April 3 (Deuteronomy 9–10; Psalm 86; Acts 9)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Through the ESV Bible in a Year with Jackie Hill Perry

Episode: April 3
Scripture Readings: Deuteronomy 9–10; Psalm 86; Acts 9
Release Date: April 3, 2025

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1. Deuteronomy 9–10: Moses Confronts Israel’s Stubbornness

Speaker: Moses
Timestamps: [00:01 - 07:38]

Key Themes:

• Divine Assurance: Moses emphasizes that the Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land not because of their own righteousness but due to God's promise and judgment upon the preceding nations.
• Repentance and Humility: He urges the people to recognize their rebellious nature and the importance of humility before God.
• Covenant Renewal: The recounting of the golden calf incident serves as a backdrop for renewing the covenant between God and Israel.

Notable Quotes:

• "Do not say in your heart after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, it is because of my righteousness..." (00:33)
• "Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness." (01:15)
• "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn." (07:00)
• "He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing." (07:09)

Insights: Moses passionately reminds the Israelites that their success and inheritance in the land are direct results of God's faithfulness to His promises, despite their frequent failings. The emphasis on internal transformation—"circumcising the heart"—highlights the need for genuine repentance and devotion beyond mere external observance.

2. Psalm 86: A Prayer of David

Speaker: David
Timestamps: [07:38 - 09:27]

Key Themes:

• Plea for Mercy: David earnestly asks God for compassion and assistance in times of need.
• Trust and Faith: He reaffirms his trust in God's goodness and steadfast love.
• Divine Sovereignty: Acknowledgment of God's unique power and authority over all nations.

Notable Quotes:

• "Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy." (07:56)
• "For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you." (08:18)
• "There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours." (08:26)
• "My God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever." (08:44)
• "You, Lord, have comforted me in my trouble." (09:27)

Insights: David’s heartfelt prayer encapsulates the essence of a believer’s reliance on God during times of distress. His words reflect a deep-seated faith in God's unparalleled nature and an unwavering commitment to worship and glorify Him despite personal trials.

3. Acts 9: Saul’s Conversion and Early Ministry

Speaker: Moses
Timestamps: [09:27 - 13:18]

Key Themes:

• Transformation of Saul: The dramatic conversion of Saul (later Apostle Paul) from a persecutor of Christians to a devoted apostle highlights God’s power to change lives.
• Divine Intervention: The encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus serves as a pivotal moment demonstrating God's direct involvement in individual lives.
• Early Church Growth: The passage illustrates the resilience and expansion of the early Christian church despite opposition and persecution.

Notable Quotes:

• "Saul, why are you persecuting me?" (09:30)
• "And Ananias answered, 'Lord, I have heard from many about this man...'" (10:25)
• "But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus..." (09:44)
• "He is Jesus, whom you are persecuting." (09:30)
• "Peter said to him, 'Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise and make your bed.'" (13:18)

Insights: The account of Saul’s conversion is a profound testament to the transformative grace of God. It underscores that no one is beyond redemption and that God’s purposes can prevail even through those who initially oppose Him. Additionally, the narrative showcases the burgeoning strength and unity of the early church, laying the foundation for its global mission.

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Conclusion

In this episode, listeners are guided through pivotal Old and New Testament passages that underscore themes of faith, repentance, transformation, and divine faithfulness. Moses’ readings from Deuteronomy and Acts, coupled with David’s Psalm, provide a comprehensive reflection on Israel’s journey, individual transformation, and the early church’s mission. Notable quotes punctuate the discussions, offering profound insights into the nature of God and His expectations for His people.

For those embarking on a year-long journey through the ESV Bible, this episode serves as a powerful reminder of God’s enduring promises and the transformative impact of His love and justice.

Transcript

[Moses]

A reading from the book of Deuteronomy. Hear, O Israel, you are to cross over the Jordan today to go in.

[God]

To dispossess nations greater and mightier than.

[Moses]

You, cities great and fortified up to heaven. A people great and tall. The sons of the Anakim whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, who can stand before the sons of Anak. Know therefore today that he who goes.

[God]

Over before you as a consuming fire.

[Moses]

Is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you.

[God]

So you shall drive them out and.

[Moses]

Make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you. Do not say in your heart after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you. It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. Whereas it is because of the wickedness.

[God]

Of these nations that the Lord is.

[Moses]

Driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because.

[God]

Of the wickedness of these nations. The Lord your God is driving them.

[Moses]

Out from before you, and that he.

[God]

May confirm the word that the Lord.

[Moses]

Swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to.

[David]

Isaac, and to Jacob.

[God]

Know, therefore, that the Lord your God.

[Moses]

Is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.

[God]

Remember and do not forget how you provoke the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness.

[Moses]

From the day you came out of.

[God]

The land of Egypt, until you came.

[Moses]

To this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath.

[God]

And the Lord was so angry with.

[Moses]

You that he was ready to destroy you.

[God]

When I went up the mountain to.

[Moses]

Receive the tablets of stone, the tablets.

[God]

Of the covenant that the Lord made.

[Moses]

With you, I remained on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

[God]

And the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God.

[Moses]

And on them were all the words.

[God]

That the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain, out of the midst of the fire.

[Moses]

On the day of the assembly, and at the end of 40 days and 40 nights, the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Then the Lord said to me, arise, go down quickly from here, for your.

[God]

People, whom you have brought from Egypt, have acted corruptly.

[Moses]

They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made themselves a metal image. Furthermore, the Lord said to me, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people. Let me alone.

[God]

That I may destroy them and blot.

[Moses]

Out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. So I turned and came down from the mountain. And the mountain was burning with fire.

[God]

And the two tablets of the covenant.

[Moses]

Were in my two hands. And I looked.

[God]

And behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God.

[Moses]

You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. So I took hold of the two.

[God]

Tablets and threw them out of my.

[Moses]

Two hands and broke them before your eyes. Then I lay prostrate before the lord as before 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water because of all the sin that you had committed.

[God]

And doing what was evil in the.

[Moses]

Sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.

[David]

For I was afraid of the anger.

[Moses]

And hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also.

[God]

And the Lord was so angry with.

[Moses]

Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the Brooklyn that ran down from the mountain. At Taborah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth Hatevah. You provoked the Lord to wrath.

[God]

And when the Lord sent you from.

[Moses]

Kadesh Barnea, saying, go up and take.

[God]

Possession of the land that I have.

[Moses]

Given you, then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. So I lay prostrate before the lord for these 40 days and 40 nights because the Lord had said he would destroy you. And I prayed to the Lord, O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people or their wickedness or their sin.

[God]

Lest the land from which you brought.

[Moses]

Us say, because the Lord was not.

[God]

Able to bring them into the land.

[Moses]

That he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness. For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm. At that time the Lord said to me, cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up.

[God]

To me on the mountain and make.

[Moses]

An ark of wood, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.

[God]

So I made an ark of acacia.

[Moses]

Wood and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets in the same writing as before, the ten.

[God]

Commandments that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain, out of the.

[Moses]

Midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. And there they are, as the Lord commanded me. The people of Israel journeyed from Beeroth ben Ajayakin to Mozirah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried, and his son Eleazar ministered as priest in his place. From there they journeyed to God Goda and from Gadgoda to Jatbatha, a land with brooks of water. At that time the Lord set apart.

[God]

The tribe of Levi to carry the.

[Moses]

Ark of the covenant of the Lord.

[God]

To stand before the Lord to minister.

[Moses]

To him, and to bless in his name. To this day, therefore, Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God said to him.

[David]

I myself stayed on the mountain, as.

[Moses]

At the first time, 40 days and 40 nights.

[God]

And the Lord listened to me that time also.

[Moses]

The Lord was unwilling to destroy you. And the Lord said to me, arise, go on your journey at the head of the people, so that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him.

[God]

To serve the Lord your God with.

[Moses]

All your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord which I am commanding you today for your good. Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.

[God]

Yet the Lord set his heart and.

[Moses]

Love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them.

[God]

You above all peoples as you are.

[Moses]

This day, Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn.

[God]

For the Lord your God is God.

[Moses]

Of gods and Lord of lords, the.

[David]

Great, the mighty, and the awesome God.

[Moses]

Who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow and Loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

[God]

Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were.

[Moses]

Sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear he is your praise. He is your God, who has done.

[God]

For you these great and terrifying things.

[Moses]

That your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down to Egypt, 70 persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven. A reading from the Book of Psalms. A prayer of David.

[David]

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly. Save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all.

[Moses]

Who call upon you.

[David]

Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer. Listen to my plea for grace in the day of my trouble.

[Moses]

I call upon you, for you.

[David]

Answer me. There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall.

[Moses]

Come and worship before you, O Lord.

[David]

And shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things. You alone are God.

[Moses]

Teach me your way, O Lord, that.

[David]

I may walk in your truth.

[Moses]

Unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord.

[David]

My God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me. You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol, O God. Insolent men have risen up against me. A band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them. But you, O Lord, are a God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Turn to me and be gracious to me. Give your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant. Show me a sign of your favor that those who hate me may see and be put to shame. Because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

[Moses]

A reading from the Book of Acts.

[David]

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he.

[Moses]

Might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

[David]

Now, as he went on his Way he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, saul. Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground. And although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without.

[Moses]

Sight and neither ate nor drank.

[David]

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, ananias. And he said, here I am, Lord. And the Lord said to him, rise and go to the street called Straight. And at the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. For behold, he is praying. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and laid his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered, lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him, he said, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and. And he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized. And taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue, saying, he is the son of God. And all who heard him were amazed and said, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose to bring them bound before the chief priests? But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him. But his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord who spoke to him. And how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord. And in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. It multiplied. Now, as Peter went here and there among them all. He came down also to the saints.

[Moses]

Who lived at Lydda.

[David]

There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise and make your bed. And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him. And they turned to the Lord. Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha. Which translated means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died. And when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa. The disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, please come to us without delay. So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body, he said, tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa. And many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.