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Number Our Days

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ADVENTure

Advent: A 25-Day Countdown to Christmas

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 bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch14" data-usfm="1CO.14">
 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">Intelligibility in Worship</div><div class="p"> 1Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 2For anyone who speaks in a tongue#14:2 Or in another language; also in verses 4, 13, 14, 19, 26 and 27 does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. 4Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5I would like every one of you to speak in tongues,#14:5 Or in other languages; also in verses 6, 18, 22, 23 and 39 but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues,#14:5 Or in other languages; also in verses 6, 18, 22, 23 and 39 unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.</div><div class="p"> 6Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? 7Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the pipe or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? 8Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? 9So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. 10Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. 11If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me. 12So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.</div><div class="p"> 13For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say. 14For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. 16Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer,#14:16 The Greek word for inquirer is a technical term for someone not fully initiated into a religion; also in verses 23 and 24. say &#8220;Amen&#8221; to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? 17You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified.</div><div class="p"> 18I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.</div><div class="p"> 20Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 21In the Law it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;With other tongues</div><div class="q2">and through the lips of foreigners</div><div class="q1">I will speak to this people,</div><div class="q2">but even then they will not listen to me,</div><div class="q4">says the Lord.&#8221;#14:21 Isaiah 28:11,12</div><div class="p"> 22Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, 25as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, &#8220;God is really among you!&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Good Order in Worship</div><div class="p"> 26What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two&#8212;or at the most three&#8212;should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.</div><div class="p"> 29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace&#8212;as in all the congregations of the Lord&#8217;s people.</div><div class="p"> 34Women#14:33,34 Or peace. As in all the congregations of the Lord&#8217;s people, 34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. 35If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.#14:34,35 In a few manuscripts these verses come after verse 40.</div><div class="p"> 36Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord&#8217;s command. 38But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.#14:38 Some manuscripts But anyone who is ignorant of this will be ignorant</div><div class="p"> 39Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJDG">
 <div class="chapter ch7" data-usfm="JDG.7">
 <div class="label">7</div><div class="s1">Gideon Defeats the Midianites</div><div class="p"> 1Early 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, &#8220;You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, &#8216;My own strength has saved me.&#8217; 3Now announce to the army, &#8216;Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.</div><div class="p"> 4But the Lord said to Gideon, &#8220;There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, &#8216;This one shall go with you,&#8217; he shall go; but if I say, &#8216;This one shall not go with you,&#8217; he shall not go.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, &#8220;Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.&#8221; 6Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.</div><div class="p"> 7The Lord said to Gideon, &#8220;With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.&#8221; 8So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.</div><div class="p">Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. 9During that night the Lord said to Gideon, &#8220;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.&#8221; 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.</div><div class="p"> 13Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. &#8220;I had a dream,&#8221; he was saying. &#8220;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.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14His friend responded, &#8220;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.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, &#8220;Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.&#8221; 16Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;Watch me,&#8221; he told them. &#8220;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, &#8216;For the Lord and for Gideon.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 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, &#8220;A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!&#8221; 21While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.</div><div class="p"> 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, &#8220;Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.&#8221;</div><div class="p">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.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJDG">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="JDG.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Zebah and Zalmunna</div><div class="p"> 1Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, &#8220;Why have you treated us like this? Why didn&#8217;t you call us when you went to fight Midian?&#8221; And they challenged him vigorously.</div><div class="p"> 2But he answered them, &#8220;What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren&#8217;t the gleanings of Ephraim&#8217;s grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer? 3God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to you?&#8221; At this, their resentment against him subsided.</div><div class="p"> 4Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it. 5He said to the men of Sukkoth, &#8220;Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6But the officials of Sukkoth said, &#8220;Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Then Gideon replied, &#8220;Just for that, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8From there he went up to Peniel#8:8 Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel; also in verses 9 and 17 and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had. 9So he said to the men of Peniel, &#8220;When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. 11Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the unsuspecting army. 12Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.</div><div class="p"> 13Gideon son of Joash then returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres. 14He caught a young man of Sukkoth and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven officials of Sukkoth, the elders of the town. 15Then Gideon came and said to the men of Sukkoth, &#8220;Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me by saying, &#8216;Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; 16He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Sukkoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers. 17He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.</div><div class="p"> 18Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, &#8220;What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Men like you,&#8221; they answered, &#8220;each one with the bearing of a prince.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Gideon replied, &#8220;Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the Lord lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you.&#8221; 20Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, &#8220;Kill them!&#8221; But Jether did not draw his sword, because he was only a boy and was afraid.</div><div class="p"> 21Zebah and Zalmunna said, &#8220;Come, do it yourself. &#8216;As is the man, so is his strength.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; So Gideon stepped forward and killed them, and took the ornaments off their camels&#8217; necks.</div><div class="s1">Gideon&#8217;s Ephod</div><div class="p"> 22The Israelites said to Gideon, &#8220;Rule over us&#8212;you, your son and your grandson&#8212;because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23But Gideon told them, &#8220;I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.&#8221; 24And he said, &#8220;I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.&#8221; (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)</div><div class="p"> 25They answered, &#8220;We&#8217;ll be glad to give them.&#8221; So they spread out a garment, and each of them threw a ring from his plunder onto it. 26The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels,#8:26 That is, about 43 pounds or about 20 kilograms not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels&#8217; necks. 27Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.</div><div class="s1">Gideon&#8217;s Death</div><div class="p"> 28Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon&#8217;s lifetime, the land had peace forty years.</div><div class="p"> 29Jerub-Baal son of Joash went back home to live. 30He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. 31His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelek. 32Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.</div><div class="p"> 33No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god 34and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. 35They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them.</div>
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