Judges 11

• 1. Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute.
• 2. Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. "You are not going to get any inheritance in our family," they said, "because you are the son of another woman."
• 3. So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of adventurers gathered around him and followed him.
• 4. Some time later, when the Ammonites made war on Israel,
• 5. the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
• 6. "Come," they said, "be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites."
• 7. Jephthah said to them, "Didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house? Why do you come to me now, when you're in trouble?"
• 8. The elders of Gilead said to him, "Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be our head over all who live in Gilead."
• 9. Jephthah answered, "Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me-will I really be your head?"
• 10. The elders of Gilead replied, "The LORD is our witness; we will certainly do as you say."
• 11. So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.
• 12. Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: "What do you have against us that you have attacked our country?"
• 13. The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah's messengers, "When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably."
• 14. Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king,
• 15. saying: "This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.
• 16. But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the desert to the Red Sea and on to Kadesh.
• 17. Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Give us permission to go through your country,' but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.
• 18. "Next they traveled through the desert, skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the eastern side of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.
• 19. "Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, 'Let us pass through your country to our own place.'
• 20. Sihon, however, did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He mustered all his men and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.
• 21. "Then the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his men into Israel's hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country,
• 22. capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.
• 23. "Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over?
• 24. Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the LORD our God has given us, we will possess.
• 25. Are you better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them?
• 26. For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn't you retake them during that time?
• 27. I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the LORD, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites."
• 28. The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.
• 29. Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites.
• 30. And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands,
• 31. whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD 's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."
• 32. Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands.
• 33. He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
• 34. When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter.
• 35. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break."
• 36. "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.
• 37. But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry."
• 38. "You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry.
• 39. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite custom
• 40. that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Acts 15

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

Jeremiah 24

• 1. After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the craftsmen and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.
• 2. One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
• 3. Then the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?Figs," I answered. "The good ones are very good, but the poor ones are so bad they cannot be eaten."
• 4. Then the word of the LORD came to me:
• 5. "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians.
• 6. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.
• 7. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
• 8. "'But like the poor figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,' says the LORD, 'so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt.
• 9. I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, an object of ridicule and cursing, wherever I banish them.
• 10. I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their fathers.'"

New International Version

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