Free Indeed!

Beware of Bitterness

Josh's Test - Oct 3

The Familiar Stranger

Desperate Prayers for Hope in Hard Times

Mandates for Men: Serve Others

There Is No Law Against These Things

The Treasure I Married: A 3-Day Marriage Plan

Freedom in Surrender: Live God’s Great Purpose for You

2 Thessalonians

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 ch34" data-usfm="GEN.34">
 <div class="label">34</div><div class="s1">Dinah and the Shechemites</div><div class="p">1Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 2When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. 3His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4And Shechem said to his father Hamor, &#8220;Get me this girl as my wife.&#8221;</div><div class="p">5When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he did nothing about it until they came home.</div><div class="p">6Then Shechem&#8217;s father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. 7Meanwhile, Jacob&#8217;s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in#34:7 Or against Israel by sleeping with Jacob&#8217;s daughter&#8212;a thing that should not be done.</div><div class="p">8But Hamor said to them, &#8220;My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. 9Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. 10You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade#34:10 Or move about freely; also in verse 21 in it, and acquire property in it.&#8221;</div><div class="p">11Then Shechem said to Dinah&#8217;s father and brothers, &#8220;Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. 12Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I&#8217;ll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the young woman as my wife.&#8221;</div><div class="p">13Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob&#8217;s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. 14They said to them, &#8220;We can&#8217;t do such a thing; we can&#8217;t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. 15We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. 16Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We&#8217;ll settle among you and become one people with you. 17But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we&#8217;ll take our sister and go.&#8221;</div><div class="p">18Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. 19The young man, who was the most honored of all his father&#8217;s family, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob&#8217;s daughter. 20So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to the men of their city. 21&#8220;These men are friendly toward us,&#8221; they said. &#8220;Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. 22But the men will agree to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. 23Won&#8217;t their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us agree to their terms, and they will settle among us.&#8221;</div><div class="p">24All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.</div><div class="p">25Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob&#8217;s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah&#8217;s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. 26They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem&#8217;s house and left. 27The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where#34:27 Or because their sister had been defiled. 28They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. 29They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.</div><div class="p">30Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, &#8220;You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.&#8221;</div><div class="p">31But they replied, &#8220;Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?&#8221;</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch35" data-usfm="GEN.35">
 <div class="label">35</div><div class="s1">Jacob Returns to Bethel</div><div class="p">1Then God said to Jacob, &#8220;Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.&#8221;</div><div class="p">2So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, &#8220;Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.&#8221; 4So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.</div><div class="p">6Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel,#35:7 El Bethel means God of Bethel. because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.</div><div class="p">8Now Deborah, Rebekah&#8217;s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.#35:8 Allon Bakuth means oak of weeping.</div><div class="p">9After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram,#35:9 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verse 26 God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10God said to him, &#8220;Your name is Jacob,#35:10 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he deceives. but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.#35:10 Israel probably means he struggles with God.&#8221; So he named him Israel.</div><div class="p">11And God said to him, &#8220;I am God Almighty#35:11 Hebrew El-Shaddai; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. 12The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.&#8221; 13Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.</div><div class="p">14Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.#35:15 Bethel means house of God.</div><div class="s1">The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac</div><div class="p">16Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. 17And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, &#8220;Don&#8217;t despair, for you have another son.&#8221; 18As she breathed her last&#8212;for she was dying&#8212;she named her son Ben-Oni.#35:18 Ben-Oni means son of my trouble. But his father named him Benjamin.#35:18 Benjamin means son of my right hand.</div><div class="p">19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel&#8217;s tomb.</div><div class="p">21Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. 22While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father&#8217;s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="m">Jacob had twelve sons:</div><div class="li1">23The sons of Leah:</div><div class="li2">Reuben the firstborn of Jacob,</div><div class="li2">Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.</div><div class="li1">24The sons of Rachel:</div><div class="li2">Joseph and Benjamin.</div><div class="li1">25The sons of Rachel&#8217;s servant Bilhah:</div><div class="li2">Dan and Naphtali.</div><div class="li1">26The sons of Leah&#8217;s servant Zilpah:</div><div class="li2">Gad and Asher.</div><div class="p">These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">27Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. 28Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. 29Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkACT">
 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="ACT.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">The Council at Jerusalem</div><div class="p">1Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: &#8220;Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.&#8221; 2This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. 4When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.</div><div class="p">5Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, &#8220;The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.&#8221;</div><div class="p">6The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: &#8220;Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.&#8221;</div><div class="p">12The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13When they finished, James spoke up. &#8220;Brothers,&#8221; he said, &#8220;listen to me. 14Simon#15:14 Greek Simeon, a variant of Simon; that is, Peter has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:</div><div class="q1">16&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;After this I will return</div><div class="q2">and rebuild David&#8217;s fallen tent.</div><div class="q1">Its ruins I will rebuild,</div><div class="q2">and I will restore it,</div><div class="q1">17that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,</div><div class="q2">even all the Gentiles who bear my name,</div><div class="q1">says the Lord, who does these things&#8217;#15:17 Amos 9:11,12 (see Septuagint)&#8212;</div><div class="q2">18things known from long ago.#15:17,18 Some manuscripts things&#8217;&#8212; / 18 the Lord&#8217;s work is known to him from long ago</div><div class="p">19&#8220;It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Council&#8217;s Letter to Gentile Believers</div><div class="p">22Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. 23With them they sent the following letter:</div><div class="pmo">The apostles and elders, your brothers,</div><div class="b"></div><div class="pmo">To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="pmo">Greetings.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="pm">24We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul&#8212; 26men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.</div><div class="pmc">Farewell.</div><div class="p">30So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. 31The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. 32Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. 33After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. [34]#15:34 Some manuscripts include here But Silas decided to remain there. 35But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.</div><div class="s1">Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas</div><div class="p">36Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, &#8220;Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.&#8221; 37Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 41He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkMAT">
 <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="MAT.9">
 <div class="label">9</div><div class="s1">Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man</div><div class="p">1Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, &#8220;Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.&#8221;</div><div class="p">3At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, &#8220;This fellow is blaspheming!&#8221;</div><div class="p">4Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, &#8220;Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5Which is easier: to say, &#8216;Your sins are forgiven,&#8217; or to say, &#8216;Get up and walk&#8217;? 6But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.&#8221; So he said to the paralyzed man, &#8220;Get up, take your mat and go home.&#8221; 7Then the man got up and went home. 8When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.</div><div class="s1">The Calling of Matthew</div><div class="p">9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector&#8217;s booth. &#8220;Follow me,&#8221; he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.</div><div class="p">10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew&#8217;s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, &#8220;Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?&#8221;</div><div class="p">12On hearing this, Jesus said, &#8220;It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: &#8216;I desire mercy, not sacrifice.&#8217;#9:13 Hosea 6:6 For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jesus Questioned About Fasting</div><div class="p">14Then John&#8217;s disciples came and asked him, &#8220;How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?&#8221;</div><div class="p">15Jesus answered, &#8220;How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.</div><div class="p">16 &#8220;No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman</div><div class="p">18While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, &#8220;My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.&#8221; 19Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.</div><div class="p">20Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21She said to herself, &#8220;If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.&#8221;</div><div class="p">22Jesus turned and saw her. &#8220;Take heart, daughter,&#8221; he said, &#8220;your faith has healed you.&#8221; And the woman was healed at that moment.</div><div class="p">23When Jesus entered the synagogue leader&#8217;s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24he said, &#8220;Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.&#8221; But they laughed at him. 25After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26News of this spread through all that region.</div><div class="s1">Jesus Heals the Blind and the Mute</div><div class="p">27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, &#8220;Have mercy on us, Son of David!&#8221;</div><div class="p">28When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, &#8220;Do you believe that I am able to do this?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Yes, Lord,&#8221; they replied.</div><div class="p">29Then he touched their eyes and said, &#8220;According to your faith let it be done to you&#8221;; 30and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, &#8220;See that no one knows about this.&#8221; 31But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.</div><div class="p">32While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, &#8220;Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.&#8221;</div><div class="p">34But the Pharisees said, &#8220;It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Workers Are Few</div><div class="p">35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, &#8220;The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.&#8221;</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

The Solid Life PlanSample

Scripture

About this Plan

Related Plans