04/30/2021 DAB Transcript

Judges 11:1-12:15, John 1:1-28, Psalms 101:1-8, Proverbs 14:13-14

Today is the 30th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today, it being the 30th day of April. That makes it the last day of April. So, here we are, the last day of the fourth month of our 12-month journey. We are well underway. Today is the 120th day of the year. So, we’ve taken 120 steps out of 365 steps. We are well underway way, out in the deep now as we sail across the year and through the Scriptures. So, in the Old Testament we’re in the book of Judges right now. Yesterday in the New Testament, we concluded the gospel of Luke, which will bring us once we get to the New Testament today to the final gospel, the gospel of John. And we’ll talk about that when we get there. But first Judges chapters 11 and 12

Introduction to the Gospel of John:

Okay, as we talked about at the beginning today, we have now reached the New Testament, which leads us into some brand-new territory, the final gospel, the gospel of John. And as we talked about before the gospel of John is different than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the first three Gospels in the New Testament and they’re known as the synoptic Gospels because even…even though they are written to be read by different audiences they have a lot of the same material, a lot of the same stories. The gospel of John is very different than the first three, the synoptic Gospels. It’s like it has some things that are similar but it’s like 90% different from the other Gospels. And, so, this brings us a completely different perspective for Jesus’ life and ministry. It actually even looks at Jesus differently. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke we…we see Jesus being a human being, doing His earthly ministry. And it’s not that we won’t see that in the gospel of John. It’s just that John’s conclusions, his Christology, right, his view of Jesus is…is a very elevated. So, the gospel of John we will perceive Jesus as divine, as God in these stories a little bit more explicitly than we see in the synoptic Gospels. And the thing is, John…this is this is John, the apostle…the apostle John that we’re…that we’re talking about here. And, so, he would’ve been aware. This is the final gospel to be written, the last of the Gospels in time to be written, probably roughly 30 years maybe after the gospel of Mark. So, you now, Mark comes first and then Matthew and Luke and then you and then John and there’s a span of about 30-ish years there roughly and all of these writings all of the gospel narratives were written after the letters of Paul. Paul’s writings are the…the earliest Christian documents that are preserved. But we’ll talk about that when we get to Paul and we’ve got a ways to go. But whereas Matthew, Mark, and Luke are written to be compelling descriptions of Jesus and His life and His sacrifice and what His purpose was, they were written to compel a person to believe whereas John is writing aware of the other Gospels already. He knows the parts of the stories that have been told. He knows the whole story because he was there in the ministry with Jesus watching Jesus do His ministry. And, so, John is writing to people who already do believe. He wrote it to build up their faith, to strengthen them that they might come to know Jesus in a deeper, more profound way. And, so, with that we begin the final gospel. John chapter 1 verses 1 through 28.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have entered into the gospel of John and, you know, we’re just taking our first step in and just getting our toes wet. And our toes are wet by the Jordan River. That’s where we find ourselves today, with John baptizing. And, so, that’s the lay of the land there and we’ve kind of talked about where were going as we go into this final gospel.

But in the book of Judges today we are in this story that’s so disconcerting. It’s like so disruptive. Like what is going on here with the story of Jephthah one of the judges of Israel who makes a vow to God that if God does what he wants, and what he wants is to be victorious in battle, but if God gives him what he wants that he’s gonna sacrifice the first thing that comes out his front door to God. And that's…I mean…that’s probably gonna be a person, right? If you think, “the first thing that comes out my front door” I mean…that…that’s likely to not be an animal. Like, it could be but like what kind of vow is that? Can you imagine, “Lord, you know, if you give me a raise this week, I’ll sacrifice the first thing that comes out my front door. So, we’re upside down even as we begin. Jephthah is victorious in battle and when he comes home it’s his daughter that comes out the front door and his heart is broken as we see from the narrative in the Scriptures that now he’s made a vow to God that he can’t break a vow to God. Now he regrets the vow he made. And, so, when the daughter really understands that it's…it’s her…like she’s gonna die, she asks for a couple months. And there’s all kinds of ways to try to make this story different than the story is. Like, he didn’t really sacrifice her. She didn’t really die. She just had to remain like childless. Like, there’s…there’s ways that we try to make things different than they are when they’re not how we…how we want them to be. And this is a story that we wouldn’t like…we’d rather this be a different kind of story. But that’s just not how it reads. And, so, we have to just read it as it reads. She goes away for two months, she comes back. Her father sacrifices her to God and then a tradition is born from that point forward that moves on throughout Israel where some days are spent each year kind of reliving that story and wandering around. We look at that and it’s like I head scratcher, it’s confusing. What’s going on here? Why is this in the Bible? Here’s another one of these encounters with a story that’s just a tragedy. The thing that…that we have to see is that God didn’t ask Jephthah for that kind of vow in any way in any shape. Jephthah made this vow and then once everything came to fruition, he kept his vow. God didn’t ask for the vow. God didn’t send his angel and say, “Jephthah, I will give you victory in battle if you will sacrifice the first thing that comes out of your door” and then Jephthah makes an agreement, and this is all on God. This is all on Jephthah. When it comes to human sacrifice, God’s pretty explicit in the Bible, that He had never asked for any of that from anyone. In fact, God says in the Scriptures that it had never entered His mind. Like He never even thought of that. So, we have to understand the time that we are in. Moses is dead. Joshua is dead. The entire generation that walked with Joshua is dead. We have moved centuries forward. Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. Israel has fallen away to worship all kinds of other gods, the God’s of the regions around them, precisely what they were warned against. And, so, now they are a convoluted mess. That’s how “something like the first person that walks out my front door will be a sacrifice to God” could even happen. It’s not in the Mosaic law. It’s never a commandment anywhere in the Bible. This is what doing what’s right in your own eyes leads to. The people have become tribal even toward each other. They aren’t a cohesive unit. They are fragmenting the underpinning of what held them together, which is the law, which is not being adhered to and they are committing spiritual adultery by giving themselves, giving their hearts in worship to another God. This is idolatry. It was God who rescued them and came to them and said, “I am your God. I am the only. There is no other.” And yet, here they are chasing after false gods. That’s how things get the way that they are. So, we can look at this story and it can turn our stomach, or it can tip us upside down or it can tip us sideways and we’re like blaming God for all this. We have to understand, God didn’t do this, didn’t ask for this, has no part in this. And from here we just keep watching. We just keep watching what the children of Israel did. We wandered in the wilderness with them. We came out of slavery with them. We’ve been with them all along and we saw how they were knit together to be a people. But they are completely a fragmented tribal society at this point. It’s falling apart and there are judges that come, and they bring people back and then there are judges that do things like Jephthah and then there are judges that are just simply mentioned. We don’t know anything about them or what they did. What we do know is that this tight unit of people that were on the same page, following their God across the Jordan River, we’re not gonna see anything like that again. The slide that we begin to see here in the book of Judges continues all the way until we get to the place where these very same people that have been rescued from slavery kill the one who rescued them and didn’t even see it. That’s how blind. And, so, we’re watching this slide from here in Judges and it will continue forward. It’s a back-and-forth. There will be definitely generations that return to God with all kinds of vigor and God will bless them. But it’s this kind of continual downward slide where two steps forward, one step back toward their own destruction.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We don’t like disruptive stories. But we thank You that we…we can engage, we can learn, we can look into those stories because some of the reasons that we don’t like them is that they’re in the Bible. And, so, it makes us feel weird, like why would You want this in there? It’s so that we can see how bad things can get. It’s a warning to us not to follow the same pathways because they only lead to destruction. And, so, come Holy Spirit. Probably not any one of us have made any kind of vow like Jephthah and we never will but we do have all kinds of expectations and we need to reset those. We need to align our expectations with Yours instead of trying to fit You into our expectations. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday April 30, 2021 (NIV)

Judges 11-12

11 Jephthah, a brave soldier from Gilead, was the son of a prostitute. His father Gilead had other sons by his wife, and when they grew up, they forced Jephthah to leave home. They told him, “You will not inherit anything from our father; you are the son of another woman.” Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. There he attracted a group of worthless men, and they went around with him.

It was some time later that the Ammonites went to war against Israel. When this happened, the leaders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. They told him, “Come and lead us, so that we can fight the Ammonites.”

But Jephthah answered, “You hated me so much that you forced me to leave my father's house. Why come to me now that you're in trouble?”

They said to Jephthah, “We are turning to you now because we want you to go with us and fight the Ammonites and lead all the people of Gilead.”

Jephthah said to them, “If you take me back home to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives me victory, I will be your ruler.”

10 They replied, “We agree. The Lord is our witness.” 11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and the people made him their ruler and leader. Jephthah stated his terms at Mizpah in the presence of the Lord.

12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon to say, “What is your quarrel with us? Why have you invaded our country?”

13 The king of Ammon answered Jephthah's messengers, “When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and the Jordan River. Now you must give it back peacefully.”

14 Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of Ammon 15 with this answer: “It is not true that Israel took away the land of Moab or the land of Ammon. 16 This is what happened: when the Israelites left Egypt, they went through the desert to the Gulf of Aqaba and came to Kadesh. 17 (A)Then they sent messengers to the king of Edom to ask permission to go through his land. But the king of Edom would not let them. They also asked the king of Moab, but neither would he let them go through his land. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh. 18 (B)Then they went on through the desert, going around the land of Edom and the land of Moab until they came to the east side of Moab, on the other side of the Arnon River. They camped there, but they did not cross the Arnon because it was the boundary of Moab. 19 (C)Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, and asked him for permission to go through his country to their own land. 20 But Sihon would not let Israel do it. He brought his whole army together, camped at Jahaz, and attacked Israel. 21 But the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the Israelites victory over Sihon and his army. So the Israelites took possession of all the territory of the Amorites who lived in that country. 22 They occupied all the Amorite territory from the Arnon in the south to the Jabbok in the north and from the desert on the east to the Jordan on the west. 23 So it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who drove out the Amorites for his people, the Israelites. 24 Are you going to try to take it back? You can keep whatever your god Chemosh has given you. But we are going to keep everything that the Lord, our God, has taken for us. 25 (D)Do you think you are any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? He never challenged Israel, did he? Did he ever go to war against us? 26 For three hundred years Israel has occupied Heshbon and Aroer, and the towns around them, and all the cities on the banks of the Arnon River. Why haven't you taken them back in all this time? 27 No, I have not done you any wrong. You are doing wrong by making war on me. The Lord is the judge. He will decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” 28 But the king of Ammon paid no attention to this message from Jephthah.

29 Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. He went through Gilead and Manasseh and returned to Mizpah in Gilead and went on to Ammon. 30 Jephthah promised the Lord: “If you will give me victory over the Ammonites, 31 I will burn as an offering the first person that comes out of my house to meet me, when I come back from the victory. I will offer that person to you as a sacrifice.”

32 So Jephthah crossed the river to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory. 33 He struck at them from Aroer to the area around Minnith, twenty cities in all, and as far as Abel Keramim. There was a great slaughter, and the Ammonites were defeated by Israel.

Jephthah's Daughter

34 When Jephthah went back home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him, dancing and playing the tambourine. She was his only child. 35 (E)When he saw her, he tore his clothes in sorrow and said, “Oh, my daughter! You are breaking my heart! Why must it be you that causes me pain? I have made a solemn promise to the Lord, and I cannot take it back!”

36 She told him, “If you have made a promise to the Lord, do what you said you would do to me, since the Lord has given you revenge on your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37 But she asked her father, “Do this one thing for me. Leave me alone for two months, so that I can go with my friends to wander in the mountains and grieve that I must die a virgin.” 38 He told her to go and sent her away for two months. She and her friends went up into the mountains and grieved because she was going to die unmarried and childless. 39 After two months she came back to her father. He did what he had promised the Lord, and she died still a virgin.

This was the origin of the custom in Israel 40 that the Israelite women would go out for four days every year to grieve for the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead.

Jephthah and the Ephraimites

12 The men of Ephraim prepared for battle; they crossed the Jordan River to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross the border to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We'll burn the house down over your head!”

But Jephthah told them, “My people and I had a serious quarrel with the Ammonites. I did call you, but you would not rescue me from them. When I saw that you were not going to, I risked my life and crossed the border to fight them, and the Lord gave me victory over them. So why are you coming up to fight me now?” Then Jephthah brought all the men of Gilead together, fought the men of Ephraim and defeated them. (The Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites in Ephraim and Manasseh, you are deserters from Ephraim!”) In order to keep the Ephraimites from escaping, the Gileadites captured the places where the Jordan could be crossed. When any Ephraimite who was trying to escape would ask permission to cross, the men of Gilead would ask, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” they would tell him to say “Shibboleth.” But he would say “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they would grab him and kill him there at one of the Jordan River crossings. At that time forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites were killed.

Jephthah led Israel for six years. Then he died and was buried in his hometown[a] in Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

After Jephthah, Ibzan from Bethlehem led Israel. He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters in marriage outside the clan and brought thirty young women from outside the clan for his sons to marry. Ibzan led Israel for seven years, 10 then he died and was buried at Bethlehem.

11 After Ibzan, Elon from Zebulun led Israel for ten years. 12 Then he died and was buried at Aijalon in the territory of Zebulun.

13 After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel from Pirathon led Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. Abdon led Israel for eight years, 15 then he died and was buried at Pirathon in the territory of Ephraim in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Footnotes:

  1. Judges 12:7 One ancient translation his hometown; Hebrew the towns.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

John 1:1-28

The Word of Life

In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. The Word was the source of life,[a] and this life brought light to people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

(A)God sent his messenger, a man named John, who came to tell people about the light, so that all should hear the message and believe. He himself was not the light; he came to tell about the light. This was the real light—the light that comes into the world and shines on all people.

10 The Word was in the world, and though God made the world through him, yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him. 12 Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children. 13 They did not become God's children by natural means, that is, by being born as the children of a human father; God himself was their Father.

14 The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father's only Son.

15 John spoke about him. He cried out, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘He comes after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born.’”

16 Out of the fullness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another. 17 God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

John the Baptist's Message(B)

19 The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites to John to ask him, “Who are you?”

20 John did not refuse to answer, but spoke out openly and clearly, saying: “I am not the Messiah.”

21 (C)“Who are you, then?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”

“No, I am not,” John answered.

“Are you the Prophet?”[b] they asked.

“No,” he replied.

22 “Then tell us who you are,” they said. “We have to take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

23 (D)John answered by quoting the prophet Isaiah:

“I am ‘the voice of someone shouting in the desert:
Make a straight path for the Lord to travel!’”

24 The messengers, who had been sent by the Pharisees, 25 then[c] asked John, “If you are not the Messiah nor Elijah nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?”

26 John answered, “I baptize with water, but among you stands the one you do not know. 27 He is coming after me, but I am not good enough even to untie his sandals.”

28 All this happened in Bethany on the east side of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.

Footnotes:

  1. John 1:4 The Word was the source of life; or What was made had life in union with the Word.
  2. John 1:21 The one who was expected to appear and announce the coming of the Messiah.
  3. John 1:25 The messengers, who had been sent by the Pharisees, then; or Those who had been sent were Pharisees; they.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Psalm 101

A King's Promise[a]

101 My song is about loyalty and justice,
and I sing it to you, O Lord.
My conduct will be faultless.
When will you come to me?

I will live a pure life in my house
and will never tolerate evil.
I hate the actions of those who turn away from God;
I will have nothing to do with them.
I will not be dishonest[b]
and will have no dealings with evil.[c]
I will get rid of anyone
who whispers evil things about someone else;
I will not tolerate anyone
who is proud and arrogant.

I will approve of those who are faithful to God
and will let them live in my palace.
Those who are completely honest
will be allowed to serve me.

No liar will live in my palace;
no hypocrite will remain in my presence.
Day after day I will destroy
the wicked in our land;
I will expel all who are evil
from the city of the Lord.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 101:1 HEBREW TITLE: A psalm by David.
  2. Psalm 101:4 not be dishonest; or stay away from dishonest people.
  3. Psalm 101:4 evil; or evil people.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Proverbs 14:13-14

13 Laughter may hide sadness. When happiness is gone, sorrow is always there.

14 Bad people will get what they deserve. Good people will be rewarded for their deeds.[a]

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 14:14 Probable text for their deeds; Hebrew from upon them.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

04/29/2021 DAB Transcript

Judges 9:22-10:18, Luke 24:13-53, Psalms 100:1-5, Proverbs 14:11-12

Today is the 29th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy and an honor, a true privilege to be here with you today around the Global Campfire, where we are still gushing about the arrival of our new little baby in our family. Reagan, China, and Ben are doing great and I’m trying to think how many days canI get away with talking about her in a row, but everything is adjusting well as it should, and we are excited. So, let's…let’s…let’s move to what we’ve come here, what we’ve come here every day to do. Let’s move toward the Scriptures. So, we just to center ourselves. Lot’s is going on. There’s plenty of stuff we can find to be anxious about or fear or doubt or worry about. There’s plenty of things in the world that if we need to seek out these emotions, we can find things to be stressed out about. And we can still do that when were done here if that’s what we want but let’s set it all aside and just come into this oasis around this Global Campfire together and take the next step forward because so…so often the next step forward is the next step we need to take and it’s taking that step in the right direction that matters. And, so, let's…let’s invite the Scriptures into our day and into our lives. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. We’re working our way through the book of Judges. Today chapter 9 verse 22 through 10 verse 18. And we are beginning to transition out of the Gideon story by hearing a little bit about his son Abimelech who killed all of his brothers to become the ruler. So, we’ll…we’ll pick up from there. Judges chapter 9 verse 22 through 10 verse 18.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke today we finished the gospel of Luke today by reading the final chapter. And, so, that concludes the gospel of Luke. Tomorrow we will begin to…to move into the last, the final of the four Gospels, the gospel of John and we’ll talk about that. It’s very different than these first three Gospels that we’ve read – Matthew, Mark, and Luke - which are the synoptic Gospels. They share a lot of the same material and the same stories although told a little bit differently in each of the Gospels. But today we have this…this story of Cleopas and they’re walking out of the city of Jerusalem, 7 miles to another village called Emmaus, when Jesus comes up alongside of them. And it’s such a fascinating story. It’s such a fascinating story, the way Jesus reveals Himself to his friends. It's…it’s like He’s there and they don’t recognize Him or He’s there and they recognize Him, and He disappears. It’s kinda confusing on one level. Like, why wouldn’t He just reveal Himself as He looked? And why is it that they…that He looked different? Like, how is it that they didn’t recognize Him after spending so much time with Him? But it was like, once their eyes were opened then they could see, which had sort of been the…one of the fundamental things Jesus had been saying all along throughout His entire ministry. For me personally as I’ve looked at that, like how did they not recognize Him, just begun to realize that they did need their eyes opened because they were going to need to see Him differently. He was returning to the Father. It was His Spirit that would remain with them. They were going to need to see through the eyes of the Spirit. They were going to need to begin to be able to see Him in each other because they were to become a body, the body of Christ. They were beginning to understand that they were a part of Christ. And we need the same thing. We are a part of that same body. And we look at the story like the road to Emmaus. I love that story. I think I love that story. Well Emmaus…Emmaus is a place, although to be honest there are several candidates, I think two or three candidates for where that place might actually be, but we visit one of those places every time we go to Israel. It’s called Emmaus Acropolis. And, so, there’s a Byzantine monastery, an ancient Byzantine monastery there. And I love to stop there because there’s a little…small little loop trail and you can just walk…it’s like a 15-minute walk if you’re going slow. Just really contemplative, where you just kind of walk and you put yourself in that position of walking down the road and then…then Jesus just kinda comes up alongside of you and begins to open your eyes. And I love when they speak about this. They say, “weren’t our hearts burning inside of us when He was opening up the Scriptures.” It’s like their eyes…the eyes of their hearts were being awakened. They were waking up to a new reality that everything had changed even though everything looked pretty much the same. Things had shifted and that shift changed the world. Like we were talking about yesterday, that…that shift brought us to this moment, but how often have we been walking along the road to life and Jesus comes up alongside of us, maybe not in bodily form, but the spirit leads, and we are unaware of it. We don’t recognize. We’ve gone back to sleep. Our eyes are closed, when we have been awakened into a new reality. And certainly, when get into the writings of Paul we’ll be talking plenty about that new reality that we are to live into, that is to change the world, that is to reveal God’s kingdom, that is to shift everything toward its intended order. But here as we stand in the in between, between the third and fourth of the Gospels that we will read and encounter it’s important for us to stick with what the final story that we got the gospel of Luke looked like and just examine our own hearts for the ways in which we just don’t recognize what God’s doing. It just doesn’t look the same. And yet if we would open our eyes, the eyes of our hearts we would see so clearly.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite You into that, but we first thank You. We first thank You for the example of Your life that shows us what it looks like to be human, what it’s supposed to be like, how it can be for us because of You, how we have permission to be true even in a culture that is so false, even in a world that is so false and so full of darkness. It is still also full of light and we are part of that light. We just…we just don’t always have eyes to see, we just don’t always recognize it. And, so, Holy Spirit come. Open the eyes of our hearts that we might see You and that we might see what You are at work in and that we might see what we are invited to collaborate with You in on this earth we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, humbly thank you. Thank you for your partnership. We began on this journey…well…15 ½ years almost ago and we’re moving through year 16 now, seven days a week every day and we’ve been in this together all this time or we wouldn’t have been here at all. And, so, thank you profoundly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Renzo in Florida and I just really just wanted to give a little message. You know, sometimes it’s very, very hard to come to the presence of the Lord. One, because we want automatic answers and two, usually we just do all the talking. But I just want to say sometimes just let God speak and just sit in His presence. It can be hard but just sit in His presence and just sit and let Him speak to you. Sometimes in the conversation we do a lot of one way talking but sometimes we just need to quiet down and listen. And it’s so hard but it’s true. And just sit in God’s presence and listened to Him. I’m just praying for you guys and I just want to pray for this lady that said she’s about to lose her right eye and I just really want to pray to God heals her. Father God I just please pray for this lady whose name I can’t remember God, but you know her name Lord. Just please just help her right eye to become completely healed. Please, the tumors be gone, and the blood be gone in the name of Jesus, who will be restored God. I believe in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth it will be healed Lord and we just thank you God. Thank you, God. Just please, just heal her in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. I love you guys. I’m praying for you. Jesus loves you.

Hey this is PG from NC I want to say first off hello to the entire DAB family but specifically today I want to say to hello to Lazarus formerly prodigal. Brother I’ve been listening for years and I’ve never heard you sound this clear - clear minded, clear hearted. Clearly there’s joy, clearly there’s a sense of promise and purpose and I am so excited for you. In fact, I want to pray for you. Lord, I thank you today for Lazarus. I thank you for the work you’ve done in his life over the weekend. And God I just pray that You would continue to do that work. Lord first off, I…I pray that not only would he be empowered but Lord I pray that his life would be a testament to the resurrection power that’s available to us, to live life this way - clear, certain, purposeful, powerful, empowered by Your Spirit. Lord I think You that other people will see it and then just as in the book of John, Lord that because of his life other people will see and believe in You. Lord I also pray that just like the arisen Lazarus, God now that he’s stepped up out of the grave Lord, I pray that You would restore his family. God, I pray that You would put the pieces back together and Lord, I thank You that, God, that You’re not just…You’ve not just done a work but You’re continuing to do a work in him. Lord would You do a work in us in the same way. Lord, I pray blessings over him today. Lord, everything he lays his hands to, God I pray that You would be in. And Lord I pray for the rest of our DAB family. God, would You make us like that - empowered, clear, certain. Amen.

Those of us who are in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation
yet there are still those who choose to walk away from the path of Salvation
choosing darkness over the light
preferring to do wickedness instead of that which is right
and even though God desires that everyone be saved
our Salvation depends on how we’ve actually behaved
Jesus said that to the extent that you’ve done this to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it also unto me
our faith should produce fruits that benefit those around us for all the world to see
and if our motives are pure and our hearts are filled with love
then we’ll be storing up much treasure in the heavens above
because when we say I want Jesus to walk with me we need to realize
the scripture actually says two cannot walk together unless they agree
so we need to do a brutally honest self-evaluation
and if we find that we’re still in the faith after such close soul searching examination
we need to go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to help us with those areas we found to be lacking
knowing that we have his word and the holy spirit’s backing
and knowing also that he’s the rewarder of all those earnestly seeking
and that he will give our faith as well as our hearts a much needed tweaking
providing our hearts with a humble posture of continually seeking his face
knowing that he will pour out upon us an abundance of mercy and grace
oh Ye of little faith rest assured today that God will fully equip us to overcome any obstacle placed in our way

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Annette Allison and also to Sally Young. Know that you are both in my daily prayers and very much loved. And once again Brian and the Hardin family thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowing y'all.

Oh, praise God from whom all blessings flow. I just heard Lazarus who has risen from the dead. Oh, my goodness what a wonderful story. We’re so rejoicing with you Lazarus. What a mighty God we serve. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hi this is Stew from Irvine CA I wanted to deliver a prayer for Alavia from New Mexico who called in in regard to her challenged relationship that she has right now. She feels herself to be unequally yoked and she’s reconnected with Jesus. And this is a relationship of three years. She’s finding this to be a struggle and her…her relationship partner has recently proposed. And, so, she’s struggling and asking for prayer. So, I first wanted to speak just briefly about the concept of being unequally yoked. That’s from second Corinthians 6:14 and it’s making reference to the physical yoke that used to be put on oxen. There was a small oxen. It was considered the weaker oxen. A larger oxen. And you put this yoke on them they would actually go around in circles and they wouldn’t be able to actually complete anything successfully. So, when we’re unequally yoked we cannot perform a task set before us and certainly a task of God’s plans for us. So, I…my prayer is that heavenly father you would give insight and discernment to Alavia and that she would be in a position to understand that this is very special time, that by reconnecting with you God she has now been given discernment and understands that this is going to be problem for her and that she’d make the right choice in relationship to drawing close to you and in how she attends this relationship. I ask for all this in the name of your son Jesus. Amen.

Hello this is Running Bear and that’s my trail name. So, I’m just asking prayer for my kiddos. My wife passed away four years ago and they, of course, have gone through that strategy of watching mom but the other big tragedy in our life is just how people avoid us. And we’ve learned through many different avenues that this is commonplace within our American culture, that we avoid suffering at all cost. And our family’s presence in other families makes them have to reflect and evaluate and recognize that suffering’s coming no matter what to all of us. And, so, while we can recognize that people are avoiding us because there’s stuff in their own life that they don’t want to deal with, it’s still…there’s so much that I feel like my kids could avoid if the Christian community around us, which is a dynamic group of people, could really love them and follow through with their promises, which for the most part over the past four years has just been abandonment. And, so, just really be praying for my kids as they’re teenagers now and they’re really reflecting upon that and taking measure of all of that. And…and there’s a bunch of stuff for them that…that they really are hurting and wanting God to be the answer but struggling to see that.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday April 29, 2021 (NIV)

Judges 9:22-10:18

22 Abimelech ruled Israel for three years. 23 Then God made Abimelech and the men of Shechem hostile to each other, and they rebelled against Abimelech. 24 This happened so that Abimelech and the men of Shechem, who encouraged him to murder Gideon's seventy sons, would pay for their crime. 25 The men of Shechem put men in ambush against Abimelech on the mountaintops, and they robbed everyone who passed their way. Abimelech was told about this.

26 Then Gaal son of Ebed came to Shechem with his brothers, and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. 27 They all went out into their vineyards and picked the grapes, made wine from them, and held a festival. They went into the temple of their god, where they ate and drank and made fun of Abimelech. 28 Gaal said, “What kind of men are we in Shechem? Why are we serving Abimelech? Who is he, anyway? The son of Gideon! And Zebul takes orders from him, but why should we serve him? Be loyal to your ancestor Hamor, who founded your clan! 29 I wish I were leading this people! I would get rid of Abimelech! I would tell[a] him, ‘Reinforce your army, come on out and fight!’”

30 Zebul, the ruler of the city, became angry when he heard what Gaal had said. 31 He sent messengers to Abimelech at Arumah[b] to say, “Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem, and they are not going to let you into the city. 32 Now then, you and your men should move by night and hide in the fields. 33 Get up tomorrow morning at sunrise and make a sudden attack on the city. Then when Gaal and his men come out against you, hit them with all you've got!”

34 So Abimelech and all his men made their move at night and hid outside Shechem in four groups. 35 When Abimelech and his men saw Gaal come out and stand at the city gate, they got up from their hiding places. 36 Gaal saw them and said to Zebul, “Look! There are men coming down from the mountaintops!”

“Those are not men,” Zebul answered. “They are just shadows on the mountains.”

37 Gaal said again, “Look! There are men coming down the crest of the mountain and one group is coming along the road from the oak tree of the fortunetellers!”

38 Then Zebul said to him, “Where is all your big talk now? You were the one who asked why we should serve this man Abimelech. These are the men you were making fun of. Go on out now and fight them.” 39 Gaal led the men of Shechem out and fought Abimelech. 40 Abimelech started after Gaal, and Gaal ran. Many were wounded, even at the city gate. 41 Abimelech lived in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem, so that they could no longer live there.

42 The next day Abimelech found out that the people of Shechem were planning to go out into the fields, 43 so he took his men, divided them into three groups, and hid in the fields, waiting. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he came out of hiding to kill them. 44 While Abimelech and his group hurried forward to guard the city gate, the other two companies attacked the people in the fields and killed them all. 45 The fighting continued all day long. Abimelech captured the city, killed its people, tore it down, and covered the ground with salt.

46 When all the leading men in the fort at Shechem heard about this, they sought safety in the stronghold of the temple of Baal-of-the-Covenant. 47 Abimelech was told that they had gathered there, 48 so he went up to Mount Zalmon with his men. There he took an ax, cut a limb off a tree, and put it on his shoulder. He told his men to hurry and do the same thing. 49 So everyone cut off a tree limb; then they followed Abimelech and piled the wood up against the stronghold. They set it on fire, with the people inside, and all the people of the fort died—about a thousand men and women.

50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, surrounded that city, and captured it. 51 There was a strong tower there, and every man and woman in the city, including the leaders, ran to it. They locked themselves in and went up to the roof. 52 When Abimelech came to attack the tower, he went up to the door to set the tower on fire. 53 (A)But a woman threw a millstone down on his head and fractured his skull. 54 Then he quickly called the young man who was carrying his weapons and told him, “Draw your sword and kill me. I don't want it said that a woman killed me.” So the young man ran him through, and he died. 55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home.

56 And so it was that God paid Abimelech back for the crime that he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. 57 God also made the men of Shechem suffer for their wickedness, just as Jotham, Gideon's son, said they would when he cursed them.

Tola

10 After Abimelech's death Tola, the son of Puah and grandson of Dodo, came to free Israel. He was from the tribe of Issachar and lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. He was Israel's leader for twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir.

Jair

After Tola came Jair from Gilead. He led Israel for twenty-two years. He had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys. They had thirty cities in the land of Gilead, which are still called the villages of Jair. Jair died and was buried at Kamon.

Jephthah

Once again the Israelites sinned against the Lord by worshiping the Baals and the Astartes, as well as the gods of Syria, of Sidon, of Moab, of Ammon, and of Philistia. They abandoned the Lord and stopped worshiping him. So the Lord became angry with the Israelites, and let the Philistines and the Ammonites conquer them. For eighteen years they oppressed and persecuted all the Israelites who lived in Amorite country east of the Jordan River in Gilead. The Ammonites even crossed the Jordan to fight the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. Israel was in great distress.

10 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord and said, “We have sinned against you, for we left you, our God, and worshiped the Baals.”

11 The Lord gave them this answer: “The Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12 the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed you in the past, and you cried out to me. Did I not save you from them? 13 But you still left me and worshiped other gods, so I am not going to rescue you again. 14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them rescue you when you get in trouble.”

15 But the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do whatever you like, but please, save us today.” 16 So they got rid of their foreign gods and worshiped the Lord; and he became troubled over Israel's distress.

17 Then the Ammonite army prepared for battle and camped in Gilead. The people of Israel came together and camped at Mizpah in Gilead. 18 There the people and the leaders of the Israelite tribes asked one another, “Who will lead the fight against the Ammonites? Whoever does will be the leader of everyone in Gilead.”

Footnotes:

  1. Judges 9:29 One ancient translation I would tell; Hebrew He told.
  2. Judges 9:31 Probable text Arumah; Hebrew unclear.

Cross references:

  1. Judges 9:53 : 2Sam 11:21
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Luke 24:13-53

The Walk to Emmaus(A)

13 On that same day two of Jesus' followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed, Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them; 16 they saw him, but somehow did not recognize him. 17 Jesus said to them, “What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?”

They stood still, with sad faces. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have been happening there these last few days?”

19 “What things?” he asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. 20 Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. 21 And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened. 22 Some of the women of our group surprised us; they went at dawn to the tomb, 23 but could not find his body. They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive. 24 Some of our group went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they did not see him.”

25 Then Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! 26 Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?” 27 And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets.

28 As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther; 29 but they held him back, saying, “Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 He sat down to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Wasn't it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

33 They got up at once and went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven disciples gathered together with the others 34 and saying, “The Lord is risen indeed! He has appeared to Simon!”

35 The two then explained to them what had happened on the road, and how they had recognized the Lord when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples(B)

36 While the two were telling them this, suddenly the Lord himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”[a]

37 They were terrified, thinking that they were seeing a ghost. 38 But he said to them, “Why are you alarmed? Why are these doubts coming up in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet, and see that it is I myself. Feel me, and you will know, for a ghost doesn't have flesh and bones, as you can see I have.”

40 He said this and showed them his hands and his feet.[b] 41 They still could not believe, they were so full of joy and wonder; so he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of cooked fish, 43 which he took and ate in their presence.

44 Then he said to them, “These are the very things I told you about while I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the Psalms had to come true.”

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “This is what is written: the Messiah must suffer and must rise from death three days later, 47 and in his name the message about repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 (C)And I myself will send upon you what my Father has promised. But you must wait in the city until the power from above comes down upon you.”

Jesus Is Taken Up to Heaven(D)

50 (E)Then he led them out of the city as far as Bethany, where he raised his hands and blessed them. 51 (F)As he was blessing them, he departed from them and was taken up into heaven.[c] 52 They worshiped him and went back into Jerusalem, filled with great joy, 53 and spent all their time in the Temple giving thanks to God.

Footnotes:

  1. Luke 24:36 Some manuscripts do not have and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
  2. Luke 24:40 Some manuscripts do not have verse 40.
  3. Luke 24:51 Some manuscripts do not have and was taken up into heaven.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Psalm 100

A Hymn of Praise[a]

100 Sing to the Lord, all the world!
Worship the Lord with joy;
come before him with happy songs!

Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we belong to him;
we are his people, we are his flock.

Enter the Temple gates with thanksgiving;
go into its courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise him.

(A)The Lord is good;
his love is eternal
and his faithfulness lasts forever.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 100:1 HEBREW TITLE: A psalm of thanksgiving.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Proverbs 14:11-12

11 A good person's house will still be standing after an evildoer's house has been destroyed.

12 (A)What you think is the right road may lead to death.

Cross references:

  1. Proverbs 14:12 : Prov 16:25
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

04/28/2021 DAB Transcript

Judges 8:18-9:21, Luke 23:44-24:12, Psalms 99:1-9, Proverbs 14:9-10

Today is the 28th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian still pretty much floating on cloud nine and enjoying that there’s a new little princess in our family. So, China and Reagan are doing well and recovering. And sweet little Reagan, she is adjusting to a whole new way of being as she spends her second day, her second day with us outside of the womb. So, thank you for your continued prayers over China and ben and baby Reagan. Those of…of us who have experienced the coming, the arrival of children, then we understand that it's…it’s a game changer, right? The page turns so quickly and all the sudden there’s a whole new reality before us and it’s such a glorious beautiful, meaningful, purposeful time. And, so, thank you for your prayers over this little family as they begin to make these adjustments. And ss for all of us, we’ve gathered around this Global Campfire to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. I could just go off on many, many tangents just gushing. My heart is full right now with this arrival, but my heart is also full that we have gathered around this Global Campfire to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. For the last couple of days, we have been reading the story of the judge Gideon from the book of Judges. And we will continue with Gideon’s story today from the book of Judges. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. Judges 8 verse 18 through nine verse 21.

Commentary:

Okay. So, it’s pretty striking, jarring even, the magnitude of what we read in the Bible today. It’s like we’re reading this, and we read it and maybe some of these stories we know, or we’ve heard them many times. And, so, we read them but it’s earth-shattering stuff, earthmoving stuff that we read about today. So, in the book of Judges we kinda reached the conclusion of the Gideon story. So, Gideon did lead the people to overcome the Midianites and brought peace to the land and they tried to make him king and he wouldn’t be King. And he was a judge for another 40 years and there was peace and then he dies. And then the level of injustice that follows this is staggering. So, Gideon has 70 sons. So, that’s a lot of kids and probably they don’t even all know each other but one of his sons, his name’s Abimelech and he’s from a concubine that lives in Shechem. So, he would’ve definitely been considered kind of an outsider in the family, not really a true heir in the family. That’s how his other brothers would’ve looked at him. But once Gideon is dead he goes to his relatives in Shechem and is like, “do you want Gideon’s sons ruling over you or do you want me?” Which…which eventually comes to the execution of the 70 other sons. Very tribal, very violent. I mean we can read it through our modern lenses and see the barbarity of it. And it’s no less barbaric in a tribal time, but it is more common to attempt to completely and utterly wipe out your enemies by killing them and killing all of their heirs so that the very memory of them is lost so that somebody somewhere along the line can’t grow up and come kill you. But one of the sons escaped, Jotham, and eventually went up on Mount Gerizim. This is the amount of blessing by the way, the one that Moses spoke about, “go to mount Gerizim and recite the blessings of the covenant on Mount Ebal and recite the curses of the covenant…covenant. There…there like two mountains, to giant hills. I mean they’re mountains in that region, but they’re not the kind of mountains we would consider the high mountains of the earth. But they’re two mountains and they sit between…well…Shechem is in the middle of them until this very day. Shechem, biblical Shechem, is called Nablus now but Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim are still there. So, Jotham confronts and then he runs for his life and as the story kinda draws to a close, we just see that the people after the judge Gideon dies they just go back and just slide away and go back to worshiping the baals, go back to doing what they think is right in their own eyes. This is the time that there in.

If we turn into the gospel of Luke, I mean the level of injustice at the execution of Jesus is like supreme over all because this is humanity putting God to death. I mean I know that’s a jarring thing to think about, but that’s what’s happening. And, so, we see in the Old and the New Testaments supreme, like just how far humanity can go toward the way of injustice. Like, this is the outcome of just how deeply dark people can go. So, in both of those stories we could say like, there’s…these…this is the level of injustice that is hard to even fathom, but in the same reading today Jesus didn’t stay dead. He rose from the dead. That’s earthmoving stuff. Like, that's…that’s what has landed our lives here today to be hearing this. This is the victory over the darkness. Jesus rising from the dead is essentially a rebirth into life. In fact, that’s not like a metaphor that I’m using, this is something that the apostle Paul will say, that Jesus is the first born into a new thing that God is doing upon the earth and Jesus is the first born into that new thing among many brethren to follow, which is us. I mean the resurrection is overwhelming to think about in the Bible, and we can see in the news, like when the new starts to spread among Jesus followers it…it's…it’s unsettling, like this is impossible. Even though Jesus said this would happen, this is impossible. And yet, they very soon find out it’s very possible and that affects their lives so profoundly that, although nobody wants to die, they have…they have lost…they’ve seen what’s going to happen and they don’t fear this and they’re willing to give their lives for it, which they eventually do. So, as I was saying to us when we entered into like the garden of Gethsemane and the Last Supper and the arrest and we were moving into this territory gospel of Luke, I mentioned like, let’s not blow by this. This is…this is that story. This is the story that changes everything. This is the story that has catapulted our lives to this moment. And, so, we certainly blow by the resurrection, we…we want to contemplate that and meditate upon it today and understand the implications of it in our faith today. This changes everything forever. That’s not small. That’s big.

Prayer:

Jesus, we thank You for Your life and for the example, for Your heart and Your compassion and Your kindness, Your willingness to rescue we who You love, even though we don’t deserve Your love, even though we can’t earn Your love. Even while we were Your enemies You still came for us. And it's…it’s just that kind of love, that kind of love is what reveals Your kingdom. And we confess that what we want to participate in that. We’re just not capable of that kind of selfless love without Your spirit within. So, come Holy Spirit and lead us on the pathways of love. Love conquers all, even death we are learning. And we learn from song of Solomon that love is stronger than death. And in our reading from the gospel of Luke You were dead and then You were alive. And we are invited into that story. So, come Holy Spirit Awaken us, that this might settle in the profoundness of it we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

This message is for Alivia of New Mexico. I heard you say you wanted to hear from the community regarding how you might consider responding to a marriage proposal from a person you’ve been with for about three years. You mentioned being confused and having a hard time bringing yourself to break up. I hope you will recognize that confusion is a red flag. The enemy of your soul is the source of your confusion and he’s come to steal, kill, and destroy. Being unequally yoked is about two in connection who have separate destinations. One honestly wants to go in one direction and the other honestly wants to go in a different direction. When they are yoked together at best they go in a compromised direction, neither going in the direction they wanted to go. That results in regret and mourning the loss of true life purpose. I encourage you to show your man respect and honor by allowing him to go in the direction of his choice. If he truly loves you, he will want you to live in your calling. I encourage you Alyvia, do not compromise truthfulness. Trust God’s perfect plan for your life. His plans are always better than we know, and we will never regret trusting the one true God and savior. There is so much we don’t know. Maybe your man will come to accept Jesus as a savior and Lord. Regardless of that, it is best not to foolishly rush in but rather wait on the Lord. God is truly good. Father I pray you give Alivia faith to believe your word and courage to follow your direction trusting your love for her and your most excellent perfect plans for her life in place of any other focus. Thank you for seeing us through Jesus loving us and receiving our prayers. We are your children saved and sanctified through Jesus alone. Amen.

Hello daily audio Bible family from London this is Sarah from London and I’m here with my nephews. What’s your name? Malachi. And how old are you? 6 years old. And what’s your name? Simeon. And how old are you? 3. Yes. And I’ve…they’ve just listened to Ezekiel on the Daily Audio Bible family and they want to say hello to Ezekiel. Say hello to Ezekiel. Hello Ezekiel. How are you? How are you? And what do you think of the…his reading? It was really good and lovely. Yeah, Malachi really enjoys it…really enjoyed listening to the reading today. And, yeah, so…gonna say bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. I hope you’re all doing well Daily Audio Bible family and stay blessed. Take care. Sarah from London.

Hey DABbers, this is Retaining Honor, and I am calling in this morning with prayers for Alavia from New Mexico. And your message just so touched my heart because that is…that is my story, and I am unequally yoked with my husband and it is the number one thing that I pray about because I am now raising our child and I feel like I am alone in my spiritual journey. And dear sister that choice is yours to make. You can have a good life with this man that you have chosen and that you described but if it is anything like my situation your entire life you may feel like you are having to choose between the man that you love and the God that you love and the God that you serve. And I…I have not always put my savior first. And I urge you to look at your eternity and to look at your heavenly Father and to put Him first in your life and to think about, that…that this will impact your future family. So, I am praying for you as you are deliberating on this decision. And I love you sister. And also, so many people prayed this morning for Ramona from California. And Ramona I am a 32-year-old with a 7-year-old son and your testimony, your prayer request so touched my heart that I am praying for you dear sister. I can see my son also telling me that it would be OK and giving that same advice. He and I are so very close. So, sister I am praying for healing for you, and I am believing in healing for you and…

Hi Alana from New Mexico. Hey this is also my first time calling __ and I’m in Germany. So, I understand what you’re going through. I also myself just got out from a two-year relationship that was really confusing. And one thing that I will share with you is once you’re confused, God is not an author of confusion. Even if you do not have the strength to do it, ask the Holy Spirit for help and trust me He will help you to make the very best decision and as a believer that’s a woman only a man that really loves God can love a believing woman. And, so, you have peace, so you are no longer in a state of confusion where you do not have peace of mind ask the Holy Spirit for help. And I go to God. Father, please help Your daughter make the right decision and help her to see what You are protecting her from and please give her peace of mind that passes all human understanding. I love you all this is also my first-time calling in. I really appreciate this program. You all have a beautiful day. Bye.

Hello everybody. Hey this is Anette Allison from Oklahoma City. It is so good to hear you guys. Let you know surgery on my foot went good. Not sure if I have more surgeries or buy more motorcycles the numbers are quite similar. So, anyways thank you all for…for your many thoughts and prayers from most people and Daysha and Sally. I love you two so much. Thank you. Getting ready to go on the 29th to go pick up my son Alex from Durango Colorado and I’m going to haul him from there to my house. I’m gonna clean up his legal work but he’s doing super good, and he saved up all the money I mean in like record time to get all the legal stuff handled and he’ll be free and clear real soon and I am so thrilled to have him home here just for even a little while. So, pray that everything goes well, the trip is non- eventful. And we’re gonna bring our dog and we had to put a big dog down and it was just rough. So, anyways have a wonderful day everyone. Take care. Bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family I am about 3 ½- or 4-year listener calling in from Chicago and requesting prayer. I…for two things. One, I’m faced with a pretty important and quite honestly really tough career decision and I could just use some prayer for clarity and guidance and…and faith and just again a really clear vision on the path that the…the Lord wants me to go as I make this decision. Secondly, just prayers for my son. He continues…he’s 25 and continues grow into adulthood and is also being faced with some pretty important adult decisions and I just pray that he will also seek the guidance and confidence and…and clarity to make the best decisions for now and into his future. I really appreciate it and love you all and love this community. Thank you.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday April 28, 2021 (NIV)

Judges 8:18-9:21

18 Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about the men you killed at Tabor?”

They answered, “They looked like you—every one of them like the son of a king.”

19 Gideon said, “They were my brothers, my own mother's sons. I solemnly swear that if you had not killed them, I would not kill you.” 20 Then he said to Jether, his oldest son, “Go ahead, kill them!” But the boy did not draw his sword. He hesitated, because he was still only a boy.

21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Come on, kill us yourself. It takes a man to do a man's job.” So Gideon killed them and took the ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

22 After that, the Israelites said to Gideon, “Be our ruler—you and your descendants after you. You have saved us from the Midianites.”

23 Gideon answered, “I will not be your ruler, nor will my son. The Lord will be your ruler.” 24 But he went on to say, “Let me ask one thing of you. Every one of you give me the earrings you took.” (The Midianites, like other desert people, wore gold earrings.)

25 The people answered, “We'll be glad to give them to you.” They spread out a cloth, and everyone put on it the earrings that he had taken. 26 The gold earrings that Gideon got weighed over forty pounds, and this did not include the ornaments, necklaces, and purple clothes that the kings of Midian wore, nor the collars that were around the necks of their camels. 27 Gideon made an idol from the gold and put it in his hometown, Ophrah. All the Israelites abandoned God and went there to worship the idol. It was a trap for Gideon and his family.

28 So Midian was defeated by the Israelites and was no longer a threat. The land was at peace for forty years, until Gideon died.

The Death of Gideon

29 Gideon went back to his own home and lived there. 30 He had seventy sons, because he had many wives. 31 He also had a concubine in Shechem; she bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. 32 Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, at Ophrah, the town of the clan of Abiezer.

33 After Gideon's death the people of Israel were unfaithful to God again and worshiped the Baals. They made Baal-of-the-Covenant their god, 34 and no longer served the Lord their God, who had saved them from all their enemies around them. 35 They were not grateful to the family of Gideon for all the good that he had done for Israel.

Abimelech

Gideon's son Abimelech went to the town of Shechem, where all his mother's relatives lived, and told them to ask the men of Shechem, “Which would you prefer? To have all seventy of Gideon's sons govern you or to have just one man? Remember that Abimelech is your own flesh and blood.” His mother's relatives talked to the men of Shechem about this for him, and the men of Shechem decided to follow Abimelech because he was their relative. They gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-of-the-Covenant, and with this money he hired a bunch of worthless scoundrels to join him. He went to his father's house at Ophrah, and there on top of a single stone he killed his seventy brothers, Gideon's sons. But Jotham, Gideon's youngest son, hid and was not killed. Then all the men of Shechem and Bethmillo got together and went to the sacred oak tree at Shechem, where they made Abimelech king.

When Jotham heard about this, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and shouted out to them, “Listen to me, you men of Shechem, and God may listen to you! Once upon a time the trees went out to choose a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’ The olive tree answered, ‘In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my oil, which is used to honor gods and human beings.’ 10 Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king.’ 11 But the fig tree answered, ‘In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my good sweet fruit.’ 12 So the trees then said to the grapevine, ‘You come and be our king.’ 13 But the vine answered, ‘In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my wine, that makes gods and human beings happy.’ 14 So then all the trees said to the thorn bush, ‘You come and be our king.’ 15 The thorn bush answered, ‘If you really want to make me your king, then come and take shelter in my shade. If you don't, fire will blaze out of my thorny branches and burn up the cedars of Lebanon.’

16 “Now then,” Jotham continued, “were you really honest and sincere when you made Abimelech king? Did you respect Gideon's memory and treat his family properly, as his actions deserved? 17 Remember that my father fought for you. He risked his life to save you from the Midianites. 18 But today you turned against my father's family. You killed his sons—seventy men on a single stone—and just because Abimelech, his son by his servant woman, is your relative, you have made him king of Shechem. 19 Now then, if what you did today to Gideon and his family was sincere and honest, then be happy with Abimelech and let him be happy with you. 20 But if not, may fire blaze out from Abimelech and burn up the men of Shechem and Bethmillo. May fire blaze out from the men of Shechem and Bethmillo and burn Abimelech up.” 21 Then because he was afraid of his brother Abimelech, Jotham ran away and went to live at Beer.

Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Luke 23:44-24:12

The Death of Jesus(A)

44-45 (B)It was about twelve o'clock when the sun stopped shining and darkness covered the whole country until three o'clock; and the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two. 46 (C)Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father! In your hands I place my spirit!” He said this and died.

47 The army officer saw what had happened, and he praised God, saying, “Certainly he was a good man!”

48 When the people who had gathered there to watch the spectacle saw what happened, they all went back home, beating their breasts in sorrow. 49 (D)All those who knew Jesus personally, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance to watch.

The Burial of Jesus(E)

50-51 There was a man named Joseph from Arimathea, a town in Judea. He was a good and honorable man, who was waiting for the coming of the Kingdom of God. Although he was a member of the Council, he had not agreed with their decision and action. 52 He went into the presence of Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took the body down, wrapped it in a linen sheet, and placed it in a tomb which had been dug out of solid rock and which had never been used. 54 It was Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

55 The women who had followed Jesus from Galilee went with Joseph and saw the tomb and how Jesus' body was placed in it. 56 (F)Then they went back home and prepared the spices and perfumes for the body.

On the Sabbath they rested, as the Law commanded.

The Resurrection(G)

24 Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, so they went in; but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. They stood there puzzled about this, when suddenly two men in bright shining clothes stood by them. Full of fear, the women bowed down to the ground, as the men said to them, “Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? (H)He is not here; he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.’”

Then the women remembered his words, returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven disciples and all the rest. 10 The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; they and the other women with them told these things to the apostles. 11 But the apostles thought that what the women said was nonsense, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; he bent down and saw the grave cloths but nothing else. Then he went back home amazed at what had happened.[a]

Footnotes:

  1. Luke 24:12 Some manuscripts do not have verse 12.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Psalm 99

God the Supreme King

99 (A)The Lord is king,
and the people tremble.
He sits on his throne above the winged creatures,
and the earth shakes.
The Lord is mighty in Zion;
he is supreme over all the nations.
Everyone will praise his great and majestic name.
Holy is he!

Mighty king,[a] you love what is right;
you have established justice in Israel;
you have brought righteousness and fairness.
Praise the Lord our God;
worship before his throne!
Holy is he!

Moses and Aaron were his priests,
and Samuel was one who prayed to him;
they called to the Lord, and he answered them.
(B)He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
they obeyed the laws and commands that he gave them.

O Lord, our God, you answered your people;
you showed them that you are a God who forgives,
even though you punished them for their sins.
Praise the Lord our God,
and worship at his sacred hill![b]
The Lord our God is holy.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 99:4 Probable text Mighty king; Hebrew The might of the king.
  2. Psalm 99:9 See 2.6.

Cross references:

  1. Psalm 99:1 : Exod 25:22
  2. Psalm 99:7 : Exod 33:9
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Proverbs 14:9-10

Foolish people don't care if they sin, but good people want to be forgiven.[a]

10 Your joy is your own; your bitterness is your own. No one can share them with you.

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 14:9 Verse 9 in Hebrew is unclear.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

04/27/2021 DAb Transcript

Judges 7:1-8:17, Luke 23:13-43, Psalms 97:1-98:9, Proverbs 14:7-8

Today is the 27th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today a little later than usual. Now for…most everybody’s probably not going to notice that this is a little bit late but those of you in the UK for sure will and those of you early risers on the East Coast will. We’re in the 4 o'clock hour this morning and we’ve been up all night. We’re late a little bit because…well…China went into labor and she’s been in labor all the way around the clock and she has successfully delivered a baby girl that is pretty much as all newborns are, perfect. And once we knew for sure she was in labor and was going to give birth at some point in the night then we’ve been waiting to make this announcement. So, China has had her baby daughter, our granddaughter. I don’t know the weight yet or the length yet. She was born at 4:14 this morning. And we’re gonna have this news out within the hour, the hour of her birth. So, we’ve been…we’ve been keeping vigil. Jill has been with China the whole way here as has Ben of course. And they have decided to name this little girl Reagan Brave Brown and she is a brave little daughter of the king. She’s our little Reagan the Brave and everybody is safe and sound and exhausted and a full of adrenaline and I haven’t even had a cup of coffee yet. I think there’s water boiling in the background here. Just trying to be able to make this announcement. So, I’m sure before the days out we’ll have pictures posted and the details given. But there’s a new daily audio baby and her name is Reagan and she’s eating and she’s sleeping, and we haven’t even…she hasn’t even been weighed yet, but we didn’t want to wait a whole day to tell everybody. So, this is the good news. All is well, the baby has been born, everyone is safe. And, so, let's…let’s now do what we have come here to do and read the Scriptures. And today we read in honor of Reagan the Brave who was born April 27, 2021. Okay. So, yesterday we were introduced to a man named Gideon in the Old Testament in the book of Judges. Gideon becomes one of the judges of Israel and we will continue with his story today. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. Judges 7:1 through 8:17.

Commentary:

Okay. So, today in the book of Judges the…the battle for which Gideon was called that was waged today. Although Gideon for his part, he had an army of 32,000 people but ended up confronting the enemy with only 300 people as God whittled down the army so that basically so that Gideon’s early on question could be answered. Gideon early on in this story was asking the angel of the Lord, “where is this mighty God that did things that we’ve heard of from our ancestors, the great things of old?” God was inviting Gideon into one of those stories. And, so, a 300-person army confronted essentially three different armies who had banded together to raid and pillage and destroy. And it’s interesting to see Gideon’s confidence grow. At first, he’s like, “where is the God that did great things”, right? And then it…it went to, “Oh, the God who did great things is right here in front of me and I have borne witness to this. Am I gonna die?” It went from that to, “if you are truly calling me will you just give me confidence through this sign with dew? Can there be dew on this cloth, but not on the ground?” And then he did it the next day. “Can there be due on the ground but not on this cloth?” After that we don’t really see Gideon confused anymore about who he’s following so when this 32,000-person army gets whittled down to 300 Gideon remains confident in the Lord. And let’s be honest, 32,000 people, that’s a lot of people. If you’re going confront another army that’s a lot of people depending on how many people they’ve got. But if they have an army that’s like covering the ground like locusts and their camels are as many as the sands on the seashore, that’s all a lot of people. So, 300 looks more like a suicide mission than a confrontation with an enemy army. But the Lord had come before them and actually did what He said He was going to do, and the Israelites were set free. We’re not done with Gideon’s story. There’s actually a dark chapter in the story to come before us, but it gives us a real sense of the times, times of the judges. So, the tribes of Israel have settled. This is a tribal time. They are tribes of Israel. And as we began the book of Judges, we were told that everyone was doing what they…whatever they thought was right in their own eyes. And we’ll get some glimpses of the different things that that can look like as we continue the journey through the book of Judges.

In the book of Luke today for the third time this year we have encountered the story of Jesus death. This, His trial and execution. And today we read of His crucifixion and that He hung there in agony and…and took more and more verbal abuse, even as He was dying. And in the face of that He displayed forgiveness, which…which really is the centerpiece isn’t it, that God would forgive us and welcome us into his family. And I know, we…we…we celebrated Easter just a few weeks ago. So, this is reasonably fresh in our mind. And we might even think, “yeh. We just made a big to do of that just a couple weeks ago when we were moving through holy week and celebrating Easter. There’s just never a wrong time to meditate upon this though, to consider what kind of love we’re talking about because that’s the kind of love that can change the world, that’s the kind of love that conquers all according to the Scriptures. So, it’s important that we give some time today to just meditate upon the sacrifice of Jesus. We will…well…I mean we…we’ve read through that story, that part of the story three times now - Matthew Mark and Luke - and these are the synoptic Gospels. We only have one gospel left after this, the gospel of John. We will only encounter this story one more time during this year. And, so, it’s always important to just slow things down and become very grateful for what we have because we have been rescued.

Prayer:

Jesus is impossible to use words whether there roughly hewn or whether there just beautifully ornate words. There are no words that actually can add up to the description of what You’ve done for us. And, so, it would be maybe easier for us to just stay here in silence just in attitude that is grateful from the bottom of our hearts. And we plan to do today, just spend some time thinking this through and being in a space of gratitude and silence before You, thanking You, thanking You, knowing that our words fall short. And, so, we stand before You silent, not because we can’t find words to say but because this is the most honest thing we can do, present ourselves before You without a bunch of explanation. We are here and we are here because You saved us, and we are grateful, and we are expressing that. And, so, come Holy Spirit into this we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

What’s going on around here right now is Reagan’s birth and we will work to get pictures, all…all of that. We’re like really delirious, kind of right now we’re really focused on what we’re doing and one foot in front of the other. That’s kinda how it gets when there’s a severe lack of sleep going on but we’ll definitely…we’ll deftly get the word out on social media as soon as…as soon as China says we can. And we’ve had a running…how long…how long will this baby be, what will this baby’s birthday be, what will the baby weigh…in our family for a long time…so we don’t even know who’s going to win that one. We’ll post that stuff too as soon as we…as soon as we know. But we couldn’t wait any longer, wanted to get the news out and literally you’re hearing this within the hour of her birth. So, thank you for your prayers over everything that goes into bringing a new baby into the world over this little family, over her mommy and her healing, over this little girl who has had to trust and be thrust into a whole new existence that she’s never known before. And she’s been experiencing it for less than an hour, so she’s safe with her mommy and she knows that, and she knows the voice of her father. And this is a good place to start. So, thank you for your prayers.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Jackie from Oregon I called to pray for Honeybee from Louisiana who’s had twenty eye surgeries. I feel in my spirit the need to pray for you. Just talking on this podcast, I know God has a way of healing. I know it’s come to a place where that’s your only option and I really pray very hard for you in the name of Jesus that this eye be completely healed and restored. I know Jesus can do it. I know it’s up to him. And I pray for that to happen. Thank you.

Hey, this call is for honeybee from Louisiana. Your call played today Thursday April 22nd and right away you caught my attention honeybee because my name is Melissa and that means honeybee. And, so, I have another friend who is also named Melissa and we call each other honeybee. So, right away you had my attention. But just listening to your request for your eyes for your site for the multiple surgeries you’ve endured and just the difficult spot you’re at, I just want you to know that I…I’m praying for you now and I will continue to pray for you as the Holy Spirit brings you to my mind. And I’m just praying for God to do a miracle. I just kept thinking of the story of Jesus healing the blind men, how He just did it in different ways. You know, all the stories of the blind men healed in the Bible, they’re done differently. And He heals differently but He does heal. He’s got the power to do that. And while you’re waiting for that healing, I’m just praying for the peace of the Holy Spirit to surround you and encourage you. Be encouraged and blessed my sister, my fellow honeybee.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Tony the truck driver. I haven’t called in in probably two or three years, but I still listen every day and support in partnership with the DAB. And today I just called with a heavy heart. One of my fellow truck drivers at my job was tragically killed today. Just pumping fuel in his truck, a guy came and just shot him for no reason and then took his own life. His name was Raymond Ramirez. He’s from Allentown PA. He leaves behind a wife and three young children. So, I’ve just been in prayer for him and his family…for his family all day. Everybody at the job has a heavy heart. So, I’m just asking you family to pray for his family. Just pray for the peace that Christ can give him…give his family Lord and that they would…He would just be with him, be with their family in this time, that they would have the peace that surpasses all understanding our Lord and saver can give. Thank you, family. Love you. Still listening. I’m definitely gonna try to call more often. Blind Tony I heard you one day still talk…shouting out me and my son AJ. He’s doing great. He’s actually gonna be 20 in a week or so. So, thank you for all you guys prayers. I’ll be talking to you. God bless.

Hi, Olivia this is Dawn Rising in Michigan. I’m so glad you’re in our community now and I just wanted to pray for you in your situation. I know it can be very confusing when you love somebody. You wanted to hear from people. So, I took that as an open invitation to give my opinion. I too was in an unequally yoked relationship for three years and I loved the person, but God gave me the foresight to be able to think of ahead of my current situation and how I wanted to raise my children and it didn’t match up with the person that I was with. So, you know, if you want to look forward into your life and see how your life goals and how God’s will for you could be obtained with the current person. So, just take a look at that and if, you know, and look into his heart and if there’s room for change, but don’t yoke yourself to somebody, you know, that will not want to change because it will be forever an uphill battle. And, you know, it’ll be like the idols in…with the Canaanites. You’ll be tempted to sway his way unfortunately. So, anyway, praying for you my friend and it's…it’s not easy and I…I don’t envy your situation because I’ve been in it. Anyway, we love you. We’ll pray for you.

Hi guys my name is Kimmy I’m calling in because Olivia from New Mexico, I’m sorry if I did not pronounce that right, your ask for prayer really, really spoke to me as my best friend of two…just broke up with her boyfriend of two years because they were unequally yoked. And, so, your stories were similar, and I just wanted to encourage you to continue to pursue the Lord and just pray, be in constant prayer to know what to do. But I wanted to encourage you with the words that my best friend had spoken to me was that she broke up with her boyfriend not out of a lack of love for him but out of a greater love for the Lord. And, so, whatever the will of the Lord is, I think being open and willing to hear it and to obey it is really important and I’ll be praying for you no matter what the Lord…no matter what you decide to do. But I wanted to read to you Philippians 3 versus 7 through 11 which says, “but whatever gain I had I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings becoming like Him __ that by any means possible I may obtain the resurrection from the dead. I hope this has been an encouragement. And yeah, just keep pursuing the Lord. Be in constant prayer to know what to do because He’s right there with you and He holds your heart in His hands and I’m praying for you.

Hi, I’m Ethan from Indiana and I just wanted to say thank you guys for doing this. And it really helps me because I can listen to the Bible while I’m in the shower or something like that and I can listen to the word of God. Thank you for everything. And I just pray that you guys are…have a blessed life and I pray that you guys have great days while you guys are in…

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday April 27, 2021 (NIV)

Judges 7:1-8:17

Gideon Defeats the Midianites

One day Gideon and all his men got up early and camped beside Harod Spring. The Midianite camp was in the valley to the north of them by Moreh Hill.

The Lord said to Gideon, “The men you have are too many for me to give them victory over the Midianites. They might think that they had won by themselves, and so give me no credit. (A)Announce to the people, ‘Anyone who is afraid should go back home, and we will stay here at Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand went back, but ten thousand stayed.

Then the Lord said to Gideon, “You still have too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will separate them for you there. If I tell you a man should go with you, he will go. If I tell you a man should not go with you, he will not go.” Gideon took the men down to the water, and the Lord told him, “Separate everyone who laps up the water with his tongue like a dog, from everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.” There were three hundred men who scooped up water in their hands and lapped it; all the others got down on their knees to drink. The Lord said to Gideon, “I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites with the three hundred men who lapped the water. Tell everyone else to go home.” So Gideon sent all the Israelites home, except the three hundred, who kept all the supplies and trumpets. The Midianite camp was below them in the valley.

That night the Lord commanded Gideon, “Get up and attack the camp; I am giving you victory over it. 10 But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah. 11 You will hear what they are saying, and then you will have the courage to attack.” So Gideon and his servant Purah went down to the edge of the enemy camp. 12 The Midianites, the Amalekites, and the desert tribesmen were spread out in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and they had as many camels as there are grains of sand on the seashore.

13 When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling a friend about a dream. He was saying, “I dreamed that a loaf of barley bread rolled into our camp and hit a tent. The tent collapsed and lay flat on the ground.”

14 His friend replied, “It's the sword of the Israelite, Gideon son of Joash! It can't mean anything else! God has given him victory over Midian and our whole army!”

15 When Gideon heard about the man's dream and what it meant, he fell to his knees and worshiped the Lord. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up! The Lord is giving you victory over the Midianite army!” 16 He divided his three hundred men into three groups and gave each man a trumpet and a jar with a torch inside it. 17 He told them, “When I get to the edge of the camp, watch me, and do what I do. 18 When my group and I blow our trumpets, then you blow yours all around the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

19 Gideon and his one hundred men came to the edge of the camp a while before midnight, just after the guard had been changed. Then they blew the trumpets and broke the jars they were holding, 20 and the other two groups did the same. They all held the torches in their left hands, the trumpets in their right, and shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 Every man stood in his place around the camp, and the whole enemy army ran away yelling. 22 While Gideon's men were blowing their trumpets, the Lord made the enemy troops attack each other with their swords. They ran toward Zarethan as far as Beth Shittah, as far as the town of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.

23 Then men from the tribes of Naphtali, Asher, and both parts of Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites. 24 Gideon sent messengers through all the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down and fight the Midianites. Hold the Jordan River and the streams as far as Bethbarah, to keep the Midianites from crossing them.” The men of Ephraim were called together, and they held the Jordan River and the streams as far as Bethbarah. 25 They captured the two Midianite chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at Oreb Rock, and Zeeb at the Winepress of Zeeb. They continued to pursue the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now east of the Jordan.

The Final Defeat of the Midianites

Then the people of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why didn't you call us when you went to fight the Midianites? Why did you treat us like this?” They complained bitterly about it.

But he told them, “What I was able to do is nothing compared with what you have done. Even the little that you people of Ephraim did is worth more than what my whole clan has done. (B)After all, through the power of God you killed the two Midianite chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I done to compare with that?” When he said this, they were no longer so angry.

By this time Gideon and his three hundred men had come to the Jordan River and had crossed it. They were exhausted, but were still pursuing the enemy. When they arrived at Sukkoth, he said to the men of the town, “Please give my men some loaves of bread. They are exhausted, and I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the Midianite kings.”

But the leaders of Sukkoth said, “Why should we give your army any food? You haven't captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet.”

So Gideon said, “All right! When the Lord has handed Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will beat you with thorns and briers from the desert!” Gideon went on to Penuel and made the same request of the people there, but the men of Penuel gave the same answer as the men of Sukkoth. So he said to them, “I am going to come back safe and sound, and when I do, I will tear this tower down!”

10 Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor with their army. Of the whole army of desert tribesmen, only about 15,000 were left; 120,000 soldiers had been killed. 11 Gideon went on the road along the edge of the desert, east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army by surprise. 12 The two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, ran away, but he pursued them and captured them, and caused their whole army to panic.

13 When Gideon was returning from the battle by way of Heres Pass, 14 he captured a young man from Sukkoth and questioned him. The young man wrote down for Gideon the names of the seventy-seven leading men of Sukkoth. 15 Then Gideon went to the men of Sukkoth and said, “Remember when you refused to help me? You said that you couldn't give any food to my exhausted army because I hadn't captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet. Well, here they are!” 16 He then took thorns and briers from the desert and used them to punish the leaders of Sukkoth. 17 He also tore down the tower at Penuel and killed the men of that city.

Cross references:

  1. Judges 7:3 : Deut 20:8
  2. Judges 8:3 : Ps 83:11
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Luke 23:13-43

Jesus Is Sentenced to Death(A)

13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought this man to me and said that he was misleading the people. Now, I have examined him here in your presence, and I have not found him guilty of any of the crimes you accuse him of. 15 Nor did Herod find him guilty, for he sent him back to us. There is nothing this man has done to deserve death. 16 So I will have him whipped and let him go.” 17 [a]

18 The whole crowd cried out, “Kill him! Set Barabbas free for us!” (19 Barabbas had been put in prison for a riot that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

20 Pilate wanted to set Jesus free, so he appealed to the crowd again. 21 But they shouted back, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

22 Pilate said to them the third time, “But what crime has he committed? I cannot find anything he has done to deserve death! I will have him whipped and set him free.”

23 But they kept on shouting at the top of their voices that Jesus should be crucified, and finally their shouting succeeded. 24 So Pilate passed the sentence on Jesus that they were asking for. 25 He set free the man they wanted, the one who had been put in prison for riot and murder, and he handed Jesus over for them to do as they wished.

Jesus Is Crucified(B)

26 The soldiers led Jesus away, and as they were going, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon who was coming into the city from the country. They seized him, put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.

27 A large crowd of people followed him; among them were some women who were weeping and wailing for him. 28 Jesus turned to them and said, “Women of Jerusalem! Don't cry for me, but for yourselves and your children. 29 For the days are coming when people will say, ‘How lucky are the women who never had children, who never bore babies, who never nursed them!’ 30 (C)That will be the time when people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Hide us!’ 31 For if such things as these are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

32 Two other men, both of them criminals, were also led out to be put to death with Jesus. 33 When they came to the place called “The Skull,” they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. 34 (D)Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father! They don't know what they are doing.”[b]

They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice. 35 (E)The people stood there watching while the Jewish leaders made fun of him: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah whom God has chosen!”

36 (F)The soldiers also made fun of him: they came up to him and offered him cheap wine, 37 and said, “Save yourself if you are the king of the Jews!”

38 Above him were written these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”

39 One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: “Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

40 The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, “Don't you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. 41 Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong.” 42 And he said to Jesus, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!”

43 Jesus said to him, “I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me.”

Footnotes:

  1. Luke 23:17 Some manuscripts add verse 17: At every Passover Festival Pilate had to set free one prisoner for them (see Mk 15.6).
  2. Luke 23:34 Some manuscripts do not have Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father! They don't know what they are doing.”
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Psalm 97-98

God the Supreme Ruler

97 The Lord is king! Earth, be glad!
Rejoice, you islands of the seas!
Clouds and darkness surround him;
he rules with righteousness and justice.
Fire goes in front of him
and burns up his enemies around him.
His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees it and trembles.
The hills melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the nations see his glory.

Everyone who worships idols is put to shame;
all the gods bow down[a] before the Lord.
The people of Zion are glad,
and the cities of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments, O Lord.
Lord Almighty, you are ruler of all the earth;
you are much greater than all the gods.

10 The Lord loves those who hate evil;[b]
he protects the lives of his people;
he rescues them from the power of the wicked.
11 Light shines on the righteous,
and gladness on the good.
12 All you that are righteous be glad
because of what the Lord has done!
Remember what the holy God has done,
and give thanks to him.

God the Ruler of the World[c]

98 Sing a new song to the Lord;
he has done wonderful things!
By his own power and holy strength
he has won the victory.
The Lord announced his victory;
he made his saving power known to the nations.
He kept his promise to the people of Israel
with loyalty and constant love for them.
All people everywhere have seen the victory of our God.

Sing for joy to the Lord, all the earth;
praise him with songs and shouts of joy!
Sing praises to the Lord!
Play music on the harps!
Blow trumpets and horns,
and shout for joy to the Lord, our king.

Roar, sea, and every creature in you;
sing, earth, and all who live on you!
Clap your hands, you rivers;
you hills, sing together with joy before the Lord,
because he comes to rule the earth.
He will rule the peoples of the world
with justice and fairness.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 97:7 all the gods bow down; or bow down, all gods.
  2. Psalm 97:10 Probable text The Lord loves those who hate evil; Hebrew Hate evil, you who love the Lord.
  3. Psalm 98:1 HEBREW TITLE: A psalm.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Proverbs 14:7-8

Stay away from foolish people; they have nothing to teach you.

Why is a clever person wise? Because he knows what to do. Why is a stupid person foolish? Because he only thinks he knows.

Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

04/26/2021 DAB Transcript

Judges 6:1-40, Luke 22:54-23:12, Psalms 95:1-96:13, Proverbs 14:5-6

Today is the 26th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful as it always is, wonderful to be around the Global Campfire together with you as we move into our workweek, take the next step forward and…and let the Scriptures speak into our lives. So, we’re in the book of Judges as we read through the Old Testament. Yesterday we read about the leader of Israel, the female judge Deborah. Today we’re going to begin a story of the judge, of famous judge actually, a very famous story, the judge Gideon. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. Judges chapter 6.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Judges today we have met Gideon and we’ll move all the way through that story as we continue to read forward. And certainly, we’ll have things to talk about as…as we do move forward through that story. But as the stories kinda getting set up today couple things that…that are interest…interesting, anyway interesting enough to point out. In this story, the angel of the Lord or the Lord’s angel comes to Gideon. And it’s interesting because we’ve seen the angel of the Lord before already and will continue to see the angel of the Lord or Yahweh’s angel or the Lord’s angel. We’ll see this reference throughout the Bible. And we can read this and just go, “yeah. It’s an angel of God. There…I mean…there’s. Some of them have names like Gabriel or Michael and this one’s just the angel of the Lord. So, it’s an unnamed angel.” Actually though, this angel speaks like first person as if He is the Lord. Like, let me just quote a passage. This…this is after…after the angel of the Lord disappeared, after Gideon brought the meal and fire came out of the rock and the angel disappeared. “Gideon”, so I’m quoting, “Gideon then realized that it was the Lord’s angel he had seen. And he said, in terror sovereign Lord I have seen your angel face-to-face but what the Lord told him peace. Don’t be afraid you will not die.” It’s interesting that the angel of the Lord is another way of understanding that this is the Lord. This is the Lord’s presence. The angel of the Lord is different than other angels in other words. The angel of the Lord speaking in first person as the Lord. I mean this is the stuff theologians will love to examine from all kinds of angles and have for centuries and centuries and centuries, but general consensus is when the angel speaks in first person, even though they are referred to as the angel of the Lord, this is the Lord appearing and speaking with people. The other thing that’s interesting as this story begins to get set up is how Gideon refers to himself and who it is that God goes to to rescue his people. So, we know the lay of the land. The Midianites are oppressing the people and they have to hideout just to try to make enough food to survive. When the angel of the Lord comes to Gideon Gideons basically like, “whatever happened to the God that our fathers told us about who did mighty acts?” And the Lord speaks to Gideon telling him, “I’m calling you to set Israel free. Like you’re gonna do one of these mighty acts.” Gideon is then like, “who am I? Like my tribe is the smallest tribe and I’m an inconsequential member of a small family in this tribe. Like I’m nothing. Who am I?” After the period of the judges when we enter into the time of the monarchy and we meet Israel’s first king whose name is Saul, he’s gonna say with very similar things, “my tribes the smallest tribe and I’m the least important member of the smallest family of this tribe.” And when we look at the example of Jesus and see that He was born into a normal existence not like born into high-ranking royalty, we begin to see these threads that God really isn’t interested in our earthly power or resources to get done what He wants to get done. Like He demonstrates all the time that He can go to the very least of these and do unbelievably earth changing powerful things. And, so, it should be no wonder to us than that we are continually focused in our faith toward “the least of these.”

Another thing like this…is this little like incidental in the gospel of Luke today. So, we have entered the passion narrative and Jesus has been arrested is being questioned has been brought before the Roman prefect, Pilate, who has determined that Jesus is Galilean, so he sends Him to Herod. And often we can think like they had to bind Jesus and put Him on a cart and carry Him by donkey for several days to wherever Herod was. But that was…they were in the same complex in Jerusalem. So, he sent Him to Herod’s palace, to Herod’s quarters to be examined by Herod. Of course, Herod wondered whether Jesus was a resurrected John the Baptist, what was going on there. So, he’s eager to meet Jesus, but Jesus wouldn’t even really talk to him. This encounter actually becomes a catalyst to…to bring Herod and Pilate together in like friendly relations. Before that they weren’t friendly. Herod was the king of the Jews. He was installed there. He was a client kind of puppet king loyal to Rome and Herod and Pilate didn’t get along. The…the thing that sort of drew them together is Herod’s making fun of Jesus. So, Herod asked Jesus a bunch of questions. Jesus doesn’t answer. The people accusing Jesus, the religious leaders are making all kinds of accusations that Jesus isn’t responding to. The soldiers are there on guard. They’re making fun of Jesus and one of the ways that they make fun of Jesus is to put a royal robe on His back, right? Sort of like they’re making fun like, “Oh. Now we see that you actually are the king of the Jews. Hail King of the Jews.” So, they put this robe on Him and we know from other narratives that the crown, right, the crown of thorns. “Okay. So, you’re the king of the Jews. So, let us bow down before your authority.” That’s what’s going on here. Pilate sent Jesus to Herod because He was Galilean because and He claimed to be the king of the Jews. So, he sent the king of the Jews to the king of the Jews for him to sort it out. Herod ultimately doesn’t get the answers. He just thinks Jesus is a peasant crazy person, whatever. And, so, this robe, this royal robe is put on Jesus and then Jesus is sent back to Pilate where Pilate would then see the joke. “oh the king of the Jews has figured out that this Jesus guy actually is the king of the Jews because now He’s got a royal robe on Him.” And that little bit of mockery of Jesus, that joke pulled them together when they had been enemies in the past. So, just a couple, kinda little vistas, little viewpoints off the side of the path here. As we continue our journey all of these things become so fascinating over time as the context of the story that we are telling from the Scriptures becomes more and more personal, more and more part of the story of our lives.

Prayer:

Father we thank You. Every day, nearly every day we thank You for Your word because we are eternally grateful. We are always thankful for the gift that You’ve given us, that we might pour over it, that we might learn from it, that we might learn of it and about it, that its context begins to lay out before us in a way that we can understand and live into. We are grateful that we can do this together in community all over the world. And, so, we pray. Come Holy Spirit continue to lead us into all truth. This is what You’ve promised. This is what we believe. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if this mission to keep reading God’s word fresh every day and…and offering into the world to anyone willing to listen to it, if that has found its way into your world and has been life-giving to you than thank you. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. And that is a fact. And, so, I'm…I’m humbled every day that we are here, and I thank you for your partnership. So, there is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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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 Prayer and Praise:

Family it’s Jesse from Washington. It is Wednesday the 21st. I just wanted to update everyone who’s praying for my grandma. She’s not really doing that awesome. I think I mentioned she can’t really move anymore. I mean she can barely lift her hands to her face to eat and she’s very claustrophobic too. So, she can’t just sit and place or just be in a bed or a chair. And it’s even worse now that she can’t move herself. And then the last couple times, the last few days I’ve gone over to talk to her she's…she's…her eyesight’s getting worse, she can move less and less. She has like neuropathy in her hands that she’s had since before all this stuff happened. So, she can’t really feel her hands either. So, and I don’t know what to tell her or how to make her feel better than, you know, other than to tell her people are praying for her. But it seems, you know, pretty bleak. She just keeps getting worse and worse and the last couple days she kept saying, you know, she doesn’t want to be here anymore and, you know, she wishes she could just take a pill and just, you know, be done with it all. So, I don't…I don’t know what to tell her, I don’t know how to make her feel better. Like I can’t imagine being in that situation myself. And then I guess the other thing too quickly is that it’s very sad for…she’s the only real person in my life. Like I don’t…I have parents, but I wasn’t close with them. So, I know it’s very sad and it’s…it hurts me, but I don’t know that I’m dealing with it properly because I kind of numb out these things. So, just prayers for that as well. Love you. Thank you. Bye.

Hey this is Troy in Texas. I think I called around Easter about my mom being in a reck and being in the hospital. I want to thank everybody for your prayers. She fought hard but she did pass away, and things have been really tough. Please continue to pray for our family. Pray for my stepdad. He’s really, really having a tough time accepting it and being alone. I love this family. I listen to my Daily Audio Bible every morning and it helps me a lot. If you would also pray for my marriage. Things have kind of been a struggle and I want more than anything to connect with my wife, you know, the way that God wants us to connect. So, thank you guys so much for all your prayers and love. I pray for you all. Thank you.

Hello DABbers, this is Vonnie in Northern California and I feel urged to pray for a couple of colors. A few days ago, a man I believe his name was Chad called in with…battling depression and anxiety and this morning a man named Ted called in with the same issues. And my son battles with these same things right now. I wanted to read a portion of Psalm 30. And it was a very meaningful psalm for my husband who also dealt with depression and anxiety. Psalm 30 says, “I will exult you Lord for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemy’s triumph over me. O Lord my God I cried to you for help, and you restored by health. You brought me up from the grave oh Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death. I cried out to you O Lord. I begged the Lord for mercy, and you have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You’ve taken away my clothes of mourning and closed me with joy that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. Oh Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” So, I just want to pray, Father please in the name of Jesus rebuke the enemy in these men’s lives. We ask You to bring them out from this painful time of battling depression and anxiety. I ask You God to overwhelm them with Your joy and peace and security and confidence. Bring them out in Jesus’ name we ask You. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is Egbert from California by the way of Believe city. I greet you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I called this morning for your prayers to allow God to continue to work in my life and to continue to use me as only He can. I thank the community for all of the work and the effort that is shown in communicating with each other and supporting each other and prayers. I want to say thank you to the Hardin family for all they do and for the prayer warriors. There is so many people that I would need to thank so I would just say thank you for all the new members, the elders of the community. Continue to pray, continue to trust God knowing that His soon return is so near and we continue to do our part as the body and allow Him to use us in whatever capacity He sees fit. So, thank you and I pray that God blessings would continue to permeate your circumstances and your situation in spite of God is good and He is in control and…

good morning DAB family this is Gwynne from Texas and it is Thursday April the 22nd and I want to lift up a young lady that called in this morning from Louisiana. She’s gonna have surgery in her right eye. She has two tumors and they’re bleeding, and the doctor says she needs surgery and they’re not sure of the outcome. But I know a God that is sure, a God in heaven. And, so, I’m gonna lift you up right now in the name of Jesus. Lord You know what this surgery means to this lady Lord, that she wants to see just like Lord the…the blind man called out to You, “son of David I just want to see” and You touched him and he was able to see Lord. And I pray for this lady, that You would touch her, she would call out and that You would…she would say son of God. Jesus have mercy upon her that she would be able to see and that the effort the doctors go before her right now Lord that You would anoint their hands and that…that they’re going to do what they need to do but You are going to oversee it Lord in the name of Jesus and she’s gonna come out giving You glory because they’re going to tell her that the surgery was successful. And, so, Father I’m believing and trusting in the name of Jesus for this lady that she will be able to have her sight back 2020 Lord, that she will have her sight back and she will be able to see and that…and that she will give You the glory and the honor. So, Lord, I thank You for what You’re gonna do right now. It’s in Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.

Good morning DAB family this is La Chula coming to you from Los Angeles and I just want to say that this Daily Audio Bible has been such a blessing to me. This morning April 22nd it just really spoke to my heart. Every day I text my daughters and I say pastor Brian’s on fire today’s amazing. But today's…what stayed with me today is how you live, that’s what you believe. And it’s so powerful. How I live is what I believe. May my heart be open every day to God’s word, to doing His service and living in His will. I actually want to kind of just share that God is not surprised by any actions taken against me. God is in control of my life and He promises His word will never leave me nor forsake me. So, I choose him every day. Every day I choose Him and I just encourage you to do that as well. Choose Him on a daily basis. I lift up my…my family to you, my daughter especially. She’s going through a trying time and I know that she’s gonna breakthrough because the Lord promises that, and His word is faithful. So, I love you pastor Brian, your entire family, the DABbers that tune in and pray for each other. And I just want to say that, from the bottom of my heart, this is…the Global Campfire is a real thing and I just love you…I love you all. Thank you so much.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday April 26, 2021 (NIV)

Judges 6

Gideon

Once again the people of Israel sinned against the Lord, so he let the people of Midian rule them for seven years. The Midianites were stronger than Israel, and the people of Israel hid from them in caves and other safe places in the hills. Whenever the Israelites would plant their crops, the Midianites would come with the Amalekites and the desert tribes and attack them. They would camp on the land and destroy the crops as far south as the area around Gaza. They would take all the sheep, cattle, and donkeys, and leave nothing for the Israelites to live on. They would come with their livestock and tents, as thick as locusts. They and their camels were too many to count. They came and devastated the land, and Israel was helpless against them.

Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help against the Midianites, and he sent them a prophet who brought them this message from the Lord, the God of Israel: “I brought you out of slavery in Egypt. I rescued you from the Egyptians and from the people who fought you here in this land. I drove them out as you advanced, and I gave you their land. 10 I told you that I am the Lord your God and that you should not worship the gods of the Amorites, whose land you are now living in. But you have not listened to me.”

11 Then the Lord's angel came to the village of Ophrah and sat under the oak tree that belonged to Joash, a man of the clan of Abiezer. His son Gideon was threshing some wheat secretly in a wine press, so that the Midianites would not see him. 12 The Lord's angel appeared to him there and said, “The Lord is with you, brave and mighty man!”

13 Gideon said to him, “If I may ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the Lord is with us? What happened to all the wonderful things that our fathers told us the Lord used to do—how he brought them out of Egypt? The Lord has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites.”

14 Then the Lord ordered him, “Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you.”

15 Gideon replied, “But Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family.”

16 The Lord answered, “You can do it because I will help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man.”

17 Gideon replied, “If you are pleased with me, give me some proof that you are really the Lord. 18 Please do not leave until I bring you an offering of food.”

He said, “I will stay until you come back.”

19 So Gideon went into his house and cooked a young goat and used a bushel of flour to make bread without any yeast. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them to the Lord's angel under the oak tree, and gave them to him. 20 The angel told him, “Put the meat and the bread on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” Gideon did so. 21 Then the Lord's angel reached out and touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick he was holding. Fire came out of the rock and burned up the meat and the bread. Then the angel disappeared.

22 Gideon then realized that it was the Lord's angel he had seen, and he said in terror, “Sovereign Lord! I have seen your angel face-to-face!”

23 But the Lord told him, “Peace. Don't be afraid. You will not die.” 24 Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it “The Lord is Peace.” (It is still standing at Ophrah, which belongs to the clan of Abiezer.)

25 That night the Lord told Gideon, “Take your father's bull and another bull seven years old,[a] tear down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the symbol of the goddess Asherah, which is beside it. 26 Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on top of this mound. Then take the second bull[b] and burn it whole as an offering, using for firewood the symbol of Asherah you have cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his family and the people in town to do it by day, so he did it at night.

28 When the people in town got up early the next morning, they found that the altar to Baal and the symbol of Asherah had been cut down, and that the second bull had been burned on the altar that had been built there. 29 They asked each other, “Who did this?” They investigated and found out that Gideon son of Joash had done it. 30 Then they said to Joash, “Bring your son out here, so that we can kill him! He tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the symbol of Asherah beside it.”

31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, “Are you arguing for Baal? Are you defending him? Anyone who argues for him will be killed before morning. If Baal is a god, let him defend himself. It is his altar that was torn down.” 32 From then on Gideon was known as Jerubbaal,[c] because Joash said, “Let Baal defend himself; it is his altar that was torn down.”

33 Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the desert tribes assembled, crossed the Jordan River, and camped in Jezreel Valley. 34 The spirit of the Lord took control of Gideon, and he blew a trumpet to call the men of the clan of Abiezer to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout the territory of both parts of Manasseh to call them to follow him. He sent messengers to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they also came to join him.

36 Then Gideon said to God, “You say that you have decided to use me to rescue Israel. 37 Well, I am putting some wool on the ground where we thresh the wheat. If in the morning there is dew only on the wool but not on the ground, then I will know that you are going to use me to rescue Israel.” 38 That is exactly what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the wool and wrung enough dew out of it to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Don't be angry with me; let me speak just once more. Please let me make one more test with the wool. This time let the wool be dry, and the ground be wet.” 40 That night God did that very thing. The next morning the wool was dry, but the ground was wet with dew.

Footnotes:

  1. Judges 6:25 bull and another bull seven years old; or bull, the seven-year-old one.
  2. Judges 6:26 the second bull; or the bull.
  3. Judges 6:32 This name in Hebrew means “Let Baal defend himself.”
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Luke 22:54-23:12

Peter Denies Jesus(A)

54 They arrested Jesus and took him away into the house of the High Priest; and Peter followed at a distance. 55 A fire had been lit in the center of the courtyard, and Peter joined those who were sitting around it. 56 When one of the servant women saw him sitting there at the fire, she looked straight at him and said, “This man too was with Jesus!”

57 But Peter denied it, “Woman, I don't even know him!”

58 After a little while a man noticed Peter and said, “You are one of them, too!”

But Peter answered, “Man, I am not!”

59 And about an hour later another man insisted strongly, “There isn't any doubt that this man was with Jesus, because he also is a Galilean!”

60 But Peter answered, “Man, I don't know what you are talking about!”

At once, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned around and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered that the Lord had said to him, “Before the rooster crows tonight, you will say three times that you do not know me.” 62 Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Jesus Is Mocked and Beaten(B)

63 The men who were guarding Jesus made fun of him and beat him. 64 They blindfolded him and asked him, “Who hit you? Guess!” 65 And they said many other insulting things to him.

Jesus before the Council(C)

66 When day came, the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law met together, and Jesus was brought before the Council. 67 “Tell us,” they said, “are you the Messiah?”

He answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me; 68 and if I ask you a question, you will not answer. 69 But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right side of Almighty God.”

70 They all said, “Are you, then, the Son of God?”

He answered them, “You say that I am.”

71 And they said, “We don't need any witnesses! We ourselves have heard what he said!”

Jesus before Pilate(D)

23 The whole group rose up and took Jesus before Pilate, where they began to accuse him: “We caught this man misleading our people, telling them not to pay taxes to the Emperor and claiming that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”

Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“So you say,” answered Jesus.

Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no reason to condemn this man.”

But they insisted even more strongly, “With his teaching he is starting a riot among the people all through Judea. He began in Galilee and now has come here.”

Jesus before Herod

When Pilate heard this, he asked, “Is this man a Galilean?” When he learned that Jesus was from the region ruled by Herod, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. Herod was very pleased when he saw Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been wanting to see him for a long time. He was hoping to see Jesus perform some miracle. So Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus made no answer. 10 The chief priests and the teachers of the Law stepped forward and made strong accusations against Jesus. 11 Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and treated him with contempt; then they put a fine robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. 12 On that very day Herod and Pilate became friends; before this they had been enemies.

Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Psalm 95-96

A Song of Praise

95 Come, let us praise the Lord!
Let us sing for joy to God, who protects us!
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and sing joyful songs of praise.
For the Lord is a mighty God,
a mighty king over all the gods.
He rules over the whole earth,
from the deepest caves to the highest hills.
He rules over the sea, which he made;
the land also, which he himself formed.

Come, let us bow down and worship him;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
(A)He is our God;
we are the people he cares for,
the flock for which he provides.

Listen today to what he says:
(B)“Don't be stubborn, as your ancestors were at Meribah,
as they were that day in the desert at Massah.
There they put me to the test and tried me,
although they had seen what I did for them.
10 For forty years I was disgusted with those people.
I said, ‘How disloyal they are!
They refuse to obey my commands.’
11 (C)I was angry and made a solemn promise:
‘You will never enter the land
where I would have given you rest.’”

God the Supreme King(D)

96 Sing a new song to the Lord!
Sing to the Lord, all the world!
Sing to the Lord, and praise him!
Proclaim every day the good news that he has saved us.
Proclaim his glory to the nations,
his mighty deeds to all peoples.

The Lord is great and is to be highly praised;
he is to be honored more than all the gods.
The gods of all other nations are only idols,
but the Lord created the heavens.
Glory and majesty surround him;
power and beauty fill his Temple.

(E)Praise the Lord, all people on earth;
praise his glory and might.
Praise the Lord's glorious name;
bring an offering and come into his Temple.
Bow down before the Holy One when he appears;[a]
tremble before him, all the earth!

10 Say to all the nations, “The Lord is king!
The earth is set firmly in place and cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with justice.”
11 Be glad, earth and sky!
Roar, sea, and every creature in you;
12 be glad, fields, and everything in you!
The trees in the woods will shout for joy
13 when the Lord comes to rule the earth.
He will rule the peoples of the world
with justice and fairness.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 96:9 when he appears; or in garments of worship.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Proverbs 14:5-6

A reliable witness always tells the truth, but an unreliable one tells nothing but lies.

Conceited people can never become wise, but intelligent people learn easily.

Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society