The Daily Audio Bible
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The Birth of Samson
13 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.(A)
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children.(B) 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son.(C) 4 Now be careful not to drink wine or strong drink or to eat anything unclean,(D) 5 for you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor is to come on his head, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth. It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”(E) 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like that of an angel[a] of God, most awe-inspiring; I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name,(F) 7 but he said to me, ‘You shall conceive and bear a son. So then, drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.’ ”
8 Then Manoah entreated the Lord and said, “O my Lord, I pray, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do concerning the boy who will be born.”(G) 9 God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” 11 Manoah got up and followed 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 Then Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the boy’s rule of life; what is he to do?” 13 The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her.(H) 14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine. She is not to drink wine or strong drink or eat any unclean thing. She is to observe everything that I commanded her.”(I)
15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Allow us to detain you and prepare a kid for you.”(J) 16 The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat your food, but if you want to prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.)(K) 17 Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?”(L) 18 But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful.”(M)
19 So Manoah took the kid with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to him who works[b] wonders.[c](N) 20 When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on, and they fell on their faces to the ground.(O) 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.(P) 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”(Q) 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[d] announced to us such things as these.”
24 The woman bore a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him.(R) 25 The spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.(S)
Samson’s Marriage
14 Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. 2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”(T) 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among your kin or among all our[e] people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she pleases me.” 4 His father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord, for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.(U)
5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. 6 The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.(V) 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson.(W) 8 After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion and honey. 9 He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. 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 taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.
10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, as the young men were accustomed to do. 11 When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.(X) 13 But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.” So they said to him, “Ask your riddle; let us hear it.” 14 He said to them,
“Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.”
But for three days they could not explain the riddle.
15 On the fourth[f] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”(Y) 16 So Samson’s wife wept before him, saying, “You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” He said to her, “Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?” 17 She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her. Then she explained the riddle to her people. 18 The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
And he said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have found out my riddle.”(Z)
19 Then the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty men of the town, took their spoil, and gave the festal garments to those who had explained the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.(AA) 20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.(AB)
The Lamb of God
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!(A) 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.(B) 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’(C) 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”[a]
The First Disciples of Jesus
35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”(D) 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?”(E) 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.(F) 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed[b]).(G) 42 He brought Simon[c] to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas”[d] (which is translated Peter[e]).(H)
Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”(I) 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.(J) 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”(K) 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”(L) 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”(M) 48 Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”(N) 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you,[f] you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”(O)
Psalm 102
Prayer to the Eternal King for Help
A prayer of one afflicted, when faint and pleading before the Lord.
1 Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to you.(A)
2 Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day when I call.(B)
3 For my days pass away like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.(C)
4 My heart is stricken and withered like grass;
I am too wasted to eat my bread.(D)
5 Because of my loud groaning,
my bones cling to my skin.(E)
6 I am like a desert owl[a] of the wilderness,
like a little owl of the waste places.(F)
7 I lie awake;
I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.(G)
8 All day long my enemies taunt me;
those who deride me use my name for a curse.(H)
9 Indeed, I eat ashes like bread
and mingle tears with my drink,(I)
10 because of your indignation and anger,
for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside.
11 My days are like a lengthening shadow;
I wither away like grass.(J)
12 But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;
your name endures to all generations.(K)
13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to favor it;
the appointed time has come.(L)
14 For your servants hold its stones dear
and have pity on its dust.
15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord
and all the kings of the earth your glory.(M)
16 For the Lord will build up Zion;
he will appear in his glory.(N)
17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute
and will not despise their prayer.(O)
18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:(P)
19 that he looked down from his holy height,
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,(Q)
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,(R)
21 so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem,(S)
22 when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to serve the Lord.(T)
23 He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he has shortened my days.(U)
24 “O my God,” I say, “do not take me away
at the midpoint of my life,
you whose years endure
throughout all generations.”(V)
25 Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.(W)
26 They will perish, but you endure;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You change them like clothing, and they pass away,(X)
27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.(Y)
28 The children of your servants shall live secure;
their offspring shall be established in your presence.(Z)
15 The simple believe everything,
but the clever consider their steps.
16 The wise are cautious and turn away from evil,
but the fool throws off restraint and is careless.(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.