New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs in 6 Months - Thomas Road Baptist Church

Read the Book: July - September

Exploring Easter

The Gospel of Mark (Part Seven)

Jesus: The Man Who Changed History

Vote With Vision: Praying God’s Will Over Elections

Giving Thanks in Every Season

Embracing Wonder: A 5-Week Advent Devotional From Matthew West

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJDG">
 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="JDG.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">Samson&#8217;s Vengeance on the Philistines</div><div class="p"> 1Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to my wife&#8217;s room.&#8221; But her father would not let him go in.</div><div class="p"> 2&#8220;I was so sure you hated her,&#8221; he said, &#8220;that I gave her to your companion. Isn&#8217;t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3Samson said to them, &#8220;This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.&#8221; 4So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.</div><div class="p"> 6When the Philistines asked, &#8220;Who did this?&#8221; they were told, &#8220;Samson, the Timnite&#8217;s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7Samson said to them, &#8220;Since you&#8217;ve acted like this, I swear that I won&#8217;t stop until I get my revenge on you.&#8221; 8He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.</div><div class="p"> 9The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10The people of Judah asked, &#8220;Why have you come to fight us?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;We have come to take Samson prisoner,&#8221; they answered, &#8220;to do to him as he did to us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, &#8220;Don&#8217;t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?&#8221;</div><div class="p">He answered, &#8220;I merely did to them what they did to me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12They said to him, &#8220;We&#8217;ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Samson said, &#8220;Swear to me that you won&#8217;t kill me yourselves.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;Agreed,&#8221; they answered. &#8220;We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.&#8221; So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 14As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.</div><div class="p"> 16Then Samson said,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;With a donkey&#8217;s jawbone</div><div class="q2">I have made donkeys of them.#15:16 Or made a heap or two; the Hebrew for donkey sounds like the Hebrew for heap.</div><div class="q1">With a donkey&#8217;s jawbone</div><div class="q2">I have killed a thousand men.&#8221;</div><div class="m"> 17When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.#15:17 Ramath Lehi means jawbone hill.</div><div class="p"> 18Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, &#8220;You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?&#8221; 19Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore,#15:19 En Hakkore means caller&#8217;s spring. and it is still there in Lehi.</div><div class="p"> 20Samson led#15:20 Traditionally judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJDG">
 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="JDG.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">Samson and Delilah</div><div class="p"> 1One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2The people of Gaza were told, &#8220;Samson is here!&#8221; So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, &#8220;At dawn we&#8217;ll kill him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.</div><div class="p"> 4Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, &#8220;See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels#16:5 That is, about 28 pounds or about 13 kilograms of silver.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6So Delilah said to Samson, &#8220;Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Samson answered her, &#8220;If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I&#8217;ll become as weak as any other man.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9With men hidden in the room, she called to him, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221; But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.</div><div class="p"> 10Then Delilah said to Samson, &#8220;You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11He said, &#8220;If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I&#8217;ll become as weak as any other man.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221; But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.</div><div class="p"> 13Delilah then said to Samson, &#8220;All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.&#8221;</div><div class="p">He replied, &#8220;If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I&#8217;ll become as weak as any other man.&#8221; So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14and#16:13,14 Some Septuagint manuscripts; Hebrew replied, &#8220;I can if you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom.&#8221; 14 So she tightened it with the pin.</div><div class="p">Again she called to him, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221; He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.</div><div class="p"> 15Then she said to him, &#8220;How can you say, &#8216;I love you,&#8217; when you won&#8217;t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven&#8217;t told me the secret of your great strength.&#8221; 16With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.</div><div class="p"> 17So he told her everything. &#8220;No razor has ever been used on my head,&#8221; he said, &#8220;because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother&#8217;s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, &#8220;Come back once more; he has told me everything.&#8221; So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.#16:19 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts and he began to weaken And his strength left him.</div><div class="p"> 20Then she called, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221;</div><div class="p">He awoke from his sleep and thought, &#8220;I&#8217;ll go out as before and shake myself free.&#8221; But he did not know that the Lord had left him.</div><div class="p"> 21Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.</div><div class="s1">The Death of Samson</div><div class="p"> 23Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, &#8220;Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Our god has delivered our enemy</div><div class="q2">into our hands,</div><div class="q1">the one who laid waste our land</div><div class="q2">and multiplied our slain.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25While they were in high spirits, they shouted, &#8220;Bring out Samson to entertain us.&#8221; So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.</div><div class="p">When they stood him among the pillars, 26Samson said to the servant who held his hand, &#8220;Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.&#8221; 27Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28Then Samson prayed to the Lord, &#8220;Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.&#8221; 29Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30Samson said, &#8220;Let me die with the Philistines!&#8221; Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.</div><div class="p"> 31Then his brothers and his father&#8217;s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led#16:31 Traditionally judged Israel twenty years.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkPSA">
 <div class="chapter ch49" data-usfm="PSA.49">
 <div class="label">49</div><div class="cl">Psalm 49#In Hebrew texts 49:1-20 is numbered 49:2-21.</div><div class="d">For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.</div><div class="q1"> 1Hear this, all you peoples;</div><div class="q2">listen, all who live in this world,</div><div class="q1"> 2both low and high,</div><div class="q2">rich and poor alike:</div><div class="q1"> 3My mouth will speak words of wisdom;</div><div class="q2">the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.</div><div class="q1"> 4I will turn my ear to a proverb;</div><div class="q2">with the harp I will expound my riddle:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 5Why should I fear when evil days come,</div><div class="q2">when wicked deceivers surround me&#8212;</div><div class="q1"> 6those who trust in their wealth</div><div class="q2">and boast of their great riches?</div><div class="q1"> 7No one can redeem the life of another</div><div class="q2">or give to God a ransom for them&#8212;</div><div class="q1"> 8the ransom for a life is costly,</div><div class="q2">no payment is ever enough&#8212;</div><div class="q1"> 9so that they should live on forever</div><div class="q2">and not see decay.</div><div class="q1"> 10For all can see that the wise die,</div><div class="q2">that the foolish and the senseless also perish,</div><div class="q2">leaving their wealth to others.</div><div class="q1"> 11Their tombs will remain their houses#49:11 Septuagint and Syriac; Hebrew In their thoughts their houses will remain forever,</div><div class="q2">their dwellings for endless generations,</div><div class="q2">though they had#49:11 Or generations, / for they have named lands after themselves.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 12People, despite their wealth, do not endure;</div><div class="q2">they are like the beasts that perish.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 13This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,</div><div class="q2">and of their followers, who approve their sayings.#49:13 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 15.</div><div class="q1"> 14They are like sheep and are destined to die;</div><div class="q2">death will be their shepherd</div><div class="q2">(but the upright will prevail over them in the morning).</div><div class="q1">Their forms will decay in the grave,</div><div class="q2">far from their princely mansions.</div><div class="q1"> 15But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;</div><div class="q2">he will surely take me to himself.</div><div class="q1"> 16Do not be overawed when others grow rich,</div><div class="q2">when the splendor of their houses increases;</div><div class="q1"> 17for they will take nothing with them when they die,</div><div class="q2">their splendor will not descend with them.</div><div class="q1"> 18Though while they live they count themselves blessed&#8212;</div><div class="q2">and people praise you when you prosper&#8212;</div><div class="q1"> 19they will join those who have gone before them,</div><div class="q2">who will never again see the light of life.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 20People who have wealth but lack understanding</div><div class="q2">are like the beasts that perish.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch12" data-usfm="1CO.12">
 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">Concerning Spiritual Gifts</div><div class="p"> 1Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, &#8220;Jesus be cursed,&#8221; and no one can say, &#8220;Jesus is Lord,&#8221; except by the Holy Spirit.</div><div class="p"> 4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.</div><div class="p"> 7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,#12:10 Or languages; also in verse 28 and to still another the interpretation of tongues.#12:10 Or languages; also in verse 28 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.</div><div class="s1">Unity and Diversity in the Body</div><div class="p"> 12Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by#12:13 Or with; or in one Spirit so as to form one body&#8212;whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free&#8212;and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.</div><div class="p"> 15Now if the foot should say, &#8220;Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,&#8221; it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, &#8220;Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,&#8221; it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.</div><div class="p"> 21The eye cannot say to the hand, &#8220;I don&#8217;t need you!&#8221; And the head cannot say to the feet, &#8220;I don&#8217;t need you!&#8221; 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.</div><div class="p"> 27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues#12:30 Or other languages? Do all interpret? 31Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.</div><div class="s1">Love Is Indispensable</div><div class="p">And yet I will show you the most excellent way.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

More Jesus Reading Plan (Season 2)Sample

Scripture

About this Plan

Related Plans

More Jesus Reading Plan (Season 3)