Living for Christ at Home: An Encouragement for Teens

Daily Bible Reading— February 2025, God’s Strengthening Word: Sharing God's Love

The Complete Devotional With Josh Norman

Childrearing With the End in View: A 3-Day Parenting Plan

Acts 9:32-43 | You Will Do Greater Things Than These

Fear Not: God's Promise of Victory for Women Leaders

Know Jesus, Make Him Known

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For the Least of These

The Bible for Young Explorers: Exodus

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">
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 <div class="label">98</div><div class="cl">Psalm 98</div><div class="d">A psalm.</div><div class="q1"> 1Sing to the Lord a new song,</div><div class="q2">for he has done marvelous things;</div><div class="q1">his right hand and his holy arm</div><div class="q2">have worked salvation for him.</div><div class="q1"> 2The Lord has made his salvation known</div><div class="q2">and revealed his righteousness to the nations.</div><div class="q1"> 3He has remembered his love</div><div class="q2">and his faithfulness to Israel;</div><div class="q1">all the ends of the earth have seen</div><div class="q2">the salvation of our God.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 4Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,</div><div class="q2">burst into jubilant song with music;</div><div class="q1"> 5make music to the Lord with the harp,</div><div class="q2">with the harp and the sound of singing,</div><div class="q1"> 6with trumpets and the blast of the ram&#8217;s horn&#8212;</div><div class="q2">shout for joy before the Lord, the King.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 7Let the sea resound, and everything in it,</div><div class="q2">the world, and all who live in it.</div><div class="q1"> 8Let the rivers clap their hands,</div><div class="q2">let the mountains sing together for joy;</div><div class="q1"> 9let them sing before the Lord,</div><div class="q2">for he comes to judge the earth.</div><div class="q1">He will judge the world in righteousness</div><div class="q2">and the peoples with equity.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJDG">
 <div class="chapter ch20" data-usfm="JDG.20">
 <div class="label">20</div><div class="s1">The Israelites Punish the Benjamites</div><div class="p"> 1Then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came together as one and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah. 2The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God&#8217;s people, four hundred thousand men armed with swords. 3(The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, &#8220;Tell us how this awful thing happened.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, &#8220;I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. 5During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. 6I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel&#8217;s inheritance, because they committed this lewd and outrageous act in Israel. 7Now, all you Israelites, speak up and tell me what you have decided to do.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8All the men rose up together as one, saying, &#8220;None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house. 9But now this is what we&#8217;ll do to Gibeah: We&#8217;ll go up against it in the order decided by casting lots. 10We&#8217;ll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Gibeah#20:10 One Hebrew manuscript; most Hebrew manuscripts Geba, a variant of Gibeah in Benjamin, it can give them what they deserve for this outrageous act done in Israel.&#8221; 11So all the Israelites got together and united as one against the city.</div><div class="p"> 12The tribes of Israel sent messengers throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, &#8220;What about this awful crime that was committed among you? 13Now turn those wicked men of Gibeah over to us so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites. 14From their towns they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites. 15At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred able young men from those living in Gibeah. 16Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.</div><div class="p"> 17Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fit for battle.</div><div class="p"> 18The Israelites went up to Bethel#20:18 Or to the house of God; also in verse 26 and inquired of God. They said, &#8220;Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Benjamites?&#8221;</div><div class="p">The Lord replied, &#8220;Judah shall go first.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19The next morning the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah. 20The Israelites went out to fight the Benjamites and took up battle positions against them at Gibeah. 21The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day. 22But the Israelites encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day. 23The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and they inquired of the Lord. They said, &#8220;Shall we go up again to fight against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites?&#8221;</div><div class="p">The Lord answered, &#8220;Go up against them.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day. 25This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords.</div><div class="p"> 26Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. 27And the Israelites inquired of the Lord. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, 28with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ministering before it.) They asked, &#8220;Shall we go up again to fight against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites, or not?&#8221;</div><div class="p">The Lord responded, &#8220;Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 29Then Israel set an ambush around Gibeah. 30They went up against the Benjamites on the third day and took up positions against Gibeah as they had done before. 31The Benjamites came out to meet them and were drawn away from the city. They began to inflict casualties on the Israelites as before, so that about thirty men fell in the open field and on the roads&#8212;the one leading to Bethel and the other to Gibeah. 32While the Benjamites were saying, &#8220;We are defeating them as before,&#8221; the Israelites were saying, &#8220;Let&#8217;s retreat and draw them away from the city to the roads.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33All the men of Israel moved from their places and took up positions at Baal Tamar, and the Israelite ambush charged out of its place on the west#20:33 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. of Gibeah.#20:33 Hebrew Geba, a variant of Gibeah 34Then ten thousand of Israel&#8217;s able young men made a frontal attack on Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that the Benjamites did not realize how near disaster was. 35The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords. 36Then the Benjamites saw that they were beaten.</div><div class="p">Now the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, because they relied on the ambush they had set near Gibeah. 37Those who had been in ambush made a sudden dash into Gibeah, spread out and put the whole city to the sword. 38The Israelites had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city, 39and then the Israelites would counterattack.</div><div class="p">The Benjamites had begun to inflict casualties on the Israelites (about thirty), and they said, &#8220;We are defeating them as in the first battle.&#8221; 40But when the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the Benjamites turned and saw the whole city going up in smoke. 41Then the Israelites counterattacked, and the Benjamites were terrified, because they realized that disaster had come on them. 42So they fled before the Israelites in the direction of the wilderness, but they could not escape the battle. And the Israelites who came out of the towns cut them down there. 43They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them and easily#20:43 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. overran them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east. 44Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters. 45As they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites cut down five thousand men along the roads. They kept pressing after the Benjamites as far as Gidom and struck down two thousand more.</div><div class="p"> 46On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters. 47But six hundred of them turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months. 48The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire.</div>
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 <div class="label">21</div><div class="s1">A New Heaven and a New Earth</div><div class="p"> 1Then I saw &#8220;a new heaven and a new earth,&#8221;#21:1 Isaiah 65:17 for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, &#8220;Look! God&#8217;s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4&#8216;He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death&#8217;#21:4 Isaiah 25:8 or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5He who was seated on the throne said, &#8220;I am making everything new!&#8221; Then he said, &#8220;Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6He said to me: &#8220;It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars&#8212;they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb</div><div class="p"> 9One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, &#8220;Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.&#8221; 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.</div><div class="p"> 15The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia#21:16 That is, about 1,400 miles or about 2,200 kilometers in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits#21:17 That is, about 200 feet or about 65 meters thick.#21:17 Or high 18The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.#21:20 The precise identification of some of these precious stones is uncertain. 21The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.</div><div class="p"> 22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb&#8217;s book of life.</div>
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