May 7th

And her father said, “I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please let her be yours instead.”

Samson then said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.”

So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails.

Then he set fire to the torches and sent the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. So he caused both the shocks and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and groves, to burn.

Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.

Then Samson said to them, “If you act like this, then I will surely take revenge on you, but after that I will cease.”

And he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah and spread out in Lehi.

So the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they said, “We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us.”

Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”

And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you so that we may give you into the hand of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you yourselves will not kill me.”

So they said to him, “No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we will not put you to death.” Then they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands.

And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he sent forth his hand and took it and struck down 1,000 men with it.

Then Samson said,

Now it happened that when he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.

Then he became very thirsty, and he called to Yahweh and said, “You have given this great salvation by the hand of Your slave, but now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi and water came out of it. Then he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he named it En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.

And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Then Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went in to her.

And it was told to the Gazites, saying, “Samson has come here,” so they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, “Let us wait until the morning light; then we will kill him.”

But Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and seized the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and brought them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron.

Now it happened afterwards that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, and her name was Delilah.

And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you.”

Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man.”

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

Now she had men lying in wait, sitting in an inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the cords as a string of tinder snaps when it touches fire. So his strength was still not known.

Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have deceived me and told me lies; now please tell me how you may be bound.”

And he said to her, “If they bind me tightly with new ropes which have not been used for work, then I will become weak and be like any other man.”

So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” Now the men lying in wait were sitting in the inner room. But he snapped the ropes from his arms like a thread.

Then Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies; tell me how you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web [and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be like any other man.”

So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his hair and wove them into the web]. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.

Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.”

Now it happened when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death.

So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like every other man.”

And Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, so she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought up the silver in their hands.

Then she made him sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him.

And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that Yahweh had left him.

Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison.

However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.

Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to be glad; and they said,

Then the people saw him and praised their god, for they said,

So it happened when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars.

Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house is established, that I may lean against them.”

Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them.

Then Samson called to Yahweh and said, “O Lord Yahweh, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”

Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house was established and supported himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left.

And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he bent with his strength so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he put to death by his death were more than those whom he put to death in his life.

Then his brothers and all his father’s household came down, carried him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years.

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.’

Now two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him.

And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.

And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were scoffing at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.”

And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine,

and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”

Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

And one of the criminals hanging there was blaspheming Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”

But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”

And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour,

because the sun was obscured. And the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two.

And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.

Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was righteous.”

And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, were returning, beating their chests.

And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, watching these things.

And behold, a man named Joseph, who was a Council member, a good and righteous man

(he had not consented to their counsel and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God;

this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain.

It was Preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

Now the women, who had come with Him from Galilee, followed and beheld the tomb and how His body was laid.

Then after they returned, they prepared spices and perfumes.

And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.