Month: January 2024

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1/3/2024 DAB Transcript pt2

It’s a beautiful book containing some of the most heartfelt poetry and musical poetry ever written and every emotion that we explore in our human experience is explored in the Psalms. There are like heart cries that are so passionate and broken, it’s like hard, it’s hard to believe that they came from thousands of years ago because they feel so immediate, we know what that feels like. And they bridge the gap of time, and we realize that the human heart and the things that we go through are the same. We’re wearing different clothes and using different technology, but the things that go on inside of us are the same. And we’ll also see these mountaintop experiences of absolute tangible presence of God in the Psalms. David, who we haven’t met yet, he’s a king of Israel. And we’ll get to know him really, really well, as we move forward. He was a master musician and so most of the Psalms were penned by him, and even though we’ll get a pretty good biographical sketch of King David as…as we move forward, his heart is really exposed in his art and his craft in the way that he expresses himself. But there are other writers in Psalms too: Solomon, the sons of Kora, Asaph, Ethan and then there are a number of anonymously written or unknown authors that are in the Psalms. But ultimately the purpose of the Psalms is to bring the people together and give them language and to enrich their worship experience and the songs that would’ve been song in the public and in their private homes as they went around and did their business and went about their daily lives. And they’re collected together, and they’ve stood the test of time, and we sing and quote from them now. They’re power is unmatched, it’s some of the beautiful, most beautiful literature in all of the world. Scholars think that Psalms were written over, like a long period of time, maybe from about a thousand years before Christ, until maybe about a hundred and 70 years after. Three different periods in Israel are covered, the first would be during the reign of David and Solomon, which we’ll read, all of their poetry. The second would contain songs written when the children of Israel were taken into exile in Babylon and getting very close up story, picture of that, that exile when we get there. And then the third section would be writings from when they were able to leave exile and return to their land and rebuild. So, we have a large time span, different cultural points in their existence, but the Psalms are cohesive in their purpose: to bring glory and honor to God in authentic, heartfelt way and every conceivable situation that we face in life. So, we started the Psalms a couple days ago, now we’re moving into them. Today we will read Psalm chapter 3, a Psalm of David, regarding the time David fled from his son Absalom.

Commentary:

Okay so, in the first few days, we have a bit of a context for the stories that are unfolding in front of us in the different sections of the Bible. Yesterday, in Genesis, we learned about the fall of mankind from a place of perfection. What we would know as shalom or peace and wholeness, the way things are supposed to be with complete intimacy…intimacy with God. We watched murder, we watched death come into the story. Things that we were never supposed to experience. So, in Genesis today, we jump a thousand years into the future, and we saw how devastating the results had become. The human race had become so corrupted that they were acting like animals with only evil intentions. So much so that God’s heart is broken, and He regretted making them. To see us so far from what the plan was, to see us so far from the perfection that He had made and the intimacy that He had offered, it grieved him. But then we met Noah, the one righteous man. And we saw this thread of redemption start to pull its way into the Bible right here. And this thread of redemption weaves its way through the rest of the Bible. We saw the earth being reset in a great flood.

And as we’re reading in the gospel of Matthew, we’re meeting Jesus. And so, we followed him as he went into the wilderness because we had met John the Baptist and Jesus was baptized. So, we saw Jesus go into the wilderness where He is tempted by the evil one. And while in the… in the wilderness the evil one was tempting Jesus with an invitation to not go through with His mission. So, basically take the easy way out. I’ll give You everything You came here to get. All You have to do is bow down and worship me. We understand what’s going on here though. We just read about Adam and Eve right, just a couple days ago. And they were perfect. There was nothing bad going on and then they rebelled right. We haven’t seen a perfect person upon the earth until now, here in the gospel of Matthew, we’re looking at Jesus, the first perfect person to be upon the earth since Adam, which is why we’ll find Jesus called the second Adam in Scripture. He is a perfect representation of how things were supposed to be. If we remember in the garden of Eden, there was a tremendous deception. What we’re watching in the Gospel of Matthew is this same sort of humanity distorting, temptation and deception being put before Jesus. But we’re just seeing Jesus make a different choice. He stayed true. He was faithful and loyal to the Father. He rebuked the evil one and sent him away. All we have to do though friends is understand that’s not just Jesus, that we are confronting similar deceptions and distortions of who we are and what we are every day. And we’ll either respond like Adam and hide right, Adam and Eve and be naked and ashamed and hiding, or like Jesus and casting away, turning away from what will distort us and deceive us and ruin us. Each day we…we have plenty of forbidden fruit right, and all sorts of various shapes and sizes and in all kinds of categories. We have forbidden fruit. Or we can know God. Right, we can have our knowledge, or we can have God and walk with Him and live with Him intimately in every thought and word and deed. And so, that might be a big thing to think about for life but what about just like today. Is it forbidden fruit today or is it to know God today. And we can make that choice and see how things play out.

Prayer:

And Father, we invite You into that. Come near to us, Holy Spirit and allow us to see the truth before us, allow us to see the path that we are walking. Show us where that is leading. Help us to find the narrow path that leads to life. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, it’s the website. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app does that and much more. It puts it in the palm of your hand. So, just search for Daily Audio Bible at the App Store that works with your device and jump in from there. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources for our journey that we are on. Check out the Community Section. This is where to get connected and it’s also where the Prayer Wall lives. So, get familiar with that. It is a resource always available to us around the Global Campfire here.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If this mission that we share to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day, and offered freely to anybody who will listen, wherever they may be on this planet, or wherever they may be in their lives, and to build community around the rhythm of just showing up here each day to take another step forward. If that is life-giving to you, then thank you, humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, TN 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

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1/3/2024 DAB Transcript pt1

Genesis 5:1-7:24, Matthew 3:7-4:11, Psalm 3:1-8, Proverbs 1:10-19

Today is the third day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is wonderful to be here with you as we take our third step. We got 362 more steps after this to get our way through the year together in community, and all the way through the Bible, but we’re here and we’re in a great part of the story where everything begins to unfold for us. So, let’s dive in and take that next step forward, that will lead us back into the book of Genesis. And today we will read Genesis 5, 6 and 7.

Introduction to the Book of Psalms:

Okay, that brings us to our reading from the Psalms today, and like we said on day one, we’re kind of moving in here this first week. Just getting acclimated, getting used to, sort of the rhythm of things. And so, we started in the Old Testament in Genesis, and we talked about that. And then we talked about Matthew yesterday, because we’re in the gospel of Matthew. So, let’s talk about the Psalms today. The Hebrew word for Psalms is Tehillim, which means praises. And what we read when we’re reading from the Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and hymns and different congregational singings and individual songs and poems of worship. It's…it’s basically five books in one and they’re classified by who wrote them or the theme or the purpose of their use. Some of them give praise to God. Others speak of God and His character or His abilities and actions. Some are songs of repentance and lament, others are songs of thanksgiving, some are songs of the sense to go up to Jerusalem and worship. No matter what the circumstance, the book of Psalms is meant to bring praise and glory, adoration, reverence, honor to God in all of the circumstances of our lives, whatever it is that we’re facing, even if we’re crying out in anguish, there’s language for this, purpose for this. And that is found in Psalms.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday January 3, 2024 (NIV)

Genesis 5-7

The Descendants of Adam

5 This is the written account of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings,[a] he made them to be like himself. 2 He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them “human.”

3 When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who was just like him—in his very image. He named his son Seth. 4 After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.

6 When Seth was 105 years old, he became the father of[b] Enosh. 7 After the birth of[c] Enosh, Seth lived another 807 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 8 Seth lived 912 years, and then he died.

9 When Enosh was 90 years old, he became the father of Kenan. 10 After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived another 815 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 11 Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died.

12 When Kenan was 70 years old, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 After the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan lived another 840 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 14 Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died.

15 When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he became the father of Jared. 16 After the birth of Jared, Mahalalel lived another 830 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 17 Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died.

18 When Jared was 162 years old, he became the father of Enoch. 19 After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 20 Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.

21 When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for another 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 Enoch lived 365 years, 24 walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him.

25 When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech. 26 After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived another 782 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 27 Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died.

28 When Lamech was 182 years old, he became the father of a son. 29 Lamech named his son Noah, for he said, “May he bring us relief[d] from our work and the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord has cursed.” 30 After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived another 595 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 31 Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died.

32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

A World Gone Wrong

6 Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. 2 The sons of God saw the beautiful women[e] and took any they wanted as their wives. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not put up with[f] humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”

4 In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.

5 The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. 7 And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” 8 But Noah found favor with the Lord.

The Story of Noah

9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God. 10 Noah was the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. 12 God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt. 13 So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!

14 “Build a large boat[g] from cypress wood[h] and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. 15 Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.[i] 16 Leave an 18-inch opening[j] below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.

17 “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die. 18 But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 19 Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. 20 Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. 21 And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”

22 So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

The Flood Covers the Earth

7 When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous. 2 Take with you seven pairs—male and female—of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice,[k] and take one pair of each of the others. 3 Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood. 4 Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”

5 So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him.

6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth. 7 He went on board the boat to escape the flood—he and his wife and his sons and their wives. 8 With them were all the various kinds of animals—those approved for eating and for sacrifice and those that were not—along with all the birds and the small animals that scurry along the ground. 9 They entered the boat in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. 10 After seven days, the waters of the flood came and covered the earth.

11 When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. 12 The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights.

13 That very day Noah had gone into the boat with his wife and his sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—and their wives. 14 With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal—domestic and wild, large and small—along with birds of every kind. 15 Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes. 16 A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.

17 For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. 18 As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. 19 Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, 20 rising more than twenty-two feet[l] above the highest peaks. 21 All the living things on earth died—birds, domestic animals, wild animals, small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people. 22 Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died. 23 God wiped out every living thing on the earth—people, livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and the birds of the sky. All were destroyed. The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat. 24 And the floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days.

Footnotes:

  1. 5:1 Or man; Hebrew reads adam; similarly in 5:2.
  2. 5:6 Or the ancestor of; also in 5:9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 25.
  3. 5:7 Or the birth of this ancestor of; also in 5:10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 26.
  4. 5:29 Noah sounds like a Hebrew term that can mean “relief” or “comfort.”
  5. 6:2 Hebrew daughters of men; also in 6:4.
  6. 6:3 Greek version reads will not remain in.
  7. 6:14a Traditionally rendered an ark.
  8. 6:14b Or gopher wood.
  9. 6:15 Hebrew 300 cubits [138 meters] long, 50 cubits [23 meters] wide, and 30 cubits [13.8 meters] high.
  10. 6:16 Hebrew an opening of 1 cubit [46 centimeters].
  11. 7:2 Hebrew of each clean animal; similarly in 7:8.
  12. 7:20 Hebrew 15 cubits [6.9 meters].
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Matthew 3:7-4:11

7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize,[a] he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize with[b] water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.[c] 12 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

13 Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?”

15 But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.[d]” So John agreed to baptize him.

16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened[e] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

The Temptation of Jesus

4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

3 During that time the devil[f] came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,

‘People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[g]”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect you.
And they will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’[h]”

7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’[i]”

8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the Lord your God
and serve only him.’[j]”

11 Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

Footnotes:

  1. 3:7 Or coming to be baptized.
  2. 3:11a Or in.
  3. 3:11b Or in the Holy Spirit and in fire.
  4. 3:15 Or for we must fulfill all righteousness.
  5. 3:16 Some manuscripts read opened to him.
  6. 4:3 Greek the tempter.
  7. 4:4 Deut 8:3.
  8. 4:6 Ps 91:11-12.
  9. 4:7 Deut 6:16.
  10. 4:10 Deut 6:13.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 3

Psalm 3

A psalm of David, regarding the time David fled from his son Absalom.

1 O Lord, I have so many enemies;
so many are against me.
2 So many are saying,
“God will never rescue him!” Interlude[a]

3 But you, O Lord, are a shield around me;
you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.
4 I cried out to the Lord,
and he answered me from his holy mountain. Interlude

5 I lay down and slept,
yet I woke up in safety,
for the Lord was watching over me.
6 I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies
who surround me on every side.

7 Arise, O Lord!
Rescue me, my God!
Slap all my enemies in the face!
Shatter the teeth of the wicked!
8 Victory comes from you, O Lord.
May you bless your people. Interlude

Footnotes:

  1. 3:2 Hebrew Selah. The meaning of this word is uncertain, though it is probably a musical or literary term. It is rendered Interlude throughout the Psalms.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 1:10-19

10 My child, if sinners entice you,
turn your back on them!
11 They may say, “Come and join us.
Let’s hide and kill someone!
Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent!
12 Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave[a];
let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death.
13 Think of the great things we’ll get!
We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take.
14 Come, throw in your lot with us;
we’ll all share the loot.”

15 My child, don’t go along with them!
Stay far away from their paths.
16 They rush to commit evil deeds.
They hurry to commit murder.
17 If a bird sees a trap being set,
it knows to stay away.
18 But these people set an ambush for themselves;
they are trying to get themselves killed.
19 Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money;
it robs them of life.

Footnotes:

  1. 1:12 Hebrew like Sheol.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


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1/1/2024 DAB Transcript

Genesis 1:1-2:25, Matthew 1:1-2:12, Psalm 1:1-6, Proverbs 1:1-6

Today is the first day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is awesome to be here with you today, as we gather around a place that we will gather for the next 365 days around the Global Campfire, where we gather in a nice, peaceful, oasis each day, to allow the Scriptures to kind of wash into our lives, orient us to God, and give us the direction and clarity that we need. Sometimes that is the rescue that we need. Sometimes it is the word that we need. Sometimes it is the correction that we need, but it will always be what we need. So, it is great to be here with you today, as we embark on our 19th voyage around the sun, our 19th voyage through the Bible together. This begins year 19 of the Daily Audio Bible. So, that is exciting. It is exciting to be here with you, those of you who have been here all these years, those of you who’ve been here for maybe half of these years, those of you who have been here for a year and those of you who are brand-new today, welcome to the family. Over the next couple of months, as we can settle into the rhythm here, we will become that, a community, a family showing up for each other every day, loving one another, praying for one another and involving ourselves in each other’s stories, as we find our story in the Bible. So, how this works, if this is brand-new for you, is that we will read a little bit of the Old Testament, a little bit of the New Testament. We’ll read from the Psalms and we’ll read from the Proverbs each day and we will make our way through the entire Bible, reading every book, every chapter, every verse as we move through and there’s so much treasure for life out in front of us and we need to dive in. We need to set sail or whatever it is, we’ve all landed here. Here we are. So, let’s begin.

Introduction to the Book of Genesis:

And obviously we have to begin every story at the beginning, and that’s how the story begins in the book of Genesis, that we will begin in a minute. In the beginning and it’s an important first step to us because it gives us the orientation about where we’ve come from and the context that we need to observe our lives and understand where it’s going. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and that will launch us into this adventure. And we’ll travel through all the miles. We’re gonna meet so many fascinating people who will become friends of ours, our spiritual ancestors, their stories and their hearts will be revealed to us, and we’ll find ourselves in their stories. And since we’re about to begin, we need to orient ourselves to the territory that we encounter in the Old Testament. When we think about the book of Genesis, normally we think about the creation story. The irony is that Genesis covers more time than any other book in the Bible. So, there’s the creation story and then about 2500 years pass within the pages of Genesis, which is more time than the rest of the Old Testament combined. So, as we begin Genesis, we have these first 11 chapters and we cover a couple thousand years and a couple thousand miles and then we’ll slow things down and we’ll meet specific generations of people and it’s the family that we watch get shaped in the book of Genesis that influences the rest of the Bible and influences our world until today. And then also, Genesis is a part of a larger grouping of writings that encompass the first five books of the Bible. That’s Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And this grouping is called the Torah. And so, we are beginning with the Torah or the Pentateuch, right now as we begin Genesis chapters 1 and two today.

Commentary:

Okay, so, this is day one of 365 days. And we’re just getting going and so, we talked about the book of Genesis. We probably noticed that we started four books, today, Matthew, Psalms and Proverbs as well. And it would just be a really, really long thing to try to orient ourselves to everything we’re reading all at once. And so, tomorrow we’ll talk about Matthew, just give ourselves little birds eye view of what reading in Matthew. And then we’ll do the Psalms and then we’ll do the Proverbs. And after a couple days here, we’ll be moved in and we’ll be kind of out into the deep and setting sail. And we’ll just get oriented to the community here and all that’s going on over the next few days. But on this first day, as we read in the beginning, we see that God was careful and intentional with His creation, and that our experience as human beings have been fashioned after the image of God. And that the life source within us is from the breath of God Himself. So, according to the Scriptures, we’re being told that this just didn’t all just happen by chance, this happened with intentionality. Each of us are supposed to be here. We each bare the image of God, who is, is intertwined as we’ll see from the Scriptures, so deeply intertwined with our story, that it’s deeper than cells and atoms. And also also, as we’re reading today, we got this amazing, rare view that will not last all the way. Like tomorrow, it’s all going to change. And so, today, on day one, we get this rare view of how things were supposed to be for us. How humans were supposed to be before the story got shifted, a perfect world, perfect people, created in God’s image. So, if we just take a small step back and look around us, then we get this sobering sense that the story somehow shifted over the last several thousand years. And we will get to that over the next few days.

Prayer:

But Father, we thank You for Your word, we invite Your Holy Spirit into this year, into every day, every verse, everything that we do and say, we invite You to lead us into all truth. This is what we have come for, to surrender, to orient ourselves to You, to get clarity and to fall in love with You, as You have loved us. So, come Holy Spirit into this year, into this community. Hover over us, lead us in the way that we should go. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

Alright, so dailyaudiobible.com is the website, that’s where you can find out what is going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app is also available, and you can download that from whatever app store works with your device, just search for Daily Audio Bible, put that on your phone and you can kind of track your progress. All kinds of things are in the app, so check that out and stay connected.

There are places to get connected when you go to the website or the app. One of those is the Community Section, and I’ll talk about that today. The Community Section is definitely where you can get connected on social media, but it is also the place where a very unique thing to this community lives and it’s called the Prayer Wall. And that is always there and it is always on and always available. So, as we begin our journey through the year, we always have a place to reach, we’re not alone. And if the bottom falls out, we can go and share our story, and our brothers and sisters will come around us and encourage and pray for us. And if we are having a mountaintop experience and we remember what the deep valleys feel like, we can go pray for those who are in the valleys, holding each other up, building each other up, loving each other. As we literally stay on the same page as a community, because we’re going through the Bible, and that’s what we’re here to do and that’s pretty much what we do. And so, get connected, stay connected in any way that you can, in any way that you will.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, and thank you, profoundly for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. So, thank you for that.

And let’s just take a deep breath, here we are. We have just left the dock like, we can still see the land if we go out and look. We’ll be out in the deep soon enough, where we won’t see land for a long time, but we’re just leaving on this journey. And it’s gonna be, it’s going to be amazing because the Scriptures are alive, they tell us they’re alive and sharper than any two-edged sword, and that is true, they will become a mirror. They will force us to face ourselves and that is what we need, to face ourselves. We can go through the Scriptures and look at what everybody else should be doing, until we realize oh, this is about me. I should be making these changes. So, the Bible will challenge us to grow and so, I give the challenge on the 1st of January, go look in the mirror, give a good long look. Really look at yourself until maybe you want to look away. Just see where you are today, because this is where you are today. But if every day is immersed in the Scriptures, if you take that one-year journey every day, when we get to December 31st which was like yesterday. When we get there this year, you can look in the mirror again, and you will be looking at a different person. You will be shocked at how things have changed in the way that you view the world and your place in it. And so, I encourage you, buckle up. This is the adventure of a lifetime and I’m excited to be here. And it really doesn’t matter where you are or where you are in life. You may think I’m here, like I’m around a bunch of spiritual people. You’re not. Some people have been believers and reading the Bible for their entire lives, and some of you have just stumbled here. You’re so hung over from last night, you can’t believe what you’ve done. You can’t live with yourself as you go into the new year. So, you stumbled here looking for God for something, for someone, somewhere, for some kind of clarity. That’s great, you’re right where you’re supposed to be. Welcome to the family. All of us are absolutely, completely broken and we’ve come here because these words show us that there is a path to wholeness, and it doesn’t have to stay this way. And it doesn’t have to be this way. And so, let’s lock arms, let’s lock hands, let’s lock hearts, and let’s do this together. We don’t have to stay where we are. We can go forward from here, into a life that is beyond imaginable.

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01/02/2024 DAB Transcript Pt2

And it’s definitely…and we’ll see this…it’s definitely coming from the point of view that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies that were expected that He was the Expected One, the Messiah, the Savior, the Anointed One. He was expected and He fulfilled these prophecies and that proves Him to be who He is. And we’ll see that Matthew works really hard. We’ll see Jesus fulfilling a lot of prophecies, but we’ll get to know Jesus. And this is what we’ve come for, to get to know Jesus, to understand who He was, what He said, what He did. What was His personality like? What was His style like? In the gospel of Matthew, we’ll find 20 parables and we’ll see that Jesus uses this kind of teaching method that was very much a rabbinical tradition, to use parables that would illustrate a much deeper meaning. So, can hear a story and then put yourself in a position and…and allow it to sink into your heart and see this…this the symbolism. And it’s so rich and deep with meaning and it creates this sense of emotion or feeling that is beyond just the words. And we’ll see Jesus teaching that way and it’s beautiful. And then we will also see in the gospel of Matthew these rumblings that we will continue to hear of, rumblings of something called the kingdom of heaven, something that was coming, something that was already here, something that was happening now. And Jesus is the King of this kingdom. And, so, today we read from the gospel of Matthew chapter 2 verse 13 through 3 verse 6.

Commentary:

Okay. So, today as we read in the book of Genesis, we watched one of the saddest stories play out in all of the Bible and this story is known as the fall of mankind and it actually shapes the trajectory of the rest of the Bible. So, we’ve encountered a story right at the beginning of a larger story and it will play out that we will see God’s willingness to come here in person as Jesus to rescue creation. So, in the garden of Eden we read today. God offered Adam and Eve the tree of life, and He told them that they could not eat from a tree known as the knowledge of good and evil. And it’s kind of easy to wonder, like, what’s the point of…of prohibiting? Why? Why keep something away from them and even give them this option? But that tree gives us a pretty incredible picture of how deeply God is invested in an actual first-person relationship with us. Because, well, I mean you’ve been in the world. You can…you can fake love, right? Like you can fake that you love somebody, but actual true love, that’s not something that can be faked. Like even somebody that’s enslaved and is beaten, that…that…their behavior can be completely shaped, but authentic and true love is something that is freely offered from someone’s heart. And when that love is given, there is a vulnerability that is deep and can really really hurt us. Love can’t be true love if there’s no way out of it. And, so, what we’re looking at in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil appears to be that, the option to leave. And what we watched was a deception. A deception was hatched and our ancestors, our first mother and father dreamed of becoming like God. And they forgot that they already were created in His image. And, so, they chose to eat and there were devastating repercussions. And the depths of the repercussions are felt in God’s own heart in this heartbreaking question that we may have found ourselves asking somebody that we love who has betrayed us. What have you done? That is one of the saddest things we’re going to find. And there are some pretty sad things in the Bible, but that’s one of the saddest things that we’re going to find because lots of us know what it feels like to be betrayed by somebody in some way and have that question, why. Why did you do this? What have you done? I was naked so I hid was what Adam responded. And that pretty much tells the whole story, right? Because aren’t we all hiding? Aren’t we all wearing the mask that we put on every day called our personality and take it out into the world so that we can get things done. We’ve been hiding ever since. We see it every day in the way that…that we conduct ourselves, the way that we present our best selves while hiding all the broken parts. They had perfection and a trade was made. There was true love and it was exchanged for knowledge. And if we look at our story as the human species we’ve been trying to use that knowledge to make ourselves sovereign and we’re not doing all that great if we look at our history. We’ve worked to be…be our own god, but this has not brought us to God, back to God, or made us God. We won’t find our way back to God. God will bring himself to us and He is and that is the story that we are reading as we read the Bible.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for another day, another step as this all begins to unfold before us, as we begin to find our lives in a greater story, as we find purpose in deeper meaning and as we challenge all that is false in us because You have invited us to the truth. And, so, Holy Spirit come and lead us into all truth. Plant what we’ve read into the soil of our lives. And may when harvest comes in a few months, may the fruit of the Spirit be evident in us. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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01/02/2024 DAB Transcript Pt1

Genesis 3:1-4:26, Matthew 2:13-3:6, Psalms 2:1-12, Proverbs 1:7-9

Today is 2nd day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s fantastic to be here with you today. I hope everybody is getting acclimated to the journey that we are on and that your accommodations are satisfactory here around the Global Campfire as we make this journey. This is our second step of 365 steps. And they go by pretty fast. We’re here at step two, and it seems like a long journey but wow, it’s like we’ll be at step 90 then we’ll be at step 180 and be halfway through and we’ll wonder where the time went. So, it’s great to be here at the beginning of the journey, fantastic that we are underway. I’m excited for the next step forward and today. That will lead us back into the book of Genesis. We’re at the beginning. And we will read Genesis chapters 3 and 4 today.

Introduction to the gospel of Matthew:

Okay. So, this is day two of our journey and we’re just getting moved into all of the different territory that we are moving through in the Bible right now. And, so, when we began yesterday, we started the Old Testament in Genesis, we started the New Testament in Matthew, and we also started the Psalms and Proverbs. And, so, let’s just talk about Matthew before we get into it today and just get oriented there. The gospel of Matthew is one of a grouping of books in the New Testament known as the Gospels. And there are four of them – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And each of these Gospels give us an accounting of the life of Jesus, who is our Savior. Matthew was one of the 12 apostles. So, he had first-hand knowledge of…of what he was witnessing to and the events that he recorded. Matthew, as were told, was a tax collector. And, so, he was not a liked person. We’ll see that in the New Testament, that the tax collectors were known as heathens and socially outcast, mostly because the way it worked in those days was that…well…the tax collectors, they felt like betrayers of their people. So, this is the Roman empire in the first century. And we’ll get to kind of know the time because we’re moving through this time as we move through the New Testament. We’re in the first century and so the land that we’re kind of parachuting into to observe the Gospels is the ancient land of the Israelite people, the Hebrew people, but at this point it’s part of the Roman Empire. And, so, they are under Roman rule, and they are Hebrew people that are separatists. And, so, they are separated but they’re also kind of ostracized, they’re in the margins. It’s very easy to persecute them. They’re considered less than standard. They’re not citizens of the Empire. And, so, there’s a lot of persecution that happens. And taxes being collected from these people was one of the jobs. And, so, if a person had a bunch of money, they could buy a license from the Roman government to collect taxes and then they would hire people to go actually get the money. And those people who went and got the money could, you know, pad what was owed a little bit and line their own pockets. And, so, they were just considered betrayers of their own people. This is somebody that Jesus chose to be really really close to Him. And when Jesus called Matthew, he left everything. And, so, from that perspective, this is a person whose writing gave up the life that they knew that…that was stable and perhaps lucrative and exchanged it for a huge leap of faith to follow somebody that you believe was the son of God. And, so, that’s what we’re reading when we read Matthew. Most scholars think this…this is dated somewhere, maybe 60s A.D.-ish. And it’s very much a Jewish book. It’s very much aimed at Hebrew people. So, when we’re reading the Torah right now, when we’re reading the Old Testament, we’re reading the Hebrew Scriptures. Matthew quotes the Old Testament more than any other gospel does.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday January 2, 2024 (NIV)

Genesis 3-4

The Man and Woman Sin

3 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man[a] and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”

12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”

“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”

14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, you are cursed
more than all animals, domestic and wild.
You will crawl on your belly,
groveling in the dust as long as you live.
15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

16 Then he said to the woman,

“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,
and in pain you will give birth.
And you will desire to control your husband,
but he will rule over you.[c]”

17 And to the man he said,

“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree
whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,
the ground is cursed because of you.
All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.
18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you,
though you will eat of its grains.
19 By the sweat of your brow
will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
from which you were made.
For you were made from dust,
and to dust you will return.”

Paradise Lost: God’s Judgment

20 Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live.[d] 21 And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.

22 Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings[e] have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” 23 So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. 24 After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Cain and Abel

4 Now Adam[f] had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced[g] a man!” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.

When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.”[h] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.

9 Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”

“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment[i] is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”

15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16 So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod,[j] east of Eden.

The Descendants of Cain

17 Cain had sexual relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain founded a city, which he named Enoch, after his son. 18 Enoch had a son named Irad. Irad became the father of[k] Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech.

19 Lamech married two women. The first was named Adah, and the second was Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the first of those who raise livestock and live in tents. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal, the first of all who play the harp and flute. 22 Lamech’s other wife, Zillah, gave birth to a son named Tubal-cain. He became an expert in forging tools of bronze and iron. Tubal-cain had a sister named Naamah. 23 One day Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
listen to me, you wives of Lamech.
I have killed a man who attacked me,
a young man who wounded me.
24 If someone who kills Cain is punished seven times,
then the one who kills me will be punished seventy-seven times!”

The Birth of Seth

25 Adam had sexual relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth,[l] for she said, “God has granted me another son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.” 26 When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name.

Footnotes:

  1. 3:8 Or Adam, and so throughout the chapter.
  2. 3:15 Or bruise; also in 3:15b.
  3. 3:16 Or And though you will have desire for your husband, / he will rule over you.
  4. 3:20 Eve sounds like a Hebrew term that means “to give life.”
  5. 3:22 Or the man; Hebrew reads ha-adam.
  6. 4:1a Or the man; also in 4:25.
  7. 4:1b Or I have acquired. Cain sounds like a Hebrew term that can mean “produce” or “acquire.”
  8. 4:8 As in Samaritan Pentateuch, Greek and Syriac versions, and Latin Vulgate; Masoretic Text lacks “Let’s go out into the fields.”
  9. 4:13 Or My sin.
  10. 4:16 Nod means “wandering.”
  11. 4:18 Or the ancestor of, and so throughout the verse.
  12. 4:25 Seth probably means “granted”; the name may also mean “appointed.”
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Matthew 2:13-3:6

The Escape to Egypt

13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, 15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”[a]

16 Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. 17 Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

18 “A cry was heard in Ramah—
weeping and great mourning.
Rachel weeps for her children,
refusing to be comforted,
for they are dead.”[b]

The Return to Nazareth

19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. 20 “Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.”

21 So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus and his mother. 22 But when he learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod’s son Archelaus, he was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee. 23 So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3 In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.[c]” 3 The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said,

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
Clear the road for him!’”[d]

4 John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. 6 And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

Footnotes:

  1. 2:15 Hos 11:1.
  2. 2:18 Jer 31:15.
  3. 3:2 Or has come, or is coming soon.
  4. 3:3 Isa 40:3 (Greek version).
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 2

Psalm 2

1 Why are the nations so angry?
Why do they waste their time with futile plans?
2 The kings of the earth prepare for battle;
the rulers plot together
against the Lord
and against his anointed one.
3 “Let us break their chains,” they cry,
“and free ourselves from slavery to God.”

4 But the one who rules in heaven laughs.
The Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then in anger he rebukes them,
terrifying them with his fierce fury.
6 For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne
in Jerusalem,[a] on my holy mountain.”

7 The king proclaims the Lord’s decree:
“The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son.[b]
Today I have become your Father.[c]
8 Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
the whole earth as your possession.
9 You will break[d] them with an iron rod
and smash them like clay pots.’”

10 Now then, you kings, act wisely!
Be warned, you rulers of the earth!
11 Serve the Lord with reverent fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Submit to God’s royal son,[e] or he will become angry,
and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities—
for his anger flares up in an instant.
But what joy for all who take refuge in him!

Footnotes:

  1. 2:6 Hebrew on Zion.
  2. 2:7a Or Son; also in 2:12.
  3. 2:7b Or Today I reveal you as my son.
  4. 2:9 Greek version reads rule. Compare Rev 2:27.
  5. 2:12 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 1:7-9

7 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

A Father’s Exhortation: Acquire Wisdom

8 My child,[a] listen when your father corrects you.
Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
9 What you learn from them will crown you with grace
and be a chain of honor around your neck.

Footnotes:

  1. 1:8 Hebrew My son; also in 1:10, 15.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday January 1, 2024 (NIV)

Genesis 1-2

The Account of Creation

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.[a] 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” 7 And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. 8 God called the space “sky.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. 12 The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

13 And evening passed and morning came, marking the third day.

14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. 15 Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. 16 God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, 18 to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

19 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

23 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. 25 God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings[b] in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth,[c] and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

27 So God created human beings[d] in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

29 Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.

31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!

And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

2 So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested[e] from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

4 This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.

The Man and Woman in Eden

When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. 6 Instead, springs[f] came up from the ground and watered all the land. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man[g] to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs[h] and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

23 “At last!” the man exclaimed.

“This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
because she was taken from ‘man.’”

24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

Footnotes:

  1. 1:1 Or In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, . . . Or When God began to create the heavens and the earth, . . .
  2. 1:26a Or man; Hebrew reads adam.
  3. 1:26b As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads all the earth.
  4. 1:27 Or the man; Hebrew reads ha-adam.
  5. 2:2 Or ceased; also in 2:3.
  6. 2:6 Or mist.
  7. 2:19 Or Adam, and so throughout the chapter.
  8. 2:21 Or took a part of the man’s side.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Matthew 1:1-2:12

The Ancestors of Jesus the Messiah

1 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham[a]:

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac.
Isaac was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar).
Perez was the father of Hezron.
Hezron was the father of Ram.[b]
4 Ram was the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.
Nahshon was the father of Salmon.
5 Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).
Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth).
Obed was the father of Jesse.
6 Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah).
7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam.
Rehoboam was the father of Abijah.
Abijah was the father of Asa.[c]
8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram.[d]
Jehoram was the father[e] of Uzziah.
9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham.
Jotham was the father of Ahaz.
Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.
10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.
Manasseh was the father of Amon.[f]
Amon was the father of Josiah.
11 Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin[g] and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon).
12 After the Babylonian exile:
Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.
13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.
Abiud was the father of Eliakim.
Eliakim was the father of Azor.
14 Azor was the father of Zadok.
Zadok was the father of Akim.
Akim was the father of Eliud.
15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar was the father of Matthan.
Matthan was the father of Jacob.
16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

17 All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.

The Birth of Jesus the Messiah

18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement[h] quietly.

20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,[i] for he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,[j]
which means ‘God is with us.’”

24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

Visitors from the East

2 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men[k] from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose,[l] and we have come to worship him.”

3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”

5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:

6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities[m] of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’[n]”

7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”

9 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

Footnotes:

  1. 1:1 Greek Jesus the Messiah, Son of David and son of Abraham.
  2. 1:3 Greek Aram, a variant spelling of Ram; also in 1:4. See 1 Chr 2:9-10.
  3. 1:7 Greek Asaph, a variant spelling of Asa; also in 1:8. See 1 Chr 3:10.
  4. 1:8a Greek Joram, a variant spelling of Jehoram; also in 1:8b. See 1 Kgs 22:50 and note at 1 Chr 3:11.
  5. 1:8b Or ancestor; also in 1:11.
  6. 1:10 Greek Amos, a variant spelling of Amon; also in 1:10b. See 1 Chr 3:14.
  7. 1:11 Greek Jeconiah, a variant spelling of Jehoiachin; also in 1:12. See 2 Kgs 24:6 and note at 1 Chr 3:16.
  8. 1:19 Greek to divorce her.
  9. 1:21 Jesus means “The Lord saves.”
  10. 1:23 Isa 7:14; 8:8, 10 (Greek version).
  11. 2:1 Or royal astrologers; Greek reads magi; also in 2:7, 16.
  12. 2:2 Or star in the east.
  13. 2:6a Greek the rulers.
  14. 2:6b Mic 5:2; 2 Sam 5:2.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 1

Book one (Psalms 1–41)

Psalm 1

1 Oh, the joys of those who do not
follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand around with sinners,
or join in with mockers.
2 But they delight in the law of the Lord,
meditating on it day and night.
3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither,
and they prosper in all they do.

4 But not the wicked!
They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.
5 They will be condemned at the time of judgment.
Sinners will have no place among the godly.
6 For the Lord watches over the path of the godly,
but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 1:1-6

The Purpose of Proverbs

1 These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.

2 Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline,
to help them understand the insights of the wise.
3 Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives,
to help them do what is right, just, and fair.
4 These proverbs will give insight to the simple,
knowledge and discernment to the young.

5 Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser.
Let those with understanding receive guidance
6 by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables,
the words of the wise and their riddles.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.