The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday August 15, 2020 (NIV)

²² “And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. ^(A)So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon ^(B)and the land of Og king of Bashan. ²³ You multiplied their children ^(C)as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. ^24 (D)So the descendants went in and possessed the land, ^(E)and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. ²⁵ And they captured ^(F)fortified cities and ^(G)a rich land, and took possession of ^(H)houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled ^(I)and became fat and delighted themselves in ^(J)your great goodness.

^26 (K)“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you ^(L)and cast your law behind their back ^(M)and killed your prophets, who ^(N)had warned them in order to turn them back to you, ^(O)and they committed great blasphemies. ^27 (P)Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. ^(Q)And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them ^(R)saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. ^28 (S)But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, ^(T)and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. ^29 (U)And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet ^(V)they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, ^(W)which if a person does them, he shall live by them, ^(X)and they turned a stubborn shoulder ^(Y)and stiffened their neck and would not obey. ³⁰ Many years ^(Z)you bore with them ^(AA)and warned them ^(AB)by your Spirit through your prophets. ^(AC)Yet they would not give ear. ^(AD)Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. ³¹ Nevertheless, ^(AE)in your great mercies ^(AF)you did not make an end of them or forsake them, ^(AG)for you are a gracious and merciful God.

³² “Now, therefore, our God, ^(AH)the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, ^(AI)since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. ^33 (AJ)Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully ^(AK)and we have acted wickedly. ³⁴ Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. ³⁵ Even in their own kingdom, ^(AL)and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and ^(AM)rich land that you set before them, ^(AN)they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. ³⁶ Behold, ^(AO)we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. ^37 (AP)And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.

^38 [a] “Because of all this ^(AQ)we make a firm covenant in writing; on ^(AR)the sealed document are the names of^[b] our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

The People Who Sealed the Covenant

10 ^{[c] (AS)}“On the seals are the names of^[d] Nehemiah ^(AT)the governor, ^(AU)the son of Hacaliah, Zedekiah, ^2 (AV)Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, ³ Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, ^4 (AW)Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, ⁵ Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, ⁶ Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, ⁷ Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, ⁸ Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah; these are the priests. ⁹ And the Levites: ^(AX)Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of ^(AY)Henadad, Kadmiel; ¹⁰ and their brothers, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, ¹¹ Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, ¹² Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, ¹³ Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. ¹⁴ The chiefs of the people: ^(AZ)Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, ¹⁵ Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, ¹⁶ Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, ¹⁷ Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, ¹⁸ Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, ¹⁹ Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, ²⁰ Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, ²¹ Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, ²² Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, ²³ Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, ²⁴ Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, ²⁵ Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, ²⁶ Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, ²⁷ Malluch, Harim, Baanah.

The Obligations of the Covenant

^28 (BA)“The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, ^(BB)and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, ²⁹ join with their brothers, their nobles, ^(BC)and enter into a curse and an oath ^(BD)to walk in God's Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes. ^30 (BE)We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. ^31 (BF)And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the ^(BG)seventh year and the ^(BH)exaction of every debt.

³² “We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly ^(BI)a third part of a shekel^[e] for the service of the house of our God: ^33 (BJ)for the showbread, ^(BK)the regular grain offering, ^(BL)the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. ^34 (BM)We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, have likewise cast lots ^(BN)for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, ^(BO)as it is written in the Law. ³⁵ We obligate ourselves ^(BP)to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord; ³⁶ also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, ^(BQ)as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks; ^37 (BR)and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, ^(BS)to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor. ³⁸ And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of ^(BT)the storehouse. ³⁹ For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi ^(BU)shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. ^(BV)We will not neglect the house of our God.”

¹⁹ For ^(A)though I am free from all, ^(B)I have made myself a servant to all, that I might ^(C)win more of them. ^20 (D)To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹ To ^(E)those outside the law I became ^(F)as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but ^(G)under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ^22 (H)To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. ^(I)I have become all things to all people, that ^(J)by all means I might save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, ^(K)that I may share with them in its blessings.

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives ^(L)the prize? So ^(M)run that you may obtain it. ²⁵ Every ^(N)athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we ^(O)an imperishable. ²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly; I ^(P)do not box as one ^(Q)beating the air. ²⁷ But I discipline my body and ^(R)keep it under control,^[a] lest after preaching to others ^(S)I myself should be ^(T)disqualified.

Warning Against Idolatry

10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,^[b] that our fathers were all under ^(U)the cloud, and all ^(V)passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ and ^(W)all ate the same ^(X)spiritual food, ⁴ and ^(Y)all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for ^(Z)they were overthrown^[c] in the wilderness.

⁶ Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as ^(AA)they did. ^7 (AB)Do not be idolaters ^(AC)as some of them were; as it is written, ^(AD)“The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” ^8 (AE)We must not indulge in sexual immorality ^(AF)as some of them did, and ^(AG)twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. ⁹ We must not put Christ^[d] to the test, ^(AH)as some of them did and ^(AI)were destroyed by serpents, ¹⁰ nor grumble, ^(AJ)as some of them did and ^(AK)were destroyed by ^(AL)the Destroyer. ¹¹ Now these things happened to them as an example, but ^(AM)they were written down for our instruction, ^(AN)on whom the end of the ages has come. ¹² Therefore ^(AO)let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. ^(AP)God is faithful, and ^(AQ)he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Taste and See That the Lord Is Good

^[a] Of David, when he ^(A)changed his behavior before ^(B)Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.