The Daily Audio Bible
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The King Who Praises Himself
36 “The king of the North will do whatever he wants. He will brag about himself. He will praise himself and think he is even better than a god. He will say things against the God of gods that no one has ever heard. He will be successful until all the bad things have happened. What God has planned to happen will happen. 37 That king of the North will not care about the gods his ancestors worshiped. He won’t care about the god that women worship. He won’t care about any god. Instead, he will make himself more important than any god. 38 The king of the North will worship power and strength. His ancestors did not love power as he will. He will honor the god of power with gold and silver, expensive jewels and gifts. 39 That king will attack strong, walled cities. He will do it with the help of a foreign god. He will give much honor to the people who join him. He will make them rulers in charge of many other people. He will make those rulers pay him for the land they rule.
40 “At the time of the end, the king of the South will fight a battle against the king of the North. The king of the North will attack him. He will attack with chariots and soldiers on horses and many large ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through their lands like a flood. 41 The king of the North will attack the beautiful land of Judah. He will defeat many countries. But Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be saved from him. 42 The king of the North will show his power in many countries. Egypt will not escape. 43 The king will get treasures of gold and silver. And he will get all the riches of Egypt. The Libyan and Nubian people will obey him. 44 But the king of the North will hear news from the east and the north. And it will make him afraid and angry. He will go to destroy completely many nations. 45 He will set up his royal tents. They will be between the sea and the beautiful mountain where the Temple is built. But, finally, his end will come. There will not be anyone to help him when he dies.
The Time of the End
12 “Daniel, at that time Michael, the great prince, will stand up. (He is the one who protects your people.) There will be a time of much trouble. It will be the worst time since nations have been on earth. But your people will be saved. Everyone whose name is written in God’s book will be saved. 2 Many people who have already died will live again. Some of them will wake up to have life forever. But some will wake up to find shame and disgrace forever. 3 The wise people will shine like the brightness of the sky. Those who teach others to live right will shine like stars forever and ever.
4 “But you, Daniel, close up the book and seal it. These things will happen at the time of the end. Many people will go here and there to find true knowledge.”
5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and I saw two other men. One was standing on my side of the river. And the other was standing on the far side. 6 The man who was dressed in linen was standing over the water in the river. One of the two men spoke to him. He asked, “How long will it be before these amazing things come true?”
7 The man dressed in linen who stood over the water raised his hands toward heaven. And I heard him make a promise. He used the name of God who lives forever. He said, “It will be for three and one-half years. The power of the holy people will finally be broken. Then all these things will come true.”
8 I heard the answer, but I did not really understand. So I asked, “Master, what will happen after all these things come true?”
9 He answered, “Go your way, Daniel. The message is closed up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many people will be made clean, pure and spotless. But the wicked will continue to be wicked. And those wicked people will not understand these things. But the wise people will understand them.
11 “The daily sacrifice will be stopped. There will be 1,290 days from that time. Then the horrible thing that destroys will be set up. 12 Those who wait for the end of the 1,335 days will be happy.
13 “As for you, Daniel, go your way till the end. You will get your rest when you die. And at the end you will rise from the dead to get your reward.”
Warning Against False Teachers
4 My dear friends, many false prophets are in the world now. So do not believe every spirit. But test the spirits to see if they are from God. 2 This is how you can know God’s Spirit: One spirit says, “I believe that Jesus is the Christ who came to earth and became a man.” That Spirit is from God. 3 Another spirit refuses to say this about Jesus. That spirit is not from God but is the spirit of the Enemy of Christ. You have heard that the Enemy of Christ is coming. And now he is already in the world.
4 My dear children, you belong to God. So you have defeated them because God’s Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the world. 5 And they belong to the world. What they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 But we are from God, and those who know God listen to us. But those who are not from God do not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit that is true and the spirit that is false.
Love Comes from God
7 Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. The person who loves has become God’s child and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his only Son into the world to give us life through him. 10 True love is God’s love for us, not our love for God. God sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins.
11 That is how much God loved us, dear friends! So we also must love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us. If we love each other, God’s love has reached its goal. It is made perfect in us.
13 We know that we live in God and God lives in us. We know this because God gave us his Spirit. 14 We have seen that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. That is what we teach. 15 If someone says, “I believe that Jesus is the Son of God,” then God lives in him. And he lives in God. 16 And so we know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him. 17 If God’s love is made perfect in us, then we can be without fear on the day God judges us. We will be without fear, because in this world we are like him. 18 Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is punishment that makes a person fear. So love is not made perfect in the person who has fear.
19 We love because God first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. He can see his brother, but he hates him. So he cannot love God, whom he has never seen. 21 And God gave us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
A Prayer for Mercy
A song for going up to worship.
123 Lord, I look up to you.
You live in heaven.
2 Slaves depend on their masters.
And a female servant depends on her mistress.
In the same way, we depend on our God.
We wait for him to show us mercy.
3 Be kind to us, Lord. Be kind to us
because we have been insulted.
4 We have suffered many insults from lazy people
and much cruelty from the proud.
2 When good people do well, everyone is happy.
But when evil people rule, everyone groans.
3 Whoever loves wisdom makes his father happy.
But the one who makes friends with prostitutes wastes his money.
4 If a king is fair, he makes his country strong.
But if he takes money dishonestly, he tears his country down.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.