05/04/2017 DAB Transcript

Judges 19:1-20:48 ~ John 3:22-4:3 ~ Psalm 104:24-35 ~ Proverbs 14:22-2w

Today is the 4th day of May.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I am Brian and excited to be here with you today around this global campfire that is this community and ready to open the scriptures and step away and allow them to wash into our lives and hearts, changing us, continuing that slow process that happens inside.  So we’re reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week, and we’ve been spending a little time getting to know the judges of Israel, the people who rose into leadership for specific times over the generations that followed Moses and Joshua’s leadership.  This will be our last full day in the book of Judges.  Tomorrow we’ll finish it and move forward, but today, Judges chapter 19, verse 1 through 20:48.  

Commentary:

We get to the end of the book of Judges and then we get walloped upside the head with this horrible story  It is another of those times where you’re like, “Wait, what is going on here?”  I mean, it’s enough to see this woman get raped to death in Gibeah, but then what we have is a full-blown civil war going on among Israelites, a true civil war intent on annihilating the entire tribe of Benjamin.  

Things escalated so fast.  As horrible a story as this is, it has deep implications in our own lives because what we have is this situation where seemingly insignificant choices are made by seemingly insignificant people and the systematic choices grow to become what we read about today.  A Levite from the hills has essentially a common law wife who for whatever reason is unfaithful and returns to Bethlehem to her father.  It could be that the guy was a tyrant.  It could be that she was a loose woman.  We don’t know.  It happened. She goes home.  Four months go by.  He goes to pursue reconciliation and when he gets to Bethlehem his father-in-law keeps asking him to stay.  So he stays a few days and then they are going to leave.  And then the father is like, “just stay, it’s getting late,” so they stay.  And then the next day, “ah, just stay over and leave first thing in the morning” and they stay, until one day it is getting late in the day and the guy has had enough and he is like now we’re going to go because if we don’t go, we’re never going to get out of here.  

So they set out at the end of the day instead of the beginning of the day, which is a crucial point in this story.  Had they left first thing in the morning, they could have made it all the way home, but as it turns out, he just kept getting pressured to stay over, stay over, stay over and he is going to leave so they have to overnight somewhere. Ironically, none of this story would have ever happened at all if they didn’t have to overnight somewhere.  They are not going to stay over in Jerusalem because it is not an Israelite city at the time.  It was called Jebus and was inhabited by the Jebusites.  They are going to keep going to a city that is of their own people, and that is Gibeah, which is just outside of Jerusalem.  Its sad ruins still exist in a large mound. It is kind of a tough place to get to, just a lot of political overtones in that particular area that go way back. I’ve been there.  I’ve stood atop it.  It is a sad place, especially in light of this story.  

So these guys are going to stay among the Israelites and they go to Gibeah. We know what happens.  It is a similar story to that of Sodom and Gomorrah. We brush up against this interesting patriarchal society that they are living in, so the women there are not valued the way that we would now, so when these evil men come and really want to rape the Levite, the man that is there, the concubine is forced out the door and she is raped to death.  There is no other way to say it.  That is what happened in this story in the scriptures.  Just that is enough.  It is the most awful of stories.  

When the man gets up and finds his concubine dead, he takes her home and then divides her body.  That’s pretty grizzly.  He sends it to the far reaches of Israel, to all the other tribes and that really escalates things.  The news travels fast.  That is the kind of thing that spreads virally for the time.  None of this could get posted on social media or anything. That didn’t exist, but this kind of news, this did spread, and so everyone is quickly, quickly talking about this and 400,000 people come together to just figure this thing out.  They go to where the Ark of the Covenant is. They begin to sit before God to try and figure this out because, as they said, nothing like this had ever happened before in Israel.  

So we now see this insignificant choice to leave and go home or this insignificant choice of domestic unrest, or whatever was going on there in the very beginning between these two people, has not only escalated to this woman’s horrible death, a death that she did not deserve, now we have almost half a million people trying to figure out what to do.  Even in the midst of that, had they just left in the morning, this would not be a story.  

So we know what happens.  The Israelites, the people who have gathered together, make demands of the tribe of Benjamin to deliver the fugitives for justice.  That is what the offer is.  This isn’t going to be a civil war at some point.  It is just this kind of stuff cannot go on in this country.  Nothing like this has ever happened before and they have to give up these fugitive men who perpetrated this violence.  “This is not who we are and this is not what we do, but those men, they need to face justice for what they’ve done.”  

Benjamin, the tribe, digs in its heels.  They won’t give up the guys, so they bring what they can bring together, which is like 5% of the army of Israel that they are able to get together, and battles happen and tens of thousands of people die over the course of a couple of days. Then on the final day Benjamin, the tribe of Benjamin is wiped from the face of the earth.  Six hundred men are holed up at the rock of Rimmon in a cave for four months.  They are the last of the Benjaminites.

These kinds of stories have historically and it has been true in my life, like I would get to this kind of story when I first started reading the Bible and I’m like why is this in the Bible?  Because I had this assumption that everything that is in the Bible is something God did.  Everything that is in the Bible is something that God had his hand in.  So I would immediately reach a story like this and blame God.  Like, what in the heck is going on here?  And, I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about this, only to read it again and again and realize God didn’t do this.  

It is so easy for us to blame God for things that he has nothing to do with. It is so easy in our lives to turn our attention and demands toward someone else, to pass things along, and if we can’t figure it out, then it has to be God’s fault somehow.  But in this story that is not what happened.  God doesn’t speak at all in this story until the people are before him asking about what to do in terms of justice.  But everything that happened before that, it just happened.  What we can learn here is that insignificant things may not be insignificant.  Little flippant choices, words, actions, activities that we think mean nothing, that may not be true.  What may be true is that everything matters, that as beings created in the image of God with a will and the ability to exercise that will, that freedom, that everything we do is creating something.  Everything that we choose has some outcome.  Every word that we say has possibility.  Every activity has an outcome.  

It’s not just about us.  The things that we do and say, they can have reverberations that we may never know about. Maybe we’re at a restaurant and we’re getting bad service and so we’re terribly rude to the staff.  We just don’t know what is going on in our server’s life.  She or he, their life could be coming unglued at the seams and we’ve just perpetuated the problem.  We can easily go, “Well, I’m here paying for a certain thing and I expect to get that certain thing,” but then we stop paying attention to the fact that people are people, like fellow brothers and sisters in this world, part of the human race created in God’s image, and so our meanness could perpetuate something else in that person’s life.  Maybe they feel even worse about themselves, go home, are mean to the kids, have a huge fight, go out, other bad things happen, and everything compounds itself.

Everything matters.  This is why we see in Jesus’ teachings that he is continually showing us that everything matters and that we are participating in the redemption of the world by not adding to the misery, but rather taking it out of the world.  

If we want to see God’s hand in this, then we have to understand we’re not at the end of the story yet, but I’ll give a spoiler.  Benjamin right now, where we left the story today, is 600 people. The entire tribe is gone and they are all men.  So is Benjamin history?  Is this the point where we say goodbye?  It’s not. God redeems things and Benjamin won’t be completely destroyed.  In fact, they’ll start to rebuild and then not too far from now Israel is going to be wanting a king.  This isn’t something God is affirming.  He wants to be their king.  They are better off under his leadership, but they want a king.  They want to be like everybody else.  So he is going to pick one for them and that king is going to end up coming from the smallest family in the tribe of Benjamin.  

Prayer

Father, we thank you for your word even when it’s disruptive.  We love the comfort and we love the promise and we love walking with you.  We love our minds and hearts to be open to your word and to your leadership in our lives, but it also disrupts us in really fundamental places.  These kinds of stories here certainly do that to us, but now we have this opportunity to understand that everything we do matters. It does.  We’re bringing light or we’re bringing darkness and those things have reverberations.  So we invite your Holy Spirit into our lives because there is always more to the story than we ever know.  There is always more going on.  So you have given us the ability by the power of your Holy Spirit to live very intentionally and very aware and very vigilant.  Most of the time we’re half asleep and most of the time we’re very self-centered.  Everything is happening to us and about us and so we’re not paying attention to the footprint of our life in this world and the residue that we leave behind, the trail that follows us everywhere we go.  This gives us the opportunity to look and see if it is just carnage or if it is healthy and fruitful and thriving.  So come Holy Spirit into some of the things that are being brought up here. Help us to pay attention to what we’re doing.  We ask this in your mighty name, by your authority and through your power.  In the name of Jesus, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It is where you find out what is going on around here so be sure to check it out.  Yeah, check out the resources that are available, how to connect, the Prayer Wall.  Just check it out.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com as well. There is a link on the home page. If you use the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner.  Or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today.  I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hi Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Melody from Canada and after listening today, May 1st, to the prayer requests, I have a verse.  This is Isaiah 40:1 and Isaiah 57:18.  Comfort, comfort my people says your God.  I’ve seen his face and will heal him.  I will raise him also and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners. And all those with broken hearts over your marriage and over your children, I speak to the comfort of the Lord Jesus, that you are a new creation and he delights in you and he is with you and I pray for those who feel that they are at their rock bottom, __ that weeping lasts for the night, joy will come in the morning, and I pray that your morning will come, your mourning will end and your morning will begin soon.  My voice is really croaky because I have a cough, but I felt led to sing a wedding song that I wrote over you.  [singing] Jesus delights in you.  His new creation, he rejoices over you.  __ our God is faithful to provide every good and perfect gift from above.  Amen.

Hey DAB family.  This is Sam in Northern California.  Hey, I just want to talk a little bit about us, the family, communication and relationships, all relationships.  Not just husband/wife, all relationships, mother/daughter, father/son, just a plethora of relationships. So the average person speaks out 20,000 words a day and knowing that Satan is constantly whispering uglies in our ears, it is way easy for us to get out something that is not what we intended. In the beginning of my relationship with my wife, I said A-B-C and she would get angry and wonder, “What are you talking about?”  “Why would you say that?”  I had to explain to her what exactly I meant.  Now she asks me before getting angry, “Hey, what did mean by A-B-C?”  And I would say, “Well, I’m actually saying Q-R-S.  I meant to say Q-R-S.”  It’s important as a family that we think the best of each other. So when we say something, in our heads it may sound ugly, but we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, so we make an excuse for that person.  We know for a fact that they are not saying anything nasty.  Let me ask them, “Hey, what did you mean by this?”  They might explain to us.  And even though we don’t get the chance to ask them, we can simply know that we know that we know that these people are our family, so they think the best of us.  So what Satan is telling us is not what it is.  It is what God is telling us, what the Holy Spirit is telling us.  Just keep that in mind, guys, as we deal with each other here because we are a family and we do have each other’s back, so just keep that in mind.  Don’t allow our good intentions to offend you.  Okay, love you guys.  Bye.  

Hello, this is Jesus is my Friend from Michigan.  I’ve been listening for about a year.  I’ve wanted to call in several other times, but I haven’t.  Now I’m calling in because my burden is getting pretty heavy to carry.  I lost my father at the end of March and my dad wanted me to celebrate his life and I’m happy for him that he’s in a better place.  I love him and I miss him.  At my father’s funeral at the beginning of April my mother went and she’s pretty much been sick ever since.  This is just a hateful and vicious attack I understand from the enemy, but I’ve been praying for my mother.  She has rheumatoid arthritis and she has just been very sick lately and I’m asking for prayers for that.  Thank you. God bless.  

Good morning family.  This is Redeemed in Him from Virginia.  I’ve wanted to call to ask all the Dabbers to please continue to set your alarm for 2 p.m. and remember our David for Kansas and pray for all the Dabbers and all the calls that are coming in.  Today is May 2nd and I heard a few prayers that I wanted to just mention. Humbled and Broken was a first-time caller and I wanted you to know, sister, that we stand in total agreement with God’s word that we are in a war and we are praying for your son Randy, open heart surgery.  There was another first-time caller.  I didn’t get your name but you had been a one-year listener and you were calling about prayer for your marriage and forgiveness.  I just wanted you to know that I’ll be praying for you and that for my own self, my marriage was over.  It was completely over and when I made a commitment to go all out with the Lord, whether my marriage was restored or not, that is when he completely transformed my marriage, myself, everything about my life.  And Daniel Johnson Jr., I just wanted you to know, brother, that there are no words for loss of a sibling or loss of a loved one.  We are praying for you and we love you so much.  I love you all, Dabbers.  Bye.  

Hi Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Stanley from Maryland.  I’m just going to read a quick passage from Proverbs 2:1-11.  My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart for understanding, for if you cry for discernment and lift your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God, for the Lord gives wisdom.  From his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.  He stores up sound wisdom for the upright.  He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths with justice, and he preserves the way of his godly ones.  Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity in ever good course, for wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.  Discretion will guard you.  Understanding will watch over you.  Proverbs 2:1-11.  My father used to speak this over myself and my brother in the car when we were kids going to school and it is funny how when you speak the word of God out loud it gets down into you.  Slave of Jesus, I really want to thank you for making the point to say scriptures out loud because it does work and since my father used to speak that over me on the way to school, I now have it kind of inside of me.  So I just wanted to share that with you guys.  Alright, have a blessed day.  Bye.  

Hello DAB family.  This is Chante calling from Detroit and I’m just really overwhelmed right now.  I’m about ready to walk off of my job.  The pressure is too intense.  I’m continuing to let so many people down.  I’m trying to do the best that I can, but I keep failing at things, not understanding things, and I don’t like all this pressure every day, all this stress every day.  I try to keep a positive face.  I try to consider it pure joy, but it is so painful right now.  So I’m just asking for everybody’s prayers and I’m also praying that you would pray for me to have wisdom.  If it is time for me to seek a new job, for me to just do it, make the time and fill out the applications and do what I need to do or if I’m supposed to stay here, I pray that I would be able to do better.  So I thank you all for your prayers.  Thank you so much.  Bye-bye.

05/03/2017 DAB Transcript

Judges 17:1-18:31 ~ John 3:1-21 ~ Psalm 104:1-23 ~ Proverbs 14:20-21

Today is the 3rd day of May.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian.  It’s great to be here with you today and now we’ll take our next step forward through the scriptures, which finds us moving our way through the book of Judges and we’ve got a few more days before we will complete the book of Judges.  Let’s dive in for today.  We’re reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week, and we’ll read Judges chapter 17, verse 1 through 18:31 today.  

Commentary:

Okay, so we see how the tribe of Dan gets a city after its own name today in the book of Judges.  They’ve been embedded in other tribes, but they went to explore in the north and conquered the city of Laish and made it the city of Dan.  It’s ruins exist right now, until today.  In fact, it is one of the only places where archeological evidence referring to the Davidic kingdom and that dynasty of the kings has been found. It’s a fascinating place and some of its ruins date way before Israel, back into Canaanite times, and now it is one of the places we’ll visit next time that we go, which is in February and you can find out about that at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  Just look for Israel 2018 and click the link and you’ll get more information.

Prayer

Father, we thank you for your word, for its roots in history, but the way that it speaks and opens up our hearts, the way that the stories unpack before us and we see ourselves in them.  And even as we’ve come to probably the most quoted, famous of all scriptures in John today, that you loved this world so much that you gave your Son so that those who believe will not perish but will have eternal life, that one verse summarizes the good news.  But it also goes on to describe the condition that we find the world still in, that you came to bring the light and we fought to keep the dark rather than to have the freedom of the light that you offer and this battle rages on.  The battle rages on for the heart of this species called humanity that you created in your own image.  So we invite you, Holy Spirit, into the dark places.  That is where we need the light and so we invite you to begin the work in us, the reminding us and the counsel that you offer us, the direction and the truth that you lead us into.  We want all of that.  So we invite it.  We invite it into everything about us today.  Come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.    

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on.  So we talked about the fact that we’re going to go back to the land of the Bible, so you can check that out at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com as well. There is a link that just lives on the home page.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for your partnership.  If you’re using the app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner.  Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that is it for today.  I’m Brian. I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

I wanted to speak to the executive who had called from Silicon Valley and I heard the prayer request on the April 30th prayer line. She is single and it sounds as if she is experiencing some challenges being in her position and what to do around that with her singleness and just the loneliness and having been successful at work and yet she is divorced.  I just want you to know that God has you in the palm of his hand.  He is working in you, giving you a desire to come into a deeper relationship with him.  And Heavenly Father, I pray that you would just give to her great peace, that you would show her what it is you that you have meant for her to do to draw into a closer relationship with you.  Holy Spirit, open her eyes, her heart and her head to know that you will bring people into her life to be a blessing and to walk with her during this journey.  You are not alone.  There are many of us out there in similar situations.  God has become the delight of our lives in ways that are unexpected and I anticipate he will do the same for you.  We will continue to pray.  We will continue to support you during this journey.  God bless.  In the name of Jesus, amen.  

Well, hey there DAB friends and family.  This is Rob S., Worship Dude in Nashville, TN.  I just want to say thanks to everybody who keeps listening after the Bible reading to the prayer requests and prays for people.  So appreciated.  I listen and pray for you guys.  Anyway, I have a prayer request.  My wife and I are going to be going on a massive missions trip the whole month of May. We fly out May 1st, get back May 30th to Eastern Europe, so we’ll be teaching about worship and discipleship and such in Ukraine and Bulgaria and Hungary and then we’ll be traveling different connections there in Europe.  In France and Italy also to make the connection.  So anyway, would really, really, really appreciate your prayers and I’ll try to keep you guys updated.  Hey, if you want to reach out to me or contact me in any way, I’m on the Facebook Group a lot but also my email is Rob@RobStill.com.  God bless you guys.  Thanks for praying.    

Hey, good morning family.  This is Dan in New Hampshire.  I actually wanted to reach out to someone specific.  I’m going to go back and listen, but I didn’t get your name.  The mother praying for her son in Aviano Air Base. I just want to let you know I’m a veteran of the Air Force.  I’ve only been out for a couple years now, but I do know all too well the temptations and the trials of being overseas and being away from family and also trying to walk out your faith.  I couldn’t hear everything, but I just really felt compelled to call and to pray for your son and just lift him up.  Dear Lord Jesus, we just pray for this situation.  I know that you know his heart and know the calling that he has and that you have on his life and that is a destiny of greatness and a calling to do great things.  We pray that your hand would be upon him, guide his heart, turn it back to you, Lord. I know that there is the overwhelming need to want to fit in, especially in the military where you need to be tightknit and close and sometimes just pursuing Jesus, there is not a lot there, not everyone wants to pursue Jesus.  I pray that you would break his heart, that he would fall in love with you and that you are the ultimate gift-giver, the giver of life and that you show him what true sacrifice means.  So I lift him up to you and I lift up his mother as well, that she would be filled with peace.  In Jesus’ name, amen.  

Good morning DAB family.  This is Dave in Illinois. This is my first year going through the Bible with this community and my first time calling, but I was encouraged by Brian yesterday when he asked us to call or he encouraged us to call if there was something that we are carrying that is too heavy for us right now.  So with that in mind, I’m calling to ask for prayers for our 4-year-old daughter, Bella Grace, and her kidney surgery this Wednesday morning May 3rd.  She has been battling kidney disease for about 2-½ years.  Over that time we’ve taken her to multiple doctors, had numerous invasive procedures and ER visits and in fact during her most recent ER visit, because of a kidney infection, her temperature was over 104 degrees three different times.  We got close to losing her, but God healed her of the kidney infection.  So she has surgery scheduled for Wednesday morning, May 3rd to hopefully resolve the underlying issues causing her kidney disease.  We ask you to please join us in praying that this surgery will be successful to bring full healing to her kidneys.  As we pray, we have two scriptures that we’ve been praying through.  1 Philippians 4, that we would be faithful to bring our anxieties to God in prayer and somehow he trade them for his peace that passes all understanding.  And like Jesus says in John 9, we may not know why Bella was born with this kidney disease, but we are praying that the works of God might be displayed in her through this, that somehow by God’s grace and for his glory he will be honored and exalted through all of this.  I thank you all for your prayers.  I’m grateful for this family and the fellowship with other Jesus followers.  I love you all.  God bless.

Hi family.  I am one of those people who is an introvert and I don’t like calling in, but I feel a very strong urge to call in today after listening to April 29th, the prayer line.  Brothers and sisters, if you have a dispute with one another, just remember to love one another. Remember not to hold things against each other and if you have to shake the dust off your feet where you feel like you have to walk away from some kind of Christian relationship, don’t do so out of spite. Do so out of grief and remember that Jesus loves all of us and that the person who hurt you is working through their own issues too and we’re all sinners and we’re all messed up.  But thanks to God for his grace.  Whatever hate is out there in the community, if somebody has been hurt and they feel the need to lash out, don’t reciprocate.  Just love that individual.  Whoever you are, we are glad you’re here.  We’re glad those who don’t call in, who listen, we love each and every one of you, issues and all, and we’re so glad you’re part of this community.  I thought about leaving my name here.  No, I’m not going to leave my name.  God knows who I am.  Love you all and I love this community.  Take care. 

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday May 4, 2017 (NIV)

Judges 19-20

Outrage in Benjamin

19 In those days, when there was no king in Israel,(A) a Levite living in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim acquired a woman from Bethlehem in Judah as his concubine. But she was unfaithful to[a] him and left him for her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. She was there for a period of four months. Then her husband got up and went after her to speak kindly to her[b](B) and bring her back. He had his servant with him and a pair of donkeys. So she brought him to her father’s house, and when the girl’s father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. His father-in-law, the girl’s father, detained him, and he stayed with him for three days. They ate, drank, and spent the nights there.

On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning and prepared to go, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Have something to eat to keep up your strength(C) and then you can go.” So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and enjoy yourself.”(D) The man got up to go, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed and spent the night there again. He got up early in the morning of the fifth day to leave, but the girl’s father said to him, “Please keep up your strength.” So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate. The man got up to go with his concubine and his servant, when his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, night is coming. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, enjoy yourself, then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey and go home.”

10 But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up, departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem(E)). The man had his two saddled donkeys and his concubine with him. 11 When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant(F) said to his master, “Please, why not[c] let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here?”

12 But his master replied to him, “We will not stop at a foreign city where there are no Israelites. Let’s move on to Gibeah.”(G) 13 “Come on,” he said,[d] “let’s try to reach one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.” 14 So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. 15 They stopped[e] to go in and spend the night in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one took them into their home to spend the night.

16 In the evening, an old man came in from his work in the field. He was from the hill country of Ephraim(H) but was residing in Gibeah, and the men of that place were Benjaminites. 17 When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”

18 He answered him, “We’re traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I’m going to the house of the Lord.[f] No one has taken me into his home, 19 although we have both straw and feed for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me, your female servant, and the young man with your servant.[g] There is nothing we lack.”

20 “Peace to you,” said the old man. “I’ll take care of everything you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” 21 So he brought him to his house and fed the donkeys. Then they washed their feet and ate and drank.(I) 22 While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, perverted men of the city(J) surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man who was the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!”

23 The owner of the house went out and said to them, “No, don’t do this evil, my brothers. After all, this man has come into my house. Don’t do this horrible thing.(K) 24 Here, let me bring out my virgin daughter(L) and the man’s concubine now. Use them(M) and do whatever you want[h] to them. But don’t do this horrible thing to this man.”

25 But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and took her outside to them. They raped[i] her and abused her all night until morning. At daybreak they let her go. 26 Early that morning, the woman made her way back, and as it was getting light, she collapsed at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was.

27 When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went out to leave on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, collapsed near the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. 28 “Get up,” he told her. “Let’s go.” But there was no response.(N) So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

29 When he entered his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her into 12 pieces, limb by limb, and then sent her throughout the territory of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or has been seen since the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt to this day.[j] Think it over, discuss it, and speak up!”

War against Benjamin

20 All the Israelites from Dan to Beer-sheba(O) and from the land of Gilead came out, and the community assembled as one body before the Lord at Mizpah.(P) The leaders(Q) of all the people and of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 armed foot soldiers. The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.

The Israelites asked, “Tell us, how did this outrage occur?”

The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered: “I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night. Citizens of Gibeah ganged up on me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, but they raped my concubine, and she died. Then I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout Israel’s territory, because they committed a horrible shame(R) in Israel. Look, all of you are Israelites. Give your judgment and verdict here and now.”

Then all the people stood united and said, “None of us will go to his tent or return to his house. Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go against it by lot. 10 We will take 10 men out of every 100 from all the tribes of Israel, and 100 out of every 1,000, and 1,000 out of every 10,000 to get provisions for the people when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for all the horror they did in Israel.”

11 So all the men of Israel gathered united against the city. 12 Then the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this outrage that has occurred among you? 13 Hand over the perverted men in Gibeah so we can put them to death and eradicate evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not obey their fellow Israelites. 14 Instead, the Benjaminites gathered together from their cities to Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites. 15 On that day the Benjaminites rallied 26,000 armed men(S) from their cities, besides 700 choice men rallied by the inhabitants of Gibeah. 16 There were 700 choice men who were left-handed among all these people; all could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

17 The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, rallied 400,000 armed men, every one an experienced warrior. 18 They set out, went to Bethel, and inquired of God.(T) The Israelites asked, “Who is to go first to fight for us against the Benjaminites?”

And the Lord answered, “Judah will be first.”

19 In the morning, the Israelites set out and camped near Gibeah. 20 The men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took their battle positions against Gibeah. 21 The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and slaughtered 22,000 men of Israel on the field that day. 22 But the Israelite army rallied and again took their battle positions in the same place where they positioned themselves on the first day. 23 They went up, wept(U) before the Lord until evening, and inquired of Him: “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites?”

And the Lord answered: “Fight against them.”

24 On the second day the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites. 25 That same day the Benjaminites came out from Gibeah to meet them and slaughtered an additional 18,000 Israelites on the field; all were armed men.

26 The whole Israelite army went to Bethel where they wept and sat before the Lord.(V) They fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. 27 Then the Israelites inquired of the Lord. In those days, the ark of the covenant(W) of God was there, 28 and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving before it. The Israelites asked: “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites or should we stop?”

The Lord answered: “Fight, because I will hand them over to you tomorrow.”(X) 29 So Israel set up an ambush(Y) around Gibeah. 30 On the third day the Israelites fought against the Benjaminites and took their battle positions against Gibeah as before. 31 Then the Benjaminites came out against the people and were drawn away from the city.(Z) They began to attack the people as before, killing about 30 men of Israel on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah through the open country. 32 The Benjaminites said, “We are defeating them as before.”

But the Israelites said, “Let’s flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” 33 So all the men of Israel got up from their places and took their battle positions at Baal-tamar, while the Israelites in ambush charged out of their places west of[k] Geba.(AA) 34 Then 10,000 choice men from all Israel made a frontal assault against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce, but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was about to strike them. 35 The Lord defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 men of Benjamin; all were armed men. 36 Then the Benjaminites realized they had been defeated.

The men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin, because they were confident in the ambush they had set against Gibeah. 37 The men in ambush had rushed quickly against Gibeah; they advanced and put the whole city to the sword. 38 The men of Israel had a prearranged signal with the men in ambush: when they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city, 39 the men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin had begun to strike them down, killing about 30 men of Israel, they said, “They’re defeated before us, just as they were in the first battle.”(AB) 40 But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, Benjamin looked behind them, and the whole city was going up in smoke.[l] 41 Then the men of Israel returned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had struck them. 42 They retreated before the men of Israel toward the wilderness,(AC) but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities[m] slaughtered those between them. 43 They surrounded the Benjaminites, pursued them, and easily overtook them near Gibeah toward the east. 44 There were 18,000 men who died from Benjamin; all were warriors. 45 Then Benjamin turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon,(AD) and Israel killed 5,000 men on the highways. They overtook them at Gidom and struck 2,000 more dead.

46 All the Benjaminites who died that day were 25,000 armed men; all were warriors. 47 But 600 men escaped into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and stayed there four months. 48 The men of Israel turned back against the other Benjaminites and killed them with their swords—the entire city, the animals, and everything that remained. They also burned down all the cities that remained.

Footnotes:

  1. Judges 19:2 LXX, Vg read was angry with
  2. Judges 19:3 Lit speak to her heart
  3. Judges 19:11 Lit Come, please
  4. Judges 19:13 Lit said to his servant
  5. Judges 19:15 Lit stopped there
  6. Judges 19:18 LXX reads to my house
  7. Judges 19:19 Some Hb mss, Syr, Tg, Vg; other Hb mss read servants
  8. Judges 19:24 Lit do what is good in your eyes
  9. Judges 19:25 Lit knew
  10. Judges 19:30 LXX reads day.” He commanded the men he sent out, saying, “You will say this to all the men of Israel: Has anything like this happened since the day the Israelites came out of Egypt until this day?
  11. Judges 20:33 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads places in the plain of, or places in the cave of
  12. Judges 20:40 Lit up to the sky
  13. Judges 20:42 LXX, Vg read city

John 3:22-4:3

Jesus and John the Baptist

22 After this, Jesus and His disciples went to the Judean countryside, where He spent time with them and baptized. 23 John(A) also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were coming and being baptized, 24 since John had not yet been thrown into prison.(B)

25 Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples(C) and a Jew[a] about purification.(D) 26 So they came to John and told him, “Rabbi,(E) the One you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan,(F) is baptizing—and everyone is flocking to Him.”(G)

27 John responded, “No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah,(H) but I’ve been sent ahead of Him.’(I) 29 He who has the bride(J) is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly[b] at the groom’s voice. So this joy(K) of mine is complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

The One from Heaven

31 The One who comes from above(L) is above all. The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms.[c] The One who comes from heaven is above all.(M) 32 He testifies(N) to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony. 33 The one who has accepted His testimony has affirmed that God is true.(O) 34 For God sent Him, and He speaks God’s words, since He[d] gives the Spirit(P) without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son(Q) and has given all things into His hands.(R) 36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.(S)

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

When Jesus[e] knew that the Pharisees(T) heard He was making(U) and baptizing more disciples than John(V) (though Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea(W) and went again to Galilee.(X)

Footnotes:

  1. John 3:25 Other mss read and the Jews
  2. John 3:29 Lit with joy rejoices
  3. John 3:31 Or of earthly things
  4. John 3:34 Other mss read since God
  5. John 4:1 Other mss read the Lord

Psalm 104:24-35

24 How countless are Your works, Lord!
In wisdom You have made them all;
the earth is full of Your creatures.[a](A)
25 Here is the sea, vast and wide,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.(B)
26 There the ships move about,
and Leviathan, which You formed to play there.(C)

27 All of them wait for You
to give them their food at the right time.(D)
28 When You give it to them,
they gather it;
when You open Your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.(E)
29 When You hide Your face,
they are terrified;
when You take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.(F)
30 When You send Your breath,[b]
they are created,
and You renew the face of the earth.(G)

31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in His works.(H)
32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the mountains,
and they pour out smoke.(I)
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.(J)
34 May my meditation be pleasing to Him;
I will rejoice in the Lord.(K)
35 May sinners vanish from the earth
and wicked people be no more.(L)
My soul, praise Yahweh!
Hallelujah!

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 104:24 Lit possessions
  2. Psalm 104:30 Or Spirit

Proverbs 14:22-24

22 Don’t those who plan evil go astray?(A)
But those who plan good find loyalty and faithfulness.(B)

23 There is profit in all hard work,
but endless talk[a] leads only to poverty.(C)

24 The crown of the wise is their wealth,
but the foolishness of fools produces foolishness.

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 14:23 Lit but word of lips

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday May 3, 2017 (NIV)

Judges 17-18

Micah’s Priest

17 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah. He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you utter a curse about—here, I have the silver with me. I took it. So now I return it to you.”[a]

Then his mother said, “My son, you are blessed by the Lord!”(A)

He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I personally consecrate(B) the silver to the Lord for my son’s benefit to make a carved image overlaid with silver.”[b] So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took five pounds of silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made it into a carved image overlaid with silver,[c] and it was in Micah’s house.

This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols,(C) and installed one of his sons to be his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel;(D) everyone did whatever he wanted.[d]

There was a young man, a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who resided within the clan of Judah.(E) The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah’s home in the hill country of Ephraim.

“Where do you come from?” Micah asked him.

He answered him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I’m going to settle wherever I can find a place.”

10 Micah replied,[e] “Stay with me and be my father(F) and priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions.” So the Levite went in 11 and agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons. 12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest(G) and lived in Micah’s house. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”

Dan’s Invasion and Idolatry

18 In those days, there was no king in Israel,(H) and the Danite tribe was looking for territory to occupy. Up to that time no territory had been captured by them among the tribes of Israel. So the Danites sent out five brave men(I) from all their clans, from Zorah and Eshtaol,(J) to scout(K) out the land and explore it. They told them, “Go and explore the land.”

They came to the hill country of Ephraim as far as the home of Micah and spent the night there. While they were near Micah’s home, they recognized the speech of the young Levite. So they went over to him and asked, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is keeping you here?” He told them what Micah had done for him and that he had hired him as his priest.

Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God so we will know if we will have a successful journey.”

The priest told them, “Go in peace. The Lord is watching over the journey you are going on.”

The five men left and came to Laish. They saw that the people who were there were living securely, in the same way as the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking[f] in the land and no oppressive ruler. They were far from the Sidonians, having no alliance with anyone.[g]

When the men went back to their clans at Zorah and Eshtaol, their people asked them, “What did you find out?”

They answered, “Come on, let’s go up against them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Why wait? Don’t hesitate to go and invade and take possession of the land! 10 When you get there, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, for God has handed it over to you. It is a place where nothing on earth is lacking.”(L) 11 Six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol armed with weapons of war. 12 They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim(M) in Judah. This is why the place is called the Camp of Dan[h] to this day; it is west of Kiriath-jearim. 13 From there they traveled to the hill country of Ephraim and arrived at Micah’s house.

14 The five men who had gone to scout out the land of Laish told their brothers, “Did you know that there are an ephod, household gods, and a carved image overlaid with silver[i] in these houses? Now think about what you should do.” 15 So they detoured there and went to the house of the young Levite at the home of Micah and greeted him. 16 The 600 Danite men were standing by the entrance of the gate, armed with their weapons of war. 17 Then the five men who had gone to scout out the land went in and took the carved image overlaid with silver,[j] the ephod, and the household idols, while the priest was standing by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war.

18 When they entered Micah’s house and took the carved image overlaid with silver,[k] the ephod, and the household idols, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

19 They told him, “Be quiet. Keep your mouth shut.[l](N) Come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or for you to be a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?” 20 So the priest was pleased and took his ephod, household idols, and carved image, and went with the people. 21 They prepared to leave, putting their small children, livestock, and possessions in front of them.

22 After they were some distance from Micah’s house, the men who were in the houses near it mobilized and caught up with the Danites. 23 They called to the Danites, who turned to face them, and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you mobilized the men?”

24 He said, “You took the gods I had made and the priest, and went away. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What’s the matter with you?’”

25 The Danites said to him, “Don’t raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.” 26 The Danites went on their way, and Micah turned to go back home, because he saw that they were stronger than he was.

27 After they had taken the gods Micah had made and the priest that belonged to him, they went to Laish, to a quiet and unsuspecting people. They killed them with their swords and burned down the city.(O) 28 There was no one to rescue them because it was far from Sidon and they had no alliance with anyone. It was in a valley that belonged to Beth-rehob. They rebuilt the city and lived in it. 29 They named the city Dan, after the name of their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel. The city was formerly named Laish.

30 The Danites set up the carved image for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Moses,[m] and his sons were priests for the Danite tribe until the time of the exile from the land.(P) 31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image that he had made, and it was there as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.

Footnotes:

  1. Judges 17:2 MT places this sentence at the end of v. 3.
  2. Judges 17:3 Or image and a cast image
  3. Judges 17:4 Or image and a cast image
  4. Judges 17:6 Lit did what was right in his eyes
  5. Judges 17:10 Lit replied to him
  6. Judges 18:7 Hb obscure
  7. Judges 18:7 MT; some LXX mss, Sym, Old Lat, Syr read Aram
  8. Judges 18:12 Or called Mahaneh-dan
  9. Judges 18:14 Or image, the cast image
  10. Judges 18:17 Or image, the cast image
  11. Judges 18:18 Or image, the cast image
  12. Judges 18:19 Lit Put your hand on your mouth
  13. Judges 18:30 Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss read Manasseh

John 3:1-21

Jesus and Nicodemus

There was a man from the Pharisees(A) named Nicodemus,(B) a ruler(C) of the Jews. This man came to Him at night and said, “Rabbi,(D) we know that You have come from God(E) as a teacher,(F) for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him.”(G)

Jesus replied, “I assure you: Unless someone is born again,[a](H) he cannot see the kingdom of God.”(I)

“But how can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked Him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

Jesus answered, “I assure you: Unless someone is born(J) of water and the Spirit,[b](K) he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh(L) is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit(M) is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you[c] must be born(N) again. The wind[d] blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.(O) So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”(P)

“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

10 “Are you a teacher[e] of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. 11 “I assure you:(Q) We speak what We know and We testify to what We have seen, but you[f] do not accept Our testimony.[g] 12 If I have told you about things that happen on earth and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven? 13 No one has ascended(R) into heaven(S) except the One who descended from heaven(T)—the Son of Man.[h](U) 14 Just as Moses(V) lifted up the snake in the wilderness,(W) so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in Him will[i] have eternal life.(X)

16 “For God loved(Y) the world in this way:[j] He gave His One and Only(Z) Son,(AA) so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.(AB) 17 For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn(AC) the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned,(AD) because he has not believed in the name(AE) of the One and Only Son(AF) of God.

19 “This, then, is the judgment: The light(AG) has come into the world,(AH) and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who practices wicked things hates(AI) the light and avoids it,[k] so that his deeds(AJ) may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by[l] the truth comes to the light, so that his works(AK) may be shown to be accomplished by God.”[m]

Footnotes:

  1. John 3:3 The same Gk word can mean again or from above (also in v. 7).
  2. John 3:5 Or spirit, or wind; the Gk word pneuma can mean wind, spirit, or Spirit, each of which occurs in this context.
  3. John 3:7 The pronoun is pl in Gk.
  4. John 3:8 The Gk word pneuma can mean wind, spirit, or Spirit, each of which occurs in this context.
  5. John 3:10 Or the teacher
  6. John 3:11 In Gk, the word you is pl here and throughout v. 12.
  7. John 3:11 The pronouns we and our refer to Jesus and His authority to speak for the Father.
  8. John 3:13 Other mss add who is in heaven
  9. John 3:15 Other mss add not perish, but
  10. John 3:16 The Gk word houtos, commonly translated in Jn 3:16 as “so” or “so much” occurs over 200 times in the NT. Almost without exception it is an adverb of manner, not degree (for example, see Mt 1:18). It only means “so much” when modifying an adjective (see Gl 3:3; Rv 16:18). Manner seems primarily in view in Jn 3:16, which explains the HCSB‘s rendering.
  11. John 3:20 Lit and does not come to the light
  12. John 3:21 Lit who does
  13. John 3:21 It is possible that Jesus’ words end at v. 15. Ancient Gk did not have quotation marks.

Psalm 104:1-23

Psalm 104

God the Creator

My soul, praise Yahweh!
Lord my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with majesty and splendor.(A)
He wraps Himself in light as if it were a robe,
spreading out the sky like a canopy,(B)
laying the beams of His palace
on the waters above,(C)
making the clouds His chariot,(D)
walking on the wings of the wind,(E)
and making the winds His messengers,[a]
flames of fire His servants.(F)

He established the earth on its foundations;
it will never be shaken.(G)
You covered it with the deep
as if it were a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.(H)
At Your rebuke the waters fled;
at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away(I)
mountains rose and valleys sank[b]
to the place You established for them.(J)
You set a boundary they cannot cross;
they will never cover the earth again.(K)

10 He causes the springs to gush into the valleys;
they flow between the mountains.(L)
11 They supply water for every wild beast;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.(M)
12 The birds of the sky live beside the springs;
they sing among the foliage.(N)
13 He waters the mountains from His palace;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of Your labor.(O)

14 He causes grass to grow for the livestock
and provides crops for man to cultivate,
producing food from the earth,(P)
15 wine that makes man’s heart glad—
making his face shine with oil—
and bread that sustains man’s heart.(Q)

16 The trees of the Lord flourish,[c]
the cedars of Lebanon that He planted.(R)
17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork makes its home in the pine trees.(S)
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the cliffs are a refuge for hyraxes.(T)

19 He made the moon to mark the[d] festivals;[e]
the sun knows when to set.(U)
20 You bring darkness, and it becomes night,
when all the forest animals stir.(V)
21 The young lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.(W)
22 The sun rises; they go back
and lie down in their dens.(X)
23 Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until evening.(Y)

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 104:4 Or angels
  2. Psalm 104:8 Or away. They flowed over the mountains and went down valleys
  3. Psalm 104:16 Lit are satisfied
  4. Psalm 104:19 Lit moon for
  5. Psalm 104:19 Or the appointed times

Proverbs 14:20-21

20 A poor man is hated even by his neighbor,(A)
but there are many who love the rich.(B)

21 The one who despises his neighbor sins,(C)
but whoever shows kindness to the poor will be happy.(D)

Cross references:

  1. 14:20 : Pr 19:7
  2. 14:20 : Pr 19:4
  3. 14:21 : Pr 11:12
  4. 14:21 : Ps 41:1

05/02/2017 DAB Transcript

Judges 15:1-16:31 ~ John 2:1-25 ~ Psalm 103:1-22 ~ Proverbs 14:17-19

Today is the 2nd day of May.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian.  It is great to be here with you today.  I have been saying April, like April 2nd all day and I’ve realized I’m just trying to move into this month.  I have to get all my stuff out of the last month and I need to carry it forward and leave the stuff behind me that I won’t be needing this month.  And we should all do that.  We’re moving into this new month, so we’ll read from the May 2nd portion of scripture which is us continuing in the story of Samson in the book of Judges, so we’re reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week, Judges chapter 15, verse 1 through 16, verse 31.  

Prayer

Father, thank you for your word.  Thank you for the beautiful psalms that we can continually go to that just speak all the issues of the heart.  Even in today’s psalm all we can do is mimic those words – our souls praise you.  All that is within us praises your holy name. Our soul praises you.  And we do not forget all of the benefits of this relationship.  You forgive our sins.  You heal our diseases.  You redeem our lives from the pit.  You crown us with faithful love and compassion.  You satisfy us with goodness.  Our youth is renewed like the eagle.  You have not given us what we deserve.  As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is your faithful love toward those who fear you.  As far is the east is from the west, that is how far you have removed our sins from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so you have compassion on us because you know what we are made of.  So we thank you, Father.  We worship you because these are things we could never do for ourselves.  Yet you have gifted them to us because you love us.  And we love you, so we invite you anew, fresh, again.  Come Holy Spirit.  Come within.  Well up within us and lead and guide our steps today, we ask.  In Jesus’ name, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here so be sure to check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you, thank you, thank you.  There is a link on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner.  Or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, of course we’re community, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today.  I’m Brian. I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hi.  This is Pam. I can actually go by Humbled, Broken, and Contrite.  This is my first time calling and I just want to say thank you to all of you.  You guys are just an amazing group of people that reach out to each other and I’m very appreciative to be part of it.  I have a prayer request for my son Randy.  He has 7 children.  He’s a godly man.  He is going to have open heart surgery again.  They are going to put a pacemaker in and he needs your prayers.  God is able and he is so good to us and so I’m just asking that you please pray for him for his financial need as well as his health.  And I thank you for it.  What I want to do is actually say to everyone we have to remember that we are in war here and as a family of believers there are so many of you reaching out and it breaks my heart so I pray for you every day.  And I thank you that you’re reaching out, but we have to remember that we truly are in war.  In James it says submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.  That submit is a military term used and it is to fall back into line and if you think about war, we are marching in battle with each other and when one falls down in the muck and the mud or they are shot and they are wounded, we pick up each other and we move forward because our commander and chief, God has a plan and we’re moving toward that plan and we believe…  

Hi, hello everyone.  I’m a 1-year listener, first-time caller.  I’ve been putting this off for a long time simply because I thought it would be awkward or I will be very shy, but I feel very led to do this today.  First of all, thank you Brian for this great ministry at all.  It really, really provides a routine for me.  I’ve always wanted to study the undiluted word of God, not other people’s messages, interpretations, but God’s word, you know?  I’m an auditory learner.  I found that out late in life and then I just realized that this is really working for me, so God bless you.  God bless your wife.  This is a great ministry and you’re literally changing lives.  I don’t fall off to sleep anymore on the word of God.  I’m really calling to thank the lady who declared a fast for marriages.  My marriage has been in trouble for the last few years and I’ve learned a lot listening to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’ve realized that I’m not alone, that many are going through infidelity like I have and during this fast, a lady called and she said that the word God gave her was to be obedient, to forgive, and be a godly woman and this is my prayer request for today as I continue to pray this over myself and over the marriages of people on this platform.  I ask that you pray for me to continue to be obedient, forgive my husband for the many wrongs that I feel he has done me, and to be a godly woman and just to listen to God daily and do what he tells me to do and I believe my marriage will be healed. Thank you and this is Bee from Athens, Greece.    

Hello from beautiful Cincinnati, OH.  This is Daniel Johnson, Jr.  It’s been a long time since I’ve called and I really wish I was calling about something happy today.  I just learned that my stepsister who lived in Columbus, OH has died of an overdose. I only recently learned that she had a problem.  Her brother has been dealing with cancer this year and there has been a lot of stuff going on with my family.  Please pray for  my family and for my stepmother and her kids.  We’re finding out they just lost their child and I don’t even know how to process this right now.  I’m going through some things at church about grief and recovery in general and I never thought that I would be needing to process this so soon.  Thank you so much guys, brothers and sisters.  God bless.  From beautiful Cincinnati, OH, we can still make it a great day.    

Hey family.  It’s Jordan from Michigan.  Been a couple weeks but I am calling in today which I’m excited about.  I’m back on my 60-day challenge.  Believe I’m on day 46, so today I’m grateful for Jesus giving me the ability to forgive.  It is something I always thought I had, but recently I’ve been seeing little bits of unforgiveness in my life.  So whenever somebody wrongs me I pray for that person and I pray that they will be blessed and that I will be able to forgive and forget the wrong that they have done to me.  It helps me so much at my job, in my interactions with my friends and just in my life in general.  I want to pray St. Francis’ prayer for peace.  Lord, make me a channel of your peace, that where there is hatred I may bring love, where there is wrong I may bring a spirit of forgiveness, where there is discord I may bring harmony, where there is error I may bring truth, where there is doubt I may bring faith, where there is despair I may bring hope, where there are shadows I may bring light, where there is sadness I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek first to forgive than to be forgiven, to understand than to be understood, to love than to be loved for it is by forgetting the self that one finds, it is by forgiving that one is forgiven, it is by dying that one finds eternal life. Amen.  

Hi, I just wanted to call.  I’m not going to tell you guys who I am because it’s not really important who I am because God knows who I am and I feel a burden on my heart to tell everyone to really search for places within us that we need to seek not only forgiveness but to forgive others.  I say that because after I became a Christian sometimes I would think about how God had forgiven me and how wonderful it was.  And it was almost like the enemy would come and say, “Yeah, but do you remember when you did this?”  And I struggled with that for so long and I realized that there was someone I had not forgiven and that was me.  I had not forgiven myself for the things I had done.  I feel that I am a better person spiritually after being able to forgive myself for what I’ve done.  And I’ve also had to go and try to forgive church hurts, ways that I’ve been hurt by people in the church.  I know people, they mean well sometimes, but there were some times that I have been hurt by people in the church and that is what I’m working on to forgive now, those hurts.  And I’m just thinking I can’t be alone in feeling like I have hurts I still need to deal with, so I just want to tell you guys forgive those that you need to forgive, but don’t forget to forgive yourself for things that we’ve done and people within the church.  Thank you. Bye-bye.  

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday May 2, 2017 (NIV)

Judges 15-16

Samson’s Revenge

15 Later on, during the wheat harvest,(A) Samson took a young goat as a gift and visited his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

“I was sure you hated her,” her father said, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Why not take her instead?”

Samson said to them, “This time I won’t be responsible(B) when I harm the Philistines.” So he went out and caught 300 foxes.(C) He took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. Then he ignited the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the piles of grain and the standing grain as well as the vineyards and olive groves.(D)

Then the Philistines asked, “Who did this?”

They were told, “It was Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because he has taken Samson’s wife and given her to another man.” So the Philistines went to her and her father and burned them to death.

Then Samson told them, “Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you.” He tore them limb from limb[a] with a great slaughter, and he went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

The Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and raided Lehi. 10 So the men of Judah said, “Why have you attacked us?”

They replied, “We have come to arrest Samson and pay him back for what he did to us.”

11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines rule over us?(E) What have you done to us?”

“I have done to them what they did to me,” he answered.[b]

12 They said to him, “We’ve come to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.”

Then Samson told them, “Swear to me that you yourselves won’t kill me.”

13 “No,” they said,[c] “we won’t kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they tied him up with two new ropes(F) and led him away from the rock.

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord took control of[d] him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like burnt flax and his bonds fell off his wrists. 15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed 1,000 men with it. 16 Then Samson said:

With the jawbone of a donkey
I have piled them in a heap.
With the jawbone of a donkey
I have killed 1,000 men.

17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone and named that place Ramath-lehi.[e] 18 He became very thirsty and called out to the Lord: “You have accomplished this great victory through[f] Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 So God split a hollow place in the ground at Lehi, and water came out of it. After Samson drank, his strength returned, and he revived.(G) That is why he named it En-hakkore,[g] which is in Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines.

Samson and Delilah

16 Samson went to Gaza,(H) where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her. When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. While they were waiting quietly,[h] they said, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.” But Samson stayed in bed until midnight when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.

Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. The Philistine leaders(I) went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you[i] where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me, where does your great strength come from? How could someone tie you up and make you helpless?”

Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. While the men in ambush were waiting in her room, she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”[j] But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. The secret of his strength remained unknown.

10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies! Won’t you please tell me how you can be tied up?”

11 He told her, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used,(J) I will become weak and be like any other man.”

12 Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”[k] But while the men in ambush were waiting in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up.”

He told her, “If you weave the seven braids on my head with the web of a loom—”[l]

14 She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”[m] He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web.

15 “How can you say, ‘I love you,’”(K) she told him, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great!”

16 Because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him until she wore him out,[n] 17 he told her the whole truth and said to her, “My hair has never been cut,[o] because I am a Nazirite(L) to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

18 When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: “Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth.” The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the money with them.

19 Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless,[p] and his strength left him. 20 Then she cried, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”[q] When he awoke from his sleep, he said, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.(M)

Samson’s Defeat and Death

21 The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison. 22 But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.

23 Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon.(N) They rejoiced and said:

Our god has handed over
our enemy Samson to us.

24 When the people saw him, they praised their god(O) and said:

Our god has handed over to us
our enemy who destroyed our land
and who multiplied our dead.

25 When they were drunk,[r] they said, “Bring Samson here to entertain us.” So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars.

26 Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.” 27 The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about 3,000 men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them. 28 He called out to the Lord: “Lord God, please remember me.(P) Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And the dead he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.

31 Then his brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. So he judged Israel 20 years.

Footnotes:

  1. Judges 15:8 Lit He struck them hip on thigh
  2. Judges 15:11 Lit answered them
  3. Judges 15:13 Lit said to him
  4. Judges 15:14 Lit Lord rushed on
  5. Judges 15:17 = High Place of the Jawbone
  6. Judges 15:18 Lit through the hand of
  7. Judges 15:19 = Spring of the One Who Cried Out
  8. Judges 16:2 Lit quietly all night
  9. Judges 16:5 Lit him and see
  10. Judges 16:9 Lit are on you
  11. Judges 16:12 Lit are on you
  12. Judges 16:13 LXX reads loom and fasten [them] with a pin into the wall and I will become weak and be like any other man.” 14 And while he was sleeping, Delilah wove the seven braids on his head into the loom.
  13. Judges 16:14 Lit are on you
  14. Judges 16:16 Lit him and he became short to death
  15. Judges 16:17 Lit A razor has not gone up on my head
  16. Judges 16:19 LXX reads way he began to weaken
  17. Judges 16:20 Lit are on you
  18. Judges 16:25 Or When they were feeling good

John 2

The First Sign: Turning Water into Wine

On the third day a wedding took place in Cana(A) of Galilee.(B) Jesus’ mother(C) was there, and Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding as well. When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother told Him, “They don’t have any wine.”

“What has this concern of yours to do with Me,[a](D) woman?”(E) Jesus asked. “My hour[b] has not yet come.”

“Do whatever He tells you,” His mother told the servants.

Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification.(F) Each contained 20 or 30 gallons.[c]

“Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. Then He said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the chief servant.”[d] And they did.

When the chief servant tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom 10 and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people have drunk freely, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.”

11 Jesus performed this first sign[e] in Cana(G) of Galilee.(H) He displayed(I) His glory,(J) and His disciples believed in Him.

12 After this, He went down to Capernaum,(K) together with His mother, His brothers,(L) and His disciples, and they stayed there only a few days.

Cleansing the Temple Complex

13 The Jewish Passover(M) was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.(N) 14 In the temple complex(O) He found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and He also found the money changers sitting there. 15 After making a whip out of cords,(P) He drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep(Q) and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. 16 He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father’s(R) house(S) into a marketplace!”[f](T)

17 And His disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal(U) for Your house will consume(V) Me.(W)[g]

18 So the Jews replied to Him, “What sign of authority will You show us for doing these things?”

19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this sanctuary,(X) and I will raise it up in three days.”(Y)

20 Therefore the Jews said, “This sanctuary took 46 years to build, and will You raise it up in three days?”(Z)

21 But He was speaking about the sanctuary of His body.(AA) 22 So when He was raised from the dead,(AB) His disciples remembered that He had said this.(AC) And they believed the Scripture(AD) and the statement Jesus had made.

23 While He was in Jerusalem(AE) at the Passover Festival,(AF) many trusted in His name(AG) when they saw the signs He was doing. 24 Jesus, however, would not entrust Himself to them, since He knew them all 25 and because He did not need anyone to testify about man; for He Himself knew what was in man.(AH)

Footnotes:

  1. John 2:4 Or You and I see things differently; lit What to Me and to you; Mt 8:29; Mk 1:24; 5:7; Lk 8:28
  2. John 2:4 The time of His sacrificial death and exaltation; Jn 7:30; 8:20; 12:23,27; 13:1; 17:1
  3. John 2:6 Lit 2 or 3 measures
  4. John 2:8 Lit ruler of the table; perhaps master of the feast, or headwaiter
  5. John 2:11 Lit this beginning of the signs; Jn 4:54; 20:30. Seven miraculous signs occur in John’s Gospel and are so noted in the headings.
  6. John 2:16 Lit a house of business
  7. John 2:17 Ps 69:9

Psalm 103

Psalm 103

The Forgiving God

Davidic.

My soul, praise Yahweh,
and all that is within me, praise His holy name.(A)
My soul, praise the Lord,
and do not forget all His benefits.(B)

He forgives all your sin;(C)
He heals all your diseases.(D)
He redeems your life from the Pit;(E)
He crowns you with faithful love and compassion.(F)
He satisfies you[a] with goodness;(G)
your youth is renewed like the eagle.(H)

The Lord executes acts of righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.(I)
He revealed His ways to Moses,(J)
His deeds to the people of Israel.(K)
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love.(L)
He will not always accuse us
or be angry forever.(M)
10 He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve
or repaid us according to our offenses.(N)

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His faithful love
toward those who fear Him.(O)
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed
our transgressions from us.(P)
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.(Q)
14 For He knows what we are made of,
remembering that we are dust.(R)

15 As for man, his days are like grass—
he blooms like a flower of the field;(S)
16 when the wind passes over it, it vanishes,
and its place is no longer known.[b](T)
17 But from eternity to eternity
the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear Him,
and His righteousness toward the grandchildren(U)
18 of those who keep His covenant,
who remember to observe His precepts.(V)
19 The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
and His kingdom rules over all.(W)

20 Praise the Lord,
all His angels of great strength,
who do His word,
obedient to His command.(X)
21 Praise the Lord, all His armies,
His servants who do His will.(Y)
22 Praise the Lord, all His works
in all the places where He rules.(Z)
My soul, praise Yahweh!

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 103:5 Lit satisfies your ornament; Hb obscure
  2. Psalm 103:16 Lit place no longer knows it

Proverbs 14:17-19

17 A quick-tempered man acts foolishly,
and a man who schemes is hated.(A)

18 The inexperienced inherit foolishness,
but the sensible are crowned with knowledge.

19 The evil bow before those who are good,
the wicked, at the gates of the righteous.

Cross references:

  1. 14:17 : Pr 12:2; 24:8

05/01/2017 DAB Transcript

Judges 13:1-14:20 ~ John 1:29-51 ~ Psalm 102:1-28 ~ Proverbs 14:15-16

Today is May 1st.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. We started a brand new week yesterday and we get to start a brand new month today, so like everything is sparkly and shiny. We started the book of John yesterday so it’s all new around here, and as is the case in all of life, how we live into this month is what this month is going to end up looking like.  The choices that we make in thought, word and deed will write the story of the month of May this year and so we choose in advance to be wise and choose well.  One of the ways we do that is the rhythm, the rhythm of the scriptures in our lives every day always, always here in community.   So let’s get to it.  

We’re reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week and we’re in the book of Judges and we’re about to learn of the last judge and his name is Samson.  Judges 13:1 through 14:20 today.  

Prayer

Father, as we move into this new month, we’re moving into new territory in the Bible, in our lives.  So we take counsel from the Proverbs today and we choose now at the beginning of this month to live it sensibly by watching our steps.  We choose to be wise by being cautious and turning away from evil. This alone continually remembered will change the course of this month.  This alone.  But we want to walk with you in all things, so we invite your Holy Spirit to show us what it means to be sensible and watch our steps.  Show us when we’re walking into territory we shouldn’t.  Show us how to be cautious and turn away from evil. Show us how to be wise.  We give ourselves to you this month and look forward to the fellowship, look forward to the intimacy and the conversations that we’re going to have.  We invite you into all that we are, all we say, all that we do, all that we think. Nothing is cloaked from you, nothing is off-limits from you.  We invite you into it all.  Come Jesus, we pray, into the month of May.  We ask in your name.  Amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here.  One of the things we’re mentioning is the fact that we’ll be going back to this land of the Bible.  So like even in today’s reading, we’re reading of Jesus calling Andrew and Phillip and Peter and Bethsaida is mentioned as a hometown.  We go there.  It is one of my favorite places to go.  So, yeah, the Bible just becomes a very, very living thing when you’ve been able to be in so many of the places that it happened.  And so we’ll be going back in February, February 19th and then ending March 4th and you are invited.  You can get all the details at www.DailyAudioBible.com if you just scroll down.  You’ll find this little banner, green color.  It says Israel 2018.  Click on that and you’ll get the details that you’re looking for. Hopefully I’ll get to see you. Hopefully you can come.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we share to bring the spoken word of God to anyone who will listen to it, anywhere on this planet, anytime of day or night, and to build community around that rhythm so that no one ever has to feel alone in this faith journey, that is what we do and it has been a beautiful thing to see.  If that has been beautiful and life-giving to you, then thank you for being life-giving back so that it exists, so that it moves on another day, another day, another day.  Thank you profoundly for your partnership.  If you’re using the app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner.  Or the mailing address, if you prefer, is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today.  I’m Brian. I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Good morning Daily Audio Bible.  This is Kadian from Mississauga, Canada.  I’ve been having the urge to call from quite a while.  Some time ago I was listening to the Community Prayer maybe three Community Prayers ago, and I heard a young man call in.  He was driving and he was having trouble understanding the purpose of living and that life seemed to have not much of a purpose, that kind of stuff.  And I think the Holy Spirit has been asking me to call in because I struggled with the exact same thing and in my entire life, thinking I’m just a part of teenage pregnancy and so I don’t know why I’m living and it is something I constantly struggle with, but I want to say to this young man that you’re not alone, first and foremost, but I want to tell you what I’ve learned that has helped me to have intentionality when I live or live with a greater purpose or intention daily. Every day I have to tap into it. I read the awesome book Reframe and can I say read the book?  It’s an awesome book.  It opened my eyes to see God in a different way and relationship with him in a different way and so now I live my life with a concept ‘but God.’  Every time I see that my life is without purpose, I go ‘but God.’  And I remember that somewhere Solomon said that there is no meaning in life and when he concluded he said without God.  So basically ‘but God.’  So can I suggest to you strongly that you definitely tap into the ‘but God?’  When it makes no sense, just rest on the ‘but God’ part of it.  Because God makes all the difference.  He makes it worth it.  He makes it all worthwhile.  Without him none of this has a purpose.  And I want to also say that I heard a couple of callers say and I’ve found it to be true, just __ the Daily Audio Bible family and about a week or so ago a lady called in and challenged us about…

Good afternoon Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Lee from New Jersey and today is April 28th.  God bless you all.  So calling in.  Mark S., from Australia, he actually opened the doors for us to call in, confess our sins and also to ask for prayer especially in regard to sexual sin.  Especially in regard to lust __, so I’m asking for prayer for me and I’m also going to request that we all pray for each other, especially all the men and women that are struggling or suffering because of it. And for those that are suffering around it as well, all that have pain and suffering because of it, that they may have been either cheated on or they feel that they are being, how do I say in it? – a spouse seeing another spouse, watching pornography or something like that, how that makes them feel.  It makes them feel like they’re worthless, like they are not worth anything, like they are not good enough.  So we need to pray for that as well.  Brothers and sisters, pray for me, that I may continue on my journey clean and free from too many lustful thoughts and of course from committing any kind of sexual sin. Thank God for that.  And I also pray for the rest of you, my brothers and sisters, that you will also steer clear from any sexual sin and that you will deal with your lustful thoughts and ideas rightfully so and God has __.  So folks, I’m just rambling on because it’s something that has been on my mind and it has been bothering me and something I struggle with, like I said before.  I sin every day one way or another.  It may not be big sins.  It may seem like it’s not sinning against anyone else, but still they are sins.  So ask God to come into that, to come into my life and to continue to bless me and my family.  And also I pray the same for the rest of you as well.  God bless you all.  

Hi.  This is Angelica.  I’m calling from California.  I’m a first-time caller and today is the 28th and I’ve been listening to the podcast and how everybody is encouraging everybody to call.  I wasn’t going to call because a lot of you guys say that you pray for even the ones that don’t call, so I was thinking that would be enough, but I really need prayers for my son.  His name is Fabio.  He’s in the Air Force in Aviano, Italy.  He’s been detained in __.  His court date is coming up on May 15th. He’s so far away.  He’s reaching out to God and I just need help to pray that the Holy Spirit would draw my son to him, to Jesus, and that every assignment or plot that comes from the devil to be canceled because I know that Jesus is __ for my son.  Anyway, he’s so far away and I feel so helpless.  I’ve been praying that he changes people’s heart.  He thinks the outcome is going to be good and he’s feeling positive, so also pray for me and for my family, that we get through this and that we start thanking God for the outcome.  Just help me pray that any plot that the enemy has for us, for my son, that it gets canceled. I need your prayers, family.  Thank you.  

Hi.  This is Joyful in Tennessee.  I was calling for Alicia in Phoenix.  I heard your call about your marriage and I just want to say I heard your call, that when you gave your call the Spirit just jumped in me because you said you were asking and you were seeking and the Lord will never deny your request when you ask and when you seek.  So I just wanted to encourage you and say fix your gaze on the Lord.  Take your eyes out of the details of your issue and you fix your gaze on your Savior Jesus who loves you and who hears you and he finds you precious and you have purpose and you are wonderful to him.  I just wanted to encourage that in you.  I also want to pray for you.  Lord Jesus, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would just encourage my sister Alicia, that you would build her up, that in the name of Jesus you would protect her marriage, that you would just bind Satan from all that is going on there, Lord God, and that only your purpose would be accomplished.  Lord God, I pray that you would send people, you would send purpose, that you would give her reason, Lord, and that you would speak to her so loudly that she will know her God hears her, Lord.  I just thank you for her and I praise you for her.  In Jesus’ name, amen.  I will be praying for you, Alicia.  I love you.

I am a 7-year listener and a first-time caller who is in desperate need. My husband called in last week and I am married to the sex addict of Central Washington.  I want to express my need for prayer and support in dealing with this recently revealed sexual addiction my husband is involved in.  It’s an addiction that has controlled his mind and physical body for our entire marriage.  It has and continues to __ as a woman and a wife and a person.  It has also led to violence in our home on my part to the degree that my husband filed charges, criminal charges against me.  I’m at risk of losing my adult children, my household and my job and I’m sinking into the depths of despair and feeling unworthy of God’s love and any affection my husband can feel for me.  Please pray that the prosecutor would drop charges altogether and that I would regain my mental and spiritual health and, if God desires, that our marriage would be healed.  Please lift up my husband and give him the strength to deal with this so he can beat this addiction and be a light to others who are experiencing this.  Thank you family.  Thank you so much.  

Hi, my name is Sonja and I’m calling from Tampa.  I probably called two times during the 7 years that I’ve been listening to you, Brian.  As I was praying, God spoke to me and told me that I needed to start connecting with my Daily Audio Bible family.  I listened to the broadcast on April 24th and it was there that something rose up inside of me and when I heard Miss Annette speak of her son Alex.  It is a path that I have taken as well.  I remember it was the most difficult decision I ever made as I phoned the police to come and get my son who had violated his probation, watching the police handcuff him and looking into his eyes of shock and disbelief left me paralyzed and broken, but my love for him was way too strong to see him go in the wrong direction.  I had to trust God beyond any measure and in the midst of all of this I __ the Lord in this difficult journey, it was there that I saw God’s glory manifest itself.  I saw the glory of God in such a way that it is even hard to put into words, so I say to you, my dear sister, trust him no matter what and speak life.  Trust him in the midst of every circumstance and you will see how the glory of God will be manifested in Alex’s life.  Today my son works in the finance department and he is studying to become a CPA.  If he did it for my son, he’ll do it for your son Alex.  All you have to do is trust God and declare God promises over your son.  Today I pray that God embraces you during this season and that the angels of God encamp all around you and your loved one.  I pray that no weapon formed against you or your family shall prosper, in the name that is above all names, in the name of Jesus. May God protect and shield my Daily Audio Bible family.  God bless you all.  

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday May 1, 2017 (NIV)

Judges 13-14

Birth of Samson, the Last Judge

13 The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,(A) so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines 40 years. There was a certain man from Zorah,(B) from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. The Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer,(C) or to eat anything unclean;(D) for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair,[a] because the boy will be a Nazirite(E) to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

Then the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring Angel of God. I didn’t ask Him where He came from, and He didn’t tell me His name. He said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. Therefore, do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth until the day of his death.’”

Manoah prayed(F) to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.”

God listened(G) to[b] Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field, and her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman ran quickly to her husband and told him, “The man who came to me today has just come back!”

11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are You the man who spoke to my wife?”

“I am,” He said.

12 Then Manoah asked, “When Your words come true, what will the boy’s responsibilities and mission[c] be?”

13 The Angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “Your wife needs to do everything I told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine or drink wine or beer. And she must not eat anything unclean. Your wife must do everything I have commanded her.”

15 “Please stay here,” Manoah told Him, “and we will prepare a young goat(H) for You.”

16 The Angel of the Lord said to him, “If I stay, I won’t eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.

17 Then Manoah said to Him, “What is Your name, so that we may honor You when Your words come true?”

18 “Why do you ask My name,” the Angel of the Lord asked him, “since it is wonderful.”(I)

19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord, and He did a wonderful thing[d] while Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the Angel of the Lord went up in its flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground. 21 The Angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the Angel of the Lord.

22 “We’re going to die,” he said to his wife, “because we have seen God!”(J)

23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, He wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and He would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us now like this.”

24 So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson.(K) The boy grew,(L) and the Lord blessed him. 25 Then the Spirit of the Lord began to direct him in the Camp of Dan,[e] between Zorah and Eshtaol.(M)

Samson’s Riddle

14 Samson went down to Timnah(N) and saw a young Philistine woman there. He went back and told his father and his mother: “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find[f] a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?”

But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, because I want her.”[g] Now his father and mother did not know this was from the Lord,(O) who was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. At that time, the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, the Spirit of the Lord took control of[h](P) him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. Then he went and spoke to the woman, because Samson wanted her.[i]

After some time, when he returned to get her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass. He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.(Q)

10 His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do. 11 When the Philistines saw him, they brought 30 men to accompany him.

12 “Let me tell you a riddle,”(R) Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes. 13 But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they replied.[j] “Let’s hear it.”

14 So he said to them:

Out of the eater came something to eat,
and out of the strong came something sweet.

After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle. 15 On the fourth[k] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

16 So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me!(S) You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.”

“Look,” he said,[l] “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

17 She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people. 18 On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him:

What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?

So he said to them:

If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow,
you wouldn’t know my riddle now!

19 The Spirit of the Lord took control of him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed 30 of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house, 20 and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

Footnotes:

  1. Judges 13:5 Lit And a razor is not to go up on his head
  2. Judges 13:9 Lit to the voice of
  3. Judges 13:12 Lit work
  4. Judges 13:19 LXX reads to the Lord, to the One who works wonders
  5. Judges 13:25 Or in Mahaneh-dan
  6. Judges 14:3 Lit Is there not
  7. Judges 14:3 Lit because she is right in my eyes
  8. Judges 14:6 Lit Lord rushed on
  9. Judges 14:7 Lit because she was right in the eyes of Samson
  10. Judges 14:13 Lit replied to him
  11. Judges 14:15 LXX, Syr; MT reads seventh
  12. Judges 14:16 Lit said to her

John 1:29-51

The Lamb of God

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God,(A) who takes away the sin(B) of the world! 30 This is the One I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who has surpassed me, because He existed before me.’ 31 I didn’t know Him,(C) but I came baptizing with[a] water so He might be revealed(D) to Israel.”

32 And John testified, “I watched the Spirit(E) descending from heaven like a dove, and He rested on Him.(F) 33 I didn’t know Him, but He[b] who sent me to baptize with[c] water told me, ‘The One you see the Spirit descending and resting on—He is the One who baptizes with[d] the Holy Spirit.’(G) 34 I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God!”[e](H)

35 Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!”

37 The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and noticed them following Him, He asked them, “What are you looking for?”

They said to Him, “Rabbi”(I) (which means “Teacher”), “where are You staying?”

39 “Come and you’ll see,” He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day. It was about 10 in the morning.[f]

40 Andrew,(J) Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed Him. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah!”[g](K) (which means “Anointed(L) One”), 42 and he brought Simon to Jesus.

When Jesus saw him, He said, “You are Simon, son of John.[h] You will be called Cephas”(M) (which means “Rock”).

Philip and Nathanael

43 The next day He[i] decided to leave for Galilee. Jesus found Philip(N) and told him, “Follow Me!”

44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida,(O) the hometown of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael[j](P) and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law (and so did the prophets(Q)): Jesus the son of Joseph,(R) from Nazareth!”(S)

46 “Can anything good(T) come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him.

“Come and see,” Philip answered.

47 Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him and said about him, “Here is a true Israelite;(U) no deceit is in him.”

48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.

49 “Rabbi,”(V) Nathanael replied, “You are the Son(W) of God! You are the King of Israel!”(X)

50 Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe only because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You[k] will see greater things than this.” 51 Then He said, “I assure you: You[l] will see heaven opened and the angels of God(Y) ascending and descending(Z) on the Son of Man.”(AA)

Footnotes:

  1. John 1:31 Or in
  2. John 1:33 He refers to God the Father, who gave John a sign to help him identify the Messiah. Vv. 32-34 indicate that John did not know that Jesus was the Messiah until the Spirit descended upon Him at His baptism.
  3. John 1:33 Or in
  4. John 1:33 Or in
  5. John 1:34 Other mss read is the Chosen One of God
  6. John 1:39 Lit about the tenth hour. Various methods of reckoning time were used in the ancient world. John probably used a different method from the other 3 Gospels. If John used the same method of time reckoning as the other 3 Gospels, the translation would be: It was about four in the afternoon.
  7. John 1:41 In the NT, the word Messiah translates the Gk word Christos (“Anointed One”), except here and in Jn 4:25 where it translates Messias.
  8. John 1:42 Other mss read Simon, son of Jonah
  9. John 1:43 Or he, referring either to Simon Peter (vv. 41-42) or Andrew (vv. 40-41)
  10. John 1:45 Probably the Bartholomew of the other Gospels and Acts
  11. John 1:50 In Gk, the word you is sg and refers to Nathanael.
  12. John 1:51 In Gk, the word you is pl and refers to Nathanael and the other disciples.

Psalm 102

Psalm 102

Affliction in Light of Eternity

A prayer of an afflicted person who is weak and pours out his lament before the Lord.(A)

Lord, hear my prayer;
let my cry for help come before You.(B)
Do not hide Your face from me in my day of trouble.
Listen closely to me;
answer me quickly when I call.(C)

For my days vanish like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.(D)
My heart is afflicted, withered like grass;(E)
I even forget to eat my food.(F)
Because of the sound of my groaning,
my flesh sticks to my bones.(G)
I am like a desert owl,[a]
like an owl among the ruins.(H)
I stay awake;(I)
I am like a solitary bird on a roof.
My enemies taunt me all day long;
they ridicule and curse me.(J)
I eat ashes like bread
and mingle my drinks with tears(K)
10 because of Your indignation and wrath;
for You have picked me up and thrown me aside.(L)
11 My days are like a lengthening shadow,
and I wither away like grass.(M)

12 But You, Lord, are enthroned forever;(N)
Your fame endures to all generations.(O)
13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show favor to her—
the appointed time has come.(P)
14 For Your servants take delight in its stones
and favor its dust.(Q)

15 Then the nations will fear the name of Yahweh,
and all the kings of the earth Your glory,(R)
16 for the Lord will rebuild Zion;
He will appear in His glory.(S)
17 He will pay attention to the prayer of the destitute
and will not despise their prayer.(T)

18 This will be written for a later generation,
and a newly created people will praise the Lord:(U)
19 He looked down from His holy heights—
the Lord gazed out from heaven to earth(V)
20 to hear a prisoner’s groaning,
to set free those condemned to die,[b](W)
21 so that they might declare
the name of Yahweh in Zion
and His praise in Jerusalem,(X)
22 when peoples and kingdoms are assembled
to serve the Lord.(Y)

23 He has broken my[c] strength in midcourse;
He has shortened my days.(Z)
24 I say: “My God, do not take me
in the middle of my life![d]
Your years continue through all generations.(AA)
25 Long ago You established the earth,
and the heavens are the work of Your hands.(AB)
26 They will perish, but You will endure;
all of them will wear out like clothing.
You will change them like a garment,
and they will pass away.(AC)
27 But You are the same,
and Your years will never end.(AD)
28 Your servants’ children will dwell securely,
and their offspring will be established before You.”(AE)

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 102:6 Or a pelican of the desert
  2. Psalm 102:20 Lit free sons of death
  3. Psalm 102:23 Some Hb mss, LXX read His
  4. Psalm 102:24 Lit my days

Proverbs 14:15-16

15 The inexperienced one believes anything,(A)
but the sensible one watches[a] his steps.

16 A wise man is cautious and turns from evil,(B)
but a fool is easily angered and is careless.[b]

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 14:15 Lit the prudent understand
  2. Proverbs 14:16 Or and falls

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday May 1, 2017 (NIV)

Judges 13-14

Birth of Samson, the Last Judge

13 The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,(A) so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines 40 years. There was a certain man from Zorah,(B) from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. The Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer,(C) or to eat anything unclean;(D) for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair,[a] because the boy will be a Nazirite(E) to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

Then the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring Angel of God. I didn’t ask Him where He came from, and He didn’t tell me His name. He said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. Therefore, do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth until the day of his death.’”

Manoah prayed(F) to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.”

God listened(G) to[b] Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field, and her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman ran quickly to her husband and told him, “The man who came to me today has just come back!”

11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are You the man who spoke to my wife?”

“I am,” He said.

12 Then Manoah asked, “When Your words come true, what will the boy’s responsibilities and mission[c] be?”

13 The Angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “Your wife needs to do everything I told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine or drink wine or beer. And she must not eat anything unclean. Your wife must do everything I have commanded her.”

15 “Please stay here,” Manoah told Him, “and we will prepare a young goat(H) for You.”

16 The Angel of the Lord said to him, “If I stay, I won’t eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.

17 Then Manoah said to Him, “What is Your name, so that we may honor You when Your words come true?”

18 “Why do you ask My name,” the Angel of the Lord asked him, “since it is wonderful.”(I)

19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord, and He did a wonderful thing[d] while Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the Angel of the Lord went up in its flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground. 21 The Angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the Angel of the Lord.

22 “We’re going to die,” he said to his wife, “because we have seen God!”(J)

23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, He wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and He would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us now like this.”

24 So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson.(K) The boy grew,(L) and the Lord blessed him. 25 Then the Spirit of the Lord began to direct him in the Camp of Dan,[e] between Zorah and Eshtaol.(M)

Samson’s Riddle

14 Samson went down to Timnah(N) and saw a young Philistine woman there. He went back and told his father and his mother: “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find[f] a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?”

But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, because I want her.”[g] Now his father and mother did not know this was from the Lord,(O) who was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. At that time, the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, the Spirit of the Lord took control of[h](P) him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. Then he went and spoke to the woman, because Samson wanted her.[i]

After some time, when he returned to get her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass. He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.(Q)

10 His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do. 11 When the Philistines saw him, they brought 30 men to accompany him.

12 “Let me tell you a riddle,”(R) Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes. 13 But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they replied.[j] “Let’s hear it.”

14 So he said to them:

Out of the eater came something to eat,
and out of the strong came something sweet.

After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle. 15 On the fourth[k] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

16 So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me!(S) You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.”

“Look,” he said,[l] “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

17 She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people. 18 On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him:

What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?

So he said to them:

If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow,
you wouldn’t know my riddle now!

19 The Spirit of the Lord took control of him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed 30 of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house, 20 and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

Footnotes:

  1. Judges 13:5 Lit And a razor is not to go up on his head
  2. Judges 13:9 Lit to the voice of
  3. Judges 13:12 Lit work
  4. Judges 13:19 LXX reads to the Lord, to the One who works wonders
  5. Judges 13:25 Or in Mahaneh-dan
  6. Judges 14:3 Lit Is there not
  7. Judges 14:3 Lit because she is right in my eyes
  8. Judges 14:6 Lit Lord rushed on
  9. Judges 14:7 Lit because she was right in the eyes of Samson
  10. Judges 14:13 Lit replied to him
  11. Judges 14:15 LXX, Syr; MT reads seventh
  12. Judges 14:16 Lit said to her

John 1:29-51

The Lamb of God

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God,(A) who takes away the sin(B) of the world! 30 This is the One I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who has surpassed me, because He existed before me.’ 31 I didn’t know Him,(C) but I came baptizing with[a] water so He might be revealed(D) to Israel.”

32 And John testified, “I watched the Spirit(E) descending from heaven like a dove, and He rested on Him.(F) 33 I didn’t know Him, but He[b] who sent me to baptize with[c] water told me, ‘The One you see the Spirit descending and resting on—He is the One who baptizes with[d] the Holy Spirit.’(G) 34 I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God!”[e](H)

35 Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!”

37 The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and noticed them following Him, He asked them, “What are you looking for?”

They said to Him, “Rabbi”(I) (which means “Teacher”), “where are You staying?”

39 “Come and you’ll see,” He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day. It was about 10 in the morning.[f]

40 Andrew,(J) Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed Him. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah!”[g](K) (which means “Anointed(L) One”), 42 and he brought Simon to Jesus.

When Jesus saw him, He said, “You are Simon, son of John.[h] You will be called Cephas”(M) (which means “Rock”).

Philip and Nathanael

43 The next day He[i] decided to leave for Galilee. Jesus found Philip(N) and told him, “Follow Me!”

44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida,(O) the hometown of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael[j](P) and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law (and so did the prophets(Q)): Jesus the son of Joseph,(R) from Nazareth!”(S)

46 “Can anything good(T) come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him.

“Come and see,” Philip answered.

47 Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him and said about him, “Here is a true Israelite;(U) no deceit is in him.”

48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.

49 “Rabbi,”(V) Nathanael replied, “You are the Son(W) of God! You are the King of Israel!”(X)

50 Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe only because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You[k] will see greater things than this.” 51 Then He said, “I assure you: You[l] will see heaven opened and the angels of God(Y) ascending and descending(Z) on the Son of Man.”(AA)

Footnotes:

  1. John 1:31 Or in
  2. John 1:33 He refers to God the Father, who gave John a sign to help him identify the Messiah. Vv. 32-34 indicate that John did not know that Jesus was the Messiah until the Spirit descended upon Him at His baptism.
  3. John 1:33 Or in
  4. John 1:33 Or in
  5. John 1:34 Other mss read is the Chosen One of God
  6. John 1:39 Lit about the tenth hour. Various methods of reckoning time were used in the ancient world. John probably used a different method from the other 3 Gospels. If John used the same method of time reckoning as the other 3 Gospels, the translation would be: It was about four in the afternoon.
  7. John 1:41 In the NT, the word Messiah translates the Gk word Christos (“Anointed One”), except here and in Jn 4:25 where it translates Messias.
  8. John 1:42 Other mss read Simon, son of Jonah
  9. John 1:43 Or he, referring either to Simon Peter (vv. 41-42) or Andrew (vv. 40-41)
  10. John 1:45 Probably the Bartholomew of the other Gospels and Acts
  11. John 1:50 In Gk, the word you is sg and refers to Nathanael.
  12. John 1:51 In Gk, the word you is pl and refers to Nathanael and the other disciples.

Psalm 102

Psalm 102

Affliction in Light of Eternity

A prayer of an afflicted person who is weak and pours out his lament before the Lord.(A)

Lord, hear my prayer;
let my cry for help come before You.(B)
Do not hide Your face from me in my day of trouble.
Listen closely to me;
answer me quickly when I call.(C)

For my days vanish like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.(D)
My heart is afflicted, withered like grass;(E)
I even forget to eat my food.(F)
Because of the sound of my groaning,
my flesh sticks to my bones.(G)
I am like a desert owl,[a]
like an owl among the ruins.(H)
I stay awake;(I)
I am like a solitary bird on a roof.
My enemies taunt me all day long;
they ridicule and curse me.(J)
I eat ashes like bread
and mingle my drinks with tears(K)
10 because of Your indignation and wrath;
for You have picked me up and thrown me aside.(L)
11 My days are like a lengthening shadow,
and I wither away like grass.(M)

12 But You, Lord, are enthroned forever;(N)
Your fame endures to all generations.(O)
13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show favor to her—
the appointed time has come.(P)
14 For Your servants take delight in its stones
and favor its dust.(Q)

15 Then the nations will fear the name of Yahweh,
and all the kings of the earth Your glory,(R)
16 for the Lord will rebuild Zion;
He will appear in His glory.(S)
17 He will pay attention to the prayer of the destitute
and will not despise their prayer.(T)

18 This will be written for a later generation,
and a newly created people will praise the Lord:(U)
19 He looked down from His holy heights—
the Lord gazed out from heaven to earth(V)
20 to hear a prisoner’s groaning,
to set free those condemned to die,[b](W)
21 so that they might declare
the name of Yahweh in Zion
and His praise in Jerusalem,(X)
22 when peoples and kingdoms are assembled
to serve the Lord.(Y)

23 He has broken my[c] strength in midcourse;
He has shortened my days.(Z)
24 I say: “My God, do not take me
in the middle of my life![d]
Your years continue through all generations.(AA)
25 Long ago You established the earth,
and the heavens are the work of Your hands.(AB)
26 They will perish, but You will endure;
all of them will wear out like clothing.
You will change them like a garment,
and they will pass away.(AC)
27 But You are the same,
and Your years will never end.(AD)
28 Your servants’ children will dwell securely,
and their offspring will be established before You.”(AE)

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 102:6 Or a pelican of the desert
  2. Psalm 102:20 Lit free sons of death
  3. Psalm 102:23 Some Hb mss, LXX read His
  4. Psalm 102:24 Lit my days

Proverbs 14:15-16

15 The inexperienced one believes anything,(A)
but the sensible one watches[a] his steps.

16 A wise man is cautious and turns from evil,(B)
but a fool is easily angered and is careless.[b]

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 14:15 Lit the prudent understand
  2. Proverbs 14:16 Or and falls