Reassurance of God’s Presence During Loss

Preparing for Easter: Jesus Boldly Faces Death-2

The Hope of Easter: Finding Clarity in Confusing Times

What Your Prayer Accomplishes

Lent | Week 5: What Jesus Did for You

How to Be a Disciple

Encounter: People Jesus Met, Then and Now

Live Different: The Values That Set Us Apart

Exile on Main St: Reflections for Exiles

Nine Tenth: A Biblical Guide to Financial Discipline & Freedom

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 bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch34" data-usfm="GEN.34">
 <div class="label">34</div><div class="s1">Dinah and the Shechemites</div><div class="p"> 1Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 2When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. 3His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4And Shechem said to his father Hamor, &#8220;Get me this girl as my wife.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he did nothing about it until they came home.</div><div class="p"> 6Then Shechem&#8217;s father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. 7Meanwhile, Jacob&#8217;s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in#34:7 Or against Israel by sleeping with Jacob&#8217;s daughter&#8212;a thing that should not be done.</div><div class="p"> 8But Hamor said to them, &#8220;My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. 9Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. 10You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade#34:10 Or move about freely; also in verse 21 in it, and acquire property in it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Then Shechem said to Dinah&#8217;s father and brothers, &#8220;Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. 12Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I&#8217;ll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the young woman as my wife.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob&#8217;s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. 14They said to them, &#8220;We can&#8217;t do such a thing; we can&#8217;t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. 15We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. 16Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We&#8217;ll settle among you and become one people with you. 17But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we&#8217;ll take our sister and go.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. 19The young man, who was the most honored of all his father&#8217;s family, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob&#8217;s daughter. 20So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to the men of their city. 21&#8220;These men are friendly toward us,&#8221; they said. &#8220;Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. 22But the men will agree to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. 23Won&#8217;t their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us agree to their terms, and they will settle among us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.</div><div class="p"> 25Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob&#8217;s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah&#8217;s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. 26They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem&#8217;s house and left. 27The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where#34:27 Or because their sister had been defiled. 28They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. 29They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.</div><div class="p"> 30Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, &#8220;You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31But they replied, &#8220;Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch19" data-usfm="1SA.19">
 <div class="label">19</div><div class="s1">Saul Tries to Kill David</div><div class="p"> 1Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David 2and warned him, &#8220;My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. 3I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I&#8217;ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, &#8220;Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. 5He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: &#8220;As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be put to death.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.</div><div class="p"> 8Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him.</div><div class="p"> 9But an evil#19:9 Or But a harmful spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, 10Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.</div><div class="p"> 11Saul sent men to David&#8217;s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David&#8217;s wife, warned him, &#8220;If you don&#8217;t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you&#8217;ll be killed.&#8221; 12So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. 13Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats&#8217; hair at the head.</div><div class="p"> 14When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, &#8220;He is ill.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, &#8220;Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.&#8221; 16But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats&#8217; hair.</div><div class="p"> 17Saul said to Michal, &#8220;Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?&#8221;</div><div class="p">Michal told him, &#8220;He said to me, &#8216;Let me get away. Why should I kill you?&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. 19Word came to Saul: &#8220;David is in Naioth at Ramah&#8221;; 20so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul&#8217;s men, and they also prophesied. 21Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. 22Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Seku. And he asked, &#8220;Where are Samuel and David?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Over in Naioth at Ramah,&#8221; they said.</div><div class="p"> 23So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. 24He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel&#8217;s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, &#8220;Is Saul also among the prophets?&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch20" data-usfm="1SA.20">
 <div class="label">20</div><div class="s1">David and Jonathan</div><div class="p"> 1Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, &#8220;What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2&#8220;Never!&#8221; Jonathan replied. &#8220;You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn&#8217;t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn&#8217;t so!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3But David took an oath and said, &#8220;Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, &#8216;Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.&#8217; Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Jonathan said to David, &#8220;Whatever you want me to do, I&#8217;ll do for you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5So David said, &#8220;Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. 6If your father misses me at all, tell him, &#8216;David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.&#8217; 7If he says, &#8216;Very well,&#8217; then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. 8As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Never!&#8221; Jonathan said. &#8220;If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn&#8217;t I tell you?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10David asked, &#8220;Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11&#8220;Come,&#8221; Jonathan said, &#8220;let&#8217;s go out into the field.&#8221; So they went there together.</div><div class="p"> 12Then Jonathan said to David, &#8220;I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? 13But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. 14But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord&#8217;s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, 15and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family&#8212;not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David&#8217;s enemies from the face of the earth.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, &#8220;May the Lord call David&#8217;s enemies to account.&#8221; 17And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.</div><div class="p"> 18Then Jonathan said to David, &#8220;Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. 20I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. 21Then I will send a boy and say, &#8216;Go, find the arrows.&#8217; If I say to him, &#8216;Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,&#8217; then come, because, as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. 22But if I say to the boy, &#8216;Look, the arrows are beyond you,&#8217; then you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. 23And about the matter you and I discussed&#8212;remember, the Lord is witness between you and me forever.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast came, the king sat down to eat. 25He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan,#20:25 Septuagint; Hebrew wall. Jonathan arose and Abner sat next to Saul, but David&#8217;s place was empty. 26Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, &#8220;Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean&#8212;surely he is unclean.&#8221; 27But the next day, the second day of the month, David&#8217;s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, &#8220;Why hasn&#8217;t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 28Jonathan answered, &#8220;David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29He said, &#8216;Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.&#8217; That is why he has not come to the king&#8217;s table.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30Saul&#8217;s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, &#8220;You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don&#8217;t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32&#8220;Why should he be put to death? What has he done?&#8221; Jonathan asked his father. 33But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.</div><div class="p"> 34Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father&#8217;s shameful treatment of David.</div><div class="p"> 35In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, 36and he said to the boy, &#8220;Run and find the arrows I shoot.&#8221; As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37When the boy came to the place where Jonathan&#8217;s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, &#8220;Isn&#8217;t the arrow beyond you?&#8221; 38Then he shouted, &#8220;Hurry! Go quickly! Don&#8217;t stop!&#8221; The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. 39(The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) 40Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, &#8220;Go, carry them back to town.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 41After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together&#8212;but David wept the most.</div><div class="p"> 42Jonathan said to David, &#8220;Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, &#8216;The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.#20:42 In Hebrew texts this sentence (20:42b) is numbered 21:1.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkPSA">
 <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="PSA.5">
 <div class="label">5</div><div class="cl">Psalm 5#In Hebrew texts 5:1-12 is numbered 5:2-13.</div><div class="d">For the director of music. For pipes. A psalm of David.</div><div class="q1"> 1Listen to my words, Lord,</div><div class="q2">consider my lament.</div><div class="q1"> 2Hear my cry for help,</div><div class="q2">my King and my God,</div><div class="q2">for to you I pray.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 3In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;</div><div class="q2">in the morning I lay my requests before you</div><div class="q2">and wait expectantly.</div><div class="q1"> 4For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;</div><div class="q2">with you, evil people are not welcome.</div><div class="q1"> 5The arrogant cannot stand</div><div class="q2">in your presence.</div><div class="q1">You hate all who do wrong;</div><div class="q2"> 6you destroy those who tell lies.</div><div class="q1">The bloodthirsty and deceitful</div><div class="q2">you, Lord, detest.</div><div class="q1"> 7But I, by your great love,</div><div class="q2">can come into your house;</div><div class="q1">in reverence I bow down</div><div class="q2">toward your holy temple.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 8Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness</div><div class="q2">because of my enemies&#8212;</div><div class="q2">make your way straight before me.</div><div class="q1"> 9Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;</div><div class="q2">their heart is filled with malice.</div><div class="q1">Their throat is an open grave;</div><div class="q2">with their tongues they tell lies.</div><div class="q1"> 10Declare them guilty, O God!</div><div class="q2">Let their intrigues be their downfall.</div><div class="q1">Banish them for their many sins,</div><div class="q2">for they have rebelled against you.</div><div class="q1"> 11But let all who take refuge in you be glad;</div><div class="q2">let them ever sing for joy.</div><div class="q1">Spread your protection over them,</div><div class="q2">that those who love your name may rejoice in you.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 12Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;</div><div class="q2">you surround them with your favor as with a shield.</div>
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