131 Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord , so that the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years . 2 There was a certain man of Zorah , of the family of the Danites , whose name was Manoah ; and his wife was barren and had borne no children. 3 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold now , you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son . 4 "Now therefore, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink , nor eat any unclean thing . 5 " For behold , you shall conceive and give birth to a son , and no razor shall come upon his head , for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb ; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines ." 6 Then the woman came and told her husband , saying , " A man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God , very awesome . And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name . 7 "But he said to me, 'Behold , you shall conceive and give birth to a son , and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing , for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death .' "
8 Then Manoah entreated the Lord and said , "O Lord , please e let the man of God whom You have sent come to us again that he may teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born ." 9 God listened to the voice of Manoah ; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field , but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband , "Behold , the man who came the other day has appeared to me." 11 Then Manoah arose and followed e his wife , and when he came to the man he said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to the woman ?" And he said , "I am." 12 Manoah said , "Now when your words come to pass, what shall be the boy's mode of life and his vocation ?" 13 So the angel of the Lord said to Manoah , " Let the woman pay attention to all that I said . 14 "She should not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or strong drink , nor eat any unclean thing ; let her observe all that I commanded ."
15 Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord , "Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young e goat e for you." 16 The angel of the Lord said to Manoah , "Though you detain me, I will not eat your food , but if you prepare a burnt offering , then offer it to the Lord ." For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord . 17 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord , " What is your name , so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?" 18 But the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask my name , seeing it is wonderful ?" 19 So Manoah took the young e goat e with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord , and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. 20 For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven , that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar . When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground . 21 Now the angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah or his wife again e . Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord . 22 So Manoah said to his wife , " We will surely die , for we have seen God ." 23 But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands , nor would He have shown us all these things , nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time ."
24 Then the woman gave birth to a son and named e him Samson ; and the child grew up and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan , between Zorah and Eshtaol .
141 Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah , one of the daughters of the Philistines . 2 So he came back and told his father and mother , "I saw a woman in Timnah , one of the daughters of the Philistines ; now therefore, get her for me as a wife ." 3 Then his father and his mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives , or among all our people , that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines ?" But Samson said to his father , "Get her for me, for she looks e good to me." 4 However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord , for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines . Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel . 5 Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother , and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah ; and behold , a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily , so that he tore him as one tears a young goat though he had nothing e in his hand ; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done . 7 So he went down and talked to the woman ; and she looked e good to Samson . 8 When he returned later e to take her, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion ; and behold , a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion . 9 So he scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went . When he came to his father and mother , he gave some to them and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion .
10 Then his father went down to the woman ; and Samson made a feast there , for the young men customarily did this . 11 When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 Then Samson said to them, "Let me now propound a riddle to you; if you will indeed tell it to me within the seven days of the feast , and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes . 13 "But if you are unable e to tell me, then you shall give me thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes ." And they said to him, "Propound your riddle , that we may hear it." 14 So he said to them, "Out of the eater came something to eat , And out of the strong came something sweet ." But they could not tell the riddle in three days . 15 Then it came about on the fourth day that they said to Samson's wife , " Entice your husband , so that he will tell us the riddle , or we will burn you and your father's house with fire . Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is this not so?" 16 Samson's wife wept before him and said , " You only hate me, and you do not love me; you have propounded a riddle to the sons of my people , and have not told it to me." And he said to her, "Behold , I have not told it to my father or mother ; so should I tell you?" 17 However she wept before him seven days while their feast lasted . And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard . She then told the riddle to the sons of her people . 18 So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey ? And what is stronger than a lion ?" And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer , You would not have found out my riddle ." 19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily , and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of them and took their spoil and gave the changes of clothes to those who told the riddle . And his anger burned , and he went up to his father's house . 20 But Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his friend .
151 But after a while , in the time of wheat harvest , Samson visited his wife with a young goat , and said , "I will go in to my wife in her room ." But her father did not let him enter . 2 Her father said , "I really thought that you hated her intensely ; so I gave her to your companion . Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please let her be yours instead ." 3 Samson then said to them, "This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm ." 4 Samson went and caught three hundred foxes , and took torches , and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails . 5 When he had set fire to the torches , he released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines , thus burning up both the shocks and the standing grain , along with the vineyards and groves . 6 Then the Philistines said , "Who did this ?" And they said , "Samson , the son-in-law of the Timnite , because he took his wife and gave her to his companion ." So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire . 7 Samson said to them, "Since you act like this , I will surely e take revenge on you, but after that I will quit ." 8 He struck them ruthlessly e e with a great slaughter ; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam .
9 Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah , and spread out in Lehi . 10 The men of Judah said , "Why have you come up against us?" And they said , "We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us." 11 Then 3,000 e men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson , "Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" And 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 so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines ." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not kill me." 13 So they said to him, "No , but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands ; yet surely we will not kill you." Then 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. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire , and his bonds dropped from his hands . 15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey , so he reached e out and took it and killed a thousand men with it. 16 Then Samson said , "With the jawbone of a donkey , Heaps upon heaps , With the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men ." 17 When he had finished speaking , he threw the jawbone from his hand ; and he named that place Ramath-lehi .
18 Then he became very thirsty , and he called to 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 God split the hollow place that is in Lehi so that water came out of it. When he drank , his strength returned and he revived . Therefore e he named e it En-hakkore , which is in Lehi to this day . 20 So he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines .
27 "But I say to you who hear , love your enemies , do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 " Whoever hits you on the cheek , offer him the other also ; and whoever takes away your coat , do not withhold your shirt from him either . 30 "Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours , do not demand it back . 31 " Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. 32 " If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 "If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same . 34 " If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive , what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 "But love your enemies , and do good , and lend , expecting nothing in return ; and your reward will be great , and you will be sons of the Most High ; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. 36 "Be merciful , just as your Father is merciful .
37 " Do not judge , and you will not be judged ; and do not condemn , and you will not be condemned ; pardon , and you will be pardoned . 38 "Give , and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure -pressed down , shaken together , and running over . For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return ." 39 And He also spoke a parable to them: " A blind man cannot e guide a blind man , can he? Will they not both fall into a pit ? 40 " A pupil is not above his teacher ; but everyone , after he has been fully trained , will be like his teacher . 41 "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye , but do not notice the log that is in your own eye ? 42 "Or how can you say to your brother , 'Brother , let me take out the speck that is in your eye ,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye ? You hypocrite , first take the log out of your own eye , and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye .
43 " For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit , nor , on the other hand , a bad tree which produces good fruit . 44 " For each tree is known by its own fruit . For men do not gather figs from thorns , nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush . 45 " The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good ; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil ; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart .
46 " Why do you call Me, 'Lord , Lord ,' and do not do what I say ? 47 " Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like : 48 he is like a man building a house , who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock ; and when a flood occurred , the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built . 49 "But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation ; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed , and the ruin of that house was great ."
(Read Luke 6:27-36)
These are hard lessons to flesh and blood. But if we are thoroughly grounded in the faith of Christ's love, this will make his commands easy to us. Every one that comes to him for washing in his blood, and knows the greatness of the mercy and the love there is in him, can say, in truth and sincerity, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Let us then aim to be merciful, even according to the mercy of our heavenly Father to us.
(Read Luke 6:37-49)
All these sayings Christ often used; it was easy to apply them. We ought to be very careful when we blame others; for we need allowance ourselves. If we are of a giving and a forgiving spirit, we shall ourselves reap the benefit. Though full and exact returns are made in another world, not in this world, yet Providence does what should encourage us in doing good. Those who follow the multitude to do evil, follow in the broad way that leads to destruction. The tree is known by its fruits; may the word of Christ be so grafted in our hearts, that we may be fruitful in every good word and work. And what the mouth commonly speaks, generally agrees with what is most in the heart. Those only make sure work for their souls and eternity, and take the course that will profit in a trying time, who think, speak, and act according to the words of Christ. Those who take pains in religion, found their hope upon Christ, who is the Rock of Ages, and other foundation can no man lay. In death and judgment they are safe, being kept by the power of Christ through faith unto salvation, and they shall never perish.
