Bible Reading May 25 (World English Bible)
Judges
7, 8
Jdg
7:1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with
him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of Harod: and the
camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh,
in the valley.
Jdg
7:2 Yahweh said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many
for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt
themselves against me, saying, My own hand has saved me.
Jdg
7:3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying,
Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from
Mount Gilead. There returned of the people twenty-two thousand; and
there remained ten thousand.
Jdg
7:4 Yahweh said to Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them
down to the water, and I will try them for you there: and it shall
be, that of whom I tell you, This shall go with you, the same shall
go with you; and of whoever I tell you, This shall not go with you,
the same shall not go.
Jdg
7:5 So he brought down the people to the water: and Yahweh said to
Gideon, Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog
laps, you shall set him by himself; likewise everyone who bows down
on his knees to drink.
Jdg
7:6 The number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their
mouth, was three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed
down on their knees to drink water.
Jdg
7:7 Yahweh said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who lapped will
I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand; and let all
the people go every man to his place.
Jdg
7:8 So the people took food in their hand, and their trumpets; and
he sent all the men of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the
three hundred men: and the camp of Midian was beneath him in the
valley.
Jdg
7:9 It happened the same night, that Yahweh said to him, Arise, go
down into the camp; for I have delivered it into your hand.
Jdg
7:10 But if you fear to go down, go with Purah your servant down to
the camp:
Jdg
7:11 and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your will hands
be strengthened to go down into the camp. Then went he down with
Purah his servant to the outermost part of the armed men who were in
the camp.
Jdg
7:12 The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the
east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude; and their
camels were without number, as the sand which is on the seashore for
multitude.
Jdg
7:13 When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream
to his fellow; and he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream; and behold, a
cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the
tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so
that the tent lay flat.
Jdg
7:14 His fellow answered, This is nothing else save the sword of
Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: into his hand God has
delivered Midian, and all the army.
Jdg
7:15 It was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and its
interpretation, that he worshiped; and he returned into the camp of
Israel, and said, Arise; for Yahweh has delivered into your hand the
army of Midian.
Jdg
7:16 He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he
put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with
torches within the pitchers.
Jdg
7:17 He said to them, Look on me, and do likewise: and behold, when
I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do,
so you shall do.
Jdg
7:18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow
the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, For Yahweh
and for Gideon.
Jdg
7:19 So Gideon, and the hundred men who were with him, came to the
outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when
they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and
broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.
Jdg
7:20 The three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers,
and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their
right hands with which to blow; and they cried, The sword of Yahweh
and of Gideon.
Jdg
7:21 They stood every man in his place around the camp; and all the
army ran; and they shouted, and put them
to flight.
Jdg
7:22 They blew the three hundred trumpets, and Yahweh set every
man's sword against his fellow, and against all the army; and the
army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border
of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
Jdg
7:23 The men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, and
out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after Midian.
Jdg
7:24 Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of
Ephraim, saying, Come down against Midian, and take before them the
waters, as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan. So all the men of
Ephraim were gathered together, and took the waters as far as Beth
Barah, even the Jordan.
Jdg
7:25 They took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they
killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the
winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian: and they brought the heads of
Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.
Jdg
8:1 The men of Ephraim said to him, Why have you treated us this
way, that you didn't call us, when you went to fight with Midian?
They rebuked him sharply.
Jdg
8:2 He said to them, What have I now done in comparison with you?
Isn't the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage
of Abiezer?
Jdg
8:3 God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and
Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their
anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
Jdg
8:4 Gideon came to the Jordan, and
passed over, he, and the three hundred men who were with him, faint,
yet pursuing.
Jdg
8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, Please give loaves of bread to
the people who follow me; for they are faint, and I am pursuing after
Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.
Jdg
8:6 The princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna
now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?
Jdg
8:7 Gideon said, Therefore when Yahweh has delivered Zebah and
Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of
the wilderness and with briers.
Jdg
8:8 He went up there to Penuel, and spoke to them in like manner;
and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had
answered.
Jdg
8:9 He spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in
peace, I will break down this tower.
Jdg
8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with
them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army
of the children of the east; for there fell one hundred twenty
thousand men who drew sword.
Jdg
8:11 Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the
east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and struck the army; for the army was
secure.
Jdg
8:12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled; and he pursued after them; and he took
the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and confused all the
army.
Jdg
8:13 Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the
ascent of Heres.
Jdg
8:14 He caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of
him: and he described for him the princes of Succoth, and its elders,
seventy-seven men.
Jdg
8:15 He came to the men of Succoth, and said, See Zebah and
Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, Are the hands of
Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to
your men who are weary?
Jdg
8:16 He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness
and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.
Jdg
8:17 He broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the
city.
Jdg
8:18 Then said he to Zebah and Zalmunna, What kind of men were they
whom you killed at Tabor? They answered, They were like you. Each one
resembled the children of a king.
Jdg
8:19 He said, They were my brothers, the sons of my mother: as
Yahweh lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.
Jdg
8:20 He said to Jether his firstborn, Up, and kill them. But the
youth didn't draw his sword; for he feared, because he was yet a
youth.
Jdg
8:21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise and fall on us; for as the
man is, so is his strength. Gideon arose, and killed Zebah and
Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their camels' necks.
Jdg
8:22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule over us, both you,
and your son, and your son's son also; for you have saved us out of
the hand of Midian.
Jdg
8:23 Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my
son rule over you: Yahweh shall rule over you.
Jdg
8:24 Gideon said to them, I would make a request of you, that you
would give me every man the earrings of his spoil. (For they had
golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
Jdg
8:25 They answered, We will willingly give them. They spread a
garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his spoil.
Jdg
8:26 The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one
thousand and seven hundred shekels
of gold, besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple
clothing that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that
were about their camels' necks.
Jdg
8:27 Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in
Ophrah: and all Israel played the prostitute after it there; and it
became a snare to Gideon, and to his house.
Jdg
8:28 So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they
lifted up their heads no more. The land had rest forty years in the
days of Gideon.
Jdg
8:29 Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house.
Jdg
8:30 Gideon had seventy sons conceived from his body; for he had
many wives.
Jdg
8:31 His concubine who was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, and
he named him Abimelech.
Jdg
8:32 Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried
in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Jdg
8:33 It happened, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of
Israel turned again, and played the prostitute after the Baals, and
made Baal Berith their god.
Jdg
8:34 The children of Israel didn't remember Yahweh their God, who
had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every
side;
Jdg
8:35 neither did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, who
is Gideon, according to all the goodness
which he had shown to Israel.
John 5
Joh 5:1
After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up
to Jerusalem.
Joh 5:2
Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called
in Hebrew, "Bethesda," having five porches.
Joh 5:3
In these lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame,
or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water;
Joh 5:4
for an angel of the Lord went down at certain times into the pool,
and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring
of the water was made whole of whatever disease he had.
Joh 5:5 A
certain man was there, who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
Joh 5:6
When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been sick for a
long time, he asked him, "Do you want to be made well?"
Joh 5:7
The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into
the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I'm coming, another
steps down before me."
Joh 5:8
Jesus said to him, "Arise, take up your mat, and walk."
Joh 5:9
Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked.
Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
Joh 5:10
So the Jews said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath. It is
not lawful for you to carry the mat."
Joh 5:11
He answered them, "He who made me well, the same said to me,
'Take up your mat, and walk.' "
Joh 5:12
Then they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up
your mat, and walk' ?"
Joh 5:13
But he who was healed didn't know who it was, for Jesus had
withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.
Joh 5:14
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "Behold,
you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to
you."
Joh 5:15
The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made
him well.
Joh 5:16
For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him,
because he did these things on the Sabbath.
Joh 5:17
But Jesus answered them, "My Father is still working, so I am
working, too."
Joh 5:18
For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own
Father, making himself equal with God.
Joh 5:19
Jesus therefore answered them, "Most certainly, I tell you, the
Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For
whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
Joh 5:20
For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things
that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that
you may marvel.
Joh 5:21
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the
Son also gives life to whom he desires.
Joh 5:22
For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the
Son,
Joh 5:23
that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who
doesn't honor the Son doesn't honor the Father who sent him.
Joh 5:24
"Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes
him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn't come into judgment,
but has passed out of death into life.
Joh 5:25
Most certainly, I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead
will hear the Son of God's voice; and those who hear will live.
Joh 5:26
For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son
also to have life in himself.
Joh 5:27
He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son
of man.
Joh 5:28
Don't marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in
the tombs will hear his voice,
Joh 5:29
and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of
life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
Joh 5:30
I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is
righteous; because I don't seek my own will, but the will of my
Father who sent me.
Joh 5:31
"If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid.
Joh 5:32
It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which
he testifies about me is true.
Joh 5:33
You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.
Joh 5:34
But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say
these things that you may be saved.
Joh 5:35
He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice
for a while in his light.
Joh 5:36
But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John, for the
works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I
do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me.
Joh 5:37
The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have
neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form.
Joh 5:38
You don't have his word living in you; because you don't believe him
whom he sent.
Joh 5:39
"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you
have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.
Joh 5:40
Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.
Joh 5:41
I don't receive glory from men.
Joh 5:42
But I know you, that you don't have God's love in yourselves.
Joh 5:43
I have come in my Father's name, and you don't receive me. If another
comes in his own name, you will receive him.
Joh 5:44
How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you
don't seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Joh 5:45
"Don't think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one
who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope.
Joh 5:46
For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about
me.
Joh 5:47
But if you don't believe his writings, how will you believe my
words?"
Q:
“You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.
These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress
will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention.”1
In December 2011, Discovery News
published an on-line article titled, “Earliest Animals Looked Like
Baseballs.” In the article, Jennifer Viegas referred to a study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences
that claimed “microscopic 570-million-year-old fossils from China may
represent the earliest evidence for animal life on Earth.” (Notice the
difference in this statement and the aforementioned article title.
Whereas the announcement in the title is made with certainty, the
statement within the article is toned down considerably.) Fast forward
only two months. The same Web site (Discovery News) published a
story titled “World’s First Animals Were Namibian Sponges” (2012).
What’s more, these dust-speck-sized sponges were said to be found in
Africa “in rocks between 760 and 550 million years old…. That means
animals, previously thought to have emerged 600 million to 650 million
years ago, actually appeared 100 million to 150 million years before
that” (“World’s First Animals…,” 2012).