JUDGES 13:1-14:20
JOHN 1:29-51
PSALM 102:1-28
PROVERBS 14:15-16
JUDGES 13:1-14:20
Again the Israelites did what was evil in the LORD's sight, so the LORD handed them over to the Philistines, who kept them in subjection for forty years. 2 In those days, a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zorah. His wife was unable to become pregnant, and they had no children. 3 The angel of the LORD appeared to Manoah's wife and said, " Even though you have been unable to have children, you will soon become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink or eat any forbidden food. 5 You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will rescue Israel from the Philistines." 6 The woman ran and told her husband, " A man of God appeared to me! He was like one of God's angels, terrifying to look at. I didn't ask where he was from, and he didn't tell me his name. 7 But he told me, ` You will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink or eat any forbidden food. For your son will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the moment of his birth until the day of his death.' " 8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD. He said, " Lord, please let the man of God come back to us again and give us more instructions about this son who is to be born." 9 God answered his prayer, and the angel of God appeared once again to his wife as she was sitting in the field. But her husband, Manoah, was not with her. 10 So she quickly ran and told her husband, " The man who appeared to me the other day is here again!" 11 Manoah ran back with his wife and asked, " Are you the man who talked to my wife the other day?" " Yes," he replied, " I am." 12 So Manoah asked him, " When your words come true, what kind of rules should govern the boy's life and work?" 13 The angel of the LORD replied, " Be sure your wife follows the instructions I gave her. 14 She must not eat grapes or raisins, drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, or eat any forbidden food." 15 Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, " Please stay here until we can prepare a young goat for you to eat." 16 " I will stay," the angel of the LORD replied, " but I will not eat anything. However, you may prepare a burnt offering as a sacrifice to the LORD." (Manoah didn't realize it was the angel of the LORD.) 17 Then Manoah asked the angel of the LORD, " What is your name? For when all this comes true, we want to honor you." 18 " Why do you ask my name?" the angel of the LORD replied. " You wouldn't understand if I told you." 19 Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered it on a rock as a sacrifice to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife watched, the LORD did an amazing thing. 20 As the flames from the altar shot up toward the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the fire. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell with their faces to the ground. 21 The angel did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Manoah finally realized it was the angel of the LORD, 22 and he said to his wife, " We will die, for we have seen God!" 23 But his wife said, " If the LORD were going to kill us, he wouldn't have accepted our burnt offering and grain offering. He wouldn't have appeared to us and told us this wonderful thing and done these miracles." 24 When her son was born, they named him Samson. And the LORD blessed him as he grew up. 25 And in Mahaneh-dan, which is located between the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol, the Spirit of the LORD began to take hold of him.14:1 ONE day when Samson was in Timnah, he noticed a certain Philistine woman. 2 When he returned home, he told his father and mother, " I want to marry a young Philistine woman I saw in Timnah." 3 His father and mother objected strenuously, " Isn't there one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry? Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?" But Samson told his father, " Get her for me. She is the one I want." 4 His father and mother didn't realize the LORD was at work in this, creating an opportunity to disrupt the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time. 5 As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah. 6 At that moment the Spirit of the LORD powerfully took control of him, and he ripped the lion's jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn't tell his father or mother about it. 7 When Samson arrived in Timnah, he talked with the woman and was very pleased with her. 8 Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass. 9 He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. But he didn't tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion. 10 As his father was making final arrangements for the marriage, Samson threw a party at Timnah, as was the custom of the day. 11 Thirty young men from the town were invited to be his companions. 12 Samson said to them, " Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty plain linen robes and thirty fancy robes. 13 But if you can't solve it, then you must give me thirty linen robes and thirty fancy robes." " All right," they agreed, " let's hear your riddle." 14 So he said: " From the one who eats came something to eat;
out of the strong came something sweet."
Three days later they were still trying to figure it out. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, " Get the answer to the riddle from your husband, or we will burn down your father's house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor?" 16 So Samson's wife came to him in tears and said, " You don't love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer." " I haven't even given the answer to my father or mother," he replied. " Why should I tell you?" 17 So she cried whenever she was with him and kept it up for the rest of the celebration. At last, on the seventh day, he told her the answer because of her persistent nagging. Then she gave the answer to the young men. 18 So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer: " What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?"
Samson replied, " If you hadn't plowed with my heifer, you wouldn't have found the answer to my riddle!" 19 Then the Spirit of the LORD powerfully took control of him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had answered his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. 20 So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson's best man at the wedding.
JOHN 1:29-51
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, " Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30He is the one I was talking about when I said, ` Soon a man is coming who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before I did.' 31I didn't know he was the one, but I have been baptizing with water in order to point him out to Israel." 32 Then John said, " I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. 33 I didn't know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ` When you see the Holy Spirit descending and resting upon someone, he is the one you are looking for. He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Son of God." 35 The following day, John was again standing with two of his disciples. 36 As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and then declared, " Look! There is the Lamb of God!" 37 Then John's two disciples turned and followed Jesus. 38 Jesus looked around and saw them following. " What do you want?" he asked them. They replied, " Rabbi" (which means Teacher), " where are you staying?"39 " Come and see," he said. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place, and they stayed there the rest of the day. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of these men who had heard what John said and then followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother, Simon, and tell him, " We have found the Messiah" (which means the Christ). 42 Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, " You are Simon, the son of John--but you will be called Cephas" (which means Peter). 43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, " Come, be my disciple." 44 Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter's hometown. 45 Philip went off to look for Nathanael and told him, " We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth."46 " Nazareth!" exclaimed Nathanael. " Can anything good come from there?" " Just come and see for yourself," Philip said. 47 As they approached, Jesus said, " Here comes an honest man--a true son of Israel." 48 " How do you know about me?" Nathanael asked. And Jesus replied, " I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you." 49 Nathanael replied, " Teacher, you are the Son of God--the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus asked him, " Do you believe all this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this." 51 Then he said, " The truth is, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down upon the Son of Man."
PSALM 102:1-28
A prayer of one overwhelmed with trouble, pouring out problems before the LORD.
1 LORD, hear my prayer!
Listen to my plea!
2 Don't turn away from me
in my time of distress.
Bend down your ear
and answer me quickly when I call to you,
3 for my days disappear like smoke,
and my bones burn like red-hot coals.
4 My heart is sick, withered like grass,
and I have lost my appetite.
5 Because of my groaning,
I am reduced to skin and bones.
6 I am like an owl in the desert,
like a lonely owl in a far-off wilderness.
7 I lie awake,
lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.
8 My enemies taunt me day after day.
They mock and curse me.
9 I eat ashes instead of my food.
My tears run down into my drink
10 because of your anger and wrath.
For you have picked me up and thrown me out.
11 My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows.
I am withering like grass.
12 But you, O LORD, will rule forever.
Your fame will endure to every generation.
13 You will arise and have mercy on Jerusalem--
and now is the time to pity her,
now is the time you promised to help.
14 For your people love every stone in her walls
and show favor even to the dust in her streets.
15 And the nations will tremble before the LORD.
The kings of the earth will tremble before his glory.
16 For the LORD will rebuild Jerusalem.
He will appear in his glory.
17 He will listen to the prayers of the destitute.
He will not reject their pleas.
18 Let this be recorded for future generations,
so that a nation yet to be created will praise the LORD.
19 Tell them the LORD looked down
from his heavenly sanctuary.
He looked to the earth from heaven
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to release those condemned to die.
21 And so the LORD's fame will be celebrated in Zion,
his praises in Jerusalem,
22 when multitudes gather together
and kingdoms come to worship the LORD.
23 He has cut me down in midlife,
shortening my days.
24 But I cried to him, " My God, who lives forever,
don't take my life while I am still so young!
25 In ages past you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 Even they will perish, but you remain forever;
they will wear out like old clothing.
You will change them like a garment,
and they will fade away.
27 But you are always the same;
your years never end.
28 The children of your people
will live in security.
Their children's children
will thrive in your presence."
PROVERBS 14:15-16
Only simpletons believe everything they are told! The prudent carefully consider their steps. The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with great confidence.
