Judges 13

• 1. Again the Israelites did what was evil in the LORD's sight, so the LORD handed them over to the Philistines, who kept them in subjection for forty years.
• 2. In those days, a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zorah. His wife was unable to become pregnant, and they had no children.
• 3. The angel of the LORD appeared to Manoah's wife and said, "Even though you have been unable to have children, you will soon become pregnant and give birth to a son.
• 4. You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink or eat any forbidden food.
• 5. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will rescue Israel from the Philistines."
• 6. The woman ran and told her husband, "A man of God appeared to me! He was like one of God's angels, terrifying to look at. I didn't ask where he was from, and he didn't tell me his name.
• 7. But he told me, `You will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink or eat any forbidden food. For your son will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the moment of his birth until the day of his death.'"
• 8. Then Manoah prayed to the LORD. He said, "Lord, please let the man of God come back to us again and give us more instructions about this son who is to be born."
• 9. God answered his prayer, and the angel of God appeared once again to his wife as she was sitting in the field. But her husband, Manoah, was not with her.
• 10. So she quickly ran and told her husband, "The man who appeared to me the other day is here again!"
• 11. Manoah ran back with his wife and asked, "Are you the man who talked to my wife the other day?Yes," he replied, "I am."
• 12. So Manoah asked him, "When your words come true, what kind of rules should govern the boy's life and work?"
• 13. The angel of the LORD replied, "Be sure your wife follows the instructions I gave her.
• 14. She must not eat grapes or raisins, drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, or eat any forbidden food."
• 15. Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "Please stay here until we can prepare a young goat for you to eat."
• 16. "I will stay," the angel of the LORD replied, "but I will not eat anything. However, you may prepare a burnt offering as a sacrifice to the LORD." (Manoah didn't realize it was the angel of the LORD.)
• 17. Then Manoah asked the angel of the LORD, "What is your name? For when all this comes true, we want to honor you."
• 18. "Why do you ask my name?" the angel of the LORD replied. "You wouldn't understand if I told you."
• 19. Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered it on a rock as a sacrifice to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife watched, the LORD did an amazing thing.
• 20. As the flames from the altar shot up toward the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the fire. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell with their faces to the ground.
• 21. The angel did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Manoah finally realized it was the angel of the LORD,
• 22. and he said to his wife, "We will die, for we have seen God!"
• 23. But his wife said, "If the LORD were going to kill us, he wouldn't have accepted our burnt offering and grain offering. He wouldn't have appeared to us and told us this wonderful thing and done these miracles."
• 24. When her son was born, they named him Samson. And the LORD blessed him as he grew up.
• 25. And in Mahaneh-dan, which is located between the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol, the Spirit of the LORD began to take hold of him.

Acts 17

• 1. Now Paul and Silas traveled through the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
• 2. As was Paul's custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he interpreted the Scriptures to the people.
• 3. He was explaining and proving the prophecies about the sufferings of the Messiah and his rising from the dead. He said, "This Jesus I'm telling you about is the Messiah."
• 4. Some who listened were persuaded and became converts, including a large number of godly Greek men and also many important women of the city.
• 5. But the Jewish leaders were jealous, so they gathered some worthless fellows from the streets to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd.
• 6. Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council. "Paul and Silas have turned the rest of the world upside down, and now they are here disturbing our city," they shouted.
• 7. "And Jason has let them into his home. They are all guilty of treason against Caesar, for they profess allegiance to another king, Jesus."
• 8. The people of the city, as well as the city officials, were thrown into turmoil by these reports.
• 9. But the officials released Jason and the other believers after they had posted bail.
• 10. That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the synagogue.
• 11. And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul's message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to check up on Paul and Silas, to see if they were really teaching the truth.
• 12. As a result, many Jews believed, as did some of the prominent Greek women and many men.
• 13. But when some Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God in Berea, they went there and stirred up trouble.
• 14. The believers acted at once, sending Paul on to the coast, while Silas and Timothy remained behind.
• 15. Those escorting Paul went with him to Athens; then they returned to Berea with a message for Silas and Timothy to hurry and join him.
• 16. While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city.
• 17. He went to the synagogue to debate with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.
• 18. He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, "This babbler has picked up some strange ideas." Others said, "He's pushing some foreign religion."
• 19. Then they took him to the Council of Philosophers. "Come and tell us more about this new religion," they said.
• 20. "You are saying some rather startling things, and we want to know what it's all about."
• 21. (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)
• 22. So Paul, standing before the Council, addressed them as follows: "Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious,
• 23. for as I was walking along I saw your many altars. And one of them had this inscription on it--'To an Unknown God.' You have been worshiping him without knowing who he is, and now I wish to tell you about him.
• 24. "He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made temples,
• 25. and human hands can't serve his needs--for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need there is.
• 26. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand which should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
• 27. "His purpose in all of this was that the nations should seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him--though he is not far from any one of us.
• 28. For in him we live and move and exist. As one of your own poets says, 'We are his offspring.'
• 29. And since this is true, we shouldn't think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.
• 30. God overlooked people's former ignorance about these things, but now he commands everyone everywhere to turn away from idols and turn to him.
• 31. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead."
• 32. When they heard Paul speak of the resurrection of a person who had been dead, some laughed, but others said, "We want to hear more about this later."
• 33. That ended Paul's discussion with them,
• 34. but some joined him and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Council, a woman named Damaris, and others.

Jeremiah 26

• 1. This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah.
• 2. The LORD said, "Stand out in front of the Temple of the LORD, and make an announcement to the people who have come there to worship from all over Judah. Give them my entire message; include every word.
• 3. Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. Then I will be able to withhold the disaster I am ready to pour out on them because of their sins.
• 4. "Say to them, `This is what the LORD says: If you will not listen to me and obey the law I have given you,
• 5. and if you will not listen to my servants, the prophets--for I sent them again and again to warn you, but you would not listen to them--
• 6. then I will destroy this Temple as I destroyed Shiloh, the place where the Tabernacle was located. And I will make Jerusalem an object of cursing in every nation on earth.'"
• 7. The priests, the prophets, and all the people listened to Jeremiah as he spoke in front of the LORD's Temple.
• 8. But when Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the LORD had told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at the Temple mobbed him. "Kill him!" they shouted.
• 9. "What right do you have to prophesy in the LORD's name that this Temple will be destroyed like Shiloh? What do you mean, saying that Jerusalem will be destroyed?" And all the people threatened him as he stood in front of the Temple.
• 10. When the officials of Judah heard what was happening, they rushed over from the palace and sat down at the New Gate of the Temple to hold court.
• 11. The priests and prophets presented their accusations to the officials and the people. "This man should die!" they said. "You have heard with your own ears what a traitor he is, for he has prophesied against this city."
• 12. Then Jeremiah spoke in his own defense. "The LORD sent me to prophesy against this Temple and this city," he said. "The LORD gave me every word that I have spoken.
• 13. But if you stop your sinning and begin to obey the LORD your God, he will cancel this disaster that he has announced against you.
• 14. As for me, I am helpless and in your power--do with me as you think best.
• 15. But if you kill me, rest assured that you will be killing an innocent man! The responsibility for such a deed will lie on you, on this city, and on every person living in it. For it is absolutely true that the LORD sent me to speak every word you have heard."
• 16. Then the officials and the people said to the priests and prophets, "This man does not deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God."
• 17. Then some of the wise old men stood and spoke to the people there.
• 18. They said, "Think back to the days when Micah of Moresheth prophesied during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. He told the people of Judah, `This is what the LORD Almighty says: Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to rubble! A great forest will grow on the hilltop, where the Temple now stands.'
• 19. But did King Hezekiah and the people kill him for saying this? No, they turned from their sins and worshiped the LORD. They begged him to have mercy on them. Then the LORD held back the terrible disaster he had pronounced against them. If we kill Jeremiah, who knows what will happen to us?"
• 20. (At this time, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim was also prophesying for the LORD. And he predicted the same terrible disaster against the city and nation as Jeremiah did.
• 21. When King Jehoiakim and the army officers and officials heard what he was saying, the king sent someone to kill him. But Uriah heard about the plot and escaped to Egypt.
• 22. Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt along with several other men to capture Uriah.
• 23. They took him prisoner and brought him back to King Jehoiakim. The king then killed Uriah with a sword and had him buried in an unmarked grave.)
• 24. Ahikam son of Shaphan also stood with Jeremiah and persuaded the court not to turn him over to the mob to be killed.

New Living Translation: 211 of 365 days.