The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday April 21, 2024 (NIV)

²¹ The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered the heads of the Israelite clans, ²² “The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord!^[a](A) He knows,^(B) and may Israel also know. Do not spare us today, if it was in rebellion or treachery against the Lord ²³ that we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from him. May the Lord himself hold us accountable if we intended to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it. ²⁴ We actually did this from a specific concern that in the future your descendants might say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord, the God of Israel? ²⁵ For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no share in the Lord!’ So your descendants may cause our descendants to stop fearing the Lord.

²⁶ “Therefore we said: Let’s take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offering or sacrifice. ²⁷ Instead, it is to be a witness between us and you,^(C) and between the generations after us, so that we may carry out the worship of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings.^(D) Then in the future, your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no share in the Lord!’ ²⁸ We thought that if they said this to us or to our generations in the future, we would reply: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar that our ancestors made, not for burnt offering or sacrifice, but as a witness between us and you. ²⁹ We would never ever rebel against the Lord or turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God, which is in front of his tabernacle.”

Conflict Resolved

³⁰ When the priest Phinehas and the community leaders, the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him, heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased. ³¹ Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against him.^(E) As a result, you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s power.”

³² Then the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report to them. ³³ The Israelites were pleased with the report, and they blessed God.^(F) They spoke no more about going to war against them to ravage the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived. ³⁴ So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar: It^[b] is a witness between us that the Lord is God.

Joshua’s Farewell Address

23 A long time after the Lord had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them,^(G) Joshua was old, advanced in age.^{(H) 2} So Joshua summoned all Israel, including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers,^(I) and said to them, “I am old, advanced in age, ³ and you have seen for yourselves everything the Lord your God did to all these nations on your account, because it was the Lord your God who was fighting for you.^{(J) 4} See, I have allotted these remaining nations to you as an inheritance for your tribes,^(K) including all the nations I have destroyed, from the Jordan westward to the Mediterranean Sea. ⁵ The Lord your God will force them back on your account and drive them out before you so that you can take possession of their land,^(L) as the Lord your God promised you.

⁶ “Be very strong^(M) and continue obeying all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you do not turn from it to the right or left ⁷ and so that you do not associate with these nations remaining among you. Do not call on the names of their gods or make an oath to them;^(N) do not serve them or bow in worship to them. ⁸ Instead, be loyal to the Lord your God, as you have been to this day.^(O)

⁹ “The Lord has driven out great and powerful nations before you,^(P) and no one is able to stand against you to this day.^{(Q) 10} One of you routed a thousand^(R) because the Lord your God was fighting for you, as he promised.^{[c](S) 11} So diligently watch yourselves! Love the Lord your God! ¹² If you ever turn away and become loyal to the rest of these nations remaining among you,^(T) and if you intermarry or associate with them^(U) and they with you, ¹³ know for certain that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out before you. They will become a snare and a trap for you,^(V) a sharp stick^[d] for your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you disappear from this good land the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁴ “I am now going the way of the whole earth,^(W) and you know with all your heart and all your soul that none of the good promises the Lord your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed.^{(X) 15} Since every good thing the Lord your God promised you has come about, so he will bring on you every bad thing until he has annihilated you from this good land the Lord your God has given you.^{(Y) 16} If you break the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow in worship to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly disappear from this good land he has given you.”

The Sadducees and the Resurrection

²⁷ Some^(A) of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,^(B) came up and questioned him: ²⁸ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother has a wife, and dies childless, his brother should take the wife and produce offspring for his brother.^{[a](C) 29} Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children. ³⁰ Also the second^{[b] 31} and the third took her. In the same way, all seven died and left no children. ³² Finally, the woman died too. ³³ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For all seven had married her.”

³⁴ Jesus told them, “The children of this age^(D) marry and are given in marriage.^{(E) 35} But those who are counted worthy^(F) to take part in that age^(G) and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶ For they can no longer die,^(H) because they are like angels and are children of God,^(I) since they are children of the resurrection. ³⁷ Moses even indicated in the passage about the burning bush that the dead are raised, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.^{[c](J) 38} He is not the God of the dead but of the living, because all are living to^[d] him.”^(K)

³⁹ Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” ⁴⁰ And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

The Question about the Messiah

⁴¹ Then^(L) he said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah is the son of David?^{(M) 42} For David himself says in the Book of Psalms:^(N)

⁴⁴ David calls him ‘Lord.’ How, then, can he be his son?”^(P)

Warning against the Scribes

⁴⁵ While^(Q) all the people were listening, he said to his disciples, ⁴⁶ “Beware^(R) of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes and who love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets.^{(S) 47} They devour widows’ houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher judgment.”