Daily Bible Reading: August 2

Samson’s Sin, Delilah’s Betrayal, and His Death in Judges 16

Judges 16. Then Samson went to Gaza, and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. And it was told to the Gazites, saying, Samson has come here. So they surrounded the place, and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city.

And they kept silent all night, saying, Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him. But Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose, and seized the doors of the city gate and the two posts, and pulled them up along with the bars.

Then he put them on his shoulders, and brought them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron. Now it happened afterwards that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorok, and her name was Delilah.

And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see where his great strength lies, and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you one thousand one hundred pieces of silver.

So Delilah said to Samson, Please, tell me where your great strength is, and how you may be bound to afflict you. Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak, and be like any other man.

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now she had men lying in wait, sitting in an inner room. And she said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson.

But he snapped the cords as a string of tender snaps when it touches fire. So his strength was still not known. Then Delilah said to Samson, Behold, you have deceived me, and told me lies. Now please, tell me how you may be bound.

And he said to her, If they bind me tightly with new ropes which have not been used for work, then I will become weak, and be like any other man. So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson.

Now the men lying in wait were sitting in the inner room. But he snapped the ropes from his arms like a thread. Then Delilah said to Samson, Up to now you have deceived me, and told me lies. Tell me how you may be bound.

And he said to her, If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web, and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak, and be like any other man. So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his hair, and wove them into the web, and she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson.

But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web. Then she said to him, How can you say I love you when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength is.

Now it happened when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death. So he told her all that was in his heart, and said to her, A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb.

If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I will become weak, and be like every other man. And Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart. So she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart.

Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought up the silver in their hands. Then she made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man, and had him shave off the seven locks of his head.

Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him. And she said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke from his sleep, and said, I will go out as other times, and shake myself free.

But he did not know that Yahweh had left him. Then the Philistines seized him, and gouged out his eyes. And they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison.

However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off. Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god, and to be glad. And they said, Our god has given Samson, our enemy, into our hands.

Then the people saw him, and praised their god. For they said, Our god has given our enemy into our hands, even the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us. So it happened, when their hearts were married, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.

So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them, and they made him stand between the pillars. Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, Let me feel the pillars on which the house is established, that I may lean against them.

Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And about three thousand men and women were on the roof, looking on, while Samson was amusing them. Then Samson called to Yahweh, and said, O Lord Yahweh, please remember me, and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged to the Philistines for my two eyes.

Samson grasped the two pillars on which the house was established, and supported himself against them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines.

And he bent with his strength, so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he put to death by his death were more than those whom he put to death in his life.

Then his brothers and all his father's household came down, carried him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtal, in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years.

Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders in Acts 20

Acts 20. Now after the uproar had ceased, Paul, having summoned and exhorted the disciples, said farewell and left to go to Macedonia. And when he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece.

And there he spent three months. And when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Segundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus, and Trophimus of Asia.

But these had gone on ahead, and were waiting for us at Troas. And we sailed from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came to them at Troas within five days, and there we stayed seven days.

And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to take bread, Paul began speaking to them, intending to leave the next day. And he prolonged his message until midnight. Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together.

And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the windowsill, sinking into a deep sleep. And as Paul kept on talking, he sunk into that sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead.

But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him he said, Do not be troubled, for his life is in him. And when he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.

And they took away the boy alive, and were not a little comforted. But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Asos, intending from there to take Paul on board, for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land.

And when he met us at Asos, we took him on board and came to Mytilene. And sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios, and the next day we crossed over to Samos, and the day following we came to Miletus.

For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.

And when they had come to him, he said to them, You yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, in teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that chains and afflictions await me.

But I do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself, so that I may finish my course in the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face.

Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.

I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Therefore, be watchful, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who have been sanctified.

I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know that these hands minister to my own needs and to those who are with me. In everything I showed you that by laboring in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to weep aloud, and falling on Paul's neck, they were kissing him, being in agony especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again.

Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles and the Warning Against False Prophets

And they were accompanying him to the ship. Jeremiah 29. Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

This was after King Jeconiah and the Queen Mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had gone out from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elisha, the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.

Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply there and do not decrease.

Seek the peace of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to Yahweh on its behalf, for in its peace you will have peace. For thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to your dreams which you dream.

For they prophesy a lie to you in my name. I have not sent them, declares Yahweh. For thus says Yahweh, When seventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and establish my good word to you to return you to this place.

For I know the plans that I have for you, declares Yahweh, plans for peace and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares Yahweh, and I will return your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have banished you, declares Yahweh, and I will cause you to return to the place from where I sent you into exile.

Because you have said, Yahweh has raised up prophets for us in Babylon. For thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who live in this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like split open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness. I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, and I will give them over to be a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and an object of horror and of hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have banished them.

Because they have not listened to my words, declares Yahweh, which I sent to them by my slaves the prophets, rising up early and sending, but you did not listen, declares Yahweh. You therefore, hear the word of Yahweh, all you exiles, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Goliath, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Messiah, who are prophesying to you falsely in my name, Behold, I will give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes.

And because of them a curse will be used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, May Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire. Because they have acted with wicked foolishness in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I did not command them, and I am he who knows and am a witness, declares Yahweh.

And to Shemaiah the Neolamite you shall speak, saying,. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel. Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Messiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, Yahweh has given you to be a priest instead of Jehoadah the priest, to be the overseer in the house of Yahweh over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and in the iron collar.

So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who prophesies to you? For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The exile will be long. Build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.

So Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah, saying, Send to all the exiles, saying, Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Neolamite.

Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie. Therefore, thus says Yahweh, Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Neolamite and his seed. He will not have anyone living among his people, and he will not see the good that I am about to do to my people, declares Yahweh, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.

The Crucifixion and Burial of Jesus in Mark 15

Mark 15. And early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes in the whole Sanhedrin immediately held council. And binding Jesus, led him away and delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate questioned him, Are you the king of the Jews?

And he answered him and said, You yourself say it. And the chief priests began to accuse him of many things. Then Pilate was questioning him again, saying, You answer nothing. See how many accusations they bring against you.

But Jesus made no further answer. So Pilate marveled. Now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. And the man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection.

And the crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. And Pilate answered them, saying, Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews? For he was aware that the chief priests had delivered him over because of envy.

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. In answering again, Pilate was saying to them, Then what shall I do with him whom you call the king of the Jews?

And they shouted again, Crucify him. But Pilate was saying to them, Why? What evil did he do? But they shouted all the more, Crucify him. In wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them.

And after having Jesus scourged, he delivered him over to be crucified. So the soldiers took him away into the palace that is the praetorium, and they called together the whole Roman cohort. And they dressed him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns they put it on him.

And they began to greet him, Hail, king of the Jews. And they kept beating his head with a reed and spitting on him, and kneeling they were bowing down before him. And after they had mocked him, they took the purple robe off him and put his own garments on him, and they led him out to crucify him.

And they pressed into service a passerby coming from the countryside, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. Then they brought him to the place Golgotha, which is translated Place of a Skull.

And they tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided up his garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide who should take what. Now it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

And the inscription of the charge against him read, The King of the Jews. And they crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. And the scripture was fulfilled, which says,. And he was numbered with the transgressors.

And those passing by were blaspheming him, shaking their heads, and saying, Ha, you who are going to destroy the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross. In the same way, mocking him to one another, the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were saying, He saved others, he cannot save himself.

Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe. Those who were crucified with him also were insulting him. And when the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which is translated, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And when some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, Look, he is calling for Elijah.

And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave him a drink, saying, Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus, uttering a loud cry, breathed his last.

And the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who was standing right in front of him, saw the way he breathed his last, he said, Truly this man was God's Son.

And there were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses and Salome, who, when he was in Galilee, were following him and serving him.

And there were many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. And when evening had already come, because it was preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent council member, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God.

And he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And Pilate wondered if he had died by this time. In summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether he had already died.

And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. And when Joseph had bought a linen cloth and took him down, he wrapped him in the linen cloth and laid him in a tomb which had been hewed out in the rock, and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where he had been laid.