Judges 14

• 1. One day when Samson was in Timnah, he noticed a certain Philistine woman.
• 2. When he returned home, he told his father and mother, "I want to marry a young Philistine woman I saw in Timnah."
• 3. His father and mother objected strenuously, "Isn't there one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry? Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?" But Samson told his father, "Get her for me. She is the one I want."
• 4. His father and mother didn't realize the LORD was at work in this, creating an opportunity to disrupt the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.
• 5. As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah.
• 6. At that moment the Spirit of the LORD powerfully took control of him, and he ripped the lion's jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn't tell his father or mother about it.
• 7. When Samson arrived in Timnah, he talked with the woman and was very pleased with her.
• 8. Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass.
• 9. He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. But he didn't tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.
• 10. As his father was making final arrangements for the marriage, Samson threw a party at Timnah, as was the custom of the day.
• 11. Thirty young men from the town were invited to be his companions.
• 12. Samson said to them, "Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty plain linen robes and thirty fancy robes.
• 13. But if you can't solve it, then you must give me thirty linen robes and thirty fancy robes.All right," they agreed, "let's hear your riddle."
• 14. So he said: "From the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet." Three days later they were still trying to figure it out.
• 15. On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Get the answer to the riddle from your husband, or we will burn down your father's house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor?"
• 16. So Samson's wife came to him in tears and said, "You don't love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer.I haven't even given the answer to my father or mother," he replied. "Why should I tell you?"
• 17. So she cried whenever she was with him and kept it up for the rest of the celebration. At last, on the seventh day, he told her the answer because of her persistent nagging. Then she gave the answer to the young men.
• 18. So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer: "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" Samson replied, "If you hadn't plowed with my heifer, you wouldn't have found the answer to my riddle!"
• 19. Then the Spirit of the LORD powerfully took control of him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had answered his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother.
• 20. So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson's best man at the wedding.

Acts 18

• 1. Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
• 2. There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had been expelled from Italy as a result of Claudius Caesar's order to deport all Jews from Rome.
• 3. Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was.
• 4. Each Sabbath found Paul at the synagogue, trying to convince the Jews and Greeks alike.
• 5. And after Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul spent his full time preaching and testifying to the Jews, telling them, "The Messiah you are looking for is Jesus."
• 6. But when the Jews opposed him and insulted him, Paul shook the dust from his robe and said, "Your blood be upon your own heads--I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."
• 7. After that he stayed with Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God and lived next door to the synagogue.
• 8. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and all his household believed in the Lord. Many others in Corinth also became believers and were baptized.
• 9. One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, "Don't be afraid! Speak out! Don't be silent!
• 10. For I am with you, and no one will harm you because many people here in this city belong to me."
• 11. So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God.
• 12. But when Gallio became governor of Achaia, some Jews rose in concerted action against Paul and brought him before the governor for judgment.
• 13. They accused Paul of "persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law."
• 14. But just as Paul started to make his defense, Gallio turned to Paul's accusers and said, "Listen, you Jews, if this were a case involving some wrongdoing or a serious crime, I would be obliged to listen to you.
• 15. But since it is merely a question of words and names and your Jewish laws, you take care of it. I refuse to judge such matters."
• 16. And he drove them out of the courtroom.
• 17. The mob had grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and had beaten him right there in the courtroom. But Gallio paid no attention.
• 18. Paul stayed in Corinth for some time after that and then said good-bye to the brothers and sisters and sailed for the coast of Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. (Earlier, at Cenchrea, Paul had shaved his head according to Jewish custom, for he had taken a vow.)
• 19. When they arrived at the port of Ephesus, Paul left the others behind. But while he was there, he went to the synagogue to debate with the Jews.
• 20. They asked him to stay longer, but he declined.
• 21. So he left, saying, "I will come back later, God willing." Then he set sail from Ephesus.
• 22. The next stop was at the port of Caesarea. From there he went up and visited the church at Jerusalem and then went back to Antioch.
• 23. After spending some time in Antioch, Paul went back to Galatia and Phrygia, visiting all the believers, encouraging them and helping them to grow in the Lord.
• 24. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had just arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt.
• 25. He had been taught the way of the Lord and talked to others with great enthusiasm and accuracy about Jesus. However, he knew only about John's baptism.
• 26. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately.
• 27. Apollos had been thinking about going to Achaia, and the brothers and sisters in Ephesus encouraged him in this. They wrote to the believers in Achaia, asking them to welcome him. When he arrived there, he proved to be of great benefit to those who, by God's grace, had believed.
• 28. He refuted all the Jews with powerful arguments in public debate. Using the Scriptures, he explained to them, "The Messiah you are looking for is Jesus."

Jeremiah 27

• 1. This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah.
• 2. The LORD said to me, "Make a yoke, and fasten it on your neck with leather thongs.
• 3. Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their ambassadors to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem.
• 4. Give them this message for their masters: `This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
• 5. By my great power I have made the earth and all its people and every animal. I can give these things of mine to anyone I choose.
• 6. Now I will give your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my servant. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control.
• 7. All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until his time is up. But then many nations and great kings will conquer and rule over Babylon.
• 8. So you must submit to Babylon's king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon's yoke! I will punish any nation that refuses to be his slave, says the LORD. I will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until Babylon has conquered it.
• 9. " `Do not listen to your false prophets, fortune-tellers, interpreters of dreams, mediums, and sorcerers who say, "The king of Babylon will not conquer you."
• 10. They are all liars, and I will drive you from your land and send you far away to die.
• 11. But the people of any nation that submits to the king of Babylon will be allowed to stay in their own country to farm the land as usual. I, the LORD, have spoken!'"
• 12. Then I repeated this same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. "If you want to live, submit to the king of Babylon and his people," I said.
• 13. "Why do you insist on dying--you and your people? Why should you choose war, famine, and disease, which the LORD will bring against every nation that refuses to submit to Babylon's king?
• 14. Do not listen to the false prophets who keep telling you, `The king of Babylon will not conquer you.' They are liars.
• 15. This is what the LORD says: I have not sent these prophets! They are telling you lies in my name, so I will drive you from this land. You will all die--you and all these prophets, too."
• 16. Then I spoke to the priests and the people and said, "This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to your prophets who claim that soon the gold utensils taken from my Temple will be returned from Babylon. It is all a lie!
• 17. Do not listen to them. Surrender to the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this whole city be destroyed?
• 18. If they really are the LORD's prophets, let them pray to the LORD Almighty about the gold utensils that are still left in the LORD's Temple and in the king's palace and in the palaces of Jerusalem. Let them pray that these remaining articles will not be carried away with you to Babylon!
• 19. "For this is what the LORD Almighty says about the bronze pillars in front of the Temple, the bronze Sea in the Temple courtyard, the bronze water carts, and all the other ceremonial articles.
• 20. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left them here when he exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon, along with all the other important people of Judah and Jerusalem.
• 21. Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says about the precious things kept in the Temple and in the palace of Judah's king:
• 22. They will all be carried away to Babylon and will stay there until I send for them, says the LORD. But someday I will bring them back to Jerusalem again."

New Living Translation: 212 of 365 days.