134. 13-May Daily Reading (Prophets and Writings).

Judges 16, Job 43, Psalms 134, Proverbs 30.

Judges 16.

1 . Samson and Delilah\Vce=Speaker=“LeslieEarnestLOW”\. .\Vce=Speaker=“LeslieEarnest”\

Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a prostitute, and went in to her.
2 The Gazites were told, “Samson is here!” They surrounded him, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, “Wait until morning light, then we will kill him.”
3 Samson lay until midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.
4 It came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
5 The masters of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
6 Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and what you might be bound to afflict you.”
7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”
8 Then the masters of the Philistines brought up to her seven green cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
9 Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the cords, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.
10 Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now please tell me with which you might be bound.”
11 He said to her, “If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”
12 So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He broke them off his arms like a thread.
13 Delilah said to Samson, “Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web.”
14 She fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He awakened out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web.
15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”
16 It happened, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was troubled to death.
17 He told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to ELOHIM from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will become weak, and be like any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the masters of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the masters of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand.
19 She made him sleep on her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
20 She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke out of his sleep, and said, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that YHWH had departed from him.
21 The Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he ground at the mill in the prison.
22 However the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved.

23 . Samson Dies with the Philistines\Vce=Speaker=“LeslieEarnestLOW”\. .\Vce=Speaker=“LeslieEarnest”\

The masters of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, “Our god has delivered our enemy and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us, into our hand.”
25 It happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.” They called for Samson out of the prison; and he performed before them. They set him between the pillars;
26 and Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, “Allow me to feel the pillars whereupon the house rests, that I may lean on them.”
27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the masters of the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about three thousand men and women, who saw while Samson performed.
28 Samson called to YHWH, and said, “ADONAI YHWH, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, ELOHIM, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”
29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and leaned on them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left.
30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the masters, and on all the people who were therein. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.
31 Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial site of Manoah his father. He judged Israel twenty years.

Psalms 42.

1 . To the Chief Musician\Vce=Speaker=“LeslieEarnestLOW”\. A Contemplation of the sons of Korah.. .\Vce=Speaker=“LeslieEarnest”\

For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, ELOHIM!
2 My soul thirsts for ELOHIM, for the living ELOHIM! When shall I come and appear before ELOHIM?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your ELOHIM?”
4 These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to the house of ELOHIM, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day.
5 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in ELOHIM! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.
6 My ELOHIM, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.
8 YHWH will command his loving kindness in the daytime. In the night his song shall be with me: a prayer to the EL of my life.
9 I will ask ELOHIM, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your ELOHIM?”
11 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in ELOHIM! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my ELOHIM!

Proverbs 30.

1 \Vce=Speaker=“LeslieEarnestLOW”\. The Wisdom of Agur. .\Vce=Speaker=“LeslieEarnest”\

The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle: the man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:
2 “Surely I am the most ignorant man, and don’t have a man’s understanding.
3 I have not learned wisdom, neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.
4 Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you know?
5 “Every word of ELOHIM is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
6 Don’t you add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.
7 “Two things I have asked of you; don’t deny me before I die:
8 Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;
9 lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is YHWH?’ or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my ELOHIM!
10 “Don’t slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.
11 There is a generation that curses their father, and doesn’t bless their mother.
12 There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness.
13 There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes! Their eyelids are lifted up.
14 There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.
15 “The leach has two daughters: ‘Give, give.’ “There are three things that are never satisfied; four that don’t say, ‘Enough:’
16 Sheol, the barren womb; the earth that is not satisfied with water; and the fire that doesn’t say, ‘Enough.’
17 “The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it.
18 “There are three things which are too amazing for me, four which I don’t understand:
19 The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent on a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maiden.
20 “So is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
21 “For three things the earth tremble, and under four, it can’t bear up:
22 For a servant when he is king; a fool when he is filled with food;
23 for an unloved woman when she is married; and a handmaid who is heir to her mistress.
24 “There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:
25 the ants are not a strong people, yet they provide their food in the summer.
26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.
27 The locusts have no king, yet they advance in ranks.
28 You can catch a lizard with your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.
29 “There are three things which are stately in their march, four which are stately in going:
30 The lion, which is mightiest among animals, and doesn’t turn away for any;
31 the greyhound, the male goat also; and the king against whom there is no rising up.
32 “If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself, or if you have thought evil, put your hand over your mouth.
33 For as the churning of milk brings forth butter, and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood; so the forcing of wrath brings forth strife.”

! ! End of The Daily Reading from the PROPHETS AND WRITINGS! Praise Yah! (HNV-yet version, in the public domain.) \Eng:[:phone arpa SAMPA][_:<3333,0>]\