The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday August 15, 2019 (NIV)

The People Sign an Agreement

³⁸ Because of all that has happened, we, the people of Israel, hereby make a solemn written agreement, and our leaders, our Levites, and our priests put their seals to it.

10 The first to sign was the governor, Nehemiah son of Hacaliah, and then Zedekiah signed. The following also signed:

Priests:

• ^2-8 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah,
• Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah,
• Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch,
• Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah,
• Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,
• Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
• Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaia.

Levites:

• ^9-13 Jeshua son of Azaniah,
• Binnui of the clan of Henadad,
• Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Hodiah,
• Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,
• Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah,
• Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,
• Hodiah, Bani, and Beninu.

Leaders of the people:

• ^14-27 Parosh, Pahath Moab,
• Elam, Zattu, Bani,
• Bunni, Azgad, Bebai,
• Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin,
• Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur,
• Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai,
• Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai,
• Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir,
• Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua,
• Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah,
• Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub,
• Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek,
• Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah,
• Ahiah, Hanan, Anan,
• Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.

The Agreement

²⁸ We, the people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, the Temple guards, the Temple musicians, the Temple workers, and all others who in obedience to God's Law have separated themselves from the foreigners living in our land, we, together with our wives and all our children old enough to understand, ²⁹ do hereby join with our leaders in an oath, under penalty of a curse if we break it, that we will live according to God's Law, which God gave through his servant Moses; that we will obey all that the Lord, our Lord, commands us; and that we will keep all his laws and requirements.

^30 (I)We will not intermarry with the foreigners living in our land.

^31 (J)If foreigners bring grain or anything else to sell to us on the Sabbath or on any other holy day, we will not buy from them.

Every seventh year we will not farm the land, and we will cancel all debts.

^32 (K)Every year we will each contribute one-eighth of an ounce of silver to help pay the expenses of the Temple.

³³ We will provide for the Temple worship the following: the sacred bread, the daily grain offering, the animals to be burned each day as sacrifices, the sacred offerings for Sabbaths, New Moon Festivals, and other festivals, the other sacred offerings, the offerings to take away the sins of Israel, and anything else needed for the Temple.

³⁴ We, the people, priests, and Levites, will draw lots each year to determine which clans are to provide wood to burn the sacrifices offered to the Lord our God, according to the requirements of the Law.

^35 (L)We will take to the Temple each year an offering of the first grain we harvest and of the first fruit that ripens on our trees.

^36 (M)The first son born to each of us we will take to the priests in the Temple and there, as required by the Law, dedicate him to God. We will also dedicate the first calf born to each of our cows, and the first lamb or kid born to each of our sheep or goats.

^37 (N)We will take to the priests in the Temple the dough made from the first grain harvested each year and our other offerings of wine, olive oil, and all kinds of fruit.

We will take to the Levites, who collect tithes in our farming villages, the tithes from the crops that grow on our land. ^38 (O)Priests who are descended from Aaron are to be with the Levites when tithes are collected, and for use in the Temple the Levites are to take to the Temple storerooms one-tenth of all the tithes they collect. ³⁹ The people of Israel and the Levites are to take the contributions of grain, wine, and olive oil to the storerooms where the utensils for the Temple are kept and where the priests who are on duty, the Temple guards, and the members of the Temple choir have their quarters.

We will not neglect the house of our God.

¹⁹ I am a free man, nobody's slave; but I make myself everybody's slave in order to win as many people as possible. ²⁰ While working with the Jews, I live like a Jew in order to win them; and even though I myself am not subject to the Law of Moses, I live as though I were when working with those who are, in order to win them. ²¹ In the same way, when working with Gentiles, I live like a Gentile, outside the Jewish Law, in order to win Gentiles. This does not mean that I don't obey God's law; I am really under Christ's law. ²² Among the weak in faith I become weak like one of them, in order to win them. So I become all things to all people, that I may save some of them by whatever means are possible.

²³ All this I do for the gospel's sake, in order to share in its blessings. ²⁴ Surely you know that many runners take part in a race, but only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize. ^25 (A)Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever. ²⁶ That is why I run straight for the finish line; that is why I am like a boxer who does not waste his punches. ²⁷ I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest.

Warnings against Idols

10 ^(B)I want you to remember, my friends, what happened to our ancestors who followed Moses. They were all under the protection of the cloud, and all passed safely through the Red Sea. ² In the cloud and in the sea they were all baptized as followers of Moses. ^3 (C)All ate the same spiritual bread ^4 (D)and drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them; and that rock was Christ himself. ^5 (E)But even then God was not pleased with most of them, and so their dead bodies were scattered over the desert.

^6 (F)Now, all of this is an example for us, to warn us not to desire evil things, as they did, ^7 (G)nor to worship idols, as some of them did. As the scripture says, “The people sat down to a feast which turned into an orgy of drinking and sex.” ^8 (H)We must not be guilty of sexual immorality, as some of them were—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them fell dead. ^9 (I)We must not put the Lord^[a] to the test, as some of them did—and they were killed by snakes. ^10 (J)We must not complain, as some of them did—and they were destroyed by the Angel of Death.

¹¹ All these things happened to them as examples for others, and they were written down as a warning for us. For we live at a time when the end is about to come.

¹² If you think you are standing firm you had better be careful that you do not fall. ^13 (K)Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.

^(A)In Praise of God's Goodness^[a]

¹³ If you refuse to listen to the cry of the poor, your own cry for help will not be heard.