Judges 13, Acts 17, Jeremiah 26, Mark 12

Judges 13,

1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
 
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless.
 
3 The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son.
 
4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean,
 
5 because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."
 
6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, "A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name.
 
7 But he said to me, 'You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.' "
 
8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD : "O LORD, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born."
 
9 God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.
 
10 The woman hurried to tell her husband, "He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!"
 
11 Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, "Are you the one who talked to my wife?" "I am," he said.
 
12 So Manoah asked him, "When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?"
 
13 The angel of the LORD answered, "Your wife must do all that I have told her.
 
14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her."
 
15 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you."
 
16 The angel of the LORD replied, "Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD." (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.)
 
17 Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?"
 
18 He replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding."
 
19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched:
 
20 As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground.
 
21 When the angel of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD.
 
22 "We are doomed to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!"
 
23 But his wife answered, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this."
 
24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him,
 
25 and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Acts 17,

1 When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
 
2 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
 
3 explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said.
 
4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.
 
5 But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.
 
6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here,
 
7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus."
 
8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil.
 
9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
 
10 As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
 
11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
 
12 Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
 
13 When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up.
 
14 The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea.
 
15 The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
 
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.
 
17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
 
18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
 
19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
 
20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean."
 
21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
 
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.
 
23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
 
24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
 
25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
 
26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
 
27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
 
28 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
 
29 "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone-an image made by man's design and skill.
 
30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
 
31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
 
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject."
 
33 At that, Paul left the Council.
 
34 A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Jeremiah 26,

1 Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD :
 
2 "This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD's house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the LORD. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word.
 
3 Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done.
 
4 Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you,
 
5 and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened),
 
6 then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.' "
 
7 The priests, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the LORD.
 
8 But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, "You must die!
 
9 Why do you prophesy in the LORD's name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?" And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
 
10 When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the LORD and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD's house.
 
11 Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, "This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!"
 
12 Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: "The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard.
 
13 Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you.
 
14 As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right.
 
15 Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing."
 
16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, "This man should not be sentenced to death! He has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God."
 
17 Some of the elders of the land stepped forward and said to the entire assembly of people,
 
18 "Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: " 'Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.'
 
19 "Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the LORD and seek his favor? And did not the LORD relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!"
 
20 (Now Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim was another man who prophesied in the name of the LORD; he prophesied the same things against this city and this land as Jeremiah did.
 
21 When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and officials heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt.
 
22 King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt, along with some other men.
 
23 They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.)
 
24 Furthermore, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

Mark 12

1 He then began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.
 
2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
 
3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
 
4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully.
 
5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
 
6 "He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
 
7 "But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'
 
8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
 
9 "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.
 
10 Haven't you read this scripture: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;
 
11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"
 
12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.
 
13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words.
 
14 They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
 
15 Should we pay or shouldn't we?" But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it."
 
16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied.
 
17 Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him.
 
18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.
 
19 "Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother.
 
20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children.
 
21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third.
 
22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too.
 
23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"
 
24 Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
 
25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.
 
26 Now about the dead rising-have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?
 
27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!"
 
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
 
29 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
 
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
 
31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
 
32 "Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.
 
33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
 
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
 
35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David?
 
36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: " 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet." '
 
37 David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" The large crowd listened to him with delight.
 
38 As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces,
 
39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.
 
40 They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."
 
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.
 
42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
 
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.
 
44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-all she had to live on."