Monday, 22 July

1.   Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 2.   When the Gazites were told , "Samson has come here!" they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, "In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him." 3.   And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. 4.   Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5.   And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, "Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies , and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver." 6.   So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength lies , and with what you may be bound to afflict you." 7.   And Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man." 8.   So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. 9.   Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. 10.   Then Delilah said to Samson, "Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with." 11.   So he said to her, "If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man." 12.   Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread. 13.   Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with." And he said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom" –– 14.   So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom. 15.   Then she said to him, "How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies ." 16.   And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, 17.   that he told her all his heart, and said to her, "No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man." 18.   When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart." So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19.   Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20.   And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" So he awoke from his sleep, and said, "I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!" But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. 21.   Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. 22.   However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven. 23.   Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice. And they said: "Our god has delivered into our hands Samson our enemy!" 24.   When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said: "Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, The destroyer of our land, And the one who multiplied our dead." 25.   So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, "Call for Samson, that he may perform for us." So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. 26.   Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, "Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them." 27.   Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there––about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. 28.   Then Samson called to the LORD, saying, "O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!" 29.   And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. 30.   Then Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. 31.   And his brothers and all his father’s household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.

1.   Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed. 2.   Blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who lays hold on it; Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing any evil." 3.   Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying, "The LORD has utterly separated me from His people"; Nor let the eunuch say, "Here I am, a dry tree." 4.   For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant, 5.   Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off. 6.   "Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants––Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant–– 7.   Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." 8.   The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, "Yet I will gather to him Others besides those who are gathered to him." 9.   All you beasts of the field, come to devour, All you beasts in the forest. 10.   His watchmen are blind, They are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, They cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11.   Yes, they are greedy dogs Which never have enough. And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory. 12.   "Come," one says , "I will bring wine, And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; Tomorrow will be as today, And much more abundant."

1.   Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2.   for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3.   For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4.   that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5.   not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6.   that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7.   For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8.   Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. 9.   But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10.   and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11.   that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12.   that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. 13.   But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14.   For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15.   For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16.   For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17.   Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18.   Therefore comfort one another with these words.