The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday April 22, 2020 (NIV)

Joshua Reviews Israel’s History

24 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers; they presented themselves before God. ² Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, lived beyond the [Euphrates] River in ancient times; and they served other gods. ³ Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the [Euphrates] River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants, and I gave him Isaac. ⁴ To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave [the hill country of] Mount Seir to possess; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. ⁵ Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out. ⁶ Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. ⁷ When they cried out to the Lord [for help], He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness ^[a]a long time (forty years).^{(A) 8} Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land and I destroyed them before you. ⁹ Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. ¹⁰ But I would not listen to Balaam. Therefore he had to bless you, so I saved you from Balak’s hand.^{(B) 11} You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite; and so I gave them into your hand. ¹² I sent the hornet [that is, the terror of you] before you, which drove the two kings of the Amorites out before you; but it was not by your sword or by your bow.^{(C) 13} I gave you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you live in them; you eat from vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

¹⁴ “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; remove the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ If it is unacceptable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁶ The people answered, “Far be it from us to abandon (reject) the Lord to serve other gods; ¹⁷ for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs (miracles) in our sight and kept us safe all along the way that we went and among all the peoples among whom we passed. ¹⁸ The Lord drove all the peoples out from before us, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”

¹⁹ Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Lord [if you serve any other gods], for He is a holy God; He is a ^[b]jealous God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His]. He will not forgive your transgression [of His law] or your sins. ²⁰ If you do abandon (reject) the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume and destroy you after He has done you good.” ²¹ The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve [only] the Lord.” ²² Joshua then said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” ²³ “Now then, remove the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your hearts toward the Lord, the God of Israel.” ²⁴ The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and we will listen to and obey His voice.” ²⁵ So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance at Shechem. ²⁶ And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was in [the courtyard of] the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷ Joshua then said to all the people, “Look, this stone shall serve as a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us; so it shall be a witness against you, so that [afterward] you do not deny your God.” ²⁸ Then Joshua sent the people away, each to [the territory of] his inheritance.

Joshua’s Death and Burial

²⁹ It happened after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, at the age of a hundred and ten years. ³⁰ They buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.

³¹ Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

³² Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the plot of land which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money; and it became the inheritance of the sons of Joseph. ³³ And Eleazar [the priest], the son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah [on the hill] of Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.

The Widow’s Gift

21 Looking up, He saw the rich people putting their gifts into the treasury.^{(A) 2} And He saw a poor widow putting in two ^[a]small copper coins. ³ He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in [proportionally] more than all of them; ⁴ for they all put in gifts from their abundance; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

⁵ As some were talking about the ^[b]temple, that it was decorated with beautiful stones and consecrated offerings [of magnificent gifts of gold which were displayed on the walls and hung in the porticoes], He said,^{(B) 6} “As for all these things which you see, the time will come when there will not be one stone left on another that will not be ^[c]torn down.”

⁷ They asked Him, “Teacher, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to happen?” ⁸ He said, “Be careful and see to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name [appropriating for themselves the name Messiah which belongs to Me alone], saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not follow them. ⁹ When you hear of wars and disturbances [civil unrest, revolts, uprisings], do not panic; for these things must take place first, but the end will not come immediately.”

Things to Come

¹⁰ Then Jesus told them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.^{(C) 11} There will be violent earthquakes, and in various places famines and [deadly and devastating] pestilences (plagues, epidemics); and there will be terrible sights and great signs from heaven.

¹² “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, turning you over to the synagogues and prisons, and bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.^{(D) 13} This will be a time and an opportunity for you to testify [about Me]. ¹⁴ So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; ¹⁵ for I will give you [skillful] words and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. ¹⁶ But you will be betrayed and handed over even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, ¹⁷ and you will be continually hated by everyone because of [your association with] My name. ¹⁸ But not a hair of your head will perish.^{(E) 19} By your [patient] endurance [empowered by the Holy Spirit] you will gain your souls.

²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by [hostile] armies, then understand [with confident assurance] that her complete destruction is near. ²¹ At that time, those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are inside the city (Jerusalem) must get out, and those who are [out] in the country must not enter the city; ²² for these are days of vengeance [of rendering full justice or satisfaction], so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. ²³ Woe to those women who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For great trouble and anguish will be on the land, and wrath and retribution on this people [Israel]. ²⁴ And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (completed).^(F)

The Return of Christ

²⁵ “There will be signs (attesting miracles) in the sun and moon and stars; and on the earth [there will be] distress and anguish among nations, in perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea and the waves,^{(G) 26} people fainting from fear and expectation of the [dreadful] things coming on the world; for the [very] powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with [transcendent, overwhelming] power [subduing the nations] and with great glory.^{(H) 28} Now when these things begin to occur, stand tall and lift up your heads [in joy], because [suffering ends as] your redemption is drawing near.”