A Walk Through The Word

February 5, 2022

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday February 5, 2022 (NIV)

Exodus 21:22-23:13

²²When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that she has a miscarriage but no other injury occurs, then the guilty party will be fined what the woman’s husband demands, as negotiated with the judges. ²³If there is further injury, then you will give a life for a life, ²⁴an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, ²⁵a burn for a burn, a bruise for a bruise, a wound for a wound.

²⁶When a slave owner hits and blinds the eye of a male or female slave, he should let the slave go free on account of the eye. ²⁷If he knocks out a tooth of a male or female slave, he should let the slave go free on account of the tooth.

Instructions about animals and property

²⁸When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox should be stoned to death, and the meat of the ox shouldn’t be eaten. But the owner of the ox shouldn’t be punished. ²⁹However, if the ox had gored people in the past and its owner had been warned but didn’t watch out for it, and the ox ends up killing a man or a woman, then the ox should be stoned to death, and its owner should also be put to death. ³⁰If the owner has to pay compensation instead, he must pay the agreed amount to save his life. ³¹If the ox gores a boy or a girl, this same case law applies to the owner. ³²If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner will pay thirty silver shekels to the slave’s owner, and the ox will be stoned to death.

³³When someone leaves a pit open or digs a pit and doesn’t cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into the pit, ³⁴the owner of the pit must make good on the loss. He should pay money to the ox’s owner, but he may keep the dead animal.

³⁵When someone’s ox hurts someone else’s ox and it dies, then they should sell the live ox and divide its price. They should also divide the dead animal between them. ³⁶But if the ox was known for goring in the past and its owner hadn’t watched out for it, the owner must make good the loss, an ox for an ox, but may keep the dead animal.

22 ^[a] When someone steals an ox or a sheep and then slaughters or sells it, the thief must pay back five oxen for the one ox or four sheep for the one sheep.

²^[b] If the thief is caught breaking in and is beaten and dies, the one who killed him won’t be guilty of bloodshed. ³However, if this happens in broad daylight, then the one who killed him is guilty of bloodshed. For his part, the thief must make good on what he stole. If he has nothing, he must be sold to pay for his theft. ⁴If an animal (whether ox, donkey, or sheep) is found alive in the thief’s possession, he must pay back double.

⁵When someone lets an animal loose to eat in another person’s field and causes the field or vineyard to be stripped of its crop, the owner must pay them back with the best from his own field or vineyard.

⁶When someone starts a fire and it catches in thorns and then spreads to someone else’s stacked grain, standing grain, or a whole field, the one who started the fire must fully repay the loss.

⁷When someone entrusts money or other items to another person to keep safe and they are stolen from the other person’s house and the thief is caught, the thief must pay back double. ⁸If the thief isn’t caught, the owner of the house should be brought before God to determine whether or not the owner stole the other’s property.

⁹When any dispute of ownership over an ox, donkey, sheep, piece of clothing, or any other loss arises in which someone claims, “This is mine,” the cases of both parties should come before God. The one whom God finds at fault must pay double to the other.

¹⁰When someone gives a donkey, ox, sheep, or any other animal to another person to keep safe, and the animal dies or is injured or taken and no one saw what happened, ¹¹the person should swear a solemn pledge before the Lord in the presence of the owner that he didn’t touch the other’s property. The owner must accept that, and no payment needs to be made. ¹²But if the animal was stolen, the person must make full payment to its owner. ¹³If the animal was attacked and ripped apart and its torn body is brought as evidence, no payment needs to be made.

¹⁴When someone borrows an animal from another and it is injured or dies while the owner isn’t present, full payment must be made. ¹⁵If the owner was present, no payment needs to be made. If the animal was hired, only the fee for hiring the animal is due.

Instructions about social and religious matters

¹⁶When a man seduces a young woman who isn’t engaged to be married yet and he sleeps with her, he must marry her and pay the bride-price for her. ¹⁷But if her father absolutely refuses to let them marry, he must still pay the same amount as the bride-price for young women.

¹⁸Don’t allow a female sorcerer to live.

¹⁹Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal should be put to death.

²⁰Anyone who offers sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, should be destroyed.

²¹Don’t mistreat or oppress an immigrant, because you were once immigrants in the land of Egypt. ²²Don’t treat any widow or orphan badly. ²³If you do treat them badly and they cry out to me, you can be sure that I’ll hear their cry. ²⁴I’ll be furious, and I’ll kill you with the sword. Then your wives will be widows, and your children will be orphans.

²⁵If you lend money to my people who are poor among you, don’t be a creditor and charge them interest. ²⁶If you take a piece of clothing from someone as a security deposit, you should return it before the sun goes down. ²⁷His clothing may well be his only blanket to cover himself. What else will that person have to sleep in? And if he cries out to me, I’ll listen, because I’m compassionate.

²⁸Don’t say a curse against God, and don’t curse your people’s chief.

²⁹Don’t delay offering the produce of your vineyards and winepresses. Give me your oldest son. ³⁰Do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. They should stay with their mother for seven days. On the eighth day, you should give them to me.

³¹You are holy people to me. Don’t eat any meat killed by wild animals out in the field. Throw it to the dogs instead.

23 Don’t spread false rumors. Don’t plot with evil people to act as a lying witness. ²Don’t take sides with important people to do wrong. When you act as a witness, don’t stretch the truth to favor important people. ³But don’t privilege unimportant people in their lawsuits either.

⁴When you happen to come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey that has wandered off, you should bring it back to them.

⁵When you see a donkey that belongs to someone who hates you and it’s lying down under its load and you are inclined not to help set it free, you must help set it free.

⁶Don’t undermine the justice that your poor deserve in their lawsuits. ⁷Stay away from making a false charge. Don’t put an innocent person who is in the right to death, because I will not consider innocent those who do such evil. ⁸Don’t take a bribe, because a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

⁹Don’t oppress an immigrant. You know what it’s like to be an immigrant, because you were immigrants in the land of Egypt.

Sabbaths and festivals

¹⁰For six years you should plant crops on your land and gather in its produce. ¹¹But in the seventh year you should leave it alone and undisturbed so that the poor among your people may eat. What they leave behind, the wild animals may eat. You should do the same with your vineyard and your olive trees.

¹²Do your work in six days. But on the seventh day you should rest so that your ox and donkey may rest, and even the child of your female slave and the immigrant may be refreshed.

¹³Be careful to obey everything that I have said to you. Don’t call on the names of other gods. Don’t even mention them.

Footnotes:

Exodus 22:1 21:37 in Heb
Exodus 22:2 22:1 in Heb

Common English Bible (CEB)

Matthew 24:1-28

The temple’s fate

24 Now Jesus left the temple and was going away. His disciples came to point out to him the temple buildings. ²He responded, “Do you see all these things? I assure that no stone will be left on another. Everything will be demolished.”

Beginning of troubles

³Now while Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?”

⁴Jesus replied, “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I’m the Christ.’ They will deceive many people. ⁶You will hear about wars and reports of wars. Don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but this isn’t the end yet. ⁷Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in all sorts of places. ⁸But all these things are just the beginning of the sufferings associated with the end. ⁹They will arrest you, abuse you, and they will kill you. All nations will hate you on account of my name. ¹⁰At that time many will fall away. They will betray each other and hate each other. ¹¹Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹²Because disobedience will expand, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³But the one who endures to the end will be delivered. ¹⁴This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all the nations. Then the end will come.

The great suffering

¹⁵“When you see the disgusting and destructive thing that Daniel talked about standing in the holy place (the reader should understand this), ¹⁶then those in Judea must escape to the mountains. ¹⁷Those on the roof shouldn’t come down to grab things from their houses. ¹⁸Those in the field shouldn’t come back to grab their clothes. ¹⁹How terrible it will be at that time for women who are pregnant and for women who are nursing their children. ²⁰Pray that it doesn’t happen in winter or on the Sabbath day. ²¹There will be great suffering such as the world has never before seen and will never again see. ²²If that time weren’t shortened, nobody would be rescued. But for the sake of the ones whom God chose, that time will be cut short.

²³“Then if somebody says to you, ‘Look, here’s the Christ,’ or ‘He’s over here,’ don’t believe it. ²⁴False christs and false prophets will appear, and they will offer great signs and wonders in order to deceive, if possible, even those whom God has chosen. ²⁵Look, I’ve told you ahead of time. ²⁶So if they say to you, ‘Look, he’s in the desert,’ don’t go out. And if they say, ‘Look, he’s in the rooms deep inside the house,’ don’t believe it. ²⁷Just as the lightning flashes from the east to the west, so it will be with the coming of the Human One.^[a] ²⁸The vultures gather wherever there’s a dead body.

Footnotes:

Matthew 24:27 Or Son of Man

Common English Bible (CEB)

Psalm 29

A psalm of David.

29 You, divine beings! Give to the Lord—
give to the Lord glory and power!
²Give to the Lord the glory due his name!
Bow down to the Lord in holy splendor!

³The Lord’s voice is over the waters;
the glorious God thunders;
the Lord is over the mighty waters.
⁴The Lord’s voice is strong;
the Lord’s voice is majestic.
⁵The Lord’s voice breaks cedar trees—
yes, the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.
⁶He makes Lebanon jump around like a young bull,
makes Sirion jump around like a young wild ox.
⁷The Lord’s voice unleashes fiery flames;
⁸the Lord’s voice shakes the wilderness—
yes, the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
⁹The Lord’s voice convulses the oaks,
strips the forests bare,
but in his temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”
¹⁰The Lord sits enthroned over the floodwaters;
the Lord sits enthroned—king forever!

¹¹Let the Lord give strength to his people!
Let the Lord bless his people with peace!

Common English Bible (CEB)

Proverbs 7:6-23

⁶When from the window of my house,
from behind the screen, I gazed down,
⁷I looked among the naive young men
and noticed among the youth, one who had no sense.
⁸He was crossing the street at her corner
and walked down the path to her house
⁹in the early evening,
at the onset of night and darkness.
¹⁰All of a sudden a woman approaches him,
dressed like a prostitute and with a cunning mind.
¹¹She is noisy and defiant;
her feet don’t stay long in her own house.
¹²She has one foot in the street, one foot in the public square.
She lies in wait at every corner.
¹³She grabs him and kisses him.
Her face is brazen as she speaks to him:
¹⁴“I’ve made a sacrifice of well-being;
today I fulfilled my solemn promises.
¹⁵So I’ve come out to meet you,
seeking you, and I have found you.
¹⁶I’ve spread my bed with luxurious covers,
with colored linens from Egypt.
¹⁷I’ve sprinkled my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
¹⁸Come, let’s drink deep of love until morning;
let’s savor our lovemaking.
¹⁹For my husband isn’t home;
he’s gone far away.
²⁰He took a pouch of money with him;
he won’t come home till full moon.”
²¹She seduces him with all her talk.
She entices him with her flattery.
²²He goes headlong after her,
like an ox to the slaughter,
like a deer leaping into a trap,^[a]
²³until an arrow pierces his liver,
like a bird hurrying to the snare,
not aware that it will cost him his life.

Footnotes:

Proverbs 7:22 Heb uncertain

Common English Bible (CEB)

February 4, 2022

02/04/2022 DAB Transcript

Exodus 19:16-21:21, Matthew 23:13-39, Psalms 28:1-9, Proverbs 7:1-5

Today is the 4^th day of February welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we continue our journey forward through the Scriptures this year. And today we will pick up where we left off yesterday. We are in the wilderness with the children of Israel who are being remade. They are…they are transforming from slaves into God’s chosen people and a lot of lessons are being learned. So, yesterday Moses learned lessons about delegation and getting help. His two sons and his wife have come and joined the camp of Israel after all of the things that happened in Egypt. And now God has told Moses that He is coming to the people to speak with the people, and they are to prepare. And, so, we’ll pick up the story there. Exodus chapter 19 verse 16 through chapter 21 verse 21.

Commentary:

Okay, so there are a number of things we should observe from today’s reading both from Exodus and from Matthew because in some ways we get a little bit of a before and after view. We’ll talk about that in the second. First off, God had told the people to prepare themselves, to purify themselves, and to come to the mountain that He had descended upon that He was going to speak to the people, but upon the mountain were smoke and thunder and lightning and all matter of things that terrified the people terrified them of God. And, so, in the end they came to Moses and said, “Don’t let God speak to us. You listen to God and then you tell us what God said and then we will obey God by obeying you.” And this certainly does give us the foundation for the…the role of the prophet in Hebrew life, especially in biblical Hebrew life. But let’s remember, God didn’t say to the people, “you come near the mountain, I’m gonna talk to Moses, Moses is gonna talk to you.” What God said was, “I’m gonna speak to the people.” He was gnna speak directly to the people. And they rejected that in favor of an intermediary. And we can think, yeah, whatever, that’s no big deal, but it…it does become a larger issue in the writings of Paul, which we haven’t gotten to yet. But let’s remember this moment at Mount Sinai because it’s something that we will touch on in the future as we get a little bit further into the year. But we are also reaching a point now that…well…the 10 Commandments for example, were given in today’s reading. And, so, the things, the laws, the statutes, the customs, the holidays, the rituals, all of the things that would form a culture and bind it together, these things are beginning to be revealed in the wilderness to Moses. And this will go on for quite a while. We remember, these people only know how to be slaves in Egypt. So, those are the customs that they know and the things that pull them together, Egyptian slavery and how to navigate it. When where they’re headed his into a promised land where they will be self-governing under God. And, so, God begins to reveal what becomes known as the law or the Mosaic law, which is to form and govern the Hebrew people.

If we move into the book of Matthew from our reading today, we will have moved forward a couple of millennia. So, in our Old Testament reading we are at the very beginning of God starting to reveal the customs and cultures and statutes and the things that He expects it will form this people. In Matthew all of the law has been given, all of the people have gone through all kinds of things that people would go through in a couple thousand years. The law has been interpreted and reinterpreted, and we hear Jesus saying, “how terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees, you hypocrites, you shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. You don’t enter yourselves and you won’t allow those who want to enter to do so.” So, that’s like a little bit of the before and after. It’s like the law is just beginning to be given in Exodus. In Matthew we see God made flesh commenting on the very people that are to lead God’s people in obedience to the covenant of the law. And it is that very law that impart turns the religious leaders against Jesus for things like profaning the Sabbath Day or blasphemy. Those things are against the Mosaic law, at least against the way that the Mosaic law was being interpreted. And, so, over the course of time we’re goona have the opportunity to look at this and through the lens of the apostle Paul we’ll have some interpretation that fundamentally boils down to the spirit of the law or the letter of the law. The letter of the law are the words as their written. The spirit of the law is that before the law was given there was a set of circumstances or behaviors or something going on that required that this law be defined in such a way, the spirit of the law. And we don’t have time to dive into all that today, we couldn’t dive into that just today. That will emerge over time as we move through the law and move deeper into the Gospels. But right here on the front-end as the law is just beginning to be revealed it’s good for us to at least kinda understand these categories. Like, if…if in our nations, because all of our nations have rules and regulations and even customs and rituals, but we have laws and by the letter of the law, if the law is broke, it’s a black-and-white thing which really doesn’t leave any room for mercy or for context. And this is pretty important in the New Testament as the understanding of the Christian faith is being revealed.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for the majesty of Your word. We thank You for the Scriptures and all of the different nuances. Each day is touching something different, whether that being enlightening us with knowledge or that being cutting us to the heart and causing repentance. And, so, we are grateful. And Holy Spirit as we move into this territory in the wilderness, we ask that You lead us into all truth. And we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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And, of course as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement there are a number of numbers that you can use to dial-in depending on where you are in the world. First of all, if you’re using the app, you can press the Hotline button. It’s the little red button up at the top. And then it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, you can share right from there or there are a couple of numbers that you can use. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to dial. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi, this message is for a little Kayla praying for her friend Azarah. So, Kayla thank you for your faithfulness and standing in the gap for your friend. And God we just ask for Azarah right now, You will touch her body, You will heal every cell, everything that’s not from You God You will remove it from her body, that her body will be restored to new…restored to normal. So, I just ask You Lord for…to touch Azarah’s body God, that she is healed right now in the name of Jesus, that she will wake up in the morning and be completely healed. The doctors will be astounded and…and she’ll say,” well…of course. My friend Kayla prayed for me. That’s why. That’s why I’m healed.” So, we just thank You God. We just ask You to lift up Layla and Azarah’s friendship God, that they would be like…like closer than two sisters God. So, we just thank You and ask You for this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning, everybody. Hey this is Annette from Oklahoma City. I would like to respond to the gentleman who was trying to get into the ministry and then found that his past was creeping up on him a little bit. Brother, boy oh boy I have been there myself. Before I got into the Daily Audio Bible my life was a mess and I didn’t really care too much about if I lied to people. I had a filthy mouth. I had a dirty mind. I was probably everything that the…the New Testament says that you shouldn’t be, like don’t be thinking on these things. I…I think I hit every one of them. And then I got real sick and I had limes disease and it messed up my memory pretty much. I mean a lot like. A lot of my life’s missing. It’s really weird. And then sometimes I see people from my past that I haven’t seen in a long time, and it makes me go, “Oh no. I can’t. I can’t remember. How did this go?” You know, “was I awful to this person? Did I say something bad?” You know? And…and all I can do now is go…I look at that person and I go, “you know what? I…I…I remember you and I would like to tell you that I’m sorry if I ever hurt you or offended you.” And that’s where it leaves me today. So, now it makes me afraid, like I hope I don’t hurt somebody you know. It makes me very conscious of my actions today. Almost like I had to just dump all my friends. I was very lonely for a long time because when I realized where these people put me, I was like I don’t want to go back there again. So, I’m gonna pray for you and I just hope that you take a stand against yourself. And I mean that you understand what’s right and wrong and hopefully, you know, you can get yourself squared away. And it just takes time. It takes time for people to learn how to trust you again. And…but if you prove yourself to be an honorable person, you know, and you just you focus on the things that are good and right you’ll make it. You’ll make it and the Lord’s gonna reveal a path. Maybe He just needed to stretch you a little bit more. Okay? I love you. You have a great day everybody. Bye-bye.

Good morning DAB family this is Laura in Colorado. I just have a prayer request I’d like to put before you guys. I know we have so many prayer warriors here. My family is feeling called to foster a baby girl. I work in the NICU. And this baby needs a place to go, and we really feel called to be ever come be a part of our family, temporarily if that’s what’s necessary. So, would you please pray with me for that? There’s a lot of moving parts and right now some uncertainty and just need wisdom and clarity and for God’s will to be done over this little life. So, thank you family for all your prayers.

Hi everybody it’s beloved in Texas. I just want to play for __ from Nebraska. Girl I’m __ too and I know what that’s like. And I know it’s a completely different animal and your mind races and you just don’t seem to know what end is up. And the bad part is is when you’re depressed you don’t even care. You don’t care which end is up. So, I just want to pray for you right now. I just pray for peace, clarity, and a joy that surpasses all understanding in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning, DAB family this is Laura in Haverhill Florida. I’m calling this morning on February 1^st to pray for Dave from the UK. Dave who has two…has 18 year old twin sons, I pray for Dave and his wife that they would be strengthened, their faith would not fail, that they would not give up and Lord that they…they would trust You with the lives of these boys. I pray for the one of the wheelchair Father who had cerebral palsy. Father, please give this child relief from pain. Please help him to be able to have sleep, sweet sleep at night, Father that he would be able to not give up, that his faith would stay strong, and Lord that You would heal his boy, that You would heal him, that You would take away the pain. Father, I pray for the other son that is dealing with the seizures every week. Lord You know what’s causing the seizures and I pray Father God for healing for this boy. Oh, Father I know that when we see our children suffer that Lord its hard on us because God we love our kids so much. And I can only imagine how much You love them, how much You love us. Father I pray that Your love would be overflowing in this home, that You Father would protect their hearts and minds from doubts from giving up, from anger, from distress, from depression. Lord I pray Father for strength for all of these all of these people in this family. And…and Lord I just pray for healing, complete healing in Jesus’ name. Thank You, Holy Spirit.

February 4, 2022

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday February 4, 2022 (NIV)

Exodus 19:16-21:21

¹⁶When morning dawned on the third day, there was thunder, lightning, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud blast of a horn. All the people in the camp shook with fear. ¹⁷Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord had come down on it with lightning. The smoke went up like the smoke of a hot furnace, while the whole mountain shook violently. ¹⁹The blasts of the horn grew louder and louder. Moses would speak, and God would answer him with thunder. ²⁰The Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain. The Lord called Moses to come up to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. ²¹The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to try to see the Lord, or many of them will fall dead. ²²Even the priests who come near to the Lord must keep themselves holy, or the Lord will break loose against them.”

²³Moses said to the Lord, “The people aren’t allowed to come up on Mount Sinai because you warned us and said, ‘Set up a fence around the mountain to keep it holy.’”

²⁴The Lord said to him, “Go down, and bring Aaron back up with you. But the priests and the people must not break through and come up to the Lord. Otherwise, the Lord will break loose against them.” ²⁵So Moses went down to the people and told them.

The Ten Commandments

20 Then God spoke all these words:

²I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³You must have no other gods before^[a] me.

⁴Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. ⁵Do not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the Lord your God, am a passionate God. I punish children for their parents’ sins even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. ⁶But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth generation^[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷Do not use the Lord your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the Lord won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way.

⁸Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. ⁹Six days you may work and do all your tasks, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Do not do any work on it—not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you. ¹¹Because the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹²Honor your father and your mother so that your life will be long on the fertile land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³Do not kill.^[c]

¹⁴Do not commit adultery.

¹⁵Do not steal.

¹⁶Do not testify falsely against your neighbor.

¹⁷Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s house. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

¹⁸When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking, the people shook with fear and stood at a distance. ¹⁹They said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we’ll listen. But don’t let God speak to us, or we’ll die.”

²⁰Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, because God has come only to test you and to make sure you are always in awe of God so that you don’t sin.” ²¹The people stood at a distance while Moses approached the thick darkness in which God was present.

Instructions about worship

²²The Lord said to Moses: “Say this to the Israelites: You saw for yourselves how I spoke with you from heaven. ²³Don’t make alongside me gods of silver or gold for yourselves. ²⁴Make for me an altar from fertile soil on which to sacrifice your entirely burned offerings, your well-being sacrifices, your sheep, and your oxen. I will come to you and bless you in every place where I make sure my name is remembered. ²⁵But if you do make for me an altar from stones, don’t build it with chiseled stone since using your chisel on the stone will make it impure. ²⁶Don’t climb onto my altar using steps: then your genitals won’t be exposed by doing so.”

Instructions about slaves

21 These are the case laws that you should set before them:

²When you buy a male Hebrew slave, he will serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he will go free without any payment. ³If he came in single, he will leave single. If he came in married, then his wife will leave with him. ⁴If his master gave him a wife and she bore him sons or daughters, the wife and her children will belong to her master. He will leave single. ⁵However, if the slave clearly states, “I love my master, my wife, and my children, and I don’t want to go free,” ⁶then his master will bring him before God. He will bring him to the door or the doorpost. There his master will pierce his ear with a pointed tool, and he will serve him as his slave for life.

⁷When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shouldn’t be set free in the same way as male slaves are set free. ⁸If she doesn’t please her master who chose her for himself, then her master must let her be bought back by her family. He has no right to sell her to a foreign people since he has treated her unfairly. ⁹If he assigns her to his son, he must give her the rights of a daughter. ¹⁰If he takes another woman for himself, he may not reduce her food, clothing, or marital rights. ¹¹If he doesn’t do these three things for her, she will go free without any payment, for no money.

Instructions about human violence

¹²Anyone who hits and kills someone should be put to death. ¹³If the killing wasn’t on purpose but an accident allowed by God, then I will designate a place to which the killer can run away. ¹⁴But if someone plots and kills another person on purpose, you should remove the killer from my altar and put him to death.

¹⁵Anyone who violently hits their father or mother should be put to death.

¹⁶Anyone who kidnaps a person, whether they have been sold or are still being held, should be put to death.

¹⁷Anyone who curses their father or mother should be put to death.

¹⁸When two people are fighting and one hits the other with a stone or with his fist so that he is in bed for a while but doesn’t die— ¹⁹if he recovers and is able to walk around outside with a cane, then the one who hit him shouldn’t be punished, except to pay for the loss of time from work and to pay for his full recovery.

²⁰When a slave owner hits a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner should be punished. ²¹But if the slave gets up after a day or two, the slave owner shouldn’t be punished because the slave is the owner’s property.

Footnotes:

Exodus 20:3 Or besides
Exodus 20:6 Or to thousands
Exodus 20:13 Or murder

Common English Bible (CEB)

Matthew 23:13-39

Condemnation of the legal experts and the Pharisees

¹³“How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. You don’t enter yourselves, and you won’t allow those who want to enter to do so.^[a]

¹⁵“How terrible it will be for you, legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make one convert. But when they’ve been converted, they become twice the child of hell you are.

¹⁶“How terrible it will be for you blind guides who say, ‘If people swear by the temple, it’s nothing. But if people swear by the gold in the temple, they are obligated to do what they swore.’ ¹⁷You foolish and blind people! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? ¹⁸You say, ‘If people swear by the altar, it’s nothing. But if they swear by the gift on the altar, they are obligated to do what they swore.’ ¹⁹You blind people! Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? ²⁰Therefore, those who swear by the altar swear by it and by everything that’s on it. ²¹Those who swear by the temple swear by it and by everything that’s part of it. ²²Those who swear by heaven swear by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

²³“How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You give to God a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, but you forget about the more important matters of the Law: justice, peace, and faith. You ought to give a tenth but without forgetting about those more important matters. ²⁴You blind guides! You filter out an ant but swallow a camel.

²⁵“How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and plate, but inside they are full of violence and pleasure seeking. ²⁶Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup so that the outside of the cup will be clean too.

²⁷“How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs. They look beautiful on the outside. But inside they are full of dead bones and all kinds of filth. ²⁸In the same way you look righteous to people. But inside you are full of pretense and rebellion.

²⁹“How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰You say, ‘If we had lived in our ancestors’ days, we wouldn’t have joined them in killing the prophets.’ ³¹You testify against yourselves that you are children of those who murdered the prophets. ³²Go ahead, complete what your ancestors did. ³³You snakes! You children of snakes! How will you be able to escape the judgment of hell? ³⁴Therefore, look, I’m sending you prophets, wise people, and legal experts. Some of them you will kill and crucify. And some you will beat in your synagogues and chase from city to city. ³⁵Therefore, upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been poured out on the earth, from the blood of that righteous man Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. ³⁶I assure you that all these things will come upon this generation.

Crying over Jerusalem

³⁷“Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you. How often I wanted to gather your people together, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn’t want that. ³⁸Look, your house is left to you deserted. ³⁹I tell you, you won’t see me until you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord’s name.”^[b]

Footnotes:

Matthew 23:13 Most critical editions of the Gk New Testament omit 23:14 How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You eat up widows’ houses and make a show of praying long prayers. Therefore, you will receive greater judgment.
Matthew 23:39 Ps 118:26

Common English Bible (CEB)

Psalm 28

Of David.

28 I cry out to you, Lord.
You are my rock; don’t refuse to hear me.
If you won’t talk to me,
I’ll be just like those going down to the pit.
²Listen to my request for mercy when I cry out to you,
when I lift up my hands to your holy inner sanctuary.
³Don’t drag me off with the wicked and those who do evil;
the type who talk nice to their friends
while evil thoughts are in their hearts!
⁴Pay them back for what they’ve done!
Pay them back for their evil deeds!
Pay them back for their handiwork!
Give back to them exactly what they deserve!
⁵Because they have no regard for what the Lord has done,
no regard for his handiwork,
God will tear them down and never rebuild!

⁶Bless the Lord
because he has listened to my request for mercy!
⁷The Lord is my strength and my shield.
My heart trusts him.
I was helped, my heart rejoiced,
and I thank him with my song.
⁸The Lord is his people’s strength;
he is a fortress of protection for his anointed one.
⁹Save your people, God!
Bless your possession!
Shepherd them and carry them for all time!

Common English Bible (CEB)

Proverbs 7:1-5

Avoid loose women

7 My son, keep my words;
store up my commands within you.
²Keep my commands and live,
and my instruction like the pupil of your eye.
³Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister”;
call understanding “friend,”
⁵so she might guard you against the mysterious woman,
from the foreign woman who flatters you.

Common English Bible (CEB)

February 3, 2022

2/3/2022 DAB Transript

Exodus 17:8-19:15, Matthew 22:34-23:12, Psalm 27:7-14, Proverbs 6:27-35

Today is the third day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian. It’s a joy to be here with you today, like it is every day as we come in and gather around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward together and I’m glad for the campfire because it’s chilly outside here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. But hopefully it’s warm in our hearts all around the world. So, this week we’re reading from the Common English Bible and picking up where we left off yesterday brings us back into the book of Exodus and we are fully in the wilderness at this point. The story that began with a man named Abram, who became Abraham has flourished into a vast multitude of people who are now following God into the wilderness under the leadership of Moses, Exodus chapter 17 verse 8 through 19 verse 15.

Commentary:

Alright so, in the book of Exodus, Moses gets some pretty timely and important advice from his, from his father-in-law Jethro, who has brought Moses family back to him in the wilderness. So, Jethro gets a firsthand account of all that God has been doing in the way that He set the Israelites free from their captivity in Egypt. And let’s remember Moses, the Moses that asked God to send somebody else at the burning bush like, it wasn’t his aspiration to become this mighty leader of all of these people, this is what God invited him into. And so, Moses has been obeying what the Lord tells him to do. But other than that, he doesn’t really know what to do and so, they’re figuring it out. And so, we’re seeing this form all around us as we’re reading the story. So, as the story goes, Jethro is observing Moses and Moses spends his days making judgments for the people who have conflict with each other like, he’s the judge, he makes the choices, but this is all day, every day. And so, if you’ve ever been a leader of any kind of group of people and you think like, all day every day, my job is to solve people’s problems without any backup, without anybody to share the load, then you know that that is the recipe for complete burnout and Jethro tells Moses this. Basically, you’re gonna burn yourself out. This isn’t really going to be good long-term for anybody, it’s not going to be good for you, you’re gonna be exhausted. It’s not gonna be good for the people, this is too much of a burden for anyone person to carry and your exhaustion isn’t going to give them good, wise choices. So, Moses listens to his father-in-law and begins a process of appointing people to help, of delegating responsibilities to honorable people who can serve and help. And just prior to that we experienced Israel’s first kind of military conflict with the Amalekites and Moses had gone up on a hill with his brother Aaron and another leader named Her. And when he lifted up his staff and his arms and the people could see that than the Israelites were winning the battle but when he had to put his arms down to rest that they began to lose the battle. So, that had to figure out a way to keep Moses arms up. So, for a while it’s, so he can rest his arms on stones but in the end they have to hold his arms up and that’s legit. I mean, have you ever tried to hold your arms up. Like, if you just hold your arms out at your side, you can hold them there. And I remember this even from gym class, our gym teacher when I was a kid showing this because none of us believed it. You hold your arms out at your sides, and it feels like I could do this all day every day but five minutes later and you’re realizing that you can’t. And so, what we see here is that one of the first lessons that are being learned out in the wilderness is a lesson for Moses. The lesson Moses is beginning to understand is this particular assignment cannot be done by one person, the entire formation of a people and a culture is underway. And Moses capacity for human leadership is finite and this helps us to consider the fact that we often overextend ourselves in ways that are not sustainable and when we have more on our plate than we can handle or too many plates spinning or too many balls up in the air or whatever metaphor we want to use the end result is that things begin to fall through the cracks and we experience exhaustion and burnout. And culturally we have been programmed basically to think that we can do anything as an army of one. But in terms of our faith journey, we are not an army of one, we are a body, a part of a larger whole. And so, becoming aware of our limitations and then scaling back to what we can actually handle sustainably or understanding that we need more help if we’re going to expand in certain ways, this is not only healthy, it’s wise. So, as we’re considering what is out in front of this, out in front of us for this year, including all of the resolutions we may have made. It’s important for us to be aware of what roots us and gives us an anchor but also what is balance. Balance that gives us room and space in our lives for plenty of exertion but plenty of recovery. This is not only how our bodies remain healthy and strong, this is how are soul, how are interior life, how our mental health, how our spiritual health is maintained. So, as we’re thinking of all the things, we want to accomplish this year, weighing out how that is going to happen, is vital. Otherwise, we’ll end up burning ourselves out and not getting any of it done.

Prayer:

So once again, Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for all of these examples that some of them really, really lead our hearts into important places of consideration and some of them are practical on how to actually live this life in this world. And we thank You for the counsel of the Scriptures and we thank You for the leading of Your Holy Spirit. And so, Holy Spirit, we ask that You come into this. What are we overextending ourselves in, what is just raw ambition without counting the cost? Where do You want us to focus our energy, we pray that You reveal these things to us as we consider them and as we walk with You throughout this day. And we pray this in the name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, it’s the website, it’s where you can find out what’s going on around here and like I say most every day, you can find that all out using the Daily Audio Bible app as well. So, the app can be gotten from wherever you get apps, whatever app store that you use, it’s free and the best way to move through the Scriptures in a year so, check it out. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop either on the web or in the app, there are a number of resources there that are available for the journey, including like the wind farm coffee and tea that we have that pairs awfully well with Bible study and contemplation something that I drink from every single day. You can find out all the different varietals. In fact, you can even have coffee or tea shipped to you each month if it’s part of your daily, morning routine and it is for an awful lot of people to want to drink coffee or to drink tea in the morning or even in the evening and so, check that out. Check out our wind farm coffee and tea in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage. 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, Tennessee 37174. I thank you, humbly, humbly, we wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together and so thank you, thank you for your partnership.

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

Prayer and Encouragements

Hi Daily Audio Bible Community, To Be a Blessing in California. Brian, I think you were talking either on the 27th or 28th of January about Jesus, I release this to You. A million times a day, a thousand times an hour right, and I just love that. That’s been such a blessing because it enables me and anyone else who will invite Jesus into those spaces to let Him take the lead, recognize that ‘yup, need help again, oh, made that mistake again, can’t believe that I’m back here again’, cause I need You Jesus and more than that, I want You to make my life transformed, rooted and ground in the love, the power, the victory of Jesus. I just, it’s astounding and I’ve used it multiple times, multiple times over the past few, few days. And I’m encouraging others to do the same. If you would also please just continue to pray for a family member who is in crisis. You know, I recognize that Jesus knows how to take care of them and as much as I want to do everything I can, I … I have no idea what I would do but Jesus does. I’m continuing to pray for each of you as I hear your names come up and to know that God is with you, He loves you, He’s got you, He’s not going to leave you alone, He will never abandon you. So, whenever the enemy tries to deceive you into believing that you’re not worth it, God could not, whatever the verbiage might be, let him know that God is victorious in your life. To Be a Blessing.

Good morning, afternoon, evening, wherever you are. Fam, my name is James coming to you out of the wonderful Eastern state of Maryland. And really, praise and a prayer request. Praise is that this past month, just being consistent in reading. It’s now the 31st of January, we finished a whole month. Not only here, in the Daily Audio Bible but I’m also going through a podcast, not a podcast but a reading plan in a Bible app. And I haven’t felt this much focus or determination in a very long time. In fact, last time I did, I was actually reading through and practicing the Bible itself. Now, I’m a little bit older, a little bit more mature, whatever that means. I found a great, great, great, stronger ability to practice with the presence of God. It’s been great, I hope you all have the same and I pray for me as I do for you all. You can get through and stay focused and know why to stay focused, as we practice what we’re reading each and every day. Spring is right around the corner. So, I hope to warm up with you all and we continue on through this together and God speed and God Bless.

Morning my DAB family. This is ___. I don’t usually ask for prayer for myself that much. I don’t pray for myself that much and I just ask that ya’ll pray for me. Me and my wife are kind of struggling a little bit with finances. My daughters husband lost his job right before Christmas and we ending up having to buy Christmas for our three grandkids, ages 6, 3 and 2. And having trouble with my truck, it’s acting up. And my health just isn’t good, I’m on oxygen full time. Still have bad back problems. Just kind of struggling right now and if you could, just pray for me and my family. I continue to pray for all ya’ll. I try to pray for everyone if I can, when, soon as I, after I hear the prayer requests. I just want you all to know that I love you and I appreciate having this app to listen to everyday. Getting something to look forward to every morning. Lot of mornings I get up early, real early, just to listen to, cause I’m excited to hear the next chapter, the next morning. So, I just appreciate all the prayers that I can get. I thank you and love you. Bye.

Hey, Daily Audio Bible family, good morning. I’m just thankful to be here on this journey with you guys. And it’s a blessing to be here. I’ve been reading from the 1st of January and now we’re in the last day of January. And I’m thankful to be here. I’ve been learning so much and I’m trying to keep my feet with the Lord and being more closer to Him. And this app actually has made me become closer with God. I’ve had so many ups and downs in life and I try not to…to…to put it in a way that it affects my relationship with God but either way I turned my life back to Him and I just want to thank you, thank you Lord for what You have done for me and have a blessed day my family.

Hey, DABers this is Jaws of Life from New Hampshire. I, it’s been well over a year since I last called, probably nobody remembers what I was dealing with but my wife wanted a divorce and I was praying for reconciliation. I live underground now because it’s over, she’s hellbent on following through and is not communicating with me, it’s a lawyer and she’s divorcing me. And it’s hell for a Christian. I feel like I don’t fit in anywhere. I go to church and see all the couples and families and her I am and it’s just really painful. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg you guys, the pain that I’ve been through. Just please pray for me. I’m really praying that the Holy Spirit will visit me in a mighty way, come inside me and help me to move towards the future and cope with this. I love you guys. I’m sorry I was gone for so long but I was ashamed. Bye.

February 3, 2022

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday February 3, 2022 (NIV)

Exodus 17:8-19:15

Israel defeats Amalek

⁸Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. ⁹Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us and go fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I’ll stand on top of the hill with the shepherd’s rod of God in my hand.” ¹⁰So Joshua did as Moses told him. He fought with Amalek while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel would start winning the battle. Whenever Moses lowered his hand, Amalek would start winning. ¹²But Moses’ hands grew tired. So they took a stone and put it under Moses so he could sit down on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side of him so that his hands remained steady until sunset. ¹³So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword.

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a reminder on a scroll and read it to Joshua: I will completely wipe out the memory of Amalek under the sky.”

¹⁵Moses built an altar there and called it, “The Lord is my banner.” ¹⁶He said, “The power of the Lord’s banner!^[a] The Lord is at war with Amalek in every generation.”

Sharing the burden of leadership

18 Jethro, Midian’s priest and Moses’ father-in-law, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and for God’s people Israel, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. ²Moses’ father-in-law Jethro took with him Zipporah, Moses’ wife whom he had sent away, ³along with her two sons. One was named Gershom because he said, “I have been an immigrant^[b] living in a foreign land.” ⁴The other was named Eliezer^[c] because he said, “The God of my ancestors was my helper who rescued me from Pharaoh’s sword.” ⁵Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought Moses’ sons and wife back to him in the desert where he had set up camp at God’s mountain. ⁶He sent word to Moses: “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you along with your wife and her two sons.” ⁷Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed down and kissed him. They asked each other how they were doing, and then they went into the tent. ⁸Moses then told his father-in-law everything that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians on Israel’s behalf, all the difficulty they had on their journey, and how the Lord had rescued them. ⁹Jethro was glad about all the good things that the Lord had done for Israel in saving them from the Egyptians’ power.

¹⁰Jethro said, “Bless the Lord who rescued you from the Egyptians’ power and from Pharaoh’s power, who rescued the people from Egypt’s oppressive power. ¹¹Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, because of what happened when the Egyptians plotted against them.” ¹²Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought an entirely burned offering and sacrifices to God. Aaron came with all of Israel’s elders to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in God’s presence.

¹³The next day Moses sat as a judge for the people, while the people stood around Moses from morning until evening. ¹⁴When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What’s this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, while all the people are standing around you from morning until evening?”

¹⁵Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. ¹⁶When a conflict arises between them, they come to me and I judge between the two of them. I also teach them God’s regulations and instructions.”

¹⁷Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing isn’t good. ¹⁸You will end up totally wearing yourself out, both you and these people who are with you. The work is too difficult for you. You can’t do it alone. ¹⁹Now listen to me and let me give you some advice. And may God be with you! Your role should be to represent the people before God. You should bring their disputes before God yourself. ²⁰Explain the regulations and instructions to them. Let them know the way they are supposed to go and the things they are supposed to do. ²¹But you should also look among all the people for capable persons who respect God. They should be trustworthy and not corrupt. Set these persons over the people as officers of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. ²²Let them sit as judges for the people at all times. They should bring every major dispute to you, but they should decide all of the minor cases themselves. This will be much easier for you, and they will share your load. ²³If you do this and God directs you, then you will be able to endure. And all these people will be able to go back to their homes much happier.”

²⁴Moses listened to his father-in-law’s suggestions and did everything that he had said. ²⁵Moses chose capable persons from all Israel and set them as leaders over the people, as officers over groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. ²⁶They acted as judges for the people at all times. They would refer the hard cases to Moses, but all of the minor cases they decided themselves. ²⁷Then Moses said good-bye to his father-in-law, and Jethro went back to his own country.

Arrival at Mount Sinai

19 On exactly the third-month anniversary of the Israelites’ leaving the land of Egypt, they came into the Sinai desert. ²They traveled from Rephidim, came into the Sinai desert, and set up camp there. Israel camped there in front of the mountain ³while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him from the mountain, “This is what you should say to Jacob’s household and declare to the Israelites: ⁴You saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I lifted you up on eagles’ wings and brought you to me. ⁵So now, if you faithfully obey me and stay true to my covenant, you will be my most precious possession out of all the peoples, since the whole earth belongs to me. ⁶You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation. These are the words you should say to the Israelites.”

⁷So Moses came down, called together the people’s elders, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. ⁸The people all responded with one voice: “Everything that the Lord has said we will do.” Moses reported to the Lord what the people said.

Preparing for a divine encounter

⁹Then the Lord said to Moses, “I’m about to come to you in a thick cloud in order that the people will hear me talking with you so that they will always trust you.”

Moses told the Lord what the people said, ¹⁰and the Lord said to Moses: “Go to the people and take today and tomorrow to make them holy. Have them wash their clothes. ¹¹Be ready for the third day, because on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai for all the people to see. ¹²Set up a fence for the people all around and tell them, ‘Be careful not to go up the mountain or to touch any part of it.’ Anyone who even touches the mountain must be put to death. ¹³No one should touch anyone who has touched it, or they must be either stoned to death or shot with arrows. Whether an animal or a human being, they must not be allowed to live. Only when the ram’s horn sounds may they go up on the mountain.”

¹⁴So Moses went down the mountain to the people. He made sure the people were holy and that they washed their clothes. ¹⁵He told the men, “Prepare yourselves for three days. Don’t go near a woman.”

Footnotes:

Exodus 17:16 Heb uncertain
Exodus 18:3 Heb ger sounds like Gershom.
Exodus 18:4 Or my God is a helper.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Matthew 22:34-23:12

Great commandment

³⁴When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had left the Sadducees speechless, they met together. ³⁵One of them, a legal expert, tested him. ³⁶“Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being,^[a] and with all your mind. ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.^[b] ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Question about David’s son

⁴¹Now as the Pharisees were gathering, Jesus asked them, ⁴²“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

“David’s son,” they replied.

⁴³He said, “Then how is it that David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, called him Lord when he said, ⁴⁴The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right side until I turn your enemies into your footstool’?^[c] ⁴⁵If David calls him Lord, how can he be David’s son?” ⁴⁶Nobody was able to answer him. And from that day forward nobody dared to ask him anything.

Ways of the legal experts and the Pharisees

23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples, ²“The legal experts and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. ³Therefore, you must take care to do everything they say. But don’t do what they do. ⁴For they tie together heavy packs that are impossible to carry. They put them on the shoulders of others, but are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. ⁵Everything they do, they do to be noticed by others. They make extra-wide prayer bands for their arms and long tassels for their clothes. ⁶They love to sit in places of honor at banquets and in the synagogues. ⁷They love to be greeted with honor in the markets and to be addressed as ‘Rabbi.’

⁸“But you shouldn’t be called Rabbi, because you have one teacher, and all of you are brothers and sisters. ⁹Don’t call anybody on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is heavenly. ¹⁰Don’t be called teacher, because Christ is your one teacher. ¹¹But the one who is greatest among you will be your servant. ¹²All who lift themselves up will be brought low. But all who make themselves low will be lifted up.

Footnotes:

Common English Bible (CEB)

Psalm 27:7-14

⁷Lord, listen to my voice when I cry out—
have mercy on me and answer me!
⁸Come, my heart says, seek God’s face.^[a]
Lord, I do seek your face!
⁹Please don’t hide it from me!
Don’t push your servant aside angrily—
you have been my help!
God who saves me,
don’t neglect me!
Don’t leave me all alone!
¹⁰Even if my father and mother left me all alone,
the Lord would take me in.
¹¹Lord, teach me your way;
because of my opponents, lead me on a good path.
¹²Don’t give me over to the desires of my enemies,
because false witnesses and violent accusers
have taken their stand against me.
¹³But I have sure faith
that I will experience the Lord’s goodness
in the land of the living!

¹⁴Hope in the Lord!
Be strong! Let your heart take courage!
Hope in the Lord!

Footnotes:

Psalm 27:8 Correction; MT My heart says to/of you…see my face!

Common English Bible (CEB)

Proverbs 6:27-35

²⁷Can a man scoop fire into his lap
and his clothes not get burned?
²⁸If a man walks on hot coals,
don’t his feet get burned?
²⁹So is the man who approaches his neighbor’s wife;
anyone who touches her will be punished.
³⁰People don’t despise a thief if he steals
to fill his starving stomach.
³¹But if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold;
he must give all the riches of his house.
³²He who commits adultery is senseless.
Doing so, he destroys himself.
³³He is wounded and disgraced.
His shame will never be wiped away.
³⁴Jealousy makes a man rage;
he’ll show no mercy on his day of revenge.
³⁵He won’t accept compensation;
he’ll refuse even a large bribe.

Common English Bible (CEB)

February 2, 2022

02/02/2022 DAB Transcript

Exodus 15:19-17:7, Matthew 22:1-33, Psalms 27:1-6, Proverbs 6:20-26

Today is the 2^nd day of February welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here today gathered around the Global Campfire for what we’ve come to do, to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And by way of reminder, we are in the book of Exodus. The children of Israel have crossed through the sea. the Egyptian army has been swallowed up by the waters. What seemed like a situation in which they were boxed in with nowhere to go and no hope turns into redemption. And, so, let’s move forward. We’re reading from the Common English Bible this week. Exodus chapter 15 verse 19 through 17 verse 7.

Commentary:

Okay. In the book of Exodus on our journey with the children of Israel or the Israelites we find ourselves fully immersed in the wilderness. And let’s remember, there are no paved roads, there are no automobiles or buses or vans or trucks. There are no lights, electricity hasn’t been discovered yet. We’re thousands of years before that. And as we’ve seen pretty clearly from our reading today, there’s not a lot of water out there nor is there a lot of food. The wilderness that the Bible is speaking about is an actual place. And I’ve roamed around that wilderness many times. Now of course there are roadways and there are automobiles and electricity etc. etc. but it’s still a barren wilderness. You would not want to be lost out there. And the Bible has told us that God took them directly out into the wilderness instead of taking them the shorter route through Celestia. They hadn’t seen battle and they would return to slavery in Egypt. And we’re going to be camping out with them in the wilderness for quite a while. The wilderness is the geographical backdrop for a lot of the Bible but something extraordinarily important has to happen in the wilderness. The children of Israel have been slaves for 400 years. Nobody in that party was 401 years old. Nobody had known anything other than slavery. They were born into it. They didn’t know any different. To be a slave to the Egyptians was the only identity they had ever known. If that is your mentality, then that’s what you carry into everything. But that mentality isn’t going to get them into the promised land where they are a chosen people set apart and holy, a priest to the nations. That’s not gonna happen while they continue in their mentality of this Egyptian slave. So, a pretty large move in their identity has to shift. They have to become former slaves, who are now chosen by God. And doesn’t that sound similar to the gospel of Jesus Christ, that we are former slaves to sin, but now new creations in Christ. The vehicle that God has chosen to make this shift happen is the wilderness. In the wilderness they can certainly grumble and complain which they are doing and which they will continue to do, but they won’t survive by grumbling and complaining and they won’t survive in their own strengths. They can begin to understand that they are chosen when they begin to understand that they are utterly dependent upon God for everything. So, think about the wildernesses of your own life, the seasons where it’s dry and barren and you’re trapped and grumbling. And think of the times that you’ve been able to move through that. The lessons of the wilderness are the deepest, most pivotal, most influential, most shaping things that happen to us in life. We hate wilderness seasons. I hate them too. I’m not talking as if I’m a master here. These are the lessons from the scriptures that teach us how to live. And one of the categories that we might need to change is that hard is bad. Hard his hard. It’s difficult. But it’s the difficult seasons in our lives that actually shape the convictions that we live into. And, so, we’re in the wilderness now with the children of Israel. They’re gonna be hanging out there for an entire generation and we will have a lot of stories to encounter as we move through this territory. But let’s pay attention to the wilderness. Some of the most crucial lessons for the children of Israel are discovered and put into practice in the wilderness. If we can embrace that, then we can begin to get context and begin to embrace the wilderness seasons of our own lives.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that, into what we’ve read today and what we’re contemplating right now. The wilderness, it’s not something we sign up for, but it is something that we all experience and how we interpret the seasons of wilderness in our lives shape us. And so often we find the wilderness makes us bitter and cold and angry and it’s not until later in hindsight that we can see that shaped us profoundly. Some of the deepest convictions that we have have come through hardship and trial. And we don’t like it. Nobody likes to go through those seasons. And yet we have to confess that the things that we learn in those seasons stick and the one fundamental thing that we must recognize and realize and live into is that we are utterly dependent upon You for everything. And, so, come Holy Spirit. Help us to learn this. Help it to become part of who we are, our deepest conviction. The safest place for us to be is utterly dependent upon You. And we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey DAB family it’s Pam His Ransomed Soul in New Jersey. And as Victorious Soldier always says I’m calling in to pray for some of the DABbers. Ty, I’m asking God to give you the strength and endurance you need in your faith walk, victory over the enemy’s mental attacks and for calm and sound mind for you. Marjorie, I hear the frustration and the deep concern in your voice for your mom who’s bipolar and has begun drinking. Father God please come alongside Marjorie’s mom and take away the desire the thirst the need to drink as you bind these demonic forces who are attacking and afflicting her mind and cast them far from her. Bring healing to her mom and bathe this household in the shalom of Christ and help Marjorie to trust you more as she surrenders her mom in this whole situation into your capable and faithful hands. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen. Carla Jean. Darling my heart is so heavy for you in the loss of your best friend’s husband Andy. I’ve been praying for safe travel for you as you fly out to New Hampshire to be with Nicole and her family. I can’t even begin to imagine the emotions you must have felt receiving Andy’s call to say he was going to end his life. So, may our good and gracious Father give peace comfort and strength to you too as exit well list and Nicole and her children. And may Jehovah Jireh offer extreme and generous provision for them in the days and weeks to come. In Jesus’ holy name. Amen. Keep running the race family. Keep pressing on and pressing into Jesus.

Hello this is Prodigal Princess from Massachusetts. I’ve never called in before, but I’ve been listening for a long time…well…not as long as some of y'all but I’ve been with you about two years off and on. My dad shared this application with me a couple of years ago. While he, you know, and many many others were praying over me and praying over my life I was trapped in addiction and sin I would…I would play the Daily Audio Bible almost every day sometimes. I was deep, you know, in…into really hard drugs and a lot of really just like hellish stuff. I’m a recovering…a long…I’m a recovering heroin addict and I remember I was still using and, you know, I’d be preparing everything and having…having to get high one more time so I wouldn’t be sick that day and…and listening to…to the proverbs and it just really spoke into my life and seeds were planted and seeds were planted since by youth. I’ve now been free of drugs alcohol for almost a year and a half again. I was serving in…

Hello family, it’s Jackie calling from Canada and family I don’t even know how or where to begin. I just feel at the very bottom of myself. I feel like God has forgotten me and that my prayers don’t go anywhere. In the last few weeks everything I have wanted four has come back negative. I was waiting for an answer for a space, and they came back and said no. I’ve been trying to get pregnant and that isn’t happening. I’ve been trying. There’s a guy I really like and had a good really year of being friends and it seems like that’s not going anywhere. My business is going slow, and I just feel so alone. I’m surrounded by people that love me, my girlfriends and…they all belong to someone and I’m just…I'm…I’m alone. And, so, I keep wondering am I completely irredeemable. Is this why nothing? I mean, like I pray and I fast and I’ve done everything, but I feel like my faith is abandoned. I feel like I’m at the complete bottom of myself that I don’t have…I feel helpless. But I also know the only thing I have is prayer. I don’t have any faith right now. I have a mustard seed of faith and I know that that’s sufficient. But I’m just coming to your family to pray for me. I…I call and sometimes…I hardly ever hear my name really. I hardly ever hear my prayer or my name but today I just…I need…

Hello, my name is Lydia from Maryland. I’m calling for…oh dear…I forgot your name darling, I’m so sorry from Virginia whose husband had serious heart surgery. Please know that I am praying for you. I feel your pain. You’ve got so much on you right now. Lean on God. I know that sounds easy to say but please lean on Him. I’ve seen what He can do. [singing starts] Turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace [singing stops]. Okay. Now you get some sleep knowing that God is in control, and I am praying for you. You’re frustrated, you’re tired. It’s because you care. You have a heart. Remember God’s heart is so big He can take care of this. I love you and you will be…you will remain in my prayers. Take care of my friend. Bye for now.

Hi how are you DAB family I’m calling from Norway. I just need your prayer. I’m trying to lose weight for my health. So, please pray for me. Thank you. God bless you all. I love you.

February 2, 2022

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday February 2, 2022 (NIV)

Exodus 15:19-17:7

¹⁹When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and cavalry went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

Miriam’s victory song

²⁰Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand. All the women followed her playing tambourines and dancing. ²¹Miriam sang the refrain back to them:

Sing to the Lord, for an overflowing victory!
Horse and rider he threw into the sea!

Turning bitter water sweet

²²Then Moses had Israel leave the Reed Sea^[a] and go out into the Shur desert. They traveled for three days in the desert and found no water. ²³When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink Marah’s water because it was bitter. That’s why it was called Marah.^[b] ²⁴The people complained against Moses, “What will we drink?” ²⁵Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord pointed out a tree to him. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

The Lord made a regulation and a ruling there, and there he tested them. ²⁶The Lord said, “If you are careful to obey the Lord your God, do what God thinks is right, pay attention to his commandments, and keep all of his regulations, then I won’t bring on you any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians. I am the Lord who heals you.”

²⁷Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They camped there by the water.

Wilderness food: manna and quail

16 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Sin desert, which is located between Elim and Sinai. They set out on the fifteenth day of the second month^[c] after they had left the land of Egypt. ²The whole Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. ³The Israelites said to them, “Oh, how we wish that the Lord had just put us to death while we were still in the land of Egypt. There we could sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread. Instead, you’ve brought us out into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death.”

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “I’m going to make bread rain down from the sky for you. The people will go out each day and gather just enough for that day. In this way, I’ll test them to see whether or not they follow my Instruction. ⁵On the sixth day, when they measure out what they have collected, it will be twice as much as they collected on other days.” ⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ⁷And in the morning you will see the Lord’s glorious presence, because your complaints against the Lord have been heard. Who are we? Why blame us?” ⁸Moses continued, “The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning because the Lord heard the complaints you made against him. Who are we? Your complaints aren’t against us but against the Lord.”

⁹Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole Israelite community, ‘Come near to the Lord, because he’s heard your complaints.’” ¹⁰As Aaron spoke to the whole Israelite community, they turned to look toward the desert, and just then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

¹¹The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹²“I’ve heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat. And in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³In the evening a flock of quail flew down and covered the camp. And in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. ¹⁴When the layer of dew lifted, there on the desert surface were thin flakes, as thin as frost on the ground. ¹⁵When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What^[d] is it?” They didn’t know what it was.

Moses said to them, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Collect as much of it as each of you can eat, one omer^[e] per person. You may collect for the number of people in your household.’” ¹⁷The Israelites did as Moses said, some collecting more, some less. ¹⁸But when they measured it out by the omer, the ones who had collected more had nothing left over, and the ones who had collected less had no shortage. Everyone collected just as much as they could eat. ¹⁹Moses said to them, “Don’t keep any of it until morning.” ²⁰But they didn’t listen to Moses. Some kept part of it until morning, but it became infested with worms and stank. Moses got angry with them. ²¹Every morning they gathered it, as much as each person could eat. But when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

²²On the sixth day the people collected twice as much food as usual, two omers per person. All the chiefs of the community came and told Moses. ²³He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. But you can set aside and keep all the leftovers until the next morning.’” ²⁴So they set the leftovers aside until morning, as Moses had commanded. They didn’t stink or become infested with worms. ²⁵The next day Moses said, “Eat it today, because today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you won’t find it out in the field. ²⁶Six days you will gather it. But on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be nothing to gather.”

²⁷On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather bread, but they found nothing. ²⁸The Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to obey my commandments and instructions? ²⁹Look! The Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, on the sixth day he gives you enough food for two days. Each of you should stay where you are and not leave your place on the seventh day.” ³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹The Israelite people called it manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and tasted like honey wafers. ³²Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept safe for future generations so that they can see the food that I used to feed you in the desert when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

³³Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put one full omer of manna in it. Then set it in the Lord’s presence, where it should be kept safe for future generations.” ³⁴Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses, and he put it in front of the covenant document for safekeeping. ³⁵The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to a livable land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (³⁶An omer^[f] is one-tenth of an ephah.)

Water from a rock

17 The whole Israelite community broke camp and set out from the Sin desert to continue their journey, as the Lord commanded. They set up their camp at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ²The people argued with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses said to them, “Why are you arguing with me? Why are you testing the Lord?”

³But the people were very thirsty for water there, and they complained to Moses, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”

⁴So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with this people? They are getting ready to stone me.”

⁵The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of Israel’s elders with you. Take in your hand the shepherd’s rod that you used to strike the Nile River, and go. ⁶I’ll be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Hit the rock. Water will come out of it, and the people will be able to drink.” Moses did so while Israel’s elders watched. ⁷He called the place Massah^[g] and Meribah,^[h] because the Israelites argued with and tested the Lord, asking, “Is the Lord really with us or not?”

Footnotes:

Exodus 15:22 Or Red Sea
Exodus 15:23 Or bitter
Exodus 16:1 April–May, Iyar
Exodus 16:15 Heb man (= What?); cf Exod 16:31
Exodus 16:16 Two quarts
Exodus 16:36 Two quarts
Exodus 17:7 Or test
Exodus 17:7 Or argument

Common English Bible (CEB)

Matthew 22:1-33

Parable of the wedding party

22 Jesus responded by speaking again in parables: ²“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding party for his son. ³He sent his servants to call those invited to the wedding party. But they didn’t want to come. ⁴Again he sent other servants and said to them, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look, the meal is all prepared. I’ve butchered the oxen and the fattened cattle. Now everything’s ready. Come to the wedding party!”’ ⁵But they paid no attention and went away—some to their fields, others to their businesses. ⁶The rest of them grabbed his servants, abused them, and killed them.

⁷“The king was angry. He sent his soldiers to destroy those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding party is prepared, but those who were invited weren’t worthy. ⁹Therefore, go to the roads on the edge of town and invite everyone you find to the wedding party.’

¹⁰“Then those servants went to the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding party was full of guests. ¹¹Now when the king came in and saw the guests, he spotted a man who wasn’t wearing wedding clothes. ¹²He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he was speechless. ¹³Then the king said to his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet and throw him out into the farthest darkness. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.’

¹⁴“Many people are invited, but few people are chosen.”

Question about taxes

¹⁵Then the Pharisees met together to find a way to trap Jesus in his words. ¹⁶They sent their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are genuine and that you teach God’s way as it really is. We know that you are not swayed by people’s opinions, because you don’t show favoritism. ¹⁷So tell us what you think: Does the Law allow people to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸Knowing their evil motives, Jesus replied, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? ¹⁹Show me the coin used to pay the tax.” And they brought him a denarion. ²⁰“Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked.

²¹“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” ²²When they heard this they were astonished, and they departed.

Question about resurrection

²³That same day Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Jesus. ²⁴They asked, “Teacher, Moses said, If a man who doesn’t have children dies, his brother must marry his wife and produce children for his brother.^[a] ²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married, then died. Because he had no children he left his widow to his brother. ²⁶The same thing happened with the second brother and the third, and in fact with all seven brothers. ²⁷Finally, the woman died. ²⁸At the resurrection, which of the seven brothers will be her husband? They were all married to her.”

²⁹Jesus responded, “You are wrong because you don’t know either the scriptures or God’s power. ³⁰At the resurrection people won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like angels from God. ³¹As for the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what God told you, ³²I’m the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?^[b] He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living.” ³³Now when the crowd heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

Footnotes:

Common English Bible (CEB)

Psalm 27:1-6

Psalm 27

Of David.

27 The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Should I fear anyone?
The Lord is a fortress protecting my life.
Should I be frightened of anything?
²When evildoers come at me trying to eat me up—
it’s they, my foes and my enemies,
who stumble and fall!
³If an army camps against me,
my heart won’t be afraid.
If war comes up against me,
I will continue to trust in this:
⁴I have asked one thing from the Lord—
it’s all I seek:
to live in the Lord’s house all the days of my life,
seeing the Lord’s beauty
and constantly adoring his temple.
⁵Because he will shelter me in his own dwelling
during troubling times;
he will hide me in a secret place in his own tent;
he will set me up high, safe on a rock.

⁶Now my head is higher than the enemies surrounding me,
and I will offer sacrifices in God’s tent—
sacrifices with shouts of joy!
I will sing and praise the Lord.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Proverbs 6:20-26

Danger of adultery

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command;
don’t abandon your mother’s instruction.
²¹Bind them on your heart for all time;
fasten them around your neck.
²²When you walk around, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will protect you;
when you awake, they will occupy your attention.
²³The commandment is a lamp and instruction a light;
corrective teaching is the path of life.
²⁴They guard you from the evil woman,
from the flattering tongue of the foreign woman.
²⁵Don’t desire her beauty in secret;
don’t let her take you in with her eyelashes,
²⁶for a prostitute costs a loaf of bread,^[a]
but a married woman hunts for a man’s very life.

Footnotes:

Proverbs 6:26 Heb uncertain

Common English Bible (CEB)

February 1, 2022

2/1/2022 DAB Transcript

Exodus 13:17-15:18, Matthew 21:23-46, Psalm 26:1-12, Proverbs 6:16-19

Today is the first day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today. Add another beginning, the second month of the year. So, this is our second reading of a new month of 12 and as has been proven over and over many years those of us who make it through this month are likely to make it through the whole year. So, let’s buckle up and move forward together and do just that, make it through the whole thing together in community around the Global Campfire. So, on this first day of the second month we will do what we do every day and pick up where we left off yesterday, which was last month and in the Old Testament we are moving our way through the book of Exodus, the children of Israel and we’re pretty clear on who they are now and where they came from and the fact that we’re reading their story. They’ve reached a monumental moment. They have been cast out of Egypt. Their days of slavery seem to be over and they have moved into the wilderness where we pick up the story, Exodus chapter 13 verse 17 through 15 verse 18, today.

Commentary:

Okay so, on this first day of this second month of the year, also known as February, we have encountered a lot of things we could talk about, not the least of which is these things that the Lord hates from the book of Proverbs. I mean, some of them we can go, okay, yeah, I see that and some of them might land pretty close to where we live. So, it’s certainly worth further contemplation. Then we turn backwards into the book of Matthew from our New Testament reading today, Jesus is in Jerusalem, He’s in the temple complex and He’s teaching so, He’s not out in the villages, He is where the elite scholars and scribes and priests are, the clergy, right, like the ministers the pastors. They called them different things then and it was set up in a different order. But people who were leading this spiritual health and well-being of the population, people who were charged with the responsibility of leading people into the truth and revealing God. So, for us to understand the context here, Jesus is there. Jesus, God made flesh. And so, they’re asking Jesus, who gave Him permission to do the things that He’s doing. Like, by what authority does He have any right to do the things that He is doing. So, when we take one step back and look at the situation, we have people who are responsible for the spiritual well-being of the population and to lead them to God and they’re asking God how He has permission or authority to do what He’s doing. Jesus just cuts through all of it and says I have a question myself and it’s about John, right. Was he from heaven or was his authority from humans? Well, we have read enough of the book of Matthew to know the story of John the Baptist and his coming and his ministry to prepare the way of the Lord. So, from our reading we know that he was ordained and sent by God but the people who were responsible for leading people into the truth didn’t believe he was sent from God, nor did they believe in Jesus, God made flesh. So, if they can’t answer that question then there’s no point in Jesus trying to explain His authority. It wouldn’t matter what He said, they wouldn’t believe it. So, they had a little side meeting and decided they had an answer, they didn’t know. And so, Jesus said, well then there you go, you’ve given the answer, there’s nothing that I could say, so I’m not answering your question either. And then He starts telling a story, which he often does, a parable. And we can look at it and feel like He just dismisses the scribes and Pharisees, etc. and He turns back to a crowd and starts telling a story and continues to teach but He’s giving an illustration. It is really important and one that exposes the religious power of the Pharisees and Sadducees. So, as the story goes, there’s two sons and a father comes to each of them. He comes to his firstborn son and says, need you to go work in the vineyard and the son says I’m not gonna, like he just rebels against his father, I’m not going to do that. But then he thinks it over and he obeys his father. The father goes to the second son and says, I need you to help in the vineyard today and the sons like absolutely dad, I’ll go right now. But then he doesn’t go and Jesus question after the story is which one did the will of the father and the religious leaders answered that the first one had done the will of the father. So, the first one said he wasn’t going to obey but then did obey. The second one said he would obey but then didn’t obey. So, both of the sons said things that were incorrect. Talk is cheap. The one who actually got up and instructed his body to get up and get moving and obey, the one that put the instruction into action and lived it, is the one who did the will of the father. This is a fundamental thing that Jesus continually spoke of when He was interacting with the religious leaders and underneath it all, its lip service isn’t going to cut it right. Just saying, you can say anything, it’s what you do that reveals your heart and character. Jesus sums it up, saying, I assure you, I assure you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you. And so, to boil it down we add something very important to our lives because we wear all kinds of masks and we may adjust our personality into any given situation. We can become whatever we need to become, we can say whatever we need to say but there is a character and a posture of hearts that will eventually reveal what’s going on because our actions say much more than our words and when our words and deeds are in alignment there is great peace and freedom there because we’re not pretending to be anything but what we are. In another passage that we will encounter Jesus unpacks it by saying let your yes be yes and your no be no. Certainly this can be very, very difficult and challenging in the culture that we live in in the world where nuance and spin are everywhere. But what Jesus is doing here is giving us permission to be true and that is a vital thing to learn on this faith journey.

And then we flip back into the book of Exodus, the children of Israel have moved into the wilderness and they’re camped by the sea. The Egyptians are kind of getting their wits about them after the devastation that is happened to Egypt, culminating with the death of the firstborn throughout all of Egypt. They start asking themselves, what did we do by letting them go because the repercussions aren’t just that they let a bunch of people leave the territory of Egypt, the repercussions were that the entire society, the entire economy, everything is built on having this slave labor. And so, Pharaoh one more time decides I’m not letting them go, let’s go get them. And they do, they go. Children of Israel, 600,000 people on foot plus children, so like a million people and all of the livestock like a moving city, a good-sized moving city are camped by the waters. When they hear the rumble in the distance. And probably a fairly large dust cloud indicating that an army is coming and they see the Egyptians and they freak out. Moses why didn’t you just leave us alone. We were better off being slaves to the Egyptians, we told you just leave us alone, it would’ve been better to be a slave and to be dead here in the desert. So, their grumbling and they’re going to grumble the whole time, there’s a lot of grumbling in front of us, but it’s a mirror. If we can remember this, it’s a mirror, we have an awful lot of grumbling in our lives too. Which is not to say that that wouldn’t be a terrible and terrifying circumstance, here behind you, you have the sea and in front of you, you have an army approaching you. You don’t have anywhere to go, you’re in the middle of the wilderness, you’re not even going to be able to hide. But let’s let that be a mirror for a second because there are times in life where we feel pretty well boxed in right. There’s no way to go. There’s nowhere to move, the sea is behind us and the enemy army is racing toward us and we’re totally freaked out and panicking. What God said to them, He says to us through the Scriptures and it might be what we really need to hear when we’re in panic mode. God said, don’t be afraid, stand your ground and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never ever see again. The Lord will fight for you. You just keep still.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we invite You into that. That sounds wonderful. It is actually much more hard to do, to simply be still and trust. Instead of getting frantic and trying to do something to fix the situation. Sometimes our fixing of the situation is to dig the hole deeper and make it more impossible. But to trust you to listen and obey and keep still, maybe what we need to hear. So, come Holy Spirit, we pray in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website. That’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And so, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can check everything out from there. So, yeah, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop, there are a lot of resources in there that have been developed over the years to draw this journey deeper and wider, things to write in, things to write with, things to read, things to listen to. Promised Land: Photographs from the Land of the Bible is available, brand new coffee table edition that allows us to kinda look into some of the places that we are visiting as we move through the stories of the Bible, that is a fantastic resource. The God of Your Story which is 365 dated journey through the Scriptures, just like what we’re doing here every day, that is a way to take the journey deeper and there are plenty of resources for that, taking the journey deeper in the Daily Audio Bible Show, so check that out.

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

Prayers and Encouragements:

Hello there, my name is Dave, I’m from the UK, small market town between England and Wales. Just asking for prayer cover. I’ve got three kids and married, 21 years. I got two, I’ve got twin boys of 18. One with special needs all his life, he’s a wheelchair user. He has Cerebral Palsy. He’s in awful pain at the moment and the amount of drugs we’re giving him to try to…to provide some sort of normality of life. He has around 3 hours, 4 hours tops of sleep, the rest of the time he’s in pain and he’s crying and there’s nothing I can do but take him to the specialist and I can’t, we can’t seem to stop the pain. I’m just praying for healing, for endurance and pray he doesn’t lose his connection and faith with God. Cause obviously, after 18 years of continuous pain, it wears you down. My other son, last year, developed, never had it before but has developed seizures and tics and he was a ___ level ___. He was extremely ___ and he has about 25-35 seizures a week. And as you can imagine, their whole world has stopped and turned upside down and flipped. Just pray for my family. Pray for me so I can lead them, patience and perseverance. Just pray, thank you.

Hello DAB family this is Sarah from London, it’s the 26th of January at 6:48pm. I just thought I’d send something quick because it was such a profound moment for me this morning actually from Brian’s reading. And it was a part that when God instructs Moses to tell __ that the people go and Moses asks God, who should he say sent him, then God says to Moses, that he should tell Pharoah that I Am Who I Am sent you. Like wow, I Am and that actually gave me chills it just literally woke me up. Gave me chills and it just makes me realize how powerful God is even though I know that. Even if I know that to have a God that does not have to explain Himself because of who He is. And that did hit me in a very different way today because it just shows how powerful and amazing and an all-knowing God that we serve. And He never changes. He is the same God, yesterday, today and forever. And although life has it’s challenges, we go through difficulties, ups and downs, just so much trauma can happen in our lives, but we must not forget that you know, that God will never let us down. You know, He is always there for us. And let’s be encouraged because the God that we serve is just so amazing and really, really loves us. So, I just thought I send something short, but it just shows how just great our God is. So, let’s be encouraged and I love you all.

Hello Daily Audio Bible. This is Irene, I wanted to call in and ask for prayer with a really, different kind of a prayer but I hope I can make it clear. I used to have really, really bad anxiety and my parents told me that at the end of the day, no matter how many therapists and whatever you can go to, which I’ve actually never been to a therapist, God is the ultimate being that can take your anxiety away and you need to learn to surrender your anxiety to Christ. I’ve been doing that for probably the last three years. I’ve just you know, come up with this phrase “Lord, I surrender my anxiety to you” anytime an intrusive thought comes in that’s what I’ve done. But I feel like I’m taking God’s grace and His kindness and His mercy on me, for granted. You know, when you’re so anxious and that anxieties pulling away and it’s barely there or you just feel it going away, you’re so thankful. You know, sometimes I would cry, thank you God that was so happy it was going away. But now that that really bad anxiety hasn’t been around for a while, I feel like I’m becoming one of the nine lepers that took God’s or Jesus’ healing and just jumped and leaped and just ran away and never came back to say thank you. And that one leper that is noted in Scripture came back and he, you know, he thanked Jesus. And I just, I feel like, or I just really want prayer about my heart and that I would come to Jesus thanking Him like that leper. I don’t think I do that enough and I want to have a much more grateful heart towards God. I know that I take His love for granted and I just need prayer. I hope that makes sense and I hope you have a great day.

Hey, DAB it’s Refined by the Fire in Ohio. Hey, this reading today, Brian, oh, gosh, I always know, I always know when my mind wants to race through what it is you’re saying. I know that I need to slow down, possibly back it up, listen to it again and then my whole entire fleshly being is screaming at me like, no, you got things to do, there’s you know, things that are more fun, sparkly shiny squirrel out the window. Man, but I knew that I should do that. And when you were talking about just how sad it is that Moses was given this great opportunity and he’s like send somebody else. And, man, that just nailed me today because I have been avoiding, procrastinating, I have just been, send somebody else God with this situation. And, you know what, I’m gonna stop, right now. I am gonna make the phone call that I need to make and arrange the appointment I need to go see somebody. So, thank you for being willing to listen to the Spirit and to share that with us. And thank God for the Spirit and how He works is such a gift. It’s just amazing. So, thanks everybody. Hope you’re well. Talk to you soon.

Good morning, this is Caleb from West Virginia. I’ve been a listener for several years, but this is my first-time calling in. Brian, I just wanted to let you know what a tremendous blessing your ministry is to me. You’ve been there through the birth of my children, you’ve been there through the death of my father, you’ve been there through major transitions in my life, through all of the chaos. I always knew every day that I could listen to the Word of God read around the Global Campfire and I’m so thankful for you Brian, for your family, for your ministry and for the DAB community.

February 1, 2022

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday February 1, 2022 (NIV)

Exodus 13:17-15:18

God leads the way

¹⁷When Pharaoh let the people go, God didn’t lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, even though that was the shorter route. God thought, If the people have to fight and face war, they will run back to Egypt. ¹⁸So God led the people by the roundabout way of the Reed Sea^[a] desert. The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt ready for battle. ¹⁹Moses took with him Joseph’s bones just as Joseph had made Israel’s sons promise when he said to them, “When God takes care of you, you must carry my bones out of here with you.” ²⁰They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. ²¹The Lord went in front of them during the day in a column of cloud to guide them and at night in a column of lightning to give them light. This way they could travel during the day and at night. ²²The column of cloud during the day and the column of lightning at night never left its place in front of the people.

Israel crossing the sea

14 Then the Lord said to Moses: ²Tell the Israelites to turn back and set up camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea in front of Baal-zephon. You should set up camp in front of it by the sea. ³Pharaoh will think to himself, The Israelites are lost and confused in the land. The desert has trapped them. ⁴I’ll make Pharaoh stubborn, and he’ll chase them. I’ll gain honor at the expense of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. And they did exactly that.

⁵When Egypt’s king was told that the people had run away, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people. They said, “What have we done, letting Israel go free from their slavery to us?” ⁶So he sent for his chariot and took his army with him. ⁷He took six hundred elite chariots and all of Egypt’s other chariots with captains on all of them. ⁸The Lord made Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, stubborn, and he chased the Israelites, who were leaving confidently. ⁹The Egyptians, including all of Pharaoh’s horse-drawn chariots, his cavalry, and his army, chased them and caught up with them as they were camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰As Pharaoh drew closer, the Israelites looked back and saw the Egyptians marching toward them. The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord. ¹¹They said to Moses, “Weren’t there enough graves in Egypt that you took us away to die in the desert? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt like this? ¹²Didn’t we tell you the same thing in Egypt? ‘Leave us alone! Let us work for the Egyptians!’ It would have been better for us to work for the Egyptians than to die in the desert.”

¹³But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand your ground, and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never ever see again. ¹⁴The Lord will fight for you. You just keep still.”

¹⁵Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to get moving. ¹⁶As for you, lift your shepherd’s rod, stretch out your hand over the sea, and split it in two so that the Israelites can go into the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷But me, I’ll make the Egyptians stubborn so that they will go in after them, and I’ll gain honor at the expense of Pharaoh, all his army, his chariots, and his cavalry. ¹⁸The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I gain honor at the expense of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his cavalry.”

¹⁹God’s messenger, who had been in front of Israel’s camp, moved and went behind them. The column of cloud moved from the front and took its place behind them. ²⁰It stood between Egypt’s camp and Israel’s camp. The cloud remained there, and when darkness fell it lit up the night. They didn’t come near each other all night.

²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord pushed the sea back by a strong east wind all night, turning the sea into dry land. The waters were split into two. ²²The Israelites walked into the sea on dry ground. The waters formed a wall for them on their right hand and on their left. ²³The Egyptians chased them and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and cavalry. ²⁴As morning approached, the Lord looked down on the Egyptian camp from the column of lightning and cloud and threw the Egyptian camp into a panic. ²⁵The Lord jammed their chariot wheels so that they wouldn’t turn easily. The Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites, because the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!”

²⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water comes back and covers the Egyptians, their chariots, and their cavalry.” ²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. At daybreak, the sea returned to its normal depth. The Egyptians were driving toward it, and the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. ²⁸The waters returned and covered the chariots and the cavalry, Pharaoh’s entire army that had followed them into the sea. Not one of them remained. ²⁹The Israelites, however, walked on dry ground through the sea. The waters formed a wall for them on their right hand and on their left.

³⁰The Lord rescued Israel from the Egyptians that day. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ³¹Israel saw the amazing power of the Lord against the Egyptians. The people were in awe of the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Moses’ victory song

15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

I will sing to the Lord, for an overflowing victory!
Horse and rider he threw into the sea!
²The Lord is my strength and my power;^[b]
he has become my salvation.
This is my God, whom I will praise,
the God of my ancestors, whom I will acclaim.
³The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name.

⁴Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he hurled into the sea;
his elite captains were sunk in the Reed Sea.^[c]
⁵The deep sea covered them;
they sank into the deep waters like a stone.
⁶Your strong hand, Lord, is dominant in power;
your strong hand, Lord, shatters the enemy!
⁷With your great surge you overthrow your opponents;
you send out your hot anger; it burns them up like straw.
⁸With the breath of your nostrils the waters swelled up,
the floods surged up in a great wave;
the deep waters foamed in the depths of the sea.
⁹The enemy said, “I’ll pursue, I’ll overtake,
I’ll divide the spoils of war.
I’ll be overfilled with them.
I’ll draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.”
¹⁰You blew with your wind; the sea covered over them.
They sank like lead in the towering waters.
¹¹Who is like you among the gods, Lord?
Who is like you, foremost in holiness,
worthy of highest praise, doing awesome deeds?
¹²You raised your strong hand;
earth swallowed them up.
¹³With your great loyalty you led the people you rescued;
with your power you guided them to your sanctuary.
¹⁴The peoples heard, they shook in terror;
horror grabbed hold of Philistia’s inhabitants.
¹⁵Then Edom’s tribal chiefs were terrified;
panic grabbed hold of Moab’s rulers;
all of Canaan’s inhabitants melted in fear.
¹⁶Terror and fear came over them;
because of your great power,
they were as still as a stone
until your people, Lord, passed by,
until the people you made your own passed by.
¹⁷You brought them in and planted them on your own mountain,
the place, Lord, that you made your home,
the sanctuary, Lord, that your hand created.
¹⁸The Lord will rule forever and always.

Footnotes:

Exodus 13:18 Or Red Sea
Exodus 15:2 Or song
Exodus 15:4 Or Red Sea

Common English Bible (CEB)

Matthew 21:23-46

Jesus’ authority questioned

²³When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came to him as he was teaching. They asked, “What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”

²⁴Jesus replied, “I have a question for you. If you tell me the answer, I’ll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things. ²⁵Where did John get his authority to baptize? Did he get it from heaven or from humans?”

They argued among themselves, “If we say ‘from heaven,’ he’ll say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ²⁶But we can’t say ‘from humans’ because we’re afraid of the crowd, since everyone thinks John was a prophet.” ²⁷Then they replied, “We don’t know.”

Jesus also said to them, “Neither will I tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.

Parable of two sons

²⁸“What do you think? A man had two sons. Now he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’

²⁹“‘No, I don’t want to,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰“The father said the same thing to the other son, who replied, ‘Yes, sir.’ But he didn’t go.

³¹“Which one of these two did his father’s will?”

They said, “The first one.”

Jesus said to them, “I assure you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you. ³²For John came to you on the righteous road, and you didn’t believe him. But tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Yet even after you saw this, you didn’t change your hearts and lives and you didn’t believe him.

Parable of the tenant farmers

³³“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it to tenant farmers and took a trip. ³⁴When it was time for harvest, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit. ³⁵But the tenant farmers grabbed his servants. They beat some of them, and some of them they killed. Some of them they stoned to death.

³⁶“Again he sent other servants, more than the first group. They treated them in the same way. ³⁷Finally he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸“But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him and we’ll have his inheritance.’ ³⁹They grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

⁴⁰“When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”

⁴¹They said, “He will totally destroy those wicked farmers and rent the vineyard to other tenant farmers who will give him the fruit when it’s ready.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the scriptures, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it’s amazing in our eyes?^[a] ⁴³Therefore, I tell you that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce its fruit. ⁴⁴Whoever falls on this stone will be crushed. And the stone will crush the person it falls on.”

⁴⁵Now when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard the parable, they knew Jesus was talking about them. ⁴⁶They were trying to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, who thought he was a prophet.

Footnotes:

Matthew 21:42 Ps 118:22-23

Common English Bible (CEB)

Psalm 26

Of David.

26 Establish justice for me, Lord,
because I have walked with integrity.
I’ve trusted the Lord without wavering.
²Examine me, Lord; put me to the test!
Purify^[a] my mind^[b] and my heart.
³Because your faithful love is right in front of me—
I walk in your truth!
⁴I don’t spend time with people up to no good;
I don’t keep company with liars.
⁵I detest the company of evildoers,
and I don’t sit with wicked people.
⁶I wash my hands—they are innocent!
I walk all around your altar, Lord,
⁷proclaiming out loud my thanks,
declaring all your wonderful deeds!
⁸I love the beauty^[c] of your house, Lord;
I love the place where your glory resides.

⁹Don’t gather me^[d] up with the sinners,
taking my life along with violent people
¹⁰in whose hands are evil schemes,
whose strong hands are full of bribes.
¹¹But me? I walk with integrity.
Save me! Have mercy on me!

¹²My feet now stand on level ground.
I will bless the Lord in the great congregation.

Footnotes:

Psalm 26:2 LXX or investigate
Psalm 26:2 Or kidneys
Psalm 26:8 LXX; MT the dwelling of your house
Psalm 26:9 Or my soul

Common English Bible (CEB)

Proverbs 6:16-19

¹⁶There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven things detestable to him:
¹⁷snobbish eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that spill innocent blood,
¹⁸a heart set on wicked plans,
feet that run quickly to evil,
¹⁹a false witness who breathes lies,
and one who causes conflicts among relatives.

Common English Bible (CEB)

January 31, 2022

01/31/2022 DAB Transcript

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

Today is the 31^st day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today. It’s kind of a little mini celebration day, right? Because here we are about to complete the first of 12 months. And there has never been a January 31^st…well…I shouldn’t say ever cause I can’t remember every January 31^st but in the last long while many many many years we get to January 31^st and I’m like, “how did we get here so fast. We just…it was just Christmas.” And the funny thing, at least for me in this rhythm is that we get to December and I’m like, “how did we get here so fast?” Where did the year go? It’s almost Christmas.” And time…sometimes it feels less linear and more porous…like it’s sometimes moving fast and sometimes moving slow but however it is we got here. Here we are, the last day of the first month of the year. And as we approach the last day of this first month of the year, we are reaching the conclusion of one of the episodes in this long story of the children of Israel. There’s been this showdown because the children of Israel have been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, for four centuries. There’s nobody alive there that has any other identity than that of a slave. And God has decided to set His people free and continue forward the story of the promise of a land for His chosen people. And, so, we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week. Exodus chapter 12 verse 14 through 13 verse 16.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we end our first month together of this year let’s just kind of look back at where we’ve come from, especially in the book of Genesis and Exodus. And we’ve kind of recapped all along the way because it’s so important, as I’ve said the number of times, to remember this is the same story, the story of a family of people. And, so, we know that that begins with Abraham. And then we know Isaac and Jacob and we’ll probably recall that Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, and Israel had children. The children of Israel. And then went all the way through the story of Joseph with a lot for us to consider about our own lives and we followed all the way through Joseph’s life until his death. And then we flip the page out of Genesis and into Exodus, but we flipped the page a couple hundred years into the future. Now this is a massive amount of people. They’ve been in one place for centuries and they have procreated. They have replicated. They have grown in numbers tremendously until the Egyptians were afraid. They enslaved the children of Israel, and they were slaves. So, when Moses shows up on the scene, a little baby in the Nile River, and is raised up and educated as a royal but then has to flee for killing an Egyptian and he meets God in a burning bush, it’s a different chapter, but it’s the same story of the same people. And we watched Moses try to get out of his assignment, but he has obeyed and he has confronted Pharaoh and things only got worse before they got better, which is often a recurring theme in the stories found in the Scriptures. We, in a time in the world and in cultures where instant gratification is like pounded down our throats as something that’s a right, something that we deserve, often miss the fact that there is a long view, there is a lot going on, there is much going on that we don’t understand. And, so, we are compelled to trust, to humble ourselves and follow. And, so, we have watched the showdown between Pharaoh and God, and we have watched Pharaoh be very obstinate. “Who is the Lord? I don’t know the Lord. I’m not listening to you.” And even once he knows who the Lord is he’s constantly going back on his promise to let the people go or he’s trying to change the terms of how they’re go, or when they’re gonna, or how long they’re gonna be gone because Pharaoh’s in an awkward position. Pharaoh has been raised to believe that he is a son of the gods, that he is a deity to be worshiped himself. And although Egypt may have many gods, the God of the Hebrews isn’t one of the gods of Egypt. So, there is no foreign lesser God coming into Egypt and demanding things. And this hardens Pharaoh’s heart in the same way that our hearts can grow hard when somebody comes in and tells us what we’re going to do, somebody we don’t know, somebody we may not have any respect for and they demand we’re going to do something a certain way, our hearts can become hard, like resistant. “No. you’re not going to tell me what to do.” And, so, Pharaoh carries that out all the way until the end, until final plaque and the firstborn of Egypt die. And then they throw this family, the Israelites, the children of Israel, they throw them out, of Egypt. And as they’re leaving, they ask for things and they are loaded down with the riches as they pillage Egypt on their way out the door. And that is the ground that we have covered in the Old Testament in the first month of the year. And as I’ve said we’re paying close attention to this so that we can understand, this is the same family, this is the same story.

Even when we go into the book of Matthew and go millennia into the future, it’s still the same people. It’s still the same family. Jesus has come to this family, the children of Israel. And their religious leaders are opposed to the very one who set them free from slavery.

As we continue into our second month we will see these children of Israel move into the wilderness. And the wilderness is such a stark thing but it’s also a major backdrop for so many of the pivotal and developmental things that happen in the Bible. And, so, as we go forward we’ll be heading to the wilderness.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for this first month of the year and that we’ve been able to be here every day and that we’ve been able to take steps forward together. And just looking back over this month You have spoken so much. So much has been challenged. So much has been comforted. So much in one month. And, so, we are eager. We are hungry and thirsty for more and we ask that You lead and guide us into all truth and we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here, which you can also find out using the Daily Audio Bible app. And if you’re not using that you can download that for free from wherever you…whatever app store you use. So, check that out. There are a number of features in the Daily Audio Bible app that allow us to…to get the sense of the progress that we are making. We can check off every day that we’ve listened to. And when we move through the different sections of the Bible, we’ll be alerted that we have completed a certain section of the Bible. We’ll be able to see the percentages, how far into the Bible, how much left there is. Check that all out. It’s available in your…in your app store, wherever you get your apps.

Also check out the Community section, whether in the app or on the web. That is where the Prayer Wall lives and that is an always on, never offer resource available to us, no matter what’s going on. We can always pray for our brothers and sisters. We can always uphold them in the spirit and reach out in prayer. But we can also always share what’s going on in our lives, what burdens we are shouldering that are crushing us and find that we never had to be alone. And that is a beautiful thing. That is a beautiful beautiful thing about this community. And, so, be familiar with the Prayer Wall. That is in the Community section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible thank you, humbly, humbly, with humble gratitude. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together around the Global Campfire. And, so, thank you 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 PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey, God’s awesome warriors it’s Sparky. I wanted to call in a praise report in a…in a weird way. I’d called in about not going and helping across the alley and I got a phone call last night and it was pretty late, and it was my friend that I’d grown up with my entire life. We’re from Texas and we were…we used to ride bulls together and we just grew up together. But when my life kind of went South we…we didn’t talk much after that. And it’s been probably a good four or five years since I’ve spoken to him. And he had an electrical problem. And, so, went out and got he and his wife fixed up and their new baby. And the heater wasn’t running. And he just thought the world of that. But I’ll tell you what, I thought the world of getting to see my friend. And we sat there and caught up and he talked about how I’d kind of gotten myself into mess. And I said, yeah, I can take that now. And I tell him, it’s God’s blessings. Sometimes things just happen that are really cool and it’s not a “praise me”, it’s “praise him” to get to see a friend.

Hi Daily Audio Bible I am really struggling today. My father passed away Friday a few days ago. Today’s Tuesday and we’re burying him on Saturday, and I have school all week. And my mom passed away two years ago. And I’m just feeling so alone and overwhelmed. I’ve got an important test on Friday before his visitation and funeral this following weekend and work and I just ask for your prayers. I’m just feeling like I don’t know what I’m supposed to do and that really questioning my life that I’ve done anything close to what God had for me. So, just pray that I can find the path for what God has for me to do next and that I will end this will life well myself. Thank you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible chronological family I’m calling from Oregon and I would like to get prayer for a trailer that I need to have sold. I cosigned for someone for a camp trailer and a family member that passed away. So now the responsibility has fallen on me. And I’m retired on a limited income and I’m believing the Lord to help me get this sold. It's…it’s in an RV place on consignment. So, I would appreciate prayer for that. This is my first time of evert calling in and my first time of following this group. So, thank you and God bless you. Bye-bye.

Hello DAB family DABalonians it is doctor John from Jordan New York. I just want to put a word out to all the new DABbers and welcome you and tell you great job getting here. This is a fantastic journey. For those of you that are new Christians, this is the best place to be. There’s nothing better in your Christian walk than learning the Bible. So, back in the day, way way way way way back when, when we were young DABalonians and Brian was talking a lot about the process, he called it, “the journey is the destination.” So, that as we go through the Bible, and…and those of you who’ve been through it know, that the destination is not December 31^st and just getting through the Bible. The destination is the journey of going through the whole Bible. So, stay with it. Stick with it. You will not be the same. I am not the same as I was when I started in this 15 years ago. So, you love you DAB. Love you family. Make it a great day. Keep it real y'all. Bye-bye.

Hey DAB family I’m just calling to say praise the Lord. I just feel so alive and happy, and the Spirit has just filled me full of happiness. I have no idea why. I’m just feeling like life is just full of whatever you want it to be. Just stepping outside breathing in the negative 14 degree weather here in Minnesota just makes you smile. God bless you all. This is Faith from Minnesota.