God's Great Story

Stepping Into God's Promises

Healing Family Relationships Through Boundaries

Restoring Eden: How to Grow Spiritually Without Growing Weary

Nebuchadnezzar's Statue: Sunday Head, Monday Feet

Shine Bright: 3 Days of Optimism

HABITS: Becoming Who God Made You to Be

12 Basic Christian Doctrines

A Practical Guide for Transformative Growth Part 3

Hebrews Part 2: Selfish Christianity

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 bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="1SA.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="s1">The Birth of Samuel</div><div class="p"> 1There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite#1:1 See Septuagint and 1 Chron. 6:26-27,33-35; or from Ramathaim Zuphim. 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.</div><div class="p"> 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&#8217;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, &#8220;Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don&#8217;t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don&#8217;t I mean more to you than ten sons?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 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&#8217;s house. 10In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11And she made a vow, saying, &#8220;Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant&#8217;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.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 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, &#8220;How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;Not so, my lord,&#8221; Hannah replied, &#8220;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.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17Eli answered, &#8220;Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18She said, &#8220;May your servant find favor in your eyes.&#8221; Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.</div><div class="p"> 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,#1:20 Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for heard by God. saying, &#8220;Because I asked the Lord for him.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Hannah Dedicates Samuel</div><div class="p"> 21When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 22Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, &#8220;After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.&#8221;#1:22 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls always. I have dedicated him as a Nazirite&#8212;all the days of his life.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23&#8220;Do what seems best to you,&#8221; her husband Elkanah told her. &#8220;Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his#1:23 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint and Syriac your word.&#8221; So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.</div><div class="p"> 24After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull,#1:24 Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint and Syriac; Masoretic Text with three bulls an ephah#1:24 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26and she said to him, &#8220;Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.&#8221; And he worshiped the Lord there.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="1SA.2">
 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">Hannah&#8217;s Prayer</div><div class="p"> 1Then Hannah prayed and said:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;My heart rejoices in the Lord;</div><div class="q2">in the Lord my horn#2:1 Horn here symbolizes strength; also in verse 10. is lifted high.</div><div class="q1">My mouth boasts over my enemies,</div><div class="q2">for I delight in your deliverance.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 2&#8220;There is no one holy like the Lord;</div><div class="q2">there is no one besides you;</div><div class="q2">there is no Rock like our God.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 3&#8220;Do not keep talking so proudly</div><div class="q2">or let your mouth speak such arrogance,</div><div class="q1">for the Lord is a God who knows,</div><div class="q2">and by him deeds are weighed.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 4&#8220;The bows of the warriors are broken,</div><div class="q2">but those who stumbled are armed with strength.</div><div class="q1"> 5Those who were full hire themselves out for food,</div><div class="q2">but those who were hungry are hungry no more.</div><div class="q1">She who was barren has borne seven children,</div><div class="q2">but she who has had many sons pines away.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 6&#8220;The Lord brings death and makes alive;</div><div class="q2">he brings down to the grave and raises up.</div><div class="q1"> 7The Lord sends poverty and wealth;</div><div class="q2">he humbles and he exalts.</div><div class="q1"> 8He raises the poor from the dust</div><div class="q2">and lifts the needy from the ash heap;</div><div class="q1">he seats them with princes</div><div class="q2">and has them inherit a throne of honor.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">&#8220;For the foundations of the earth are the Lord&#8217;s;</div><div class="q2">on them he has set the world.</div><div class="q1"> 9He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,</div><div class="q2">but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">&#8220;It is not by strength that one prevails;</div><div class="q2"> 10those who oppose the Lord will be broken.</div><div class="q1">The Most High will thunder from heaven;</div><div class="q2">the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">&#8220;He will give strength to his king</div><div class="q2">and exalt the horn of his anointed.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest.</div><div class="s1">Eli&#8217;s Wicked Sons</div><div class="p"> 12Eli&#8217;s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. 13Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest&#8217;s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled 14and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. 15But even before the fat was burned, the priest&#8217;s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, &#8220;Give the priest some meat to roast; he won&#8217;t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16If the person said to him, &#8220;Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,&#8221; the servant would answer, &#8220;No, hand it over now; if you don&#8217;t, I&#8217;ll take it by force.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord&#8217;s sight, for they#2:17 Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint; Masoretic Text people were treating the Lord&#8217;s offering with contempt.</div><div class="p"> 18But Samuel was ministering before the Lord&#8212;a boy wearing a linen ephod. 19Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. 20Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, &#8220;May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to#2:20 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text and asked from the Lord.&#8221; Then they would go home. 21And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 22Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23So he said to them, &#8220;Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. 24No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord&#8217;s people is not good. 25If one person sins against another, God#2:25 Or the judges may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?&#8221; His sons, however, did not listen to their father&#8217;s rebuke, for it was the Lord&#8217;s will to put them to death.</div><div class="p"> 26And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.</div><div class="s1">Prophecy Against the House of Eli</div><div class="p"> 27Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, &#8220;This is what the Lord says: &#8216;Did I not clearly reveal myself to your ancestor&#8217;s family when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh? 28I chose your ancestor out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your ancestor&#8217;s family all the food offerings presented by the Israelites. 29Why do you#2:29 The Hebrew is plural. scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 30&#8220;Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: &#8216;I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.&#8217; But now the Lord declares: &#8216;Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. 31The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, 32and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. 33Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.</div><div class="p"> 34&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you&#8212;they will both die on the same day. 35I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always. 36Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, &#8220;Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.&#8221;&#8198;&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="1SA.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">The Lord Calls Samuel</div><div class="p"> 1The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.</div><div class="p"> 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.</div><div class="p">Samuel answered, &#8220;Here I am.&#8221; 5And he ran to Eli and said, &#8220;Here I am; you called me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But Eli said, &#8220;I did not call; go back and lie down.&#8221; So he went and lay down.</div><div class="p"> 6Again the Lord called, &#8220;Samuel!&#8221; And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, &#8220;Here I am; you called me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;My son,&#8221; Eli said, &#8220;I did not call; go back and lie down.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.</div><div class="p"> 8A third time the Lord called, &#8220;Samuel!&#8221; And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, &#8220;Here I am; you called me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9So Eli told Samuel, &#8220;Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, &#8216;Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; So Samuel went and lay down in his place.</div><div class="p"> 10The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, &#8220;Samuel! Samuel!&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then Samuel said, &#8220;Speak, for your servant is listening.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11And the Lord said to Samuel: &#8220;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&#8212;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,#3:13 An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition (see also Septuagint); Masoretic Text sons made themselves contemptible and he failed to restrain them. 14Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, &#8216;The guilt of Eli&#8217;s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 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, &#8220;Samuel, my son.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Samuel answered, &#8220;Here I am.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;What was it he said to you?&#8221; Eli asked. &#8220;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.&#8221; 18So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, &#8220;He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel&#8217;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.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="1SA.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="p"> 1And Samuel&#8217;s word came to all Israel.</div><div class="s1">The Philistines Capture the Ark</div><div class="p">Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. 2The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. 3When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, &#8220;Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord&#8217;s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli&#8217;s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.</div><div class="p"> 5When the ark of the Lord&#8217;s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. 6Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, &#8220;What&#8217;s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?&#8221;</div><div class="p">When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, 7the Philistines were afraid. &#8220;A god has#4:7 Or &#8220;Gods have (see Septuagint) come into the camp,&#8221; they said. &#8220;Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before. 8We&#8217;re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. 9Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11The ark of God was captured, and Eli&#8217;s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.</div><div class="s1">Death of Eli</div><div class="p"> 12That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head. 13When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.</div><div class="p"> 14Eli heard the outcry and asked, &#8220;What is the meaning of this uproar?&#8221;</div><div class="p">The man hurried over to Eli, 15who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see. 16He told Eli, &#8220;I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Eli asked, &#8220;What happened, my son?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17The man who brought the news replied, &#8220;Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. He had led#4:18 Traditionally judged Israel forty years.</div><div class="p"> 19His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. 20As she was dying, the women attending her said, &#8220;Don&#8217;t despair; you have given birth to a son.&#8221; But she did not respond or pay any attention.</div><div class="p"> 21She named the boy Ichabod,#4:21 Ichabod means no glory. saying, &#8220;The Glory has departed from Israel&#8221;&#8212;because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 22She said, &#8220;The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="1SA.5">
 <div class="label">5</div><div class="s1">The Ark in Ashdod and Ekron</div><div class="p"> 1After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2Then they carried the ark into Dagon&#8217;s temple and set it beside Dagon. 3When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 5That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon&#8217;s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.</div><div class="p"> 6The Lord&#8217;s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors.#5:6 Hebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate tumors. And rats appeared in their land, and there was death and destruction throughout the city 7When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, &#8220;The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god.&#8221; 8So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked them, &#8220;What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?&#8221;</div><div class="p">They answered, &#8220;Have the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath.&#8221; So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.</div><div class="p"> 9But after they had moved it, the Lord&#8217;s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.#5:9 Or with tumors in the groin (see Septuagint) 10So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.</div><div class="p">As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, &#8220;They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.&#8221; 11So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, &#8220;Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it#5:11 Or he will kill us and our people.&#8221; For death had filled the city with panic; God&#8217;s hand was very heavy on it. 12Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkPSA">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="PSA.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="cl">Psalm 8#In Hebrew texts 8:1-9 is numbered 8:2-10.</div><div class="d">For the director of music. According to gittith.#Title: Probably a musical term A psalm of David.</div><div class="q1"> 1 Lord, our Lord,</div><div class="q2">how majestic is your name in all the earth!</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">You have set your glory</div><div class="q2">in the heavens.</div><div class="q1"> 2Through the praise of children and infants</div><div class="q2">you have established a stronghold against your enemies,</div><div class="q2">to silence the foe and the avenger.</div><div class="q1"> 3When I consider your heavens,</div><div class="q2">the work of your fingers,</div><div class="q1">the moon and the stars,</div><div class="q2">which you have set in place,</div><div class="q1"> 4what is mankind that you are mindful of them,</div><div class="q2">human beings that you care for them?#8:4 Or what is a human being that you are mindful of him, / a son of man that you care for him?</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 5You have made them#8:5 Or him a little lower than the angels#8:5 Or than God</div><div class="q2">and crowned them#8:5 Or him with glory and honor.</div><div class="q1"> 6You made them rulers over the works of your hands;</div><div class="q2">you put everything under their#8:6 Or made him ruler&#8230;; / &#8230;his feet:</div><div class="q1"> 7all flocks and herds,</div><div class="q2">and the animals of the wild,</div><div class="q1"> 8the birds in the sky,</div><div class="q2">and the fish in the sea,</div><div class="q2">all that swim the paths of the seas.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 9 Lord, our Lord,</div><div class="q2">how majestic is your name in all the earth!</div>
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