The Birth of Samson

13 And the people of Israel again ^(A)did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them ^(B)into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

² There was a certain man of ^(C)Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. ^(D)And his wife was barren and had no children. ^3 (E)And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. ⁴ Therefore be careful ^(F)and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, ⁵ for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. ^(G)No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be ^(H)a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall ^(I)begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, ^(J)“A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. ^(K)I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, ⁷ but he said to me, ^(L)‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” ⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” ¹¹ And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹² And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, ^(M)what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?” ¹³ And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. ¹⁴ She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, ^(N)neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

¹⁵ Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and ^(O)prepare a young goat for you.” ¹⁶ And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) ¹⁷ And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, ^(P)“What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” ¹⁸ And the angel of the Lord said to him, ^(Q)“Why do you ask my name, seeing ^(R)it is wonderful?” ¹⁹ So ^(S)Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works^[a] wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. ²⁰ And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, ^(T)and they fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. ^(U)Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. ²² And Manoah said to his wife, ^(V)“We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” ²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.” ²⁴ And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. ^(W)And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. ^25 (X)And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between ^(Y)Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson's Marriage

14 ^(Z)Samson went down to ^(AA)Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. ² Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. ^(AB)Now get her for me as my wife.” ³ But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters ^(AC)of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the ^(AD)uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”

⁴ His father and mother did not know that it was ^(AE)from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. ^(AF)At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.

⁵ Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. ^6 (AG)Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. ⁷ Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes.

⁸ After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. ⁹ He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.

¹⁰ His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. ¹¹ As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. ¹² And Samson said to them, ^(AH)“Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within ^(AI)the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty ^(AJ)changes of clothes, ¹³ but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.” ¹⁴ And he said to them,

And in three days they could not solve the riddle.

¹⁵ On the fourth^[b] day they said to Samson's wife, ^(AK)“Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, ^(AL)lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?” ¹⁶ And Samson's wife wept over him and said, ^(AM)“You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?” ¹⁷ She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because ^(AN)she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people. ¹⁸ And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,

And he said to them,

^19 (AO)And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to ^(AP)Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father's house. ²⁰ And Samson's wife was given to ^(AQ)his companion, ^(AR)who had been his best man.

Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)The Gittith.^[a] Of ^(B)Asaph.

Jesus Washes the Disciples' Feet

13 Now ^(A)before ^(B)the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that ^(C)his hour had come ^(D)to depart out of this world to the Father, ^(E)having loved ^(F)his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ² During supper, when ^(G)the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, ³ Jesus, knowing ^(H)that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that ^(I)he had come from God and ^(J)was going back to God, ⁴ rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, ^(K)tied it around his waist. ⁵ Then he ^(L)poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ^7 (M)Jesus answered him, “What I am doing ^(N)you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” ^8 (O)Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, ^(P)“If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, ^(Q)except for his feet,^[a] but is completely clean. And ^(R)you^[b] are clean, ^(S)but not every one of you.” ^11 (T)For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹² When he had washed their feet and ^(U)put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, ^(V)“Do you understand what I have done to you? ^13 (W)You call me ^(X)Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, ^(Y)you also ought to wash one another's feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, ^(Z)that you also should do just as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(AA)a servant^[c] is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, ^(AB)blessed are you if you do them. ^18 (AC)I am not speaking of all of you; I know ^(AD)whom I have chosen. But ^(AE)the Scripture will be fulfilled,^{[d] (AF)}‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ ^19 (AG)I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(AH)whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

One of You Will Betray Me

²¹ After saying these things, ^(AI)Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, ^(AJ)“Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(AK)one of you will betray me.” ^22 (AL)The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. ^23 (AM)One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table ^(AN)at Jesus' side,^{[e] 24} so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus^[f] of whom he was speaking. ^25 (AO)So that disciple, ^(AP)leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” ²⁶ Jesus answered, ^(AQ)“It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread ^(AR)when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, ^(AS)he gave it to Judas, ^(AT)the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷ Then after he had taken the morsel, ^(AU)Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ^(AV)“What you are going to do, do quickly.” ²⁸ Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. ²⁹ Some thought that, ^(AW)because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need ^(AX)for the feast,” or that he should ^(AY)give something to the poor. ³⁰ So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. ^(AZ)And it was night.

A New Commandment

³¹ When he had gone out, Jesus said, ^(BA)“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and ^(BB)God is glorified in him. ³² If God is glorified in him, ^(BC)God will also glorify him in himself, and ^(BD)glorify him at once. ³³ Little children, ^(BE)yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just ^(BF)as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ ^34 (BG)A new commandment ^(BH)I give to you, ^(BI)that you love one another: ^(BJ)just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ^35 (BK)By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus Foretells Peter's Denial

³⁶ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” ^(BL)Jesus answered him, “Where I am going ^(BM)you cannot follow me now, ^(BN)but you will follow afterward.” ^37 (BO)Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” ³⁸ Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(BP)the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.