Judges 14:15

For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

“Everyone beware of his neighbor, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go around like a slanderer.

Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips.

in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the Good News of Christ;

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void.

from the Shihor, which is before Egypt, even to the border of Ekron northward, which is counted as Canaanite; the five lords of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avvim,

The men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you treated us this way, that you didn’t call us when you went to fight with Midian?” They rebuked him sharply.

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 with fire.

The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

but these lay in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.

to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,

Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.

For God’s Kingdom is not in word, but in power.

Behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, “Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away, and brought the king, and his household, over the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?”

His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.

The words of the wicked are about lying in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.

A fool vents all of his anger, but a wise man brings himself under control.

I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.

For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.

She weeps bitterly in the night. Her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies.

For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

and that our Good News came to you not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance. You know what kind of men we showed ourselves to be among you for your sake.

For we didn’t follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

He told her all 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.”

When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand.

It will happen that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.” ’ ”

Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.

But it was you, a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend.

lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house.

arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin.

“Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

in pureness, in knowledge, in perseverance, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love,

nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks.

They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door.

Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” Jacob stayed with him for a month.

In the evening, he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to Jacob. He went in to her.

she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, “Behold, he has brought a Hebrew in to us to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice.

The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining,

The men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, “Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn’t call us to go with you? We will burn your house around you with fire!”

But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his friend.

Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in the case of the Philistines when I harm them.”

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

Now it fell on a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come! Let’s go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he didn’t tell his father.

but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him, and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him.

The king said, “Where is your master’s son?” Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is staying in Jerusalem; for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will restore me the kingdom of my father.’ ”

Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young virgin be sought for my lord the king. Let her stand before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm.”

Behold, fire came down from the sky, and consumed the last two captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be precious in your sight.”

He said, “If Yahweh doesn’t help you, where could I get help for you? From of the threshing floor, or from the wine press?”

Then he said, “God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stays on him today.”

I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I didn’t tell anyone what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There wasn’t any animal with me, except the animal that I rode on.

He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.

Yes, I am as a man who doesn’t hear, in whose mouth are no reproofs.

If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.

For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,

to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.

For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.

With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.

Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn’t know that it will cost his life.

But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

A wise man fears and shuns evil, but the fool is hot headed and reckless.

He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore don’t keep company with him who opens wide his lips.

When his speech is charming, don’t believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart.

Mockers stir up a city, but wise men turn away anger.

If a wise man goes to court with a foolish man, the fool rages or scoffs, and there is no peace.

There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.

a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.

‘Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house will be brought out to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women will say, “Your familiar friends have turned on you, and have prevailed over you. Your feet are sunk in the mire, they have turned away from you.”

and said to him, “Do you know that Baalis the king of the children of Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam didn’t believe them.

They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but Yahweh has not sent them. They have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed.

“ ‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you,” says the Lord Yahweh.

and say, “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Woe to the women who sew pillows on all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people, and save souls alive for yourselves?

The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.

Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.

But some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?”

But they were filled with rage, and talked with one another about what they might do to Jesus.

When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed himself before dinner.

Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.

But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’

But the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also,

asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem; plotting to kill him on the way.

Agrippa said to Paul, “With a little persuasion are you trying to make me a Christian?”

For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.

My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;