The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday March 24, 2024 (NIV)

2 Then we turned and traveled toward the wilderness on the road to the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me, and we traveled for many days to get around the area of Mount Seir.^[a]

The Journey Past Edom

² Then the Lord said to me, ³ “You have been traveling around this mountainous region long enough. Turn north ⁴ and command the people, ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, who are living in Seir, and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. ⁵ Do not wage war against them because I am not going to give you any of their land, not even an area the size of a footprint, because I have given the Mount Seir region to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You may buy food from them with money so you can eat, and you may purchase water from them with money so you can drink. ⁷ For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your trek through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have not lacked anything.’” ⁸ So we passed by the territory of our brothers, the people of Esau, who were living in Seir. After leaving the Arabah Road, Elat, and Ezion Geber behind us, we turned and we traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab.

The Journey Past Moab

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, “Do not be hostile toward Moab and do not wage war against them in battle, because I am not going to give you any of their land as a possession, since I have given Ar to the people of Lot as a possession.”

¹⁰ (The Emites formerly lived in it, a strong, numerous people and tall like the Anakites. ¹¹ They, like the Anakites, are also considered to be Rephaim,^[b] but the Moabites call them Emites. ¹² The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the people of Esau took possession of their land and destroyed them from their midst. They settled there in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the Lord gave to them as their possession.)

¹³ Then the Lord told us:^[c] “Now get ready and cross the Zered Canyon.” So we crossed over the Zered Canyon. ¹⁴ The time that we traveled from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Zered Canyon was thirty-eight years, until that whole generation of fighting men were eliminated from the camp, just as the Lord had sworn to them. ¹⁵ Yes indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them to destroy them from the camp until they were eliminated.

The Journey Past Ammon

¹⁶ Just as soon as all those fighting men were eliminated from the people by their death, ¹⁷ the Lord spoke to me: ¹⁸ “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar. ¹⁹ When you come near the people of Ammon, do not be hostile toward them and do not wage war against them, because I am not going to give any of the land of the people of Ammon to you as a possession, since I have given it to the people of Lot as a possession.”

²⁰ (It also is considered to be the land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim lived in it formerly, but the Ammonites call them Zamzumites. ²¹ They are a strong and numerous people and as tall as the Anakites. But the Lord destroyed the Rephaim from among the Ammonites. The Ammonites took possession of their land and lived there in their place. ²² The Lord had done the same things for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them, and they took possession of their land and settled there in their place and remain there to this day. ²³ Now the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor,^[d] destroyed the Avvites who were living in villages as far as Gaza and settled in their place.)

Confrontation With the Amorites

²⁴ Then the Lord told us:^[e] “Get ready to travel and cross over the Arnon Canyon. See, I have given into your hands Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Start to take possession of it and wage war against him. ²⁵ This very day I will begin to put dread and fear of you on the faces of the people everywhere under heaven, so that they will hear reports about you and they will tremble, and they will be shaking because of you.”

²⁶ So I sent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedmoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with an offer of peace. I said, ²⁷ “Let us pass through your land. We will proceed only on the road. We will not turn aside to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You can sell us food in exchange for money so we can eat, and you can give us water in exchange for money so we can drink. Only let us pass through on foot, ²⁹ as did the people of Esau living in Seir and the Moabites living in Ar, until we can cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.”

³⁰ But Sihon king of the Amorites was not willing to let us pass through on the road, because the Lord your God gave him a stubborn attitude by making his heart obstinate, in order to give him over into your hands, as is now the case today. ³¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Look now, I have begun to give you Sihon and his land. Start taking action to take possession of his land.”

³² Then Sihon and all of his people went out to meet us in battle at Jahaz. ³³ The Lord our God gave him to us, and we struck him down, as well as his sons and all his people. ³⁴ So we captured each of his cities at that time. We devoted each city to destruction, with the men, women, and children. We did not leave a survivor. ³⁵ We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, as well as the spoils of war from the cities that we captured. ³⁶ From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Canyon, from the city that is in the canyon, all the way up to Gilead, there was not a city that was out of reach for us. The Lord our God gave us everything. ³⁷ But it was only the land of the people of Ammon that you did not approach: the land along both sides of the Jabbok Canyon, the cities of the hill country, and everything that the Lord our God had forbidden us to take.

3 Then we turned and went up on the road to Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out to confront us. He and all his people came for war at Edrei. ² But the Lord said to me, “Do not be afraid of him, because I have given him into your hands, as well as all of his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” ³ So the Lord our God gave into our hands also Og king of Bashan and all his people. We struck them down until they had no survivor remaining.

⁴ So we took all of his cities at that time. There was not a city that we did not take from them—sixty cities, the whole area of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵ All of these were fortified cities with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many small unwalled towns.^{[f] 6} We devoted them to destruction, just as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon. There was a total destruction of every city, of men, women, and children, ⁷ but all of the cattle and the plunder of the cities we took as spoils for ourselves.

⁸ So at that time we took the land out of the hands of the two kings of the Amorites who were east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Canyon to Mount Hermon. ⁹ (The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, but the Amorites call it Senir.) ¹⁰ We took all the cities of the tableland and all of Gilead and all of Bashan, up to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ¹¹ (Only Og king of Bashan had remained from what was left of the Rephaim. His bed,^[g] a bed of iron, is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon? Its length is thirteen feet, and its width is six feet,^[h] according to the standard measure.)

¹² So we took possession of this land at that time. I gave to Reuben and to Gad the land starting at Aroer, which is at the Arnon Canyon, and half of the hill country^[i] of Gilead, as well as its cities. ¹³ I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh the remainder of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, all the territory of Argob (all that part of Bashan is called the land of the Rephaim). ¹⁴ Jair, the descendant of Manasseh, took all the territory of Argob up to the border of the Geshurites and the Ma’acathites, and he named the villages of Bashan after himself, Havvoth Jair,^[j] as they are called to this day. ¹⁵ I gave Gilead to Makir. ¹⁶ To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave the land of Gilead from the Arnon Canyon (that is, from the middle of the canyon), which served as one of their borders, up to the Jabbok Canyon, which served as their border with the people of Ammon. ¹⁷ Also the Arabah and the Jordan served as their border from the Sea of Kinneret^[k] to the Sea of the Arabah, that is, the Salt Sea,^[l] under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸ I gave you a command at that time: “The Lord your God gave you this land as a possession. All of your soldiers, armed for battle, are to cross over before your brother Israelites. ¹⁹ Only your wives and your children and your livestock (I know that you have a lot of livestock) may stay in your cities that I have given you, ²⁰ until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them on the other side of the Jordan. After that you may return, each man to his possession that I have given you.”

²¹ I also gave a command to Joshua at that time: “With your own eyes you have been observing everything that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms to which you are crossing. ²² Do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God himself is fighting for you.”

²³ I also begged the favor of the Lord at that time: ²⁴ “My Lord God, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong hand. Indeed, what god in heaven or on earth is there that has done anything like your works and your mighty deeds? ²⁵ Let me cross over, please, and let me see the good land on the other side of the Jordan—this good hill country and the mountains of Lebanon.”

²⁶ But the Lord was furious with me because of you, and he did not listen to me but said to me, “Enough from you! Do not continue to speak to me anymore about this matter. ²⁷ Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes toward the west and the north and the south and the east. Take a good look, because you will not be crossing over this Jordan. ²⁸ But commission Joshua for duty and strengthen him and encourage him, because he will cross over in front of these people, and he will enable them to take possession of the land that you will only see.” ²⁹ So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth Peor.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

¹² It happened in those days that Jesus went up on the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God. ¹³ When it was day, he summoned his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also called apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, whom he also named Peter, and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; ¹⁵ Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, also Simon, who was called the Zealot; ¹⁶ Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus Heals Many

¹⁷ He went down with them and stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples and a large number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, as well as from the coastal area of Tyre and Sidon. These people came to listen to him and to be healed of their diseases. ¹⁸ Those who were troubled by unclean spirits were also cured. ¹⁹ The whole crowd kept trying to touch him, because power was going out from him and healing them all.

Blessings and Woes

²⁰ He lifted up his eyes to his disciples and said:

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because of this: Your reward is great in heaven! The fact is, their fathers constantly did the same things to the prophets.”

Love Your Enemies

²⁷ “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other too. If someone takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes away your things, do not demand them back.

³¹ “Treat others just as you would want them to treat you. ³² If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? To be sure, even the sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners do the same thing. ³⁴ If you lend to those from whom you expect to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners lend to sinners in order to be paid back in full. ³⁵ Instead, love your enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the unthankful and the evil. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Consider the Beam in Your Own Eye

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”

Psalm 67

Your Kingdom Come

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For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.

The Prayer