The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the NIV. Switch to the NIV to read along with the audio.
The Lamp
24 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly.(A) 3 Aaron shall set it up in the tent of meeting, outside the curtain of the covenant, to burn from evening to morning before the Lord regularly; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4 He shall set up the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold[a] before the Lord regularly.(B)
The Bread for the Tabernacle
5 “You shall take choice flour and bake twelve loaves of it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf.(C) 6 You shall place them in two rows, six in a row, on the table of pure gold before the Lord.[b](D) 7 You shall put pure frankincense with each row, to be a token offering for the bread, as an offering by fire[c] to the Lord. 8 Every Sabbath day Aaron shall set them in order before the Lord regularly as a commitment of the Israelites, as a covenant forever.(E) 9 They shall be for Aaron and his descendants, who shall eat them in a holy place, for they are most holy portions for him from the offerings by fire[d] to the Lord, a perpetual due.”(F)
Blasphemy and Its Punishment
10 A man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian came out among the Israelites, and the Israelite woman’s son and a certain Israelite began fighting in the camp. 11 The Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name in a curse. And they brought him to Moses—now his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan(G)— 12 and they put him in custody, until the decision of the Lord should be made clear to them.(H)
13 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and let all who were within hearing lay their hands on his head, and let the whole congregation stone him.(I) 15 And speak to the Israelites, saying: Anyone who curses God shall incur guilt. 16 One who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death; the whole congregation shall stone the blasphemer. Aliens as well as the native-born, when they blaspheme the Name, shall be put to death.(J) 17 Anyone who kills a human being shall be put to death.(K) 18 Anyone who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, life for life.(L) 19 Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered.(M) 21 One who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, but one who kills a human being shall be put to death.(N) 22 You shall have one law for the alien and for the native-born, for I am the Lord your God.”(O) 23 Moses spoke thus to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him to death. The Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses.
The Sabbatical Year
25 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a Sabbath for the Lord.(P) 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in their yield, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land, a Sabbath for the Lord: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your unpruned vine: it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. 6 You may eat what the land yields during its Sabbath—you, your male and female slaves, your hired and your bound laborers who live with you,(Q) 7 for your livestock also, and for the wild animals in your land all its yield shall be for food.
The Year of Jubilee
8 “You shall count off seven weeks[e] of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month—on the Day of Atonement—you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land.(R) 10 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family.(S) 11 That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee for you: you shall not sow or reap the aftergrowth or harvest the unpruned vines. 12 For it is a Jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat only what the field itself produces.
13 “In this year of Jubilee you shall return, every one of you, to your property.(T) 14 When you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not cheat one another.(U) 15 When you buy from your neighbor, you shall pay only for the number of years until the Jubilee; the seller shall charge you only for the remaining crop years.(V) 16 If the years are more, you shall increase the price, and if the years are fewer, you shall diminish the price, for it is a certain number of harvests that are being sold to you. 17 You shall not cheat one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God.(W)
18 “You shall observe my statutes and faithfully keep my ordinances, so that you may live on the land securely.(X) 19 The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live on it securely. 20 Should you ask, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’(Y) 21 I will order my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will yield a crop for three years. 22 When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating from the old crop; until the ninth year, when its produce comes in, you shall eat the old.(Z) 23 The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants.(AA) 24 Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide for the redemption of the land.
25 “If anyone of your kin falls into difficulty and sells a piece of property, then the next of kin shall come and redeem what the relative has sold.(AB) 26 If the person has no one to redeem it but then prospers and finds sufficient means to do so, 27 the years since its sale shall be computed and the difference refunded to the person to whom it was sold, and the property shall be returned.(AC) 28 But if there are not sufficient means to recover it, what was sold shall remain with the purchaser until the year of Jubilee; in the Jubilee it shall be released, and the property shall be returned.(AD)
29 “If anyone sells a dwelling house in a walled city, it may be redeemed until a year has elapsed since its sale; the right of redemption shall be one year. 30 If it is not redeemed before a full year has elapsed, a house that is in a walled city shall pass in perpetuity to the purchaser, throughout the generations; it shall not be released in the Jubilee. 31 But houses in villages that have no walls around them shall be classed as open country; they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. 32 As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites shall forever have the right of redemption of the houses in the cities belonging to them.(AE) 33 Whatever property of the Levites that may be redeemed, that is, houses sold in a city belonging to them, shall be released in the Jubilee, for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the Israelites. 34 But the pasturelands around their cities may not be sold, for that is their possession for all time.
35 “If any of your kin fall into difficulty and become dependent on you,[f] you shall support them; they shall live with you as though resident aliens.(AF) 36 Do not take interest in advance or otherwise make a profit from them, but fear your God; let them live with you.(AG) 37 You shall not lend them your money at interest taken in advance or provide them food at a profit. 38 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God.(AH)
39 “If any who are dependent on you become so impoverished that they sell themselves to you, you shall not make them serve as slaves.(AI) 40 They shall remain with you as hired or bound laborers. They shall serve with you until the year of the Jubilee. 41 Then they and their children with them shall go out from your authority; they shall go back to their own family and return to their ancestral property.(AJ) 42 For they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves are sold. 43 You shall not rule over them with harshness but shall fear your God.(AK) 44 As for the male and female slaves whom you may have, it is from the nations around you that you may acquire male and female slaves. 45 You may also acquire them from among the aliens residing with you and from their families who are with you who have been born in your land; they may be your property.(AL) 46 You may keep them as a possession for your children after you, for them to inherit as property. These you may treat as slaves, but as for your fellow Israelites, no one shall rule over the other with harshness.(AM)
Jesus Blesses Little Children
13 People were bringing children to him in order that he might touch them, and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”(A) 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.(B)
The Rich Man
17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”(C) 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.’ ”(D) 20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money[a] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”(E) 22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”(F) 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is[b] to enter the kingdom of God!(G) 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another,[c] “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”(H)
28 Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”(I) 29 Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news[d](J) 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”(K)
9 Yet you have rejected us and shamed us
and have not gone out with our armies.(A)
10 You made us turn back from the foe,
and our enemies have gotten spoil.(B)
11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter
and have scattered us among the nations.(C)
12 You have sold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.(D)
13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and scorn of those around us.(E)
14 You have made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock[a] among the peoples.(F)
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
and shame has covered my face
16 at the words of the taunters and revilers,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.(G)
17 All this has come upon us,
yet we have not forgotten you
or been false to your covenant.(H)
18 Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way,(I)
19 yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals
and covered us with deep darkness.(J)
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a strange god,(K)
21 would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.(L)
22 Because of you we are being killed all day long
and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.(M)
23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Awake, do not cast us off forever!(N)
24 Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?(O)
25 For we sink down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.(P)
26 Rise up, come to our help.
Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.(Q)
20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;
the mind of the wicked is of little worth.(A)
21 The lips of the righteous feed many,
but fools die for lack of sense.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.