May 6th

Then Jephthah said to them, “I and my people were at great strife with the sons of Ammon. And I cried out to you, but you did not save me from their hand.

And I saw that you would not save me, so I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and Yahweh gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?”

Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim; and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim down because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, O Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.”

And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. And it happened when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,”

then they would say to him, “Say now, ‘Shibboleth.’ ” But he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. Thus there fell at that time 42,000 of Ephraim.

And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

Then Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel after him.

And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage outside the family, and he brought in thirty daughters from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.

Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

Then Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel after him; and he judged Israel ten years.

And Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel after him.

And he had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys; and he judged Israel eight years.

Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Then the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, so that Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children.

Then the angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall be with child and give birth to a son.

So now, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing.

For behold, you shall be with child and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.

And he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall be with child and give birth to a son, so now you shall not drink wine or strong drink, and you shall not eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”

Then Manoah entreated Yahweh and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom You have sent come to us again that he may instruct us what to do for the boy who is to be born.”

And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.

So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, and she said to him, “Behold, the man who came the other day to me has appeared to me.”

Then Manoah arose and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.”

So Manoah said, “Now your words will come to pass. What shall be the judgment governing the boy and his work?”

So the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Let the woman be careful in all that I said.

She should not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her keep all that I commanded.”

Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “Please let us delay you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.”

And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Though you delay me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to Yahweh.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh.

Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?”

But the angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”

So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to Yahweh, and He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on.

Indeed, it happened when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife saw this, so they fell on their faces to the ground.

Now the angel of Yahweh did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh.

So Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, for we have seen God.”

But his wife said to him, “If Yahweh had desired to put us to death, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”

Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up, and Yahweh blessed him.

And the Spirit of Yahweh began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.

So he came back up and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, take her for me as a wife.”

But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Take her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”

However, his father and mother did not know that it was of Yahweh, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and they came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him.

And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him mightily, so that he tore it as one tears a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

So he went down and spoke to the woman; and she was right in the eyes of Samson.

Then he returned later to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion.

So he scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went. Then he went to his father and mother, and he gave some to them, and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.

Then his father went down to the woman; and Samson made a feast there, for the young men customarily did this.

Now it happened that when they saw him, they took thirty companions to be with him.

Then Samson said to them, “Let me now propound a riddle to you; if you will indeed tell it to me within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes.

But if you are unable to tell me, then you shall give me thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Propound your riddle, that we may hear it.”

So he said to them,

But they could not tell the riddle in three days.

Then it happened on the fourth day that they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, so that he will tell us the riddle, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is this not so?”

So Samson’s wife wept before him and said, “You only hate me, and you do not love me; you have propounded a riddle to the sons of my people and have not told it to me.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told it to my father or mother; so should I tell you?”

However she wept before him seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people.

So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,

And he said to them,

Then the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty of them and took their spoil and gave the changes of clothes to those who told the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house.

But Samson’s wife was given to his companion who had been his friend.

Now when Herod saw Jesus, he rejoiced greatly; for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him.

And he questioned Him at some length, but He answered him nothing.

And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there, vehemently accusing Him.

And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a bright robe and sent Him back to Pilate.

Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been at enmity with each other.

And Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people,

and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found in this man no guilt of what you are accusing Him.

No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him.

Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.”

[Now he was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner.]

But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!”

(He had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city and for murder.)

But again Pilate addressed them, wanting to release Jesus,

but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!”

And he said to them a third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt worthy of death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.”

But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices were prevailing.

And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted.

And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.

And when they led Him away, they took hold of a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.

And following Him was a large multitude of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him.

But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop crying for Me, but cry for yourselves and for your children.

For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’

Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’