November 2017 – Page 6 – A Walk Through The Word

November 6, 2017

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday November 6, 2017 (NIV)

Ezekiel 14:12-16:41

The Certainty of the Lord’s Judgment

¹²Then this message came to me from the Lord: ¹³“Son of man, suppose the people of a country were to sin against me, and I lifted my fist to crush them, cutting off their food supply and sending a famine to destroy both people and animals. ¹⁴Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, their righteousness would save no one but themselves, says the Sovereign Lord.

¹⁵“Or suppose I were to send wild animals to invade the country, kill the people, and make the land too desolate and dangerous to pass through. ¹⁶As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, even if those three men were there, they wouldn’t be able to save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be made desolate.

¹⁷“Or suppose I were to bring war against the land, and I sent enemy armies to destroy both people and animals. ¹⁸As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, even if those three men were there, they wouldn’t be able to save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved.

¹⁹“Or suppose I were to pour out my fury by sending an epidemic into the land, and the disease killed people and animals alike. ²⁰As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, they wouldn’t be able to save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved by their righteousness.

²¹“Now this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How terrible it will be when all four of these dreadful punishments fall upon Jerusalem—war, famine, wild animals, and disease—destroying all her people and animals. ²²Yet there will be survivors, and they will come here to join you as exiles in Babylon. You will see with your own eyes how wicked they are, and then you will feel better about what I have done to Jerusalem. ²³When you meet them and see their behavior, you will understand that these things are not being done to Israel without cause. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

Jerusalem—a Useless Vine

15 Then this message came to me from the Lord: ²“Son of man, how does a grapevine compare to a tree? Is a vine’s wood as useful as the wood of a tree? ³Can its wood be used for making things, like pegs to hang up pots and pans? ⁴No, it can only be used for fuel, and even as fuel, it burns too quickly. ⁵Vines are useless both before and after being put into the fire!

⁶“And this is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Jerusalem are like grapevines growing among the trees of the forest. Since they are useless, I have thrown them on the fire to be burned. ⁷And I will see to it that if they escape from one fire, they will fall into another. When I turn against them, you will know that I am the Lord. ⁸And I will make the land desolate because my people have been unfaithful to me. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

Jerusalem—an Unfaithful Wife

16 Then another message came to me from the Lord: ²“Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable sins. ³Give her this message from the Sovereign Lord: You are nothing but a Canaanite! Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ⁴On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth. ⁵No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.

⁶“But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’ ⁷And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were still naked. ⁸And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

⁹“Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin. ¹⁰I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather. ¹¹I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces, ¹²a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head. ¹³And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and costly fabric and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods—choice flour, honey, and olive oil—and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were! ¹⁴Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign Lord.

¹⁵“But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking. ¹⁶You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen? ¹⁷You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me! ¹⁸You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used my special oil and my incense to worship them. ¹⁹Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign Lord.

²⁰“Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough? ²¹Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols? ²²In all your years of adultery and detestable sin, you have not once remembered the days long ago when you lay naked in a field, kicking about in your own blood.

²³“What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, ²⁴you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square. ²⁵On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution. ²⁶Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity. ²⁷That is why I struck you with my fist and reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct. ²⁸You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied. ²⁹You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia,^[a] the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.

³⁰“What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign Lord, to do such things as these, acting like a shameless prostitute. ³¹You build your pagan shrines on every street corner and your altars to idols in every square. In fact, you have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment. ³²Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband. ³³Prostitutes charge for their services—but not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex with you. ³⁴So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead of their paying you!

Judgment on Jerusalem’s Prostitution

³⁵“Therefore, you prostitute, listen to this message from the Lord! ³⁶This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have poured out your lust and exposed yourself in prostitution to all your lovers, and because you have worshiped detestable idols,^[b] and because you have slaughtered your children as sacrifices to your gods, ³⁷this is what I am going to do. I will gather together all your allies—the lovers with whom you have sinned, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will strip you naked in front of them so they can stare at you. ³⁸I will punish you for your murder and adultery. I will cover you with blood in my jealous fury. ³⁹Then I will give you to these many nations who are your lovers, and they will destroy you. They will knock down your pagan shrines and the altars to your idols. They will strip you and take your beautiful jewels, leaving you stark naked. ⁴⁰They will band together in a mob to stone you and cut you up with swords. ⁴¹They will burn your homes and punish you in front of many women. I will stop your prostitution and end your payments to your many lovers.

Footnotes:

16:29 Or Chaldea.
16:36 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Hebrews 7:18-28

¹⁸Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. ¹⁹For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

²⁰This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, ²¹but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him,

“The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow:
‘You are a priest forever.’”^[a]

²²Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.

²³There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. ²⁴But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. ²⁵Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save^[b] those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.

²⁶He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.^[c] ²⁷Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. ²⁸The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.

Footnotes:

7:21 Ps 110:4.
7:25 Or is able to save completely.
7:26 Or has been exalted higher than the heavens.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Psalm 106:1-12

Psalm 106

¹Praise the Lord!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
²Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord?
Who can ever praise him enough?
³There is joy for those who deal justly with others
and always do what is right.

⁴Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people;
come near and rescue me.
⁵Let me share in the prosperity of your chosen ones.
Let me rejoice in the joy of your people;
let me praise you with those who are your heritage.

⁶Like our ancestors, we have sinned.
We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly!
⁷Our ancestors in Egypt
were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds.
They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them.
Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.^[a]
⁸Even so, he saved them—
to defend the honor of his name
and to demonstrate his mighty power.
⁹He commanded the Red Sea^[b] to dry up.
He led Israel across the sea as if it were a desert.
¹⁰So he rescued them from their enemies
and redeemed them from their foes.
¹¹Then the water returned and covered their enemies;
not one of them survived.
¹²Then his people believed his promises.
Then they sang his praise.

Footnotes:

106:7 Hebrew at the sea, the sea of reeds.
106:9 Hebrew sea of reeds; also in 106:22.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Proverbs 27:4-6

⁴Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood,
but jealousy is even more dangerous.

⁵An open rebuke
is better than hidden love!

⁶Wounds from a sincere friend
are better than many kisses from an enemy.

New Living Translation (NLT)

November 6, 2017

11/5/2017 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 12:1-14:11; Hebrews 7:1-17; Psalms 105:37-45; Proverbs 27:3

Today is the 5th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you at the threshold of a brand-new, shiny, sparkly week. And this will be our first full week in the month of November, the 11th month of our year together. And this week we’ll read from the New Living Translation. Of course, we will pick up where we left off yesterday. So, for our Old Testament reading today, Ezekiel chapter 12 verse 1 through 14:11.

Commentary:

Okay. So, yesterday we started talking about Melchizedek because his name showed up at the end of our reading yesterday. And, obviously, today we spent a good deal of time referring to him in the book of Hebrews. So, we looked at the two references were Melchizedek is named by name in the Old Testament and learned that he was a priestly king who ruled the Canaanite city, at the time, of Jerusalem, in Abraham’s time, in the book of Genesis. And then we saw him show up again in the Psalms at the time of David, who happened to be the king of Jerusalem, the king of Israel, during the time of the united monarchy - a priestly king that was not from the tribe of Levi, but was rather in the order of Melchizedek. So, in the book of Hebrews we see the parallel being made and we can see why - Jesus is equated with all of this as a priestly king. We can leave it right there all nice and tidy and say that’s pretty cool, but it’s a little bit more complicated than that. And this is where some context helps us, although we won’t be able to tie this off in a nice little gift box, but we will have the lay of the land. So, Melchizedek is mentioned in the book of Genesis and then not mentioned again until the book of Psalms, but because he shows up in those two places, quite a ways away from each other in history, and then he shows up again in the book of Hebrews, quite a bit away from the book of Psalms, we see that, somehow, he captures the imagination of the Hebrew people and that continued on for thousands of years even though there is no further material about him in the Bible. And the writer of Hebrews tells us things about Melchizedek that are not found in the references to Melchizedek in the Old Testament. So, we can safely deduce that something happened along the way and it’s from what’s written in Hebrews that the plethora of things have been said and thought and written about Melchizedek. And it’s here that we begin to see how extra-biblical thoughts find their way into the biblical text. So, let me show you what I mean. So, we’re reading from Hebrews chapter 7 today and chapter 7 verse 3 reads, there is no record of Melchizedek’s father or mother or of any of his ancestors, no record of his birth or of his death, he is like the son of God, he remains a priest forever. Okay. So, in the Old Testament, it’s true, he shows up out of nowhere and then he kind of disappears just as fast as he came. So, it’s true. Like, there is no lineage for how Melchizedek found himself to be the king of Salem nor for how he became the priest of the most high God. And the interpretation of that is found in Hebrews. He is like the son of God. He remains a priest forever. In other words, he didn’t die, which is an interpretation of the Scriptures. But those details are not found in the Old Testament mentions of Melchizedek. Or are they? How did they come to this? The idea comes from Psalms – you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Ok? You are priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, which becomes a little bit of a quandary because, at face value, Psalm 110 is referring to the reign of David. And David died. And that’s explicitly stated in the Bible. Unless, Psalm 110 isn’t about David, but is more of a messianic prophecy, a foretelling, a foreshadowing of Jesus, or at least of a coming priestly king in the order of Melchizedek who will be a priest forever. So, it’s hard to think that David, king of Israel, raining from Jerusalem, writing Psalm 110 thought that that’s what he was writing about. Which certainly doesn’t discount the fact that he may have been writing a prophetic song. And in no way am I trying to diminish that idea because Matthew, Mark, and Luke all refer back to this Psalm, not necessarily about Melchizedek, but they definitely tie it to Jesus. I say what I say about David because David’s got a united monarchy. He’s the king of Israel. He’s bringing Israel to its apex. So, at this point in history things are going great. Like, they’re not thinking about needing a Messiah, a deliver. At David’s time they’re kind of basking in all that God has done. He gave them the land that he promised that he would and they have their own country and they have their own king and they have their own military and they have their own economy. Things are going well. So, this is kind of an instance where things become more clear and revealed over time. Alright, so, here’s where we jump into the deep end of the pool. It’s pretty clear that Melchizedek captures the imagination of the Hebrew people and that that lasts for a long time. With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran in Israel some of that thought came to light. There are documents that would describe Melchizedek in terms of angelic or even divine, even godlike. In one of the documents Melchizedek is depicted as the leader, like, the main angel in a war in heaven against the angels of darkness, which caused many people to wonder if Melchizedek was actually the Archangel Michael because Michael/Melchizedek are similar sounding names and on and on it goes. You can see there’s just so many jumping off places to follow trails and come up with stuff because it’s interesting. But what we can say is that Melchizedek, although mentioned very little in the Bible, was carried down through culture and history as something unique, something different or representing something unique and different and that this was carried down through the generations. And we see this as showing up in the material found in Qumran, known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. So, I’m not saying, like, so there you go, it’s found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, so it’s as good as the Bible. I’m not saying that at all. I’m just saying this is how we see that this person’s uniqueness or what he represents, that uniqueness, carried forward and wound its way into messianic thought, because by the time we get to Jesus, where not in the time of David anymore, things haven’t been going so well. These people have been through the ringer. They’ve been in exile, 10 of their tribes are lost, the territory has changed hands several times, and they need somebody, they need someone to deliver them. And the writer of Hebrews, who is speaking, by the way, to Hebrews, is speaking of Melchizedek in a way that these people understand and is showing them in every conceivable way, Jesus is that person. And I’ll leave that explanation for tomorrow, not so much in things that I might say, but the book of Hebrews will unpack it for us. And, hopefully, this little bit of context over the last couple of days helps with that, helps us understand that. Now, I’ve got to tell you, like, there’s a lot to this you can go as far as you want. There are brilliant scholars that can go much deeper and wider and are more articulate than me. And, I do not, and have never claimed to know everything there is to know about the Bible. That would be God. So, my taking us through some of this isn’t me trying to make a theological statement about anything. It’s just one of these pieces of the Bible that we come to, and we read through, and we’re like, okay, it’s the Bible, it’s true, I believe it, but we don’t really even know what’s being said or the gravity of it. And getting a little context around it lets us see, okay, this, what’s being said here, is a pretty big deal, which only makes it richer and truer and deeper as we sew it into our own lives.

Prayer:

Father, we invite Your Holy Spirit to come into all of this and do the tilling and sewing. What we want is the fruit of the Spirit in our lives to flourish and reproduce itself all around us. And we believe this is possible because You sent your Son to die for us and gave us the gift of Your Holy Spirit to lead us and the gift of the Scriptures that continually jar us and shake us and make us pay attention and contemplate. They keep us from falling asleep in our own lives. They keep us oriented to Your kingdom in this world. So, come Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. 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.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Lee from New Jersey. Today is November 1st. The first day of the 11th month and I’m calling in from a very cold New Jersey. It’s cold for us. It’s below 40°. It’s 37° right now. So, that means that we’ve got to bundle up a little bit more. And we’ve been pretty spoiled up here anyway because we’ve been blessed with a lot of great weather. So, just wanted to call and thank Byron down in Florida and of course thank all of you that have been praying. I know all of you have been praying, even the ones that don’t call in. So, Byron did call in and he shared some very, very wonderful, spiritual wisdom – some words of spiritual wisdom, obviously. So, I am, word for word, verbatim, I listened to all of that Byron. And thank you very much and I will definitely take that to heart. So, you probably heard that I called back since then and things have gotten a little better. Actually, things have gotten a lot better. So, the next person to work on is just my daughter, the relationship between my daughter and me. And that’s got to be worked on. But by God’s grace, again, I am thankful for my family and thankful for the things that I’m getting that I don’t deserve. That’s so true. So now, Byron, I want to pray for you and your family. Heavenly Father, I want to pray for my brother Byron down in Florida, who is a faithful servant of the Lord. He is faithful in many ways and does his very best to be there for all brothers and sisters in this community, Lord. Continue to bless him and his family. Continue to bless him with that open heart and open mine Lord. When I say open heart and open mind, that he is open to receiving Your wisdom and Your love - Your wisdom is his mind and Your love my in his heart. And how he passes that forward onto people in this community, people within his community, down there in Florida…

Good morning all you DABbers. This is Darrell from Depue. I’ve got a praise report and I want to thank everybody for praying for me. Last week or two weeks ago I called in asking for prayers for my business and hallelujah, God is so good. I received check after check after check this past week to get caught up with all my bills. And, so, hallelujah God is so good. But I want prayer sent out to my brother Dan. My brother Dan has stage four lung cancer. Three years ago he was diagnosed with bladder cancer and now he has lung cancer. So, can everybody please pray for Dan to get through this second batch of cancer that he’s going through. Have the good Lord watch over him, protect him. We know that our God is Jehovah Rapha, the Almighty Healer. So, God in heaven, please watch over Daniel and may the good Lord bless him. And all you DABbers, I love you and I want to thank you so much for your help. God bless each and every one of you. Thank you. Love you all.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Mimi in Atlanta. I’m just asking today for prayers for the Lord’s insight and wisdom on my financial status. As a hair stylist, it fluctuates and coming in towards the end of the year I want to focus on Thanksgiving and Christmas and just time spent with family and friends. But the heaviness of all this is just starting already way on my Spirit. So, it’s November 1st. I’m just going to pray and ask the Lord to please help me and everyone else that is hearing this prayer request that is struggling financially. Let’s just pray. Daddy, we just love You so much. And we know Jesus, when You were here on earth, every time we came with facts, a few loaves and a few fishes, and thousands needed to be filled. Father, you just lifted up those minimal provisions, that’s all we have, it’s just minimal provisions. Lord, I just pray a miracle, a miracle of blessing. It didn’t happen instomatically, all the loaves and fishes didn’t just appear once You lifted them up to be blessed. But Father as the disciples were about their business distributing them they became plenty and then there were left overs. So, Lord, I just pray for all of us, to get our eyes fixed on You and Father, just to remove, in Jesus’ name, the spirit of worry or fear, depression, anxiety, all those things, Lord, because we’re coming into Thanksgiving and then onto Christmas. Father, I just pray November 1, 2017, that the words we hear Brian speak and read are alive and they’re changing us from the inside out. So, I’m just asking for everyone to just…let’s just join up with each other around this campfire, hedge it up and just…

Hey family. It’s Jordan from Michigan. It’s great to be back. I’ve missed you guys. Sorry I haven’t been calling so much. This new teaching job I got in Michigan has been a lot like last year. For those of you who remember, it was like hell for me last year. The Detroit school that I was working at and this school is no different in a lot of ways. It’s really been beating me up and I have really, really bad anxiety and some depression. It’s been really hard. It feels like just mentally beat all the time. I have a hard time just sitting down and writing my lesson plan and doing my work that I’m supposed to be doing because I have so much anxiety all the time. So, please pray for me. I really need it. And pray for my students, that I will be able to reach them and fulfill my purpose.

November 5, 2017

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday November 5, 2017 (NIV)

Ezekiel 12:1-14:11

Signs of the Coming Exile

12 Again a message came to me from the Lord: ²“Son of man, you live among rebels who have eyes but refuse to see. They have ears but refuse to hear. For they are a rebellious people.

³“So now, son of man, pretend you are being sent into exile. Pack the few items an exile could carry, and leave your home to go somewhere else. Do this right in front of the people so they can see you. For perhaps they will pay attention to this, even though they are such rebels. ⁴Bring your baggage outside during the day so they can watch you. Then in the evening, as they are watching, leave your house as captives do when they begin a long march to distant lands. ⁵Dig a hole through the wall while they are watching and go out through it. ⁶As they watch, lift your pack to your shoulders and walk away into the night. Cover your face so you cannot see the land you are leaving. For I have made you a sign for the people of Israel.”

⁷So I did as I was told. In broad daylight I brought my pack outside, filled with the things I might carry into exile. Then in the evening while the people looked on, I dug through the wall with my hands and went out into the night with my pack on my shoulder.

⁸The next morning this message came to me from the Lord: ⁹“Son of man, these rebels, the people of Israel, have asked you what all this means. ¹⁰Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: These actions contain a message for King Zedekiah in Jerusalem^[a] and for all the people of Israel.’ ¹¹Explain that your actions are a sign to show what will soon happen to them, for they will be driven into exile as captives.

¹²“Even Zedekiah will leave Jerusalem at night through a hole in the wall, taking only what he can carry with him. He will cover his face, and his eyes will not see the land he is leaving. ¹³Then I will throw my net over him and capture him in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Babylonians,^[b] though he will never see it, and he will die there. ¹⁴I will scatter his servants and warriors to the four winds and send the sword after them. ¹⁵And when I scatter them among the nations, they will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁶But I will spare a few of them from death by war, famine, or disease, so they can confess all their detestable sins to their captors. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

¹⁷Then this message came to me from the Lord: ¹⁸“Son of man, tremble as you eat your food. Shake with fear as you drink your water. ¹⁹Tell the people, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says concerning those living in Israel and Jerusalem: They will eat their food with trembling and sip their water in despair, for their land will be stripped bare because of their violence. ²⁰The cities will be destroyed and the farmland made desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

A New Proverb for Israel

²¹Again a message came to me from the Lord: ²²“Son of man, you’ve heard that proverb they quote in Israel: ‘Time passes, and prophecies come to nothing.’ ²³Tell the people, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will put an end to this proverb, and you will soon stop quoting it.’ Now give them this new proverb to replace the old one: ‘The time has come for every prophecy to be fulfilled!’

²⁴“There will be no more false visions and flattering predictions in Israel. ²⁵For I am the Lord! If I say it, it will happen. There will be no more delays, you rebels of Israel. I will fulfill my threat of destruction in your own lifetime. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

²⁶Then this message came to me from the Lord: ²⁷“Son of man, the people of Israel are saying, ‘He’s talking about the distant future. His visions won’t come true for a long, long time.’ ²⁸Therefore, tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: No more delay! I will now do everything I have threatened. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!’”

Judgment against False Prophets

13 Then this message came to me from the Lord: ²“Son of man, prophesy against the false prophets of Israel who are inventing their own prophecies. Say to them, ‘Listen to the word of the Lord. ³This is what the Sovereign Lord says: What sorrow awaits the false prophets who are following their own imaginations and have seen nothing at all!’

⁴“O people of Israel, these prophets of yours are like jackals digging in the ruins. ⁵They have done nothing to repair the breaks in the walls around the nation. They have not helped it to stand firm in battle on the day of the Lord. ⁶Instead, they have told lies and made false predictions. They say, ‘This message is from the Lord,’ even though the Lord never sent them. And yet they expect him to fulfill their prophecies! ⁷Can your visions be anything but false if you claim, ‘This message is from the Lord,’ when I have not even spoken to you?

⁸“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because what you say is false and your visions are a lie, I will stand against you, says the Sovereign Lord. ⁹I will raise my fist against all the prophets who see false visions and make lying predictions, and they will be banished from the community of Israel. I will blot their names from Israel’s record books, and they will never again set foot in their own land. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.

¹⁰“This will happen because these evil prophets deceive my people by saying, ‘All is peaceful’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to reinforce it by covering it with whitewash! ¹¹Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down. ¹²And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, ‘What happened to your whitewash?’

¹³“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will sweep away your whitewashed wall with a storm of indignation, with a great flood of anger, and with hailstones of fury. ¹⁴I will break down your wall right to its foundation, and when it falls, it will crush you. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵At last my anger against the wall and those who covered it with whitewash will be satisfied. Then I will say to you: ‘The wall and those who whitewashed it are both gone. ¹⁶They were lying prophets who claimed peace would come to Jerusalem when there was no peace. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!’

Judgment against False Women Prophets

¹⁷“Now, son of man, speak out against the women who prophesy from their own imaginations. ¹⁸This is what the Sovereign Lord says: What sorrow awaits you women who are ensnaring the souls of my people, young and old alike. You tie magic charms on their wrists and furnish them with magic veils. Do you think you can trap others without bringing destruction on yourselves? ¹⁹You bring shame on me among my people for a few handfuls of barley or a piece of bread. By lying to my people who love to listen to lies, you kill those who should not die, and you promise life to those who should not live.

²⁰“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against all your magic charms, which you use to ensnare my people like birds. I will tear them from your arms, setting my people free like birds set free from a cage. ²¹I will tear off the magic veils and save my people from your grasp. They will no longer be your victims. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ²²You have discouraged the righteous with your lies, but I didn’t want them to be sad. And you have encouraged the wicked by promising them life, even though they continue in their sins. ²³Because of all this, you will no longer talk of seeing visions that you never saw, nor will you make predictions. For I will rescue my people from your grasp. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

The Idolatry of Israel’s Leaders

14 Then some of the leaders of Israel visited me, and while they were sitting with me, ²this message came to me from the Lord: ³“Son of man, these leaders have set up idols^[c] in their hearts. They have embraced things that will make them fall into sin. Why should I listen to their requests? ⁴Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Israel have set up idols in their hearts and fallen into sin, and then they go to a prophet asking for a message. So I, the Lord, will give them the kind of answer their great idolatry deserves. ⁵I will do this to capture the minds and hearts of all my people who have turned from me to worship their detestable idols.’

⁶“Therefore, tell the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent and turn away from your idols, and stop all your detestable sins. ⁷I, the Lord, will answer all those, both Israelites and foreigners, who reject me and set up idols in their hearts and so fall into sin, and who then come to a prophet asking for my advice. ⁸I will turn against such people and make a terrible example of them, eliminating them from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁹“‘And if a prophet is deceived into giving a message, it is because I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet. I will lift my fist against such prophets and cut them off from the community of Israel. ¹⁰False prophets and those who seek their guidance will all be punished for their sins. ¹¹In this way, the people of Israel will learn not to stray from me, polluting themselves with sin. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!’”

Footnotes:

12:10 Hebrew the prince in Jerusalem; similarly in 12:12.
12:13 Or Chaldeans.
14:3 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung; also in 14:4, 5, 6, 7.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Hebrews 7:1-17

Melchizedek Is Greater Than Abraham

7 This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. ²Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means “king of justice,” and king of Salem means “king of peace.” ³There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.

⁴Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. ⁵Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel,^[a] who are also descendants of Abraham. ⁶But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. ⁷And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed.

⁸The priests who collect tithes are men who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on. ⁹In addition, we might even say that these Levites—the ones who collect the tithe—paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him. ¹⁰For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him.

¹¹So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?^[b]

¹²And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. ¹³For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests. ¹⁴What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.

Jesus Is like Melchizedek

¹⁵This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared. ¹⁶Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. ¹⁷And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied,

“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”^[c]

Footnotes:

7:5 Greek from their brothers.
7:11 Greek the order of Aaron?
7:17 Ps 110:4.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Psalm 105:37-45

³⁷The Lord brought his people out of Egypt, loaded with silver and gold;
and not one among the tribes of Israel even stumbled.
³⁸Egypt was glad when they were gone,
for they feared them greatly.
³⁹The Lord spread a cloud above them as a covering
and gave them a great fire to light the darkness.
⁴⁰They asked for meat, and he sent them quail;
he satisfied their hunger with manna—bread from heaven.
⁴¹He split open a rock, and water gushed out
to form a river through the dry wasteland.
⁴²For he remembered his sacred promise
to his servant Abraham.
⁴³So he brought his people out of Egypt with joy,
his chosen ones with rejoicing.
⁴⁴He gave his people the lands of pagan nations,
and they harvested crops that others had planted.
⁴⁵All this happened so they would follow his decrees
and obey his instructions.

Praise the Lord!

New Living Translation (NLT)

Proverbs 27:3

³A stone is heavy and sand is weighty,
but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.

New Living Translation (NLT)

November 4, 2017

11/4/2017 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 10:1-11:25; Hebrews 6:1-20; Psalms 105:16-36; Proverbs 27:1-2

Today is the fourth day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. And here we are at the end of another week, a week that has switched months for us, and launched us into the 11th month of the year. And day by day we get closer to the destination - the completion of the Bible. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. We have much territory to cover. And we’ll take the next step forward into the Scriptures today. So, we’ve been reading from the Good News translation this week, which is what we’ll do today. Ezekiel chapter 10 verse 1 through 11 verse 25 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Hebrews today, the last verse that we read we encounter an interesting name that harkens back to the Old Testament. The verse reads, on our behalf Jesus has gone there before us and has become a high priest forever in the priestly order of Melchizedek. And tomorrow, when we encounter the book of Hebrews, we’ll be hearing much more about Melchizedek. And, so, we probably need talk about him a little bit. So, I’m going to start that today by just explaining who Melchizedek is and where he shows up in the Bible. And we’ll probably only get through the Old Testament part of that. But we’ll talk about it more tomorrow. So, who is Melchizedek and why is he compared to Jesus in the book of Hebrews? Now, when you start digging into that territory, it starts getting complicated really fast, and the waters get very murky, and you find everything from remarkable correlations to fantastical things that you would expect to read in an adventure or fantasy novel. So, if you want to lose yourself down that rabbit hole, there’s plenty of stuff to read about it, but if you want to stick to Biblical scholarship, then you’ve still got a lot of thoughts about a lot of things. So, we don’t have several hours to talk about this and I am nowhere near a leading expert on it, but over time I have done enough research and scholarship on it to at least give us some context and a little bit of a baseline, maybe just like a little platform from which you can do as many deep dives as you personally want to do. But in terms of what we do here every day, as we go through a portion of Scripture and apply it to our lives, context is important. So, let’s try to get some context. Melchizedek is a figure that first appears in the Bible in the book of Genesis chapter 14. And, obviously, we read that many months ago, back in the month of January. The story is about Abraham and Lot in a battle where there were five kings against four kings and Lot was captured and taken away in this battle and Abraham went in pursuit and recovered everything. And on his way back, he runs into this figure, Melchizedek, king of Salem, and priest of the most high God. And Abraham pays him a 10% tithe of the plunder from the battle and Melchizedek then, in turn, blesses them. So, no big deal so far, just the retelling of an event that happened and, perhaps, the first theological handle that we have in the Bible relating to Melchizedek is a distinction. So, let’s look at that real quick. I’m reading from Genesis chapter 14. After Abram returned from his victory over Chedorlaomer and all his allies, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shiva, that is the King’s Valley, and Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God most high, brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing. Blessed be Abram by God most high Creator of heaven and earth and blessed be God most high who was defeated your enemies for you. Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the good he’d recovered. The king of Sodom said to Abram, give back my people who were captured, but you may keep for yourself all the good you have recovered. Abram replied to the king of Sodom, I solemnly swear to the Lord God most high, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you. Otherwise you might say I am the one who made Abram rich. I will accept only what my young warriors have already eaten, and I request that you give a fair share of the goods to my allies Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Okay, so, before we can point out the distinction, we just have to understand what’s going on here. Abram has met God. God has invited Abram into a land that he would be shown and he’s following God’s directions. Understand, Abraham’s not following Scriptures. He’s not referring to prophecies. None of that has happened yet. So, the Bible that we are reading hasn’t happened yet at all, but Abram knows who he is always following and that his entire destiny is based upon that relationship because he’s left behind his home and all of the resources and culture that he’s used to navigating. And he’s away from all of that and he’s pursuing the direction of the God who introduced himself to him. So, he’s clear that his life is in God’s hands. So, we have the king of Salem, who is a priest of the most high God, who is coming out and blesses Abram. Of course, Abram in rescuing his kin, Lot, also saves the necks of a bunch of kings. One of them, the king of Sodom, who expects that he will have to reward Abram for what he’s done and he’s trying to negotiate that deal. Abram makes a distinction. He gives a tithe - a tenth to Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, but tells the king of Sodom he won’t take anything. He’s not taking anything from anyone in terms of plunder because in no way is he leaving the door open so later someone will be able to say that they made Abram. Right? That they made Abraham who he is. Abram is acknowledging God alone. So, we can say that. We can say that solidly. And that’s our first introduction to Melchizedek. Abraham makes a distinction between the king of Salem, priest of the most high God, and the other kings. So, who is this guy and does his name mean something? According the Scriptures, Melchizedek is the king of Salem, also known as Jerusalem. So, Melchizedek is a Canaanite king who rules the region and city of Jerusalem, also known as Salem. And the majority of biblical scholars would agree on that. What does his name mean? So, Melchizedek - the king of righteousness or maybe more literally, my king is righteous, or maybe even more literally, my king is right. And that’s it. Melchizedek only shows up one other time in the Old Testament by name and that is found in the Psalms. Psalm 110 verse 4, which reads, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And thoughts about this begin to spray off in all kinds of different directions from there. And, I mean, and you can see how. The order of Melchizedek, what is that? I mean, that sounds like the title to a thriller, does it not? I mean, what is the order of Melchizedek and how does one get into the club? So, we have to, first, acknowledge that a lot of things happen between Abraham and King David writing Psalms. Right? So, Abraham has Isaac. Isaac then sires Jacob and Esau. Jacob’s name changes to Israel. He has kids. They become the children of Israel. They are enslaved in Egypt. They are freed from Egypt. They wander in the wilderness. They come into the promised land, that is the conquest. We go through generation after generation after generation of judges and then kingship is introduced into the culture with King Saul and then comes David. So, a lot happens between the two times Melchizedek is named in the Old Testament. And even though a lot has happened, a lot of ground has been covered and a lot of years of past, Melchizedek doesn’t disappear from their thought. Even though he was only mentioned two times in the Old Testament far apart in history, he is still being referred to. Why would that be? Why would this obscure event in Abraham’s life that refers to an ancient Canaanite king who happened to the be a priest of the most high God continue forward in the culture extra-biblically throughout all the generations all the way down to King David writing a song? So, there can be all kinds of explanations but from a scholarship perspective, I think this is what holds the most water- Melchizedek is the first priest named in the Bible and he is a priest of the most high God, king of Salem. In David’s time, priests could only come from the tribe of Levi, as mandated by the Mosaic law, and yet, Melchizedek was most certainly not a Levite because Levi hadn’t been born yet in Abraham’s time when this incident happened. So, in Abraham’s time, there is no Mosaic law because Moses hasn’t been born and there are no Levites because Levi hasn’t been born. And yet, Melchizedek is a priest of the most high God, but most definitely not a Levite but the Bible makes it clear that he’s a king. So, Melchizedek is a priest of the most high God, who is also a king. So, when David writes Psalm 110 and he pens this song and writes these lyrics under the inspiration of God, a statement is being made. David is to be a priestly king in the order of Melchizedek. So, like Melchizedek was. And it so happens that David is king in Jerusalem, the same city. So, David is a king who is aligned with the priesthood. So, maybe not occupying the office and the function of Levitical priesthood, but nevertheless, the priesthood before God. And this is a bit of a big deal from a theological and from a cultural perspective in David’s time because they do have the Torah, they have the Mosaic law, and it’s the underpinning of their entire society, and priests can only be Levites. And yet, David is to be a priestly king. And the way that this can work is that David is being set aside by God, like Melchizedek, in the order of Melchizedek, to serve in that role even though he’s from the tribe of Judah and not the tribe of Levi. Okay. So, I have to take a small bunny trail that applies directly to this. So, probably the most compelling theological understanding would place us back in the life of Moses. So, we know the story of Moses and his childhood and him being placed in the river in a wicker basket and being raised by Pharaoh’s daughter and ending up killing an Egyptian and having to flee for his life and all of this. And the next thing you know Moses is before burning bush and God is calling him to set his people free from slavery in Egypt. And God is telling him to go and Moses is resisting, he was giving every excuse. And his main excuse is, I don’t know how to speak, like, I’m not a public speaker, I don’t know how to do this. And God’s telling him, you really don’t have to do anything but just obey me. Like, I’ll put the words in your mouth. It’s all good. You don’t have to worry about this. And, finally, Moses is like, send someone else, please send somebody else, which for me is a very sad scene in the Bible because of how much it imitates our own lives. But in the end, God relents and sends Moses brother Aaron to be the mouthpiece. And this is where we see sort of like this dual role - a priestly role and a governor or a kingly role. Moses and Aaron make up the two pieces but that is more like the plan B. Right? So, the plan A was that Moses would be empowered by God to lead his people and would be the mouthpiece of God to those people. In other words, a priestly governor, a priestly ruler, a priestly king. So, in other words, Melchizedek was a priestly king of the most high God. Moses would’ve been invited into that but didn’t enter into it. But then God invites David into that role once kings are introduced into the story of Israel. And that is where I’m going to stop for today. We are going to read about Melchizedek in the book of Hebrews extensively tomorrow and we’ll pick this up then, once we have a little bit more New Testament context to the story

Prayer:

Father we thank You for the beauty of Your word. And as we apply our minds and hearts to all of its nuances and intricacy, we invite Your Holy Spirit among us. We thank You for this gift. We love You, Father, and worship You. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

It’s been a flurry of activity around here as we begin to deploy this new app and platform. And those of you who contributed to the Global Campfire Initiative will have been receiving your invites. And, so, you are some of the first people to even see this. So, we’re excited about that and we’ll continue forward toward our projected release of all of this in December.

Looking at the calendar, the 19h of this month, the month of November, we’ll be back out on the road in the deep South. We’ll be in Shreveport Louisiana area, Bossier City, Louisiana. And we’ll be sharing Sneezing Jesus at River Valley church in Bossier City. So, you can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the events section. And, we’ll look forward to seeing you there.

If your partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Then as I say, often, I can’t thank you enough, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner. Had to catch myself. I almost said the upper right-hand corner because that’s how it is in the new app, but the lower 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 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning. It is Beloved by Him from Gloucester, UK and it Wednesday, the first of November. And, this is a praise report, really. I’ve been listening consecutively for to whole months now from ___ and it is amazing how God has blessed me since then and how much better I am now then I was when I started. So, let’s pray. Father God, thank You for the DAB. Thank You so, so much for Brian and the team behind it. Thank You for Brian who answered Your call and for everything you’ve done with it through then, for all those people who reviewed the DAB way back when I first started listening a long time ago. Father God, thank You for the Global Campfire Initiative. Thank You that the team are going to make this free and we pray Lord that You’d be at work in that, that You would help us discover all of those bugs, all of those problems, so that when it comes to releasing it properly it will just be a great instrument of grace for people to find You and learn and know more about You. Father God, I lift up my brothers and sisters out there who aren’t listening right now, who can’t listen for whatever reason, whether it’s a technical difficulty, no access to wi-fi or data, or ___ whatever. I pray Lord that You’d blessing them where they are and sending people and sending companions for them to help them through. Father God, for those of us who are in a dark state right now, be it depression or anxiety, something that’s stopping us from listening, I pray Lord that Your light will shine so, so brightly in our lives. We’d love to see You and be blessed by You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hi. Good morning Daily Audio family. It’s really nice to know that I have friends and brothers and sisters around the world for praying and believing who are strong who are in community. I just want to be vulnerable with my brothers and sisters this morning. I feel so lonely and on my own. I have been divorced for about four years now and live on my own and often on my quite time, it’s when we’re in isolation that the enemy tries to attack most, mainly in fort life, mainly ideas and notions and addictions and comforts. Sometimes we comfort ourselves in our loneness with different substances like drink and alcohol and even pornography to satisfy those needs. And I want to be honest with you, I’m struggling. I’m struggling with ___ of loneliness and with a God who is there, who knows my thoughts, who knows my coming in and going down, who knows my thoughts. I just want to put my need out there and say, I really need companionship and accountability, that the right people, the right friends, will come around me, that God will just comfort me. And You said You will never leave me or Forsake me. I just need stability and ___ that word today. I wish you and thank You for considering my prayer request and I love you all and appreciate you, Brian and Jill. God bless you all. Bye-bye.

Hi everyone, it’s Lisa the Encourager. I hope you guys are having a great day. I am calling in to pray for some of my Daily Audio Bible friends. I’m calling to pray for Edgar. He is in Belize, He’s on a pilgrim’s journey. So, I want to pray for Edgar tonight. I also want to pray for Julie from Maryland, to lift up her husband in prayer. He’s a godly man and she just wants us to pray for him. So, I am going to praying for him for you tonight sweety. And also, doctor John, I am praying for Phoebe, she’s in medical school and I know that…I can’t imagine…I’m sure that’s a lot of stress and I guess she mentioned that she has some depression and anxiety and am just praying that she’ll alleviate some of that stress and that she’ll just have piece in God through all of that - from God. And also, Melany had called in abut her sister, that she was in a horrible accident and needed healing from that. So, I am praying for that for you and your dear sister Melany. And lastly, Homeward Bound called about her dad needing surgery and he needed it in two weeks. I think that was from October the 7^th. It’s been some time now. So, I’m not sure if he’s had surgery or is post or pre-op but I am definitely going to be praying for your dad, Homeward Bound, and it’s my pleasure to pray for your dad. So, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, I thank You so much for Edgar and him on his pilgrim’s journey. Lord, I just pray You’ll protect him and give him all the kind of resources that he needs in order to complete this pilgrimage and that he’ll give all the glory to God and he will be able to be lifted up in His Spirit and feel fulfilled, Lord…and I just pray for…

Hey Daily Audio Bible friends, this is ___ in ___ Chicago. I just left a message but I believe it got messed up, so, please delete that one and play this one instead. Anyway, let’s pray. God, thank You so much for today. Thank You for how You went before me and the people in the small group tonight as we met and had to talk about some tough stuff and You just did a miracle and gave me a humble heart, allowing us to listen to constructive feedback. I ask that You would open my heart to people that I have closed my heart to and just give wisdom on boundaries and all that stuff. Thank You, that You are constantly at work in the world and Yu are constantly at work in our lives. I thank You for the lady that calls into the Daily Audio Bible and sings songs over us. I ask that You will just strengthen and encourage her. Whether or not You bring back her original voice, we thank You that you’ve given her willingness to call in and bless us with the voice that she has right now. This is such a great, really amazing thing. So, thank You, God, for that. Thank you everyone that is listening and I ask that if there is anyone that is listening right now that wants to give up on life that You would bring them joy and peace and hope. Thank You so much that two days ago marked the one year anniversary of someone know and love being in the hospital for suicide, suicidal tendencies, but now is living and working and much healthier than before. So, we thank You so much for that beautiful transformation. Amen. Love you all. Bye.

November 4, 2017

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday November 4, 2017 (NIV)

Ezekiel 10-11

The Glory of the Lord Leaves the Temple

10 ^(A)I looked at the dome over the heads of the living creatures^[a] and above them was something that seemed to be a throne made of sapphire. ²^(B)God said to the man wearing linen clothes, “Go between the wheels under the creatures and fill your hands with burning coals. Then scatter the coals over the city.”

I watched him go. ³The creatures were standing to the south of the Temple when he went in, and a cloud filled the inner courtyard. ⁴The dazzling light of the Lord's presence rose up from the creatures and moved to the entrance of the Temple. Then the cloud filled the Temple, and the courtyard was blazing with the light. ⁵The noise made by the creatures' wings was heard even in the outer courtyard. It sounded like the voice of Almighty God.

⁶When the Lord commanded the man wearing linen clothes to take some fire from between the wheels that were under the creatures, the man went in and stood by one of the wheels. ⁷One of the creatures reached his hand into the fire that was there among them, picked up some coals, and put them in the hands of the man in linen. The man took the coals and left.

⁸I saw that each creature had what looked like a human hand under each of its wings. ^9-10^(C)I also saw that there were four wheels, all alike, one beside each creature. The wheels shone like precious stones, and each one had another wheel which intersected it at right angles. ¹¹When the creatures moved, they could go in any direction without turning. They all moved together in the direction they wanted to go, without having to turn around. ¹²^(D)Their bodies, backs, hands, wings, and wheels were covered with eyes. ¹³I heard a voice calling out, “Whirling wheels.”

¹⁴^(E)Each creature had four faces. The first was the face of a bull, the second a human face, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. ¹⁵(They were the same creatures that I had seen by the Chebar River.) When the creatures rose in the air ¹⁶and moved, the wheels went with them. Whenever they spread their wings to fly, the wheels still went with them. ¹⁷When the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; and when the creatures flew, the wheels went with them, because the creatures controlled them.

¹⁸Then the dazzling light of the Lord's presence left the entrance of the Temple and moved to a place above the creatures. ¹⁹They spread their wings and flew up from the earth while I was watching, and the wheels went with them. They paused at the east gate of the Temple, and the dazzling light was over them. ²⁰I recognized them as the same creatures which I had seen beneath the God of Israel at the Chebar River.

²¹Each of them had four faces, four wings, and what looked like a human hand under each wing. ²²Their faces looked exactly like the faces^[b] I had seen by the Chebar River. Each creature moved straight ahead.

Jerusalem Is Condemned

11 God's spirit lifted me up and took me to the east gate of the Temple. There near the gate I saw twenty-five men, including Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, two leaders of the nation.

²God said to me, “Mortal man, these men make evil plans and give bad advice in this city. ³They say, ‘We will soon be building houses again.^[c] The city is like a cooking pot, and we are like the meat in it, but at least it protects us from the fire.’ ⁴Now then, denounce them, mortal man.”

⁵The spirit of the Lord took control of me, and the Lord told me to give the people this message: “People of Israel, I know what you are saying and what you are planning. ⁶You have murdered so many people here in the city that the streets are full of corpses.

⁷“So this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to you. This city is a cooking pot all right, but what is the meat? The corpses of those you have killed! You will not be here—I will throw you out of the city! ⁸Are you afraid of swords? I will bring soldiers with swords to attack you. ⁹I will take you out of the city and hand you over to foreigners. I have sentenced you to death, ¹⁰and you will be killed in battle in your own country. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord. ¹¹This city will not protect you the way a pot protects the meat in it. I will punish you wherever you may be in the land of Israel. ¹²You will know that I am the Lord and that while you were keeping the laws of the neighboring nations, you were breaking my laws and disobeying my commands.”

¹³While I was prophesying, Pelatiah dropped dead. I threw myself face downward on the ground and shouted, “No, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to kill everyone left in Israel?”

God's Promise to the Exiles

¹⁴The Lord spoke to me. ¹⁵“Mortal man,” he said, “the people who live in Jerusalem are talking about you and those of your nation who are in exile. They say, ‘The exiles are too far away to worship the Lord. He has given us possession of the land.’

¹⁶“Now tell your fellow exiles what I am saying. I am the one who sent them to live in far-off nations and scattered them in other countries. Yet, for the time being I will be present with them in the lands where they have gone.

¹⁷“So tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. I will gather them out of the countries where I scattered them, and will give the land of Israel back to them. ¹⁸When they return, they are to get rid of all the filthy, disgusting idols they find. ¹⁹^(F)I will give them a new heart and a new mind. I will take away their stubborn heart of stone and will give them an obedient heart. ²⁰Then they will keep my laws and faithfully obey all my commands. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹But I will punish the people who love to worship filthy, disgusting idols. I will punish them for what they have done.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

God's Glory Leaves Jerusalem

²²^(G)The living creatures began to fly, and the wheels went with them. The dazzling light of the presence of the God of Israel was over them. ²³Then the dazzling light left the city and moved to the mountain east of it. ²⁴In the vision the spirit of God lifted me up and brought me back to the exiles in Babylonia. Then the vision faded, ²⁵and I told the exiles everything that the Lord had shown me.

Footnotes:

Ezekiel 10:1 See 1.5-12.
Ezekiel 10:22 Probable text the faces; Hebrew the faces and them.
Ezekiel 11:3 We will … again; or We won't be building houses any time soon.

Cross references:

Good News Translation (GNT)

Hebrews 6

6 Let us go forward, then, to mature teaching and leave behind us the first lessons of the Christian message. We should not lay again the foundation of turning away from useless works and believing in God; ²of the teaching about baptisms^[a] and the laying on of hands; of the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment. ³Let us go forward! And this is what we will do, if God allows.

⁴For how can those who abandon their faith be brought back to repent again? They were once in God's light; they tasted heaven's gift and received their share of the Holy Spirit; ⁵they knew from experience that God's word is good, and they had felt the powers of the coming age. ⁶And then they abandoned their faith! It is impossible to bring them back to repent again, because they are again crucifying the Son of God and exposing him to public shame.

⁷God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated. ⁸^(A)But if it grows thorns and weeds, it is worth nothing; it is in danger of being cursed by God and will be destroyed by fire.

⁹But even if we speak like this, dear friends, we feel sure about you. We know that you have the better blessings that belong to your salvation. ¹⁰God is not unfair. He will not forget the work you did or the love you showed for him in the help you gave and are still giving to other Christians. ¹¹Our great desire is that each of you keep up your eagerness to the end, so that the things you hope for will come true. ¹²We do not want you to become lazy, but to be like those who believe and are patient, and so receive what God has promised.

God's Sure Promise

¹³When God made his promise to Abraham, he made a vow to do what he had promised. Since there was no one greater than himself, he used his own name when he made his vow. ¹⁴^(B)He said, “I promise you that I will bless you and give you many descendants.” ¹⁵Abraham was patient, and so he received what God had promised. ¹⁶When we make a vow, we use the name of someone greater than ourselves, and the vow settles all arguments. ¹⁷To those who were to receive what he promised, God wanted to make it very clear that he would never change his purpose; so he added his vow to the promise. ¹⁸There are these two things, then, that cannot change and about which God cannot lie. So we who have found safety with him are greatly encouraged to hold firmly to the hope placed before us. ¹⁹^(C)We have this hope as an anchor for our lives. It is safe and sure, and goes through the curtain of the heavenly temple into the inner sanctuary. ²⁰^(D)On our behalf Jesus has gone in there before us and has become a high priest forever, in the priestly order of Melchizedek.^[b]

Footnotes:

Hebrews 6:2 baptisms; or purification ceremonies.
Hebrews 6:20 in the priestly order of Melchizedek (see 5.6).

Cross references:

Good News Translation (GNT)

Psalm 105:16-36

¹⁶^(A)The Lord sent famine to their country
and took away all their food.
¹⁷^(B)But he sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who had been sold as a slave.
¹⁸^(C)His feet were kept in chains,
and an iron collar was around his neck,
¹⁹until what he had predicted came true.
The word of the Lord proved him right.
²⁰^(D)Then the king of Egypt had him released;
the ruler of nations set him free.
²¹^(E)He put him in charge of his government
and made him ruler over all the land,
²²with power over the king's officials
and authority to instruct his advisers.

²³^(F)Then Jacob went to Egypt
and settled in that country.
²⁴^(G)The Lord gave many children to his people
and made them stronger than their enemies.
²⁵He made the Egyptians hate his people
and treat his servants with deceit.

²⁶^(H)Then he sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
²⁷They did God's mighty acts
and performed miracles in Egypt.
²⁸^(I)God sent darkness on the country,
but the Egyptians did not obey^[a] his command.
²⁹^(J)He turned their rivers into blood
and killed all their fish.
³⁰^(K)Their country was overrun with frogs;
even the palace was filled with them.
³¹^(L)God commanded, and flies and gnats
swarmed throughout the whole country.
³²^(M)He sent hail and lightning on their land
instead of rain;
³³he destroyed their grapevines and fig trees
and broke down all the trees.
³⁴^(N)He commanded, and the locusts came,
countless millions of them;
³⁵they ate all the plants in the land;
they ate all the crops.
³⁶^(O)He killed the first-born sons
of all the families of Egypt.

Footnotes:

Psalm 105:28 Some ancient translations did not obey; Hebrew obeyed.

Good News Translation (GNT)

Proverbs 27:1-2

27 ^(A)Never boast about tomorrow. You don't know what will happen between now and then.

²Let other people praise you—even strangers; never do it yourself.

Cross references:

Proverbs 27:1 : Jas 4:13-Jas 4:16

Good News Translation (GNT)

November 3, 2017

11/3/2017 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 7:1-9:11; Hebrews 5:1-14; Psalms 105:1-15; Proverbs 26:28

Today is the third day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we dive in and take the next step forward through the Scriptures this year. And this week we’re reading from the Good News translation. And, so, for our Old Testament reading, Ezekiel chapter 7 verse 1 through 9:11.

Commentary:

Alright. So, the portion of the Proverbs that we are in right now is speaking directly to the kinds of things that come out of our mouth. And, of course, before something ever comes out of our mouth, it bubbles up from within our heart and filters through our mind and is formed into words and then we use, of course, our facial muscles and tongue to say those words. And we should become aware of the things that are forming in our heads that we’re about to say because, you know, when something comes bubbling out of our heart and filters through our mind, there’s still time. There’s still time to invite the Holy Spirit before we actually say the thing. So, for example, we talked about insincere talk the other day with the clay pot that’s of substandard quality but varnished to look like it’s valuable and the proverb equated that to insincere talk. Today the proverb tells us, look, insincere talk brings nothing but ruin. So, as one of the things of my father, that he would say to me, that has actually stuck, and, you know, I have been without my dad for 15 years now, but one of the things that he would counsel me on is, son nothing good can come from that - whatever that was. Today, it’s insincerity. Insincere talk brings nothing but ruin, the Bible says. So, nothing good can come from that. But the proverb starts, you have to hate someone to want to hurt them with lies. So, have you ever been lied to or lied about and then became aware of it and it wasn’t true, it was a lie and you were deeply hurt by it? Or maybe you’ve hurt someone that way? Maybe you’ve told things that are not true, spread things that are not true, and hurt someone deeply? According to the Scripture that comes from a place of hatred. So, remember when we were talking about things bubbling up in our heart and then filtering through our mind and then we speak them with our mouth. Well, that thing that was bubbling up in your heart before it was formed into words was hate and nothing good can come from that. The chaos and confusion that you may cause by that may feel like revenge or justice to you, but nothing good can come from that. Only ruin can come from that, according to the proverb. And, so, once again the Scriptures become the mirror that we have to face ourselves in. And once again the Bible penetrates deep, like we were talking about yesterday in the book of Hebrews, to the place where soul and spirit meet. If hatred is there and insincerity is there, in other words, falseness is there, then nothing good is going to come from it. And here is an example of the Scriptures reaching us at that level and challenging us, that we are new creations. This stuff does not have to linger anymore and be a part of our story anymore. And as old as the Proverbs are they still speak prophetically into our lives because this is the rhythm of the Scripture. How many times have we read through prophets who have been instructed by God to go warn people? Nothing good is going to come from what you are doing. It is only going to lead you to destruction and loss. It is only going to be bad. Come back. Return to me. Come home. This doesn’t have to happen. Our words work the same way. They bring about the same kind of destinies. And if we are harboring hatred and hurt people with lies and our insincere and false. Well then, there’s our warning straight out of the Bible today. It’s not going to go well. Turn back, come home, invite the Holy Spirit back into a leadership position in your life because it doesn’t have to go this way unless you want it to.

Prayer:

Father, we don’t want to live our lives piling up things that amount to nothing but ruin. We want our lives to matter. We want to reflect Your glory in this world, but we all have our own injuries and wounds, our own histories. And, so, we invite You into those places that are so deeply hurt that we would strike back with insincerity and lies and hatred in the places that we think there’s injustice toward us. And yet You are telling us through Your word, perpetuating that, passing it forward, is going to bring nothing but ruin. And, so, we give You control over our minds, our spirits, our identities and our tongues. And we ask, Holy Spirit, that You would come into those places that are broken and that we would yield to You before we say something that nothing good can come from. Come Holy Spirit. We pray. In Jesus’ name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to check it out.

So, there’s always plenty going on around. So, check it out. Looking at the calendar, the 19^th of November will be our next date out on the road. And we will be in the Shreveport Louisiana area bringing the Sneezing Jesus message at River Valley church, which is in Bossier City, Louisiana. So, if you are in the South, come say hello, love to see you. And you can get all the details: maps, times, websites, phone numbers, all that kind of stuff dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the daily audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the website on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. If you are using the app you can press the More button in the lower 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 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hello Daily Audio Bible. This is Joe The Protector from Georgia. It’s October 30^th at 7:50 in the morning. I just got finished listening to the podcast and the prayer at the end and I just want to lift up our sister Candice from Oregon. Candice from Oregon, I just want to encourage you and lift you up and when I heard you on today’s podcast it just gave me a new Spirit, like I believe you have. You’ve got a fresh new Spirit and it gave me something when I heard you singing and I just want to lift that up and lift that up to Jesus and thank Him for giving you courage through this time. And just know that you are loved. Alright. Love you all. Bye.

Hello DABber friends. This is Amanda from Virginia. I wanted to call in out of encouragement and sharing for Jacqueline from Texas. Oh, sweetheart, I have been where you are. I am on the other side of that and it was the hardest, darkest era of my life, but I can tell you that there is hope in Jesus. You are so doing the right thing by just engulfing yourself in the word because, think of it like your shelter, my husband did the exact same thing. I have 5 very small children and over a year ago he became angry and withdrawn and cynical and he is saved as well but he went to the darkest place I had ever seen. He got a girlfriend, which happened to be one of my good friends, and ended up sleeping with her for 8 months. It was just insane. And I cannot tell you the level grieving and depth of confusion and hurt and betrayal from the whole thing. But I’m telling you honey, this is an attack. It’s an attack on your family. It’s an attack on your husband and it’s an attack on you. Surround yourself like armor, with the word of God, with music that is just speaking life, and surround yourself with people that are seeking and praying for you. One of the best things that I did that changed everything was to pray for my husband. I actually had an alarm on my phone. So, it was three times a day. I actually called it my battle prayer because I felt like I was going to battle for my husband…for…

Hey everyone. This is Tony the painter. I just want to say a big thank you to everybody who replied to me on the prayer wall, especially to Brian and Jill but especially, especially, especially, especially to Jill. The words that you wrote were…yeah…just lovely. Thank you so much. Things are pretty bad. My marriage is dying or dead and guys…I just…being 4000 miles away from your spouse for like 10 months now is painful. I just want you to know I am praying for. I’m praying for the Global Campfire and the new app and…yeah…I just love you guys so much. God bless you all. Bye-bye.

Hi Daily Audio Bible, this is Paul from Houston and I was calling regarding response to the lady that didn’t give her name from September 16. I know, I’m a little behind, I’m trying to catch up. But she was mentioning, she was asking prayer for her husband who had a bipolar condition and had been speaking a lot of negativity and threatening different things and going with different episodes and I just want to pray that there would be peace in the house and I thank You Lord that Your Holy Spirit will dwell there. And I ask Lord that the Spirit of control or this bipolar condition would be addressed and I ask Lord that this husband would seek out that help that he needs and I thank You Lord that he’d be open to that and I ask Lord that your Holy Spirit to work there so that there will be a softening of hearts and a softening of countenance and I ask Lord that you would just be with them and be with this family Lord and I ask Lord for peace and Lord I pray that people would not be affected by these words for they realize that these words are not from God but there from the enemy. And I thank you Lord that you realize that the enemy tries to throw darts at You and that he have put Your shield up, put Your armor on, and be ready for that battle. And I just thank You Lord that You would bless and You prosper this family Lord and that You would be with them and I ask for Your peace and Your protection and Your Holy Spirit to guard this family. In Jesus’ name. I just thank You Lord for that. And thank you guys. Anyways, thank you for praying for Houston. We’re still recovering. There’s a lot of folks still having difficulty getting contractors and…

November 3, 2017

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday November 3, 2017 (NIV)

Ezekiel 7-9

The End Is Near for Israel

7 The Lord spoke to me. ²“Mortal man,” he said, “this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to the land of Israel: This is the end for the whole land!

³“Israel, the end has come. You will feel my anger, because I am judging you for what you have done. I will pay you back for all your disgusting conduct. ⁴I will not spare you or show you any mercy. I am going to punish you for the disgusting things you have done, so that you will know that I am the Lord.”

⁵This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “One disaster after another is coming on you. ⁶It's all over. This is the end. You are finished. ⁷The end is coming for you people who live in the land. The time is near when there will be no more celebrations at the mountain shrines, only confusion.^[a]

⁸“Very soon now you will feel all the force of my anger. I am judging you for what you have done, and I will pay you back for all your disgusting conduct. ⁹I will not spare you or show you any mercy. I am going to punish you for the disgusting things you have done, so that you will know that I am the Lord and that I am the one who punishes you.”

¹⁰The day of disaster is coming. Violence is flourishing. Pride is at its height.^[b] ¹¹Violence produces more wickedness. Nothing of theirs will remain, nothing of their wealth, their splendor, or their glory.

¹²The time is coming. The day is near when buying and selling will have no more meaning, because God's punishment will fall on everyone alike. ¹³No merchants will live long enough to get back what they have lost, because God's anger is on everyone. Those who are evil cannot survive.^[c] ¹⁴The trumpet blows, and everyone gets ready. But no one goes off to war, for God's anger will fall on everyone alike.

Punishment for Israel's Sins

¹⁵There is fighting in the streets, and sickness and hunger in the houses. Anyone who is out in the country will die in the fighting, and anyone in the city will be a victim of sickness and hunger. ¹⁶Some will escape to the mountains like doves frightened from the valleys. All of them will moan over their sins.^[d] ¹⁷Everyone's hands will be weak, and their knees will shake. ¹⁸They will put on sackcloth and they will tremble all over. Their heads will be shaved, and they will all be disgraced. ¹⁹They will throw their gold and silver away in the streets like garbage, because neither silver nor gold can save them when the Lord pours out his fury. They cannot use it to satisfy their desires or fill their stomachs. Gold and silver led them into sin. ²⁰Once they were proud of their beautiful jewels, but they used them to make disgusting idols. That is why the Lord has made their wealth repulsive to them.

²¹“I will let foreigners rob them,” says the Lord, “and lawbreakers will take all their wealth and defile it. ²²I will not interfere when my treasured Temple is profaned, when robbers break into it and defile it.

²³“Everything is in confusion^[e]—the land is full of murders and the cities are full of violence. ²⁴I will bring the most evil nations here and let them have your homes. Your strongest men will lose their confidence when I let the nations profane the places where you worship. ²⁵Despair is coming. You will look for peace and never find it. ²⁶One disaster will follow another, and a steady stream of bad news will pour in. You will beg the prophets to reveal what they foresee. The priests will have nothing to teach the people, and the elders will have no advice to give. ²⁷The king will mourn, the prince will give up hope, and the people will shake with fear. I will punish you for all you have done, and will judge you in the same way as you have judged others. This will show you that I am the Lord.”

EZEKIEL'S SECOND VISION OF GOD (8.1—10.22)

Idolatry in Jerusalem

8 On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of our exile, the leaders of the exiles from Judah were sitting in my house with me. Suddenly the power of the Sovereign Lord came on me. ²^(A)I looked up and saw a vision of a fiery human form. From the waist down his body looked like fire, and from the waist up he was shining like polished bronze. ³He reached out what seemed to be a hand and grabbed me by the hair. Then in this vision God's spirit lifted me high in the air and took me to Jerusalem. He took me to the inner entrance of the north gate of the Temple, where there was an idol that was an outrage to God.

⁴^(B)There I saw the dazzling light that shows the presence of Israel's God, just as I had seen it when I was by the Chebar River. ⁵God said to me, “Mortal man, look toward the north.” I looked, and there near the altar by the entrance of the gateway I saw the idol that was an outrage to God.

⁶God said to me, “Mortal man, do you see what is happening? Look at the disgusting things the people of Israel are doing here, driving me farther and farther away from my holy place. You will see even more disgraceful things than this.”

⁷He took me to the entrance of the outer courtyard and showed me a hole in the wall. ⁸He said, “Mortal man, break through the wall here.” I broke through it and found a door. ⁹He told me, “Go in and look at the evil, disgusting things they are doing there.” ¹⁰So I went in and looked. The walls were covered with drawings of snakes and other unclean animals,^[f] and of the other things which the Israelites were worshiping. ¹¹Seventy Israelite leaders were there, including Jaazaniah son of Shaphan. Each one was holding an incense burner, and smoke was rising from the incense. ¹²God asked me, “Mortal man, do you see what the Israelite leaders are doing in secret? They are all worshiping in a room full of images. Their excuse is: ‘The Lord doesn't see us! He has abandoned the country.’”

¹³Then the Lord said to me, “You are going to see them do even more disgusting things than that.” ¹⁴So he took me to the north gate of the Temple and showed me women weeping over the death of the god Tammuz.^[g]

¹⁵He asked, “Mortal man, do you see that? You will see even more disgusting things.” ¹⁶So he took me to the inner courtyard of the Temple. There near the entrance of the sanctuary, between the altar and the porch, were about twenty-five men. They had turned their backs to the sanctuary and were bowing low toward the east, worshiping the rising sun.

¹⁷The Lord said to me, “Mortal man, do you see that? These people of Judah are not satisfied with merely doing all the disgusting things you have seen here and with spreading violence throughout the country. No, they must come and do them right here in the Temple and make me even more angry. Look how they insult me in the most offensive way possible!^[h] ¹⁸They will feel all the force of my anger. I will not spare them or show them any mercy. They will shout prayers to me as loud as they can, but I will not listen to them.”

Jerusalem Is Punished

9 Then I heard God shout, “Come here, you men who are going to punish the city. Bring your weapons with you.” ²At once six men came from the outer north gate of the Temple, each one carrying a weapon. With them was a man dressed in linen clothes, carrying something to write with. They all came and stood by the bronze altar.

³Then the dazzling light of the presence of the God of Israel rose up from the winged creatures^[i] where it had been, and moved to the entrance of the Temple. The Lord called to the man dressed in linen, ⁴^(C)“Go through the whole city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the forehead of everyone who is distressed and troubled because of all the disgusting things being done in the city.”

⁵And I heard God say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill. Spare no one; have mercy on no one. ⁶Kill the old men, young men, young women, mothers, and children. But don't touch anyone who has the mark on his forehead. Start here at my Temple.” So they began with the leaders who were standing there at the Temple.

⁷God said to them, “Defile the Temple. Fill its courtyards with corpses. Get to work!” So they began to kill the people in the city.^[j]

⁸While the killing was going on, I was there alone. I threw myself face downward on the ground and shouted, “Sovereign Lord, are you so angry with Jerusalem that you are going to kill everyone left in Israel?”

⁹God answered, “The people of Israel and Judah are guilty of terrible sins. They have committed murder all over the land and have filled Jerusalem with crime. They say that I, the Lord, have abandoned their country and that I don't see them. ¹⁰But I will not have pity on them; I will do to them what they have done to others.”

¹¹Then the man wearing linen clothes returned and reported to the Lord, “I have carried out your orders.”

Footnotes:

Ezekiel 7:7 Probable text celebrations … confusion; Hebrew unclear.
Ezekiel 7:10 Probable text Pride is at its height; Hebrew unclear.
Ezekiel 7:13 Verse 13 in Hebrew is unclear.
Ezekiel 7:16 Verse 16 in Hebrew is unclear.
Ezekiel 7:23 One ancient translation Everything is in confusion; Hebrew unclear.
Ezekiel 8:10 The Law of Moses prohibited the eating of certain animals as being ritually unclean (see 4.13; Lv 11).
Ezekiel 8:14 A god who was thought to die when vegetation died and to come to life the next year. Women would mourn his ritual death.
Ezekiel 8:17 A reference to a pagan rite of putting a branch to the nose.
Ezekiel 9:3 See 1.5-12.
Ezekiel 9:7 work!” So they … city.; or work! Go on and start killing the people in the city!”

Cross references:

Good News Translation (GNT)

Hebrews 5

5 Every high priest is chosen from his fellow-men and appointed to serve God on their behalf, to offer sacrifices and offerings for sins. ²Since he himself is weak in many ways, he is able to be gentle with those who are ignorant and make mistakes. ³^(A)And because he is himself weak, he must offer sacrifices not only for the sins of the people but also for his own sins. ⁴^(B)No one chooses for himself the honor of being a high priest. It is only by God's call that a man is made a high priest—just as Aaron was.

⁵^(C)In the same way, Christ did not take upon himself the honor of being a high priest. Instead, God said to him,

“You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.”
⁶^(D)He also said in another place,
“You will be a priest forever,
in the priestly order of Melchizedek.” ^[a]

⁷^(E)In his life on earth Jesus made his prayers and requests with loud cries and tears to God, who could save him from death. Because he was humble and devoted, God heard him. ⁸But even though he was God's Son, he learned through his sufferings to be obedient. ⁹When he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him, ¹⁰and God declared him to be high priest, in the priestly order of Melchizedek.^[b]

Warning against Abandoning the Faith

¹¹There is much we have to say about this matter, but it is hard to explain to you, because you are so slow to understand. ¹²^(F)There has been enough time for you to be teachers—yet you still need someone to teach you the first lessons of God's message. Instead of eating solid food, you still have to drink milk. ¹³Anyone who has to drink milk is still a child, without any experience in the matter of right and wrong. ¹⁴Solid food, on the other hand, is for adults, who through practice are able to distinguish between good and evil.

Footnotes:

Hebrews 5:6 in the priestly order of Melchizedek; or like Melchizedek; or in the line of succession to Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5:10 in the priestly order of Melchizedek; or like Melchizedek; or in the line of succession to Melchizedek.

Cross references:

Good News Translation (GNT)

Psalm 105:1-15

God and His People^(A)

105 Give thanks to the Lord,
proclaim his greatness;
tell the nations what he has done.
²Sing praise to the Lord;
tell the wonderful things he has done.
³Be glad that we belong to him;
let all who worship him rejoice.
⁴Go to the Lord for help;
and worship him continually.
^5-6You descendants of Abraham, his servant;
you descendants of Jacob, the man he chose:
remember the miracles that God performed
and the judgments that he gave.

⁷The Lord is our God;
his commands are for all the world.
⁸He will keep his covenant forever,
his promises for a thousand generations.
⁹^(B)He will keep the agreement he made with Abraham
and his promise to Isaac.
¹⁰^(C)The Lord made a covenant with Jacob,
one that will last forever.
¹¹“I will give you the land of Canaan,” he said.
“It will be your own possession.”

¹²God's people were few in number,
strangers in the land of Canaan.
¹³They wandered from country to country,
from one kingdom to another.
¹⁴^(D)But God let no one oppress them;
to protect them, he warned the kings:
¹⁵“Don't harm my chosen servants;
do not touch my prophets.”

Cross references:

Good News Translation (GNT)

Proverbs 26:28

²⁸You have to hate someone to want to hurt him with lies. Insincere talk brings nothing but ruin.

Good News Translation (GNT)

November 2, 2017

11/2/2017 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 3:16-6:14; Hebrews 4:1-16; Psalms 104:24-35; Proverbs 26:27

Today is the second day of November, welcome to the daily audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we get ourselves settled into this new month. And even as we do that, were settling into the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament and the book of Hebrews in the New. And things get moving rapidly as we move toward the end of the year because we move through some shorter material, books of minor prophecy that are shorter and letters from the apostles that are shorter. So, we’ll be touching seven of the books of the Bible in the month of November but that’ll happen a little later. Ezekiel will take us out into the final week of the month and Hebrews will take us into next week. So, today, Ezekiel chapter 3 verse 16 through 6:14. And we’re reading from the Good News translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay. In the book of Hebrews, we come to what is certainly a very popular portion of Scripture, but it also happens to be one of the guiding scriptures for what we do here every day - the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it cuts all the way through to where soul and spirit meet. So, where is that? Where do soul and spirit meet? I’ve heard this Scripture all my life and just always kind of moved past it by thinking, well, it goes very, very deep. That’s the point. It’s something that can penetrate. But where do soul and spirit actually meet? Where is it that our true selves, our spirit and our awareness or consciousness, where do these come together other than the very, very place of our identity, the eternal places within us. So, the writer of Hebrews is telling us that the word of God can counsel and rebuke and correct us at that deep of a level, at the place where all of our constructs and all of our personality and all of the things that we do to make the world work fade away into what is true and implant truth at that place, thereby forming us as people and changing our convictions, ambitions, and coping mechanisms. The word of God can speak to us there. And, you know, if you’ve been on the journey this year, you can already see that. You can already bear witness to the truth of that. We can all agree, the scriptures judge the desires and thoughts of the heart, exactly as Hebrews tell us today. And there aren’t many things in this world that can speak that deeply or that can navigate through the maze of who we are - our wounds, our history, our convictions, our worldview and everything else that goes along with that. But the word of God can and does. And, so, we can see, so clearly, what gift it is to have the Bible in our lives every day. But this passage goes on and tells us why. It’s not as popular. You probably can’t quote it. But it goes on to tell us why. There is nothing that can be hid from God. Everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes and it is to Him that we must all give an account of ourselves. And with that awareness we see the irreplaceable gift of the Scriptures in our lives, being able to speak to us far deeper than really anything else can, and to guide us along the path that leads us to truth. That’s what this is all about. That’s why we’re doing this every day. We’re coming together for community around the global campfire but the essential piece that can’t be missing is the scriptures spoken over us aloud every day because this is powerful stuff. This is stuff that can change us at the level of our identity. It can bring out into the open who we really are. And isn’t that what we spend our whole life searching for? And isn’t the renewal and transformation and sanctification what we seek? That’s why we just did this Global Campfire Initiative - to further strengthen and build community wrapped around the rhythm of the scriptures being spoken aloud every day. And, as I’ve already said, I thank you humbly, those of you stepped forward into this, so that we can continue to bring the spoken word of God to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night because it’s potent. It orients us at the level of our identity toward God.

Prayer:

Father, we rejoice in and thank You for the gift of Your word in our lives, not only through the rhythm of what we do at the Daily Audio Bible as a community every day but through the personal transformation that You bring about in our lives through Your word every day. We thank You for this gift and we open our hearts to Your Holy Spirit and we invite Your word to speak into the places where soul and spirit meet. And we acknowledge that nothing can be hidden from You, all of creation is exposed and lies open before Your eyes, and we want that to be true of us. Willingly, we open our hearts to You completely. We trust You completely. Come Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to check it out.

Check out the prayer wall while you’re there. Maybe pray for some people. Maybe there’s something you need prayer for. The prayer wall is a great place for that. So, be sure to check that out. And the prayer wall will be integrated into the new Daily Audio Bible app and web player as that moves through the beta process and gets ready for release for the new year. So, we’ll keep you posted on that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we share in community, then dailyaudiobible.com is the place to go. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, the current app, press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill TN 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning DABbers. This is To Be a Blessing in California. I wanted to thank the woman in Indiana. I apologize, I don’t remember your name. But you saying God will make a way that I heard the other night when I wasn’t able to sleep and I found myself worrying. I didn’t know I was worrying until I heard the Psalm and it gave me such peace to remind me of the sweet love that Jesus has for us and that we don’t have to worry because He’s got us, He’s taking care of us. What a gift that was for me and I know that it was for many others. I’m praying for you all. I’m praying for Terry and his situation. I’m praying for Karen and her needs. I’m praying for Heather in Illinois. I’m praying for Blind Tony and Victoria S. I’m praying also for Sharron, who is learning by faith how to walk with Jesus even more. Speaking the Word, let God bless you and nourish you with His word and we will be victorious. What an amazing thing that will be. And that is to be victorious. God bless you all. Have a great day. Bye-bye.

Hi family. How are you this fine, fine day? This is Viola from Maryland. I hope you are all doing well. I’m about 2 weeks behind but it’s all good. I did say that I was in school. Brian and Jill, God bless you. But being in school hasn’t stopped me from praying for you. I pray that God will continue to protect you as you go on your journey to different states to promote Sneezing Jesus and I pray in the name of Jesus that everyone that we have given the book to will come to know the Lord. And I heard your prayer request for quitting cigarettes sister. You keep praying out to God so He is able to help you quit. I pray that when you smell cigarettes or you even see them, it will bring you sickness, it will be disgusting, as a matter of fact you will not have any desire for it anymore, in the name of Jesus. This is one of those things I did not want in my life any more. It was so horrible. It smelled. I couldn’t stand the smell of it and I pray the same for you in Jesus’ name. Edgar, good to hear from you. So, you are in ___ brother. I pray that God will keep you and uphold you there and help you in the name of Jesus. Jay from New Jersey. I did hear your prayer request and every time since that prayer request and the lord has placed on my heart to pray for you. Brother, I pray for you today, that the Lord will give you a heart, a heart to follow after you, a heart that seeks passionately for Him in the name of Jesus. And that God will strengthen you so that you will not fall and that your heart’s desire. What does God say, that the ___. I pray in the name of Jesus that God will deliver you fully. Gabriel, young sister, I heard your prayer request and first of all I pray that God will comfort you as ____ over the person that killed themselves and I pray that God will use you as salt and light in the name of Jesus. I want to give a shout out to my good friend Nevi. Nevi, I haven’t heard form you in a while. Text me. Okay? Asia, my sister from Munich, I pray for you from time to time. And I want to pray for…

Hi. This is Max from Tennessee and I’m calling in for Jaqueline and her husband. You said he’s looking to divorce and he’s been threatening. So, I just pray, Father, Spirit of the Lord, I just pray that You come and be very close to them in Jesus’ name. Both of them are believers. Her husband’s being very deceived right now. So, I pray Your grace over them that you will bring comfort to Jaqueline and that you would bring sobering truth to her husband in the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jaqueline, if you’d like to reach out to me, it’s max@edmiston.org I’d love to share my testimony with you and testimony from people in my life as well. Love you. God bless you. Have a wonderful day.

Hi Daily Audio Bible. This is Rebecca from Michigan. Today I went to the church that is close to my house. It’s in a movie theater called Imagine theater. We kind of rent a room in the theater. But after the theater, there’s like a bar in it. So, I went to the bar, not to drink alcohol, but I sat at the bar to talk to the bar tender girl. Right now she’s a single mom just like me except my child is 31 and hers is maybe 2. And she’s younger than me. I’m like old enough to be her mom. We started talking and I talked about the church and you know she was talking about how she wanted to read the bible and I told her about Daily Audio Bible. So, you might get a bar tender listening to Daily Audio Bible. So, pray for the girl at Imagine theater, the bartender. I don’t remember what her name was. God knows everybody’s name. So keep her in your prayers. I told her how she could listen to it, how you guys pray for people, and how Brian talks about what we just read and how she can relate it to her life. Yeah. Pray for her. And you know you guys, I’ve been trying to decide if I should get another job or something because I’m doing ___ for ___ university and I don’t just go to work. I love my job and I love working with ids and I like driving but it doesn’t really support me and I don’t have any health insurance and I…

November 2, 2017

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday November 2, 2017 (NIV)

Ezekiel 3:16-6:14

The Lord Appoints Ezekiel as a Lookout^(A)

¹⁶After the seven days had passed, the Lord spoke to me. ¹⁷“Mortal man,” he said, “I am making you a lookout for the nation of Israel. You will pass on to them the warnings I give you. ¹⁸If I announce that someone evil is going to die but you do not warn him to change his ways so that he can save his life, he will die, still a sinner, but I will hold you responsible for his death. ¹⁹If you do warn an evil man and he doesn't stop sinning, he will die, still a sinner, but your life will be spared.

²⁰“If someone truly good starts doing evil and I put him in a dangerous situation, he will die if you do not warn him. He will die because of his sins—I will not remember the good he did—and I will hold you responsible for his death. ²¹If you do warn a good man not to sin and he listens to you and doesn't sin, he will stay alive, and your life will also be spared.”

Ezekiel Will Be Unable to Talk

²²I felt the powerful presence of the Lord and heard him say to me, “Get up and go out into the valley. I will talk to you there.”

²³So I went out into the valley, and there I saw the glory of the Lord, just as I had seen it beside the Chebar River. I fell face downward on the ground, ²⁴but God's spirit entered me and raised me to my feet. The Lord said to me, “Go home and shut yourself up in the house. ²⁵You will be tied with ropes, mortal man, and you will not be able to go out in public. ²⁶I will paralyze your tongue so that you won't be able to warn these rebellious people. ²⁷Then, when I speak to you again and give you back the power of speech, you will tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. Some of them will listen, but some will ignore you, for they are a nation of rebels.”

Ezekiel Acts Out the Siege of Jerusalem

4 God said, “Mortal man, get a brick, put it in front of you, and scratch lines on it to represent the city of Jerusalem. ²Then, to represent a siege, put trenches, earthworks, camps, and battering rams all around it. ³Take an iron pan and set it up like a wall between you and the city. Face the city. It is under siege, and you are the one besieging it. This will be a sign to the nation of Israel.

^4-5“Then lie down on your left side, and I^[a] will place on you the guilt of the nation of Israel. For 390 days you will stay there and suffer because of their guilt. I have sentenced you to one day for each year their punishment will last. ⁶When you finish that, turn over on your right side and suffer for the guilt of Judah for forty days—one day for each year of their punishment.

⁷“Fix your eyes on the siege of Jerusalem. Shake your fist at the city and prophesy against it. ⁸I will tie you up so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until the siege is over.

⁹“Now take some wheat, barley, beans, peas, millet, and spelt. Mix them all together and make bread. That is what you are to eat during the 390 days you are lying on your left side. ¹⁰You will be allowed eight ounces of bread a day, and it will have to last until the next day. ¹¹You will also have a limited amount of water to drink, two cups a day. ¹²You are to build a fire out of dried human excrement, bake bread on the fire, and eat it where everyone can see you.”

¹³The Lord said, “This represents the way the Israelites will have to eat food which the Law forbids,^[b] when I scatter them to foreign countries.”

¹⁴But I replied, “No, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From childhood on I have never eaten meat from any animal that died a natural death or was killed by wild animals. I have never eaten any food considered unclean.”

¹⁵So God said, “Very well. I will let you use cow dung instead, and you can bake your bread on that.”

¹⁶And he added, “Mortal man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread for Jerusalem. The people there will be distressed and anxious as they measure out the food they eat and the water they drink. ¹⁷They will run out of bread and water; they will be in despair, and they will waste away because of their sins.”

Ezekiel Cuts His Hair

5 The Lord said, “Mortal man, take a sharp sword and use it to shave off your beard and all your hair. Then weigh the hair on scales and divide it into three parts. ²Burn up a third of it in the city when the siege is over. Take another third and chop it up with your sword as you move around outside the city. Scatter the remaining third to the winds, and I will pursue it with my sword. ³Keep back a few hairs and wrap them in the hem of your clothes. ⁴Then take a few of them out again, throw them in the fire, and let them burn up. From them fire will spread to the whole nation of Israel.”

⁵The Sovereign Lord said, “Look at Jerusalem. I put her at the center of the world, with other countries all around her. ⁶But Jerusalem rebelled against my commands and showed that she was more wicked than the other nations, more disobedient than the countries around her. Jerusalem rejected my commands and refused to keep my laws. ⁷Now listen, Jerusalem, to what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. By not obeying my laws or keeping my commands, you have caused more trouble than the nations around you. You have followed the customs of other nations. ⁸And so I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling you that I am your enemy. I will pass judgment on you where all the nations can see it. ⁹Because of all the things you do that I hate, I will punish Jerusalem as I have never done before and will never do again. ¹⁰^(B)As a result, parents in Jerusalem will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter in every direction any who are left alive.

¹¹“Therefore, as I am the living God—this is the word of the Sovereign Lord—because you defiled my Temple with all the evil, disgusting things you did, I will cut you down without mercy. ¹²A third of your people will die from sickness and hunger in the city; a third will be cut down by swords outside the city; and I will scatter the last third to the winds and pursue them with a sword.

¹³“You will feel all the force of my anger and rage until I am satisfied. When all this happens, you will be convinced that I, the Lord, have spoken to you because I am outraged at your unfaithfulness. ¹⁴Everyone from the nations around you who passes by will sneer at you and keep their distance.

¹⁵“When I am angry and furious with you and punish you, all the nations around you will be terrified. They will look at you with disgust and make fun of you. ¹⁶I will cut off your supply of food and let you starve. You^[c] will feel the pains of hunger like sharp arrows sent to destroy you. ¹⁷^(C)I will send hunger and wild animals to kill your children, and will send sickness, violence, and war to kill you. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

The Lord Condemns Idolatry

6 The Lord spoke to me. ²“Mortal man,” he said, “look toward the mountains of Israel and give them my message. ³Tell the mountains of Israel to hear the Sovereign Lord's word—to hear what I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling the mountains, the hills, the gorges, and the valleys: I will send a sword to destroy the places where people worship idols. ⁴The altars will be torn down and the incense altars broken. All the people there will be killed in front of their idols. ⁵I will scatter the corpses of the people of Israel; I will scatter their bones all around the altars. ⁶All the cities of Israel will be destroyed, so that all their altars and their idols will be smashed to pieces, their incense altars will be shattered, and everything they made will disappear. ⁷People will be killed everywhere, and those who survive will acknowledge that I am the Lord.

⁸“I will let some escape the slaughter and be scattered among the nations, ⁹where they will live in exile. There they will remember me and know that I have punished them and disgraced them,^[d] because their faithless hearts deserted me and they preferred idols to me. And they will be disgusted with themselves because of the evil and degrading things they have done. ¹⁰They will know that I am the Lord and that my warnings were not empty threats.”

¹¹The Sovereign Lord said, “Wring your hands! Stamp your feet! Cry in sorrow because of all the evil, disgusting things the Israelites have done. They are going to die in war or of starvation or disease. ¹²Those far away will get sick and die; those nearby will be killed in war; those who survive will starve to death. They will feel all the force of my anger. ¹³Corpses will be scattered among the idols and around the altars, scattered on every high hill, on the top of every mountain, under every green tree and every large oak, in every place where they burned sacrifices to their idols. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁴Yes, I will reach out and destroy their country. I will make it a wasteland from the southern desert to the city of Riblah in the north, not sparing any place where the Israelites live. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.”

Footnotes:

Ezekiel 4:4 Probable text I; Hebrew you.
Ezekiel 4:13 The Law of Moses prohibited the eating of certain foods as being ritually unclean (see Lv 11).
Ezekiel 5:16 Probable text You; Hebrew They.
Ezekiel 6:9 Some ancient translations disgraced them; Hebrew I am disgraced.

Cross references:

Good News Translation (GNT)

Hebrews 4

4 Now, God has offered us the promise that we may receive that rest he spoke about. Let us take care, then, that none of you will be found to have failed to receive that promised rest. ²For we have heard the Good News, just as they did. They heard the message, but it did them no good, because when they heard it, they did not accept it with faith. ³^(A)We who believe, then, do receive that rest which God promised. It is just as he said,

“I was angry and made a solemn promise:
‘They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest!’”
He said this even though his work had been finished from the time he created the world.

⁴^(B)For somewhere in the Scriptures this is said about the seventh day: “God rested on the seventh day from all his work.” ⁵^(C)This same matter is spoken of again: “They will never enter that land where I would have given them rest.” ⁶Those who first heard the Good News did not receive that rest, because they did not believe. There are, then, others who are allowed to receive it. ⁷^(D)This is shown by the fact that God sets another day, which is called “Today.” Many years later he spoke of it through David in the scripture already quoted:

“If you hear God's voice today,
do not be stubborn.”

⁸^(E)If Joshua had given the people the rest that God had promised, God would not have spoken later about another day. ⁹As it is, however, there still remains for God's people a rest like God's resting on the seventh day. ¹⁰^(F)For those who receive that rest which God promised will rest from their own work, just as God rested from his. ¹¹Let us, then, do our best to receive that rest, so that no one of us will fail as they did because of their lack of faith.

¹²The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of the heart. ¹³^(G)There is nothing that can be hid from God; everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes. And it is to him that we must all give an account of ourselves.

Jesus the Great High Priest

¹⁴Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence of God—Jesus, the Son of God. ¹⁵Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. ¹⁶Let us have confidence, then, and approach God's throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.

Cross references:

Good News Translation (GNT)

Psalm 104:24-35

²⁴Lord, you have made so many things!
How wisely you made them all!
The earth is filled with your creatures.
²⁵There is the ocean, large and wide,
where countless creatures live,
large and small alike.
²⁶^(A)The ships sail on it, and in it plays Leviathan,
that sea monster which you made.^[a]

²⁷All of them depend on you
to give them food when they need it.
²⁸You give it to them, and they eat it;
you provide food, and they are satisfied.
²⁹When you turn away, they are afraid;
when you take away your breath, they die
and go back to the dust from which they came.
³⁰But when you give them breath,^[b] they are created;
you give new life to the earth.

³¹May the glory of the Lord last forever!
May the Lord be happy with what he has made!
³²He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
he touches the mountains, and they pour out smoke.

³³I will sing to the Lord all my life;
as long as I live I will sing praises to my God.
³⁴May he be pleased with my song,
for my gladness comes from him.
³⁵May sinners be destroyed from the earth;
may the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, my soul!
Praise the Lord!

Footnotes:

Psalm 104:26 in it plays … made; or Leviathan is there, that sea monster you made to amuse you.
Psalm 104:30 give them breath; or send out your spirit.

Cross references:

Psalm 104:26 : Job 41:1; Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1

Good News Translation (GNT)

Proverbs 26:27

²⁷^(A)People who set traps for others get caught themselves. People who start landslides get crushed.

Cross references:

Proverbs 26:27 : Sir 27:25-Sir 27:27

Good News Translation (GNT)

November 2, 2017

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday November 2, 2017 (NIV)

Ezekiel 3:16-6:14

The Lord Appoints Ezekiel as a Lookout^(A)

Ezekiel Will Be Unable to Talk

²²I felt the powerful presence of the Lord and heard him say to me, “Get up and go out into the valley. I will talk to you there.”

Ezekiel Acts Out the Siege of Jerusalem

⁷“Fix your eyes on the siege of Jerusalem. Shake your fist at the city and prophesy against it. ⁸I will tie you up so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until the siege is over.

¹³The Lord said, “This represents the way the Israelites will have to eat food which the Law forbids,^[b] when I scatter them to foreign countries.”

¹⁵So God said, “Very well. I will let you use cow dung instead, and you can bake your bread on that.”

Ezekiel Cuts His Hair

The Lord Condemns Idolatry

Footnotes:

Ezekiel 4:4 Probable text I; Hebrew you.
Ezekiel 4:13 The Law of Moses prohibited the eating of certain foods as being ritually unclean (see Lv 11).
Ezekiel 5:16 Probable text You; Hebrew They.
Ezekiel 6:9 Some ancient translations disgraced them; Hebrew I am disgraced.

Cross references:

Good News Translation (GNT)

Hebrews 4

“If you hear God's voice today,
do not be stubborn.”

Jesus the Great High Priest

Cross references:

Good News Translation (GNT)

Psalm 104:24-35

³¹May the glory of the Lord last forever!
May the Lord be happy with what he has made!
³²He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
he touches the mountains, and they pour out smoke.

Praise the Lord, my soul!
Praise the Lord!

Footnotes:

Psalm 104:26 in it plays … made; or Leviathan is there, that sea monster you made to amuse you.
Psalm 104:30 give them breath; or send out your spirit.

Cross references:

Psalm 104:26 : Job 41:1; Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1

Good News Translation (GNT)

Proverbs 26:27

²⁷^(A)People who set traps for others get caught themselves. People who start landslides get crushed.

Cross references:

Proverbs 26:27 : Sir 27:25-Sir 27:27

Good News Translation (GNT)

Ezekiel 14:12-16:41

The Certainty of the Lord’s Judgment

Jerusalem—a Useless Vine

Jerusalem—an Unfaithful Wife

Judgment on Jerusalem’s Prostitution

Footnotes:

Hebrews 7:18-28

Footnotes:

Psalm 106:1-12

Psalm 106

Footnotes:

Proverbs 27:4-6

Ezekiel 12:1-14:11

Signs of the Coming Exile

A New Proverb for Israel

Judgment against False Prophets

Judgment against False Women Prophets

The Idolatry of Israel’s Leaders

Footnotes:

Hebrews 7:1-17

Melchizedek Is Greater Than Abraham

Jesus Is like Melchizedek

Footnotes:

Psalm 105:37-45

Proverbs 27:3

Ezekiel 10-11

The Glory of the Lord Leaves the Temple

Jerusalem Is Condemned

God's Promise to the Exiles

God's Glory Leaves Jerusalem

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Hebrews 6

God's Sure Promise

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 105:16-36

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Proverbs 27:1-2

Cross references:

Ezekiel 7-9

The End Is Near for Israel

Punishment for Israel's Sins

EZEKIEL'S SECOND VISION OF GOD (8.1—10.22)

Idolatry in Jerusalem

Jerusalem Is Punished

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Hebrews 5

Warning against Abandoning the Faith

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 105:1-15

God and His People(A)

Cross references:

Proverbs 26:28

Ezekiel 3:16-6:14

The Lord Appoints Ezekiel as a Lookout(A)

Ezekiel Will Be Unable to Talk

Ezekiel Acts Out the Siege of Jerusalem

Ezekiel Cuts His Hair

The Lord Condemns Idolatry

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Hebrews 4

Jesus the Great High Priest

Cross references:

Psalm 104:24-35

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Proverbs 26:27

Cross references:

Ezekiel 3:16-6:14

The Lord Appoints Ezekiel as a Lookout(A)

Ezekiel Will Be Unable to Talk

Ezekiel Acts Out the Siege of Jerusalem

Ezekiel Cuts His Hair

The Lord Condemns Idolatry

Footnotes:

God and His People^(A)

The Lord Appoints Ezekiel as a Lookout^(A)

The Lord Appoints Ezekiel as a Lookout^(A)