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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
May 12 - Bible-in-a-Year
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Judges 14-15
Chapter 14
Samson's Marriage
1 Then Samson went down to Timnah, and he saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.2 So he came (F1)back and told his father and (F2)mother, "I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, get her for me as a wife."3 But his father and his mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your (C1)relatives, or among all (F1)our people, that you go to (C2)take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" Yet Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, because she is right (F2)for me."4 However, his father and mother did not know that (C1)this was of the LORD, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. And at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
5 Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him.6 And (C1)the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, so that (C2)he tore it apart as one tears apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.7 So he went down and talked to the woman; and she (F1)looked pleasing to Samson.8 When he returned later to take her, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion.9 So he took out (F1)the honey on his (F2)hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the body of the lion.
10 Then his father went down to the woman; and Samson held a feast there, for the young men customarily did this.11 When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
Samson's Riddle
12 Then Samson said to them, "Let me now (C1)propose a riddle for you; if you actually tell me (F1)the answer within the seven days of the feast, and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty (C2)outfits of clothes.13 "But if you are unable to tell me, then you shall give me thirty linen wraps and thirty outfits of clothes." And they said to him, "Propose your riddle, so that we may hear it."14 So he said to them,"Out of the eater came something to eat,
And out of the strong came something sweet."
But they could not tell the answer to the riddle in three days.
15 Then it came about on the (F1)fourth day that they said to Samson's wife, "(C1)Entice your husband, so that he will tell us the riddle, (C2)or we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is this not so?"16 So Samson's wife wept in front of him and said, "(C1)You only hate me, and you do not love me; you have proposed a riddle to the sons of my people, and have not told it to me." And he said to her, "Behold, I have not told it to my father or mother; so should I tell you?"17 However she wept before him for seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people.18 So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey?
And what is stronger than a lion?"
And he said to them,
"If you had not plowed with my heifer,
You would not have found out my riddle."
Chapter 15
Samson Burns Philistine Crops
1 But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife (C1)with a young goat, and said, "I will go in to my wife in her room." But her father did not let him enter.2 Her father said, "I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I (C1)gave her to your companion. Is her younger sister not (F1)more beautiful than she? Please let her be yours (F2)instead."3 Samson then said to them, "This time I will have been blameless regarding the Philistines when I do them harm."4 And Samson went and caught three hundred jackals, and took torches, and turned the jackals tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails.5 When he had set fire to the torches, he released the jackals into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to both the bundled heaps and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and olive groves.6 Then the Philistines said, "Who did this?" And some said, "Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because (F1)he took his wife and gave her to his companion." So the Philistines came up and (C1)burned her and her father to death with fire.7 Then Samson said to them, "If this is how you act, I will certainly take revenge on you, and only after that will I stop."8 So he struck them (F1)ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and afterward he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
9 Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi.10 So the men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" And they said, "We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us."11 Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Do you not know (C1)that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" And he said to them, "Just as they did to me, so I have done to them."12 Then they said to him, "We have come down to bind you so that we may hand you over to the Philistines." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not (F1)kill me."13 So they said to (F1)him, "No, but we will bind you tightly and give you into their hands; but we certainly will not kill you." Then they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And (C1)the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him so that the ropes that were on his arms were like flax that has burned with fire, and his restraints (F1)dropped from his hands.15 Then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out with his hand and took it, and (F1)killed (C1)a thousand men with it.16 And Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey,
(F1)Heaps upon heaps,
With the jawbone of a donkey
I have (F2)killed a thousand men."
Job 42
Chapter 42
Job's Confession
1 Then Job answered the LORD and said,
2 "I know that (C1)You can do all things,
And that no plan is impossible for You.
3 'Who is this who (C1)conceals advice without knowledge?'
Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,
Things (C2)too wonderful for me, which I do not know.
4 'Please listen, and I will speak;
I will (C1)ask You, and You instruct me.'
5 "I have (C1)heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my (C2)eye sees You;
6 Therefore I retract,
And I repent, sitting on dust and ashes."
God Is Displeased with Job's Friends
7 It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is trustworthy, (C1)as My servant Job has.8 "Now therefore, take for yourselves (C1)seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a (C2)burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will (C3)pray for you. (C4)For I will (F1)accept him so as not to do with you as your foolishness deserves, because you have not spoken of Me what is trustworthy, as My servant Job has."9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD told them; and the LORD (F1)accepted Job.
God Restores Job's Fortunes
10 The LORD also (C1)restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased double all that Job had.11 Then all his (C1)brothers, all his sisters, and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they (C2)sympathized with him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him a (F1)piece of money, and each a ring of gold.12 (C1)The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; (C2)and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.13 (C1)He also had seven sons and three daughters.14 He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch.15 In all the land no women were found as beautiful as Job's daughters; and their father gave them inheritances among their brothers.16 After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations.17 (C1)And Job died, an old man and full of days.
Acts 20:17-38
Chapter 20
17 From Miletus he sent word to (C1)Ephesus and called to himself (C2)the elders of the church.18 And when they came to him, he said to them,
25 "And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about (C1)preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.26 "Therefore, I (F1)testify to you this day that (C1)I am (F2)innocent of the blood of all people.27 "For I (C1)did not shrink from declaring to you the whole (C2)purpose of God.28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all (C1)the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you (F1)overseers, to shepherd (C2)the church of God which (C3)He (F2)purchased (F3)with His own blood.29 "I know that after my departure (C1)savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing (C2)the flock;30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away (C1)the disciples after them.31 "Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of (C1)three years I did not cease to admonish each one (C2)with tears.32 "And now I (C1)entrust you to God and to (C2)the word of His grace, which is able to (C3)build you up and to give you (C4)the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.33 "(C1)I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothes.34 "You yourselves know that (C1)these hands served my own needs and the (C2)men who were with me.35 "In everything I showed you that by working hard in this way 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.'"
36 When he had said these things, he (C1)knelt down and prayed with them all.37 And (F1)they all began to weep aloud and (F2)(C1)embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,38 (F1)grieving especially over (C1)the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were (C2)accompanying him to the ship.
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