Stick Together

Pulse Check: Aligning Our Path to God’s Plans

Hear God’s Whisper: 3 Days of Listening Prayer

A Kid's Guide To: Doing Hard Things With God

Defending Our Territory: Understanding Our Weapons of Warfare

Darkness to Destiny: Unleashing God’s Power in a Dark World

Lent/Easter: Jesus' Last Days

Renew: To Transform, Be Transformed by God’s Mercy

Stand Firm

An Untroubled Heart: Finding God's Peace From Anxious Thoughts

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch32" data-usfm="GEN.32">
 <div class="label">32</div><div class="s1">Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau</div><div class="p"> # In Hebrew texts 32:1-32 is numbered 32:2-33. 1Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2When Jacob saw them, he said, &#8220;This is the camp of God!&#8221; So he named that place Mahanaim.#32:2 Mahanaim means two camps.</div><div class="p"> 3Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4He instructed them: &#8220;This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: &#8216;Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. 5I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, &#8220;We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,#32:7 Or camps and the flocks and herds and camels as well. 8He thought, &#8220;If Esau comes and attacks one group,#32:8 Or camp the group#32:8 Or camp that is left may escape.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Then Jacob prayed, &#8220;O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, &#8216;Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,&#8217; 10I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12But you have said, &#8216;I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, &#8220;Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17He instructed the one in the lead: &#8220;When my brother Esau meets you and asks, &#8216;Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?&#8217; 18then you are to say, &#8216;They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: &#8220;You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20And be sure to say, &#8216;Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; For he thought, &#8220;I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.&#8221; 21So Jacob&#8217;s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.</div><div class="s1">Jacob Wrestles With God</div><div class="p"> 22That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob&#8217;s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26Then the man said, &#8220;Let me go, for it is daybreak.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But Jacob replied, &#8220;I will not let you go unless you bless me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27The man asked him, &#8220;What is your name?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Jacob,&#8221; he answered.</div><div class="p"> 28Then the man said, &#8220;Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,#32:28 Israel probably means he struggles with God. because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 29Jacob said, &#8220;Please tell me your name.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But he replied, &#8220;Why do you ask my name?&#8221; Then he blessed him there.</div><div class="p"> 30So Jacob called the place Peniel,#32:30 Peniel means face of God. saying, &#8220;It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,#32:31 Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel and he was limping because of his hip. 32Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob&#8217;s hip was touched near the tendon.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="1SA.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">The Lord Rejects Saul as King</div><div class="p"> 1Samuel said to Saul, &#8220;I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2This is what the Lord Almighty says: &#8216;I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy#15:3 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verses 8, 9, 15, 18, 20 and 21. all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim&#8212;two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. 5Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. 6Then he said to the Kenites, &#8220;Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.&#8221; So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.</div><div class="p"> 7Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. 8He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves#15:9 Or the grown bulls; the meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. and lambs&#8212;everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.</div><div class="p"> 10Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11&#8220;I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.&#8221; Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.</div><div class="p"> 12Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, &#8220;Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13When Samuel reached him, Saul said, &#8220;The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord&#8217;s instructions.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14But Samuel said, &#8220;What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Saul answered, &#8220;The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16&#8220;Enough!&#8221; Samuel said to Saul. &#8220;Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Tell me,&#8221; Saul replied.</div><div class="p"> 17Samuel said, &#8220;Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18And he sent you on a mission, saying, &#8216;Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.&#8217; 19Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;But I did obey the Lord,&#8221; Saul said. &#8220;I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22But Samuel replied:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices</div><div class="q2">as much as in obeying the Lord?</div><div class="q1">To obey is better than sacrifice,</div><div class="q2">and to heed is better than the fat of rams.</div><div class="q1"> 23For rebellion is like the sin of divination,</div><div class="q2">and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.</div><div class="q1">Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,</div><div class="q2">he has rejected you as king.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24Then Saul said to Samuel, &#8220;I have sinned. I violated the Lord&#8217;s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. 25Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26But Samuel said to him, &#8220;I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28Samuel said to him, &#8220;The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors&#8212;to one better than you. 29He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30Saul replied, &#8220;I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.&#8221; 31So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 32Then Samuel said, &#8220;Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Agag came to him in chains.#15:32 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. And he thought, &#8220;Surely the bitterness of death is past.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33But Samuel said,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;As your sword has made women childless,</div><div class="q2">so will your mother be childless among women.&#8221;</div><div class="m">And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.</div><div class="p"> 34Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="1SA.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">Samuel Anoints David</div><div class="p"> 1The Lord said to Samuel, &#8220;How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2But Samuel said, &#8220;How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">The Lord said, &#8220;Take a heifer with you and say, &#8216;I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.&#8217; 3Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, &#8220;Do you come in peace?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5Samuel replied, &#8220;Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.&#8221; Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.</div><div class="p"> 6When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, &#8220;Surely the Lord&#8217;s anointed stands here before the Lord.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7But the Lord said to Samuel, &#8220;Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, &#8220;The Lord has not chosen this one either.&#8221; 9Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, &#8220;Nor has the Lord chosen this one.&#8221; 10Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, &#8220;The Lord has not chosen these.&#8221; 11So he asked Jesse, &#8220;Are these all the sons you have?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;There is still the youngest,&#8221; Jesse answered. &#8220;He is tending the sheep.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Samuel said, &#8220;Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.</div><div class="p">Then the Lord said, &#8220;Rise and anoint him; this is the one.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.</div><div class="s1">David in Saul&#8217;s Service</div><div class="p"> 14Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil#16:14 Or and a harmful; similarly in verses 15, 16 and 23 spirit from the Lord tormented him.</div><div class="p"> 15Saul&#8217;s attendants said to him, &#8220;See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17So Saul said to his attendants, &#8220;Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18One of the servants answered, &#8220;I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, &#8220;Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.&#8221; 20So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.</div><div class="p"> 21David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. 22Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, &#8220;Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkPSA">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="PSA.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="cl">Psalm 3#In Hebrew texts 3:1-8 is numbered 3:2-9.</div><div class="d">A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.</div><div class="q1"> 1 Lord, how many are my foes!</div><div class="q2">How many rise up against me!</div><div class="q1"> 2Many are saying of me,</div><div class="q2">&#8220;God will not deliver him.&#8221;#3:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 4 and 8.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 3But you, Lord, are a shield around me,</div><div class="q2">my glory, the One who lifts my head high.</div><div class="q1"> 4I call out to the Lord,</div><div class="q2">and he answers me from his holy mountain.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 5I lie down and sleep;</div><div class="q2">I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.</div><div class="q1"> 6I will not fear though tens of thousands</div><div class="q2">assail me on every side.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 7Arise, Lord!</div><div class="q2">Deliver me, my God!</div><div class="q1">Strike all my enemies on the jaw;</div><div class="q2">break the teeth of the wicked.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 8From the Lord comes deliverance.</div><div class="q2">May your blessing be on your people.</div>
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