Book of Common Prayer

Praise and Supplication to God for Victory.

A Song. A Psalm of David.

Praise to the Creator and Preserver.

Samson’s Weakness

16 Then Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute there, and went in to her. ² The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” So they surrounded the place and waited all night at the gate of the city to ambush him. They kept quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is light, we will kill him.” ³ But Samson lay [resting] until midnight, then at midnight he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two door-posts, and pulled them up, [security] bar and all, and he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the hill which is opposite Hebron.

⁴ After this he fell in love with a [Philistine] woman [living] in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ So the [five] lords (governors) of the Philistines came to her and said to her, “Persuade him, and see where his great strength lies and [find out] how we may overpower him so that we may bind him to subdue him. And each 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 and subdued.” ⁷ Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh cords (^[a]tendons) that have not been dried, then I will be weak and be like any [other] man.” ⁸ Then the Philistine lords brought her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹ Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he broke the cords as a ^[b]string of tow breaks when it touches fire. So [the secret of] his strength was not discovered.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “See now, you have mocked me and told me lies; now please tell me [truthfully] how you may be bound.” ¹¹ He said to her, “If they bind me tightly with new ropes that have not been used, then I will become weak and be like any [other] man.” ¹² So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in the inner room. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like [sewing] thread.

¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies; tell me [truthfully] with what you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair with the web ^[c][and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be like any other man.” ¹⁴ So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks (braids) of his hair and wove them into the web]. And she fastened it with the pin [of the loom] and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the [weaver’s] loom and the web.

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount ^[a]Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; but as he went near to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came [to him, saying]: ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. ³³ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground [worthy of reverence and respect]. ³⁴ I have most certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come, and I will send you to Egypt [as My messenger].’^(A)

³⁵ “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the very one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer, with the [protecting and helping] hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.^{(B) 36} This man led them out [of Egypt] after performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.^{(C) 37} This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a Prophet ^[b]like me from your countrymen.’^{(D) 38} This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles [divine words that still live] to be handed down to you.^{(E) 39} Our fathers were unwilling to be subject to him [and refused to listen to him]. They rejected him, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.^{(F) 40} They said to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’^{(G) 41} In those days they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced and celebrated over the works of their hands.^{(H) 42} But God turned away [from them] and handed them over to serve the ^[c]host of heaven. As it is written and forever remains written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not [really] to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?^{(I) 43} You also took along the tabernacle (portable temple) of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship; and I will remove you beyond Babylon [carrying you away into exile].’^(J)

The Healing at Bethesda

5 Later on there was a Jewish feast (festival), and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a ^[a]pool, which is called in Hebrew (Jewish Aramaic) Bethesda, having five porticoes (alcoves, colonnades). ³ In these porticoes lay a great number of people who were sick, blind, lame, withered, ^[b][waiting for the stirring of the water; ⁴ for an angel of the Lord went down into the pool at appointed seasons and stirred up the water; the first one to go in after the water was stirred was healed of his disease.] ⁵ There was a certain man there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?” ⁷ The invalid answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am coming [to get into it myself], someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up; pick up your pallet and walk.” ⁹ Immediately the man was healed and recovered his strength, and ^[c]picked up his pallet and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews kept saying to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not ^[d]permitted to pick up your pallet [because it is unlawful].” ¹¹ He answered them, “The Man who healed me and gave me back my strength was the One who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the Man who told you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away [unnoticed] since there was a crowd in that place. ¹⁴ Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ For this reason the Jews began to persecute Jesus continually because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now [He has never ceased working], and I too am working.”

Jesus’ Equality with God

¹⁸ This made the Jews more determined than ever to kill Him, for not only was He breaking the Sabbath [from their viewpoint], but He was also calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.