Day 94, 3 April 2024

1) Judges 13 , Judges 14, Judges 15

JUDGES 13

The Birth of Samson

1 ()Jdg 2:11; 1Sa 12:9) Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight
of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines
for forty years.
2 (Jos 19:41; 15:33) There was a certain man from Zorah,
from the tribe of Dan. His name was Manoah. His wife was infertile
and had borne no children.
3 (Lk 1:13; Jdg 6:11-12) The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman
and said to her, "Indeed, you are infertile and have borne no childen,
yet you will conceive and bear a son.
4 (Nu 6:2-3; Jdg 13:14) Now be careful, I pray, that you drink no wine
or strong drink and that you do not eat anything ritually unclean.
5 (Nu 6:5; 1Sa 1:11) For you will conceive and bear a son. No razor may
touch his head, for the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb.
He will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines."
6 (Jdg 13:17-18; Dt 33:1) Then the woman went to her husband and said,
"A man of God came to me. He looked like a very fearsome angel of God.
I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name.
7 He said to me, 'You will conceive and bear a son. So now, do not drink
wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything ritually unclean,
for the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day he dies.' "
8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, "O my Lord, let the man of God whom
You sent come again to us, so that he can teach us what we should do
for the boy who will be born."
9 God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again
to the woman. She was sitting in the field;
but her husband Manoah was not with her.
10 The woman hurried and ran to tell her husband,
"The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me."
11 So Manoah got up and went after his wife.
He came to the man and said to him,
"Are you the man who spoke to my wife?"
He said, "I am."
12 Then Manoah said, "Now may your words come true! What will be the boy's way
of life and his work?"
13 The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Your wife must observe everything
that I said to her.
14 (Jdg 13:4) She must not consume anything that grows on the vine.
She must not drink wine or strong drink, and she must not eat anything
ritually unclean. She must observe everything that I commanded her."
15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "Please let us detain you,
and let us prepare a young goat for you."
16 The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "If I stay, I will not eat your
food, but if you want to make an offering to the Lord, you should offer it."
(For Manoah did not know that he was an angel of the Lord.)
17 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "What is your name,
so that we can honor you when your words come true?"
18 (Ge 32:29; Isa 9:6) The angel of the Lord said to him,
"Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful."
19 (Jdg 6:19-21) Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering
and offered them to the Lord upon a rock. Then he did a wondrous
thing while Manoah and his wife watched.
20 (Lev 9:24; 1Ch 21:16) When the flame went up from the altar
toward the heavens, the angel of the Lord went up in the flames
from the altar. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell face down on the ground.
21 (Jdg 6:22) The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah
and his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord.
22 (Ge 32:30; Dt 5:26) Manoah said to his wife,
"We are certainly going to die, for we have seen God."
23 (Ps 25:14) Yet his wife said to him, "If the Lord wanted to kill us,
He would not have taken the burnt offering and grain offering from us.
He would not have shown us these things, nor let us hear things such
as these at this time."
24 (1Sa 3:19; Lk 1:80) So the woman bore a son, and she called him Samson.
The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him.
25 (Jdg 3:10; Jos 15:33) The Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him
at Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Judges 13
[1] And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and
the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
[2] And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
[3] And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her,
Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and
bear a son.
[4] Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink,
and eat not any unclean thing:
[5] For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no rasor shall come on
his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he
shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
[6] Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto
me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very
terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name:
[7] But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and
now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the
child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.
[8] Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God
which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto
the child that shall be born.
[9] And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came
again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not
with her.
[10] And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said
unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other
day.
[11] And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and
said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I
am.
[12] And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the
child, and how shall we do unto him?
[13] And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the
woman let her beware.
[14] She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her
drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded
her let her observe.
[15] And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain
thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.
[16] And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I
will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou
must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the
LORD.
[17] And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when
thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour?
[18] And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my
name, seeing it is secret?
[19] So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock
unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked
on.
[20] For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the
altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And
Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.
[21] But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife.
Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.
[22] And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have
seen God.
[23] But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he
would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands,
neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time
have told us such things as these.
[24] And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child
grew, and the LORD blessed him.
[25] And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of
Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

JUDGES 14

Samson's Wedding

1 (Ge 38:12-13; Jos 15:10) Samson went down to Timnah
and saw a woman from the daughters of the Philistines.
2 (Ge 34:4; 21:21) He came back up and told his father and mother,
"I have seen a woman in Timnah from the daughters of the Philistines;
now get her for me as a wife."
3 (Jdg 15:18; 1Sa 14:6) His father and mother said to him,
"Are there no women among your relatives, or all of our people,
that you are intending to take a wife
from among the uncircumcised Philistines?"
Yet Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she pleases me well."
4 (Jos 11:20; Jdg 13:1) His father and mother did not know that this was
from the Lord, for He was seeking an opportunity to act
against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
5 Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah.
As they came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young
lion came roaring toward him.
6 (Jdg 3:10; 13:25) Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily
upon him, and though unarmed, he tore the lion in two as one might
tear a young goat in two. However, he did not tell his father and his mother
what he had done.
7 So Samson went down and spoke with the woman, and she pleased Samson.
8 After a while, when he returned to take her, he turned aside to see
the carcass of the lion. And a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass
of the lion.
9 He scooped it out into his hands and ate it as he went along.
He came to his father and mother and gave some to them,
and they also ate. Yet he did not tell them he had scooped
the honey out of a lion's carcass.
10 Then his father went down to the woman. Samson put on a feast there,
for this is what young men would do.
11 When the Philistines saw him,
they brought thirty companions to be with him.
12 (Ge 45:22; Eze 17:2) Samson said to them, "Let me tell you a riddle.
If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast,
then I will find thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes to give you.
13 However, if you are not able to explain it to me, then you will give me
thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes."
They said to him, "Tell us your riddle, so we can hear it."
14 He said to them,
"Out of the eater came something to eat,
and out of the strong came something sweet."
They could not explain the riddle after three days.
15 (Jdg 15:6; 16:5) On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife,
"Trick your groom into telling us the riddle, or we will burn you
and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us to steal
what we have? Is that not so?"
16 (Jdg 16:15) So Samson's wife wept all over him and said,
"You must hate me. You do not love me. You have told a riddle
to the young men and did not tell it to me."
Then he said to her, "I have not told it to my father and mother.
Why should I tell it to you?"
17 (Jdg 16:16) She wept on him for the seven days of the feast,
then on the seventh day he told it to her because she had nagged him.
Then she explained the riddle to her people.
18So on the seventh day before sunset, the men of the city said to Samson,
"What is sweeter than honey,
and what is stronger than a lion?"
Then he said to them,
"If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle."
19 (Jdg 3:10; 13:25) Then the Spirit of the Lord mightily came upon him,
and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty of their men.
He took their clothes and gave them to the ones who had explained the riddle.
His anger burned and he went up to his father's house.
20 (Jdg 15:2; Jn 3:29) So Samson's wife was given to his companion,
who had been his best man.