Judges 15

• 1. Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, "I'm going to my wife's room." But her father would not let him go in.
• 2. "I was so sure you thoroughly hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your friend. Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead."
• 3. Samson said to them, "This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them."
• 4. So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails,
• 5. lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
• 6. When the Philistines asked, "Who did this?" they were told, "Samson, the Timnite's son-in-law, because his wife was given to his friend." So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.
• 7. Samson said to them, "Since you've acted like this, I won't stop until I get my revenge on you."
• 8. He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
• 9. The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi.
• 10. The men of Judah asked, "Why have you come to fight us?We have come to take Samson prisoner," they answered, "to do to him as he did to us."
• 11. Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?" He answered, "I merely did to them what they did to me."
• 12. They said to him, "We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines." Samson said, "Swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves."
• 13. "Agreed," they answered. "We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
• 14. As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands.
• 15. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
• 16. Then Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men."
• 17. When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.
• 18. Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD, "You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"
• 19. Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi.
• 20. Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Acts 19

• 1. While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples
• 2. and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
• 3. So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?John's baptism," they replied.
• 4. Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus."
• 5. On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
• 6. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
• 7. There were about twelve men in all.
• 8. Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.
• 9. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
• 10. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
• 11. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,
• 12. so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
• 13. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out."
• 14. Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
• 15. One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"
• 16. Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
• 17. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.
• 18. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds.
• 19. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
• 20. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
• 21. After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. "After I have been there," he said, "I must visit Rome also."
• 22. He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.
• 23. About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.
• 24. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen.
• 25. He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: "Men, you know we receive a good income from this business.
• 26. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.
• 27. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty."
• 28. When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
• 29. Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater.
• 30. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him.
• 31. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.
• 32. The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.
• 33. The Jews pushed Alexander to the front, and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people.
• 34. But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
• 35. The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: "Men of Ephesus, doesn't all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?
• 36. Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to be quiet and not do anything rash.
• 37. You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess.
• 38. If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges.
• 39. If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly.
• 40. As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today's events. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it."
• 41. After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

Jeremiah 28

• 1. In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people:
• 2. "This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
• 3. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the LORD's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon.
• 4. I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,' declares the LORD, 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"
• 5. Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD.
• 6. He said, "Amen! May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the LORD's house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon.
• 7. Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people:
• 8. From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms.
• 9. But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true."
• 10. Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it,
• 11. and he said before all the people, "This is what the LORD says: 'In the same way will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.'" At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.
• 12. Shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
• 13. "Go and tell Hananiah, 'This is what the LORD says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron.
• 14. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.'"
• 15. Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, "Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies.
• 16. Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 'I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.'"
• 17. In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.

New International Version

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