His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.” John 2:5

Judges 15-16

Judges 15

Samson Denies his Wife

¹ But after a while, during the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife and brought a young goat to her. He said, “I will go in to my wife’s room.”

But her father would not allow him to go in. ² Her father said, “I most certainly thought that you utterly hated her. Therefore I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please, take her instead.”

Samson Defeats the Philistines

³ Samson said to them, “This time I will be innocent in the case of the Philistines, when I harm them.” ⁴ Samson went out and caught 300 foxes and took torches and tied them together in pairs, tail to tail, and put a torch in the middle between every pair of tails.

⁵ When he had set the torches on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also the olive groves.

⁶ Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?”
They said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” The Philistines came up and burned her and her father to death.

⁷ Samson said to them, “Because you have done this, surely I will take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.” ⁸ He tore them, limb from limb in a great massacre, and he went down and lived in the cave in Etam’s rock. ⁹ Then the Philistines went up, encamped in Judah and spread themselves in Lehi.

¹⁰ The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?”
They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.”

¹¹ Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cave in Etam’s rock and said to Samson, “Don’t you know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?”
He said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”

¹² They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.”

Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.”

¹³ They spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will bind you securely and deliver you into their hands, but surely we will not kill you.” They bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like singed flax and his bands dropped from off his hands. ¹⁵ He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it. ¹⁶ Samson said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey,
heaps upon heaps;
with the jawbone of a donkey
I have struck a thousand men.”

¹⁷ When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone out of his hand, and that place was called Ramath Lehi.

¹⁸ He was very thirsty and called on the Lord and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

¹⁹ But the Lord split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En Hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day.

²⁰ He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Judges 16

Samson Escapes Gaza

¹ Samson went to Gaza and saw there a prostitute and went in to her. ² The Gazites were told, “Samson is here!” They surrounded him and waited for him all night in the gate of the city and were quiet all night, saying, “Wait until morning light. Then we will kill him.” ³ Samson lay until midnight, then arose at midnight and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city, with the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.

Samson and Delilah

⁴ It came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ The leaders of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him and see in what his great strength lies and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to subdue him, and we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

⁶ Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies and with what you might be bound to subdue you.”

⁷ Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak and be like any other man.”

⁸ Then the leaders of the Philistines brought up to her seven green cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹ Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the bowstrings like a strand of yarn breaks when when it touches fire. So his strength was not known.

¹⁰ Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies. Now please tell me how you might be bound.”

¹¹ He said to her, “If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then shall I become weak and be like any other man.”

¹² So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, then said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He broke them off his arms like a thread.

¹³ Delilah said to Samson, “Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound.”
He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the fabric on the loom.”

¹⁴ She fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He awakened out of his sleep and plucked away the pin from the beam and the fabric.

Delilah Discovers the Secret

¹⁵ She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies.”

¹⁶ She pressed him daily with her words and urging until he was sick to death of it. ¹⁷ He told her everything in his heart and said to her, “No razor has ever come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will become weak, and be like any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her everything in his heart, she sent for the leaders of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this once, for he has told me everything in his heart.” Then the leaders of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. ¹⁹ She made him sleep on her knees, and she called for a man and shaved off the seven locks of his head, and she began to subdue him, and his strength went from him. ²⁰ She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!”

He awoke out of his sleep and said, “I will go out like the other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. ²¹ The Philistines laid hold of him and put out his eyes, and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of bronze, and he ground at the mill in the prison. ²² However, the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved.

Samson’s Vengeance and Death

²³ The leaders of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, for they said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.”

²⁴ When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, “Our god has delivered our enemy and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us, into our hand.”

²⁵ When they were celebrating and their spirits were high, they said, “Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.” They called for Samson out of the prison, and he performed before them. They set him between the pillars, ²⁶ and Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, “Allow me to feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean on them.” ²⁷ Now the house was full of men and women, and all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and there were about 3,000 men and women on the roof who watched while Samson performed.

²⁸ Samson called to the Lord and said, “Lord God, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, Lord, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹ Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested and leaned on them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. ³⁰ Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell on the leaders and on all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.

³¹ Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial site of Manoah his father.

Sampson had judged Israel for twenty years.

John 2

The Wedding at Cana

¹ The third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. ² Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the wedding. ³ When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.”

⁴ Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.”

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.” ⁶ Now there were six water pots of stone set there after the Jews’ way of purifying, containing 20 to 30 gallons apiece. ⁷ Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ He said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the ruler of the feast.” So they took it.

⁹ When the ruler of the feast tasted the water that had now become wine and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast called the bridegroom, ¹⁰ and said to Jesus, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have drunk freely, then that which is worse. You have kept the good wine until now!”

¹¹ This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

¹² After this, he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days.

¹³ The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ He found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the money changers sitting. ¹⁵ He made a whip of cords and threw everyone out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen, and he poured out the money changers and overthrew their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Do not make my Father’s house a marketplace!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written,

“Zeal for your house will consume me.” ^a

¹⁸ The Jews therefore answered him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

²⁰ The Jews therefore said, “It took 46 years to build this temple! Will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he spoke of the temple of his body. ²² When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

²³ Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing the signs which he did. ²⁴ But Jesus did not entrust himself to them, because he knew everyone, ²⁵ and because he did not need for anyone to testify concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man.

^{a Psalm 69:9}

Psalm 103

Everything Within Me, Praise His Holy Name!

By David.

¹ Praise the Lord, O my soul!
All that is within me, praise his holy name!
² Praise the Lord, my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits,
³ who forgives all your sins,
who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from destruction,
who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,
⁵ who satisfies your desire with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ The Lord executes righteous acts,
and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the Israelites.
⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.
⁹ He will not always accuse;
neither will he stay angry forever.
¹⁰ He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor repaid us for our iniquities.
¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
¹² As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
¹³ Like a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how we are made.
He remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass.
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
¹⁶ For the wind passes over it, and it is gone.
Its place remembers it no more.
¹⁷ But the Lord’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him,
his righteousness to children’s children,
¹⁸ to those who keep his covenant,
to those who remember to obey his precepts.

¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in the heavens.
His kingdom rules over all.
²⁰ Praise the Lord, you angels of his,
who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word,
obeying the voice of his word.
²¹ Praise the Lord, all you armies of his,
you servants of his, who do his pleasure.
²² Praise the Lord, all you works of his,
in all places of his dominion.
Praise the Lord, my soul!

Proverbs 14:17-19

¹⁷ He who is quick to become angry will commit folly,
and a crafty man is hated.
¹⁸ The simple inherit folly,
but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
¹⁹ The evil bow down before the good,
and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

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