5 Scenting someone with perfumed olive oil was a part of celebrations. The verb used here is not the verb used for anointing someone to an office.
  2. Psalm 23:6 Literally for length of days or for days without end
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 5:22-23

22 The evil deeds of the wicked man will capture him,
and he will be bound by the ropes of his sin.
23 He will die for lack of discipline,
and he will go astray because of his great stupidity.

Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

01/27/2020 DAB Transcript

Exodus 4:1-5:21, Matthew 18:1-20, Psalms 22:19-31, Proverbs 5:15-21

Today is the 27th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s wonderful to be here with you today as we come in and find ourselves around the Global Campfire, find ourselves…even though we’re all over the world. Just knowing that we’re not alone. No one ever listens to the Daily Audio Bible alone. Someone somewhere, many someone’s, many somewhere’s normally. It…it’s always happening. We’re never alone. So, it’s great to be here with you now as we take the next step forward in our week and in our adventure through the Scriptures. And we have begun the second book of the Old Testament, the book of Exodus. And we have met a person named Moses and we’ll be traveling through the story of Moses and the rise of the children of Israel for a while now. The children of Israel have thrived and flourished in Egypt after Joseph’s death, but they have also been enslaved. And we learned of Moses in the…in the river, in the basket and becoming Pharaoh’s daughter and killing an Egyptian and fleeing. And then there’s this burning bush that’s not being consumed and God is calling Moses to go back to Egypt, back to Pharaoh and demand…and demand the people’s release. So let’s pick up the story. Exodus chapter 4 verse 1 through 25 verse 21 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, wow, there’s so much to talk about you guys. Like every day there’s so much to talk about. Let’s talk about the book of Exodus just for a second and let’s touch on the book of Matthew. So, in Exodus we have met Moses. Obviously, the burning bush incident has occurred and we…we witnessed that today and…and God instructed Moses to go back and supplied him with some signs that he could see knowing that he was going back with some actual power of God. And Moses is doing all kinds of backpedaling about why he can’t do what he’s being asked to do and why he’s not qualified to do what he’s being asked to do. And…and he's…he’s telling God this who is speaking to him in a burning bush that is not being consumed. It's…it's…it’s beautiful to watch God’s patience, how He’s just having the conversation about all of the concerns that Moses has. And he’s essentially saying like, “I see that you have these concerns, but I will be with you and I am that I am. Like I will be with you. You don’t have to fear. You’re not going alone. I’ll go with you.” But Moses just keeps backpedaling. “I can’t talk. I don’t know how to form my words.” All of these things until we reach another one of the really sad, sad scenes in the Bible because here is God and…and we’ve watched the story unfold right, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, who became Israel who had children, who were the children of Israel, Joseph going to Egypt, the early children of Israel going to Egypt and becoming a massive people while in Egypt over four centuries. There was a promise and Abraham was told all these things were before his progeny. And, so, now God is coming because the people have accumulated and are now ready to leave Egypt so that they can move toward the land of promise, so that the promise can be fulfilled. And, so, God comes and calls this prophetic voice in Moses, “go back. You’re gonna lead my people out of Egypt.” And Moses says, “could you send somebody else?” We can certainly put ourselves in the position of Moses and understand that what He’s being asked to do is pretty serious. And yeah, like his concerns are legitimate. Will the people listen to him? Will they pay attention to him? Like he’s gotta go back to a nation where he’s wanted for murder. Like, he’s being asked to do some big things and so we can easily get into the into the mindset of Moses, but what about the heart of God in this situation? God has heard his people crying out. They have become a people and He has heard their cry and He has come for them and He’s being asked to find somebody else. You have to wonder how many times that has happened at critical points in our human story when there was no one else. We have to look at our own lives when we’re feeling the nudge, when we’re feeling the pull, when we’re being swept into something that God seems to be pulling us into. And, you know, always when you get a vision for something, the beginning of the story is always fun. It’s a dream, but then when you have to do it, it’s not a dream anymore. It’s a very, very, very high mountain to climb. So, we could think of how many times God has been asked to send somebody else throughout our history and we can only imagine because if we look at our own lives, we realize that’s been us too, that’s been our voice to Him too. Thankfully God is patient and perseverant. And Aaron comes, Moses brother, and they do go back, and the people believe them, and they are able to get before Pharaoh and speak the word of the Lord, right? So, like, through it all, at the end of it all Moses obeyed and was given an audience before the Pharaoh of Egypt and he was able to say in the ears of Pharaoh the word of the Lord, “let my people go.” And, of course, Pharaoh’s like, “who’s the Lord?” He didn’t let the people go. Actually, where we leave today’s reading, he has withdrawn supplies for them to do their forced labor. And, so, now things have only gotten harder.

Okay. Let’s push pause. Let’s look at the story of the Bible so far. We don’t have to review every story. But if we look at the arc after…after a word of the Lord, after a promise is given things don’t just get easy and just kind of sail downhill into the promise, they get harder and more difficult and then the promise must be contended for and that season of difficulty becomes a refining furnace that purifies. This arc is over and over and over throughout the stories of the Bible. Take for example the story that we just read as we concluded the book of Genesis, the story of Joseph who’s having dreams as a child, but before those dreams are fulfilled he’s trafficked into slavery by his own family, right, falsely accused, thrown into a dungeon. Like, we know the story. It got way more challenging before the outcome became apparent. Joseph was refined and by the time that Pharaoh called him up he was ready to lead. We’re gonna watch the same thing happen to Moses and then at some point we might wonder why in the world it’s happening to us, misread the obstacles and challenges, become estranged from God and angry, while missing the point that we were being refined and called up into the next thing for us. This is important context for our lives and it’s coming from the Bible.

We move into the book of Matthew and Jesus is asked a question, “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”, which is…which is like the exact…like the…the worst question that could be asked based upon what Jesus is teaching about the kingdom. And, so, Jesus uses a child as an illustration by calling a child and saying, “unless you’re turned and become like children, you’ll never even enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” We know these kinds of stories. we know Jesus love for children. It’s legendary. There’s lots of paintings depicting it. Like, we know this, but are we hearing what He’s saying, because He’s saying once again what He’s been saying all along. The world is backward, it’s all backward to the ways of God’s kingdom. You become the greatest in God’s kingdom by not even thinking about that. That’s not the goal. Humble yourself like a little child if you want to be great in God’s kingdom. I mean, it should be obvious to us how opposite the world is to what Jesus is saying because our cultures are normally about how much we can shine the light on us as individuals. We can’t become superstars of God’s kingdom and…and…and that the evidence of that be that we’re on the cover of a magazine or have a best-selling book or like…that’s not the evidence, the humility of a child in a person, at least according to Jesus, is the evidence. But we live in a culture that…that…that praises and worships individuality, that the accomplishment that one person can do. But this is not the way of God’s kingdom. So, one of the last things that Jesus said in our reading today was, “if two of you on earth agree to ask for anything it will be done for them by my father who is in heaven. In fact, where two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am among them.” He didn’t say anything about one, which is not to say that God’s presence does not exist if you are by yourself. What Jesus is laying out for us and what the apostle Paul will unpack thoroughly for us is that this whole process is not about us getting to be more and more individual and unique and high and mighty and celebrated. It is that we become aware that the separation that existed between us and God no longer exists, which means the separation from each other also no longer exists for those who are in Christ. We are being made one. And Jesus specifically prays for that and Paul gives us useful language, “the body. We are one body.” The objective isn’t to be the greatest in God’s kingdom. The objective is to be overwhelmed by the fact that we are in it at all.

Prayer:

Father we invite you into all that we’ve read as we launch into our week here. We…we find that we have asked you to send someone else just like Moses. We’re all guilty of this. It’s in us all and we’ve all been less than humble like a child as we’ve represented you in this world. We have misrepresented you on a number of occasions and even had the audacity to blame you for things that you had nothing to do with. And, so, there's…this kind of stuff comes up a lot because we struggle with these things…this…this is the battle and we thank you for bringing these things up in your word so that we can wrestle with them, so that they won’t go away until they’re dealt with. And, so, come Holy Spirit, help us to have the humility of a child today. Help us walk around this earth with wonder that we’re here and wonder that there are others like us here and that we bear your image. Help us to be light in the darkness. Help us to be good in a world that is full of evil. Hep us to continue to understand that the journey that we are ultimately on is a journey inward, that you are awakening things in our hearts, that you are awakening our hearts to your presence. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday January 27, 2020 (NIV)

Exodus 4:1-5:21

Moses Is Given Miraculous Signs

But Moses responded, “What if they do not believe me and do not listen to my voice, but instead they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?”

So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

He said, “A staff.”

He said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, so he ran away from it.

The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and take it by the tail.”

He stretched out his hand and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand.

The Lord said, “This sign is being given to you so that the Israelites will believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

The Lord also said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous,[a] as white as snow.

Then the Lord said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

The Lord said, “If they do not believe you or do not respond to the first sign, they might believe because of the second sign. If they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you are to take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry land.”

10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, either in the past or more recently or even since you started speaking to your servant, for my mouth and tongue are slow and clumsy.”[b]

11 So the Lord said to him, “Who made a mouth for people? Or who makes someone mute or deaf, able to see or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go, and I will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you will speak.”

13 But he said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses, and the Lord said, “What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Look, he is already coming out to meet you. He will be very glad to see you. 15 You will speak to him and put the words into his mouth. I will be with your mouth and with his, and I will teach you what you are to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you so that it will be as if he were your mouth, and you were God to him. 17 You will also take this staff in your hand, the one with which you will perform the signs.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

18 Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go and return to my own people, who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.”

Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt, for everyone who wanted to kill you is dead.”

20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, placed them on a donkey, and set out to return to the land of Egypt. Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure that you perform in the presence of Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put into your hand. However, I will make his heart hard,[c] and he will not let the people go. 22 You will then say to Pharaoh, ‘The Lord says: Israel is my son, my firstborn, 23 and I have said to you, “Let my son go to serve me,” but you have refused to let him go. Watch out. I will kill your son, your firstborn.’”

24 At a lodging place along the way, the Lord confronted him and sought to kill him.[d] 25 Then Zipporah took a flint blade, cut off her son’s foreskin, and cast it at his feet. Then she said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”

26 So the Lord left him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

Reunion of Moses and Aaron

27 The Lord had said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.”

So he went, met Moses at the mountain of God, and kissed him. 28 Moses told Aaron all the words that the Lord had sent him to speak and all the signs he had commanded him to perform. 29 Moses and Aaron then went and gathered together every elder of the people of Israel. 30 Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses and performed the signs in the sight of the people. 31 The people believed. When they heard that the Lord had paid attention to the Israelites and that he had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped.

Bricks Without Straw

Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. Let my people go so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.”

Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should listen to his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I certainly will not let Israel go.”

They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness, and let us sacrifice to the Lord, our God, so that he does not strike us with plague or sword.”

But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get back to your forced labor!” Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from doing their forced labor.”

That same day Pharaoh commanded the people’s taskmasters and overseers, “Do not give the people straw for making bricks anymore. Let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as they made before. Do not reduce it. You see, they are lazy. That is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ Make the work harder for the people so that they do their work and do not pay attention to lying words.”

10 So the people’s taskmasters and overseers went out and told the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go, get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it. But there will be no reduction at all in your work load.’” 12 So the people scattered all over the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters kept insisting, “Fulfill your daily quota just as you did when straw was provided!” 14 The overseers, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had placed over the Israelites, were beaten. The taskmasters demanded, “Why have you not fulfilled your quota yesterday and today, as you did previously?”

15 Then the Israelite overseers came and cried out to Pharaoh, “Why are you doing this to your servants? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they tell us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”

17 But he said, “Lazy! You are lazy! That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Now go! Get to work! Straw will not be provided to you, but you will deliver the same quota of bricks!”

19 The Israelite overseers realized that they were in trouble when Pharaoh said, “You must not reduce anything from your daily number of bricks!”

20 When they left Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting to meet them. 21 They said to Moses and Aaron, “May the Lord look at you and judge you, because you have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword into their hand to kill us.”

Footnotes:

  1. Exodus 4:6 The Hebrew word for leprous was used for various skin diseases.
  2. Exodus 4:10 Literally I am heavy of mouth and tongue
  3. Exodus 4:21 Exodus uses three words for hardening or hardness of heart. The most common one chazaq is translated harden. The other two, kabad and qashah, are translated unyielding and stubborn. The verbs seem interchangeable.
  4. Exodus 4:24 Interpreters disagree whether it was Moses or one of his sons that God was about to kill. The whole account is cryptic.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Matthew 18:1-20

Who Is the Greatest?

18 At that time the disciples approached Jesus and asked, “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus called a little child, had him stand in the middle of them, and said, “Amen I tell you: Unless you are turned and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives a little child like this one in my name receives me.

“But, if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,[a] it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of temptations to sin. Temptations must come, but woe to that person through whom the temptation comes!

“If your hand or your foot causes you to sin,[b] cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to be thrown into the eternal fire with two hands or two feet. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to be thrown into hell fire with two eyes. 10 See to it that you do not look down on one of these little ones, because I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 11 For the Son of Man came to save what was lost.[c]

The Lost Sheep

12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go looking for the one that wandered away? 13 If he finds it—Amen I tell you—he rejoices more over that one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not wander away. 14 In the same way, your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to perish.

Show Your Brother His Sin

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his sin just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every matter[d] may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’[e] 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And, if he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as an unbeliever or a tax collector. 18 Amen I tell you: Whatever you bind on earth will be[f] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Amen I tell you again: If two of you on earth agree to ask for anything, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. 20 In fact where two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am among them.”

Footnotes:

  1. Matthew 18:6 Or stumble. The Greek skandalizo could mean to stumble into sin or fall from faith.
  2. Matthew 18:8 Or stumble. The Greek skandalizo could mean to stumble into sin or fall from faith.
  3. Matthew 18:11 Some witnesses to the text omit verse 11. See Luke 19:10.
  4. Matthew 18:16 Or word, fact, charge, or statement
  5. Matthew 18:16 Deuteronomy 19:15
  6. Matthew 18:18 Or will have been
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Psalm 22:19-31

The Greater Power of God

19 But you, O Lord, do not be distant.
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver my life from the sword,
my only life from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion.
From the horns of the wild oxen you have answered me.[a]

Part Two: The Messiah’s Glory
The Messiah’s Vow

22 I will declare your name to my brothers.
In the midst of the congregation I will praise you.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised nor detested the affliction of the afflicted.
He has not hidden his face from him,
but when he cried out to him, he heard.
25 You are the source of my praise in the great congregation.[b]
I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who fear him.

The Glory of Messiah’s Kingdom

26 The poor will eat and be satisfied.
Those who seek him will praise the Lord
may he live in your hearts forever![c]
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations will bow down before you.
28 For the kingdom belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will eat and bow down.
All who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.[d]
30 Descendants will serve him.
For generations people will be told about the Lord.
31 They will come and proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet to be born—
because he has done it.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 22:21 Or answer me
  2. Psalm 22:25 This verse may mean that the Son praises the Father in the great congregation (as in verse 22) or that the Father praises the Son in the great congregation. The first option seems to fit the context best.
  3. Psalm 22:26 Or may your hearts live forever
  4. Psalm 22:29 The ancient versions read my soul will live for him rather than my soul will not live.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 5:15-21

Encouragement to Faithfulness in Marriage

15 Drink water from your own cistern.
Drink running water from your own well.
16 Why should the water from your springs flow out into the street,
your streams of water into the public squares?
17 They should be yours, yours alone.
They are not for strangers to share with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed.
Obtain your joy from the wife you married in your youth,
19 who is a loving doe and a graceful deer.
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times.
Always be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why should you be led astray, my son, by an immoral woman?
Why embrace a woman who is not your wife?
21 For the ways of a man are in front of the eyes of the Lord,
and he weighs all of his paths.

Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.