The Daily Audio Bible
False Prophets and Fortune Tellers
13 If a prophet or an interpreter of dreams arises among you, and he predicts a sign or wonder for you,[a] 2 and the sign or wonder that he promised you comes true, and he says, “Let’s go after other gods that you do not know, and let’s serve them,” 3 do not listen to the words of that prophet or that interpreter of dreams, because the Lord your God is testing you to see whether you really love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Follow the Lord your God, fear him, keep his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him, and cling to him.
5 That prophet or that interpreter of dreams is to be put to death because he advised you to turn against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, in order to draw you away from the path on which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. Purge the evil from among you.
The Penalty for Idolatry
6 If your full brother or your mother’s son, your son or your daughter, the wife you embrace, or your closest friend tempts you by saying secretly, “Let’s go and serve other gods,”—gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 from among the gods of the peoples around you, either near or far from you, anywhere from one end of the land to the other— 8 do not be influenced by him and do not listen to him. Your eye is not to look on him with compassion. Do not spare him and do not pardon him, 9 but kill him. Your hand is to be the first one on him when putting him to death, and afterward the hands of all the other people. 10 Stone him to death, because he tried to pull you away from the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. 11 Then all of Israel will hear and fear, and such an evil thing as this will not be done among you again.
12 If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you so that you can live in them, 13 men of worthless character have gone out from among you and have pulled the inhabitants of their city away from the Lord, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods,” gods whom you have not known, 14 then investigate, search out the truth, and inquire diligently. If it becomes established truth that this abomination has been done among you, 15 you are to strike down the inhabitants of that city with the blade of the sword. Devote it and everything in it to complete destruction by the blade of the sword, including its cattle. 16 Gather all its plunder at the center of its town square. Then burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It is to be a permanent mound of ruins, never to be rebuilt.
17 Let nothing that has been devoted to destruction stick to your hands, so that the Lord will turn away from his anger and show you compassion. In his compassion he will increase your population, as he swore to your fathers, 18 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by keeping all of his commandments that I am commanding you today, by doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.
14 You are the children of the Lord your God.
Do not cut yourselves or make a bald spot on your forehead for a dead person, 2 because you are set apart as holy people for the Lord your God, and the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the people that are on the face of the earth, to be his people that are his treasured possession.
Clean and Unclean Foods
3 Do not eat any detestable thing.
4 These are the animals that you may eat: cattle, sheep, and goats; 5 deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep. 6 Every animal that has divided hoofs with splits in the middle and that rechews its food[b] among the animals—you may eat them.
7 But these you are not to eat from among those that either rechew their food or have divided hoofs with splits in the middle: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because even though they rechew their food, their hoofs are not divided. They are unclean for you. 8 The pig, because it has divided hoofs but does not rechew its food, is unclean for you. You are not to eat their flesh and you are not to touch their carcasses.
9 These you may eat of all the creatures that live in the water: Any that have fins and scales you may eat. 10 Any that do not have fins and scales you are not to eat. They are unclean for you.
11 Any clean bird you may eat. 12 But you are not to eat the following: the eagle, the black vulture, and the bearded vulture, 13 the red kite, the black kite, and falcons of every kind, 14 ravens and crows of every kind, 15 the eagle owl, the short-eared owl, the long-eared owl, all species of hawks, 16 the tawny owl, the fisher owl, the screech owl, 17 the white owl, and the scops owl, the osprey, 18 the stork and herons of every kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.[c] 19 Any swarming insect that flies is unclean for you. None of them are to be eaten. 20 Any clean winged creature you may eat.
21 Do not eat the carcass of any animal that is found dead. You may give it to the alien who resides in your town, and he may eat it or sell it to a foreigner, but you are a people who are set apart as holy for the Lord your God.
Do not boil a baby goat in its mother’s milk.
Tithes
22 Give a tenth of all the yield from your seed that comes out of the field every year.
23 Eat the tithe in the presence of the Lord your God in the place that he will choose to establish his name—the tenth of your grain, your new wine, and your fresh oil, as well as the firstborn of your herd and flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.
24 When the Lord your God blesses you, if the distance of your journey is so long that you cannot carry the tithe with you, because the place that the Lord your God will choose to establish his name is far away from you, 25 then you may exchange the tithe for silver and take the silver in your hand and travel to the place that the Lord your God will choose for himself. 26 There exchange the silver for anything that you desire—animals from the herd or the flock, or wine or beer, or anything that you may want. Then eat it there before the Lord your God and rejoice, both you and your household.
27 But you must not neglect the Levites who reside within the gates of your cities, because they do not have an allotted inheritance among you. 28 At the end of every third year, bring out the entire tithe of your produce from that year and store it in your towns. 29 Then the Levites may come, because they do not have an allotted inheritance among you, and also the aliens and the fatherless and the widows within your towns, and they may eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work that your hands perform.
The Sabbatical Year
15 At the end of seven years grant a release.[d]
2 This is how the release is to be done: Every creditor is to release[e] what he has loaned to his neighbor. He must not exact it from his neighbor or from his brother Israelite, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. 3 You may exact it from a foreigner, but your hand is to release whatever your brother Israelite owes you.[f]
4 However, there should be no poor people among you, because the Lord will greatly bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance for you to possess, 5 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by carefully carrying out all of this command that I am giving you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, just as he has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.
7 However, if there is a poor person among you, any one of your fellow Israelites within the gates of your towns in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your poor brother. 8 Rather, open up your hand to him and freely lend him enough of whatever he needs for himself. 9 Be careful that you do not harbor this wicked thought: Year seven, the year of release, is near! So as a result you have a harsh attitude toward your poor brother and do not give him anything. Then he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin. 10 Give freely to him, and do not feel resentful about giving to him, because on account of your giving, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and whatever you put your hand to. 11 Since there will never cease to be poor people in the land, I command you, open up your hand to your brother in your land, to the afflicted and the poor among you.
The Release of Servants
12 If your brother, that is, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself to you, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year you are to set him free. 13 When you set him free, do not send him out empty-handed. 14 Provide for him generously from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your winepress. Give to him from the blessings that the Lord your God has given to you. 15 You should remember that you yourself were a slave in the land of Egypt, but the Lord your God redeemed you. Therefore I am commanding this procedure to you today.
16 But he might say to you, “I don’t want to leave you,” because he loves you and your household, and he is well off with you. 17 In that case you are to take an awl and bore through his ear into the door, and he will be a slave to you permanently. Do the same in the case of your female slave. 18 When you do set a servant free, it should not seem like a hardship to you, because for six years he has earned for you double the income that a hired worker would. The Lord your God will bless you in everything that you do.
The Firstborn
19 Set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male from your herd and your flock. Do not work the firstborn of your oxen, and do not shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 You and your household are to eat the firstborn in the presence of the Lord each year, in the place that the Lord will choose. 21 But if it has a defect (if it is lame or blind, or if it has any other serious defect), you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You may eat it within the gates of your towns. The unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as you would a gazelle or a deer. 23 But you must not eat its blood. You are to pour it out on the ground like water.
The Daughter of Jairus
40 When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, because they were all waiting for him. 41 Just then a man named Jairus arrived. He was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come to his house, 42 because he had an only daughter who was about twelve years old and she was dying.
As he went, the crowds pressed tightly against him. 43 There was a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, yet although she had paid physicians all she had to live on, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She approached Jesus from behind and touched the fringe of his garment. Immediately her flow of blood stopped. 45 And Jesus said, “Who touched me?”
As everyone was denying it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the crowds are pressing in and crowding you, yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’”
46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, because I know that power has gone out from me.” 47 When the woman saw that she did not escape his notice, she came trembling and fell down before Jesus. In the presence of all the people she told him why she had touched him and how she was healed immediately. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
49 While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue ruler’s house, saying, “Your daughter has died. Don’t trouble the Teacher anymore.”
50 But when Jesus heard it, he told Jairus, “Do not be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved.”
51 When he came to the house, he did not let anyone enter, except Peter, John, James, and the child’s father and mother. 52 All the people were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Stop weeping, because she is not dead, but sleeping.”
53 They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he[a] took her by the hand and called out, “Child, get up!” 55 Her spirit returned, and she immediately got up. He ordered that something be given to her to eat. 56 Her parents were amazed, but he instructed them not to tell anyone what had happened.
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
9 Jesus called the Twelve[b] together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. 2 He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money; and do not take two coats.[c] 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave. 5 If they do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”
6 They set out and went throughout the villages, proclaiming the good news and healing everywhere.
Psalm 71
Do Not Throw Me Away When I Am Old
Opening Prayer
1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge.
May I not be put to shame forever.
2 In your righteousness rescue me and deliver me.
Turn your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my rock and my refuge to which I can always go.
You give the command to save me,
because you are my high ridge and my stronghold.
4 My God, deliver me from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and the ruthless.
Remembrance of Past Help
5 For you have been my hope, Lord God,
my confidence since my youth.
6 I have depended on[a] you since I was in the womb.
You separated me from my mother’s body.
My praise to you is continuous.
Statement of Present Need
7 I am like an evil omen to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with praise for you
and with your splendor all day long.
Plea for Help in Present Trouble
9 Do not throw me away in old age.
As my strength fails, do not forsake me.
10 For my enemies speak against me,
and those who seek my life conspire together.
11 They say, “God has forsaken him.
Pursue him and seize him,
because there is no one to rescue him.”
12 God, do not be far from me.
My God, hurry to help me.
13 Let them be ashamed.
Let my murderous accusers be consumed.
Let those who seek to harm me be covered
with shame and disgrace.
Present and Future Praise
14 But as for me, I will always keep hoping.
I will keep adding to my praise for you.
15 My mouth will tell about your righteousness,
about your salvation all day long,
although I do not know how to tell all about it.
16 I will come and tell about your mighty deeds, Lord God.
I will commemorate[b] your righteousness, yours alone.
17 God, you have taught me since my youth,
and even now I still declare your marvelous deeds.
18 Even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
till I declare the strength of your arm to the next generation,
your power to all who are to come.
Closing Confidence
19 Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heights.
You have done great things.
God, who is like you,
20 you who have made us see many troubles and disasters?
You will give us life again.
From the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my greatness and comfort me once again.
Closing Praise
22 Yes, I will praise you, my God, for your faithfulness.
I will praise you with an instrument, with the harp.
I will make music to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout with joy when I make music to you.
Even my soul, which you have redeemed, will shout.
24 Indeed, my tongue will tell of your righteousness all day long.
How ashamed, how disgraced they are—
those who are trying to harm me.
5 The plans of the righteous are just,
but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.
6 The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood,
but the mouths of the upright will save them.
7 Wicked people are overthrown, and they are no more,
but the house of the righteous continues to stand.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.