19

May

May 19

Ruth 3

1And Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, am I not to get you a resting-place where you may be in comfort?

2And now, is there not Boaz, our relation, with whose young women you were? See, tonight he is separating the grain from the waste in his grain-floor.

3So take a bath, and, after rubbing your body with sweet oil, put on your best robe, and go down to the grain-floor; but do not let him see you till he has come to the end of his meal.

4But see to it, when he goes to rest, that you take note of the place where he is sleeping, and go in there, and, uncovering his feet, take your place by him; and he will say what you are to do.

5And she said, I will do all you say.

6So she went down to the grain-floor and did all her mother-in-law had said to her.

7Now when Boaz had taken meat and drink, and his heart was glad, he went to take his rest at the end of the mass of grain; then she came softly and, uncovering his feet, went to rest.

8Now in the middle of the night, the man awaking from his sleep in fear, and lifting himself up, saw a woman stretched at his feet.

9And he said, Who are you? And she answering said, I am your servant Ruth: take your servant as wife, for you are a near relation.

10And he said, May the Lord give you his blessing, my daughter: even better than what you did at the first is this last kind act you have done, in not going after young men, with or without wealth.

11And now, my daughter, have no fear; I will do for you whatever you say: for it is clear to all my townspeople that you are a woman of virtue.

12Now it is true that I am a near relation: but there is a relation nearer than I.

13Take your rest here tonight; and in the morning, if he will do for you what it is right for a relation to do, very well, let him do so: but if he will not, then by the living Lord I myself will do so.

14And she took her rest at his feet till the morning: and she got up before it was light enough for one to see another. And he said, Let it not come to anyone’s knowledge that the woman came to the grain-floor.

15And he said, Take your robe, stretching it out in your hands: and she did so, and he took six measures of grain and put them into it, and gave it her to take: and she went back to the town.

16And when she came back her mother-in-law said to her, How did it go with you, my daughter? And she gave her an account of all the man had done to her.

17And she said, He gave me these six measures of grain, saying, Do not go back to your mother-in-law with nothing in your hands.

18Then she said, Do nothing now, my daughter, till you see what will come of this; for the man will take no rest till he has put this thing through.

Ruth 4

1And Boaz went up to the public place of the town, and took his seat there: and the near relation of whom he had been talking came by; and Boaz, crying out to him by name, said, Come and be seated here. And he came and was seated.

2Then he got ten of the responsible men of the town, and said, Be seated here. And they took their seats.

3Then he said to the near relation, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is offering for a price that bit of land which was our brother Elimelech’s:

4And it was in my mind to give you the chance of taking it, with the approval of those seated here and of the responsible men of my people. If you are ready to do what it is right for a relation to do, then do it: but if you will not do it, say so to me now; for there is no one who has the right to do it but you, and after you myself. And he said, I will do it.

5Then Boaz said, On the day when you take this field, you will have to take with it Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, so that you may keep the name of the dead living in his heritage.

6And the near relation said, I am not able to do the relation’s part, for fear of damaging the heritage I have: you may do it in my place, for I am not able to do it myself.

7Now, in earlier times this was the way in Israel when property was taken over by a near relation, or when there was a change of owner. To make the exchange certain one man took off his shoe and gave it to the other; and this was a witness in Israel.

8So the near relation said to Boaz, Take it for yourself. And he took off his shoe.

9Then Boaz said to the responsible men and to all the people, You are witnesses today that I have taken at a price from Naomi all the property which was Elimelech’s, and everything which was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s.

10And, further, I have taken Ruth, the Moabitess, who was the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to keep the name of the dead man living in his heritage, so that his name may not be cut off from among his countrymen, and from the memory of his town: you are witnesses this day.

11And all the people who were in the public place, and the responsible men, said, We are witnesses. May the Lord make this woman, who is about to come into your house, like Rachel and Leah, which two were the builders of the house of Israel: and may you have wealth in Ephrathah, and be great in Beth-lehem;

12May your family be like the family of Perez, the son whom Tamar gave to Judah, from the offspring which the Lord may give you by this young woman.

13So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and the Lord made her with child and she gave birth to a son.

14And the women said to Naomi, A blessing on the Lord, who has not let you be this day without a near relation, and may his name be great in Israel.

15He will be a giver of new life to you, and your comforter when you are old, for your daughter-in-law, who, in her love for you, is better than seven sons, has given birth to him.

16And Naomi took the child and put her arms round it, and she took care of it.

17And the women who were her neighbours gave it a name, saying, Naomi has a child; and they gave him the name of Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron;

19And Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab;

20And Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon;

21And Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed;

22And Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.

Psalms 48

A Song. A Psalm. Of the sons of Korah.

1 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, in the town of our God, in his holy mountain.

2Beautiful in its high position, the joy of all the earth, is the mountain of Zion, the mountain of God, the town of the great King.

3In its buildings God is seen to be a high tower.

4For see! the kings came together by agreement, they were joined together.

5They saw it, and so were full of wonder; they were troubled, and went quickly away in fear.

6Shaking came on them and pain, as on a woman in childbirth.

7By you the ships of Tarshish are broken as by an east wind.

8As it came to our ears so have we seen it, in the town of the Lord of armies, in the town of our God; God will keep it fixed for ever. (Selah.)

9Our thoughts were of your mercy, O God, while we were in your Temple.

10As your name is, O God, so is your praise to the ends of the earth; your right hand is full of righteousness.

11Let there be joy in the mountain of Zion, and let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of your wise decisions.

12Make your way about Zion, and go round it, numbering its towers.

13Take note of its strong walls, looking well at its fair buildings; so that you may give word of it to the generation which comes after.

14Because this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide.

Acts 26:1-18

1And Agrippa said to Paul, You may put your cause before us. Then Paul, stretching out his hand, made his answer, saying:

2In my opinion I am happy, King Agrippa, to be able to give my answer before you today to all these things which the Jews say against me:

3The more so, because you are expert in all questions to do with the Jews and their ways: so I make my request to you to give me a hearing to the end.

4All the Jews have knowledge of my way of life from my early years, as it was from the start among my nation, and at Jerusalem;

5And they are able to say, if they would give witness, that I was living as a Pharisee, in that division of our religion which is most regular in the keeping of the law.

6And now I am here to be judged because of the hope given by God’s word to our fathers;

7For the effecting of which our twelve tribes have been working and waiting night and day with all their hearts. And in connection with this hope I am attacked by the Jews, O king!

8Why, in your opinion, is it outside belief for God to make the dead come to life again?

9For I, truly, was of the opinion that it was right for me to do a number of things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

10And this I did in Jerusalem: and numbers of the saints I put in prison, having had authority given to me from the chief priests, and when they were put to death, I gave my decision against them.

11And I gave them punishment frequently, in all the Synagogues, forcing them to say things against God; and burning with passion against them, I went after them even into far-away towns.

12Then, when I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and orders of the chief priests,

13In the middle of the day, on the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining round me and those who were journeying with me.

14And when we had all gone down on the earth, a voice came to me, saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you attacking me so cruelly? It is hard for you to go against the impulse which is driving you.

15And I said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are attacking.

16But get up on your feet: for I have come to you for this purpose, to make you a servant and a witness of the things in which you have seen me, and of those in which you will see me;

17And I will keep you safe from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,

18To make their eyes open, turning them from the dark to the light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may have forgiveness of sins and a heritage among those who are made holy by faith in me.

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18

May

May 18

Ruth 1

1Now there came a time, in the days of the judges, when there was no food in the land. And a certain man went from Beth-lehem-judah, he and his wife and his two sons, to make a living-place in the country of Moab.

2And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and were there for some time.

3And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, came to his end; and only her two sons were with her.

4And they took two women of Moab as their wives: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth; and they went on living there for about ten years.

5And Mahlon and Chilion came to their end; and the woman was without her two sons and her husband.

6So she and her daughters-in-law got ready to go back from the country of Moab, for news had come to her in the country of Moab that the Lord, in mercy for his people, had given them food.

7And she went out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah.

8And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go back to your mothers’ houses: may the Lord be good to you as you have been good to the dead and to me:

9May the Lord give you rest in the houses of your husbands. Then she gave them a kiss; and they were weeping bitterly.

10And they said to her, No, but we will go back with you to your people.

11But Naomi said, Go back, my daughters; why will you come with me? Have I more sons in my body, to become your husbands?

12Go back, my daughters, and go on your way; I am so old now that I may not have another husband. If I said, I have hopes, if I had a husband tonight, and might have sons,

13Would you keep yourselves till they were old enough? would you keep from having husbands for them? No, my daughters; but I am very sad for you that the hand of the Lord is against me.

14Then again they were weeping; and Orpah gave her mother-in-law a kiss, but Ruth would not be parted from her.

15And Naomi said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods: go back after your sister-in-law.

16But Ruth said, Give up requesting me to go away from you, or to go back without you: for where you go I will go; and where you take your rest I will take my rest; your people will be my people, and your God my God.

17Wherever death comes to you, death will come to me, and there will be my last resting-place; the Lord do so to me and more if we are parted by anything but death.

18And when she saw that Ruth was strong in her purpose to go with her she said no more.

19So the two of them went on till they came to Beth-lehem. And when they came to Beth-lehem all the town was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

20And she said to them, Do not let my name be Naomi, but Mara, for the Ruler of all has given me a bitter fate.

21I went out full, and the Lord has sent me back again with nothing; why do you give me the name Naomi, seeing that the Lord has given witness against me, and the Ruler of all has sent sorrow on me?

22So Naomi came back out of the country of Moab, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her; and they came to Beth-lehem in the first days of the grain-cutting.

Ruth 2

1And Naomi had a relation of her husband, a man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.

2And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Now let me go into the field and take up the heads of grain after him in whose eyes I may have grace. And she said to her, Go, my daughter.

3And she went, and came and took up the heads of grain in the field after the cutters; and by chance she went into that part of the field which was the property of Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

4And Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said to the grain-cutters, The Lord be with you. And they made answer, The Lord give you his blessing.

5Then Boaz said to his servant who was in authority over the cutters, Whose girl is this?

6And the servant who was in authority over the cutters said, It is a Moabite girl who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab;

7And she said to me, Let me come into the grain-field and take up the grain after the cutters. So she came, and has been here from morning till now, without resting even for a minute.

8Then said Boaz to Ruth, Give ear to me, my daughter: do not go to take up the grain in another field, or go away from here, but keep here by my young women:

9Keep your eyes on the field they are cutting, and go after them; have I not given orders to the young men not to put a hand on you? And when you are in need of drink go to the vessels and take of what the young men have put there.

10Then she went down on her face to the earth, and said to him, Why have I grace in your eyes, that you give attention to me, seeing I am from a strange people?

11And Boaz answering said to her, I have had news of everything you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband; how you went away from your father and mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people who are strange to you.

12The Lord give you a reward for what you have done, and may a full reward be given to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take cover.

13Then she said, May I have grace in your eyes, my lord, for you have given me comfort, and you have said kind words to your servant, though I am not like one of your servants.

14And at meal-time Boaz said to her, Come here, and take some of the bread, and put your bit into the wine. And she took her seat among the grain-cutters: and he gave her dry grain, and she took it, and there was more than enough for her meal.

15And when she got ready to take up the grain, Boaz gave his young men orders, saying, Let her take it even from among the cut grain, and say nothing to her.

16And let some heads of grain be pulled out of what has been corded up, and dropped for her to take, and let no sharp word be said to her.

17So she went on getting together the heads of grain till evening; and after crushing out the seed it came to about an ephah of grain.

18And she took it up and went into the town; and she let her mother-in-law see what she had got, and after taking enough for herself she gave her the rest.

19And her mother-in-law said to her, Where did you take up the grain today, and where were you working? May a blessing be on him who gave such attention to you. And she gave her mother-in-law an account of where she had been working, and said, The name of the man with whom I was working today is Boaz.

20And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, May the blessing of the Lord, who has at all times been kind to the living and to the dead, be on him. And Naomi said to her, The man is of our family, one of our near relations.

21And Ruth the Moabitess said, Truly, he said to me, Keep near my young men till all my grain is cut.

22And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, It is better, my daughter, for you to go out with his servant-girls, so that no danger may come to you in another field.

23So she kept near the servant-girls of Boaz to take up the grain till the cutting of the early grain and the cutting of the late grain were ended; and she went on living with her mother-in-law.

Psalms 47

To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of the sons of Korah.

1 O make a glad noise with your hands, all you peoples; letting your voices go up to God with joy.

2For the Lord Most High is to be feared; he is a great King over all the earth.

3He will put down the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet.

4He will give us our heritage, the glory of Jacob who is dear to him. (Selah.)

5God has gone up with a glad cry, the Lord with the sound of the horn.

6Give praises to God, make songs of praise; give praises to our King, make songs of praise.

7For God is the King of all the earth; make songs of praise with knowledge.

8God is the ruler over the nations; God is on the high seat of his holy rule.

9The rulers of the peoples have come together, with the people of the God of Abraham; because the powers of the earth are God’s: he is lifted up on high.

Acts 25

1So Festus, having come into that part of the country which was under his rule, after three days went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

2And the chief priests and the chief men of the Jews made statements against Paul,

3Requesting Festus to give effect to their design against him, and send him to Jerusalem, when they would be waiting to put him to death on the way.

4But Festus, in answer, said that Paul was being kept in prison at Caesarea, and that in a short time he himself was going there.

5So, he said, let those who have authority among you go with me, and if there is any wrong in the man, let them make a statement against him.

6And when he had been with them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea; and on the day after, he took his place on the judge’s seat, and sent for Paul.

7And when he came, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem came round him, and made all sorts of serious statements against him, which were not supported by the facts.

8Then Paul, in his answer to them, said, I have done no wrong against the law of the Jews, or against the Temple, or against Caesar.

9But Festus, desiring to get the approval of the Jews, said to Paul, Will you go up to Jerusalem, and be judged before me there in connection with these things?

10And Paul said, I am before the seat of Caesar’s authority where it is right for me to be judged: I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you are well able to see.

11If, then, I am a wrongdoer and there is a cause of death in me, I am ready for death: if it is not as they say against me, no man may give me up to them. Let my cause come before Caesar.

12Then Festus, having had a discussion with the Jews, made answer, You have said, Let my cause come before Caesar; to Caesar you will go.

13Now when some days had gone by, King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea and went to see Festus.

14And as they were there for some days, Festus gave them Paul’s story, saying, There is a certain man here who was put in prison by Felix:

15Against whom the chief priests and the rulers of the Jews made a statement when I was at Jerusalem, requesting me to give a decision against him.

16To whom I gave answer that it is not the Roman way to give a man up, till he has been face to face with those who are attacking him, and has had a chance to give an answer to the statements made against him.

17So, when they had come together here, straight away, on the day after, I took my place on the judge’s seat and sent for the man.

18But when they got up they said nothing about such crimes as I had in mind:

19But had certain questions against him in connection with their religion, and about one Jesus, now dead, who, Paul said, was living.

20And as I had not enough knowledge for the discussion of these things, I made the suggestion to him to go to Jerusalem and be judged there.

21But when Paul made a request that he might be judged by Caesar, I gave orders for him to be kept till I might send him to Caesar.

22And Agrippa said to Festus, I have a desire to give the man a hearing myself. Tomorrow, he said, you may give him a hearing.

23So on the day after, when Agrippa and Bernice in great glory had come into the public place of hearing, with the chief of the army and the chief men of the town, at the order of Festus, Paul was sent for.

24And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all those who are present here with us, you see this man, about whom all the Jews have made protests to me, at Jerusalem and in this place, saying that it is not right for him to be living any longer.

25But, in my opinion, there is no cause of death in him, and as he himself has made a request to be judged by Caesar, I have said that I would send him.

26But I have no certain account of him to send to Caesar. So I have sent for him to come before you, and specially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the business has been gone into, I may have something to put in writing.

27For it seems to me against reason to send a prisoner without making clear what there is against him.

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16

May

May 16

Judges 20

1Then all the children of Israel took up arms, and the people came together like one man, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and the land of Gilead, before the Lord at Mizpah.

2And the chiefs of the people, out of all the tribes of Israel, took their places in the meeting of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen armed with swords.

3(Now the children of Benjamin had word that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the children of Israel said, Make clear how this evil thing took place.

4Then the Levite, the husband of the dead woman, said in answer, I came to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin, I and my servant-wife, for the purpose of stopping there for the night.

5And the townsmen of Gibeah came together against me, going round the house on all sides by night; it was their purpose to put me to death, and my servant-wife was violently used by them and is dead.

6So I took her, cutting her into parts which I sent through all the country of the heritage of Israel: for they have done an act of shame in Israel.

7Here you all are, you children of Israel; give now your suggestions about what is to be done.

8Then all the people got up as one man and said, Not one of us will go to his tent or go back to his house:

9But this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by the decision of the Lord;

10And we will take ten men out of every hundred, through all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, a thousand out of every ten thousand, to get food for the people, so that they may give to Gibeah of Benjamin the right punishment for the act of shame they have done in Israel.

11So all the men of Israel were banded together against the town, united like one man.

12And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin saying, What is this evil which has been done among you?

13Now give up those good-for-nothing persons in Gibeah so that we may put them to death, clearing away the evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not give ear to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.

14And the children of Benjamin came together from all their towns to Gibeah, to go to war with the children of Israel.

15And the children of Benjamin who came that day from the towns were twenty-six thousand men armed with swords, in addition to the people of Gibeah, numbering seven hundred of the best fighting-men,

16Who were left-handed, able to send a stone at a hair without error.

17And the men of Israel, other than Benjamin, were four hundred thousand in number, all armed with swords; they were all men of war.

18And they got up and went up to Beth-el to get directions from God, and the children of Israel said, Who is to be the first to go up to the fight against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah is to go up first.

19So the children of Israel got up in the morning and put themselves in position against Gibeah.

20And the men of Israel went out to war against Benjamin (and the men of Israel put their forces in fighting order against them at Gibeah).

21Then the children of Benjamin came out from Gibeah, cutting down twenty-two thousand of the Israelites that day.

22But the people, the men of Israel, taking heart again, put their forces in order and took up the same position as on the first day.

23Now the children of Israel went up, weeping before the Lord till evening, requesting the Lord and saying, Am I to go forward again to the fight against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the Lord said, Go up against him.

24So the children of Israel went forward against the children of Benjamin the second day.

25And the second day Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah, cutting down eighteen thousand men of the children of Israel, all swordsmen.

26Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up to Beth-el, weeping and waiting there before the Lord, going without food all day till evening, and offering burned offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord.

27And the children of Israel made request to the Lord, (for the ark of the agreement of the Lord was there in those days,

28And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was in his place before it,) and said, Am I still to go on with the fight against the children of Benjamin my brother, or am I to give it up? And the Lord said, Go on; for tomorrow I will give him into your hands.

29So Israel put men secretly all round Gibeah to make a surprise attack on it.

30And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in fighting order against Gibeah as before.

31And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, moving away from the town; and as before, at their first attack, they put to death about thirty men of Israel on the highways, of which one goes up to Beth-el and the other to Gibeah, and in the open country.

32And the children of Benjamin said, They are giving way before us as at first. But the children of Israel said, Let us go in flight and get them away from the town, into the highways.

33So all the men of Israel got up and put themselves in fighting order at Baal-tamar: and those who had been waiting secretly to make a surprise attack came rushing out of their place on the west of Geba.

34And they came in front of Gibeah, ten thousand of the best men in all Israel, and the fighting became more violent; but the children of Benjamin were not conscious that evil was coming on them.

35Then the Lord sent sudden fear on Benjamin before Israel; and that day the children of Israel put to death twenty-five thousand, one hundred men of Benjamin, all of them swordsmen.

36So the children of Benjamin saw that they were overcome: and the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, putting their faith in the watchers who were to make the surprise attack on Gibeah.

37And the watchers, rushing on Gibeah and overrunning it, put all the town to the sword without mercy.

38Now the sign fixed between the men of Israel and those making the surprise attack was that when they made a pillar of smoke go up from the town,

39The men of Israel were to make a turn about in the fight. And Benjamin had overcome and put to death about thirty of the men of Israel, and were saying, Certainly they are falling back before us as in the first fight.

40Then the sign went up out of the town in the pillar of smoke, and the Benjamites, turning back, saw all the town going up in smoke to heaven.

41And the men of Israel had made a turn about, and the men of Benjamin were overcome with fear, for they saw that evil had overtaken them.

42So turning their backs on the men of Israel, they went in the direction of the waste land; but the fight overtook them; and those who came out of the town were heading them off and putting them to the sword.

43And crushing Benjamin down, they went after them, driving them from Nohah as far as the east side of Gibeah.

44Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin came to their death, all strong men of war.

45And turning, they went in flight to the rock of Rimmon in the waste land: and on the highways five thousand of them were cut off by the men of Israel, who, pushing on hard after them to Geba, put to death two thousand more.

46So twenty-five thousand of the swordsmen of Benjamin came to their end that day, all strong men of war.

47But six hundred men, turning back, went in flight to the rock of Rimmon in the waste land, and were living on the rock of Rimmon for four months.

48And the men of Israel, turning again against the children of Benjamin, put to the sword without mercy all the towns and the cattle and everything there was, burning every town which came into their hands.

Psalms 45

To the chief music-maker; put to Shoshannim. Of the sons of Korah. Maschil. A Song of loves.

1 My heart is flowing over with good things; my words are of that which I have made for a king; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

2You are fairer than the children of men; grace is flowing through your lips; for this cause the blessing of God is with you for ever.

3Put on your sword, make it ready at your side, O strong chief, with your glory and power.

4And go nobly on in your power, because you are good and true and without pride; and your right hand will be teaching you things of fear.

5Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s haters; because of them the peoples are falling under you.

6Your seat of power, O God, is for ever and ever; the rod of your kingdom is a rod of honour.

7You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil: and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head, lifting you high over all other kings.

8Your robes are full of the smell of all sorts of perfumes and spices; music from the king’s ivory houses has made you glad.

9Kings’ daughters are among your noble women: on your right is the queen in gold of Ophir.

10O daughter, give thought and attention, and let your ear be open; no longer keep in mind your people, and your father’s house;

11So will the king have a great desire for you, seeing how beautiful you are; because he is your lord, give him honour.

12And the daughters of Tyre will be there with an offering; those who have wealth among the people will be looking for your approval.

13In the great house the king’s daughter is all shining: her clothing is worked with gold.

14She will come before the king in robes of needlework; the virgins in her train will come before you.

15With joy and rapture will they come; they will go into the king’s house.

16Your children will take the place of your fathers; so that you may make them rulers over all the earth.

17I will keep the memory of your name living through all generations; and because of this the people will give you praise for ever.

Acts 23:23-35

23And he sent for two captains and said, Make ready two hundred men, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, to go to Caesarea, at the third hour of the night:

24And get beasts so that they may put Paul on them, and take him safely to Felix, the ruler.

25And he sent a letter in these words:

26Claudius Lysias, to the most noble ruler, Felix, peace be with you.

27This man was taken by the Jews, and was about to be put to death by them, when I came on them with the army and took him out of danger, having knowledge that he was a Roman.

28And, desiring to get at the reason for their attack on him, I took him down to their Sanhedrin:

29Then it became clear to me that it was a question of their law, and that nothing was said against him which might be a reason for prison or death.

30And when news was given to me that a secret design was being made against the man, I sent him straight away to you, giving orders to those who are against him to make their statements before you.

31So the armed men, as they were ordered, took Paul and came by night to Antipatris.

32But on the day after, they sent the horsemen on with him, and went back to their place:

33And they, when they came to Caesarea, gave the letter to the ruler, and took Paul before him.

34And after reading it, he said, What part of the country do you come from? And, hearing that he was from Cilicia,

35I will give hearing to your cause, he said, when those who are against you have come. And he gave orders for him to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium.

Acts 24:1-9

1And after five days, the high priest, Ananias, came with certain of the rulers, and an expert talker, one Tertullus; and they made a statement to Felix against Paul.

2And when he had been sent for, Tertullus, starting his statement, said, Because by you we are living in peace, and through your wisdom wrongs are put right for this nation,

3In all things and in all places we are conscious of our great debt to you, most noble Felix.

4But, so that I may not make you tired, I make a request to you of your mercy, to give hearing to a short statement.

5For this man, in our opinion, is a cause of trouble, a maker of attacks on the government among Jews through all the empire, and a chief mover in the society of the Nazarenes:

6Who, in addition, was attempting to make the Temple unclean: whom we took,

8And from whom you will be able, by questioning him yourself, to get knowledge of all the things which we say against him.

9And the Jews were in agreement with his statement, saying that these things were so.

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15

May

May 15

Judges 19

1Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was living in the inmost parts of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he got for himself a servant-wife from Beth-lehem-judah.

2And his servant-wife was angry with him, and went away from him to her father’s house at Beth-lehem-judah, and was there for four months.

3Then her husband got up and went after her, with the purpose of talking kindly to her, and taking her back with him; he had with him his young man and two asses: and she took him into her father’s house, and her father, when he saw him, came forward to him with joy.

4And his father-in-law, the girl’s father, kept him there for three days; and they had food and drink and took their rest there.

5Now on the fourth day they got up early in the morning and he made ready to go away; but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, Take a little food to keep up your strength, and then go on your way.

6So seating themselves they had food and drink, the two of them together; and the girl’s father said to the man, If it is your pleasure, take your rest here tonight, and let your heart be glad.

7And the man got up to go away, but his father-in-law would not let him go, so he took his rest there again for the night.

8Then early on the morning of the fifth day he got up to go away; but the girl’s father said, Keep up your strength; so the two of them had a meal, and the man and his woman and his servant did not go till after the middle of the day.

9And when they got up to go away, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, Now evening is coming on, so do not go tonight; see, the day is almost gone; take your rest here and let your heart be glad, and tomorrow early, go on your way back to your house.

10But the man would not be kept there that night, and he got up and went away and came opposite to Jebus (which is Jerusalem); and he had with him the two asses, ready for travelling, and his woman.

11When they got near Jebus the day was far gone; and the servant said to his master, Now let us go from our road into this town of the Jebusites and take our night’s rest there.

12But his master said to him, We will not go out of our way into a strange town, whose people are not of the children of Israel; but we will go on to Gibeah.

13And he said to his servant, Come, let us go on to one of these places, stopping for the night in Gibeah or Ramah.

14So they went on their way; and the sun went down when they were near Gibeah in the land of Benjamin.

15And they went off the road there with the purpose of stopping for the night in Gibeah: and he went in, seating himself in the street of the town, for no one took them into his house for the night.

16Now when it was evening they saw an old man coming back from his work in the fields; he was from the hill-country of Ephraim and was living in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites.

17And when he saw the traveller in the street of the town, the old man said, Where are you going? and where do you come from?

18And he said to him, We are on our way from Beth-lehem-judah to the inmost parts of the hill-country of Ephraim: I came from there and went to Beth-lehem-judah: now I am on my way back to my house, but no man will take me into his house.

19But we have dry grass and food for our asses, as well as bread and wine for me, and for the woman, and for the young man with us: we have no need of anything.

20And the old man said, Peace be with you; let all your needs be my care; only do not take your rest in the street.

21So he took them into his house and gave the asses food; and after washing their feet they took food and drink.

22While they were taking their pleasure at the meal, the good-for-nothing men of the town came round the house, giving blows on the door; and they said to the old man, the master of the house, Send out that man who came to your house, so that we may take our pleasure with him.

23So the man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said, No, my brothers, do not this evil thing; this man has come into my house, and you are not to do him this wrong.

24See, here is my daughter, a virgin, and his servant-wife: I will send them out for you to take them and do with them whatever you will. But do no such thing of shame to this man.

25But the men would not give ear to him: so the man took his woman and sent her out to them; and they took her by force, using her for their pleasure all night till the morning; and when dawn came they let her go.

26Then at the dawn of day the woman came, and, falling down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, was stretched there till it was light.

27In the morning her master got up, and opening the door of the house went out to go on his way; and he saw his servant-wife stretched on the earth at the door of the house with her hands on the step.

28And he said to her, Get up and let us be going; but there was no answer; so he took her up and put her on the ass, and went on his way and came to his house.

29And when he had come to his house, he got his knife, and took the woman, cutting her up bone by bone into twelve parts, which he sent through all Israel.

30And he gave orders to the men whom he sent, saying, This is what you are to say to all the men of Israel, Has ever an act like this been done from the day when the children of Israel came out of Egypt to this day? Give thought to it, turning it over in your minds, and give your opinion of it.

Psalms 44

To the chief music-maker. Of the sons of Korah Maschil.

1 It has come to our ears, O God, our fathers have given us the story, of the works which you did in their days, in the old times,

2Uprooting the nations with your hand, and planting our fathers in their place; cutting down the nations, but increasing the growth of your people.

3For they did not make the land theirs by their swords, and it was not their arms which kept them safe; but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your face, because you had pleasure in them.

4You are my King and my God; ordering salvation for Jacob.

5Through you will we overcome our haters; by your name will they be crushed under our feet who are violent against us.

6I will not put faith in my bow, my sword will not be my salvation.

7But it is you who have been our saviour from those who were against us, and have put to shame those who had hate for us.

8Our pride is in God at all times, to his name we give praise for ever. (Selah.)

9But now you have sent us away from you, and put us to shame; you do not go out with our armies.

10Because of this we are turned back by the attacker: those who have hate for us take our goods for themselves.

11You have made us like sheep which are taken for meat; we are put to flight among the nations.

12You let your people go for nothing; your wealth is not increased by their price.

13You have made us to be looked down on by our neighbours, we are laughed at and shamed by those who are round about us.

14Our name is a word of shame among the nations, a sign for the shaking of heads among the peoples.

15My downfall is ever before me, and I am covered with the shame of my face;

16Because of the voice of him who says sharp and bitter words; because of the hater and him who is the instrument of punishment.

17All this has come on us, but still we have kept you in our memory; and we have not been false to your word.

18Our hearts have not gone back, and our steps have not been turned out of your way;

19Though you have let us be crushed in the place of jackals, though we are covered with darkest shade.

20If the name of our God has gone out of our minds, or if our hands have been stretched out to a strange god,

21Will not God make search for it? for he sees the secrets of the heart.

22Truly, because of you we are put to death every day; we are numbered like sheep for destruction.

23Why are you sleeping, O Lord? awake! and come to our help, do not give us up for ever.

24Why is your face covered, and why do you give no thought to our trouble and our cruel fate?

25For our souls are crushed down to the dust: our bodies are stretched out on the earth.

26Up! and come to our help, and give us salvation because of your mercy.

Acts 22:30

30But on the day after, desiring to have certain knowledge of what the Jews had to say against him, he made him free, and gave orders for the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to come together, and he took Paul and put him before them.

Acts 23:1-22

1And Paul, looking fixedly at the Sanhedrin, said, My brothers, my life has been upright before God till this day.

2And the high priest, Ananias, gave orders to those who were near him to give him a blow on the mouth.

3Then Paul said to him, God will give blows to you, you whitewashed wall: are you here to be my judge by law, and by your orders am I given blows against the law?

4And those who were near said, Do you say such words against God’s high priest?

5And Paul said, Brother, I had no idea that he was the high priest: for it has been said, You may not say evil about the ruler of your people.

6But when Paul saw that half of them were Sadducees and the rest Pharisees, he said in the Sanhedrin, Brothers, I am a Pharisee, and the son of Pharisees: I am here to be judged on the question of the hope of the coming back from the dead.

7And when he had said this, there was an argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and a division in the meeting.

8For the Sadducees say that there is no coming back from the dead, and no angels or spirits: but the Pharisees have belief in all these.

9And there was a great outcry: and some of the scribes on the side of the Pharisees got up and took part in the discussion, saying, We see no evil in this man: what if he has had a revelation from an angel or a spirit?

10And when the argument became very violent, the chief captain, fearing that Paul would be pulled in two by them, gave orders to the armed men to take him by force from among them, and take him into the army building.

11And the night after, the Lord came to his side and said, Be of good heart, for as you have been witnessing for me in Jerusalem, so will you be my witness in Rome.

12And when it was day, the Jews came together and put themselves under an oath that they would take no food or drink till they had put Paul to death.

13And more than forty of them took this oath.

14And they came to the chief priests and the rulers and said, We have taken a great oath to take no food till we have put Paul to death

15So now, will you and the Sanhedrin make a request to the military authorities to have him sent down to you, as if you were desiring to go into the business in greater detail; and we, before ever he gets to you, will be waiting to put him to death.

16But Paul’s sister’s son had word of their design, and he came into the army building and gave news of it to Paul.

17And Paul sent for a captain and said, Take this young man to your chief, for he has news for him.

18So he took him to the chief captain and said, Paul, the prisoner, made a request to me to take this young man to you, for he has something to say to you.

19And the chief took him by the hand and, going on one side, said to him privately, What is it you have to say to me?

20And he said, The Jews are in agreement together to make a request to you for Paul to be taken, on the day after this, into the Sanhedrin, to be questioned in greater detail.

21But do not give way to them, for more than forty of them are waiting for him, having taken an oath not to take food or drink till they have put him to death: and now they are ready, waiting for your order.

22So the chief captain let the young man go, saying to him, Do not say to anyone that you have given me word of these things.

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14

May

May 14

Judges 17

1Now there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim named Micah.

2And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver which were taken from you, about which you took an oath and said in my hearing, I have given this silver to the Lord from my hand for myself, to make a pictured image and a metal image: see, I have the silver, for I took it: so now I will give it back to you. And his mother said, May the blessing of the Lord be on my son.

3And he gave back the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, and his mother said, I have made the silver holy to the Lord from me for my son, to make a pictured image and a metal image.

4So he gave the silver back to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a metal-worker who made a pictured image and a metal image from them: and it was in the house of Micah.

5And the man Micah had a house of gods; and he made an ephod and family gods and put one of his sons in the position of priest.

6In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did as seemed right to him.

7Now there was a young man living in Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah and a Levite, who was not a townsman of the place.

8And he went away from the town of Beth-lehem-judah, looking for somewhere to make his living-place; and on his journey he came to the hill-country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah.

9And Micah said to him, Where do you come from? And he said to him, I am a Levite from Beth-lehem-judah, and I am looking for a living-place.

10Then Micah said to him, Make your living-place with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver a year and your clothing and food.

11And the Levite said he would make his living-place with the man, and he became to him as one of his sons.

12And Micah gave the position to the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

13Then Micah said, Now I am certain that the Lord will do me good, seeing that the Levite has become my priest.

Judges 18

1In those days there was no king in Israel, and in those days the Danites were looking for a heritage for themselves, to be their living-place; for up to that time no distribution of land had been made to them among the tribes of Israel.

2So the children of Dan sent five men from among their number, strong men, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to take a look at the land and make a search through it; and they said to them, Go and make a search through the land; and they came to the hill-country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, where they made a stop for the night.

3When they were near the house of Micah, hearing a voice which was not strange to them, that of the young Levite, they went out of their road to his place, and said to him, How did you come here? and what are you doing in this place? and why are you here?

4And he said to them, This is what Micah did for me, and he gave me payment and I became his priest.

5Then they said, Do get directions from God for us, to see if the journey on which we are going will have a good outcome.

6And the priest said to them, Go in peace: your way is guided by the Lord.

7Then the five men went on their way and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, living without thought of danger, like the Zidonians, quiet and safe; for they had everything on earth for their needs, and they were far from the Zidonians and had no business with Aram.

8So they came back to their brothers in Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, What news have you?

9And they said, Up! and let us go against Laish; for we have seen the land, and it is very good: why are you doing nothing? Do not be slow to go in and take the land for your heritage.

10When you come there you will come to a people living without thought of danger; and the land is wide, and God has given it into your hands: a place where there is everything on earth for man’s needs.

11So six hundred men of the Danites from Zorah and Eshtaol went out armed with instruments of war.

12And they went up and put up their tents in Kiriath-jearim in Judah: so that place is named Mahaneh-dan to this day. It is to the west of Kiriath-jearim.

13From there they went on to the hill-country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

14Then the five men who had gone to make a search through the country of Laish, said to their brothers, Have you knowledge that in these houses there is an ephod and family gods and a pictured image and a metal image? So now you see what to do.

15And turning from their road they came to the house of the young Levite, the house of Micah, and said to him, Is it well with you?

16And the six hundred armed men of the Danites took their places by the doorway.

17Then the five men who had gone to make a search through the land, went in and took the pictured image and the ephod and the family gods and the metal image; and the priest was by the doorway with the six hundred armed men.

18And when they went into Micah’s house and took out the pictured image and the ephod and the family gods and the metal image, the priest said to them, What are you doing?

19And they said to him, Be quiet; say nothing, and come with us and be our father and priest; is it better for you to be priest to one man’s house or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?

20Then the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod and the family gods and the pictured image and went with the people.

21So they went on their way again, putting the little ones and the oxen and the goods in front of them.

22When they had gone some way from the house of Micah, the men from the houses near Micah’s house came together and overtook the children of Dan,

23Crying out to them. And the Danites, turning round, said to Micah, What is your trouble, that you have taken up arms?

24And he said, You have taken my gods which I made, and my priest, and have gone away; what is there for me now? Why then do you say to me, What is your trouble?

25And the children of Dan said to him, Say no more, or men of bitter spirit may make an attack on you, causing loss of your life and the lives of your people.

26Then the children of Dan went on their way; and when Micah saw that they were stronger than he, he went back to his house.

27And they took that which Micah had made, and his priest, and came to Laish, to a people living quietly and without thought of danger, and they put them to the sword without mercy, burning down their town.

28And they had no saviour, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with Aram; and it was in the valley which is the property of Beth-rehob. And building up the town again they took it for their living-place.

29And they gave the town the name of Dan, after Dan their father, who was the son of Israel: though the town had been named Laish at first.

30(And the children of Dan put up the pictured image for themselves; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of the Danites till the day when the ark was taken prisoner.)

31And they put up for themselves the image which Micah had made, and it was there all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

Psalms 43

1Be my judge, O God, supporting my cause against a nation without religion; O keep me from the false and evil man.

2You are the God of my strength; why have you put me from you? why do I go in sorrow because of the attacks of my haters?

3O send out your light and your true word; let them be my guide: let them take me to your holy hill, and to your tents.

4Then I will go up to the altar of God, to the God of my joy; I will be glad and give praise to you on an instrument of music, O God, my God.

5Why are you crushed down, O my soul? and why are you troubled in me? put your hope in God, for I will again give him praise who is my help and my God.

Acts 21:37-40

37And when Paul was about to be taken into the building, he said to the chief captain, May I say something to you? And he said, Have you a knowledge of Greek?

38Are you by chance the Egyptian who, before this, got the people worked up against the government and took four thousand men of the Assassins out into the waste land?

39But Paul said, I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, which is not an unimportant town: I make a request to you to let me say a word to the people.

40And when he let him do so, Paul, from the steps, made a sign with his hand to the people, and when they were all quiet, he said to them in the Hebrew language,

Acts 22:1-29

1My brothers and fathers, give ear to the story of my life which I now put before you.

2And, hearing him talking in the Hebrew language, they became the more quiet, and he said,

3I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia by birth, but I had my education in this town at the feet of Gamaliel, being trained in the keeping of every detail of the law of our fathers; given up to the cause of God with all my heart, as you are today.

4And I made attacks on this Way, even to death, taking men and women and putting them in prison.

5Of which the high priest will be a witness, and all the rulers, from whom I had letters to the brothers; and I went into Damascus, to take those who were there as prisoners to Jerusalem for punishment.

6And it came about that while I was on my journey, coming near to Damascus, about the middle of the day, suddenly I saw a great light from heaven shining round me.

7And when I went down on the earth, a voice came to my ears saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you attacking me so cruelly?

8And I, answering, said, Who are you; Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are attacking.

9And those who were with me saw the light, but the voice of him who was talking to me came not to their ears.

10And I said, What have I to do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Get up, and go into Damascus; and it will be made clear to you what you have to do.

11And because I was unable to see because of the glory of that light, those who were with me took me by the hand, and so I came to Damascus.

12And one Ananias, a God-fearing man, who kept the law, and of whom all the Jews in that place had a high opinion,

13Came to my side and said, Brother Saul, let your eyes be open. And in that very hour I was able to see him.

14And he said, You have been marked out by the God of our fathers to have knowledge of his purpose, and to see the Upright One and to give ear to the words of his mouth.

15For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and of what has come to your ears.

16And now, why are you waiting? get up, and have baptism, for the washing away of your sins, giving worship to his name.

17And it came about that when I had come back to Jerusalem, while I was at prayer in the Temple, my senses became more than naturally clear,

18And I saw him saying to me, Go out of Jerusalem straight away because they will not give hearing to your witness about me.

19And I said, Lord, they themselves have knowledge that I went through the Synagogues putting in prison and whipping all those who had faith in you:

20And when Stephen your witness was put to death, I was there, giving approval, and looking after the clothing of those who put him to death.

21And he said to me, Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.

22And they gave him a hearing as far as this word; then with loud voices they said, Away with this man from the earth; it is not right for him to be living.

23And while they were crying out, and pulling off their clothing, and sending dust into the air,

24The chief captain gave orders for him to be taken into the army building, saying that he would put him to the test by whipping, so that he might have knowledge of the reason why they were crying out so violently against him.

25And when they had put leather bands round him, Paul said to the captain who was present, Is it the law for you to give blows to a man who is a Roman and has not been judged?

26And hearing this, the man went to the chief captain and gave him an account of it, saying, What are you about to do? for this man is a Roman.

27And the chief captain came to him and said, Give me an answer, are you a Roman? And he said, Yes.

28And the chief captain said, I got Roman rights for myself at a great price. And Paul said, But I had them by birth.

29Then those who were about to put him to the test went away: and the chief captain was in fear, seeing that he was a Roman, and that he had put chains on him.

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13

May

May 13

Judges 16

1Now Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a loose woman and went in to her.

2And it was said to the Gazites, Samson is here. So they went round, watching for him all day at the doorway of the town, but at night they kept quiet, saying, When daylight comes we will put him to death.

3And Samson was there till the middle of the night; then he got up, and took a grip on the doors of the town, pulling them up, together with their two supports and their locks, and put them on his back and took them up to the top of the hill in front of Hebron.

4Now after this, he was in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, named Delilah.

5And the chiefs of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Make use of your power over him and see what is the secret of his great strength, and how we may get the better of him, and put bands on him, so that we may make him feeble; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.

6So Delilah said to Samson, Make clear to me now what is the secret of your great strength, and how you may be put in bands and made feeble.

7And Samson said to her, If seven new bow-cords which have never been made dry are knotted round me, I will become feeble and will be like any other man.

8So the chiefs of the Philistines gave her seven new bow-cords which had never been made dry, and she had them tightly knotted round him.

9Now she had men waiting secretly in the inner room; and she said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And the cords were broken by him as a twist of thread is broken when touched by a flame. So the secret of his strength did not come to light.

10Then Delilah said to Samson, See, you have been making sport of me with false words; now, say truly how may you be put in bands?

11And he said to her, If they only put round me new thick cords which have never been used, then I will become feeble and will be like any other man.

12So Delilah took new thick cords, knotting them tightly round him, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And men were waiting secretly in the inner room. And the cords were broken off his arms like threads.

13Then Delilah said to Samson, Up to now you have made sport of me with false words; now say truly, how may you be put in bands? And he said to her, If you get the seven twists of my hair worked into the cloth you are making and fixed with the pin, I will become feeble and will be like any other man.

14So while he was sleeping she got the seven twists of his hair worked into her cloth and fixed with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. Then awaking from his sleep, he got up quickly, pulling up cloth and machine together.

15And she said to him, Why do you say you are my lover when your heart is not mine? Three times you have made sport of me, and have not made clear to me the secret of your great strength.

16So day after day she gave him no peace, for ever questioning him till his soul was troubled to death.

17And opening all his heart to her, he said to her, My head has never been touched by a blade, for I have been separate to God from the day of my birth: if my hair is cut off, then my strength will go from me and I will become feeble, and will be like any other man.

18And when Delilah saw that he had let her see into his heart, she sent word to the chiefs of the Philistines saying, Come up this time, for he has let out all his heart to me. Then the chiefs of the Philistines came to her, with the money in their hands.

19And she made him go to sleep on her knees; and she sent for a man and had his seven twists of hair cut off; and while it was being done he became feeble and his strength went from him.

20Then she said, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And awaking from his sleep, he said, I will go out as at other times, shaking myself free. But he was not conscious that the Lord had gone from him.

21So the Philistines took him and put out his eyes; then they took him down to Gaza, and, chaining him with bands of brass, put him to work crushing grain in the prison-house.

22But the growth of his hair was starting again after it had been cut off.

23And the chiefs of the Philistines came together to make a great offering to Dagon their god, and to be glad; for they said, Our god has given into our hands Samson our hater.

24And when the people saw him, they gave praise to their god; for they said, Our god has given into our hands the one who was fighting against us, who made our country waste, and who put great numbers of us to death.

25Now when their hearts were full of joy, they said, Send for Samson to make sport for us. And they sent for Samson out of the prison-house, and he made sport before them; and they put him between the pillars.

26And Samson said to the boy who took him by the hand, Let me put my hand on the pillars supporting the house, so that I may put my back against them.

27Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and about three thousand men and women were on the roof, looking on while Samson made sport.

28And Samson, crying out to the Lord, said, O Lord God, do have me now in mind, and do make me strong only this once, O God, so that I may take one last payment from the Philistines for my two eyes.

29Then Samson put his arms round the two middle pillars supporting the house, putting his weight on them, on one with his right hand and on the other with his left.

30And Samson said, Let death overtake me with the Philistines. And he put out all his strength, and the house came down on the chiefs and on all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he sent to destruction by his death were more than all those on whom he had sent destruction in his life.

31Then his brothers and his father’s people came down and took him up and put his body to rest in the earth between Zorah and Eshtaol in the resting-place of Manoah his father. And he had been judge of Israel for twenty years.

Psalms 42

To the chief music-maker. Maschil. Of the sons of Korah.

1 Like the desire of the roe for the water-streams, so is my soul’s desire for you, O God.

2My soul is dry for need of God, the living God; when may I come and see the face of God?

3My tears have been my food day and night, while they keep saying to me, Where is your God?

4Let my soul be overflowing with grief when these things come back to my mind, how I went in company to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with the song of those who were keeping the feast.

5Why are you crushed down, O my soul? and why are you troubled in me? put your hope in God; for I will again give him praise who is my help and my God.

6My soul is crushed down in me, so I will keep you in mind; from the land of Jordan and of the Hermons, from the hill Mizar.

7Deep is sounding to deep at the noise of your waterfalls; all your waves have gone rolling over me.

8But the Lord will send his mercy in the daytime, and in the night his song will be with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

9I will say to God my Rock, Why have you let me go from your memory? why do I go in sorrow because of the attacks of my haters?

10The cruel words of my haters are like a crushing of my bones; when they say to me every day, Where is your God?

11Why are you crushed down, O my soul? and why are you troubled in me? put your hope in God; for I will again give him praise who is my help and my God.

Acts 21:1-36

1And after parting from them, we put out to sea and came straight to Cos, and the day after to Rhodes, and from there to Patara:

2And as there was a ship going to Phoenicia, we went in it.

3And when we had come in view of Cyprus, going past it on our left, we went on to Syria, and came to land at Tyre: for there the goods which were in the ship had to be taken out.

4And meeting the disciples we were there for seven days: and they gave Paul orders through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.

5And when these days came to an end, we went on our journey; and they all, with their wives and children, came with us on our way till we were out of the town: and after going on our knees in prayer by the sea,

6We said our last words to one another, and got into the ship, and they went back to their houses.

7And journeying by ship from Tyre we came to Ptolemais; and there we had talk with the brothers and were with them for one day.

8And on the day after, we went away and came to Caesarea, where we were guests in the house of Philip, the preacher, who was one of the seven.

9And he had four daughters, virgins, who were prophets.

10And while we were waiting there for some days, a certain prophet, named Agabus, came down from Judaea.

11And he came to us, and took the band of Paul’s clothing, and putting it round his feet and hands, said, The Holy Spirit says these words, So will the Jews do to the man who is the owner of this band, and they will give him up into the hands of the Gentiles.

12And hearing these things, we and those who were living in that place made request to him not to go to Jerusalem.

13Then Paul said, What are you doing, weeping and wounding my heart? for I am ready, not only to be a prisoner, but to be put to death at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

14And as he might not be moved we did no more, saying, Let the purpose of God be done.

15And after these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem.

16And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, taking a certain Mnason of Cyprus, one of the early disciples, in whose house we were to be living.

17And when we came to Jerusalem, the brothers were pleased to see us.

18And on the day after, Paul went with us to James, and all the rulers of the church were present.

19And when he had said how glad he was to see them, he gave them a detailed account of the things which God had done through his work among the Gentiles.

20And hearing it, they gave praise to God; and they said to him, You see, brother, what thousands there are among the Jews, who have the faith; and they all have a great respect for the law:

21And they have had news of you, how you have been teaching all the Jews among the Gentiles to give up the law of Moses, and not to give circumcision to their children, and not to keep the old rules.

22What then is the position? They will certainly get news that you have come.

23Do this, then, which we say to you: We have four men who have taken an oath;

24Go with these, and make yourself clean with them, and make the necessary payments for them, so that they may be free from their oath: and everyone will see that the statements made about you are not true, but that you put yourself under rule, and keep the law.

25But as to the Gentiles who have the faith, we sent a letter, giving our decision that they were to keep themselves from offerings made to false gods, and from blood, and from the flesh of animals put to death in ways against the law, and from the evil desires of the body.

26Then Paul took the men, and on the day after, making himself clean with them, he went into the Temple, giving out the statement that the days necessary for making them clean were complete, till the offering was made for every one of them.

27And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the Temple, got the people together and put their hands on him,

28Crying out, Men of Israel, come to our help: this is the man who is teaching all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place: and in addition, he has taken Greeks into the Temple, and made this holy place unclean.

29For they had seen him before in the town with Trophimus of Ephesus, and had the idea that Paul had taken him with him into the Temple.

30And all the town was moved, and the people came running together and put their hands on Paul, pulling him out of the Temple: and then the doors were shut.

31And while they were attempting to put him to death, news came to the chief captain of the band that all Jerusalem was out of control.

32And straight away he took some armed men and went quickly down to them: and the Jews, seeing them, gave no more blows to Paul.

33Then the chief captain came near and took him, and gave orders for him to be put in chains, questioning them as to who he was and what he had done.

34And some said one thing and some another, among the people: and as he was not able to get a knowledge of the facts because of the noise, he gave orders for Paul to be taken into the army building.

35And when he came on to the steps, he was lifted up by the armed men, because of the force of the people;

36For a great mass of people came after them, crying out, Away with him!

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12

May

May 12

Judges 14

1Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah, of the daughters of the Philistines;

2And when he came back he said to his father and mother, I have seen a woman in Timnah, of the daughters of the Philistines: get her now for me for my wife.

3Then his father and mother said to him, Is there no woman among the daughters of your relations or among all my people, that you have to go for your wife to the Philistines, who are without circumcision? But Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she is pleasing to me.

4Now his father and mother had no knowledge that this was the purpose of the Lord, who had the destruction of the Philistines in mind. Now the Philistines at that time were ruling over Israel.

5Then Samson went down to Timnah (and his father and his mother,) and came to the vine-gardens of Timnah; and a young lion came rushing out at him.

6And the spirit of the Lord came on him with power, and, unarmed as he was, pulling the lion in two as one might do to a young goat, he put him to death; (but he said nothing to his father and mother of what he had done.)

7So he went down and had talk with the woman; and she was pleasing to Samson.

8Then after a time he went back to take her; and turning from the road to see the dead body of the lion, he saw a mass of bees in the body of the lion, and honey there.

9And he took the honey in his hand, and went on, tasting it on the way; and when he came to his father and mother he gave some to them; but did not say that he had taken the honey from the body of the lion.

10Then Samson went down to the woman, and made a feast there, as was the way among young men.

11And he took thirty friends, and they were with him.

12And Samson said, Now I have a hard question for you: if you are able to give me the answer before the seven days of the feast are over, I will give you thirty linen robes and thirty changes of clothing;

13But if you are not able to give me the answer, then you will have to give me thirty linen robes and thirty changes of clothing. And they said to him, Put your hard question and let us see what it is.

14And he said, Out of the taker of food came food, and out of the strong came the sweet. And at the end of three days they were still not able to give the answer.

15So on the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, Get from your husband the answer to his question by some trick or other, or we will have you and your father’s house burned with fire; did you get us here to take all we have?

16Then Samson’s wife, weeping over him, said, Truly you have no love for me but only hate; you have put a hard question to the children of my people and have not given me the answer. And he said to her, See, I have not given the answer even to my father or my mother; am I to give it to you?

17And all the seven days of the feast she went on weeping over him; and on the seventh day he gave her the answer, because she gave him no peace; and she sent word of it to the children of her people.

18Then on the seventh day, before he went into the bride’s room, the men of the town said to him, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, If you had not been ploughing with my cow you would not have got the answer to my question.

19And the spirit of the Lord came rushing on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and, attacking thirty men there, took their clothing from them, and gave it to the men who had given the answer to his hard question. Then, full of wrath, he went back to his father’s house.

20But Samson’s wife was given to the friend who had been his best man.

Judges 15

1Now a short time after, at the time of the grain-cutting, Samson, taking with him a young goat, went to see his wife; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the bride’s room. But her father would not let him go in.

2And her father said, It seemed to me that you had only hate for her; so I gave her to your friend: but is not her younger sister fairer than she? so please take her in place of the other.

3Then Samson said to them, This time I will give payment in full to the Philistines, for I am going to do them great evil.

4So Samson went and got three hundred foxes and some sticks of fire-wood; and he put the foxes tail to tail with a stick between every two tails;

5Then firing the sticks, he let the foxes loose among the uncut grain of the Philistines, and all the corded stems as well as the living grain and the vine-gardens and the olives went up in flames.

6Then the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his friend. So the Philistines came up and had her and her father’s house burned.

7And Samson said to them, If you go on like this, truly I will take my full payment from you; and that will be the end of it.

8And he made an attack on them, driving them in uncontrolled flight, and causing great destruction; then he went away to his safe place in the crack of the rock at Etam.

9Then the Philistines went and put up their tents in Judah, all round Lehi.

10And the men of Judah said, Why have you come up against us? And they said, We have come up to take Samson, and to do to him as he has done to us.

11Then three thousand of the men of Judah went down to the crack of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, Is it not clear to you that the Philistines are our rulers? What is this you have done to us? And he said to them, I only did to them as they did to me.

12Then they said to him, We have come down to take you and give you up into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, Give me your oath that you will not make an attack on me yourselves.

13And they said, No; we will take you and give you up into their hands, but truly we will not put you to death. So knotting two new cords round him they took him up from the rock.

14And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines came out, meeting him with loud cries; then the spirit of the Lord came rushing on him, and the cords on his arms became like grass which has been burned with fire, and the bands came falling off his hands.

15And taking up the mouth-bone of an ass newly dead, which he saw by chance on the earth, he put to death a thousand men with it.

16And Samson said, With a red ass’s mouth-bone I have made them red with blood, with a red ass’s mouth-bone I have sent destruction on a thousand men.

17And having said these words, he let the mouth-bone go out of his hand; so that place was named Ramath-lehi.

18After this, he was in great need of water, and crying out to the Lord, he said, You have given this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and now need of water will be my death; and I will be given into the hands of this people who are without circumcision.

19Then God made a crack in the hollow rock in Lehi and water came out of it; and after drinking, his spirit came back to him and he was strong again; so that place was named En-hakkore; it is in Lehi to this day.

20And he was judge of Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.

Job 42

1And Job said in answer to the Lord,

2I see that you are able to do every thing, and to give effect to all your designs.

3Who is this who makes dark the purpose of God by words without knowledge? For I have been talking without knowledge about wonders not to be searched out.

4Give ear to me, and I will say what is in my mind; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.

5Word of you had come to my ears, but now my eye has seen you.

6For this cause I give witness that what I said is false, and in sorrow I take my seat in the dust.

7And it came about, after he had said these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, I am very angry with you and your two friends, because you have not said what is right about me, as my servant Job has.

8And now, take seven oxen and seven sheep, and go to my servant Job, and give a burned offering for yourselves, and my servant Job will make prayer for you, that I may not send punishment on you; because you have not said what is right about me, as my servant Job has.

9And Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did as the Lord had said. And the Lord gave ear to Job.

10And the Lord made up to Job for all his losses, after he had made prayer for his friends: and all Job had before was increased by the Lord twice as much.

11And all his brothers and sisters, and his friends of earlier days, came and took food with him in his house; and made clear their grief for him, and gave him comfort for all the evil which the Lord had sent on him; and they all gave him a bit of money and a gold ring.

12And the Lord’s blessing was greater on the end of Job’s life than on its start: and so he came to have fourteen thousand sheep and goats, and six thousand camels, and two thousand oxen, and a thousand she-asses.

13And he had seven sons and three daughters.

14And he gave the first the name of Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch;

15And there were no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job in all the earth: and their father gave them a heritage among their brothers.

16And after this Job had a hundred and forty years of life, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations.

17And Job came to his end, old and full of days.

Acts 20:17-38

17And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the rulers of the church.

18And when they had come, he said to them, You yourselves have seen what my life has been like all the time from the day when I first came into Asia,

19Doing the Lord’s work without pride, through all the sorrow and troubles which came on me because of the evil designs of the Jews:

20And how I kept back nothing which might be of profit to you, teaching you publicly and privately,

21Preaching to Jews and to Greeks the need for a turning of the heart to God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

22And now, as you see, I am going to Jerusalem, a prisoner in spirit, having no knowledge of what will come to me there:

23Only that the Holy Spirit makes clear to me in every town that prison and pains are waiting for me.

24But I put no value on my life, if only at the end of it I may see the work complete which was given to me by the Lord Jesus, to be a witness of the good news of the grace of God.

25And now I am conscious that you, among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom, will not see my face again.

26And so I say to you this day that I am clean from the blood of all men.

27For I have not kept back from you anything of the purpose of God.

28Give attention to yourselves, and to all the flock which the Holy Spirit has given into your care, to give food to the church of God, for which he gave his blood.

29I am conscious that after I am gone, evil wolves will come in among you, doing damage to the flock;

30And from among yourselves will come men who will give wrong teaching, turning away the disciples after them.

31So keep watch, having in mind that for three years without resting I was teaching every one of you, day and night, with weeping.

32And now, I give you into the care of God and the word of his grace, which is able to make you strong and to give you your heritage among all the saints.

33I have had no desire for any man’s silver or gold or clothing.

34You yourselves have seen that with these hands I got what was necessary for me and those who were with me.

35In all things I was an example to you of how, in your lives, you are to give help to the feeble, and keep in memory the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, There is a greater blessing in giving than in getting.

36And having said these words, he went down on his knees in prayer with them all.

37And they were all weeping, falling on Paul’s neck and kissing him,

38Being sad most of all because he had said that they would not see his face again. And so they went with him to the ship.

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11

May

May 11

Judges 13

1And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

2Now there was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites, and his name was Manoah; and his wife had never given birth to a child.

3And the angel of the Lord came to the woman, and said to her, See now! though you have never given birth to children, you will be with child and give birth to a son.

4Now then take care to have no wine or strong drink and to take no unclean thing for food;

5For you are with child and will give birth to a son; his hair is never to be cut, for the child is to be separate to God from his birth; and he will take up the work of freeing Israel from the hands of the Philistines.

6Then the woman came in, and said to her husband, A man came to me, and his form was like the form of a god, causing great fear; I put no question to him about where he came from, and he did not give me his name;

7But he said to me, You are with child and will give birth to a son; and now do not take any wine or strong drink or let anything unclean be your food; for the child will be separate to God from his birth to the day of his death.

8Then Manoah made prayer to the Lord, and said, O Lord, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and make clear to us what we are to do for the child who is to come.

9And God gave ear to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came to the woman again when she was seated in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.

10So the woman, running quickly, gave her husband the news, saying, I have seen the man who came to me the other day.

11And Manoah got up and went after his wife, and came up to the man and said to him, Are you the man who was talking to this woman? And he said, I am.

12And Manoah said, Now when your words come true, what is to be the rule for the child and what will be his work?

13And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Let the woman take note of what I have said to her.

14She is to have nothing which comes from the vine for her food, and let her take no wine or strong drink or anything which is unclean; let her take care to do all I have given her orders to do.

15And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, Now let us keep you while we make ready a young goat for you.

16And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Though you keep me I will not take of your food; but if you will make a burned offering, let it be offered to the Lord. For it had not come into Manoah’s mind that he was the angel of the Lord.

17Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, What is your name, so that when your words come true we may give you honour?

18But the angel of the Lord said to him, Why are you questioning me about my name, seeing that it is a wonder?

19So Manoah took the young goat with its meal offering, offering it on the rock to the Lord, who did strange things.

20And when the flame went up to heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar, while Manoah and his wife were looking on; and they went down on their faces to the earth.

21But the angel of the Lord was seen no more by Manoah and his wife. Then it was clear to Manoah that he was the angel of the Lord.

22And Manoah said to his wife, Death will certainly be our fate, for it is a god whom we have seen.

23But his wife said to him, If the Lord was purposing our death, he would not have taken our burned offering and our meal offering, or have given us such orders about the child.

24So the woman gave birth to a son, and gave him the name Samson; and he became a man and the blessing of the Lord was on him.

25And the spirit of the Lord first came on him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Job 41

1Is it possible for Leviathan to be pulled out with a fish-hook, or for a hook to be put through the bone of his mouth?

2Will you put a cord into his nose, or take him away with a cord round his tongue?

3Will he make prayers to you, or say soft words to you?

4Will he make an agreement with you, so that you may take him as a servant for ever?

5Will you make sport with him, as with a bird? or put him in chains for your young women?

6Will the fishermen make profit out of him? will they have him cut up for the traders?

7Will you put sharp-pointed irons into his skin, or fish-spears into his head?

8Only put your hand on him, and see what a fight you will have; you will not do it again!

9Truly, the hope of his attacker is false; he is overcome even on seeing him!

10He is so cruel that no one is ready to go against him. Who then is able to keep his place before me?

11Who ever went against me, and got the better of me? There is no one under heaven!

12I will not keep quiet about the parts of his body, or about his power, and the strength of his frame.

13Who has ever taken off his outer skin? who may come inside his inner coat of iron?

14Who has made open the doors of his face? Fear is round about his teeth.

15His back is made of lines of plates, joined tight together, one against the other, like a stamp.

16One is so near to the other that no air may come between them.

17They take a grip of one another; they are joined together, so that they may not be parted.

18His sneezings give out flames, and his eyes are like the eyes of the dawn.

19Out of his mouth go burning lights, and flames of fire are jumping up.

20Smoke comes out of his nose, like a pot boiling on the fire.

21His breath puts fire to coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.

22Strength is in his neck, and fear goes dancing before him.

23The plates of his flesh are joined together, fixed, and not to be moved.

24His heart is as strong as a stone, hard as the lower crushing-stone.

25When he gets ready for the fight, the strong are overcome with fear.

26The sword may come near him but is not able to go through him; the spear, or the arrow, or the sharp-pointed iron.

27Iron is to him as dry grass, and brass as soft wood.

28The arrow is not able to put him to flight: stones are no more to him than dry stems.

29A thick stick is no better than a leaf of grass, and he makes sport of the onrush of the spear.

30Under him are sharp edges of broken pots: as if he was pulling a grain-crushing instrument over the wet earth.

31The deep is boiling like a pot of spices, and the sea like a perfume-vessel.

32After him his way is shining, so that the deep seems white.

33On earth there is not another like him, who is made without fear.

34Everything which is high goes in fear of him; he is king over all the sons of pride.

Acts 20:1-16

1And after the noise had come to an end, Paul, having sent for the disciples and given them comfort, went away from them to Macedonia.

2And when he had gone through those parts and given them much teaching, he came into Greece.

3And when he had been there three months, because the Jews had made a secret design against him when he was about to take ship for Syria, he made a decision to go back through Macedonia.

4And Sopater of Beroea, the son of Pyrrhus, and Aristarchus and Secundus of Thessalonica, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia, went with him as far as Asia.

5But these had gone before, and were waiting for us at Troas.

6And we went away from Philippi by ship after the days of unleavened bread, and came to them at Troas in five days; and we were there for seven days.

7And on the first day of the week, when we had come together for the holy meal, Paul gave them a talk, for it was his purpose to go away on the day after; and he went on talking till after the middle of the night.

8And there were a number of lights in the room where we had come together.

9And a certain young man named Eutychus, who was seated in the window, went into a deep sleep; and while Paul went on talking, being overcome by sleep, he had a fall from the third floor, and was taken up dead.

10And Paul went down and, falling on him, took him in his arms and said, Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.

11And when he had gone up, and had taken the broken bread, he went on talking to them for a long time, even till dawn, and then he went away.

12And they took the boy in, living, and were greatly comforted.

13But we, going before him by ship, went to Assos with the purpose of taking Paul in there: for so he had given orders, because he himself was coming by land.

14And when he came up with us at Assos, we took him in the ship and went on to Mitylene.

15And going from there by sea, we came on the day after opposite Chios, and touching at Samos on the day after that, we came on the third day to Miletus.

16For Paul’s purpose was to go past Ephesus, so that he might not be kept in Asia; for he was going quickly, in order, if possible, to be at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

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10

May

May 10

Judges 11:34-40

34Then Jephthah came back to his house in Mizpah, and his daughter came out, meeting him on his way with music and with dances; she was his only child; he had no other sons or daughters.

35And when he saw her he was overcome with grief, and said, Ah! my daughter! I am crushed with sorrow, and it is you who are the chief cause of my trouble; for I have made an oath to the Lord and I may not take it back.

36And she said to him, My father, you have made an oath to the Lord; do then to me whatever you have said; for the Lord has sent a full reward on your haters, on the children of Ammon.

37Then she said to her father, Only do this for me: let me have two months to go away into the mountains with my friends, weeping for my sad fate.

38And he said, Go then. So he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends to the mountains, weeping for her sad fate.

39And at the end of two months she went back to her father, who did with her as he had said in his oath: and she had never been touched by a man. So it became a rule in Israel,

40For the women to go year by year sorrowing for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in every year.

Judges 12

1Now the men of Ephraim came together and took up arms and went over to Zaphon; and they said to Jephthah, Why did you go over to make war against the children of Ammon without sending for us to go with you? Now we will put your house on fire over you.

2And Jephthah said to them, I and my people were in danger, and the children of Ammon were very cruel to us, and when I sent for you, you gave me no help against them.

3So when I saw that there was no help to be had from you, I put my life in my hand and went over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord gave them into my hands: why then have you come up to me this day to make war on me?

4Then Jephthah got together all the men of Gilead and made war on Ephraim; and the men of Gilead overcame Ephraim.

5And the Gileadites took the crossing-places of Jordan against the Ephraimites; and when any of the men of Ephraim who had gone in flight said, let me go over; the men of Gilead said to him, Are you an Ephraimite? And if he said, No;

6Then they said to him, Now say Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth, and was not able to say it in the right way; then they took him and put him to death at the crossing-places of Jordan; and at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites were put to death.

7Now Jephthah was judge of Israel for six years. And Jephthah the Gileadite came to his death, and his body was put to rest in his town, Mizpeh of Gilead.

8And after him, Ibzan of Beth-lehem was judge of Israel.

9He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he sent to other places, and he got thirty wives from other places for his sons. And he was judge of Israel for seven years.

10And Ibzan came to his death and his body was put to rest at Beth-lehem.

11And after him, Elon the Zebulonite was judge of Israel; and he was judge of Israel for ten years.

12And Elon the Zebulonite came to his death, and his body was put to rest in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

13And after him, Abdon, the son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, was judge of Israel.

14He had forty sons and thirty sons’ sons who went on seventy young asses; and he was judge of Israel for eight years.

15And Abdon, the son of Hillel, came to his death, and his body was put to rest in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill-country of the Amalekites.

Job 40

1…

2Will he who is protesting give teaching to the Ruler of all? Let him who has arguments to put forward against God give an answer.

3And Job said in answer to the Lord,

4Truly, I am of no value; what answer may I give to you? I will put my hand on my mouth.

5I have said once, and even twice, what was in my mind, but I will not do so again.

6Then the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,

7Get your strength together like a man of war: I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.

8Will you even make my right of no value? will you say that I am wrong in order to make clear that you are right?

9Have you an arm like God? have you a voice of thunder like his?

10Put on the ornaments of your pride; be clothed with glory and power:

11Let your wrath be overflowing; let your eyes see all the sons of pride, and make them low.

12Send destruction on all who are lifted up, pulling down the sinners from their places.

13Let them be covered together in the dust; let their faces be dark in the secret place of the underworld.

14Then I will give praise to you, saying that your right hand is able to give you salvation.

15See now the Great Beast, whom I made, even as I made you; he takes grass for food, like the ox.

16His strength is in his body, and his force in the muscles of his stomach.

17His tail is curving like a cedar; the muscles of his legs are joined together.

18His bones are pipes of brass, his legs are like rods of iron.

19He is the chief of the ways of God, made by him for his pleasure.

20He takes the produce of the mountains, where all the beasts of the field are at play.

21He takes his rest under the trees of the river, and in the pool, under the shade of the water-plants.

22He is covered by the branches of the trees; the grasses of the stream are round him.

23Truly, if the river is overflowing, it gives him no cause for fear; he has no sense of danger, even if Jordan is rushing against his mouth.

24Will anyone take him when he is on the watch, or put metal teeth through his nose?

Acts 19:21-41

21Now after these things were ended, Paul came to a decision that when he had gone through Macedonia and Achaia he would go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I have a desire to see Rome.

22And having sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, he himself went on living in Asia for a time.

23And about that time a great outcry took place about the Way.

24For there was a certain man named Demetrius, a silver-worker, who made silver boxes for the images of Diana, and gave no small profit to the workmen;

25Whom he got together, with other workmen of the same trade, and said to them, Men, it is clear that from this business we get our wealth.

26And you see, for it has come to your ears, that not only at Ephesus, but almost all through Asia, this Paul has been teaching numbers of people and turning them away, saying that those are not gods who are made by men’s hands:

27And there is danger, not only that our trade may be damaged in the opinion of men, but that the holy place of the great goddess Diana may be no longer honoured, and that she to whom all Asia and the world give worship, will be put down from her high position.

28And hearing this, they were very angry, crying out and saying, Great is Diana of Ephesus.

29And the town was full of noise and trouble, and they all came running into the theatre, having taken by force Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia who were journeying in company with Paul.

30And when Paul was about to go in to the people, the disciples did not let him.

31And some of the rulers of Asia, being his friends, sent to him, requesting him seriously not to put himself in danger by going into the theatre.

32And some said one thing, and some another: for there was no order in the meeting; and most of them had no idea why they had come together.

33Then they took Alexander out from among the people, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander, making a sign with his hand, was about to make a statement to the people in answer:

34But when they saw that he was a Jew, all of them with one voice went on crying out for about two hours, Great is Diana of Ephesus.

35And when the chief secretary had got the people quiet, he said, Men of Ephesus, is any man without knowledge that the town of Ephesus is the keeper of the holy place of the great Diana, who was sent down from Jupiter?

36So then, because these things may not be doubted, it would be better for you to be quiet, and do nothing unwise.

37For you have taken these men, who are not doing damage to the holy place or talking against our goddess.

38If, then, Demetrius and the workmen who are with him have a protest to make against any man, the law is open to them, and there are judges; let them put up a cause at law against one another.

39But if any other business is in question, let it be taken up in the regular meeting.

40For, truly, we are in danger of being made responsible for this day’s trouble, there being no cause for it: and we are not able to give any reason for this coming together.

41And when he had said this, he sent the meeting away.

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09

May

May 9

Judges 10

1Now after Abimelech, Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, became the saviour of Israel; he was living in Shamir in the hill-country of Ephraim.

2He was judge over Israel for twenty-three years; and at his death his body was put to rest in the earth in Shamir.

3And after him came Jair the Gileadite, who was judge over Israel for twenty-two years.

4And he had thirty sons, who went on thirty young asses; and they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which are named Havvoth-Jair to this day.

5And at the death of Jair his body was put to rest in the earth in Kamon.

6And again the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, worshipping the Baals and Astartes, and the gods of Aram and the gods of Zidon and the gods of Moab and the gods of the children of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines; they gave up the Lord and were servants to him no longer.

7And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the children of Ammon.

8And that year the children of Israel were crushed under their yoke; for eighteen years all the children of Israel on the other side of Jordan, in the land of the Amorites which is in Gilead, were cruelly crushed down.

9And the children of Ammon went over Jordan, to make war against Judah and Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was in great trouble.

10Then the children of Israel, crying out to the Lord, said, Great is our sin against you, for we have given up our God and have been servants to the Baals.

11And the Lord said to the children of Israel, Were not the Egyptians and the Amorites and the children of Ammon and the Philistines

12And the Zidonians and Amalek and Midian crushing you down, and in answer to your cry did I not give you salvation from their hands?

13But, for all this, you have given me up and have been servants to other gods: so I will be your saviour no longer.

14Go, send up your cry for help to the gods of your selection; let them be your saviours in the time of your trouble.

15And the children of Israel said to the Lord, We are sinners; do to us whatever seems good to you: only give us salvation this day.

16So they put away the strange gods from among them, and became the Lord’s servants; and his soul was angry because of the sorrows of Israel.

17Then the children of Ammon came together and put their army in position in Gilead. And the children of Israel came together and put their army in position in Mizpah.

18And the people of Israel said to one another, Who will be the first to make an attack on the children of Ammon? We will make him head over all Gilead.

Judges 11:1-33

1Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a great man of war; he was the son of a loose woman, and Gilead was his father.

2And Gilead’s wife gave birth to sons, and when her sons became men, they sent Jephthah away, saying, You have no part in the heritage of our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.

3So Jephthah went in flight from his brothers and was living in the land of Tob, where a number of good-for-nothing men, joining Jephthah, went out with him on his undertakings.

4Now after a time the children of Ammon made war against Israel.

5And when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the responsible men of Gilead went to get Jephthah back from the land of Tob;

6And they said to Jephthah, Come and be our chief so that we may make war against the children of Ammon.

7But Jephthah said to the responsible men of Gilead, Did you not, in your hate for me, send me away from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now when you are in trouble?

8And the responsible men of Gilead said to Jephthah, That is the reason we have come back to you; so go with us and make war against the children of Ammon, and we will make you our head over all the people of Gilead.

9Then Jephthah said to the responsible men of Gilead, If you take me back to make war against the children of Ammon, and if with the help of the Lord I overcome them, will you make me your head?

10And the responsible men of Gilead said to Jephthah, May the Lord be our witness: we will certainly do as you say.

11So Jephthah went with the responsible men of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them; and Jephthah said all these things before the Lord in Mizpah.

12Then Jephthah sent men to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What have you against me that you have come to make war against my land?

13And the king of the children of Ammon said to the men sent by Jephthah, Because Israel, when he came up out of Egypt, took away my land, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and as far as Jordan: so now, give me back those lands quietly.

14And Jephthah sent again to the king of the children of Ammon,

15And said to him, This is the word of Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the children of Ammon;

16But when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the waste land to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh;

17Then Israel sent men to the king of Edom saying, Let me now go through your land; but the king of Edom did not give ear to them. And in the same way he sent to the king of Moab, but he would not; so Israel went on living in Kadesh.

18Then he went on through the waste land and round the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and put up their tents on the other side of the Arnon; they did not come inside the limit of Moab, for the Arnon was the limit of Moab.

19And Israel sent men to Sihon, king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let me now go through your land to my place.

20But Sihon would not give way and let Israel go through his land; and Sihon got together all his people, and put his army in position in Jahaz, and made war on Israel.

21And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hands of Israel, and they overcame them; so all the land of the Amorites, the people of that land, became Israel’s.

22All the limit of the Amorites was theirs, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and from the waste land even to Jordan.

23So now the Lord, the God of Israel, has taken away their land from the Amorites and given it to his people Israel; are you then to have it?

24Do you not keep the lands of those whom Chemosh your god sends out from before you? So we will keep all the lands of those whom the Lord our God sends out from before us.

25What! are you any better than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever take up a cause against Israel or make war against them?

26While Israel was living in Heshbon and its daughter-towns and in Aroer and its daughter-towns and in all the towns which are by the side of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not get them back at that time?

27So I have done no wrong against you, but you are doing wrong to me in fighting against me: may the Lord, who is Judge this day, be judge between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.

28The king of the children of Ammon, however, did not give ear to the words which Jephthah sent to him.

29Then the spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, and he went through Gilead and Manasseh, and came to Mizpeh of Gilead; and from Mizpeh of Gilead he went over to the children of Ammon.

30And Jephthah took an oath to the Lord, and said, If you will give the children of Ammon into my hands,

31Then whoever comes out from the door of my house, meeting me when I come back in peace from the children of Ammon, will be the Lord’s and I will give him as a burned offering.

32So Jephthah went over to the children of Ammon to make war on them; and the Lord gave them into his hands.

33And he made an attack on them from Aroer all the way to Minnith, overrunning twenty towns, as far as Abel-cheramim, and put great numbers to the sword. So the children of Ammon were crushed before the children of Israel.

Job 39

1Have you knowledge of the rock-goats? or do you see the roes giving birth to their young?

2Is the number of their months fixed by you? or is the time when they give birth ordered by you?

3They are bent down, they give birth to their young, they let loose the fruit of their body.

4Their young ones are strong, living in the open country; they go out and do not come back again.

5Who has let the ass of the fields go free? or made loose the bands of the loud-voiced beast?

6To whom I have given the waste land for a heritage, and the salt land as a living-place.

7He makes sport of the noise of the town; the voice of the driver does not come to his ears;

8He goes looking for his grass-lands in the mountains, searching out every green thing.

9Will the ox of the mountains be your servant? or is his night’s resting-place by your food-store?

10Will he be pulling your plough with cords, turning up the valleys after you?

11Will you put your faith in him, because his strength is great? will you give the fruit of your work into his care?

12Will you be looking for him to come back, and get in your seed to the crushing-floor?

13Is the wing of the ostrich feeble, or is it because she has no feathers,

14That she puts her eggs on the earth, warming them in the dust,

15Without a thought that they may be crushed by the foot, and broken by the beasts of the field?

16She is cruel to her young ones, as if they were not hers; her work is to no purpose; she has no fear.

17For God has taken wisdom from her mind, and given her no measure of knowledge.

18When she is shaking her wings on high, she makes sport of the horse and of him who is seated on him.

19Do you give strength to the horse? is it by your hand that his neck is clothed with power?

20Is it through you that he is shaking like a locust, in the pride of his loud-sounding breath?

21He is stamping with joy in the valley; he makes sport of fear.

22In his strength he goes out against the arms of war, turning not away from the sword.

23The bow is sounding against him; he sees the shining point of spear and arrow.

24Shaking with passion, he is biting the earth; he is not able to keep quiet at the sound of the horn;

25When it comes to his ears he says, Aha! He is smelling the fight from far off, and hearing the thunder of the captains, and the war-cries.

26Is it through your knowledge that the hawk takes his flight, stretching out his wings to the south?

27Or is it by your orders that the eagle goes up, and makes his resting-place on high?

28On the rock is his house, and on the mountain-top his strong place.

29From there he is watching for food; his eye sees it far off.

30His young have blood for their drink, and where the dead bodies are, there is he to be seen.

Acts 19:1-20

1And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having gone through the higher country, came to Ephesus, where there were certain disciples:

2And he said to them, Did you get the Holy Spirit when you had faith? And they said to him, No, we have had no knowledge of the Holy Spirit.

3And he said, What sort of baptism did you have? And they said, The baptism of John.

4And Paul said, John gave a baptism which goes with a change of heart, saying to the people that they were to have faith in him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.

5And hearing this, they had baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6And when Paul had put his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they had the power of talking in tongues, and acting like prophets.

7And there were about twelve of these men.

8And he went into the Synagogue, and for three months he was preaching there without fear, reasoning and teaching about the kingdom of God.

9But because some of the people were hard-hearted and would not give hearing, saying evil words about the Way before the people, he went away from them, and kept the disciples separate, reasoning every day in the school of Tyrannus.

10And this went on for two years, so that all those who were living in Asia had knowledge of the word of the Lord, Greeks as well as Jews.

11And God did special works of power by the hands of Paul:

12So that bits of linen and clothing from his body were taken to people who were ill, and their diseases went away from them and the evil spirits went out.

13But some of the Jews who went from place to place driving out evil spirits, took it on themselves to make use of the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I give you orders, by Jesus, whom Paul is preaching.

14And there were seven sons of a man named Sceva, a Jew and a chief priest, who did this.

15And the evil spirit, answering, said to them, I have knowledge of Jesus, and of Paul, but who are you?

16And the man in whom the evil spirit was, jumping on them, was stronger than the two of them, and overcame them, so that they went running from that house, wounded and without their clothing.

17And this came to the ears of all those, Jews and Greeks, who were living at Ephesus; and fear came on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was made great.

18And a number of those who had faith came and made a public statement of their sins and all their acts.

19And a great number of those who were experts in strange arts took their books and put them on the fire in front of everyone: and when the books were valued they came to fifty thousand bits of silver.

20So the word of the Lord was increased very greatly and was full of power.

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