May

May 24

1 Samuel 6

1Now the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines for seven months.

2And the Philistines sent for the priests and those who were wise in secret arts, and said to them, What are we to do with the ark of the Lord? How are we to send it away to its place?

3And they said, If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it without an offering, but send him a sin-offering with it: then you will have peace again, and it will be clear to you why the weight of his hand has not been lifted from you.

4Then they said, What sin-offering are we to send to him? And they said, Five gold images of the growths caused by your disease and five gold mice, one for every lord of the Philistines: for the same disease came on you and on your lords.

5So make images of the growths caused by your disease and of the mice which are damaging your land; and give glory to the God of Israel: it may be that the weight of his hand will be lifted from you and from your gods and from your land.

6Why do you make your hearts hard, like the hearts of Pharaoh and the Egyptians? When he had made sport of them, did they not let the people go, and they went away?

7So now, take and make ready a new cart, and two cows which have never come under the yoke, and have the cows yoked to the cart, and take their young ones away from them:

8And put the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the gold images which you are sending as a sin-offering in a chest by its side; and send it away so that it may go.

9If it goes by the land of Israel to Beth-shemesh, then this great evil is his work; but if not, then we may be certain that the evil was not his doing, but was the working of chance.

10And the men did so; they took two cows, yoking them to the cart and shutting up their young ones in their living-place:

11And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the chest with the gold images.

12And the cows took the straight way, by the road to Beth-shemesh; they went by the highway, not turning to the right or to the left, and the sound of their voices was clear on the road; and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the edge of Beth-shemesh.

13And the people of Beth-shemesh were cutting their grain in the valley, and lifting up their eyes they saw the ark and were full of joy when they saw it.

14And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite, and came to a stop there by a great stone: and cutting up the wood of the cart they made a burned offering of the cows to the Lord.

15Then the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest in which were the gold images, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh made burned offerings and gave worship that day before the Lord.

16And the five lords of the Philistines, having seen it, went back to Ekron the same day.

17Now these are the gold images which the Philistines sent as a sin-offering to the Lord; one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron;

18And the gold mice, one for every town of the Philistines, the property of the five lords, walled towns as well as country places: and the great stone where they put the ark of the Lord is still in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite to this day.

19But the Lord sent destruction on seventy men of the people of Beth-shemesh for looking into the ark of the Lord; and great was the sorrow of the people for the destruction which the Lord had sent on them.

20And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to keep his place before the Lord, this holy God? and to whom may he go from us?

21And they sent men to the people living in Kiriath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have sent back the ark of the Lord; come and take it up to your country.

1 Samuel 7

1So the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the ark of the Lord to the house of Abinadab in Gibeah, and they made his son Eleazar holy and put the ark in his care.

2And the ark was in Kiriath-jearim for a long time, as much as twenty years: and all Israel was searching after the Lord with weeping.

3Then Samuel said to all Israel, If with all your hearts you would come back to the Lord, then put away all the strange gods and the Astartes from among you, and let your hearts be turned to the Lord, and be servants to him only: and he will make you safe from the hands of the Philistines.

4So the children of Israel gave up the worship of Baal and Astarte, and became worshippers of the Lord only.

5Then Samuel said, Let all Israel come to Mizpah and I will make prayer to the Lord for you.

6So they came together to Mizpah, and got water, draining it out before the Lord, and they took no food that day, and they said, We have done evil against the Lord. And Samuel was judge of the children of Israel in Mizpah.

7Now when the Philistines had news that the children of Israel had come together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And the children of Israel, hearing of it, were full of fear.

8And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Go on crying to the Lord our God for us to make us safe from the hands of the Philistines.

9And Samuel took a young lamb, offering all of it as a burned offering to the Lord; and Samuel made prayers to the Lord for Israel and the Lord gave him an answer.

10And while Samuel was offering the burned offering, the Philistines came near for the attack on Israel; but at the thunder of the Lord’s voice that day the Philistines were overcome with fear, and they gave way before Israel.

11And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and went after the Philistines, attacking them till they came under Beth-car.

12Then Samuel took a stone and put it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, naming it Eben-ezer, and saying, Up to now the Lord has been our help.

13So the Philistines were overcome, and did not come into the country of Israel again: and all the days of Samuel the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines.

14And the towns which the Philistines had taken were given back to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and all the country round them Israel made free from the power of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

15And Samuel was judge of Israel all the days of his life.

16From year to year he went in turn to Beth-el and Gilgal and Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places.

17And his base was at Ramah, where his house was; there he was judge of Israel and there he made an altar to the Lord.

Psalms 53

To the chief music-maker; put to Mahalath. Maschil. Of David.

1 The foolish man has said in his heart, God will not do anything. They are unclean, they have done evil works; there is not one who does good.

2God was looking down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any who had wisdom, searching after God.

3Every one of them has gone back; they are unclean: there is not one who does good, no, not one.

4Have the workers of evil no knowledge? they take my people for food, as they would take bread; they make no prayer to God.

5They were in great fear, where there was no cause for fear: for the bones of those who make war on you have been broken by God; you have put them to shame, because God has no desire for them.

6May the salvation of Israel come out of Zion! When the fate of his people is changed by God, Jacob will have joy, and Israel will be glad.

Acts 28:17-31

17Then after three days he sent for the chief men of the Jews: and when they had come together, he said to them, My brothers, though I had done nothing against the people or the ways of our fathers, I was given, a prisoner from Jerusalem, into the hands of the Romans.

18Who, when they had put questions to me, were ready to let me go free, because there was no cause of death in me.

19But when the Jews made protest against it, I had to put my cause into Caesar’s hands; not because I have anything to say against my nation.

20But for this reason I sent for you, to see and have talk with you: for because of the hope of Israel I am in these chains.

21And they said to him, We have not had letters from Judaea about you, and no one of the brothers has come to us here to give an account or say any evil about you.

22But we have a desire to give hearing to your opinion: for as to this form of religion, we have knowledge that in all places it is attacked.

23And when a day had been fixed, they came to his house in great numbers; and he gave them teaching, giving witness to the kingdom of God, and having discussions with them about Jesus, from the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning till evening.

24And some were in agreement with what he said, but some had doubts.

25And they went away, for there was a division among them after Paul had said this one thing: Well did the Holy Spirit say by the prophet Isaiah to your fathers,

26Go to this people and say, Though you give ear, you will not get knowledge; and seeing, you will see, but the sense will not be clear to you:

27For the heart of this people has become fat and their ears are slow in hearing and their eyes are shut; for fear that they might see with their eyes and give hearing with their ears and become wise in their hearts and be turned again to me, so that I might make them well.

28Be certain, then, that the salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, and they will give hearing.

30And for the space of two years, Paul was living in the house of which he had the use, and had talk with all those who went in to see him,

31Preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ without fear, and no orders were given that he was not to do so.

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Beth/God/Israel/Israelite/Lord/Mizpah/Philistine/Samuel

May

May 23

1 Samuel 4

1Now at that time the Philistines came together to make war against Israel, and the men of Israel went out to war against the Philistines and took up their position at the side of Eben-ezer: and the Philistines put their forces in position in Aphek.

2And the Philistines put their forces in order against Israel, and the fighting was hard, and Israel was overcome by the Philistines, who put to the sword about four thousand of their army in the field.

3And when the people came back to their tents, the responsible men of Israel said, Why has the Lord let the Philistines overcome us today? Let us get the ark of the Lord’s agreement here from Shiloh, so that it may be with us and give us salvation from the hands of those who are against us.

4So the people sent to Shiloh and got the ark of the agreement of the Lord of armies whose resting-place is between the winged ones; and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were there with the ark of God’s agreement.

5And when the ark of the Lord’s agreement came into the tent-circle, all Israel gave a great cry, so that the earth was sounding with it.

6And the Philistines, hearing the noise of their cry, said, What is this great cry among the tents of the Hebrews? Then it became clear to them that the ark of the Lord had come to the tent-circle.

7And the Philistines, full of fear, said, God has come into their tents. And they said, Trouble is ours! for never before has such a thing been seen.

8Trouble is ours! Who will give us salvation from the hands of these great gods? These are the gods who sent all sorts of blows on the Egyptians in the waste land.

9Be strong, O Philistines, be men! Do not be servants to the Hebrews as they have been to you: go forward to the fight without fear.

10So the Philistines went to the fight, and Israel was overcome, and every man went in flight to his tent: and great was the destruction, for thirty thousand footmen of Israel were put to the sword.

11And the ark of God was taken; and Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were put to the sword.

12And a man of Benjamin went running from the fight and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothing out of order and earth on his head.

13And when he came, Eli was seated by the wayside watching: and in his heart was fear for the ark of God. And when the man came into the town and gave the news, there was a great outcry.

14And Eli, hearing the noise and the cries, said, What is the reason of this outcry? And the man came quickly and gave the news to Eli.

15Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were fixed so that he was not able to see.

16And the man said to Eli, I have come from the army and have come in flight today from the fight. And he said, How did it go, my son?

17And the man said, Israel went in flight from the Philistines, and there has been great destruction among the people, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken.

18And at these words about the ark of God, Eli, falling back off his seat by the side of the doorway into the town, came down on the earth so that his neck was broken and death overtook him, for he was an old man and of great weight. He had been judging Israel for forty years.

19And his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was with child and near the time when she would give birth; and when she had the news that the ark of God had been taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, her pains came on her suddenly and she gave birth.

20And when she was very near death the women who were with her said, Have no fear, for you have given birth to a son. But she made no answer and gave no attention to it.

21And she gave the child the name of Ichabod, saying, The glory has gone from Israel: because the ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband.

22And she said, The glory is gone from Israel, for the ark of God has been taken.

1 Samuel 5

1Now the Philistines, having taken the ark of God, took it with them from Eben-ezer to Ashdod.

2They took the ark of God into the house of Dagon and put it by the side of Dagon.

3And when the people of Ashdod got up early on the morning after, they saw that Dagon had come down to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon up and put him in his place again.

4And when they got up early on the morning after, Dagon had come down to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord; and his head and his hands were broken off on the doorstep; only the base was in its place.

5So to this day no priest of Dagon, or any who come into Dagon’s house, will put his foot on the doorstep of the house of Dagon in Ashdod.

6But the hand of the Lord was hard on the people of Ashdod and he sent disease on them through all the country of Ashdod.

7And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, Let not the ark of the God of Israel be with us, for his hand is hard on us and on Dagon our god.

8So they sent for all the lords of the Philistines to come together there, and said, What are we to do with the ark of the God of Israel? And their answer was, Let the ark of the God of Israel be taken away to Gath. So they took the ark of the God of Israel away.

9But after they had taken it away, the hand of the Lord was stretched out against the town for its destruction: and the signs of disease came out on all the men of the town, small and great.

10So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And when the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of the town made an outcry, saying, They have sent the ark of the God of Israel to us for the destruction of us and of our people.

11So they sent and got together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go back to its place, so that it may not be the cause of death to us and to our people: for there was a great fear of death through all the town; the hand of God was very hard on them there.

12And those men who were not overtaken by death were cruelly diseased: and the cry of the town went up to heaven.

Psalms 52

To the chief music-maker. Maschil. Of David. When Doeg the Edomite came to Saul saying, David has come to the house of Ahimelech.

1 Why do you take pride in wrongdoing, lifting yourself up against the upright man all the day?

2Purposing destruction, using deceit; your tongue is like a sharp blade.

3You have more love for evil than for good, for deceit than for works of righteousness. (Selah.)

4Destruction is in all your words, O false tongue.

5But God will put an end to you for ever; driving you out from your tent, uprooting you from the land of the living. (Selah.)

6The upright will see it with fear, and will say, laughing at you:

7See, this is the man who did not make God his strength, but had faith in his goods and his property, and made himself strong in his wealth.

8But I am like a branching olive-tree in the house of God; I have put my faith in his mercy for ever and ever.

9I will give you praise without end for what you have done; I will give honour to your name before your saints, for it is good.

Acts 28:1-16

1And when we were safe, we made the discovery that the island was named Melita.

2And the simple people living there were uncommonly kind to us, for they made a fire for us, and took us in, because it was raining and cold.

3But when Paul had got some sticks together and put them on the fire, a snake came out, because of the heat, and gave him a bite on the hand.

4And when the people saw it hanging on his hand, they said to one another, Without doubt this man has put someone to death, and though he has got safely away from the sea, God will not let him go on living.

5But shaking off the beast into the fire, he got no damage.

6But they had the idea that they would see him becoming ill, or suddenly falling down dead; but after waiting a long time, and seeing that no damage came to him, changing their opinion, they said he was a god.

7Now near that place there was some land, the property of the chief man of the island, who was named Publius; who very kindly took us into his house as his guests for three days.

8And the father of Publius was ill, with a disease of the stomach; to whom Paul went, and put his hands on him, with prayer, and made him well.

9And when this took place, all the others in the island who had diseases came and were made well.

10Then they gave us great honour, and, when we went away, they put into the ship whatever things we were in need of.

11And after three months we went to sea in a ship of Alexandria sailing under the sign of the Dioscuri, which had been at the island for the winter.

12And going into the harbour at Syracuse, we were waiting there for three days.

13And from there, going about in a curve, we came to Rhegium: and after one day a south wind came up and on the day after we came to Puteoli:

14Where we came across some of the brothers, who kept us with them for seven days; and so we came to Rome.

15And the brothers, when they had news of us, came out from town as far as Appii Forum and the Three Taverns to have a meeting with us: and Paul, seeing them, gave praise to God and took heart.

16And when we came into Rome, they let Paul have a house for himself and the armed man who kept watch over him.

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God/Lord/Israel/Philistine/Eli/Ashdod/Dagon/Hophni and Phinehas

May

May 22

1 Samuel 3

1Now the young Samuel was the servant of the Lord before Eli. In those days the Lord kept his word secret from men; there was no open vision.

2And at that time, when Eli was resting in his place, (now his eyes were becoming clouded so that he was not able to see,)

3And the light of God was still burning, while Samuel was sleeping in the Temple of the Lord where the ark of God was,

4The voice of the Lord said Samuel’s name; and he said, Here am I.

5And running to Eli he said, Here am I, for you said my name. And Eli said, I did not say your name; go to your rest again. So he went back to his bed.

6And again the Lord said, Samuel. And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, Here am I; for you certainly said my name. But he said in answer, I said nothing, my son; go to your rest again.

7Now at that time Samuel had no knowledge of the Lord, and the revelation of the word of the Lord had not come to him.

8And for the third time the Lord said Samuel’s name. And he got up and went to Eli and said, Here am I; for you certainly said my name. Then it was clear to Eli that the voice which had said the child’s name was the Lord’s.

9So Eli said to Samuel, Go back: and if the voice comes again, let your answer be, Say on, Lord; for the ears of your servant are open. So Samuel went back to his bed.

10Then the Lord came and said as before, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel made answer, Say on, Lord; for the ears of your servant are open.

11And the Lord said to Samuel, See, I will do a thing in Israel at which the ears of everyone hearing of it will be burning.

12In that day I will do to Eli everything which I have said about his family, from first to last.

13And you are to say to him that I will send punishment on his family for ever, for the sin which he had knowledge of; because his sons have been cursing God and he had no control over them.

14So I have made an oath to the family of Eli that no offering of meat or of meal which they may make will ever take away the sin of his family.

15And Samuel kept where he was, not moving till the time came for opening the doors of the house of God in the morning. And fear kept him from giving Eli an account of his vision.

16Then Eli said, Samuel, my son. And Samuel answering said, Here am I.

17And he said, What did the Lord say to you? Do not keep it from me: may God’s punishment be on you if you keep from me anything he said to you.

18Then Samuel gave him an account of everything, keeping nothing back. And he said, It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.

19And Samuel became older, and the Lord was with him and let not one of his words be without effect.

20And it was clear to all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba that Samuel had been made a prophet of the Lord.

21And the Lord was seen again in Shiloh; for the Lord gave to Samuel in Shiloh the revelation of his word.

Psalms 51

To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.

1 Have pity on me, O God, in your mercy; out of a full heart, take away my sin.

2Let all my wrongdoing be washed away, and make me clean from evil.

3For I am conscious of my error; my sin is ever before me.

4Against you, you only, have I done wrong, working that which is evil in your eyes; so that your words may be seen to be right, and you may be clear when you are judging.

5Truly, I was formed in evil, and in sin did my mother give me birth.

6Your desire is for what is true in the inner parts: in the secrets of my soul you will give me knowledge of wisdom.

7Make me free from sin with hyssop: let me be washed whiter than snow.

8Make me full of joy and rapture; so that the bones which have been broken may be glad.

9Let your face be turned from my wrongdoing, and take away all my sins.

10Make a clean heart in me, O God; give me a right spirit again.

11Do not put me away from before you, or take your holy spirit from me.

12Give me back the joy of your salvation; let a free spirit be my support.

13Then will I make your ways clear to wrongdoers; and sinners will be turned to you.

14Be my saviour from violent death, O God, the God of my salvation; and my tongue will give praise to your righteousness.

15O Lord, let my lips be open, so that my mouth may make clear your praise.

16You have no desire for an offering or I would give it; you have no delight in burned offerings.

17The offerings of God are a broken spirit; a broken and sorrowing heart, O God, you will not put from you.

18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure, building up the walls of Jerusalem.

19Then you will have delight in the offerings of righteousness, in burned offerings and offerings of beasts; then they will make offerings of oxen on your altar.

Acts 27:13-44

13And when the south wind came softly, being of the opinion that their purpose might be effected, they let the ship go and went sailing down the side of Crete, very near to the land.

14But after a little time, a very violent wind, named Euraquilo, came down from it with great force.

15And when the ship got into the grip of it, and was not able to make headway into the wind, we gave way, and went before it.

16And, sailing near the side of a small island named Cauda, we were able, though it was hard work, to make the ship’s boat safe:

17And having got it up, they put cords under and round the ship; but fearing that they might be pushed on to the Syrtis, they let down the sails and so went running before the wind.

18And, still fighting the storm with all our strength, the day after they made a start at getting the goods out of the ship;

19And on the third day, they let all the sailing apparatus go over the side.

20And as we had not seen the sun or stars for a long time, and a great storm was on us, all hope of salvation was gone.

21And when they had been without food for a long time, Paul got up among them and said, Friends, it would have been better if you had given attention to me and not gone sailing out from Crete, to undergo this damage and loss.

22But now, I say to you, be of good heart, for there will be no loss of life, but only of the ship.

23For this night there came to my side an angel of the God who is my Master and whose servant I am,

24Saying, Have no fear, Paul, for you will come before Caesar, and God has given to you all those who are sailing with you.

25And so, O men, be of good heart, for I have faith in God that it will be as he said to me.

26But we will be sent on to a certain island.

27But when the fourteenth day came, while we were going here and there in the Adriatic sea, about the middle of the night the sailors had an idea that they were getting near land;

28And they let down the lead, and saw that the sea was a hundred and twenty feet deep; and after a little time they did it again and it was ninety feet.

29Then, fearing that by chance we might come on to the rocks, they let down four hooks from the back of the ship, and made prayers for the coming of day.

30Then the sailors made attempts secretly to get away from the ship, letting down a boat as if they were about to put down hooks from the front of the ship;

31But Paul said to the captain and his men, If you do not keep these men in the ship, you will not be safe.

32Then the armed men, cutting the cords of the boat, let her go.

33And when dawn was near, Paul gave them all orders to take food, saying, This is the fourteenth day you have been waiting and taking no food.

34So I make request to you to take food; for this is for your salvation: not a hair from the head of any of you will come to destruction.

35And when he had said this and had taken bread, he gave praise to God before them all, and took a meal of the broken bread.

36Then they all took heart and did the same.

37And we were, in the ship, two hundred and seventy-six persons.

38And when they had had enough food, they made the weight of the ship less, turning the grain out into the sea.

39And when it was day, they had no knowledge of the land, but they saw an inlet of the sea with a floor of sand, and they had the idea of driving the ship up on to it if possible.

40So cutting away the hooks, and letting them go into the sea, and freeing the cords of the guiding-blades, and lifting up the sail to the wind, they went in the direction of the inlet.

41And coming to a point between two seas, they got the ship to land; and the front part was fixed in the sand and not able to be moved, but the back part was broken by the force of the waves.

42Then the armed men were for putting the prisoners to death, so that no one would get away by swimming.

43But the captain, desiring to keep Paul safe, kept them from their purpose, and gave orders that those who had knowledge of swimming were to go off the ship and get first to land:

44And the rest, some on boards and some on things from the ship. And so it came about that they all got safe to land.

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book of Samuel/Crete/Eli/God/Israel/Lord/Nathan/Samuel

May

May 21

1 Samuel 2:11-36

11Then Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child became the servant of the Lord under the direction of Eli the priest.

12Now the sons of Eli were evil and good-for-nothing men, having no knowledge of the Lord.

13And the priests’ way with the people was this: when any man made an offering, the priest’s servant came while the flesh was being cooked, having in his hand a meat-hook with three teeth;

14This he put into the pot, and everything which came up on the hook the priest took for himself. This they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

15And more than this, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was making the offering, Give me some of the flesh to be cooked for the priest; he has no taste for meat cooked in water, but would have you give it uncooked.

16And if the man said to him, First let the fat be burned, then take as much as you will; then the servant would say, No, you are to give it to me now, or I will take it by force.

17And the sin of these young men was very great before the Lord; for they gave no honour to the Lord’s offerings.

18But Samuel did the work of the Lord’s house, while he was a child, dressed in a linen ephod.

19And his mother made him a little robe and took it to him every year when she came with her husband for the year’s offering.

20And every year Eli gave Elkanah and his wife a blessing, saying, May the Lord give you offspring by this woman in exchange for the child you have given to the Lord. And they went back to their house.

21And the Lord had mercy on Hannah and she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the young Samuel became older before the Lord.

22Now Eli was very old; and he had news from time to time of what his sons were doing to all Israel.

23And he said to them, Why are you doing such things? for from all this people I get accounts of your evil ways.

24No, my sons, the account which is given me, which the Lord’s people are sending about, is not good.

25If one man does wrong to another, God will be his judge: but if a man’s sin is against the Lord, who will take up his cause? But they gave no attention to the voice of their father, for it was the Lord’s purpose to send destruction on them.

26And the young Samuel, becoming older, had the approval of the Lord and of men.

27And a man of God came to Eli and said to him, The Lord says, Did I let myself be seen by your father’s people when they were in Egypt, servants in Pharaoh’s house?

28Did I take him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest and to go up to my altar to make the smoke of the offerings go up and to take up the ephod? Did I give to your father’s family all the offerings made by fire by the children of Israel?

29Why then are you looking with envy on my offerings of meat and of meal which were ordered by my word, honouring your sons before me, and making yourselves fat with all the best of the offerings of Israel, my people?

30For this reason the Lord God of Israel has said, Truly I did say that your family and your father’s people would have their place before me for ever: but now the Lord says, Let it not be so; I will give honour to those by whom I am honoured, and those who have no respect for me will be of small value in my eyes.

31See, the days are coming when your arm and the arm of your father’s people will be cut off;

32And never again will there be an old man in your family.

33But one man of your family will not be cut off by my hand, and his eyes will be made dark, and grief will be in his heart: and all the offspring of your family will come to their end by the sword of men.

34And this will be the sign to you, which will come on Hophni and Phinehas, your sons; death will overtake them on the same day.

35And I will make a true priest for myself, one who will do what is in my heart and in my mind: and I will make for him a family which will not come to an end; and his place will be before my holy one for ever.

36Then it will be that the rest of your family, anyone who has not been cut off, will go down on his knees to him for a bit of silver or a bit of bread, and say, Be pleased to put me into one of the priest’s places so that I may have a little food.

Psalms 50

A Psalm. Of Asaph.

1 The God of gods, even the Lord, has sent out his voice, and the earth is full of fear; from the coming up of the sun to its going down.

2From Zion, most beautiful of places, God has sent out his light.

3Our God will come, and will not keep quiet; with fire burning before him, and storm-winds round him.

4His voice will go out to the heavens and to the earth, for the judging of his people:

5Let my saints come together to me; those who have made an agreement with me by offerings.

6And let the heavens make clear his righteousness; for God himself is the judge. (Selah.)

7Give ear, O my people, to my words; O Israel, I will be a witness against you; I am God, even your God.

8I will not take up a cause against you because of your offerings, or because of your burned offerings, which are ever before me.

9I will take no ox out of your house, or he-goats from your flocks;

10For every beast of the woodland is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

11I see all the birds of the mountains, and the beasts of the field are mine.

12If I had need of food, I would not give you word of it; for the earth is mine and all its wealth.

13Am I to take the flesh of the ox for my food, or the blood of goats for my drink?

14Make an offering of praise to God; keep the agreements which you have made with the Most High;

15Let your voice come up to me in the day of trouble; I will be your saviour, so that you may give glory to me.

16But to the sinner, God says, What are you doing, talking of my laws, or taking the words of my agreement in your mouth?

17Seeing that you have no desire for my teaching, turning your back on my words.

18When you saw a thief, you were in agreement with him, and you were joined with those who took other men’s wives.

19You have given your mouth to evil, your tongue to words of deceit.

20You say evil of your brother; you make false statements against your mother’s son.

21These things have you done, and I said nothing; it seemed to you that I was such a one as yourself; but I will make a protest against you, and put them in order before your eyes.

22Now keep this in mind, you who have no memory of God, for fear that you may be crushed under my hand, with no one to give you help:

23Whoever makes an offering of praise gives glory to me; and to him who is upright in his ways I will make clear the salvation of God.

Acts 27:1-12

1And when the decision had been made that we were to go by sea to Italy, they gave Paul and certain other prisoners into the care of a captain named Julius, of the Augustan band.

2And we went to sea in a ship of Adramyttium which was sailing to the sea towns of Asia, Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.

3And on the day after, we came to Sidon; and Julius was kind to Paul, and let him go to see his friends and take a rest.

4And sailing again from there, we went on under cover of Cyprus, because the wind was against us.

5And having gone across the sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia we came to Myra, in Lycia.

6And there the captain came across a ship of Alexandria, sailing for Italy, and put us in it.

7And when we had gone on slowly for a long time, and had had hard work getting across to Cnidus, for the wind was against us, we went under cover of Crete, in the direction of Salmone;

8And sailing down the side of it, as well as we were able, we came to a certain place named Fair Havens, near which was the town of Lasea.

9And as a long time had gone by, and the journey was now full of danger, because it was late in the year, Paul put the position before them,

10Saying, Friends, I see that this journey will be one of great damage and loss, not only to the goods and the ship, but to ourselves.

11But the captain gave more attention to the master and the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.

12And as the harbour was not a good one in which to be for the winter, the greater number of them were for going out to sea, in order, if possible, to put in for the winter at Phoenix, a harbour of Crete, looking to the north-east and south-east.

3 days ago Short URL Comments

Bible

Eli/Elkanah/God/Israel/Samuel

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.

5 days ago Short URL Comments

Bible

Boaz/Book of Ruth/God/Israel/Moab/Naomi/Obed/Ruth

May

May 17

Judges 21

1Now the men of Israel had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, Not one of us will give his daughter as a wife to Benjamin.

2And the people came to Beth-el, waiting there till evening before God, and gave themselves up to bitter weeping.

3And they said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this fate come on Israel, that today one tribe has been cut off from Israel?

4Then on the day after, the people got up early and made an altar there, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings.

5And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel, who did not come up to the Lord at the meeting of all Israel? For they had taken a great oath that whoever did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord was to be put to death.

6And the children of Israel were moved with pity for Benjamin their brother, saying, Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel.

7What are we to do about wives for those who are still living? For we have taken an oath by the Lord that we will not give them our daughters for wives.

8And they said, Which one of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord? And it was seen that no one had come from Jabesh-gilead to the meeting.

9For when the people were numbered, not one man of the people of Jabesh-gilead was present.

10So they (the meeting) sent twelve thousand of the best fighting-men, and gave them orders, saying, Go and put the people of Jabesh-gilead to the sword without mercy, with their women and their little ones.

11And this is what you are to do: every male, and every woman who has had sex relations with a man, you are to put to the curse, but you are to keep safe the virgins. And they did so.

12Now there were among the people of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had never had sex relations with a man; these they took to their tents in Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

13And all the meeting sent to the men of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, offering them peace.

14Then Benjamin came back; and they gave them the women whom they had kept from death among the women of Jabesh-gilead: but still there were not enough for them.

15And the people were moved with pity for Benjamin, because the Lord had let his wrath loose on the tribes of Israel.

16Then the responsible men of the meeting said, What are we to do about wives for the rest of them, seeing that the women of Benjamin are dead?

17And they said, How is the rest of Benjamin to be given offspring so that one tribe of Israel may not be put out of existence,

18Seeing that we may not give them our daughters as wives? For the children of Israel had taken an oath, saying, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.

19And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

20And they said to the men of Benjamin, Go into the vine-gardens, waiting there secretly,

21And watching; and if the daughters of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, then come from the vine-gardens and take a wife for every one of you from among the daughters of Shiloh, and go back to the land of Benjamin.

22And when their fathers or their brothers come and make trouble, you are to say to them, Give them to us as an act of grace; for we did not take them as wives for ourselves in war; and if you yourselves had given them to us you would have been responsible for the broken oath.

23So the men of Benjamin did this, and got wives for themselves for every one of their number, taking them away by force from the dance; then they went back to their heritage, building up their towns and living in them.

24Then the children of Israel went away from there, every man to his tribe and his family, every man went back to his heritage.

25In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what seemed right to him.

Psalms 46

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

1 God is our harbour and our strength, a very present help in trouble.

2For this cause we will have no fear, even though the earth is changed, and though the mountains are moved in the heart of the sea;

3Though its waters are sounding and troubled, and though the mountains are shaking with their violent motion. (Selah.)

4There is a river whose streams make glad the resting-place of God, the holy place of the tents of the Most High.

5God has taken his place in her; she will not be moved: he will come to her help at the dawn of morning.

6The nations were angry, the kingdoms were moved; at the sound of his voice the earth became like wax.

7The Lord of armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our high tower. (Selah.)

8Come, see the works of the Lord, the destruction which he has made in the earth.

9He puts an end to wars over all the earth; by him the bow is broken, and the spear cut in two, and the carriage burned in the fire.

10Be at peace in the knowledge that I am God: I will be lifted up among the nations, I will be honoured through all the earth.

11The Lord of armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our high tower. (Selah.)

Acts 24:10-17

10Then when the ruler had given him a sign to make his answer, Paul said, Because I have knowledge that you have been a judge over this nation for a number of years, I am glad to make my answer:

11Seeing that you are able to make certain of the fact that it is not more than twelve days from the time when I came up to Jerusalem for worship;

12And they have not seen me in argument with any man in the Temple, or working up the feelings of the people, in the Synagogues or in the town:

13And they are not able to give facts in support of the things which they say against me now.

14But this I will say openly to you, that I do give worship to the God of our fathers after that Way, which to them is not the true religion: but I have belief in all the things which are in the law and in the books of the prophets:

15Hoping in God for that which they themselves are looking for, that there will be a coming back from the dead for upright men and wrongdoers.

16And in this, I do my best at all times to have no reason for shame before God or men.

17Now after a number of years I came to give help and offerings to my nation:

7 days ago Short URL Comments

Uncategorized

Benjamin/Canaan/Israel/Israelite/Lebonah/Lord/Rimmon/Shechem

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.

8 days ago Short URL Comments

Bible

Benjamin/Beth/Geba/Gibeah/Israel/Israelite/Lord/Rimmon

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.

9 days ago Short URL Comments

Bible

Ephraim/Gibeah/Israel/Jebusite/Levite

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.

10 days ago Short URL Comments

Bible

Danite/Ephraim/God/Israel/Levite/Lord/Micah/Moses/O Lord/Zorah

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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Ashkelon/God/Israel/Lehi/Lord/Philistine/Samson/Timnah

Tag Archives: Israel

1 Samuel 6

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To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.

Acts 27:13-44

1 Samuel 2:11-36

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A Psalm. Of Asaph.

Acts 27:1-12

Ruth 3

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Psalms 48

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

Acts 26:1-18

Judges 21

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