April 5
Judges 16
Judges 16
1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her. 2 When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.” 3 But Samson lay there only until midnight, when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and both gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. Then he put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron. 4 Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.” 7 Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.” 8 So the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. 9 While the men were hidden in her room, she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings like a strand of yarn seared by a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown. 10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me! Now please tell me how you can be tied up.” 11 He replied, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become as weak as any other man.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men were hidden in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like they were threads. 13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me all along! Tell me how you can be tied up.” He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man.” 14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. Then she tightened it with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin with the loom and the web. 15 “How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!” 16 Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death, 17 Samson told her all that was in his heart: “My hair has never been cut, because I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man.” 18 When Delilah realized that he had revealed to her all that was in his heart, she sent this message to the lords of the Philistines: “Come up once more, for he has revealed to me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came to her, bringing the money in their hands. 19 And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him. 20 Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison. 22 However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved. 23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god, saying: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy who destroyed our land and multiplied our dead.” 25 And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars. 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.” 27 Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them. 28 Then Samson called out to the LORD: “O Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 And Samson reached out for the two central pillars supporting the temple. Bracing himself against them with his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life. 31 Then Samson’s 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. And he had judged Israel twenty years.
Judges 17
Judges 17
1 Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim 2 said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have the silver here with me; I took it.” Then his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD!” 3 And when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I wholly dedicate the silver to the LORD for my son’s benefit, to make a graven image and a molten idol. Therefore I will now return it to you.” 4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah. 5 Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. 7 And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah. 8 This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim. 9 “Where are you from?” Micah asked him. “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he replied, “and I am on my way to settle wherever I can find a place.” 10 “Stay with me,” Micah said to him, “and be my father and priest, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your provisions.” So the Levite went in 11 and agreed to stay with him, and the young man became like a son to Micah. 12 Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”
Judges 18
Judges 18
1 In those days there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of the Danites was looking for territory to occupy. For up to that time they had not come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 2 So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them. The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. 3 And while they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they went over and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?” 4 “Micah has done this and that for me,” he replied, “and he has hired me to be his priest.” 5 Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to determine whether we will have a successful journey.” 6 And the priest told them, “Go in peace. The LORD is watching over your journey.” 7 So the five men departed and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living securely, like the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking in the land and no oppressive ruler. And they were far away from the Sidonians and had no alliance with anyone. 8 When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?” 9 They answered, “Come on, let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Why would you fail to act? Do not hesitate to go there and take possession of the land! 10 When you enter, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, for God has delivered it into your hand. It is a place where nothing on earth is lacking.” 11 So six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war. 12 They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. That is why the place west of Kiriath-jearim is called Mahaneh-dan to this day. 13 And from there they traveled to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house. 14 Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.” 15 So they turned aside there and went to the home of the young Levite, the house of Micah, and greeted him. 16 The six hundred Danites stood at the entrance of the gate, armed with their weapons of war. 17 And the five men who had gone to spy out the land went inside and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, while the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred armed men. 18 When they entered Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 19 “Be quiet,” they told him. “Put your hand over your mouth and 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 a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?” 20 So the priest was glad and took the ephod, the household idols, and the graven image, and went with the people. 21 Putting their small children, their livestock, and their possessions in front of them, they turned and departed. 22 After they were some distance from Micah’s house, the men in the houses near Micah’s house mobilized and overtook the Danites. 23 When they called out after them, the Danites turned to face them and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you that you have called out such a company?” 24 He replied, “You took the gods I had made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” 25 The Danites said to him, “Do not raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.” 26 So the Danites went on their way, and Micah turned to go back home, because he saw that they were too strong for him. 27 After they had taken Micah’s idols and his priest, they went to Laish, to a quiet and unsuspecting people, and they struck them with their swords and burned down the city. 28 There was no one to deliver them, because the city was far from Sidon and had no alliance with anyone; it was in a valley near Beth-rehob. And the Danites rebuilt the city and lived there. 29 They named it Dan, after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel—though the city was formerly named Laish. 30 The Danites set up idols for themselves, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. 31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image, and it was there the whole time the house of God was in Shiloh.
The Bible Recap
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