Philistines Oppress Again

13 Now the sons of Israel ^(A)again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

² And there was a man of ^(B)Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was infertile and had not given birth to any children. ^3 (C)Then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are infertile and have not given birth; but you will conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴ And now, be careful ^(D)not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any ^[a]unclean thing. ^5 (E)For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a ^(F)Nazirite to God from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” ⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “^(G)A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. So I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. ⁷ But he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any ^[b]unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah pleaded with the Lord and said, “Lord, please let ^(H)the man of God whom You have sent come to us again so that he may teach us what we are to do for the boy who is to be born.” ⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and ^(I)the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ So the woman hurried and ran, and told her ^[c]husband, “Behold, ^(J)the man who ^[d]came the other day has appeared to me!” ¹¹ So Manoah got up and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, “Are you ^(K)the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹² Then Manoah said, “Now when your words ^[e]are fulfilled, what shall be the boy’s way of life and his vocation?” ¹³ And ^(L)the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “^(M)The woman shall pay attention ^[f]to all that I said. ¹⁴ She shall not eat anything that comes from the ^(N)vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; she shall keep all that I commanded.”

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to ^(O)the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” ¹⁶ But the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, ^(P)I will not eat your ^[g]food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, 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, “^(Q)What is your name, so that when your words ^[h]are fulfilled, we may honor you?” ¹⁸ But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, for it is ^[i](R)wonderful?” ¹⁹ So ^(S)Manoah took the young goat along with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord; and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. ²⁰ For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they ^(T)fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ Now the angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. ^(U)Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. ²² So Manoah said to his wife, “^(V)We will certainly die, for we have seen God.” ²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have ^(W)shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”

²⁴ So the woman gave birth to a son, and named him Samson; and the ^(X)child grew up and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵ And ^(Y)the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him when he was in ^[j](Z)Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Paul in Thessalonica

17 Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to ^(A)Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. ² And ^(B)according to Paul’s custom, he ^[a]visited them, and for three ^(C)Sabbaths reasoned with them from ^(D)the Scriptures, ^3 [b]explaining and ^[c]giving evidence that the ^[d]Christ ^(E)had to suffer and ^(F)rise from the dead, and saying, “^(G)This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the ^[e]Christ.” ^4 (H)And some of them were persuaded and joined ^(I)Paul and Silas, ^[f]along with a large number of the ^(J)God-fearing ^(K)Greeks and ^[g]a significant number of the ^(L)leading women. ⁵ But ^(M)the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and they attacked the house of ^(N)Jason and were seeking to bring them out to the people. ⁶ When they did not find them, they began ^(O)dragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset ^[h](P)the world have come here also; ^7 [i]and Jason ^(Q)has welcomed them, and they all act ^(R)contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” ⁸ They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. ⁹ And when they had received a ^[j]pledge from ^(S)Jason and the others, they released them.

Paul in Berea

^10 (T)The brothers immediately sent ^(U)Paul and Silas away by night to ^(V)Berea, ^[k]and when they arrived, they went into ^(W)the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹ Now these people were more noble-minded than those in ^(X)Thessalonica, ^[l]for they received the word with ^[m]great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. ¹² Therefore, ^(Y)many of them believed, ^[n]along with a significant number of ^(Z)prominent Greek ^(AA)women and men. ¹³ But when the Jews of ^(AB)Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in ^(AC)Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds. ¹⁴ Then immediately ^(AD)the brothers sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and ^(AE)Silas and ^(AF)Timothy remained there. ¹⁵ Now ^(AG)those who escorted Paul brought him as far as ^(AH)Athens; and receiving a command for ^(AI)Silas and Timothy to ^(AJ)come to him as soon as possible, they left.

Paul in Athens

¹⁶ Now while Paul was waiting for them in ^(AK)Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he observed that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he was reasoning ^(AL)in the synagogue with the Jews and ^(AM)the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be present. ¹⁸ And some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers as well were ^[o]conversing with him. Some were saying, “What could ^(AN)this ^[p]scavenger of tidbits want to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching ^(AO)Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹ And they ^(AP)took him and brought him ^[q]to the ^[r](AQ)Areopagus, saying, “May we know what ^(AR)this new teaching is ^[s]which you are proclaiming? ²⁰ For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” ²¹ (Now all the Athenians and the strangers ^(AS)visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

Sermon on Mars Hill

²² So Paul stood in the midst of the ^[t]Areopagus and said, “Men of ^(AT)Athens, I see that you are very ^(AU)religious in all respects. ²³ For while I was passing through and examining the ^(AV)objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore, what ^(AW)you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. ^24 (AX)The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is ^(AY)Lord of heaven and earth, does not ^(AZ)dwell in temples made by hands; ²⁵ nor is He served by human hands, ^(BA)as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; ²⁶ and ^(BB)He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having ^(BC)determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, ²⁷ that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, ^(BD)though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for ^(BE)in Him we live and move and ^[u]exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His descendants.’ ²⁹ Therefore, since we are the descendants of God, we ^(BF)ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought. ³⁰ So having ^(BG)overlooked ^(BH)the times of ignorance, God is ^(BI)now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent, ³¹ because He has set ^(BJ)a day on which ^(BK)He will judge ^[v](BL)the world in righteousness ^[w]through a Man whom He has ^(BM)appointed, having furnished proof to all people ^[x]by ^(BN)raising Him from the dead.”

³² Now when they heard of ^(BO)the resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We shall hear from you ^[y]again concerning this.” ³³ So Paul went out from among them. ³⁴ But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the ^(BP)Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.