A Walk Through The Word

January 8, 2020

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday January 8, 2020 (NIV)

Genesis 18:16-19:38

Abraham Pleads for Sodom

¹⁶When the men^(A) got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. ¹⁷Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham^(B) what I am about to do?^(C) ¹⁸Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation,^(D) and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.^[a] ¹⁹For I have chosen him^(E), so that he will direct his children^(F) and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord^(G) by doing what is right and just,^(H) so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”^(I)

²⁰Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom^(J) and Gomorrah is so great^(K) and their sin so grievous^(L) ²¹that I will go down^(M) and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

²²The men^(N) turned away and went toward Sodom,^(O) but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.^[b]^(P) ²³Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?^(Q) ²⁴What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare^[c] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?^(R) ²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing^(S)—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous^(T) and the wicked alike.^(U) Far be it from you! Will not the Judge^(V) of all the earth do right?”^(W)

²⁶The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.^(X)”

²⁷Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,^(Y) ²⁸what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”

“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

²⁹Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

³⁰Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry,^(Z) but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”

He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”

He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

³²Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more.^(AA) What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten,^(AB) I will not destroy it.”

³³When the Lord had finished speaking^(AC) with Abraham, he left,^(AD) and Abraham returned home.^(AE)

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

19 The two angels^(AF) arrived at Sodom^(AG) in the evening, and Lot^(AH) was sitting in the gateway of the city.^(AI) When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.^(AJ) ²“My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet^(AK) and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”

“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”^(AL)

³But he insisted^(AM) so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house.^(AN) He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast,^(AO) and they ate.^(AP) ⁴Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom^(AQ)—both young and old—surrounded the house. ⁵They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”^(AR)

⁶Lot went outside to meet them^(AS) and shut the door behind him ⁷and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. ⁸Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”^(AT)

⁹“Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner,^(AU) and now he wants to play the judge!^(AV) We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

¹⁰But the men^(AW) inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ¹¹Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness^(AX) so that they could not find the door.

¹²The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you?^(AY) Get them out of here, ¹³because we^(AZ) are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great^(BA) that he has sent us to destroy it.”^(BB)

¹⁴So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry^[d] his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!^(BC)” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.^(BD)

¹⁵With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away^(BE) when the city is punished.^(BF)”

¹⁶When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters^(BG) and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.^(BH) ¹⁷As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives!^(BI) Don’t look back,^(BJ) and don’t stop anywhere in the plain!^(BK) Flee to the mountains^(BL) or you will be swept away!”

¹⁸But Lot said to them, “No, my lords,^[e] please! ¹⁹Your^[f] servant has found favor in your^[g] eyes,^(BM) and you^[h] have shown great kindness^(BN) to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains;^(BO) this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. ²⁰Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

²¹He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request^(BP) too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. ²²But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.^[i]^(BQ))

²³By the time Lot reached Zoar,^(BR) the sun had risen over the land. ²⁴Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur^(BS) on Sodom and Gomorrah^(BT)—from the Lord out of the heavens.^(BU) ²⁵Thus he overthrew those cities^(BV) and the entire plain,^(BW) destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.^(BX) ²⁶But Lot’s wife looked back,^(BY) and she became a pillar of salt.^(BZ)

²⁷Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.^(CA) ²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.^(CB)

²⁹So when God destroyed the cities of the plain,^(CC) he remembered^(CD) Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe^(CE) that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.^(CF)

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰Lot and his two daughters left Zoar^(CG) and settled in the mountains,^(CH) for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. ³¹One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. ³²Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line^(CI) through our father.”^(CJ)

³³That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.^(CK)

³⁴The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”^(CL) ³⁵So they got their father to drink wine^(CM) that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.^(CN)

³⁶So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.^(CO) ³⁷The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab^[j];^(CP) he is the father of the Moabites^(CQ) of today. ³⁸The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi^[k]; he is the father of the Ammonites^[l]^(CR) of today.

Footnotes:

Genesis 18:18 Or will use his name in blessings (see 48:20)
Genesis 18:22 Masoretic Text; an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition but the Lord remained standing before Abraham
Genesis 18:24 Or forgive; also in verse 26
Genesis 19:14 Or were married to
Genesis 19:18 Or No, Lord; or No, my lord
Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
Genesis 19:22 Zoar means small.
Genesis 19:37 Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father.
Genesis 19:38 Ben-Ammi means son of my father’s people.
Genesis 19:38 Hebrew Bene-Ammon

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

Matthew 6:25-7:14

Do Not Worry^(A)

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, do not worry^(B) about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.^(C) Are you not much more valuable than they?^(D) ²⁷Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?^(E)

²⁸“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor^(F) was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?^(G) ³¹So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.^(H) ³³But seek first his kingdom^(I) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.^(J) ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Judging Others^(K)

7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.^(L) ²For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.^(M)

³“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

⁶“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Ask, Seek, Knock^(N)

⁷“Ask and it will be given to you;^(O) seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds;^(P) and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts^(Q) to those who ask him! ¹²So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you,^(R) for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.^(S)

The Narrow and Wide Gates

¹³“Enter through the narrow gate.^(T) For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Footnotes:

Matthew 6:27 Or single cubit to your height

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 8

Psalm 8^[a]

For the director of music. According to gittith.^[b] A psalm of David.

¹Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name^(A) in all the earth!

You have set your glory^(B)
in the heavens.^(C)
²Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold^(D) against your enemies,
to silence the foe^(E) and the avenger.
³When I consider your heavens,^(F)
the work of your fingers,^(G)
the moon and the stars,^(H)
which you have set in place,
⁴what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?^[c]^(I)

⁵You have made them^[d] a little lower than the angels^[e]^(J)
and crowned them^[f] with glory and honor.^(K)
⁶You made them rulers^(L) over the works of your hands;^(M)
you put everything under their^[g] feet:^(N)
⁷all flocks and herds,^(O)
and the animals of the wild,^(P)
⁸the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,^(Q)
all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!^(R)

Footnotes:

Psalm 8:1 In Hebrew texts 8:1-9 is numbered 8:2-10.
Psalm 8:1 Title: Probably a musical term
Psalm 8:4 Or what is a human being that you are mindful of him, / a son of man that you care for him?
Psalm 8:5 Or him
Psalm 8:5 Or than God
Psalm 8:5 Or him
Psalm 8:6 Or made him ruler . . . ; / . . . his

New International Version (NIV)

Proverbs 2:6-15

⁶For the Lord gives wisdom;^(A)
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.^(B)
⁷He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield^(C) to those whose walk is blameless,^(D)
⁸for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.^(E)

⁹Then you will understand^(F) what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart,^(G)
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
¹¹Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.^(H)

¹²Wisdom will save^(I) you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,
¹³who have left the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,^(J)
¹⁴who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,^(K)
¹⁵whose paths are crooked^(L)
and who are devious in their ways.^(M)

New International Version (NIV)

January 7, 2020

01/07/2020 DAB Transcript

Genesis 16:1-18:15, Matthew 6:1-24, Psalms 7:1-17, Proverbs 2:1-5

Today is the 7^th day of January, welcome to the daily Bible I’m Brian and it is a joy, every day it is a joy to come around this Global Campfire that…that we all share, where the fire is burning and no matter what time of day or night it is we can kinda come…come out of the cold, come out of the heat even and just come to this place, this space that overtime just kinda becomes an oasis. It’s like this one space, this once period of time a day that we kinda step out of all of the chaos that’s swirling around and just simply allow God’s word to wash over us and then we go back out into it. It’ll still be there, but we may go back out into it with some perspective and some transformation in our lives, And, so it’s a beautiful thing to be here with you today for the next step forward. And we have been reading from the New International Version this week. And we have, in the book of Genesis, been reading about this guy named Abram who has entered into a covenant with God and God has given him a promise for lots…like an innumerable amount of offspring, but he doesn’t have any kids at all. And he has followed this God into a land that is not his homeland, a land that God has said will become his ancestral homeland, but that hasn’t happened either and God has just told him yesterday that it’s gonna be like for centuries of mistreatment before that stuff starts to happen. And all of a sudden, we see, “oh… the stories in the Bible are full of ups…ups and downs just like my life is. There’s no straight line to anywhere. It goes through all of the issues of life” and where we arrive is how we respond to those things. And, so, we continue with that journey. Today we’ll read Genesis chapter 16 verse 1 through 18 verse 15.

Commentary:

Alright. There are a few things we should touch base on in our reading today. I’m trying to think of the fastest way to go about this. So, let’s go into Genesis. And we read within the last couple of days of Lot and Abram separating. Like, they’re close relatives, but their…their households have grown too big to sustain them in one place. So, they go in separate directions and subsequently Lot is captured in sort of a nine-king battle and Abram goes and reclaims Lot and retakes all of the things that have been stolen and those get divvied up and Abram takes nothing. He won’t let anybody claim that they made him rich, it was only God. And then we have up person, like right after that battle a person kind of comes in and his name is Melchizedek. Okay. So, pause for a second. Some of the things that we’re doing in our time going to the Bible this year is to try to look below the surface, not to find hidden Bible codes or secret messages and stuff like that, but because we need to be below the surface at the level of our hearts to allow the Bible to begin to speak to us deeply. And, so, every time one of these little, strange kind of references show up, and it’s happened several times in the book of Genesis so far, where we get a peek into the spiritual realm, most of time we just kinda move past, go like, “that’s weird. That’s something. That’s something spiritual but it’s weird. I don’t understand it.” And we just kinda move on trying to find the things that would apply to our lives today, which is okay. But since we’re realizing that as we follow Jesus and as we look at Jesus in the Gospels we’re looking at a whole person who is their Spirit and their soul and their body integrated and they’re working through the world and realizing that we are spiritual beings and there is a spiritual realm. I guess we should look at that when it peaks up. So, Melchizedek shows up. This strange figure who is the first named priest of the most-high God. I’m gonna go into all kinds of things about Melchizedek right now because he will show back up for us later when we…when we wind our way into the book of Hebrews, but to connect it to the story that we’re in in Genesis, Melchizedek blesses Abram. And this incident that we witnessed at the Tower of Babel a couple of days ago where the…the earth’s languages were confused and people went off into their language groups, that actually has significance because we’re moving one story to the next, to the next, to the next and it can seem like, “well, maybe that was a thousand years, or maybe…who knows how long that was” but there does seem to be a cohesive story being told underneath it all. And we are most definitely watching apparent spiritual beings communicating and being seen on the earth by humans. We see that in today’s reading alone. So, we see that a flood happened on the earth because everyone on the earth had only evil in their hearts and the Bible talks about them essentially kind of a devolving into animals, which I guess is a really decent way of describing what happens to us when we are separated from God. And, so the flood goes away, but the evil in the hearts of people is still there. And then we move right into God calling Abram who has today become Abraham and has today entered into covenant with God and the outward representation of that covenant is circumcision. This idea of circumcision is gonna carry us because it’s from a Hebrew perspective through the rest of the Bible, but now God’s saying, “okay. There is a mark, a very intimate mark, one that will be observed in the most private and intimate times of life, and for that matter, one that will constantly be a reminder of the covenant and who you belong to, and who you are submitted to.” And what God is doing with all of the language of Abram whose name is turned to Abraham is to tell him, “a new people will be raised up and they will be my people. There are lots of people that are in absolute rebellion and disobedience. These people I’m raising up through you, Abraham, my covenant partner to be my people.” And that’s gonna become more and more important as we go on and that is actually gonna cause problems that need to be worked out when we get into the letters of the New Testament’s early church era. Okay, so we know Hagar, you know, Sarai gave Hagar to Abram. And, of course, Abram agreed. And, so, a child was born. His name was Ishmael. And we read of the tension that happened between Sarai and Hagar and that’s pretty understandable, but Hagar was mistreated to the point that she ran away and she had an encounter with a spiritual being upon the earth that she could see, the angel of the Lord. And often among biblical scholars, the angel of the Lord means the Lord. This is like a physical visible representation, but God. So anyway, after they have this conversation, she says something really, really profound. It's…it’s fairly famous, but it’s pretty profound, “you are, the God who sees me. I have now seen the one who sees me.” This is actually quite beautiful, because we will remember back in Genesis chapter 3, that as soon and Adam and he realized the separateness from God that rebellion had made them aware of this and even caused this, that they realized they could be seen, and they hid. And that has really been a fundamental reality of a fallen mankind existing until today. We still struggle. We don’t want to be exposed. We don’t even want to be exposed before God. The thing is, people, like when you’re in a relationship with somebody, they only know of you what you’re willing to reveal to them. They can only know of you, what you will let them see. So, if we understand that we understand how much we are hiding and how pretty much nobody really sees us, no one really knows us. And here is Hagar in ultimate distress, a really difficult situation and what we’ll find in the Bible and what we’ll find in our lives is that this is where God dwells a lot of the time, when we…when we have unraveled ourselves to the point that we, in our own strength cannot move forward. So, she’s in distress but she is also saying that she is seen. And if we could all just understand that the more we are willing to reveal…we could say, “well, God knows everything about me. I don’t…like…He sees it all” but that’s different than opening your heart and revealing it all. We can be seen. We can be seen by one another. We can be seen by God. It’s all really hinging on how vulnerable we’re willing to be.

And man, I feel like I…I…I should…I could stop there, but there’s more and can’t really skip this because Jesus gave us the Lord’s prayer today. Maybe we even recited it as we were reading it. And, so, the Lord’s prayer is certainly very, very famous. But Jesus kinda comments on portions of the Lord’s prayer as soon as He ends the prayer, right? So, like, “forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors.” This isn’t just debt, like you owe somebody some money. Like this…this is a transgression against you or a transgression that like you are indebted to somebody because you’ve done them wrong and it needs to be made right. So, we get through the Lord’s prayer and then immediately Jesus says, “if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Okay that is certainly a posture of heart. But if we’re looking at what Jesus says and we’re looking below the surface then we begin to realize that the underlying truth is that when you set someone free you are being set free. And when this is the way you live then…then you live in freedom.

Then we get into the Psalms today and we read, “whoever is pregnant with evil”, right? And I mean, let’s just like stop there. “Pregnant with the evil.” How do you get pregnant with evil? So, the language is out of the Bible, pregnant. Pregnant is that you’re incubating something within you that has been put…put their very intimately. “Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.” We can say a ton of stuff about it, but there is one of those sentences that we can ponder and invite God into as we meditate upon it.

Prayer:

Father there’s…like there’s plenty of other things that we could…we could maybe talk about just from today’s reading alone, but it feels like this is…this is where we’ll land today. And, so we thank You for all the many facets in today alone that…that gives us pause and gives us a chance to reflect, gives us the opportunity to invite Your Holy Spirit, gives us an opportunity to…to just observe ourselves and the past that our lives are on, understanding now that it doesn’t all have to be pure confusion, it doesn’t all have to be a mystery. There is a way. There is a way that leads to life. And as we interact with Your word every day it is revealing that path. And, so, come Holy Spirit and lead us into all truth we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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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.

January 7, 2020

01/07/2020 DAB Transcript

Genesis 16:1-18:15, Matthew 6:1-24, Psalms 7:1-17, Proverbs 2:1-5

Commentary:

Prayer:

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. And there’s always something or another going on around here.

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

January 7, 2020

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday January 7, 2020 (NIV)

Genesis 16:1-18:15

Hagar and Ishmael

16 Now Sarai,^(A) Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.^(B) But she had an Egyptian slave^(C) named Hagar;^(D) ²so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children.^(E) Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”^(F)

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ³So after Abram had been living in Canaan^(G) ten years,^(H) Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. ⁴He slept with Hagar,^(I) and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.^(J) ⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”^(K)

⁶“Your slave is in your hands,^(L)” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated^(M) Hagar; so she fled from her.

⁷The angel of the Lord^(N) found Hagar near a spring^(O) in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.^(P) ⁸And he said, “Hagar,^(Q) slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”^(R)

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

⁹Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” ¹⁰The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”^(S)

¹¹The angel of the Lord^(T) also said to her:

“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.^(U)
You shall name him^(V) Ishmael,^[a]^(W)
for the Lord has heard of your misery.^(X)
¹²He will be a wild donkey^(Y) of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward^[b] all his brothers.^(Z)”

¹³She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,^(AA)” for she said, “I have now seen^[c] the One who sees me.”^(AB) ¹⁴That is why the well^(AC) was called Beer Lahai Roi^[d];^(AD) it is still there, between Kadesh^(AE) and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar^(AF) bore Abram a son,^(AG) and Abram gave the name Ishmael^(AH) to the son she had borne. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old^(AI) when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

The Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old,^(AJ) the Lord appeared to him^(AK) and said, “I am God Almighty^[e];^(AL) walk before me faithfully and be blameless.^(AM) ²Then I will make my covenant between me and you^(AN) and will greatly increase your numbers.”^(AO)

³Abram fell facedown,^(AP) and God said to him, ⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you:^(AQ) You will be the father of many nations.^(AR) ⁵No longer will you be called Abram^[f]; your name will be Abraham,^[g]^(AS) for I have made you a father of many nations.^(AT) ⁶I will make you very fruitful;^(AU) I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.^(AV) ⁷I will establish my covenant^(AW) as an everlasting covenant^(AX) between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God^(AY) and the God of your descendants after you.^(AZ) ⁸The whole land of Canaan,^(BA) where you now reside as a foreigner,^(BB) I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you;^(BC) and I will be their God.^(BD)”

⁹Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant,^(BE) you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.^(BF) ¹⁰This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.^(BG) ¹¹You are to undergo circumcision,^(BH) and it will be the sign of the covenant^(BI) between me and you. ¹²For the generations to come^(BJ) every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised,^(BK) including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. ¹³Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised.^(BL) My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.^(BM) ¹⁴Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised^(BN) in the flesh, will be cut off from his people;^(BO) he has broken my covenant.^(BP)”

¹⁵God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai^(BQ) your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.^(BR) ¹⁶I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her.^(BS) I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations;^(BT) kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷Abraham fell facedown;^(BU) he laughed^(BV) and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old?^(BW) Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”^(BX) ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael^(BY) might live under your blessing!”^(BZ)

¹⁹Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son,^(CA) and you will call him Isaac.^[h]^(CB) I will establish my covenant with him^(CC) as an everlasting covenant^(CD) for his descendants after him. ²⁰And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers.^(CE) He will be the father of twelve rulers,^(CF) and I will make him into a great nation.^(CG) ²¹But my covenant^(CH) I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you^(CI) by this time next year.”^(CJ) ²²When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.^(CK)

²³On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household^(CL) or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.^(CM) ²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old^(CN) when he was circumcised,^(CO) ²⁵and his son Ishmael^(CP) was thirteen; ²⁶Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. ²⁷And every male in Abraham’s household^(CQ), including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.

The Three Visitors

18 The Lord appeared to Abraham^(CR) near the great trees of Mamre^(CS) while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent^(CT) in the heat of the day. ²Abraham looked up^(CU) and saw three men^(CV) standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.^(CW)

³He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes,^(CX) my lord,^[i] do not pass your servant^(CY) by. ⁴Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet^(CZ) and rest under this tree. ⁵Let me get you something to eat,^(DA) so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”

“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”

⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs^[j] of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”^(DB)

⁷Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf^(DC) and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸He then brought some curds^(DD) and milk^(DE) and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them.^(DF) While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

⁹“Where is your wife Sarah?”^(DG) they asked him.

“There, in the tent,^(DH)” he said.

¹⁰Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year,^(DI) and Sarah your wife will have a son.”^(DJ)

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. ¹¹Abraham and Sarah were already very old,^(DK) and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.^(DL) ¹²So Sarah laughed^(DM) to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord^(DN) is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

¹³Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’^(DO) ¹⁴Is anything too hard for the Lord?^(DP) I will return to you at the appointed time next year,^(DQ) and Sarah will have a son.”^(DR)

¹⁵Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”

But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

Footnotes:

Genesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears.
Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / of
Genesis 16:13 Or seen the back of
Genesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.
Genesis 17:1 Hebrew El-Shaddai
Genesis 17:5 Abram means exalted father.
Genesis 17:5 Abraham probably means father of many.
Genesis 17:19 Isaac means he laughs.
Genesis 18:3 Or eyes, Lord
Genesis 18:6 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

Matthew 6:1-24

Giving to the Needy

6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.^(A) If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

²“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.^(B)

Prayer^(C)

⁵“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing^(D) in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father,^(E) who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling^(F) like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.^(G) ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need^(H) before you ask him.

⁹“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father^(I) in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰your kingdom^(J) come,
your will be done,^(K)
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us today our daily bread.^(L)
¹²And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.^(M)
¹³And lead us not into temptation,^[a]^(N)
but deliver us from the evil one.^[b]’^(O)

¹⁴For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.^(P) ¹⁵But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.^(Q)

Fasting

¹⁶“When you fast,^(R) do not look somber^(S) as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.^(T)

Treasures in Heaven^(U)

¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,^(V) where moths and vermin destroy,^(W) and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,^(X) where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.^(Y) ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.^(Z)

²²“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,^[c] your whole body will be full of light. ²³But if your eyes are unhealthy,^[d] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

²⁴“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.^(AA)

Footnotes:

Matthew 6:13 The Greek for temptation can also mean testing.
Matthew 6:13 Or from evil; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:22 The Greek for healthy here implies generous.
Matthew 6:23 The Greek for unhealthy here implies stingy.

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 7

Psalm 7^[a]

A shiggaion^[b]^(A) of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite.

¹Lord my God, I take refuge^(B) in you;
save and deliver me^(C) from all who pursue me,^(D)
²or they will tear me apart like a lion^(E)
and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue^(F) me.

³Lord my God, if I have done this
and there is guilt on my hands^(G)—
⁴if I have repaid my ally with evil
or without cause^(H) have robbed my foe—
⁵then let my enemy pursue and overtake^(I) me;
let him trample my life to the ground^(J)
and make me sleep in the dust.^[c]^(K)

⁶Arise,^(L) Lord, in your anger;
rise up against the rage of my enemies.^(M)
Awake,^(N) my God; decree justice.
⁷Let the assembled peoples gather around you,
while you sit enthroned over them on high.^(O)
⁸Let the Lord judge^(P) the peoples.
Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness,^(Q)
according to my integrity,^(R) O Most High.^(S)
⁹Bring to an end the violence of the wicked
and make the righteous secure—^(T)
you, the righteous God^(U)
who probes minds and hearts.^(V)

¹⁰My shield^[d]^(W) is God Most High,
who saves the upright in heart.^(X)
¹¹God is a righteous judge,^(Y)
a God who displays his wrath^(Z) every day.
¹²If he does not relent,^(AA)
he^[e] will sharpen his sword;^(AB)
he will bend and string his bow.^(AC)
¹³He has prepared his deadly weapons;
he makes ready his flaming arrows.^(AD)

¹⁴Whoever is pregnant with evil
conceives trouble and gives birth^(AE) to disillusionment.
¹⁵Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
falls into the pit^(AF) they have made.^(AG)
¹⁶The trouble they cause recoils on them;
their violence comes down on their own heads.

¹⁷I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness;^(AH)
I will sing the praises^(AI) of the name of the Lord Most High.^(AJ)

Footnotes:

Psalm 7:1 In Hebrew texts 7:1-17 is numbered 7:2-18.
Psalm 7:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 7:5 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Psalm 7:10 Or sovereign
Psalm 7:12 Or If anyone does not repent, / God

Cross references:

Psalm 7:1 : Hab 3:1
Psalm 7:1 : Ps 2:12; 11:1; 31:1
Psalm 7:1 : S Ps 3:7
Psalm 7:1 : Ps 31:15; 119:86, 157, 161
Psalm 7:2 : S Ge 49:9; Rev 4:7
Psalm 7:2 : Ps 3:2; 71:11
Psalm 7:3 : Isa 59:3
Psalm 7:4 : Ps 35:7, 19; Pr 24:28
Psalm 7:5 : S Ex 15:9
Psalm 7:5 : S 2Sa 22:43; 2Ki 9:33; Isa 10:6; La 3:16
Psalm 7:5 : S Job 7:21
Psalm 7:6 : S 2Ch 6:41
Psalm 7:6 : Ps 138:7
Psalm 7:6 : Ps 35:23; 44:23
Psalm 7:7 : Ps 68:18
Psalm 7:8 : S 1Ch 16:33
Psalm 7:8 : S 1Sa 26:23; Ps 18:20
Psalm 7:8 : S Ge 20:5
Psalm 7:8 : S Ge 3:5; S Nu 24:16; S Mk 5:7
Psalm 7:9 : Ps 37:23; 40:2
Psalm 7:9 : Jer 11:20
Psalm 7:9 : S 1Ch 28:9; Ps 26:2; Rev 2:23
Psalm 7:10 : Ps 3:3
Psalm 7:10 : S Job 33:3
Psalm 7:11 : S Ge 18:25; Ps 9:8; 67:4; 75:2; 96:13; 98:9; Isa 11:4; Jer 11:20
Psalm 7:11 : S Dt 9:8
Psalm 7:12 : Eze 3:19; 33:9
Psalm 7:12 : S Dt 32:41
Psalm 7:12 : S 2Sa 22:35; Ps 21:12; Isa 5:28; 13:18
Psalm 7:13 : Ps 11:2; 18:14; 64:3
Psalm 7:14 : Isa 59:4; Jas 1:15
Psalm 7:15 : Ps 35:7, 8; 40:2; 94:13; Pr 26:27
Psalm 7:15 : S Job 4:8
Psalm 7:17 : Ps 5:8
Psalm 7:17 : S 2Ch 31:2; Ro 15:11; Heb 2:12
Psalm 7:17 : S Ge 14:18

New International Version (NIV)

Proverbs 2:1-5

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

2 My son,^(A) if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
²turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding^(B)—
³indeed, if you call out for insight^(C)
and cry aloud for understanding,
⁴and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,^(D)
⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.^(E)

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

January 6, 2020

01/06/2020 DAB Transcript

Genesis 13:5-15:21, Matthew 5:27-48, Psalms 6:1-10, Proverbs 1:29-33

Today is the 6^th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today. This is the first Monday we are experiencing in this new decade and I’m glad to be here to share it with you. This will be our first full week together as we journey into this new year and into the Scriptures. So, kind of a set sail and we’re kind of getting our bearings, moving in and by the time…by the time we complete this week we should have established a rhythm that will carry us through this year and I’m excited about that. I’m excited about the journey that we’re on. I’m excited about all we’re gonna see and the way the Bible is going to show up and give us what we need each day. So, let’s get to that, let’s get into this first full work week of the new year. We’ll read from the New International Version, which is what we began yesterday. And today, Genesis chapter 13 verse five through 15 verse 21.

Commentary:

Alright. So, in the Gospel of Matthew we’re working our way through what is known as Jesus Sermon on the Mount, which really is the…a foundational piece of the teachings of Jesus. And, so, we kind of talked about the Beatitudes a little bit yesterday because we were moving through them and we…we noticed that it’s almost like Jesus is describing up an opposite way of living in the world that we live in, right? So, we were saying like, “how can…how is it that blessed are the poor in spirit? How are the poor in spirit blessed?” Like, it’s almost like the opposite of what we would think. And we talked about the disruption of…of pure wisdom kind of flowing into our lives in the way that often happens in disruptive ways that we have to stop and think through, like meditate upon, consider, contemplate, deeply allow things to move past only our minds comprehension and allow our heart to be a part of that conversation. And we will notice this in pretty much all of the teachings of Jesus. And, so, we’re continuing the Sermon on the Mount today and it’s like, “okay. Jesus is saying some pretty interesting difficult things to read about adultery and divorce and oaths an eye for an eye and the posture that we should have about that and the way that we should…the way that we should love our enemies.” So, like there is plenty of disruption to go around, but a lot of that tension arises in our, like, five physical sense-based experience of life. So, it’s like, “okay. Wow! I thought Jesus was coming to bring me freedom, but now I’m reading what He’s saying and it’s just like more rules. Who can live up to this standard?” We must realize that Jesus is also waking up our hearts. I mean here’s an interesting truth for us to consider. I mean we know we have a body. We can look in the mirror and see that we have a body. And we know that that body moves around and has a being some way. Like, if we want to move our finger, we move our finger. And…like…like just move your finger for a second. Like, that just kinda happens, right? Like you’re not thinking, “okay, I need to engage my mind and I need to fire off certain synapses that will…will travel toward my finger and it will move.” Like, it just happens. So, somewhere within you is the will for your finger to move and then…and then your mind and body collaborate in this seamlessly and you never really think about the distinction between your mind and your body. And we know that we are made up of a body and we know that we have a mind and we also know that we have sort of the deep core truth of who we are called our heart, our identity and yet functionally, we…we sort of live as if those components are all…like they don’t necessarily work together, they’re just compartments. Like, we can be in the compartment of our mind thinking or we can be in the compartment of our body eating or working out or whatever, we can be in the compartment of our…our heart and feel. But what if all of those – body, soul, and spirit - what if they are all made to be in harmony with one another making a complete and comprehensive whole person? And what if we began to realize as a whole person, we become aware that we are irreversibly interconnected with every other person because this is what Jesus prayed for. This is what Jesus prayed for, “make them one as we are one” is what Jesus said. So, you can be like, “this is kind of interesting. I’m just not sure what it has to do with the Sermon on the Mount.” It’s really interesting that the Sermon on the Mount reads quite differently if you’re looking through that perspective, a perspective of union and unity and wholeness. Let’s understand that when we…when we observe Jesus in the Gospels and when we hear his words flowing out of the Gospels, we are certainly seeing God made flesh and dwelling among us, but we are also seeing humanity in a perfect state, right? Remember that little glimpse that we got when we began this journey in the very first pages of Genesis? That kind of wholeness and perfection contained within one human being hadn’t existed upon the earth until Jesus arrived. And, so, a lot of what we see in Jesus, even things that we might find confusing or that we’re not quite understanding, we’re seeing depicted for us what wholeness in a broken world even might look like. And I think…I think we would all agree that Jesus operated in a way that was misunderstood by many but was also out of sync with the world he was in in the same way that it’s out of sync with the world we are in. If your heart and your mind and your body are submitted to Christ and, as Paul said, “it’s no longer you live, it’s Christ’s in you” the hope of glory and the hope of us living whole and complete then we can understand that adultery shatters everybody that it touches, right? You can participate in adultery with your body and be seeking bodily pleasure or excitement or…or to ease your mind from of the difficulties of working through a very difficult relationship, like, but you can’t do it whole any more than you can love your neighbor and hate your enemy whole. So, we can be frustrated about, you know, new categories of rules and behaviors that we have to modify to try live up to the standard of Jesus or we could understand Jesus is showing as what our lives could look like if we would embrace wholeness in Him. And we will not be able to do that by just attempting to try get our mind and bodies to cooperate or try to integrate our hearts and allow us to kind of feel and process and be where we are, wherever we are, whenever we are. We will not be able to do this without the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the voice of wisdom’s counsel. And the further that we get into the Gospels and the more that we look at Jesus, and when I say look at Jesus, I mean, like, really. Like, we can go through the Bible stories again, like we go through the Sunday school stories again. We can smile and go, “I haven’t heard that story in a long time. I really love that story” or we can really look at this Jesus. We can really, really look at what He’s saying and what He’s doing and…and how He’s behaving and how He’s navigating life on earth. And if He is our Savior, the Son of the living God most-high, which I believe He is, and if we are to be imitators of Christ then we need to look really closely at what He’s doing and…and understand that we will not be able to understand without our hearts and our minds and our bodies in collaboration with each other, with the goal of being Christlike and whole. And we will need voice of wisdom to do that.

And, so, like even in our reading from Proverbs today, the voice…like the voice of wisdom actually sums up everything we were just talking about. The voice of wisdom today in the book of Proverbs said, “since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice”, “my” being wisdom, “since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. Sounds ominous, but all that’s said…that’s being said here is, “okay you want to go that way. That’s fine. You will reap what you sow. But you…but you could sow other things that would actually lead you to life.” Wisdom goes on to say, “the waywardness of the sinful will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease without fear of harm.”

Prayer:

Father, once again we’re inviting Holy Spirit, that we might hear the voice of wisdom and see wisdom in action all around us, see You moving in and among us, transforming us, making us whole. And we pray Father that we will recognize this and that we will open our hearts, that we will open ourselves to Your work within us, as difficult as it may be. Come Holy Spirit we pray. We have been told there is a narrow path that leads to life and we ask that You lead us on that path. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, and its where you find out what’s going on around here. And we’ve been spending the last few…few days getting into this New Year’s talking about different things that are going on and how to get connected, how to stay connected, how to just move through the year in this rhythm that we have, that we’re in together.

So, I’ve talked about the website and maybe you’ve kind of glanced around there and see what’s going on. I’ll mention the Daily Audio Bible Shop is at dailyaudiobible.com and in the Daily Audio Bible Shop are a number of resources that are specific to the journey that we’re on together. These have all been created to either directly affect the journey that were on or just to create a sense of community and that…that we’re in this together because that becomes important. A lot of things happen in a year. We can look back over year and go like, “wow, that flew by”, but a lot of things happen in a year and we face highs and lows that can be extreme and unexpected and it’s so good to know that we are rooted in the Scriptures and that we aren’t alone. And, so, there are a number of resources that are aimed at in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. So, check that out.

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 and I thank you with all of my heart for your partnership. We’re just getting ourselves launched into year 15 and this has been a community project from the get-go. Daily Audio Bible just kind of rose up out of the dust of the Internet and here we are. And it’s just…we’ve figured it out as we’ve gone, and we’ve been in this together and we wouldn’t be able to do this if we didn’t do this together. So, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Given button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment you can just hit the Hotline button. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, that’s the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

January 6, 2020

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday January 6, 2020 (NIV)

Genesis 13:5-15:21

⁵Now Lot,^(A) who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.^(B) ⁷And quarreling^(C) arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites^(D) and Perizzites^(E) were also living in the land^(F) at that time.

⁸So Abram said to Lot,^(G) “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me,^(H) or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives.^(I) ⁹Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”^(J)

¹⁰Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain^(K) of the Jordan toward Zoar^(L) was well watered, like the garden of the Lord,^(M) like the land of Egypt.^(N) (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom^(O) and Gomorrah.)^(P) ¹¹So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: ¹²Abram lived in the land of Canaan,^(Q) while Lot^(R) lived among the cities of the plain^(S) and pitched his tents near Sodom.^(T) ¹³Now the people of Sodom^(U) were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.^(V)

¹⁴The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.^(W) ¹⁵All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring^[a] forever.^(X) ¹⁶I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.^(Y) ¹⁷Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land,^(Z) for I am giving it to you.”^(AA)

¹⁸So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre^(AB) at Hebron,^(AC) where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.^(AD)

Abram Rescues Lot

14 At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar,^[b]^(AE) Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer^(AF) king of Elam^(AG) and Tidal king of Goyim, ²these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim,^(AH) and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).^(AI) ³All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim^(AJ) (that is, the Dead Sea Valley^(AK)). ⁴For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer,^(AL) but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer^(AM) and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites^(AN) in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites^(AO) in Shaveh Kiriathaim ⁶and the Horites^(AP) in the hill country of Seir,^(AQ) as far as El Paran^(AR) near the desert. ⁷Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh),^(AS) and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites,^(AT) as well as the Amorites^(AU) who were living in Hazezon Tamar.^(AV)

⁸Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah,^(AW) the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim^(AX) and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar)^(AY) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim^(AZ) ⁹against Kedorlaomer^(BA) king of Elam,^(BB) Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰Now the Valley of Siddim^(BC) was full of tar^(BD) pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah^(BE) fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills.^(BF) ¹¹The four kings seized all the goods^(BG) of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. ¹²They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot^(BH) and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.

¹³A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew.^(BI) Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre^(BJ) the Amorite, a brother^[c] of Eshkol^(BK) and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram. ¹⁴When Abram heard that his relative^(BL) had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained^(BM) men born in his household^(BN) and went in pursuit as far as Dan.^(BO) ¹⁵During the night Abram divided his men^(BP) to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.^(BQ) ¹⁶He recovered^(BR) all the goods^(BS) and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.

¹⁷After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer^(BT) and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom^(BU) came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).^(BV)

¹⁸Then Melchizedek^(BW) king of Salem^(BX) brought out bread^(BY) and wine.^(BZ) He was priest of God Most High,^(CA) ¹⁹and he blessed Abram,^(CB) saying,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,^(CC)
Creator of heaven and earth.^(CD)
²⁰And praise be to God Most High,^(CE)
who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.^(CF)

²¹The king of Sodom^(CG) said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods^(CH) for yourself.”

²²But Abram said to the king of Sodom,^(CI) “With raised hand^(CJ) I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High,^(CK) Creator of heaven and earth,^(CL) ²³that I will accept nothing belonging to you,^(CM) not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ ²⁴I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre.^(CN) Let them have their share.”

The Lord’s Covenant With Abram

15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram^(CO) in a vision:^(CP)

“Do not be afraid,^(CQ) Abram.
I am your shield,^[d]^(CR)
your very great reward.^[e]^(CS)”

²But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^(CT) what can you give me since I remain childless^(CU) and the one who will inherit^[f] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?^(CV)” ³And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant^(CW) in my household^(CX) will be my heir.”

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.^(CY)” ⁵He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars^(CZ)—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring^[g] be.”^(DA)

⁶Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.^(DB)

⁷He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out^(DC) of Ur of the Chaldeans^(DD) to give you this land to take possession of it.”^(DE)

⁸But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^(DF) how can I know^(DG) that I will gain possession of it?”^(DH)

⁹So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer,^(DI) a goat and a ram, each three years old,^(DJ) along with a dove and a young pigeon.^(DK)”

¹⁰Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other;^(DL) the birds, however, he did not cut in half.^(DM) ¹¹Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses,^(DN) but Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,^(DO) and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years^(DP) your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved^(DQ) and mistreated there. ¹⁴But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out^(DR) with great possessions.^(DS) ¹⁵You, however, will go to your ancestors^(DT) in peace and be buried at a good old age.^(DU) ¹⁶In the fourth generation^(DV) your descendants will come back here,^(DW) for the sin of the Amorites^(DX) has not yet reached its full measure.”

¹⁷When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch^(DY) appeared and passed between the pieces.^(DZ) ¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram^(EA) and said, “To your descendants I give this land,^(EB) from the Wadi^[h] of Egypt^(EC) to the great river, the Euphrates^(ED)— ¹⁹the land of the Kenites,^(EE) Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites,^(EF) Perizzites,^(EG) Rephaites,^(EH) ²¹Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”^(EI)

Footnotes:

Genesis 13:15 Or seed; also in verse 16
Genesis 14:1 That is, Babylonia; also in verse 9
Genesis 14:13 Or a relative; or an ally
Genesis 15:1 Or sovereign
Genesis 15:1 Or shield; / your reward will be very great
Genesis 15:2 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
Genesis 15:5 Or seed
Genesis 15:18 Or river

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

Matthew 5:27-48

Adultery

²⁷“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’^[a]^(A) ²⁸But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.^(B) ²⁹If your right eye causes you to stumble,^(C) gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰And if your right hand causes you to stumble,^(D) cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Divorce

³¹“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’^[b]^(E) ³²But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.^(F)

Oaths

³³“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath,^(G) but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’^(H) ³⁴But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all:^(I) either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;^(J) ³⁵or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.^(K) ³⁶And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’;^(L) anything beyond this comes from the evil one.^[c]^(M)

Eye for Eye

³⁸“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’^[d]^(N) ³⁹But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.^(O) ⁴⁰And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ⁴²Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.^(P)

Love for Enemies

⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[e]^(Q) and hate your enemy.’^(R) ⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,^(S) ⁴⁵that you may be children^(T) of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.^(U) ⁴⁶If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?^(V) Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.^(W)

Footnotes:

Matthew 5:27 Exodus 20:14
Matthew 5:31 Deut. 24:1
Matthew 5:37 Or from evil
Matthew 5:38 Exodus 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21
Matthew 5:43 Lev. 19:18

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 6

Psalm 6^[a]

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith.^[b] A psalm of David.

¹Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger^(A)
or discipline me in your wrath.
²Have mercy on me,^(B) Lord, for I am faint;^(C)
heal me,^(D) Lord, for my bones are in agony.^(E)
³My soul is in deep anguish.^(F)
How long,^(G) Lord, how long?

⁴Turn,^(H) Lord, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.^(I)
⁵Among the dead no one proclaims your name.
Who praises you from the grave?^(J)

⁶I am worn out^(K) from my groaning.^(L)

All night long I flood my bed with weeping^(M)
and drench my couch with tears.^(N)
⁷My eyes grow weak^(O) with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.

⁸Away from me,^(P) all you who do evil,^(Q)
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
⁹The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;^(R)
the Lord accepts my prayer.
¹⁰All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;^(S)
they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.^(T)

Footnotes:

Psalm 6:1 In Hebrew texts 6:1-10 is numbered 6:2-11.
Psalm 6:1 Title: Probably a musical term

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

Proverbs 1:29-33

²⁹since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the Lord.^(A)
³⁰Since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,^(B)
³¹they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.^(C)
³²For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;^(D)
³³but whoever listens to me will live in safety^(E)
and be at ease, without fear of harm.”^(F)

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

January 5, 2020

01/05/2020 DAB Transcript

Genesis 11:1-13:4, Matthew 5:1-26, Psalms 5:1-12, Proverbs 1:24-28

Today is the 5^th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you and this is the first time we get to do this, we get to turn the knob as it were and swing open the door and step through the threshold into a brand-new week and this would be our first full week of this new decade. So, I am excited to share it with you as we move forward on our journey that we have begun moving through the Bible this year and this week we will read from the New International Version, brings up another little thing to explain. You’ll notice when we began the year and worked through last week we were reading from the New Living Translation and now we’re reading the New International Version, next week we’ll be reading another translation, and the week after that another one, and we do this, working our way through the year for a number of reasons, but the primary reason is…is this, we may not ever think about this or we may know this, but not really think it matters that much, but the Bible’s native tongue isn’t English. It’s Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. So, every single one of the words of the manuscripts that the Bible has been translated from are a different language than English. And, so, every word has to be poured over or translated or brought into the language for which its intended. Not necessarily an overwhelmingly big deal unless you are creating theological formulas and doctrines that…that affect the human soul and its eternal life, like it becomes more of a big deal. And it’s kind of at this time that some people raise their hands and I go, “I just stick to the good old tried-and-true King James. That’s the real one. That’s the inspired word of God.” But it’s actually it’s actually a translation into English, like all other translations into English. And…and I’ve sat…I’ve been able to observe biblical interpretation and translation in my…been able to watch teams of scholars around the table discussing the kinds of things like verb tense and obscure Hebrew words that have fallen out of use and what do they mean. And that’s just scratching the surface. I mean, there’s a number of ways to do this kind of interpretation. So, you could go like, “well why don’t you just look at one word in Hebrew, and then say what is that word and English? How do you say that word in English and then just put that down and then go to the next word? And there are translations that do that, that seek to do that, and we read from them. There also biblical translation teams that…well…basically every biblical translation team would acknowledge that oftentimes one word means more than one thing, depending on its context. And, so, if you try to port a word for word translation you can see this word and know that it has five or ten equivalents in another language, depending sort of on the nuance of the context and so then you get into interpretation, “what is this trying to say? What does this mean?” And, so, often biblical translation teams will then look at a complete thought. “Like what does the sentence mean? What is the point here?” Because word for word when you read it back in English doesn’t convey the depth of the meaning and maybe even obscures it. And, so, then teams of linguists and historians looking at the context of the time that a particular passage might have been written try and get into the minds of the original hearers will then looking and go, “what is the complete thought? Like, how would what’s being said here in Hebrew or Greek, how would that complete thought be said in English in a compelling way that would carry the same weight that it does in its native language?” And, so, there are translations that seek to work from this perspective and there are all kinds of hybrids in between. And, so, allowing ourselves to receive thousands and thousands and thousands, probably tens and tens of thousands of scholarship hours for us to be able to rotate and appreciate and receive all of that as we continue the rhythm of the year is the goal so that being English speakers we get the most comprehensive view of the word of God that we can…that we can short of learning all of the biblical languages and then, not only just understanding how, maybe for example, to read Greek but all the slang and all of the cultural reference…like all of the stuff that you would have to immerse yourself in. We have this scholarship, and this is why we rotate through so that we can appreciate this. And, so, this week we will be reading from the New International Version. And let’s get to it. Let’s get back into the book of Genesis. Today we will read chapters 11…well chapter 11 verse 1 through 13 verse 4.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have already…we have already done some talking about some things, so I don’t want to spend a bunch of time because we’ll have plenty of opportunity. I just want to point out a couple of things, three things in particular that we have begun talking about. Alright. So, let’s begin with what we what we were reading in Matthew today, the Sermon on the Mount and in particular the Beatitudes. And. they’re very, very famous, this is Jesus central core teaching. And it’s interesting to read it as His core teaching because it’s like everything that He talks about we don’t quite understand exactly how that could be. It’s like He’s saying bad things are good things, right? “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Just…I mean…that…that one is…that one beatitude, that’s disruptive because that seems out of sync with the world that we live in. “Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek”, right? So, what is Jesus telling us here? Like are we supposed to be week, feeble, cast down human beings with our shoulders slumped and our heads facing the ground as we move about the earth? It’s disruptive and it forces us, if we want…I mean…we can blow by all of this, but if we are seeking what the Bible says and trying to understand what’s going on in the Bible then we have slow down and go, “Okay. That does not look like the world I live in. The advice that I’m being given is to live almost backward to the world I’m living in.” And that is the point. So, we talked about Proverbs. We talked about wisdom. And listen, I believe Jesus is the son of God. He is my Savior, right? So, like, there’s no problem there but let's…let’s like step aside from that understanding and just look at Jesus appearing on the scene in the first century. Like, he just starts calling people together as a rabbi and starts teaching. And we could say that the reason that the people flocked to Jesus was because He was a miracle worker and that would be true, that would be part of it. We could also say that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet, like He spoke of the end of things, He spoke of the kingdom of God, He spoke of an ultimate reality. So, people would’ve also understood Him that way. But Jesus also used a specific teaching style. We know them as stories or parables. We look often at the words of Jesus, and it seems as if He may not be answering what He’s being asked or He may not be talking about what it seems like He should be talking about and this is also because Jesus was known as a wisdom teacher. And, so, when you see a story or something that’s disruptive and you have to stop for a second and go, “what are we talking about here?” “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven?” We have to stop and go, “Okay. How does that work? What are we talking about?” It’s disruptive because the ways of wisdom are disruptive. You have to be shaken awake, right? You’ve got to see something clearly all of the sudden and then it comes to you clearly. This is the way, walk in it, right? But if we look at our lives, we see that…that like that rarely happens when everything is perfect. Like when things are super great and we’re sort of like sailing with the wind at our back downhill, like everything is moving in the right direction. It’s wonderful to enjoy those times, but wisdom usually comes in disruption and we will find that this theme and these ideas, they are everywhere, everywhere in the Bible. We will not be able to turn a page when we start reading the apostle Paul, without coming face-to-face with these themes of enduring and looking deeper, like not just looking at what we can see but understanding that there is a vast reality beyond it and we are being transformed and that…that Jesus says this, Paul says this, Peter says this, John says this, James says this. Like, disruption is actually part of it. Like, being shaken awake from our slumber is part of the journey. So, as like we are just getting going, we are just in the first pages of the first gospel, so we’ve got a lots of time before we go through Mark and Luke and John to look for this, to begin settling in and looking for this when we listen to the words of Jesus.

Okay, then the book of Genesis we have another of these weird like stories that… “where did this story come from? And why is it situated here? And it’s just a really short story and then we just kind of move on. And what’s happening here?” And that is a very famous Sunday school story, the tower of Babel. So, we member a couple days ago we were talking about the sons of God and the daughters of Eve and just, you know, just exploring some of the different ways that that has been talked about or viewed or understood and this tower of Babel story is kind of a weird one like that. So, here’s these people and they’re…they’re moving and they’re coalescing together, they decide to build a city and they decide to build a tower. And this is going to stabilize them, and they all speak the same voice there and they’re all on the same page. And God comes and He’s like, “yeah. this is not a good idea because if they stay here and they’re allowed to do this, then, you know, they’ll be able to do anything. Nothing…nothing will be impossible.” So, He confuses the language and then people have to disperse into their language groups from there. So, we could say, “well, you know, the point of the story here is that this is where the languages on the earth came from, but many theologians would say, “no. this is tied to the sons of God and the daughters of Eve…like these…and the Giants. Like this is…there’s like this other kind of story happening before us. And, so,…so the thought here would be that the people come together at Babel and decide to exalt themselves because they are…are fully…they…they have fully inherited the knowledge of good and evil, the…the price that was paid for eating the fruit, and disobeying God and that awareness that conscious shift or whatever we want to call it, the Bible because it their eyes being opened, made them realize they were naked and separate from God. So, all of a sudden this is…and this is really interesting because we know this in child development, right? So, there is a certain period of time where a child doesn’t have an awareness of themselves as a separate thing, as a separate being from their parent. And that grows and then we cultivate and then we work really, really hard to get our children to be individuals. And when out back out to the garden in Eden, we see man and woman and God, and they have no awareness of a separation. They have one understanding of their reality and it is them and God together and then eat this fruit and they become aware of all lot of things that make them sense a separation. They are…they are…I need to be careful how to say this, that they are the same as their parent, that they are separate. And, so, it’s traumatic for them. And, so, we zoom forward all the way here to the Tower of Babel and see the repercussions that have happened since that event. We’ve read these repercussions and we’ve moved through a terrible flood on the earth. We’ve seen these repercussions. So, the people are exalting themselves and fully embracing their otherness, their separation and God’s like, “no. No. This isn’t going anywhere.” And, so, many theologians would say, “okay. You got…you got the lower gods or lower Elohim, you have the spiritual family of God, and they interact in different ways with the human family on earth and we see those types of interactions happening repeatedly throughout the Scriptures. But Gods not going to cooperate with His fallen spiritual family and His fallen human family attempting to exalt themselves. And this will not be the first time we see this kind of thing. God does not put up with that for very long, ever. And, so, one way of theologically looking at this is a disinheritance. God confuses the languages of the people and spreads the people out so they cannot be successful in sort of like deifying themselves. And, so, an end is put to that. When people begin to coalesce around their language. Then, immediately…immediately after that story we introduced to Abram. So, it’s like not out of place. This story happens, the people are spread out. Immediately we get interest to Abram who will become Abraham who will affect the entire rest of the Bible. So, God sends the people across the earth and then we get introduced to Abraham and it is through Abraham that God is going to do a new thing upon the earth and we’ll be watching that story and its challenges and victories for the rest of the year.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You. We thank You for the richness of Your word and we thank You for the opportunity to explore and to be disrupted and we ask Holy Spirit that You would come among us and help us to get comfortable with the idea of being disrupted or interrupted because we need to get used to this idea because this is one of the primary ways that Your word works within us. It challenges us, invites us to think, but it also invites us to tune into the ears of our hearts and understand that it’s much deeper than what are five physical senses can become aware of. There is a lot more going on than we ever perceive. And, so, we invite You Holy Spirit into this week into everything that we’re going to do, all the choices that we’re going to make, all the words that we’re going to speak. May they be good. May they be honoring to You. And we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, and its where you find what’s going on around here, so be sure to stay tuned and stay connected in any way that you can and in any way that you will.

I will mention at dailyaudiobible.com in the Community section you will find links to all the different social media channels that the Daily Audio Bible level is on. And that is a great place to get connected.

I means, some of the pages, you know, you’ll want to follow because if we, you know, send out an alert, “there’s a problem with this or here’s what’s going on or whatever” then you’ll be able to be alerted. Others are groups, You can just interact with other brothers and sisters who are working their way through the Bible, like the Daily Audio Bible women’s page that my wife champions. If you are a woman then…then it is her mission to encourage you and you find tremendous encouragement by staying plugged in to the women’s group there. Then there’s DAB Friends, which is kind our loving free-for-all where conversation is continually happening. So, check out those links in the Community section at dailyaudiobible.com and stay connected.

Another thing about social etc. is like, once in a while, you know we read the Scriptures and talk about them, but there are times when it’s like our hearts…the Scriptures have opened our hearts and the only way to really respond is in song or just to drive the point home it would take me, you know, 20 minutes and a bunch of words or it could be just this one song that moves beyond our intellect and just starts to speak truth into our hearts. And, so, we do that from time to time. And invariably, you know, we get asked, “who was that?” We post all that is to our social media channels so just if you’re following that you’ll always kind of know how that all works when it happens. So, there’s today’s tip.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link that lives on the homepage and I thank you with all of my heart for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if that is your preference is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment you can now press the Hotline button, the little red button in the app at the top and just start talking 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:

Hello Daily audio Bible family this is Stephanie from Bangalore and I just wanted to call in. Its Friday, December 27^th and I thank you all for praying, those of you who have been praying for me and my in-laws. This was my first Christmas, of course, as being married and my first Christmas away from my parent’s household as far as going there and celebrating and it really was in a lot of ways better than I could’ve ever imagined which is really, really great. So, thank you for praying and we were able to have a couple of my in-laws over for the afternoon and evening and that was actually just a really good time. So, praise God, thank you for praying. Please keep praying that I can build relationships there. And, of course, there’s always the next thing, always the next thing, always the next prayer request but thank you for that. Quick update on the little girl who got the kidney transplant. For the first time in 15 months she was able to go to bed the other night. She came home Christmas Day and she was able to go to sleep without any tubes at all. No catheter for dialysis, nothing. So, please just, you know, keep her in your prayers, keep the donor in your prayers as she is recovering from the surgery as well. But praise God for that. Thank you so much family and I am sure I’ll be calling back soon. Five.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Rhula from the Sidney Australia. I was just listening to 27^th December reading and prayers at the end of the reading. Anonymous called and she said something that really prompted me to call immediately. Anonymous, I’m just praying for you right now because that feeling that you feel where you’re in despair and you don’t know why you’re in a relationship with God because why, like you said, He’s always good and you’re not good and He’s always right and you’re wrong…you’re always wrong. Anonymous this is exactly why…why we need Him, because we can rest in his goodness and we can rest in his…in the comfort of knowing that the Lord Almighty who’s always right and who’s always…always knows everything, that He loves us unconditionally as we are. So, come to Him as you are anonymous, come to Him as you are because that is who He loves, you with all your flaws and all your mistakes and all your errors and everything that you feel like you’re just not good enough. Our Lord loves you as you are and that is the most profound and most amazing love that you could ever experience in the world, where it’s…He doesn’t judge us and He doesn’t condemn us and He’s a forgiver and He’s merciful and He’s grace and He’s good and his goodness will last forever and He will work all things for good because He loves us and He calls all things according to his purpose. So just remember that Anonymous. And remember that it’s not about you being as good as God. We will never be as good as God no matter what we do. He is enough, his love for us is enough and that’s what we need to know. And I just pray for you Anonymous. I pray that you get that strength for…from God…

Hi this is Marylin calling from the inland Northwest. This is my second call. I just started listening in October, somewhere around there. I do have an answer to prayer and that I asked prayer for my son who is in isolation in the psych ward, the hospital, he’s had a severe frontal brain injury back in 2002 and also mental illness. He is now out of isolation and actually they are wanting to release him, and he is very demanding and doesn’t listen, thinks he’s the medical professional and is going to be released. The problem is that I need prayer that he would be willing to…willing and understand that if he keeps doing the same old same old is insanity. He needs to be in a group home or something. He’s on very heavy-duty psych meds and he probably should be in a group home or some situation where somebody can be taking care of him and he can be monitored, and he can be also out of a very moldy sick apartment. So, I really appreciate it. I really appreciate everybody’s honesty on this podcast. I am so thankful for this program for everybody’s honesty and the vulnerability of everybody and I do pray for others as well and am so thankful I know I’m not alone being in a family with mental illness. So, thank you so much for your prayers and I am praying for everyone else that calls in. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day. Bye.

Good morning this is Sally from Massachusetts and I’m calling for anonymous. Today is Friday, December 27^th and I heard your call this morning. You were thinking about how you could meet Jesus if you pulled your car in front of the 18-wheeler. And I know what you’re saying when you say you feel like you’re very far from God. And when I feel that way, I remember that it’s me that’s turned away. God is still right there. And if you don’t know what to pray, sometimes “help me God” is the best prayer because that lets God know that you want Him to help you and He will help you. He will meet you wherever you are. And I know what you mean about how you don’t feel that you can go to anyone in your church or any of your friends to talk about your feelings. You know, you can call the suicide hotline. I did that myself. I was not suicidal but I just wanted somebody to listen to me cry and I had spent hours on the phone with a treasured friend but I still needed to talk and when I called them they didn’t offer advice or try to fix me the just asked me questions to keep me talking. And, you know, we as people, we want to offer advice, we want to help you and we want to reach out to you. Sometimes, just having someone listen and not judge is fantastic. So, I urge you to give them a call. And, also I’ve started journaling because I can get my thoughts down on paper and there out…

Hello, I’m calling myself “I am a Child of God”. I’m from Central Florida. I’ve listened since 2007 and this is the first time I’ve ever called in. I have two important requests. Sorry. I have two important prayer requests today. I’m praying for my father’s health. He has other issues that are causing him to have kidney problems. Of course, I pray that he be healed and not have surgery at all but if he does have surgery, I pray he is a very quick recovery. I’d like to have help from people that aren’t as stressful. I also pray for his salvation. He’s __ towards God. I pray God brings people into his life that he will listen to and that God talks to him in his sleep, in his dreams. I hope to call back again and get better at this. Thank you for your prayers. God bless you.

January 5, 2020

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday January 5, 2020 (NIV)

Genesis 11:1-13:4

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole world had one language^(A) and a common speech. ²As people moved eastward,^[a] they found a plain in Shinar^[b]^(B) and settled there.

³They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks^(C) and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone,^(D) and tar^(E) for mortar. ⁴Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens,^(F) so that we may make a name^(G) for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered^(H) over the face of the whole earth.”^(I)

⁵But the Lord came down^(J) to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language^(K) they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let us^(L) go down^(M) and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”^(N)

⁸So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth,^(O) and they stopped building the city. ⁹That is why it was called Babel^[c]^(P)—because there the Lord confused the language^(Q) of the whole world.^(R) From there the Lord scattered^(S) them over the face of the whole earth.

From Shem to Abram^(T)

¹⁰This is the account^(U) of Shem’s family line.

Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father^[d] of Arphaxad.^(V) ¹¹And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹²When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.^(W) ¹³And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.^[e]

¹⁴When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.^(X) ¹⁵And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.^(Y) ¹⁷And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.^(Z) ¹⁹And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.^(AA) ²¹And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

²²When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.^(AB) ²³And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.^(AC) ²⁵And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram,^(AD) Nahor^(AE) and Haran.^(AF)

Abram’s Family

²⁷This is the account^(AG) of Terah’s family line.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor^(AH) and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.^(AI) ²⁸While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans,^(AJ) in the land of his birth. ²⁹Abram and Nahor^(AK) both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai,^(AL) and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah;^(AM) she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. ³⁰Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.^(AN)

³¹Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot^(AO) son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law^(AP) Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans^(AQ) to go to Canaan.^(AR) But when they came to Harran,^(AS) they settled there.

³²Terah^(AT) lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.

The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household^(AU) to the land^(AV) I will show you.^(AW)

²“I will make you into a great nation,^(AX)
and I will bless you;^(AY)
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.^[f]^(AZ)
³I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;^(BA)
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.^(BB)”^[g]

⁴So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot^(BC) went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old^(BD) when he set out from Harran.^(BE) ⁵He took his wife Sarai,^(BF) his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated^(BG) and the people^(BH) they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan,^(BI) and they arrived there.

⁶Abram traveled through the land^(BJ) as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh^(BK) at Shechem.^(BL) At that time the Canaanites^(BM) were in the land. ⁷The Lord appeared to Abram^(BN) and said, “To your offspring^[h] I will give this land.^(BO)”^(BP) So he built an altar there to the Lord,^(BQ) who had appeared to him.

⁸From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel^(BR) and pitched his tent,^(BS) with Bethel on the west and Ai^(BT) on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.^(BU)

⁹Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.^(BV)

Abram in Egypt^(BW)

¹⁰Now there was a famine in the land,^(BX) and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.^(BY) ¹¹As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai,^(BZ) “I know what a beautiful woman^(CA) you are. ¹²When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. ¹³Say you are my sister,^(CB) so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

¹⁴When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.^(CC) ¹⁵And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. ¹⁶He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.^(CD)

¹⁷But the Lord inflicted^(CE) serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household^(CF) because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?”^(CG) he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?^(CH) ¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’^(CI) so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” ²⁰Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

Abram and Lot Separate

13 So Abram went up from Egypt^(CJ) to the Negev,^(CK) with his wife and everything he had, and Lot^(CL) went with him. ²Abram had become very wealthy^(CM) in livestock^(CN) and in silver and gold.

³From the Negev^(CO) he went from place to place until he came to Bethel,^(CP) to the place between Bethel and Ai^(CQ) where his tent had been earlier ⁴and where he had first built an altar.^(CR) There Abram called on the name of the Lord.^(CS)

Footnotes:

Genesis 11:2 Or from the east; or in the east
Genesis 11:2 That is, Babylonia
Genesis 11:9 That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused.
Genesis 11:10 Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 11-25.
Genesis 11:13 Hebrew; Septuagint (see also Luke 3:35, 36 and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan. ¹³And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters
Genesis 12:2 Or be seen as blessed
Genesis 12:3 Or earth / will use your name in blessings (see 48:20)
Genesis 12:7 Or seed

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

Matthew 5:1-26

Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ²and he began to teach them.

The Beatitudes^(A)

He said:

³“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.^(B)
⁴Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.^(C)
⁵Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.^(D)
⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.^(E)
⁷Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.^(F)
⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,^(G)
for they will see God.^(H)
⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,^(I)
for they will be called children of God.^(J)
¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,^(K)
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.^(L)

¹¹“Blessed are you when people insult you,^(M) persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.^(N) ¹²Rejoice and be glad,^(O) because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.^(P)

Salt and Light

¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.^(Q)

¹⁴“You are the light of the world.^(R) A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.^(S) ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others,^(T) that they may see your good deeds^(U) and glorify^(V) your Father in heaven.

The Fulfillment of the Law

¹⁷“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.^(W) ¹⁸For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.^(X) ¹⁹Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands^(Y) and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.^(Z)

Murder^(AA)

²¹“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,^[a]^(AB) and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry^(AC) with a brother or sister^[b]^[c] will be subject to judgment.^(AD) Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’^[d] is answerable to the court.^(AE) And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.^(AF)

²³“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

²⁵“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Footnotes:

Matthew 5:21 Exodus 20:13
Matthew 5:22 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a fellow disciple, whether man or woman; also in verse 23.
Matthew 5:22 Some manuscripts brother or sister without cause
Matthew 5:22 An Aramaic term of contempt

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 5

Psalm 5^[a]

For the director of music. For pipes. A psalm of David.

¹Listen^(A) to my words, Lord,
consider my lament.^(B)
²Hear my cry for help,^(C)
my King and my God,^(D)
for to you I pray.

³In the morning,^(E) Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.^(F)
⁴For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people^(G) are not welcome.
⁵The arrogant^(H) cannot stand^(I)
in your presence.
You hate^(J) all who do wrong;
⁶you destroy those who tell lies.^(K)
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
you, Lord, detest.
⁷But I, by your great love,
can come into your house;
in reverence^(L) I bow down^(M)
toward your holy temple.^(N)

⁸Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness^(O)
because of my enemies—
make your way straight^(P) before me.
⁹Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with malice.
Their throat is an open grave;^(Q)
with their tongues they tell lies.^(R)
¹⁰Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,^(S)
for they have rebelled^(T) against you.
¹¹But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.^(U)
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name^(V) may rejoice in you.^(W)

¹²Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;^(X)
you surround them^(Y) with your favor as with a shield.^(Z)

Footnotes:

Psalm 5:1 In Hebrew texts 5:1-12 is numbered 5:2-13.

Cross references:

New International Version (NIV)

Proverbs 1:24-28

²⁴But since you refuse^(A) to listen when I call^(B)
and no one pays attention^(C) when I stretch out my hand,
²⁵since you disregard all my advice
and do not accept my rebuke,
²⁶I in turn will laugh^(D) when disaster^(E) strikes you;
I will mock^(F) when calamity overtakes you^(G)—
²⁷when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster^(H) sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

²⁸“Then they will call to me but I will not answer;^(I)
they will look for me but will not find me,^(J)

New International Version (NIV)

January 4, 2020

01/04/2020 DAB Transcript

Genesis 8:1-10:32, Matthew 4:12-25, Psalms 4:1-8, Proverbs 1:20-23

Today is the 4^th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you as we are round…round the corner and move through the first weekend in this new year and decade. So, it’s good to be here with you as we continue moving into our new year. And, so we’ll take the next step forward and continue…continue…well…explaining things and moving into our new year. But let’s get into the Scriptures. We’ve been reading from the New Living Translation this week. As we go back into the book of Genesis for today, we will recall a great flood upon the earth that we read about yesterday. And today we will read Genesis chapters 8 through 10.

Introduction to the book of Proverbs:

Okay. So, we…this is our fourth day of the year, so we’re moving into the year and on day one we talked about the book of Genesis that we were beginning then on day two we talked about the first gospel, the Gospel of Matthew that we were getting into, then yesterday we talked about the Psalms. And, so, today we will complete the four books that we are involved with right now, the book of Proverbs. And ironically, I think Proverbs is, in today’s reading going, to do a far, far better job than anything I could say. I mean I can say the book of Proverbs has traditionally been attributed to King Solomon as the notorious wisest person to ever live. It’s likely that he collected these proverbs and sayings and wisdom from…from all over the known world of his time. He was a king with…with perhaps more influence than anyone else at his time. And, so, these sayings are indeed really profoundly helpful, practical advice, but there is a distinction that we need to make and the Proverbs will make that distinction and that distinction will become more apparent as we move through the year and that is this, the advice, the words that we will find in Proverbs those are not wisdom. Those are sayings and advice that come as a result of wisdom’s presence. The distinction will become important in a myriad of ways as we move through the Bible, but practically where we sit right now is that we can certainly immerse ourselves in the sayings of wisdom and even obey the sayings of wisdom, like take the good, practical advice and implement it into our lives so we would be heading the voice of wisdom, but we can also live in wisdom, understanding that there is a wisdom that is beyond any human wisdom, that there is the wisdom of God flowing through all of creation and that we can learn to walk in wisdom, as opposed to just looking for wisdom’s advice. So, I’ll just kind of leave it at that and just move into today’s reading understanding that we are beginning today and we will continue forward into the next several days, but we are hearing today a voice that is claiming to be the voice of wisdom speaking to us. And, so, today we read Proverbs chapter 1 verse 20 through 23.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for bringing us in the first weekend of this new year and decade, and we thank You that as we conclude this week we are introduced to this voice calling out of the pages of Proverbs, the voice of wisdom, the voice that’s telling us that she is…that she is a she and that she is shouting everywhere for anyone who will listen to her, that she is available and that she is present to us and that she’s asking how long we’re gonna stay asleep, how long we’re going to be simpleminded, how long we’re going to stay stuck. And we hear her saying, “come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with You and make You wise.” And, so, we become aware of Your presence in our lives and we will continue to do this each and every day. We will invite You to lead us into all truth, and we invite You Holy Spirit to help us to begin to tune the years of our hearts and listen for the voice of wisdom. And may we recognize as we begin to even kind of put…make this a category as something that we should pay attention to, may we recognize our Savior Jesus as He begins His ministry in and may we look for the times that He says things like, “if You have eyes to see or ears to hear”, that may we understand that this is how wisdom works. Come Holy Spirit w pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and it its home base and it’s always where you can find out what’s going on around here. And these first couple weeks of…of the year we’re just talking about different aspects and little things that are good to know for the journey along the way.

And, so, one of those things we’ve kind of talked about, we talked about the fact that we are a community of prayer and that we shoulder one another’s burdens together, and pray for one another, and love one another. And we’ve moved through several days. So, you know, we’ve heard the voices of our brothers and sisters as they come…come in on the end…at the end. Ands, so, there’s always way more calls than we can ever get to during the week. And, so we, for several years have had a weekend prayer and encouragement program, which is just all of those voices that came in during the week. And, so it makes this really, really wonderful time together just hearing voice after voice after voice and just kinda bopping all over the world as we’re doing it. And that happens every weekend, every Saturday evening, which will be this evening. So, watch for that. When you wake up tomorrow, you’ll see a program that’s called Community Prayer along with the next day’s program. So, just watch for that, be aware of that, engage with that. It is…it’s really interesting because a lot of times the journey begins with Daily…Daily Audio Bible. Just looking for the Bible. “Just…read me the Bible. That’s all I want, that’s all I need.” And, so, that’s what happens and that’s 100% and then maybe…just…it…it lingers on, keeps playing and so you begin to see there’s more things going on, there’s a community aspect and then you hear the prayer requests and realize, “wow, there’s like…I’m not alone…I’m not alone. I can do this as alone as I want, but I don’t have to be alone. This is the Bible in community.” So, just watch for that later…later tonight

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment you can dial 877-942-4253 or you can just press the Hotline button, it’s at the top in the app. Can’t miss it, little red button up at the top. Just push that and off you go.

And that is it for today and that is it for our…well…we haven’t really had a first full week yet, but this is the end of our first week of this new year and decade. And, so, that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

This is Valery calling from South McDonagh. I am currently three hours into a 5-hour drive to go see my brother who is in Sacred Heart trauma unit with a severe brain injury. He is an alcoholic and a drug user and has become increasingly abusive to our mother. Today there was an altercation and when my mother was trying to get away from him, he fell off the top of her car and landed in the middle-of-the-road and now has a severe brain injury. It’s very hard for me to feel sympathy and compassion for my brother but my heart is breaking for my mom. As you can imagine, she is full of guilt and devastated and feels like she killed her son. So, I’m asking the family to please keep my mom Shirley in your prayers. Help me to minister to her. Help me to find the words to say that can somehow bring her comfort even though I know that nothing I say will bring comfort. Help me to feel love and a compassion toward my brother. Help the doctors to be able to figure out what they can do to help him recover from this injury. At this point we don’t even know if he’s going to survive and then if he does what type of life…quality of life you will have. My time is running out, but I do ask for prayers again for Shirley and Anthony. Thank you.

Hi Anonymous my name is Cricket from Colorado and my heart broke when I heard your prayer request today. I will be praying for you until I hear you call back and update us on your situation. First of all, God loves you and He knit you together in your mother’s womb. Yes, it is true that apart from God, listen to that, apart from God, there is nothing good in us. All that is in us, good is from God because He dwells in us. But let that not bring you fear, let it bring you joy and hope because God also says He promises to finish this good work in you and that His children cannot be snatched from His hand. So, you are His and will walk in heaven with Him someday. But for now, the purpose of your walk here on earth is to love others as He loves you and to help them find Him so that none will be lost. Anonymous, there is nothing good in me except for Him. Daily, I fail horribly, and I am encouraged when he reminds me that He is there, and He picks me up again. I see Him in the good things that He prompts me to do. So, focus on the good, not the bad. You are His precious child and He loves you. Strive every second to become His best friend. Seek Him in all that you do, and He will change you and you will start to see the right choices and the good that comes from Him in you. He loves you. We love you and I will be praying for you for a very long time. Please let us know how you’re doing. Goodbye.

I am praying for the young woman, the anonymous young woman that called in about her desperation. I just would like you to know that when I heard your call for help, I broke down in tears and in fact I am still shaking because I’ve been there just very recently. And I want you to know, I mean I was looking at that semi-truck and I was looking at bridge abutments and I was dark, I was at the end of my rope and it seemed there was no way out. It’s so dark down there, but I want you to know that things turned around for me and they will turn around for you as well. Just very recently a huge change came in my life, one that I’ve been longing for for years and years. And I’m new to audio Bible. When I heard this message this morning, I felt right reaching out to you and am praying for you praying for you. Do not give up. Trust God. I know that’s hard…very hard for you right now but just trust Him. I love you.

Hi, I’m a new listener and I’ve enjoyed this so much, so I want to say thank you and how grateful I am that this type of app exists. I also would like to send a prayer for my friend Sabrina whose brother passed away unexpectedly. He was only about 30 years old and it…it shouldn’t have happened. So, I want to pray for her and her family they find peace. Thank you. Have a blessed day.

Good morning DAB family this is Lady of victory from Chicago. Today is Friday, December 27^th hope everyone is having a great day. As I was listening today, I listened to Anonymous who said as if she drives into a truck nobody would miss her. Jeanette who has a sick mom and who is also dealing with some ills…ills with neuropathy. I know my daughter has that as well and it’s very painful…I mean difficult to maneuver life. And then Daniel who was praying for commuters and/or drivers. My husband drives for a living and so I do understand what all of that means. So, I wanted to send up a quick prayer. Anonymous, I am a trained mental health counselor and please realize that you do not have to go through this alone. Seek help. Do not separate yourself or distance yourself from loved ones. You will be missed if something…if you’re not here. So, please seek out help. Colossians 1:16 says that you are made with a purpose and for purpose. Everything that God made He does it on purpose. And, so, your purpose in the world would be missed if you’re not here. So, please seek out help. Jeanette we are praying for you. Realize that your anchor is in the Lord and everything else is sinking sand. So, seek out God as you go to be with your mom. I lost my mom April 13^th of this year. So, I know the pain of going through the holidays alone for the first time, but God has been my anchor as He will be yours. So, seek the face of God. We all have a lot of things for 2020, a lot of different words. Ours is…for our family is to endure 2020 but I’d don’t just say endure…

This is Joanne from Happy Valley it is December 27^th. I just heard anonymous. And honey, please, don’t drive in front of a truck. For one thing, you’ll impact another life forever. But the main thing is, we know God is good and we know that we are all bad. But His love for us is so strong that He took on human flesh with all its frailties, suffered beatings and a horrible death on the cross to pay for our sins and all the bad that is in us. When I look back over my life, I saw that even though I never acknowledged Him He was watching over me all the time and loving me and keeping me from getting into danger because of my sinning. And in spite of all the bad I did He still loved me more than I can imagine. And that is how He feels about you. Anonymous, he adores you. I can’t talk to my family about the things I’ve done. Church is full of sinners just like me and they’re trying to pretend they’re not. So, can’t talk to them. But He loves you no matter what. Please know that. And if you need to…to dump on somebody, my email address is jomiller3380@gmail.com. There’s nothing that would cause me to not love you. You’re safe with me. Please, reach out and I’ll share God’s love with you. God bless you.

January 4, 2020

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday January 4, 2020 (NIV)

Genesis 8-10

The Flood Recedes

8 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede. ²The underground waters stopped flowing, and the torrential rains from the sky were stopped. ³So the floodwaters gradually receded from the earth. After 150 days, ⁴exactly five months from the time the flood began,^[a] the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵Two and a half months later,^[b] as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks became visible.

⁶After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat ⁷and released a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the floodwaters on the earth had dried up. ⁸He also released a dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground. ⁹But the dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. ¹⁰After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove again. ¹¹This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone. ¹²He waited another seven days and then released the dove again. This time it did not come back.

¹³Noah was now 601 years old. On the first day of the new year, ten and a half months after the flood began,^[c] the floodwaters had almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the covering of the boat and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. ¹⁴Two more months went by,^[d] and at last the earth was dry!

¹⁵Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶“Leave the boat, all of you—you and your wife, and your sons and their wives. ¹⁷Release all the animals—the birds, the livestock, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—so they can be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth.”

¹⁸So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. ¹⁹And all of the large and small animals and birds came out of the boat, pair by pair.

²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.^[e] ²¹And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. ²²As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”

God Confirms His Covenant

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. ²All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. ³I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. ⁴But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.

⁵“And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. ⁶If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings^[f] in his own image. ⁷Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.”

⁸Then God told Noah and his sons, ⁹“I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, ¹⁰and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. ¹¹Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

¹²Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. ¹³I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. ¹⁴When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, ¹⁵and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. ¹⁶When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” ¹⁷Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”

Noah’s Sons

¹⁸The sons of Noah who came out of the boat with their father were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹From these three sons of Noah came all the people who now populate the earth.

²⁰After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard. ²¹One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent. ²²Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. ²³Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked.

²⁴When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. ²⁵Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham:

“May Canaan be cursed!
May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.”

²⁶Then Noah said,

“May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed,
and may Canaan be his servant!
²⁷May God expand the territory of Japheth!
May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem,^[g]
and may Canaan be his servant.”

²⁸Noah lived another 350 years after the great flood. ²⁹He lived 950 years, and then he died.

10 This is the account of the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah. Many children were born to them after the great flood.

Descendants of Japheth

²The descendants of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

³The descendants of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

⁴The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.^[h] ⁵Their descendants became the seafaring peoples that spread out to various lands, each identified by its own language, clan, and national identity.

Descendants of Ham

⁶The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

⁷The descendants of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

⁸Cush was also the ancestor of Nimrod, who was the first heroic warrior on earth. ⁹Since he was the greatest hunter in the world,^[i] his name became proverbial. People would say, “This man is like Nimrod, the greatest hunter in the world.” ¹⁰He built his kingdom in the land of Babylonia,^[j] with the cities of Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh. ¹¹From there he expanded his territory to Assyria,^[k] building the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, ¹²and Resen (the great city located between Nineveh and Calah).

¹³Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, ¹⁴Pathrusites, Casluhites, and the Caphtorites, from whom the Philistines came.^[l]

¹⁵Canaan’s oldest son was Sidon, the ancestor of the Sidonians. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Hittites,^[m] ¹⁶Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, ¹⁷Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁸Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. The Canaanite clans eventually spread out, ¹⁹and the territory of Canaan extended from Sidon in the north to Gerar and Gaza in the south, and east as far as Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.

²⁰These were the descendants of Ham, identified by clan, language, territory, and national identity.

Descendants of Shem

²¹Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth.^[n] Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber.

²²The descendants of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

²³The descendants of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

²⁴Arphaxad was the father of Shelah,^[o] and Shelah was the father of Eber.

²⁵Eber had two sons. The first was named Peleg (which means “division”), for during his lifetime the people of the world were divided into different language groups. His brother’s name was Joktan.

²⁶Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were descendants of Joktan. ³⁰The territory they occupied extended from Mesha all the way to Sephar in the eastern mountains.

³¹These were the descendants of Shem, identified by clan, language, territory, and national identity.

Conclusion

³²These are the clans that descended from Noah’s sons, arranged by nation according to their lines of descent. All the nations of the earth descended from these clans after the great flood.

Footnotes:

8:4 Hebrew on the seventeenth day of the seventh month; see 7:11.
8:5 Hebrew On the first day of the tenth month; see 7:11 and note on 8:4.
8:13 Hebrew On the first day of the first month; see 7:11.
8:14 Hebrew The twenty-seventh day of the second month arrived; see note on 8:13.
8:20 Hebrew every clean animal and every clean bird.
9:6 Or man; Hebrew reads ha-adam.
9:27 Hebrew May he live in the tents of Shem.
10:4 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Greek version (see also 1 Chr 1:7); most Hebrew manuscripts read Dodanim.
10:9 Hebrew a great hunter before the Lord; also in 10:9b.
10:10 Hebrew Shinar.
10:11 Or From that land Assyria went out.
10:14 Hebrew Casluhites, from whom the Philistines came, and Caphtorites. Compare Jer 47:4; Amos 9:7.
10:15 Hebrew ancestor of Heth.
10:21 Or Shem, whose older brother was Japheth.
10:24 Greek version reads Arphaxad was the father of Cainan, Cainan was the father of Shelah. Compare Luke 3:36.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Matthew 4:12-25

The Ministry of Jesus Begins

¹²When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. ¹³He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵“In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali,
beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River,
in Galilee where so many Gentiles live,
¹⁶the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light.
And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow,
a light has shined.”^[a]

¹⁷From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.^[b]”

The First Disciples

¹⁸One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. ¹⁹Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” ²⁰And they left their nets at once and followed him.

²¹A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. ²²They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.

Crowds Follow Jesus

²³Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. ²⁴News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all. ²⁵Large crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, the Ten Towns,^[c] Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River.

Footnotes:

4:15-16 Isa 9:1-2 (Greek version).
4:17 Or has come, or is coming soon.
4:25 Greek Decapolis.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Psalm 4

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by stringed instruments.

¹Answer me when I call to you,
O God who declares me innocent.
Free me from my troubles.
Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

²How long will you people ruin my reputation?
How long will you make groundless accusations?
How long will you continue your lies? Interlude
³You can be sure of this:
The Lord set apart the godly for himself.
The Lord will answer when I call to him.

⁴Don’t sin by letting anger control you.
Think about it overnight and remain silent. Interlude
⁵Offer sacrifices in the right spirit,
and trust the Lord.

⁶Many people say, “Who will show us better times?”
Let your face smile on us, Lord.
⁷You have given me greater joy
than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine.
⁸In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Proverbs 1:20-23

Wisdom Shouts in the Streets

²⁰Wisdom shouts in the streets.
She cries out in the public square.
²¹She calls to the crowds along the main street,
to those gathered in front of the city gate:
²²“How long, you simpletons,
will you insist on being simpleminded?
How long will you mockers relish your mocking?
How long will you fools hate knowledge?
²³Come and listen to my counsel.
I’ll share my heart with you
and make you wise.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Genesis 18:16-19:38

Abraham Pleads for Sodom

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

Lot and His Daughters

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Matthew 6:25-7:14

Do Not Worry(A)

Judging Others(K)

Ask, Seek, Knock(N)

The Narrow and Wide Gates

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 8

Psalm 8[a]

For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] A psalm of David.

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Proverbs 2:6-15

Cross references:

Genesis 16:1-18:15

Hagar and Ishmael

The Covenant of Circumcision

The Three Visitors

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Matthew 6:1-24

Giving to the Needy

Prayer(C)

Fasting

Treasures in Heaven(U)

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 7

Psalm 7[a]

A shiggaion[b](A) of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite.

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Proverbs 2:1-5

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

Cross references:

Genesis 13:5-15:21

Abram Rescues Lot

The Lord’s Covenant With Abram

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Matthew 5:27-48

Adultery

Divorce

Oaths

Eye for Eye

Love for Enemies

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 6

Psalm 6[a]

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith.[b] A psalm of David.

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Proverbs 1:29-33

Cross references:

Genesis 11:1-13:4

The Tower of Babel

From Shem to Abram(T)

Abram’s Family

The Call of Abram

Abram in Egypt(BW)

Abram and Lot Separate

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Matthew 5:1-26

Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

The Beatitudes(A)

Salt and Light

The Fulfillment of the Law

Murder(AA)

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 5

Psalm 5[a]

Do Not Worry^(A)

Judging Others^(K)

Ask, Seek, Knock^(N)

Psalm 8^[a]

For the director of music. According to gittith.^[b] A psalm of David.

Prayer^(C)

Treasures in Heaven^(U)

Psalm 7^[a]

A shiggaion^[b]^(A) of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite.

Psalm 6^[a]

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith.^[b] A psalm of David.

From Shem to Abram^(T)

Abram in Egypt^(BW)

The Beatitudes^(A)

Murder^(AA)

Psalm 5^[a]