The Daily Audio Bible
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40 The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the Israelites.(A)
41 They set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. 42 They set out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. 43 They set out from Punon and camped at Oboth.(B) 44 They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the territory of Moab.(C) 45 They set out from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad. 46 They set out from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim. 47 They set out from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.(D) 48 They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho;(E) 49 they camped by the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.(F)
Directions for the Conquest of Canaan
50 In the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 51 “Speak to the Israelites, and say to them: When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their figured stones, destroy all their cast images, and demolish all their high places.(G) 53 You shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. 54 You shall apportion the land by lot according to your clans; to a large one you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small one you shall give a small inheritance; the inheritance shall belong to the person on whom the lot falls; according to your ancestral tribes you shall apportion it.(H) 55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they shall trouble you in the land where you are settling.(I) 56 And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”
The Boundaries of the Land
34 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the Israelites, and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan, defined by its boundaries),(J) 3 your south sector shall extend from the wilderness of Zin along the side of Edom. Your southern boundary shall begin from the end of the Dead Sea[a] on the east;(K) 4 your boundary shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim and cross to Zin, and its outer limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea; then it shall go on to Hazar-addar and cross to Azmon; 5 the boundary shall turn from Azmon to the Wadi of Egypt, and its termination shall be at the Sea.(L)
6 “For the western boundary, you shall have the Great Sea and its[b] coast; this shall be your western boundary.
7 “This shall be your northern boundary: from the Great Sea you shall mark out your line to Mount Hor;(M) 8 from Mount Hor you shall mark it out to Lebo-hamath, and the outer limit of the boundary shall be at Zedad;(N) 9 then the boundary shall extend to Ziphron, and its end shall be at Hazar-enan; this shall be your northern boundary.
10 “You shall mark out your eastern boundary from Hazar-enan to Shepham, 11 and the boundary shall continue down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain, and the boundary shall go down and reach the eastern slope of the sea of Chinnereth,(O) 12 and the boundary shall go down to the Jordan, and its end shall be at the Dead Sea.[c] This shall be your land with its boundaries all around.”
13 Moses commanded the Israelites, saying, “This is the land that you shall apportion by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe,(P) 14 for the tribe of the Reubenites by their ancestral houses and the tribe of the Gadites by their ancestral houses have taken their inheritance and also the half-tribe of Manasseh;(Q) 15 the two tribes and the half-tribe have taken their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.”
Tribal Leaders
16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land to you for inheritance: the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun.(R) 18 You shall take one leader of every tribe to apportion the land for inheritance.(S) 19 These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh. 20 Of the tribe of the Simeonites, Shemuel son of Ammihud. 21 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Chislon. 22 Of the tribe of the Danites a leader, Bukki son of Jogli. 23 Of the Josephites: of the tribe of the Manassites a leader, Hanniel son of Ephod, 24 and of the tribe of the Ephraimites a leader, Kemuel son of Shiphtan. 25 Of the tribe of the Zebulunites a leader, Eli-zaphan son of Parnach. 26 Of the tribe of the Issacharites a leader, Paltiel son of Azzan. 27 And of the tribe of the Asherites a leader, Ahihud son of Shelomi. 28 Of the tribe of the Naphtalites a leader, Pedahel son of Ammihud. 29 These were the ones whom the Lord commanded to apportion the inheritance for the Israelites in the land of Canaan.”
Cities for the Levites
35 In the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance that they possess, towns for the Levites to live in; you shall also give to the Levites pasturelands surrounding the towns.(T) 3 The towns shall be theirs to live in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle, for their livestock, and for all their animals. 4 The pasture lands of the towns, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the town outward a thousand cubits all around. 5 You shall measure, outside the town, for the east side two thousand cubits, for the south side two thousand cubits, for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, with the town in the middle; this shall belong to them as pastureland for their towns.
6 “The towns that you give to the Levites shall include the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit a slayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two towns.(U) 7 The towns that you give to the Levites shall total forty-eight, with their pasturelands. 8 And as for the towns that you shall give from the possession of the Israelites, from the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it obtains, shall give of its towns to the Levites.”(V)
Cities of Refuge
9 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, so that a slayer who kills a person without intent may flee there.(W) 12 The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the slayer may not die until there is a trial before the congregation.(X)
13 “The cities that you designate shall be six cities of refuge for you: 14 you shall designate three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities shall serve as refuge for the Israelites, for the resident or transient alien among them, so that anyone who kills a person without intent may flee there.(Y)
Concerning Murder and Blood Revenge
16 “But anyone who strikes another with an iron object, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.(Z) 17 Or anyone who strikes another with a stone in hand that could cause death, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. 18 Or anyone who strikes another with a weapon of wood in hand that could cause death, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood is the one who shall put the murderer to death; when they meet, the avenger of blood shall execute the sentence.(AA) 20 Likewise, if someone pushes another from hatred or hurls something at another, lying in wait, and death ensues, 21 or in enmity strikes another with the hand, and death ensues, then the one who struck the blow shall be put to death; that person is a murderer; the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when they meet.
22 “But if someone pushes another suddenly without enmity or hurls any object without lying in wait,(AB) 23 or, while handling any stone that could cause death, unintentionally[d] drops it on another and death ensues, though they were not enemies and no harm was intended, 24 then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these ordinances,(AC) 25 and the congregation shall rescue the slayer from the avenger of blood. Then the congregation shall send the slayer back to the original city of refuge. The slayer shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the slayer shall at any time go outside the bounds of the original city of refuge 27 and is found by the avenger of blood outside the bounds of the city of refuge and is killed by the avenger, no bloodguilt shall be incurred. 28 For the slayer must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the slayer may return to his property.
29 “These things shall be a statute and ordinance for you throughout your generations wherever you live.
30 “If anyone kills another, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness.(AD) 31 Moreover you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer who is subject to the death penalty; a murderer must be put to death. 32 Nor shall you accept ransom for one who has fled to a city of refuge, enabling the fugitive to return to live in the land before the death of the high priest. 33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.(AE) 34 You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell, for I the Lord dwell among the Israelites.”(AF)
Jesus Cleanses a Man with a Skin Disease
12 Once when he was in one of the cities, a man covered with a skin disease was there. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”(A) 13 Then Jesus[a] stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I am willing. Be made clean.” Immediately the skin disease left him. 14 And he ordered him to tell no one. “But go, show yourself to the priest, and, as Moses commanded, make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”(B) 15 But now more than ever the word about Jesus[b] spread abroad; many crowds were gathering to hear him and to be cured of their diseases.(C) 16 Meanwhile, he would slip away to deserted places and pray.(D)
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
17 One day while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem were sitting nearby, and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.[c](E) 18 Just then some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus,[d] 19 but, finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle of the crowd[e] in front of Jesus.(F) 20 When he saw their faith, he said, “Friend,[f] your sins are forgiven you.”(G) 21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, “Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”(H) 22 When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? 24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the one who was paralyzed—“I say to you, stand up and take your stretcher and go to your home.” 25 Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God. 26 Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen incredible things today.”(I)
Jesus Calls Levi
27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And he got up, left everything, and followed him.(J)
Psalm 65
Thanksgiving for Earth’s Bounty
To the leader. A Psalm of David. A Song.
1 Praise is due to you,
O God, in Zion,
and to you shall vows be performed,(A)
2 O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.(B)
3 When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
you forgive our transgressions.(C)
4 Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.(D)
5 By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.(E)
6 By your[a] strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.(F)
7 You silence the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.(G)
8 Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
9 You visit the earth and water it;
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.(H)
10 You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
11 You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow;
the hills gird themselves with joy;(I)
13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks;
the valleys deck themselves with grain;
they shout and sing together for joy.(J)
23 The desire of the righteous ends only in good,
the expectation of the wicked in wrath.
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.