Wives Who Win for Christ: Influencing Your Unsaved Husband Through Discipleship by Dr. Treal Ravenel

Faith Under Fire

The Benefit of Doubt: How Confronting Your Deepest Questions Can Lead to a Richer Faith

Raising the Next Generation: Trusting God’s Plan for Single Mothers

The Big 5

Bible Study 2: Naomi's Journey - Finding Strength in Mentorship

TheLionWithin.Us: 3 Questions to Unlock Deeper Insights in God’s Word

Learning to Forgive

Allowing Our Children to Grow and Go: A 3-Day Parenting Plan

The Way of the Cross

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 ch30" data-usfm="GEN.30">
 <div class="label">30</div><div class="p">1When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, &#8220;Give me children, or I&#8217;ll die!&#8221;</div><div class="p">2Jacob became angry with her and said, &#8220;Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?&#8221;</div><div class="p">3Then she said, &#8220;Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.&#8221;</div><div class="p">4So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 5and she became pregnant and bore him a son. 6Then Rachel said, &#8220;God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.&#8221; Because of this she named him Dan.#30:6 Dan here means he has vindicated.</div><div class="p">7Rachel&#8217;s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8Then Rachel said, &#8220;I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.&#8221; So she named him Naphtali.#30:8 Naphtali means my struggle.</div><div class="p">9When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10Leah&#8217;s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11Then Leah said, &#8220;What good fortune!&#8221;#30:11 Or &#8220;A troop is coming!&#8221; So she named him Gad.#30:11 Gad can mean good fortune or troop.</div><div class="p">12Leah&#8217;s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13Then Leah said, &#8220;How happy I am! The women will call me happy.&#8221; So she named him Asher.#30:13 Asher means happy.</div><div class="p">14During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, &#8220;Please give me some of your son&#8217;s mandrakes.&#8221;</div><div class="p">15But she said to her, &#8220;Wasn&#8217;t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son&#8217;s mandrakes too?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Very well,&#8221; Rachel said, &#8220;he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son&#8217;s mandrakes.&#8221;</div><div class="p">16So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. &#8220;You must sleep with me,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I have hired you with my son&#8217;s mandrakes.&#8221; So he slept with her that night.</div><div class="p">17God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18Then Leah said, &#8220;God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.&#8221; So she named him Issachar.#30:18 Issachar sounds like the Hebrew for reward.</div><div class="p">19Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20Then Leah said, &#8220;God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.&#8221; So she named him Zebulun.#30:20 Zebulun probably means honor.</div><div class="p">21Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.</div><div class="p">22Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, &#8220;God has taken away my disgrace.&#8221; 24She named him Joseph,#30:24 Joseph means may he add. and said, &#8220;May the Lord add to me another son.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jacob&#8217;s Flocks Increase</div><div class="p">25After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, &#8220;Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. 26Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I&#8217;ve done for you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">27But Laban said to him, &#8220;If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.&#8221; 28He added, &#8220;Name your wages, and I will pay them.&#8221;</div><div class="p">29Jacob said to him, &#8220;You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. 30The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?&#8221;</div><div class="p">31&#8220;What shall I give you?&#8221; he asked.</div><div class="p">&#8220;Don&#8217;t give me anything,&#8221; Jacob replied. &#8220;But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. 33And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen.&#8221;</div><div class="p">34&#8220;Agreed,&#8221; said Laban. &#8220;Let it be as you have said.&#8221; 35That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban&#8217;s flocks.</div><div class="p">37Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. 38Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, 39they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 40Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban&#8217;s animals. 41Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, 42but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. 43In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkPSA">
 <div class="chapter ch30" data-usfm="PSA.30">
 <div class="label">30</div><div class="cl">Psalm 30#In Hebrew texts 30:1-12 is numbered 30:2-13.</div><div class="d">A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple.#Title: Or palace Of David.</div><div class="q1">1I will exalt you, Lord,</div><div class="q2">for you lifted me out of the depths</div><div class="q2">and did not let my enemies gloat over me.</div><div class="q1">2 Lord my God, I called to you for help,</div><div class="q2">and you healed me.</div><div class="q1">3You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;</div><div class="q2">you spared me from going down to the pit.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">4Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;</div><div class="q2">praise his holy name.</div><div class="q1">5For his anger lasts only a moment,</div><div class="q2">but his favor lasts a lifetime;</div><div class="q1">weeping may stay for the night,</div><div class="q2">but rejoicing comes in the morning.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">6When I felt secure, I said,</div><div class="q2">&#8220;I will never be shaken.&#8221;</div><div class="q1">7 Lord, when you favored me,</div><div class="q2">you made my royal mountain#30:7 That is, Mount Zion stand firm;</div><div class="q1">but when you hid your face,</div><div class="q2">I was dismayed.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">8To you, Lord, I called;</div><div class="q2">to the Lord I cried for mercy:</div><div class="q1">9&#8220;What is gained if I am silenced,</div><div class="q2">if I go down to the pit?</div><div class="q1">Will the dust praise you?</div><div class="q2">Will it proclaim your faithfulness?</div><div class="q1">10Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me;</div><div class="q2">Lord, be my help.&#8221;</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">11You turned my wailing into dancing;</div><div class="q2">you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,</div><div class="q1">12that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.</div><div class="q2">Lord my God, I will praise you forever.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJDG">
 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="JDG.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1">Gideon</div><div class="p">1The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.</div><div class="p">7When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8he sent them a prophet, who said, &#8220;This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10I said to you, &#8216;I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.&#8217; But you have not listened to me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">11The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, &#8220;The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.&#8221;</div><div class="p">13&#8220;Pardon me, my lord,&#8221; Gideon replied, &#8220;but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, &#8216;Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?&#8217; But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.&#8221;</div><div class="p">14The Lord turned to him and said, &#8220;Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian&#8217;s hand. Am I not sending you?&#8221;</div><div class="p">15&#8220;Pardon me, my lord,&#8221; Gideon replied, &#8220;but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.&#8221;</div><div class="p">16The Lord answered, &#8220;I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.&#8221;</div><div class="p">17Gideon replied, &#8220;If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">And the Lord said, &#8220;I will wait until you return.&#8221;</div><div class="p">19Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah#6:19 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.</div><div class="p">20The angel of God said to him, &#8220;Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.&#8221; And Gideon did so. 21Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, &#8220;Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!&#8221;</div><div class="p">23But the Lord said to him, &#8220;Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.&#8221;</div><div class="p">24So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.</div><div class="p">25That same night the Lord said to him, &#8220;Take the second bull from your father&#8217;s herd, the one seven years old.#6:25 Or Take a full-grown, mature bull from your father&#8217;s herd Tear down your father&#8217;s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole#6:25 That is, a wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah; also in verses 26, 28 and 30 beside it. 26Then build a proper kind of#6:26 Or build with layers of stone an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second#6:26 Or full-grown; also in verse 28 bull as a burnt offering.&#8221;</div><div class="p">27So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.</div><div class="p">28In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal&#8217;s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!</div><div class="p">29They asked each other, &#8220;Who did this?&#8221;</div><div class="p">When they carefully investigated, they were told, &#8220;Gideon son of Joash did it.&#8221;</div><div class="p">30The people of the town demanded of Joash, &#8220;Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal&#8217;s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.&#8221;</div><div class="p">31But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, &#8220;Are you going to plead Baal&#8217;s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.&#8221; 32So because Gideon broke down Baal&#8217;s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal#6:32 Jerub-Baal probably means let Baal contend. that day, saying, &#8220;Let Baal contend with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p">33Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.</div><div class="p">36Gideon said to God, &#8220;If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised&#8212; 37look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.&#8221; 38And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew&#8212;a bowlful of water.</div><div class="p">39Then Gideon said to God, &#8220;Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.&#8221; 40That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.</div>
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