Scarcity & Abundance: A Three-Day Journey in God’s Word

Beautifully Scarred

Five Mere Christians

The Way Up Is Down

The Adversity Gospel: Trading Prosperity Promises and Deep Disappointment for Unsinkable Hope

You Are Called: Discover Your God-Given Gifts to Fulfill Your Purpose

Finding Hope: A Journey With Jesus for Women

Building Unshakeable Faith

Holy Week

The Battle of Pride vs. Humility

New International Version

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 <div class="p">1The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.#7:4 Some early manuscripts pitchers, kettles and dining couches)</div><div class="p">5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, &#8220;Why don&#8217;t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?&#8221;</div><div class="p">6He replied, &#8220;Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;These people honor me with their lips,</div><div class="q2">but their hearts are far from me.</div><div class="q1">7 They worship me in vain;</div><div class="q2">their teachings are merely human rules.&#8217; #7:7 Isaiah 29:13</div><div class="m">8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.&#8221;</div><div class="p">9And he continued, &#8220;You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe#7:9 Some manuscripts set up your own traditions! 10For Moses said, &#8216;Honor your father and mother,&#8217;#7:10 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16 and, &#8216;Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.&#8217;#7:10 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9 11But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)&#8212; 12then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.&#8221;</div><div class="p">14Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, &#8220;Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.&#8221; [16]#7:16 Some manuscripts include here the words of 4:23.</div><div class="p">17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18&#8220;Are you so dull?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;Don&#8217;t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19For it doesn&#8217;t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.&#8221; (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)</div><div class="p">20He went on: &#8220;What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21For it is from within, out of a person&#8217;s heart, that evil thoughts come&#8212;sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and defile a person.&#8221;</div>
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 <div class="p">1Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, &#8220;Jesus be cursed,&#8221; and no one can say, &#8220;Jesus is Lord,&#8221; except by the Holy Spirit.</div><div class="p">4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.</div><div class="p">7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,#12:10 Or languages; also in verse 28 and to still another the interpretation of tongues.#12:10 Or languages; also in verse 28 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.</div><div class="s1">Unity and Diversity in the Body</div><div class="p">12Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by#12:13 Or with; or in one Spirit so as to form one body&#8212;whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free&#8212;and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. </div>
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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">
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 <div class="label">88</div><div class="cl">Psalm 88#In Hebrew texts 88:1-18 is numbered 88:2-19.</div><div class="d">A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth.#Title: Possibly a tune, &#8220;The Suffering of Affliction&#8221; A maskil#Title: Probably a literary or musical term of Heman the Ezrahite.</div><div class="q1">1 Lord, you are the God who saves me;</div><div class="q2">day and night I cry out to you.</div><div class="q1">2May my prayer come before you;</div><div class="q2">turn your ear to my cry.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">3I am overwhelmed with troubles</div><div class="q2">and my life draws near to death.</div><div class="q1">4I am counted among those who go down to the pit;</div><div class="q2">I am like one without strength.</div><div class="q1">5I am set apart with the dead,</div><div class="q2">like the slain who lie in the grave,</div><div class="q1">whom you remember no more,</div><div class="q2">who are cut off from your care.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">6You have put me in the lowest pit,</div><div class="q2">in the darkest depths.</div><div class="q1">7Your wrath lies heavily on me;</div><div class="q2">you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.#88:7 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 10.</div><div class="q1">8You have taken from me my closest friends</div><div class="q2">and have made me repulsive to them.</div><div class="q1">I am confined and cannot escape;</div><div class="q2">9my eyes are dim with grief.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">I call to you, Lord, every day;</div><div class="q2">I spread out my hands to you.</div><div class="q1">10Do you show your wonders to the dead?</div><div class="q2">Do their spirits rise up and praise you?</div><div class="q1">11Is your love declared in the grave,</div><div class="q2">your faithfulness in Destruction#88:11 Hebrew Abaddon?</div><div class="q1">12Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,</div><div class="q2">or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">13But I cry to you for help, Lord;</div><div class="q2">in the morning my prayer comes before you.</div><div class="q1">14Why, Lord, do you reject me</div><div class="q2">and hide your face from me?</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">15From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;</div><div class="q2">I have borne your terrors and am in despair.</div><div class="q1">16Your wrath has swept over me;</div><div class="q2">your terrors have destroyed me.</div><div class="q1">17All day long they surround me like a flood;</div><div class="q2">they have completely engulfed me.</div><div class="q1">18You have taken from me friend and neighbor&#8212;</div><div class="q2">darkness is my closest friend.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">The Birth of Samson</div><div class="p">1Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.</div><div class="p">2A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, &#8220;You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. 5You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.&#8221;</div><div class="p">6Then the woman went to her husband and told him, &#8220;A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn&#8217;t ask him where he came from, and he didn&#8217;t tell me his name. 7But he said to me, &#8216;You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p">8Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: &#8220;Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.&#8221;</div><div class="p">9God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10The woman hurried to tell her husband, &#8220;He&#8217;s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!&#8221;</div><div class="p">11Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, &#8220;Are you the man who talked to my wife?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I am,&#8221; he said.</div><div class="p">12So Manoah asked him, &#8220;When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy&#8217;s life and work?&#8221;</div><div class="p">13The angel of the Lord answered, &#8220;Your wife must do all that I have told her. 14She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.&#8221;</div><div class="p">15Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, &#8220;We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">16The angel of the Lord replied, &#8220;Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.&#8221; (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord.)</div><div class="p">17Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, &#8220;What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?&#8221;</div><div class="p">18He replied, &#8220;Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.#13:18 Or is wonderful&#8221; 19Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. 21When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.</div><div class="p">22&#8220;We are doomed to die!&#8221; he said to his wife. &#8220;We have seen God!&#8221;</div><div class="p">23But his wife answered, &#8220;If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.&#8221;</div><div class="p">24The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, 25and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.</div>
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 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">Samson&#8217;s Marriage</div><div class="p">1Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2When he returned, he said to his father and mother, &#8220;I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.&#8221;</div><div class="p">3His father and mother replied, &#8220;Isn&#8217;t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?&#8221;</div><div class="p">But Samson said to his father, &#8220;Get her for me. She&#8217;s the right one for me.&#8221; 4(His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)</div><div class="p">5Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.</div><div class="p">8Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion&#8217;s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. 9He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion&#8217;s carcass.</div><div class="p">10Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. 11When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.</div><div class="p">12&#8220;Let me tell you a riddle,&#8221; Samson said to them. &#8220;If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13If you can&#8217;t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Tell us your riddle,&#8221; they said. &#8220;Let&#8217;s hear it.&#8221;</div><div class="p">14He replied,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Out of the eater, something to eat;</div><div class="q2">out of the strong, something sweet.&#8221;</div><div class="m">For three days they could not give the answer.</div><div class="p">15On the fourth#14:15 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac; Hebrew seventh day, they said to Samson&#8217;s wife, &#8220;Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father&#8217;s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?&#8221;</div><div class="p">16Then Samson&#8217;s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, &#8220;You hate me! You don&#8217;t really love me. You&#8217;ve given my people a riddle, but you haven&#8217;t told me the answer.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I haven&#8217;t even explained it to my father or mother,&#8221; he replied, &#8220;so why should I explain it to you?&#8221; 17She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.</div><div class="p">18Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;What is sweeter than honey?</div><div class="q2">What is stronger than a lion?&#8221;</div><div class="p">Samson said to them,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;If you had not plowed with my heifer,</div><div class="q2">you would not have solved my riddle.&#8221;</div><div class="p">19Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father&#8217;s home. 20And Samson&#8217;s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.</div>
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 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">Samson&#8217;s Vengeance on the Philistines</div><div class="p">1Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to my wife&#8217;s room.&#8221; But her father would not let him go in.</div><div class="p">2&#8220;I was so sure you hated her,&#8221; he said, &#8220;that I gave her to your companion. Isn&#8217;t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.&#8221;</div><div class="p">3Samson said to them, &#8220;This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.&#8221; 4So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.</div><div class="p">6When the Philistines asked, &#8220;Who did this?&#8221; they were told, &#8220;Samson, the Timnite&#8217;s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7Samson said to them, &#8220;Since you&#8217;ve acted like this, I swear that I won&#8217;t stop until I get my revenge on you.&#8221; 8He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.</div><div class="p">9The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10The people of Judah asked, &#8220;Why have you come to fight us?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;We have come to take Samson prisoner,&#8221; they answered, &#8220;to do to him as he did to us.&#8221;</div><div class="p">11Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, &#8220;Don&#8217;t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?&#8221;</div><div class="p">He answered, &#8220;I merely did to them what they did to me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">12They said to him, &#8220;We&#8217;ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Samson said, &#8220;Swear to me that you won&#8217;t kill me yourselves.&#8221;</div><div class="p">13&#8220;Agreed,&#8221; they answered. &#8220;We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.&#8221; So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 14As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.</div><div class="p">16Then Samson said,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;With a donkey&#8217;s jawbone</div><div class="q2">I have made donkeys of them.#15:16 Or made a heap or two; the Hebrew for donkey sounds like the Hebrew for heap.</div><div class="q1">With a donkey&#8217;s jawbone</div><div class="q2">I have killed a thousand men.&#8221;</div><div class="m">17When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.#15:17 Ramath Lehi means jawbone hill.</div><div class="p">18Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, &#8220;You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?&#8221; 19Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore,#15:19 En Hakkore means caller&#8217;s spring. and it is still there in Lehi.</div><div class="p">20Samson led#15:20 Traditionally judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.</div>
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