Nurturing young hearts for Christ

Welcome to the GRACE DECATUR CHURCH children's ministry! We believe in fostering a loving and engaging environment where every child can grow in their faith and understanding of God's love. Discover our mission and how we're dedicated to guiding our youngest members on their spiritual journey.

Abraham's Question

1 - Why would loving god allow innocent children to suffer?

A - This is one of the oldest and hardest questions people ask about God. There isn’t a single answer that removes the pain of seeing children suffer. Different faith traditions and thinkers approach it differently, but most serious responses try to hold two truths together:

suffering is real and terrible
God is still understood as loving and good

In Christianity, several ideas are often discussed:

Human freedom: Much suffering comes from human choices — violence, neglect, war, abuse, greed, broken systems. A world with real freedom also allows people to harm one another.
A broken world: Many Christians believe creation itself is damaged by sin and disorder, which includes disease, disaster, and death — things that affect even innocent people.
God suffers with people: In the Bible, God is not portrayed as distant from suffering. Christians point to Book of Job and especially to Jesus Christ suffering on the cross as signs that God enters human pain rather than avoiding it.
Justice beyond this life: Some believers hold that earthly suffering is not the final word, and that God ultimately restores, heals, and judges rightly even when justice is absent now.

At the same time, many people — including religious people — feel unresolved tension here. The suffering of children especially challenges easy answers. Even figures in the Bible cried out with questions like “Why?” and “How long?” Faith traditions often make room for grief, anger, and doubt rather than pretending suffering makes sense.

Some people conclude suffering means there is no loving God. Others conclude that a loving God exists but that human understanding is limited. Others focus less on explaining suffering and more on responding to it with compassion, protection, and justice.

You do not have to force yourself into a simple answer. This question has been wrestled with by theologians, philosophers, parents, survivors, and ordinary people for centuries.

............

यो परमेश्वरको बारेमा मानिसहरूले सोध्ने सबैभन्दा पुरानो र कठिन प्रश्नहरू मध्ये एक हो। बच्चाहरूलाई दुःख देखेर हुने पीडा हटाउने एउटा पनि उत्तर छैन। विभिन्न विश्वास परम्परा र विचारकहरूले यसलाई फरक तरिकाले हेर्छन्, तर धेरैजसो गम्भीर प्रतिक्रियाहरूले दुई सत्यहरूलाई एकसाथ राख्ने प्रयास गर्छन्:

* दुःख वास्तविक र भयानक छ
* परमेश्वरलाई अझै पनि मायालु र असलको रूपमा बुझिन्छ

ईसाई धर्ममा, धेरै विचारहरू प्रायः छलफल गरिन्छ:

* मानव स्वतन्त्रता: धेरै दुःख मानव छनौटहरूबाट आउँछन् — हिंसा, उपेक्षा, युद्ध, दुर्व्यवहार, लोभ, टुटेको प्रणाली। वास्तविक स्वतन्त्रता भएको संसारले मानिसहरूलाई एकअर्कालाई हानि पुर्‍याउन पनि अनुमति दिन्छ।
* टुटेको संसार: धेरै ख्रीष्टियनहरूले विश्वास गर्छन् कि सृष्टि आफैं पाप र विकारबाट क्षतिग्रस्त छ, जसमा रोग, प्रकोप र मृत्यु समावेश छ — निर्दोष मानिसहरूलाई पनि असर गर्ने चीजहरू।
* परमेश्वर मानिसहरूसँग दुःख भोग्नुहुन्छ: बाइबलमा, परमेश्वरलाई दुःखबाट टाढाको रूपमा चित्रण गरिएको छैन। ख्रीष्टियनहरूले अय्यूबको पुस्तक र विशेष गरी क्रूसमा दुःख भोग्नुलाई संकेतको रूपमा औंल्याउँछन् कि परमेश्वरले मानव पीडालाई बेवास्ता गर्नुको सट्टा प्रवेश गर्नुहुन्छ।
* यस जीवनभन्दा बाहिरको न्याय: केही विश्वासीहरू पार्थिव पीडा अन्तिम शब्द होइनन् भन्ने धारणा राख्छन्, र अहिले न्याय नभए पनि परमेश्वरले अन्ततः पुनर्स्थापित गर्नुहुन्छ, निको पार्नुहुन्छ र सही रूपमा न्याय गर्नुहुन्छ।

साथै, धेरै मानिसहरू - धार्मिक व्यक्तिहरू सहित - यहाँ समाधान नगरिएको तनाव महसुस गर्छन्। बालबालिकाको पीडाले विशेष गरी सजिलो उत्तरहरूलाई चुनौती दिन्छ। बाइबलका पात्रहरूले पनि "किन?" र "कहिलेसम्म?" जस्ता प्रश्नहरू सोधेर कराए। विश्वास परम्पराहरूले पनि प्रायः दुःखलाई अर्थपूर्ण ठान्नुको सट्टा शोक, क्रोध र शंकाको लागि ठाउँ बनाउँछन्।

केही मानिसहरू निष्कर्ष निकाल्छन् कि दुःखको अर्थ मायालु ईश्वर छैन। अरूले निष्कर्ष निकाल्छन् कि मायालु ईश्वर अवस्थित छ तर मानव समझ सीमित छ। अरूले दुःखको व्याख्या गर्नमा कम ध्यान केन्द्रित गर्छन् र करुणा, सुरक्षा र न्यायका साथ यसको प्रतिक्रिया दिनमा बढी ध्यान केन्द्रित गर्छन्।

तपाईंले आफूलाई सरल उत्तरमा जबरजस्ती गर्नुपर्दैन। यो प्रश्न शताब्दीयौंदेखि धर्मशास्त्रीहरू, दार्शनिकहरू, आमाबाबु, बाँचेकाहरू र साधारण मानिसहरूले सामना गर्दै आएका छन्।

..........

B -

This is one of the hardest questions people ask about God. The Bible does not give one simple answer, but it does speak honestly about suffering, grief, evil, and God’s compassion for children and the brokenhearted.

Here are some verses many people turn to when struggling with this question:

God is close to those who suffer

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
— Psalms 34:18

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…”
— Revelation 21:4

Jesus cared deeply for children

“Let the little children come to me… for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
— Matthew 19:14

“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
— Mark 9:37

The world is broken because of sin and evil

The Bible teaches that suffering exists because the world is fallen and damaged by sin, human evil, and death—not because God enjoys suffering.

“Creation was subjected to frustration…”
— Romans 8:20

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning…”
— Romans 8:22

God can bring good even from pain

This does not mean suffering itself is good, but that God can work through tragedy.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”
— Romans 8:28

Even faithful people questioned God

People in the Bible also struggled to understand suffering.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
— Psalms 22:1
(also spoken by Jesus on the cross in Matthew 27:46)

Jesus himself suffered

Christianity teaches that God is not distant from suffering. In Jesus, God entered human pain.

“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering…”
— Isaiah 53:4

“Jesus wept.”
— John 11:35

Many Christians understand these verses to mean:

God did not create evil for pleasure.
Human freedom, sin, and a broken world bring suffering.
God grieves with those who suffer.
God promises justice, healing, and restoration in the end.

If you’d like, I can also share:

verses specifically about children,
comforting Bible passages for grief,
explanations from different Christian perspectives,
or these verses as images in English or Nepali.

यो परमेश्वरको बारेमा मानिसहरूले सोध्ने सबैभन्दा कठिन प्रश्नहरू मध्ये एक हो। बाइबलले एउटा सरल उत्तर दिँदैन, तर यसले दुःख, शोक, दुष्टता, र बालबालिका र टुटेका हृदय भएकाहरूका लागि परमेश्वरको करुणाको बारेमा इमानदारीपूर्वक कुरा गर्छ।

यस प्रश्नसँग संघर्ष गर्दा धेरै मानिसहरूले यहाँ फर्कने केही पदहरू छन्:

परमेश्वर दुःख भोग्नेहरूको नजिक हुनुहुन्छ

"परमप्रभु टुटेका हृदय भएकाहरूको नजिक हुनुहुन्छ र आत्मामा कुचिएकाहरूलाई बचाउनुहुन्छ।"
— भजनसंग्रह ३४:१८

"उहाँले तिनीहरूका आँखाबाट सबै आँसु पुछिदिनुहुनेछ। अब मृत्यु वा शोक, रुवाइ वा पीडा हुनेछैन..."
— प्रकाश २१:४

येशूले बच्चाहरूको गहिरो हेरचाह गर्नुहुन्छ

"साना बच्चाहरूलाई मकहाँ आउन दिनुहोस्... किनभने स्वर्गको राज्य यस्तैहरूको हो।"

मत्ती १९:१४

"जसले मेरो नाममा यस्तो बच्चालाई स्वागत गर्छ, उसले मलाई स्वागत गर्छ।"

— मर्कूस ९:३७

पाप र दुष्टताको कारण संसार भत्किएको छ

बाइबलले सिकाउँछ कि संसार पाप, मानव दुष्टता र मृत्युद्वारा पतन र क्षतिग्रस्त भएको कारणले दुःखकष्ट अवस्थित छ—परमेश्वरले दुःखकष्टको आनन्द लिनुभएको कारणले होइन।

“सृष्टि निराशाको अधीनमा थियो…”
— रोमी ८:२०

“किनकि हामीलाई थाहा छ कि सम्पूर्ण सृष्टि विलाप गरिरहेको छ…”
— रोमी ८:२२

परमेश्वरले पीडाबाट पनि भलाइ ल्याउन सक्नुहुन्छ

यसको अर्थ दुःखकष्ट आफैंमा राम्रो हो भन्ने होइन, तर परमेश्वरले त्रासदीबाट काम गर्न सक्नुहुन्छ।

“र हामीलाई थाहा छ कि सबै कुरामा परमेश्वरले उहाँलाई प्रेम गर्नेहरूको भलाइको लागि काम गर्नुहुन्छ…”
— रोमी ८:२८

विश्वासी मानिसहरूले पनि परमेश्वरलाई प्रश्न गरे

बाइबलका मानिसहरूले पनि दुःखकष्ट बुझ्न संघर्ष गरे।

“मेरो परमेश्वर, मेरो परमेश्वर, तपाईंले मलाई किन त्याग्नुभयो?”

भजनसंग्रह २२:१
(मत्ती २७:४६ मा क्रूसमा येशूले पनि भन्नुभएको छ)

येशू आफैंले दुःख भोग्नुभयो

ईसाई धर्मले सिकाउँछ कि परमेश्वर दुःखकष्टबाट टाढा हुनुहुन्न। येशूमा, परमेश्वरले मानव पीडामा प्रवेश गर्नुभयो।

“निश्चय नै उहाँले हाम्रो पीडा उठाउनुभयो र हाम्रो पीडा सहनुभयो…”

— यशैया ५३:४

“येशू रुनुभयो।”

यूहन्ना ११:३५

धेरै ख्रीष्टियनहरूले यी पदहरूको अर्थ बुझ्छन्:

* परमेश्वरले दुष्टतालाई आनन्दको लागि सृष्टि गर्नुभएन।
* मानव स्वतन्त्रता, पाप र टुटेको संसारले दुःख ल्याउँछ।
* परमेश्वरले दुःख भोग्नेहरूसँग शोक गर्नुहुन्छ।
* परमेश्वरले अन्तमा न्याय, उपचार र पुनर्स्थापनाको प्रतिज्ञा गर्नुहुन्छ।

यदि तपाईं चाहनुहुन्छ भने, म पनि साझा गर्न सक्छु:

* विशेष गरी बच्चाहरूको बारेमा पदहरू,
* शोकको लागि सान्त्वनादायी बाइबल पदहरू,
* विभिन्न ख्रीष्टियन दृष्टिकोणबाट व्याख्याहरू,
* वा यी पदहरू अंग्रेजी वा नेपालीमा छविहरूको रूपमा।

C -

This is one of the hardest questions people wrestle with, and the Bible doesn't give a single one-line answer. But it does address it from a few angles: human freedom, a broken world, God’s compassion, and future restoration.

Why suffering exists, even for children:

We live in a broken world
The Bible says creation was fractured by sin and evil, not just individual choices. The whole world groans under that brokenness.
- Romans 8:20-22 - "For the creation was subjected to frustration... We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."
- John 16:33 - "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Jesus acknowledges trouble is part of life now.

God grieves with the suffering
The Bible doesn’t paint God as distant. He enters the pain.
- Psalm 34:18 - "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
- Matthew 18:10 - "See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." Jesus specifically affirms God’s care for children.
- John 11:35 - "Jesus wept." He wept at Lazarus’s death even knowing He’d raise him. He feels grief.

God’s kingdom will end suffering
The Bible’s story ends with God wiping away every tear and undoing death and pain.
- Revelation 21:4 - "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
- Isaiah 11:6-9 - Describes a future where even a child plays safely, "and a little child will lead them... They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain."

God works through people to bring relief
Scripture repeatedly commands protection of the vulnerable.
- Proverbs 31:8-9 - "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."
- James 1:27 - "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress."

What the Bible doesn’t say:
It never says children suffer because they deserve it. When the disciples asked Jesus about a man born blind, "who sinned, this man or his parents?", Jesus answered, "Neither... but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him." John 9:1-3.

The honest biblical picture is this: God hates suffering, He enters into it with us, He promises to end it, and He calls us to fight it now. But it doesn’t claim the reasons are always understandable from our side. Isaiah 55:8-9 - "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways."

That’s probably not a fully satisfying answer when you’re looking at real pain. It’s a question that’s left a lot of faithful people struggling and honest before God. Psalm 13:1-2 - "How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" Even in Scripture, people lament.

Do you want verses that focus more on God’s comfort for those hurting, or on what God says about justice for children specifically?

QUESTION - ANSWER

...................................................... LEVEL - 1, .......................................

1 -WHO SPENT 3 DAYS IN BELLY OF HUGE FISH ? ...........JONA

2 - WHO WAS THE FATHER OF ISAAC ? .......................ABRAHAM

3 - HOW OLD WAS ABRAHAM WHEN HE WAS DIED ? ......................175

4 - HOW LONG THE OLDEST PERSON LIVE ? ........................969

5 - HOW MANY COMMANDMENTS DID MOSES RECEIVED ON THE TABLET OF STONE ? ..........10

6 - HOW DID DAVID DIE ? ..........ON OLD AGE

7 - WHO WAS THE SON OF KING SAUL ? .....................JONATHAN

8 - WHO LOST SUPERNATURAL POWER WHEN HIS HAIR WAS CUT OFF ? ..................SAMSON

9 - TO WHOM DID THE RAVENS BRING THE FOOD ? .....................ELIJAH

10 - WHO DEFEATED GOLIATH ? ..................... DAVID

11 - WHO DID BOAZ MARRY ? ..........................RUTH

12 - WHOSE CLOTH WAS USED TO PART A RIVER ? ..................ELIJAH

13 - WHO WAS MOSES FATHER IN-LAW ? ..................... JETHRO

14 - WHO WAS THE FIRST MURDERER ? .......................CAIN

15 - WHO DID THE LORD COMMAND TO MARRY A PROSTITUTE ? ..................HOSEA

16 - WHO WAS BLIND BUT STILL KILLED MANY WITH HIS DEATH ? ................SAMSON

17 - WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL QUESTIONED ITS OWNER FOR BING BEATEN ? ........... DONKEY

18 - WHO SERVED 14 YEARS FOR TWO WOMEN ? .........................JACOB

19 - WHOSE WORDS MADE THE SUN STAND STILL ? .................... JOSHUA

20 - WHO USED FOXES TO SET FIRE TO GRAIN AND OLIVE ORCHARDS ? ..................... SAMSON

21 - WHO WROTE MOST OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS ? .........................SOLOMON

22 - HOW DID ELIJAH ASCEND INTO HEAVEN ? .............................IN A WHIRLWIND

23 - WHAT DID ELISHA BRING UP TO THE WATER'S SURFACE ? ............................AN AXHEAD

24 - WHAT DOES THE RAINBOW SYMBOLISE IN THE BIBLE ? .......................COVENANT

25 - HOW DID THE LORD APPEAR TO ELIJAH ? .........................IN A LOW WHISPER

26 - WHO WAS THE OLDEST MAN EVER TO LIVE ? .................. METHUSELAH

...................................................................LEVEL - 2 , ........................................................................

1 - WHO GRABBED A SNAKE BY ITS TAIL ? ............................ MOSES

2 - WHAT DID GIDEON BEAT OUT IN THE WINERPRESS ? ........................... WHEAT

3 - WHO WAS PUNISHED WITH LEPROSY BECAUSE HE ACCEPTED GIFTS ? ....................GEHAZI

4 - WHO WAS THE LEADER OF 300 MEN WHO DEFEATED THE MIDIAN ARMY ? ..................GIDEON

5 - WHICH CITY'S WALL COLLAPSED THE 7TH DAY ? ........................ JERICHO

6 - WHO WAS ELIJAH'S DISCIPLE ? ..............................................ELISHA

7 - WHO THREW STONES AND CURSED KING DAVID ? ...........................SHIMEI

8 - WHO WAS ASKED TO CURSE ISRAEL , BUT HE COULD ONLY BLESS THEM ? ............................BALAAM

9 - WHO WAS EATEN BY DOGS ? ..........................................JEZEBEL

10 - WHO SACRIFICED HIS OWN DAUGHTER BECAUSE OF HIS VOW TO GOD ? .................... JEPHTHAH

11 - WHICH KING BROUGHT WINE AND BREAD TO ABRAHAM ? ....................KING OF SALEM

12 - WHO LOST EVERYTHING BUT AFTER A TRIAL GOD BLESSED HIS LATTER DAYS ? ................... JOB

13 - WHO KILLED SISERA WHILE HE WAS SLEEPING ? ........................A WOMEN

14 - WHAT DID MOSES MAKE THE SERPENT OUT OF ? .................. BRONZE

15 - WHAT DID JACOB GIVE IN EXCHANGE FOR ESAU'S BIRTHRIGHT WHICH ESAU CAME TO DESPISE ? .........BREAD AND LENTIL STEW

16 - WHO PROPHESIED TO A VALLEY OF DRY BONES AND THEY CAME BACK TO LIFE ? ............. EZEKIEL

17 - BY HOW MANY YEARS DID GOD EXTEND HEZEKIAH'S LIFE ? ................. 15 YEARS

18 - WHO WAS ISRAEL'S FIRST KING ? ...................... SAUL

19 - FOR HOW MANY YEARS DID ISRAEL EAT MANNA ? ...............................40 YEARS

20 - WHICH WAS THE 9TH PLAGUE TO STRIKE EGYPT ? ............................ DARKNESS

.............................................................. LEVEL - 3 ................................................................

1 - ON WHICH DAY GOD CREATE MAN ? ............................ 6TH DAY

2 - WHO DID THE LORD NOT ALLOW TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND ? .............................. MOSES

3 - HOW LONG DID MOSES LIVE FOR ? ........................ 120 YEARS

4 - WHAT WAS ABRAHAM DOING WHEN THE LORD MADE A COVENANT WITH HIM ? ................ HE SLEPT

5 - WHO BUILT THE TEMPLE ? .............................................. SOLOMON

6 - HOW MANT STONE DID DAVID COLLECT FOR HIS BATTLE AGAINST GOLIATH ? .............. 5

7 - WHO WAS KING AFTER SOLOMON ? ...................... REHOBOAM

8 - HOW TALL WAS GOLIATH ? .......................................6 CUBIT AND A SPAN

9 - WHOSE HAIR GOT CAUGHT IN AN OAK TREE ? ....................... ABSALOM

10 - WHO DID GOD COMMAND TO CARRY THE ARK OF THE COVENANT ? ................................. TRIBE OF LEVI

11 - WHO SAW A LADDER IN HIS DREAM THAT REACHED TO HEAVEN ? ......................... JACOB

12 - WHICH ANIMAL'S JAWBONE DID SAMSON USE TO STRIKE DOWN 1000 PEOPLE ? ...................DONKEY

13 - WHO WAS TURNED INTO A PILLAR OF SALTS ? ............................ LOT'S WIFE

14 - WHO LOVE DELILAH ? ................................... SAMSON

15 - WHO WAS STRUCK DOWN BECAUSE THEY TOUCHED THE ARK OF COVENANT ? .............. UZZAH

16 - WHO COLLECTED HONEY OUT OF A LION'S CARCASS ? .................................. SAMSON

17 - WHICH KING WAS KNOWN FOR BEING VARY TALL ? ........................... SAUL

18 - WHO ANNOUNCED THERE WOULD BE RAIN AFTER A THREE AND HALF YEARS DRAUGHT .?............. ELIJAH

................................................................... LEVEL - 4 .............................................................

1 - where is the life of flesh located according to Gods word? ......... Blood

2 - Shadrach , Meshach and ......... ? Abednego

3 - WHAT HAPPENED TO DANIEL WHEN HE WAS CAST INTO THE LION'S DEN ? ... HE WAS UNHARMED

4 - WHO INTERPRETED THE PHARAOH'S DREAM ? ............... JOSHEP

5 - WHO INTERPRETED NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM ? .............. DANIEL

6 - WHAT WAS THE NAME OF LEAH'S SERVANT ? .......................... ZILPAH

7 - WHO BROKE THE BRONZE SERPENT INTO PIECES ? ..................... HEZEKIAH

8 - WHERE DID THE LORD CONFUCE THE LANGAUGE OF THE WHOLE WORLD ? ......... TOWER OF BABEL

9 - IN WHOSE DREAM DID HIS SHEAF OF GRAIN RISE AND OTHER SLAVES OF GRAIN BOW DOWN TO IT ?

............ JOSHEP........

10 - WHICH WAS 6TH PLAGUE TO STRIKE EGYPT ? ......... TUMOURS

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................... LEVEL - 5 ...........................................................................

1 - HOW MANY SONS AND DAUGHTERS DID THE LORD REWARD JOB WITH AFTER THE TRIAL ?

SEVEN SONS AND THREE DAUGHTERS

2 - WHO WAS ADAH AND ZILLAH'S HUSBAND ? ....................... LAMECH

3 - WHAT DID SOLOMON ASK FOR FROM THE LORD ? ........................... WISDOM

4 - WHICH BROTHER WANTED TO SAVE JOSHEPH FROM THE PIT ? .................... REUBEN

5 - WHAT DID MOSES DO WITH THE FIRST SET OF STONE TABLETS ? .................... HE BROKE THEM

6 - WHO WAS DAVID'S COUNSELLOR ? .............................. AHITHOPHEL

7 - WHO WAS SOLOMON'S MOTHER ? ................................ BATHSHEBA

8 - WHAT KIND OF BREAD DID AHIMELECH THE PRIEST GIVE TO DAVID ? .............. HOLY BREAD

9 - WHERE WAS JOSHEPH'S BONES BURIED ? ........................... SHECHEM

10 - HOW MANT PSALMS ARE THERE IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS ? ......................... 150

11 - WHICH IS THE LONGEST BOOK IN PSALMS ? ...................... 119

12 - IN WHOSE BAG WAS JOSHEPH'S CUP FOUND ? ........................ BENJAMIN

13 - WHO WAS MOSES'S WIFE ? ........................ ZIPPORAH

14 - WHO WAS ISHMAEL'S FATHER ? ...................... ABRAHAM

15 - WHO WAS SENT AWAY WITH SOME BREAD AND SKIN OF WATER ? ................ HAGAR

16 - HOW OLD WAS NOAH WHEN THE FLOOD CAME UPEN THE EARTH ? ......... 600 YEARS

17 - HOW MANY DAYS DID ELIJAH TAKE TO TRAVEL TO HOREB WHERE HE NEITHER ATE OR DRINK ? ............ 40 DAYS

18 - WHO WAS DAVID'S WIFE AND SAUL'S DAUGHTER ? ......................... MICHAL

19 -

................................................................... LEVEL - 6 - ....................................................................

1 - WHO MADE TWO CALVES OF GOLD ? .................JEROBOAM..........................................

2 - WHICH TRIBE WAS MOSES FROM ? ........................................LEVI ............................

3 - WHICH LAND DID THE LORD CALLED ABRAHAM FROM ? .............UR OF THE CHALDEANS.....

4 - WHICH WAS ISHMAEL'S BROTHER ? ..................... ISAAC....................................

5 - WHICH PROPHET ATE AND DRANK WHERE HE WASN' ALLOWED TO ? ...... UNKNOWN......

6 - WHO GAVE WATER NOT JUST FOR THE MEN BUT FOR THE CAMELS AS WELL ? .......REBEKAH....

7 - WHICH SONS OF AARON DIED WHEN THEY OFFERED UNAUTHORIZED FIRE BEFORE THE LORD ?

..........NADAB AND ABIHU

8 - HOW MANY CHAPTERS ARE THERE IN THE BOOK OF ISAIAH ? ....................66.......

9 -HOW MANY CHAPTERS ARE THERE IN THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH ? ...............52.................

10 - HOW MANY CHAPTER ARE THERE IN THE BOOK OF JOB ? .........................42................

11` - WHO TRY TO KILL HIS OWN SON WITH HIS SPEAR ? ....................SAUL .........................

12 - WHO WAS A MIGHTY HUNTER BEFORE THE LORD ? ..................NIMROD.........................

13 - WHO ATE HONEY WHILE OTHERS WERE EATING RAW MEAT ? ..............JONATHAN...........

14 - WHERE DID ABRAHAM BUY A FIELD TO USE AS BURIAL GROUND ? ..........MACHPELAH.......

15 - WHO WAS DEBRAH'S HUSBAND ? ..........................LAPPIDOTH ...............

16 - HOW MANY CHAPTERS ARE THERE IN THE BOOK OF PROVERBS ? ...................31............

17 - WHO PREPARED HIS BREAD ON TOP OF COW'S DUNG ? ......................EZEKIEL ........

18 - WHICH IS THE FIRST BOOK WRITTEN BY MOSES ? ..................GENESIS ..................

19 - WHICH IS THE SECOND BOOK WRITTEN BY MOSES ? .............EXODUS ...............

20 - WHICH IS THE THIRD BOOK WRITTEN BY MOSES ? ..................LEVITICUS .......

...................................................................................................................................

................................................LEVEL - 7..............................................................

1 - ......

1 - GOD MADE THE WORLD - GEN 1:1-23,

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was without form, and void; and darkness ^[a]was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

³Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. ^[b]So the evening and the morning were the first day.

⁶Then God said, “Let there be a ^[c]firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” ⁷Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. ⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

⁹Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. ¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. ¹²And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³So the evening and the morning were the third day.

¹⁴Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; ¹⁵and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. ¹⁶Then God made two great ^[d]lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. ¹⁷God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

²⁰Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living ^[e]creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the ^[f]firmament of the heavens.” ²¹So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

2 - GOD MADE ADAM AND EVE - GEN 1:24-31,

^{GEN 1:24 - 35, 24}Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. ²⁵And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over ^[g]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that ^[h]moves on the earth.”

²⁹And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. ³⁰Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is ^[i]life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. ³¹Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

3 - ADAM AND EVE'S BEAUTIFUL HOME - GEN 3:1-24,

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

⁴Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was ^[a]pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves ^[b]coverings.

⁸And they heard the ^[c]sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the ^[d]cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

¹¹And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

¹²Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

¹³And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴So the Lord God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life. ¹⁵And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”¹⁶To the woman He said:

“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be ^[e]for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”

¹⁷Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life. ¹⁸Both thorns and thistles it shall ^[f]bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
¹⁹In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”

²⁰And Adam called his wife’s name Eve,^[g] because she was the mother of all living.

²¹Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

²²Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— ²³therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

4 - THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL - GEN 4:1-16,

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore ^[a]Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” ²Then she bore again, this time his brother ^[b]Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. ³And ^[c]in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. ⁴Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, ⁵but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

⁶So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ⁷If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is ^[d]for you, but you should rule over it.”

⁸Now Cain ^[e]talked with Abel his ^[f]brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”

He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. ¹¹So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹²When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”

¹³And Cain said to the Lord, “My ^[g]punishment is greater than I can bear! ¹⁴Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵And the Lord said to him, ^[h]“Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

¹⁶Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of ^[i]Nod on the east of Eden.

5 - THE BIG FLOOD - GEN 8:15-22,

¹⁵Then God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶“Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. ¹⁹Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.

²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination^[a] of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. ²²“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

6 - THE FIRST RAINBOW - GEN 9:1-17,

So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ²And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. ³Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. ⁴But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. ⁵Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.

⁶“Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man.
⁷And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Bring forth abundantly in the earth
And multiply in it.”

⁸Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: ⁹“And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your ^[a]descendants after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. ¹¹Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹²And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ¹⁵and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

7 - THE TOWER OF BABLE - GEN 11:1-9,

Now the whole earth had one language and one ^[a]speech. ²And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. ³Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and ^[b]bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. ⁴And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. ⁷Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. ⁹Therefore its name is called ^[c]Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

8 - ABRAHAM'S VISITORS - GEN 18:1-15,

Then the Lord appeared to him by ^[a]the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. ²So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, ³and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. ⁴Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.”

They said, “Do as you have said.”

⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” ⁷And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. ⁸So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.

⁹Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”

So he said, “Here, in the tent.”

¹⁰And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.”

(Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and ^[b]Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. ¹²Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

¹³And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ ¹⁴Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁵But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.

And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”

9 - ANGELS VISIT LOT - GEN 19:1-29,

Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. ²And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.”

And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”

³But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. ⁵And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.”

⁶So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, ⁷and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! ⁸See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

⁹And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one came in to ^[a]stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. ¹⁰But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. ¹¹And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

¹²Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place! ¹³For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

¹⁵When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that ^[b]he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be ^[c]destroyed.”

¹⁸Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords! ¹⁹Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. ²⁰See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”

²¹And he said to him, “See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. ²²Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”

Therefore the name of the city was called ^[d]Zoar.

²³The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. ²⁴Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. ²⁵So He ^[e]overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

²⁶But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. ²⁹And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.

10 - ABRAHAM'S FAITH - GEN 22:1-19,

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

²Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

³So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. ⁵And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the ^[a]lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

⁶So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the ^[b]lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

⁹Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

¹²And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

¹³Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

¹⁵Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— ¹⁷blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ¹⁸In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

11 - JACOB TRICKS ESAU - GEN 27:1-40,

Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered him, “Here I am.”

²Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. ³Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. ⁴And make me ^[a]savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”

⁵Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. ⁶So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, ⁷‘Bring me game and make ^[b]savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ ⁸Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. ⁹Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.”

¹¹And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. ¹²Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”

¹³But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” ¹⁴And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made ^[c]savory food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸So he went to his father and said, “My father.”

And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

¹⁹Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”

²⁰But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”

And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”

²¹Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ²²So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

²⁴Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

²⁵He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:

“Surely, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field
Which the Lord has blessed. ²⁸Therefore may God give you
Of the dew of heaven,
Of the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of grain and wine. ²⁹Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you.
Be master over your brethren,
And let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
And blessed be those who bless you!”

³⁰Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹He also had made ^[d]savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”

³²And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”

So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

³³Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—and indeed he shall be blessed.”

³⁴When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”

³⁵But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”

³⁶And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named ^[e]Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

³⁷Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have ^[f]sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”

³⁸And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

³⁹Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

“Behold, your dwelling shall be of the ^[g]fatness of the earth,
And of the dew of heaven from above.
⁴⁰By your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your brother;
And it shall come to pass, when you become restless,
That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

12 - JACOB'S DREAM - GEN 33:1-15,

Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. ²And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. ³Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children, and said, “Who are these with you?”

So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and bowed down. ⁷And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down.

⁸Then Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?”

And he said, “These are to find favor in the sight of my lord.”

⁹But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.”

¹⁰And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me. ¹¹Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have ^[a]enough.” So he urged him, and he took it.

¹²Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you.”

¹³But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die. ¹⁴Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, ^[b]are able to endure, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

¹⁵And Esau said, “Now let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.”

13 - THE STORY OF JOSHEP - GEN 37:1-36,

Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a ^[a]stranger, in the land of Canaan. ²This is the history of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. ⁴But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

⁵Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. ⁶So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: ⁷There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

¹⁰So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” ¹¹And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

¹²Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”

So he said to him, “Here I am.”

¹⁴Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

¹⁵Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

¹⁶So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”

¹⁷And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

¹⁸Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! ²⁰Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

²¹But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” ²²And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.

²³So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. ²⁴Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. ²⁶So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. ²⁸Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. ³⁰And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go?”

³¹So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. ³²Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”

³³And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” ³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

³⁶Now the ^[c]Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

14 - THE BABY MOSES - EX 1:6-22,

⁶And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. ⁷But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and ^[c]grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

⁸Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; ¹⁰come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” ¹¹Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. ¹²But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. ¹³So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with ^[d]rigor. ¹⁴And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”

¹⁹And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they ^[e]are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”

²⁰Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and ^[f]grew very mighty. ²¹And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He ^[g]provided households for them.

²²So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is ^[h]born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

15 - GOD SPEAKS TO MOSES - EX 2:11-25

¹¹Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. ¹²So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”

¹⁴Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” ¹⁵When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from ^[b]the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

¹⁸When they came to Reuel^[c] their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

¹⁹And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

²¹Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. ²²And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom,^[d] for he said, “I have been a ^[e]stranger in a foreign land.”

²³Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. ²⁴So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

16 - THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT - EX 7:14 - 25,

¹⁴So the Lord said to Moses: “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. ¹⁶And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, that they may ^[d]serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear! ¹⁷Thus says the Lord: “By this you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and they shall be turned to blood. ¹⁸And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will loathe^[e] to drink the water of the river.” ’ ”

¹⁹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’ ” ²⁰And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded. So he lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. ²¹The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

²²Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their ^[f]enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said. ²³And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this. ²⁴So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river. ²⁵And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river.........................................

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EX 8:1- ...

The Second Plague: Frogs

8 And the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. ²But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your territory with frogs. ³So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house, into your bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your servants, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls. ⁴And the frogs shall come up on you, on your people, and on all your servants.” ’ ”

⁵Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.’ ” ⁶So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷And the magicians did so with their ^[a]enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.

⁸Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat^[b] the Lord that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”

⁹And Moses said to Pharaoh, “Accept the honor of saying when I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only.”

¹⁰So he said, “Tomorrow.” And he said, “Let it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. ¹¹And the frogs shall depart from you, from your houses, from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only.”

¹²Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. And Moses cried out to the Lord concerning the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh. ¹³So the Lord did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields. ¹⁴They gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said........

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The Third Plague: Lice

¹⁶So the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become ^[c]lice throughout all the land of Egypt.’ ” ¹⁷And they did so. For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and it became lice on man and beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁸Now the magicians so worked with their ^[d]enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice on man and beast. ¹⁹Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the^[e] finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said............................

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The Fourth Plague: Flies

²⁰And the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes out to the water. Then say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. ²¹Or else, if you will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. ²²And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. ²³I will ^[f]make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be.” ’ ” ²⁴And the Lord did so. Thick swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh, into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies.

²⁵Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.”

²⁶And Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we would be sacrificing the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. If we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, then will they not ^[g]stone us? ²⁷We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He will command us.”

²⁸So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Intercede for me.”

²⁹Then Moses said, “Indeed I am going out from you, and I will entreat the Lord, that the swarms of flies may depart tomorrow from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. But let Pharaoh not deal deceitfully anymore in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”

³⁰So Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. ³¹And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained. ³²But Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.

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EX 9:1-35...... ..

The Fifth Plague: Livestock Diseased

9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. ²For if you refuse to let them go, and still hold them, ³behold, the hand of the Lord will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep—a very severe pestilence. ⁴And the Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.” ’ ” ⁵Then the Lord appointed a set time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.”

⁶So the Lord did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died. ⁷Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go..............

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The Sixth Plague: Boils

⁸So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. ⁹And it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and it will cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰Then they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered them toward heaven. And they caused boils that break out in sores on man and beast. ¹¹And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. ¹²But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses..

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The Seventh Plague: Hail

¹³Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me, ¹⁴for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. ¹⁵Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. ¹⁶But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth. ¹⁷As yet you exalt yourself against My people in that you will not let them go. ¹⁸Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now. ¹⁹Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home; and they shall die.” ’ ”

²⁰He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. ²¹But he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field.

²²Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt—on man, on beast, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.” ²³And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. ²⁴So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field. ²⁶Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.

²⁷And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. ²⁸Entreat^[a] the Lord, that there may be no more ^[b]mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”

²⁹So Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. ³⁰But as for you and your servants, I know that you will not yet fear the Lord God.”

³¹Now the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the head and the flax was in bud. ³²But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are ^[c]late crops.

³³So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to the Lord; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth. ³⁴And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart, he and his servants. ³⁵So the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses.

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EX 10:1-29,

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

10 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, ²and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

³So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me. ⁴Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. ⁵And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. ⁶They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’ ” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

⁷Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”

⁸So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?”

⁹And Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.”

¹⁰Then he said to them, “The Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead of you. ¹¹Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desired.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹²Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land—all that the hail has left.” ¹³So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. ¹⁴And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them. ¹⁵For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and entreat^[a] the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.” ¹⁸So he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. ¹⁹And the Lord turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt. ²⁰But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go..........

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The Ninth Plague: Darkness

²¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, ^[b]darkness which may even be felt.” ²²So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. ²³They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

²⁴Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you.”

²⁵But Moses said, “You must also give ^[c]us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. ²⁶Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.”

²⁷But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. ²⁸Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die!”

²⁹So Moses said, “You have spoken well. I will never see your face again.”

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.EX 11:1- 10,

Death of the Firstborn Announced

11 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. ²Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold.” ³And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

⁴Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; ⁵and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. ⁶Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. ⁷But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog ^[a]move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ ⁸And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

⁹But the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

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17 - THE PASSOVER - EXODUS 12:

12 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ²“This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. ³Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. ⁴And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵Your lamb shall be without^[a] blemish, a male ^[b]of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ⁷And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. ⁸Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. ¹⁰You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. ¹¹And thus you shall eat it: ^[c]with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹²‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. ¹³Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. ¹⁵Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that ^[d]person shall be ^[e]cut off from Israel. ¹⁶On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. ¹⁷So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your ^[f]armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. ¹⁸In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. ²⁰You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

²¹Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. ²²And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. ²³For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the ^[g]lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. ²⁴And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. ²⁵It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. ²⁶And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped. ²⁸Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

²⁹And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was ^[h]in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. ³⁰So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

The Exodus

³¹Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. ³²Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”

³³And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” ³⁴So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. ³⁵Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. ³⁶And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. ³⁸A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock. ³⁹And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰Now the ^[i]sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in ^[j]Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴²It is a ^[k]night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

Passover Regulations

⁴³And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it. ⁴⁴But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. ⁴⁵A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it. ⁴⁶In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. ⁴⁷All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ⁴⁸And when a stranger ^[l]dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. ⁴⁹One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”

⁵⁰Thus all the children of Israel did; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. ⁵¹And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.

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EXODUD 13:

13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Consecrate^[a] to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

³And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of ^[b]bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴On this day you are going out, in the month Abib. ⁵And it shall be, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. ⁶Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. ⁸And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.’ ⁹It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰You shall therefore keep this ^[c]ordinance in its season from year to year.

The Law of the Firstborn

¹¹“And it shall be, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you, ¹²that you shall ^[d]set apart to the Lord all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the Lord’s. ¹³But every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. ¹⁴So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, ‘By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹⁵And it came to pass, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

The Wilderness Way

¹⁷Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁹And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, “God will surely ^[e]visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”

²⁰So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. ²¹And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. ²²He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

18 - THE RED SEA - EXODUS 12: 37-51

³⁷Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. ³⁸A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock. ³⁹And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰Now the ^[i]sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in ^[j]Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴²It is a ^[k]night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

Passover Regulations

⁴³And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it. ⁴⁴But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. ⁴⁵A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it. ⁴⁶In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. ⁴⁷All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ⁴⁸And when a stranger ^[l]dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. ⁴⁹One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”

⁵⁰Thus all the children of Israel did; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. ⁵¹And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.

19 - GOD SENDS QUAIL AND MANNA - EXODUS - 16:11- 16,

¹¹The Lord said to Moses, ¹²“I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. ¹⁴When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. ¹⁵When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.

Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer^[a] for each person you have in your tent.’”

20 - MIRIAM BECOMES A LEPER - NUM 12:1-16,

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. ²“Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.

³(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

⁴At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. ⁵Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, ⁶he said, “Listen to my words:

“When there is a prophet among you,
    I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions,
    I speak to them in dreams.
⁷But this is not true of my servant Moses;
    he is faithful in all my house. ⁸With him I speak face to face,
    clearly and not in riddles;
    he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
    to speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them.

¹⁰When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous^[a]—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, ¹¹and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. ¹²Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.”

¹³So Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God, heal her!”

¹⁴The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” ¹⁵So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.

¹⁶After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.

21 - THE STORY OF BALAAM - NUM -22:1- 39

Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho.

²Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, ³and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.

⁴The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.”

So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, ⁵sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River, in his native land. Balak said:

“A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. ⁶Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”

⁷The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.

⁸“Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will report back to you with the answer the Lord gives me.” So the Moabite officials stayed with him.

⁹God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”

¹⁰Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: ¹¹‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’”

¹²But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”

¹³The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your own country, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.”

¹⁴So the Moabite officials returned to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

¹⁵Then Balak sent other officials, more numerous and more distinguished than the first. ¹⁶They came to Balaam and said:

“This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, ¹⁷because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.”

¹⁸But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God. ¹⁹Now spend the night here so that I can find out what else the Lord will tell me.”

²⁰That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.”

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Balaam’s Donkey

²¹Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. ²²But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.

²⁴Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. ²⁵When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.

²⁶Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. ²⁷When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. ²⁸Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”

²⁹Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”

³⁰The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”

“No,” he said.

³¹Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.

³²The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.^[a] ³³The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”

³⁴Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”

³⁵The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.

³⁶When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory. ³⁷Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?”

³⁸“Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”

³⁹Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. ⁴⁰Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and the officials who were with him. ⁴¹The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp. ..............

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22 - BALAAM 'S FIRST MASSAGE - NUMBER 23:1-12,

BALAAM 'S FIRST MASSAGE

Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ²Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.

⁴God met with him, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

⁵The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”

⁶So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials. ⁷Then Balaam spoke his message:

“Balak brought me from Aram,
    the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;
    come, denounce Israel.’ ⁸How can I curse
    those whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce
    those whom the Lord has not denounced? ⁹From the rocky peaks I see them,
    from the heights I view them.
I see a people who live apart
    and do not consider themselves one of the nations. ¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob
    or number even a fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,
    and may my final end be like theirs!”

¹¹Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”

¹²He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

23 - BALAAM ' S SECOND MASSAGE - NUM 23:13-26,

Balaam’s Second Message

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse them for me.” ¹⁴So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”

¹⁶The Lord met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”

¹⁷So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, “What did the Lord say?”

¹⁸Then he spoke his message:

“Arise, Balak, and listen;
    hear me, son of Zippor.  ¹⁹God is not human, that he should lie,
    not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
    Does he promise and not fulfill?  ²⁰I have received a command to bless;
    he has blessed, and I cannot change it.  ²¹“No misfortune is seen in Jacob,
    no misery observed^[a] in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them;
    the shout of the King is among them.  ²²God brought them out of Egypt;
    they have the strength of a wild ox.  ²³There is no divination against^[b] Jacob,
    no evil omens against^[c] Israel.
It will now be said of Jacob
    and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’  ²⁴The people rise like a lioness;
    they rouse themselves like a lion
that does not rest till it devours its prey
    and drinks the blood of its victims.”

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”

²⁶Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the Lord says?”

24 - BALAAM ' S THIRD MASSAGE - NUM 23:27- 24:1-14,

Balaam’s Third Message

²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.” ²⁸And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.

²⁹Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ³⁰Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

.................................................................

24 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not resort to divination as at other times, but turned his face toward the wilderness. ²When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him ³and he spoke his message:

“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,
    the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,
⁴the prophecy of one who hears the words of God,
    who sees a vision from the Almighty,^[a]
    who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:  ⁵“How beautiful are your tents, Jacob,
    your dwelling places, Israel!  ⁶“Like valleys they spread out,
    like gardens beside a river,
like aloes planted by the Lord,
    like cedars beside the waters.  ⁷Water will flow from their buckets;
    their seed will have abundant water.

“Their king will be greater than Agag;
    their kingdom will be exalted.  ⁸“God brought them out of Egypt;
    they have the strength of a wild ox.
They devour hostile nations
    and break their bones in pieces;
    with their arrows they pierce them.  ⁹Like a lion they crouch and lie down,
    like a lioness—who dares to rouse them?

“May those who bless you be blessed
and those who curse you be cursed!”

¹⁰Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. ¹¹Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.”

¹²Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, ¹³‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord—and I must say only what the Lord says’? ¹⁴Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.”

25 - BALAAM' S ( FORTH - SEVENTH ) MASSAGE - NUN 24:15-25,

Balaam’s Fourth Message

¹⁵Then he spoke his message:

“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,
    the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,
¹⁶the prophecy of one who hears the words of God,
    who has knowledge from the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
    who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened: ¹⁷“I see him, but not now;
    I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
    a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
    the skulls^[b] of^[c] all the people of Sheth.^[d]¹⁸Edom will be conquered;
    Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,
    but Israel will grow strong.  ¹⁹A ruler will come out of Jacob
    and destroy the survivors of the city.”

.............................................................................................

Balaam’s Fifth Message

²⁰Then Balaam saw Amalek and spoke his message:

“Amalek was first among the nations,
but their end will be utter destruction.”

..........................................................................................................

Balaam’s Sixth Message

²¹Then he saw the Kenites and spoke his message:

“Your dwelling place is secure,
your nest is set in a rock;
²²yet you Kenites will be destroyed
when Ashur takes you captive.”

........................................................................................................................

Balaam’s Seventh Message

²³Then he spoke his message:

“Alas! Who can live when God does this?^[e]
²⁴ Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus;
they will subdue Ashur and Eber,
but they too will come to ruin.”

²⁵Then Balaam got up and returned home, and Balak went his own way.

26 - JOSHUA IS A LEADER - JOSH 1:1-11,

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ²“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. ³I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. ⁴Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. ⁵No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. ⁶Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

⁷“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

¹⁰So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: ¹¹“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’”

27 - GIDEON DEFEATED MIDIANITES - JUD 7:1-25

Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. ²The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ ³Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

⁴But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

⁵So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” ⁶Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

⁷The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” ⁸So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. ⁹During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. ¹⁰If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah ¹¹and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. ¹²The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

¹³Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”

¹⁴His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”

¹⁵When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” ¹⁶Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.

¹⁷“Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. ¹⁸When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

¹⁹Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. ²⁰The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

²²When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. ²³Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites. ²⁴Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.”

So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they seized the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah. ²⁵They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.

28 -The Birth of Samson - JUD 13:1-25

The Birth of Samson

13 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

²A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. ³The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. ⁴Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. ⁵You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

⁶Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. ⁷But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’”

⁸Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”

⁹God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. ¹⁰The woman hurried to tell her husband, “He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!”

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

“I am,” he said.

¹²So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?”

¹³The angel of the Lord answered, “Your wife must do all that I have told her. ¹⁴She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”

¹⁵Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.”

¹⁶The angel of the Lord replied, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord.)

¹⁷Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?”

¹⁸He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.^[a]” ¹⁹Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: ²⁰As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. ²¹When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.

²²“We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”

²³But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.”

²⁴The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, ²⁵and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

29 - Samson’s Marriage - JUD 14:1-20

Samson’s Marriage

14 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. ²When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”

³His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”

But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” ⁴(His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

⁵Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. ⁶The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. ⁷Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.

⁸Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. ⁹He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

¹⁰Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. ¹¹When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.

¹²“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. ¹³If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”

¹⁴He replied,

“Out of the eater, something to eat;
out of the strong, something sweet.”

For three days they could not give the answer.

¹⁵On the fourth^[a] day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?”

¹⁶Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”

“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” ¹⁷She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.

¹⁸Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,

“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”

Samson said to them,

“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle.”

¹⁹Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. ²⁰And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.

30 - RUTH AND NAOMI - RUTH:1-22

1 In the days when the judges ruled,^[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. ²The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

³Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, ⁵both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

⁶When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. ⁷With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

⁸Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. ⁹May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud ¹⁰and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

¹¹But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? ¹²Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

¹⁴At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

¹⁶But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” ¹⁸When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

¹⁹So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

²⁰“Don’t call me Naomi,^[b]” she told them. “Call me Mara,^[c] because the Almighty^[d] has made my life very bitter. ²¹I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted^[e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

²²So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

31 - RUTH MEET BOAZ - RUTH 2:1-22

Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field

2 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

²And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” ³So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

⁴Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”

“The Lord bless you!” they answered.

⁵Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

⁶The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. ⁷She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

⁸So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. ⁹Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

¹⁰At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

¹¹Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. ¹²May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

¹³“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

¹⁴At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. ¹⁵As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. ¹⁶Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

¹⁷So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.^[a] ¹⁸She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

¹⁹Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

²⁰“The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.^[b]”

²¹Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

²²Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

²³So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

32 - THE BIRTH OF SAMUEL - 1 SAM 1:1-20,

The Birth of Samuel

1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite^[a] from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ²He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

³Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. ⁴Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. ⁵But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. ⁶Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. ⁷This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. ⁸Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

⁹Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. ¹⁰In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. ¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

¹²As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. ¹³Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk ¹⁴and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

¹⁵“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. ¹⁶Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

¹⁷Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

¹⁸She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

¹⁹Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,^[b] saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

33 - THE LORD CALL SAMUEL - 1 SAM 3:1-21

The Lord Calls Samuel

3 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

²One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. ³The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴Then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” ⁵And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

⁶Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

¹¹And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. ¹²At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. ¹³For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God,^[a] and he failed to restrain them. ¹⁴Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”

¹⁵Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, ¹⁶but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”

Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

¹⁷“What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” ¹⁸So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

¹⁹The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. ²⁰And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

34 - Israel Asks for a King - 1 SAM 8:1-22

Israel Asks for a King

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders.^[a] ²The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. ³But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

⁴So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead^[b] us, such as all the other nations have.”

⁶But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. ⁷And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. ⁸As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. ⁹Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

¹⁰Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. ¹¹He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. ¹²Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. ¹⁵He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. ¹⁶Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle^[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. ¹⁷He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. ¹⁸When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. ²⁰Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

²¹When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. ²²The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”

Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”

35 - Samuel Anoints Saul - 1 SAM 9:1-27,

Samuel Anoints Saul

There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. ²Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.

³Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.” ⁴So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and through the area around Shalisha, but they did not find them. They went on into the district of Shaalim, but the donkeys were not there. Then he passed through the territory of Benjamin, but they did not find them.

⁵When they reached the district of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, “Come, let’s go back, or my father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us.”

⁶But the servant replied, “Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let’s go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take.”

⁷Saul said to his servant, “If we go, what can we give the man? The food in our sacks is gone. We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?”

⁸The servant answered him again. “Look,” he said, “I have a quarter of a shekel^[a] of silver. I will give it to the man of God so that he will tell us what way to take.” ⁹(Formerly in Israel, if someone went to inquire of God, they would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a seer.)

¹⁰“Good,” Saul said to his servant. “Come, let’s go.” So they set out for the town where the man of God was.

¹¹As they were going up the hill to the town, they met some young women coming out to draw water, and they asked them, “Is the seer here?”

¹²“He is,” they answered. “He’s ahead of you. Hurry now; he has just come to our town today, for the people have a sacrifice at the high place. ¹³As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not begin eating until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward, those who are invited will eat. Go up now; you should find him about this time.”

¹⁴They went up to the town, and as they were entering it, there was Samuel, coming toward them on his way up to the high place.

¹⁵Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel: ¹⁶“About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.”

¹⁷When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.”

¹⁸Saul approached Samuel in the gateway and asked, “Would you please tell me where the seer’s house is?”

¹⁹“I am the seer,” Samuel replied. “Go up ahead of me to the high place, for today you are to eat with me, and in the morning I will send you on your way and will tell you all that is in your heart. ²⁰As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been found. And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and your whole family line?”

²¹Saul answered, “But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?”

²²Then Samuel brought Saul and his servant into the hall and seated them at the head of those who were invited—about thirty in number. ²³Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the piece of meat I gave you, the one I told you to lay aside.”

²⁴So the cook took up the thigh with what was on it and set it in front of Saul. Samuel said, “Here is what has been kept for you. Eat, because it was set aside for you for this occasion from the time I said, ‘I have invited guests.’” And Saul dined with Samuel that day.

²⁵After they came down from the high place to the town, Samuel talked with Saul on the roof of his house. ²⁶They rose about daybreak, and Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get ready, and I will send you on your way.” When Saul got ready, he and Samuel went outside together. ²⁷As they were going down to the edge of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us”—and the servant did so—“but you stay here for a while, so that I may give you a message from God.”

36 - SAUL MADE KING - 1 SAM 10:1-27,

10 Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?^[a] ²When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?”’

³“Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to worship God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. ⁴They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them.

⁵“After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. ⁶The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. ⁷Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

⁸“Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”

Saul Made King

⁹As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. ¹⁰When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. ¹¹When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹²A man who lived there answered, “And who is their father?” So it became a saying: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³After Saul stopped prophesying, he went to the high place.

¹⁴Now Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where have you been?”

“Looking for the donkeys,” he said. “But when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me what Samuel said to you.”

¹⁶Saul replied, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship.

¹⁷Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the Lord at Mizpah ¹⁸and said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ ¹⁹But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”

²⁰When Samuel had all Israel come forward by tribes, the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. ²¹Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, and Matri’s clan was taken. Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. ²²So they inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?”

And the Lord said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.”

²³They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. ²⁴Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.”

Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

²⁵Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord. Then Samuel dismissed the people to go to their own homes.

²⁶Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷But some scoundrels said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent.

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