Jephthah's Tragic Vow

^29 (A)Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. ³⁰ And Jephthah ^(B)made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹ then whatever^[a] comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites ^(C)shall be the Lord's, and ^(D)I will offer it^[b] up for a burnt offering.” ³² So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. ³³ And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of ^(E)Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

³⁴ Then Jephthah came to his home at ^(F)Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him ^(G)with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵ And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, ^(H)and I cannot take back my vow.” ³⁶ And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” ³⁷ So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” ³⁸ So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹ And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, ^(I)who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

Jephthah's Conflict with Ephraim

12 ^(J)The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.” ² And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. ³ And when I saw that you would not save me, ^(K)I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴ Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, ^(L)“You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.” ⁵ And the Gileadites captured ^(M)the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,” ⁶ they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at ^(N)the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.

⁷ Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.^[c]

The Full Assurance of Faith

^19 (A)Therefore, brothers,^[a] since we have confidence to enter ^(B)the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by ^(C)the new and living way that he opened for us through ^(D)the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ²¹ and since we have ^(E)a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts ^(F)sprinkled clean ^(G)from an evil conscience and our bodies ^(H)washed with pure water. ^23 (I)Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for ^(J)he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And ^(K)let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ^25 (L)not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and ^(M)all the more as you see ^(N)the Day drawing near.

²⁶ For ^(O)if we go on sinning deliberately ^(P)after receiving the knowledge of the truth, ^(Q)there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ^27 (R)but a fearful expectation of judgment, and ^(S)a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. ^28 (T)Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy ^(U)on the evidence of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one ^(V)who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned ^(W)the blood of the covenant ^(X)by which he was sanctified, and has ^(Y)outraged the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know him who said, ^(Z)“Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, ^(AA)“The Lord will judge his people.” ^31 (AB)It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³² But recall the former days when, after ^(AC)you were enlightened, you endured ^(AD)a hard struggle with sufferings, ³³ sometimes being ^(AE)publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. ³⁴ For ^(AF)you had compassion on those in prison, and ^(AG)you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had ^(AH)a better possession and an abiding one. ³⁵ Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has ^(AI)a great reward. ³⁶ For ^(AJ)you have need of endurance, so that ^(AK)when you have done the will of God you may ^(AL)receive what is promised. ³⁷ For,

³⁹ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

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.

By Faith

11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of ^(A)things not seen. ² For by it the people of old received their commendation. ³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by ^(B)the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of ^(C)things that are visible.

⁴ By faith ^(D)Abel offered to God ^(E)a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And ^(F)through his faith, though he died, he ^(G)still speaks. ⁵ By faith ^(H)Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God ^(I)must believe that he exists and ^(J)that he rewards those who seek him. ⁷ By faith ^(K)Noah, being warned by God concerning ^(L)events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of ^(M)the righteousness that comes by faith.

⁸ By faith ^(N)Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place ^(O)that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he went to live in ^(P)the land of promise, as in a foreign land, ^(Q)living in tents ^(R)with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to ^(S)the city that has ^(T)foundations, ^(U)whose designer and builder is God. ¹¹ By faith ^(V)Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered ^(W)him faithful who had promised. ¹² Therefore from one man, and ^(X)him as good as dead, were born descendants ^(Y)as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

¹³ These all died in faith, ^(Z)not having received the things promised, but ^(AA)having seen them and greeted them from afar, and ^(AB)having acknowledged that they were ^(AC)strangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴ For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, ^(AD)they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed ^(AE)to be called their God, for ^(AF)he has prepared for them a city.

¹⁷ By faith ^(AG)Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, ¹⁸ of whom it was said, ^(AH)“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ^19 (AI)He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. ²⁰ By faith ^(AJ)Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. ²¹ By faith ^(AK)Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, ^(AL)bowing in worship over the head of his staff. ²² By faith ^(AM)Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

²³ By faith ^(AN)Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of ^(AO)the king's edict. ²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was grown up, ^(AP)refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, ^25 (AQ)choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy ^(AR)the fleeting pleasures of sin. ^26 (AS)He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to ^(AT)the reward. ²⁷ By faith he ^(AU)left Egypt, ^(AV)not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured ^(AW)as seeing him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith ^(AX)he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

²⁹ By faith ^(AY)the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. ³⁰ By faith ^(AZ)the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹ By faith ^(BA)Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she ^(BB)had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

³² And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of ^(BC)Gideon, ^(BD)Barak, ^(BE)Samson, ^(BF)Jephthah, of ^(BG)David and ^(BH)Samuel and the prophets— ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, ^(BI)stopped the mouths of lions, ^34 (BJ)quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, ^(BK)became mighty in war, ^(BL)put foreign armies to flight. ^35 (BM)Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. ³⁶ Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even ^(BN)chains and imprisonment. ^37 (BO)They were stoned, they were sawn in two,^{[a] (BP)}they were killed with the sword. ^(BQ)They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— ³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy—^(BR)wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

³⁹ And all these, ^(BS)though commended through their faith, ^(BT)did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had provided something better for us, ^(BU)that apart from us they should not be made perfect.