How to Keep Your Head on Straight in a World Gone Crazy

Who Is Jesus?

The Legacy of Motherhood

From the Cross to the World: Living Easter Every Day

The Promise of Heaven by Dr. David Jeremiah

Draw Near

How to Love Like Jesus

The Guilt Strip: Time to End the Guilt Trip

God Is in Control

God’s Strengthening Word: Pursuing Peace and Justice

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 <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="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="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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 <div class="p">1One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2The people of Gaza were told, &#8220;Samson is here!&#8221; So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, &#8220;At dawn we&#8217;ll kill him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.</div><div class="p"> 4Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, &#8220;See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels#16:5 That is, about 28 pounds or about 13 kilograms of silver.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6So Delilah said to Samson, &#8220;Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Samson answered her, &#8220;If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I&#8217;ll become as weak as any other man.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9With men hidden in the room, she called to him, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221; But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.</div><div class="p"> 10Then Delilah said to Samson, &#8220;You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11He said, &#8220;If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I&#8217;ll become as weak as any other man.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221; But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.</div><div class="p"> 13Delilah then said to Samson, &#8220;All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.&#8221;</div><div class="p">He replied, &#8220;If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I&#8217;ll become as weak as any other man.&#8221; So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14and#16:13,14 Some Septuagint manuscripts; Hebrew replied, &#8220;I can if you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom.&#8221; 14 So she tightened it with the pin.</div><div class="p">Again she called to him, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221; He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.</div><div class="p"> 15Then she said to him, &#8220;How can you say, &#8216;I love you,&#8217; when you won&#8217;t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven&#8217;t told me the secret of your great strength.&#8221; 16With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.</div><div class="p"> 17So he told her everything. &#8220;No razor has ever been used on my head,&#8221; he said, &#8220;because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother&#8217;s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, &#8220;Come back once more; he has told me everything.&#8221; So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.#16:19 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts and he began to weaken And his strength left him.</div><div class="p"> 20Then she called, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221;</div><div class="p">He awoke from his sleep and thought, &#8220;I&#8217;ll go out as before and shake myself free.&#8221; But he did not know that the Lord had left him.</div><div class="p"> 21Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.</div><div class="s1">The Death of Samson</div><div class="p"> 23Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, &#8220;Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Our god has delivered our enemy</div><div class="q2">into our hands,</div><div class="q1">the one who laid waste our land</div><div class="q2">and multiplied our slain.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25While they were in high spirits, they shouted, &#8220;Bring out Samson to entertain us.&#8221; So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.</div><div class="p">When they stood him among the pillars, 26Samson said to the servant who held his hand, &#8220;Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.&#8221; 27Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28Then Samson prayed to the Lord, &#8220;Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.&#8221; 29Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30Samson said, &#8220;Let me die with the Philistines!&#8221; Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.</div><div class="p"> 31Then his brothers and his father&#8217;s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led#16:31 Traditionally judged Israel twenty years.</div>
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