From: "FamilyNet"
Bible Reading for March 22
Judges 13
[1] And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and
the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. [2] And
there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was
Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. [3] And the angel of the LORD
appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and
bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
[4] Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink,
and eat not any unclean thing:
[5] For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no rasor shall come on
his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he
shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. [6] Then the
woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his
countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I
asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: [7] But he said unto
me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor
strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite
to God from the womb to the day of his death. [8] Then Manoah intreated the
LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again
unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.
[9] And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again
unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with
her.
[10] And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto
him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day.
[11] And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said
unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am.
[12] And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the
child, and how shall we do unto him? [13] And the angel of the LORD said unto
Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware.
[14] She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her
drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded
her let her observe.
[15] And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain
thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. [16] And the angel of the
LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and
if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For
Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.
[17] And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when
thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? [18] And the angel of the LORD
said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?
[19] So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock
unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.
[20] For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the
altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And
Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. [21]
But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then
Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. [22] And Manoah said unto his
wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
[23] But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would
not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither
would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told
us such things as these.
[24] And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew,
and the LORD blessed him.
[25] And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan
between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Judges 14
[1] And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the
daughters of the Philistines.
[2] And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen
a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her
for me to wife.
[3] Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among
the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take
a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get
her for me; for she pleaseth me well. [4] But his father and his mother knew
not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the
Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
[5] Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came
to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.
[6] And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he
would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his
father or his mother what he had done. [7] And he went down, and talked with
the woman; and she pleased Samson well.
[8] And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the
carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the
carcase of the lion.
[9] And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his
father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them
that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion. [10] So his father
went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young
men to do.
[11] And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty
companions to be with him.
[12] And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye
can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it
out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: [13]
But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty
change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may
hear it.
[14] And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the
strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the
riddle.
[15] And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's
wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn
thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have?
is it not so?
[16] And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and
lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people,
and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my
father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? [17] And she wept before him
the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh
day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle
to the children of her people. [18] And the men of the city said unto him on
the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what
is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my
heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.
[19] And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon,
and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments
unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went
up to his father's house. [20] But Samson's wife was given to his companion,
whom he had used as his friend.
Judges 15
[1] But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest,
that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife
into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. [2] And her
father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I
gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take
her, I pray thee, instead of her. [3] And Samson said concerning them, Now
shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a
displeasure. [4] And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took
firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between
two tails. [5] And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the
standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the
standing corn, with the vineyards and olives. [6] Then the Philistines said,
Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite,
because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the
Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.
[7] And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged
of you, and after that I will cease. [8] And he smote them hip and thigh with
a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. [9]
Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in
Lehi.
[10] And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they
answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.
[11] Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and
said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what
is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto
me, so have I done unto them.
[12] And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may
deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them,
Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. [13] And they spake
unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their
hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords,
and brought him up from the rock. [14] And when he came unto Lehi, the
Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon
him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with
fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.
[15] And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took
it, and slew a thousand men therewith. [16] And Samson said, With the jawbone
of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand
men. [17] And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he
cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-lehi. [18]
And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given
this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for
thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? [19] But God clave an
hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he
had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name
thereof En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
[20] And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
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