Losing Lexi: One Mother's Story of Grace in the Midst of Addiction and Loss

Jonah

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Uncertain Times

Desperate Woman Seeks Friends by Kristen Strong

Commissioned: Passion to Purpose: Living the Great Commission

Healing From God

From Lament to Hope: Wellbeing and Happiness in the Psalms

Recalibrate Your Life

The Weight of Love: Reflections on Jesus' Death and Resurrection

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 <div class="p">10After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord&#8217;s anger 13because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.</div><div class="p"> 16Then the Lord raised up judges,#2:16 Or leaders; similarly in verses 17-19 who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord&#8217;s commands. 18Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.</div><div class="p"> 20Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, &#8220;Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, 21I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.&#8221; 23The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.</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

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 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">Deborah</div><div class="p"> 1Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. 2So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.</div><div class="p"> 4Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading#4:4 Traditionally judging Israel at that time. 5She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, &#8220;The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: &#8216;Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. 7I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin&#8217;s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Barak said to her, &#8220;If you go with me, I will go; but if you don&#8217;t go with me, I won&#8217;t go.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Certainly I will go with you,&#8221; said Deborah. &#8220;But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.&#8221; So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.</div><div class="p"> 11Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses&#8217; brother-in-law,#4:11 Or father-in-law and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.</div><div class="p"> 12When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.</div><div class="p"> 14Then Deborah said to Barak, &#8220;Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?&#8221; So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. 15At Barak&#8217;s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.</div><div class="p"> 16Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera&#8217;s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. 17Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.</div><div class="p"> 18Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, &#8220;Come, my lord, come right in. Don&#8217;t be afraid.&#8221; So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.</div><div class="p"> 19&#8220;I&#8217;m thirsty,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Please give me some water.&#8221; She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;Stand in the doorway of the tent,&#8221; he told her. &#8220;If someone comes by and asks you, &#8216;Is anyone in there?&#8217; say &#8216;No.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21But Jael, Heber&#8217;s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.</div><div class="p"> 22Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. &#8220;Come,&#8221; she said, &#8220;I will show you the man you&#8217;re looking for.&#8221; So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple&#8212;dead.</div><div class="p"> 23On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. 24And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.</div>
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 <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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 <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="JDG.9.22+JDG.9.23+JDG.9.24+JDG.9.25+JDG.9.26+JDG.9.27+JDG.9.28+JDG.9.29+JDG.9.30+JDG.9.31+JDG.9.32+JDG.9.33+JDG.9.34+JDG.9.35+JDG.9.36+JDG.9.37+JDG.9.38+JDG.9.39+JDG.9.40+JDG.9.41+JDG.9.42+JDG.9.43+JDG.9.44+JDG.9.45+JDG.9.46+JDG.9.47+JDG.9.48+JDG.9.49+JDG.9.50+JDG.9.51+JDG.9.52+JDG.9.53+JDG.9.54+JDG.9.55+JDG.9.56+JDG.9.57">
 <div class="p">22After Abimelek had governed Israel three years, 23God stirred up animosity between Abimelek and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelek. 24God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal&#8217;s seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelek and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers. 25In opposition to him these citizens of Shechem set men on the hilltops to ambush and rob everyone who passed by, and this was reported to Abimelek.</div><div class="p"> 26Now Gaal son of Ebed moved with his clan into Shechem, and its citizens put their confidence in him. 27After they had gone out into the fields and gathered the grapes and trodden them, they held a festival in the temple of their god. While they were eating and drinking, they cursed Abimelek. 28Then Gaal son of Ebed said, &#8220;Who is Abimelek, and why should we Shechemites be subject to him? Isn&#8217;t he Jerub-Baal&#8217;s son, and isn&#8217;t Zebul his deputy? Serve the family of Hamor, Shechem&#8217;s father! Why should we serve Abimelek? 29If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelek, &#8216;Call out your whole army!&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;#9:29 Septuagint; Hebrew him.&#8221; Then he said to Abimelek, &#8220;Call out your whole army!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30When Zebul the governor of the city heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry. 31Under cover he sent messengers to Abimelek, saying, &#8220;Gaal son of Ebed and his clan have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you. 32Now then, during the night you and your men should come and lie in wait in the fields. 33In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, seize the opportunity to attack them.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 34So Abimelek and all his troops set out by night and took up concealed positions near Shechem in four companies. 35Now Gaal son of Ebed had gone out and was standing at the entrance of the city gate just as Abimelek and his troops came out from their hiding place.</div><div class="p"> 36When Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, &#8220;Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains!&#8221;</div><div class="p">Zebul replied, &#8220;You mistake the shadows of the mountains for men.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 37But Gaal spoke up again: &#8220;Look, people are coming down from the central hill,#9:37 The Hebrew for this phrase means the navel of the earth. and a company is coming from the direction of the diviners&#8217; tree.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38Then Zebul said to him, &#8220;Where is your big talk now, you who said, &#8216;Who is Abimelek that we should be subject to him?&#8217; Aren&#8217;t these the men you ridiculed? Go out and fight them!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 39So Gaal led out#9:39 Or Gaal went out in the sight of the citizens of Shechem and fought Abimelek. 40Abimelek chased him all the way to the entrance of the gate, and many were killed as they fled. 41Then Abimelek stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his clan out of Shechem.</div><div class="p"> 42The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelek. 43So he took his men, divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose to attack them. 44Abimelek and the companies with him rushed forward to a position at the entrance of the city gate. Then two companies attacked those in the fields and struck them down. 45All that day Abimelek pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.</div><div class="p"> 46On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith. 47When Abimelek heard that they had assembled there, 48he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon. He took an ax and cut off some branches, which he lifted to his shoulders. He ordered the men with him, &#8220;Quick! Do what you have seen me do!&#8221; 49So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelek. They piled them against the stronghold and set it on fire with the people still inside. So all the people in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, also died.</div><div class="p"> 50Next Abimelek went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it. 51Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women&#8212;all the people of the city&#8212;had fled. They had locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof. 52Abimelek went to the tower and attacked it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, 53a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.</div><div class="p"> 54Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, &#8220;Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can&#8217;t say, &#8216;A woman killed him.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; So his servant ran him through, and he died. 55When the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead, they went home.</div><div class="p"> 56Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. 57God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.</div>
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 <div class="label">11</div><div class="p"> 1Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. 2Gilead&#8217;s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. &#8220;You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,&#8221; they said, &#8220;because you are the son of another woman.&#8221; 3So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a gang of scoundrels gathered around him and followed him.</div><div class="p"> 4Some time later, when the Ammonites were fighting against Israel, 5the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6&#8220;Come,&#8221; they said, &#8220;be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Jephthah said to them, &#8220;Didn&#8217;t you hate me and drive me from my father&#8217;s house? Why do you come to me now, when you&#8217;re in trouble?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8The elders of Gilead said to him, &#8220;Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be head over all of us who live in Gilead.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Jephthah answered, &#8220;Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me&#8212;will I really be your head?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10The elders of Gilead replied, &#8220;The Lord is our witness; we will certainly do as you say.&#8221; 11So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.</div><div class="p"> 12Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: &#8220;What do you have against me that you have attacked my country?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah&#8217;s messengers, &#8220;When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king, 15saying:</div><div class="pmo">&#8220;This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. 16But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea#11:16 Or the Sea of Reeds and on to Kadesh. 17Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, &#8216;Give us permission to go through your country,&#8217; but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.</div><div class="pm"> 18&#8220;Next they traveled through the wilderness, skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the eastern side of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.</div><div class="pm"> 19&#8220;Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, &#8216;Let us pass through your country to our own place.&#8217; 20Sihon, however, did not trust Israel#11:20 Or however, would not make an agreement for Israel to pass through his territory. He mustered all his troops and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.</div><div class="pm"> 21&#8220;Then the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and his whole army into Israel&#8217;s hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country, 22capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.</div><div class="pm"> 23&#8220;Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? 24Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the Lord our God has given us, we will possess. 25Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them? 26For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn&#8217;t you retake them during that time? 27I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.&#8221;</div><div class="m"> 28The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.</div><div class="p"> 29Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: &#8220;If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord&#8217;s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. 33He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.</div><div class="p"> 34When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, &#8220;Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 36&#8220;My father,&#8221; she replied, &#8220;you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37But grant me this one request,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38&#8220;You may go,&#8221; he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.</div><div class="p">From this comes the Israelite tradition 40that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.</div>
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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="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="JDG.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">Samson and Delilah</div><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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