Conflict with Ephraim

12 The men of Ephraim were called together and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon.^(A) They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight against the Ammonites but didn’t call us to go with you? We will burn your house with you in it!”

² Then Jephthah said to them, “My people and I had a bitter conflict with the Ammonites. So I called for you, but you didn’t deliver me from their power. ³ When I saw that you weren’t going to deliver me, I took my life in my own hands and crossed over to the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why then have you come today to fight against me?”

⁴ Then Jephthah gathered all of the men of Gilead. They fought and defeated Ephraim, because Ephraim had said, “You Gileadites are Ephraimite fugitives in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.” ⁵ The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim. Whenever a fugitive from Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he answered, “No,” ⁶ they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and executed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand from Ephraim died.

⁷ Jephthah judged Israel six years, and when he died, he was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.^[a]

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

⁸ Ibzan, who was from Bethlehem,^(B) judged Israel after Jephthah ⁹ and had thirty sons. He gave his thirty daughters in marriage to men outside the tribe and brought back thirty wives for his sons from outside the tribe. Ibzan judged Israel seven years, ¹⁰ and when he died, he was buried in Bethlehem.

¹¹ Elon, who was from Zebulun, judged Israel after Ibzan. He judged Israel ten years, ¹² and when he died, he was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

¹³ After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel, who was from Pirathon,^(C) judged Israel. ¹⁴ He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. Abdon judged Israel eight years, ¹⁵ and when he died, he was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.^(D)

Birth of Samson

13 The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,^(E) so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines forty years. ² There was a certain man from Zorah,^(F) from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. ³ The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are unable to conceive and have no children, you will conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴ Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer,^(G) or to eat anything unclean;^{(H) 5} for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair,^[b] because the boy will be a Nazirite^(I) to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

⁶ Then the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring angel of God. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. ⁷ He said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. Therefore, do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth until the day of his death.’”

⁸ Manoah prayed^(J) to the Lord and said, “Please, Lord, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.”

⁹ God listened^(K) to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field, and her husband, Manoah, was not with her. ¹⁰ The woman ran quickly to her husband and told him, “The man who came to me the other day has just come back!”

¹¹ So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”

“I am,” he said.

¹² Then Manoah asked, “When your words come true, what will be the boy’s responsibilities and work?”

¹³ The angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “Your wife needs to do everything I told her. ¹⁴ She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine or drink wine or beer. And she must not eat anything unclean. Your wife must do everything I have commanded her.”

¹⁵ “Please stay here,” Manoah told him, “and we will prepare a young goat^(L) for you.”

¹⁶ The angel of the Lord said to him, “If I stay, I won’t eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” (Manoah did not know he was the angel of the Lord.)

¹⁷ Then Manoah said to him, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?”

¹⁸ “Why do you ask my name,” the angel of the Lord asked him, “since it is beyond understanding?”^(M)

¹⁹ Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord, who did something miraculous^[c] while Manoah and his wife were watching. ²⁰ When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the Lord went up in its flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground. ²¹ The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.

²² “We’re certainly going to die,” he said to his wife, “because we have seen God!” ^(N)

²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and he would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us like this.”

²⁴ So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson.^(O) The boy grew,^(P) and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵ Then the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in the Camp of Dan,^[d] between Zorah and Eshtaol.^(Q)

Samson’s Riddle

14 Samson went down to Timnah^(R) and saw a young Philistine woman there. ² He went back and told his father and his mother, “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

³ But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?”

But Samson told his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” ⁴ Now his father and mother did not know this was from the Lord,^(S) who wanted the Philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation.^[e] At that time, the Philistines were ruling Israel.

⁵ Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, ⁶ the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on^(T) him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷ Then he went and spoke to the woman, because she seemed right to Samson.

⁸ After some time, when he returned to marry her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass. ⁹ He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.^(U)

¹⁰ His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do. ¹¹ When the Philistines saw him, they brought thirty men to accompany him.

¹² “Let me tell you a riddle,”^(V) Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes. ¹³ But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they replied.^[f] “Let’s hear it.”

¹⁴ So he said to them:

After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle. ¹⁵ On the fourth^[g] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s family to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

¹⁶ So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me!^(W) You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.”

“Look,” he said,^[h] “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

¹⁷ She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people. ¹⁸ On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him:

So he said to them:

¹⁹ The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house, ²⁰ and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

Samson’s Revenge

15 Later on, during the wheat harvest,^(X) Samson took a young goat as a gift and visited his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

² “I was sure you hated her,” her father said, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Why not take her instead?”

³ Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless^(Y) when I harm the Philistines.” ⁴ So he went out and caught three hundred foxes.^(Z) He took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. ⁵ Then he ignited the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned the piles of grain and the standing grain as well as the vineyards and olive groves.^(AA)

⁶ Then the Philistines asked, “Who did this?”

They were told, “It was Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because he took Samson’s wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines went to her and her father and burned them to death.

⁷ Then Samson told them, “Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you.” ⁸ He tore them limb from limb^[i] and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

⁹ The Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and raided Lehi. ¹⁰ So the men of Judah said, “Why have you attacked us?”

They replied, “We have come to tie Samson up and pay him back for what he did to us.”

¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines rule us?^(AB) What have you done to us?”

“I have done to them what they did to me,” he answered.^[j]

¹² They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”

Then Samson told them, “Swear to me that you yourselves won’t kill me.”

¹³ “No,” they said,^[k] “we won’t kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they tied him up with two new ropes^(AC) and led him away from the rock.

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and the ropes that were on his arms and wrists became like burnt flax and fell off. ¹⁵ He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed a thousand men with it. ¹⁶ Then Samson said:

¹⁷ When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone and named that place Jawbone Hill.^{[l] 18} He became very thirsty and called out to the Lord, “You have accomplished this great victory through your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” ¹⁹ So God split a hollow place in the ground at Lehi, and water came out of it. After Samson drank, his strength returned, and he revived.^(AD) That is why he named it Hakkore Spring,^[m] which is still in Lehi today. ²⁰ And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Samson and Delilah

16 Samson went to Gaza,^(AE) where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her. ² When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let’s wait until dawn; then we will kill him.” ³ But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.

⁴ Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. ⁵ The Philistine leaders^(AF) went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you^[n] where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me, where does your great strength come from? How could someone tie you up and make you helpless?”

⁷ Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

⁸ The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. ⁹ While the men in ambush were waiting in her room, she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” ^[o] But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. The secret of his strength remained unknown.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies! Won’t you please tell me how you can be tied up?”

¹¹ He told her, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used,^(AG) I will become weak and be like any other man.”

¹² Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men in ambush were waiting in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up.”

He told her, “If you weave the seven braids on my head into the fabric on a loom—” ^[p]

¹⁴ She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web.

¹⁵ “How can you say, ‘I love you,’”^(AH) she told him, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great!”

¹⁶ Because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him until she wore him out,^{[q] 17} he told her the whole truth and said to her, “My hair has never been cut,^[r] because I am a Nazirite^(AI) to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: “Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth.” The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the silver with them.

¹⁹ Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him. ²⁰ Then she cried, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When he awoke from his sleep, he said, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.^(AJ)

Samson’s Defeat and Death

²¹ The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison. ²² But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.

²³ Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon.^(AK) They rejoiced and said:

²⁴ When the people saw him, they praised their god^(AL) and said:

²⁵ When they were in good spirits,^[s] they said, “Bring Samson here to entertain us.” So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars.

²⁶ Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.” ²⁷ The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them. ²⁸ He called out to the Lord, “Lord God, please remember me.^(AM) Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹ Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left. ³⁰ Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.

³¹ Then his brothers and his father’s whole family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. So he judged Israel twenty years.

Psalm 146

The God of Compassion

Resurrection Morning

24 On^(A) the first day of the week,^(B) very early in the morning, they^[a] came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. ³ They went in but did not find the body^(C) of the Lord Jesus.^{(D) 4} While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling^(E) clothes. ⁵ So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground.

“Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. ⁶ “He is not here, but he has risen!^(F) Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee,^{(G) 7} saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed^(H) into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise^(I) on the third day’?” ⁸ And they remembered his words.

⁹ Returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven^(J) and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James,^(K) and the other women with them were telling the apostles^(L) these things. ¹¹ But these words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe^(M) the women. ¹² Peter,^(N) however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen cloths.^[b](O) So he went away, amazed^(P) at what had happened.

The Emmaus Disciples

¹³ Now^(Q) that same day two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles^[c](R) from Jerusalem.^{(S) 14} Together they were discussing everything that had taken place. ¹⁵ And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus himself came near and began to walk along with them. ¹⁶ But they^[d] were prevented from recognizing him.^{(T) 17} Then he asked them, “What is this dispute that you’re having^[e] with each other as you are walking?” And they stopped walking and looked discouraged.

¹⁸ The one named Cleopas answered him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that happened there in these days?” ^(U)

¹⁹ “What things?” he asked them.

So they said to him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth,^(V) who was a prophet^(W) powerful in action and speech^(X) before God and all the people,^{(Y) 20} and how our chief priests and leaders^(Z) handed him over to be sentenced to death,^(AA) and they crucified him.^{(AB) 21} But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem^(AC) Israel. Besides all this, it’s the third day^(AD) since these things happened. ²² Moreover, some women from our group astounded us. They arrived early at the tomb, ²³ and when they didn’t find his body, they came and reported that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”^(AE)

²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow^[f] to believe all that the prophets have spoken!^{(AF) 26} Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer^(AG) these things and enter into his glory?”^{(AH) 27} Then beginning with Moses^(AI) and all the Prophets,^(AJ) he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.^(AK)

²⁸ They came near the village where they were going, and he gave the impression that he was going farther.^{(AL) 29} But they urged him, “Stay with us, because it’s almost evening, and now the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰ It was as he reclined at the table with them that he took the bread, blessed and broke^(AM) it, and gave it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened,^(AN) and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight.^{(AO) 32} They said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures^(AP) to us?” ³³ That very hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven^(AQ) and those with them gathered together, ³⁴ who said, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” ^{(AR) 35} Then they began to describe what had happened on the road and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.^(AS)

The Reality of the Risen Jesus

³⁶ As^(AT) they were saying these things, he himself stood in their midst. He said to them, “Peace^(AU) to you!” ³⁷ But they were startled and terrified^(AV) and thought they were seeing a ghost.^{(AW) 38} “Why are you troubled?”^(AX) he asked them. “And why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself!^(AY) Touch me and see,^(AZ) because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” ⁴⁰ Having said this, he showed them his hands and feet. ⁴¹ But while they still were amazed and in disbelief because of their joy, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” ⁴² So they gave him a piece of a broiled fish,^{[g] 43} and he took it and ate in their presence.

⁴⁴ He told them, “These are my words^(BA) that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets,^(BB) and the Psalms^(BC) must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds^(BD) to understand^(BE) the Scriptures. ⁴⁶ He also said to them, “This is what is written:^[h] The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead the third day,^{(BF) 47} and repentance for^[i] forgiveness of sins^(BG) will be proclaimed in his name to all the nations,^(BH) beginning at Jerusalem.^{(BI) 48} You are witnesses^(BJ) of these things. ⁴⁹ And look, I am sending you^[j] what my Father promised.^(BK) As for you, stay in the city^[k] until you are empowered^[l](BL) from on high.”

The Ascension of Jesus

⁵⁰ Then he led them out to the vicinity of Bethany,^(BM) and lifting up his hands^(BN) he blessed them. ⁵¹ And while he was blessing them, he left them and was carried up into heaven.^{(BO) 52} After worshiping him,^(BP) they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.^{(BQ) 53} And they were continually in the temple praising God.^[m](BR)