The Daily Audio Bible
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Sorrow for a Doomed Nation
19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent,
for I[a] hear the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.(A)
20 Disaster overtakes disaster;
the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
my curtains in a moment.(B)
21 How long must I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For my people are foolish;
they do not know me;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil
but do not know how to do good.”(C)
23 I looked on the earth, and it was complete chaos,
and to the heavens, and they had no light.(D)
24 I looked on the mountains, and they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.(E)
25 I looked, and there was no one at all,
and all the birds of the air had fled.(F)
26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before his fierce anger.(G)
27 For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end.(H)
28 Because of this the earth shall mourn
and the heavens above grow black,
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
I have not relented, nor will I turn back.(I)
29 At the noise of horseman and archer
every town takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
all the towns are forsaken,
and no one lives in them.(J)
30 And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in crimson,
that you deck yourself with ornaments of gold,
that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
Your lovers despise you;
they seek your life.(K)
31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,
anguish as of one bringing forth her first child,
the cry of daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before killers!”(L)
The Utter Corruption of God’s People
5 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and take note!
Search its squares and see
if you can find one person
who acts justly
and seeks truth—
so that I may pardon Jerusalem.[b](M)
2 Although they say, “As the Lord lives,”
yet they swear falsely.(N)
3 O Lord, do your eyes not look for truth?
You have struck them,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to take correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
they have refused to turn back.(O)
4 Then I said, “These are only the poor;
they have no sense,
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
the law of their God.(P)
5 Let me go to the rich[c]
and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the Lord,
the law of their God.”
But they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.(Q)
6 Therefore a lion from the forest shall kill them;
a wolf from the desert shall destroy them.
A leopard is watching against their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many;
their faithlessness is great.(R)
7 How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
and have sworn by those who are no gods.
When I fed them to the full,
they committed adultery
and trooped to the houses of prostitutes.(S)
8 They were well-fed lusty stallions,
each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.(T)
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord,
and shall I not bring retribution
on a nation such as this?(U)
10 Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
but do not make a full end;
strip away her branches,
for they are not the Lord’s.(V)
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly faithless to me,
says the Lord.(W)
12 They have spoken falsely of the Lord
and have said, “He will do nothing.
No evil will come upon us,
and we shall not see sword or famine.”(X)
13 The prophets are nothing but wind,
for the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!(Y)
14 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
Because you have spoken this word,
I am now making my words in your mouth a fire
and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them.(Z)
15 I am going to bring upon you
a nation from far away, O house of Israel,
says the Lord.
It is an enduring nation;
it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
nor can you understand what they say.(AA)
16 Their quiver is like an open tomb;
all of them are mighty warriors.(AB)
17 They shall eat up your harvest and your food;
they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
they shall destroy with the sword
your fortified cities in which you trust.(AC)
18 But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you.(AD) 19 And when your people say, “Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?” you shall say to them, “As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.”(AE)
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;
proclaim it in Judah:
21 Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear.(AF)
22 Do you not fear me? says the Lord;
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,
a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though they roar, they cannot pass over it.(AG)
23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.(AH)
24 They do not say in their hearts,
“Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
the weeks appointed for the harvest.”(AI)
25 Your iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have deprived you of good.(AJ)
26 For the wicked are found among my people.
They lie in wait like hunters;
destroyers,[d] they catch humans.(AK)
27 Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of treachery;
therefore they have become great and rich;(AL)
28 they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no limits in deeds of wickedness;
they do not judge with justice
the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.(AM)
29 Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord,
and shall I not bring retribution
on a nation such as this?(AN)
30 An appalling and horrible thing
has happened in the land:(AO)
31 the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule as the prophets direct;[e]
my people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?(AP)
The Imminence and Horror of the Invasion
6 Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem,
for evil looms out of the north
and great destruction.(AQ)
2 I have likened daughter Zion
to the loveliest pasture.[f](AR)
3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her.
They shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, all in their places.(AS)
4 “Prepare war against her;
up, and let us attack at noon!”
“Woe to us, for the day declines;
the shadows of evening lengthen!”(AT)
5 “Up, and let us attack by night,
and destroy her palaces!”(AU)
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts:
Cut down her trees;
cast up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be punished;[g]
there is nothing but oppression within her.(AV)
7 As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her wickedness;
violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.(AW)
8 Take warning, O Jerusalem,
or I shall turn from you in disgust
and make you a desolation,
an uninhabited land.(AX)
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Glean[h] thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer, pass your hand again
over its branches.(AY)
10 To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed;[i]
they cannot listen.
The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.(AZ)
11 But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
I am weary of holding it in.
Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the gatherings of young men as well;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
the elderly and those full of days.(BA)
12 Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,
says the Lord.(BB)
13 For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.(BC)
14 They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.(BD)
15 They acted shamefully; they committed abomination,
yet they were not ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.(A) 19 For in him all the fullness of God[a] was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.(B)
21 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled[b] in his fleshly body[c] through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him,(C) 23 provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature[d] under heaven. I, Paul, became a minister of this gospel.(D)
Paul’s Interest in the Colossians
24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. 25 I became its minister according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,(E) 26 the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints.(F) 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.(G) 28 It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.[e](H) 29 For this I toil and strive with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.(I)
2 For I want you to know how greatly I strive for you and for those in Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face. 2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ,[f](J) 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.(K) 4 I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your orderly conduct and the firmness of your faith in Christ.(L)
Fullness of Life in Christ
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.(M)
Psalm 77
God’s Mighty Deeds Recalled
To the leader: according to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm.
1 I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, that he may hear me.(A)
2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.(B)
3 I think of God, and I moan;
I meditate, and my spirit faints. Selah(C)
4 You keep my eyelids from closing;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5 I consider the days of old
and remember the years of long ago.(D)
6 I commune[a] with my heart in the night;
I meditate and search my spirit:[b](E)
7 “Will the Lord spurn forever
and never again be favorable?(F)
8 Has his steadfast love ceased forever?
Are his promises at an end for all time?(G)
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah(H)
10 And I say, “It is my grief
that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”(I)
11 I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
I will remember your wonders of old.(J)
12 I will meditate on all your work
and muse on your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is so great as our God?(K)
14 You are the God who works wonders;
you have displayed your might among the peoples.
15 With your strong arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah(L)
16 When the waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
the very deep trembled.(M)
17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies thundered;
your arrows flashed on every side.(N)
18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.(O)
19 Your way was through the sea,
your path through the mighty waters,
yet your footprints were unseen.(P)
20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.(Q)
Further Sayings of the Wise
23 These also are sayings of the wise:
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.