Bible Reading May 23 (World English Bible)
Judges
3, 4
Jdg
3:1 Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to prove Israel by
them, even as many of Israel
as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
Jdg
3:2 only that the generations of the children of Israel might know,
to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing of it:
Jdg
3:3 namely,
the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the
Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount
Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
Jdg
3:4 They were left,
to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the
commandments of Yahweh, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.
Jdg
3:5 The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites,
and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the
Jebusites:
Jdg
3:6 and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their
own daughters to their sons and served their gods.
Jdg
3:7 The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of
Yahweh, and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baals and the
Asheroth.
Jdg
3:8 Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he
sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and
the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years.
Jdg
3:9 When the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a
savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the
son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
Jdg
3:10 The Spirit of Yahweh came on him, and he judged Israel; and he
went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of
Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan
Rishathaim.
Jdg
3:11 The land had rest forty years. Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
Jdg
3:12 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab
against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh.
Jdg
3:13 He gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amalek; and he
went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees.
Jdg
3:14 The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen
years.
Jdg
3:15 But when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised
them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man
left-handed. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the
king of Moab.
Jdg
3:16 Ehud made him a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length;
and he girded it under his clothing on his right thigh.
Jdg
3:17 He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon was a
very fat man.
Jdg
3:18 When he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away
the people who bore the tribute.
Jdg
3:19 But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by
Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand to you, king. He said, Keep
silence. All who stood by him went out from him.
Jdg
3:20 Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the
cool upper room. Ehud said, I have a message from God to you. He
arose out of his seat.
Jdg
3:21 Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right
thigh, and thrust it into his body:
Jdg
3:22 and the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed
on the blade, for he didn't draw the sword out of his body; and it
came out behind.
Jdg
3:23 Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the
upper room on him, and locked them.
Jdg
3:24 Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and
behold, the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said,
Surely he is covering his feet in the upper chamber.
Jdg
3:25 They waited until they were ashamed; and behold, he didn't open
the doors of the upper room: therefore they took the key, and opened
them, and
behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.
Jdg
3:26 Ehud escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the quarries,
and escaped to Seirah.
Jdg
3:27 It happened, when he had come, that he blew a trumpet in the
hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with
him from the hill country, and he before them.
Jdg
3:28 He said to them, Follow after me; for Yahweh has delivered your
enemies the Moabites into your hand. They went down after him, and
took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and didn't allow a
man to pass over.
Jdg
3:29 They struck of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every
lusty man, and every man of valor; and there escaped not a man.
Jdg
3:30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. The land
had rest eighty years.
Jdg
3:31 After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck of the
Philistines six hundred men with an oxgoad: and he also saved Israel.
Jdg
4:1 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh, when Ehud was dead.
Jdg
4:2 Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who
reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in
Harosheth of the Gentiles.
Jdg
4:3 The children of Israel cried to Yahweh: for he had nine hundred
chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children
of Israel.
Jdg
4:4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged
Israel at that time.
Jdg
4:5 She lived under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and
Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim: and the children of Israel
came up to her for judgment.
Jdg
4:6 She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh
Naphtali, and said to him, Hasn't Yahweh, the God of Israel,
commanded, saying,
Go and draw to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the
children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
Jdg
4:7 I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of
Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver
him into your hand.
Jdg
4:8 Barak said to her, If you will go with me, then I will go; but
if you will not go with me, I will not go.
Jdg
4:9 She said, I will surely go with you: notwithstanding, the
journey that you take shall not be for your honor; for Yahweh will
sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Deborah arose, and went with
Barak to Kedesh.
Jdg
4:10 Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there
went up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
Jdg
4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites,
even from the children of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had
pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.
Jdg
4:12 They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to
Mount Tabor.
Jdg
4:13 Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred
chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from
Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon.
Jdg
4:14 Deborah said to Barak, Up; for this is the day in which Yahweh
has delivered Sisera into your hand; hasn't Yahweh gone out before
you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after
him.
Jdg
4:15 Yahweh confused Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army,
with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his
chariot, and fled away on his feet.
Jdg
4:16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to
Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the army of Sisera fell by the
edge of the sword; there was not a man left.
Jdg
4:17 However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the
wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king
of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Jdg
4:18 Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, Turn in, my
lord, turn in to me; don't be afraid. He came in to her into the
tent, and she covered him with a rug.
Jdg
4:19 He said to her, Please give me a little water to drink; for I
am thirsty. She opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and
covered him.
Jdg
4:20 He said to her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be,
when any man does come and inquire of you, and say, Is there any man
here? that you shall say, No.
Jdg
4:21 Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent peg, and took a hammer in
her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his
temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep
sleep; so he swooned and died.
Jdg
4:22 Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and
said to him, Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek. He came
to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was in his
temples.
Jdg
4:23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the
children of Israel.
Jdg
4:24 The hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more
against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king
of Canaan.
May 22, 23
John 4
Joh 4:1
Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus
was making and baptizing more disciples than John
Joh 4:2
(although Jesus himself didn't baptize, but his disciples),
Joh 4:3
he left Judea, and departed into Galilee.
Joh 4:4
He needed to pass through Samaria.
Joh 4:5
So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of
ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.
Joh 4:6
Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his
journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Joh 4:7 A
woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me
a drink."
Joh 4:8
For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Joh 4:9
The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, "How is it that you,
being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (For
Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
Joh 4:10
Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is
who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he
would have given you living water."
Joh 4:11
The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and
the well is deep. From where then have you that living water?
Joh 4:12
Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and
drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?"
Joh 4:13
Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will
thirst again,
Joh 4:14
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never
thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a
well of water springing up to eternal life."
Joh 4:15
The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I don't
get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw."
Joh 4:16
Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
Joh 4:17
The woman answered, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her,
"You said well, 'I have no husband,'
Joh 4:18
for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your
husband. This you have said truly."
Joh 4:19
The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
Joh 4:20
Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in
Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."
Joh 4:21
Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when
neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the
Father.
Joh 4:22
You worship that which you don't know. We worship that which we know;
for salvation is from the Jews.
Joh 4:23
But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will
worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to
be his worshippers.
Joh 4:24
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and
truth."
Joh 4:25
The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah comes," (he who
is called Christ). "When he has come, he will declare to us all
things."
Joh 4:26
Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who speaks to you."
Joh 4:27
At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with
a woman; yet no one said, "What are you looking for?" or,
"Why do you speak with her?"
Joh 4:28
So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and
said to the people,
Joh 4:29
"Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be
the Christ?"
Joh 4:30
They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
Joh 4:31
In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
Joh 4:32
But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you don't know
about."
Joh 4:33
The disciples therefore said one to another, "Has anyone brought
him something to eat?"
Joh 4:34
Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent
me, and to accomplish his work.
Joh 4:35
Don't you say, 'There are yet four months until the harvest?' Behold,
I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are
white for harvest already.
Joh 4:36
He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that
both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
Joh 4:37
For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.'
Joh 4:38
I sent you to reap that for which you haven't labored. Others have
labored, and you have entered into their labor."
Joh 4:39
From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the
word of the woman, who testified, "He told me everything that I
did."
Joh 4:40
So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with
them. He stayed there two days.
Joh 4:41
Many more believed because of his word.
Joh 4:42
They said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of your
speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is
indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."
Joh 4:43
After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee.
Joh 4:44
For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own
country.
Joh 4:45
So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen
all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also
went to the feast.
Joh 4:46
Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the
water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at
Capernaum.
Joh 4:47
When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went
to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for
he was at the point of death.
Joh 4:48
Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders,
you will in no way believe."
Joh 4:49
The nobleman said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
Joh 4:50
Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your son lives." The man
believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
Joh 4:51
As he was now going down, his servants met him and reported, saying
"Your child lives!"
Joh 4:52
So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They
said therefore to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever
left him."
Joh 4:53
So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to
him, "Your son lives." He believed, as did his whole house.
Joh 4:54
This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of
Judea into Galilee.
Following
the account of Samuel’s visit to Bethlehem to anoint David as the
future king of Israel, the book of 1 Samuel indicates that David became
the harp player and armor bearer for King Saul (16:14-23). Subsequent to
this information, the reader is told of David’s magnificent triumph
over Goliath (1 Samuel 17), which then is followed by an “interrogation”
by King Saul, who asked David, “Whose son are you, young man?” (17:58).
A general reading through the text of 1 Samuel 16-17 has led some Bible
believers to question why Saul (it seems) knew David, then did not know
David, and then got to know him again. Skeptics, likewise, have
inquired about the consistency of this story (see Morgan, 2003; Wells,
2001; “Inerrancy,” n.d.). Paul Tobin, in an article titled “Internal
Contradictions in the Bible,” summed up the skeptic’s argument by
stating that 1 Samuel 16 “clearly shows that David…was known to Saul.
Yet a little later, after David’s fight with Goliath, Saul is made to
enquire from his chief captain as to the identity of the giant slayer (I
Samuel 17:56). And he is again made to inquire from David who he is,
when he should have known this all along” (2000). Allegedly, the Bible’s
portrayal of Saul’s ignorance of David after Goliath’s death is proof of the Bible writers’ imperfection when penning the Scriptures.