The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday March 9, 2017 (NIV)

²⁴ So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He assembled seventy of the leaders and placed them around the Tent. ²⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him. He took some of the spirit he had given to Moses and gave it to the seventy leaders. When the spirit came on them, they began to shout like prophets, but not for long.

²⁶ Two of the seventy leaders, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp and had not gone out to the Tent. There in the camp the spirit came on them, and they too began to shout like prophets. ²⁷ A young man ran out to tell Moses what Eldad and Medad were doing.

²⁸ Then Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' helper since he was a young man, spoke up and said to Moses, “Stop them, sir!”

²⁹ Moses answered, “Are you concerned about my interests? I wish that the Lord would give his spirit to all his people and make all of them shout like prophets!” ³⁰ Then Moses and the seventy leaders of Israel went back to camp.

The Lord Sends Quails

³¹ Suddenly the Lord sent a wind that brought quails from the sea, flying three feet above the ground. They settled on the camp and all around it for miles and miles in every direction.^{[a] 32} So all that day, all night, and all the next day, the people worked catching quails; no one gathered less than fifty bushels. They spread them out to dry all around the camp. ³³ While there was still plenty of meat for them to eat, the Lord became angry with the people and caused an epidemic to break out among them. ³⁴ That place was named Kibroth Hattaavah (which means “Graves of Craving”), because there they buried the people who had craved meat.

³⁵ From there the people moved to Hazeroth, where they made camp.

Miriam Is Punished

12 Moses had married a Cushite^[b] woman, and Miriam and Aaron criticized him for it. ² They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through^[c] Moses? Hasn't he also spoken through^[d] us?” The Lord heard what they said. (^3 (A)Moses was a humble man, more humble than anyone else on earth.)

⁴ Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “I want the three of you to come out to the Tent of my presence.” They went, ⁵ and the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance of the Tent, and called out, “Aaron! Miriam!” The two of them stepped forward, ⁶ and the Lord said, “Now hear what I have to say! When there are prophets among you,^[e] I reveal myself to them in visions and speak to them in dreams. ^7 (B)It is different when I speak with my servant Moses; I have put him in charge of all my people Israel.^{[f] 8} So I speak to him face-to-face, clearly and not in riddles; he has even seen my form! How dare you speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹ The Lord was angry with them; and so as he departed ¹⁰ and the cloud left the Tent, Miriam's skin was suddenly covered with a dreaded disease and turned as white as snow. When Aaron looked at her and saw that she was covered with the disease, ¹¹ he said to Moses, “Please, sir, do not make us suffer this punishment for our foolish sin. ¹² Don't let her become like something born dead with half its flesh eaten away.”

¹³ So Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, heal her!”

^14 (C)The Lord answered, “If her father had spit in her face, she would have to bear her disgrace for seven days. So let her be shut out of the camp for a week, and after that she can be brought back in.” ¹⁵ Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until she was brought back in. ¹⁶ Then they left Hazeroth and set up camp in the wilderness of Paran.

The Spies^(D)

13 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Choose one of the leaders from each of the twelve tribes and send them as spies to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.” ^3-15 Moses obeyed and from the wilderness of Paran he sent out leaders, as follows:

Tribe	Leader
Reuben	Shammua son of Zaccur
Simeon	Shaphat son of Hori
Judah	Caleb son of Jephunneh
Issachar	Igal son of Joseph
Ephraim	Hoshea son of Nun
Benjamin	Palti son of Raphu
Zebulun	Gaddiel son of Sodi
Manasseh	Gaddi son of Susi
Dan	Ammiel son of Gemalli
Asher	Sethur son of Michael
Naphtali	Nahbi son of Vophsi
Gad	Geuel son of Machi

¹⁶ These are the spies Moses sent to explore the land. He changed the name of Hoshea son of Nun to Joshua.

¹⁷ When Moses sent them out, he said to them, “Go north from here into the southern part of the land of Canaan and then on into the hill country. ¹⁸ Find out what kind of country it is, how many people live there, and how strong they are. ¹⁹ Find out whether the land is good or bad and whether the people live in open towns or in fortified cities. ²⁰ Find out whether the soil is fertile and whether the land is wooded. And be sure to bring back some of the fruit that grows there.” (It was the season when grapes were beginning to ripen.)

²¹ So the men went north and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin in the south all the way to Rehob, near Hamath Pass in the north. ²² They went first into the southern part of the land and came to Hebron, where the clans of Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of a race of giants called the Anakim, lived. (Hebron was founded seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ They came to Eshcol Valley, and there they cut off a branch which had one bunch of grapes on it so heavy that it took two men to carry it on a pole between them. They also brought back some pomegranates and figs. (²⁴ That place was named Eshcol^[g] Valley because of the bunch of grapes the Israelites cut off there.)

²⁵ After exploring the land for forty days, the spies returned ²⁶ to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had brought. ²⁷ They told Moses, “We explored the land and found it to be rich and fertile; and here is some of its fruit. ²⁸ But the people who live there are powerful, and their cities are very large and well fortified. Even worse, we saw the descendants of the giants there. ²⁹ Amalekites live in the southern part of the land; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and Canaanites live by the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan River.”

³⁰ Caleb silenced the people who were complaining against^[h] Moses, and said, “We should attack now and take the land; we are strong enough to conquer it.”

³¹ But the men who had gone with Caleb said, “No, we are not strong enough to attack them; the people there are more powerful than we are.” ³² So they spread a false report among the Israelites about the land they had explored. They said, “That land doesn't even produce enough to feed the people who live there. Everyone we saw was very tall, ^33 (E)and we even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that is how we must have looked to them.”

The Lord's Supper^(A)

²² While they were eating, Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. “Take it,” he said, “this is my body.”

²³ Then he took a cup, gave thanks to God, and handed it to them; and they all drank from it. ^24 (B)Jesus said, “This is my blood which is poured out for many, my blood which seals God's covenant. ²⁵ I tell you, I will never again drink this wine until the day I drink the new wine in the Kingdom of God.”

²⁶ Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial^(C)

^27 (D)Jesus said to them, “All of you will run away and leave me, for the scripture says, ‘God will kill the shepherd, and the sheep will all be scattered.’ ^28 (E)But after I am raised to life, I will go to Galilee ahead of you.”

²⁹ Peter answered, “I will never leave you, even though all the rest do!”

³⁰ Jesus said to Peter, “I tell you that before the rooster crows two times tonight, you will say three times that you do not know me.”

³¹ Peter answered even more strongly, “I will never say that, even if I have to die with you!”

And all the other disciples said the same thing.

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane^(F)

³² They came to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” ³³ He took Peter, James, and John with him. Distress and anguish came over him, ³⁴ and he said to them, “The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch.”

³⁵ He went a little farther on, threw himself on the ground, and prayed that, if possible, he might not have to go through that time of suffering. ³⁶ “Father,” he prayed, “my Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”

³⁷ Then he returned and found the three disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Weren't you able to stay awake for even one hour?” ³⁸ And he said to them, “Keep watch, and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

³⁹ He went away once more and prayed, saying the same words. ⁴⁰ Then he came back to the disciples and found them asleep; they could not keep their eyes open. And they did not know what to say to him.

⁴¹ When he came back the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come! Look, the Son of Man is now being handed over to the power of sinners. ⁴² Get up, let us go. Look, here is the man who is betraying me!”

The Arrest of Jesus^(G)

⁴³ Jesus was still speaking when Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs and sent by the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders. ⁴⁴ The traitor had given the crowd a signal: “The man I kiss is the one you want. Arrest him and take him away under guard.”

⁴⁵ As soon as Judas arrived, he went up to Jesus and said, “Teacher!” and kissed him. ⁴⁶ So they arrested Jesus and held him tight. ⁴⁷ But one of those standing there drew his sword and struck at the High Priest's slave, cutting off his ear. ⁴⁸ Then Jesus spoke up and said to them, “Did you have to come with swords and clubs to capture me, as though I were an outlaw? ^49 (H)Day after day I was with you teaching in the Temple, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must come true.”

⁵⁰ Then all the disciples left him and ran away.

⁵¹ A certain young man, dressed only in a linen cloth, was following Jesus. They tried to arrest him, ⁵² but he ran away naked, leaving the cloth behind.

^(A)God's Judgment and Grace^[a]

11 The Lord hates people who use dishonest scales. He is happy with honest weights.

² People who are proud will soon be disgraced. It is wiser to be modest.

³ If you are good, you are guided by honesty. People who can't be trusted are destroyed by their own dishonesty.