Bible Readings for May 3, 2017

Today our passages are Judges 17:1–18:31; John 3:1-21; Psalm 104:1-23; and Proverbs 14:20-21. The readings are from the Contemporary English Version. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal by using the link below.

 

 

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Judges 17-18:31 (Contemporary English Version)

Judges 17

Micah Makes Idols and Hires a Priest

 ¹Micah ^[a] belonged to the Ephraim tribe and lived in the hill country.     ²One day he told his mother, " Do you remember those eleven hundred pieces of silver ^[b] that were stolen from you? I was there when you put a curse on whoever stole them. Well, I'm the one who did it." His mother answered, " I pray that the LORD will bless ^[c] you, my son."
    ^3-4Micah returned the silver to his mother, and she said, " I give this silver to the LORD, so my son can use it to make an idol." Turning to her son, she said, " Micah, now the silver belongs to you."
   But Micah handed it back to his mother. She took two hundred pieces ^[d] of the silver and gave them to a silver worker, who made them into an idol. ^[e] They kept the idol in Micah's house.
    ⁵He had a shrine for worshiping God there at his home, and he had made some idols and a sacred priestly vest. Micah chose one of his own sons to be the priest for his shrine.
    ⁶This was before kings ruled Israel, so all the Israelites did whatever they thought was right.
    ^7-8One day a young Levite came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim. He had been staying with one of the clans of Judah in Bethlehem, but he had left Bethlehem to find a new place to live ^[f] where he could be a priest. ^[g]
    ⁹" Where are you from?" Micah asked.
   " I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah," the man answered, " and I'm on my way to find a new place to live."
    ¹⁰Micah said, " Why don't you stay here with me? You can be my priest and tell me what God wants me to do. Every year I'll give you ten pieces of silver and one complete set of clothes, and I'll provide all your food."
   The young man went for a walk,
    ^11-12then he agreed to stay with Micah and be his priest. He lived in Micah's house, and Micah treated him like one of his own sons.
    ¹³Micah said, " I have a Levite as my own priest. Now I know that the LORD will be kind to me."
   

Judges 18

 ¹These things happened before kings ruled Israel.    About this time, the tribe of Dan was looking for a place to live. The other tribes had land, but the people of Dan did not really have any to call their own.
   

The Tribe of Dan Takes Micah's Priest and Idols

 ²The tribe chose five warriors to represent their clans and told them, " Go and find some land where we can live."    The warriors left the area of Zorah and Eshtaol and went into the hill country of Ephraim. One night they stayed at Micah's house,
    ³because they heard the young Levite talking, and they knew from his accent that he was from the south. They asked him, " What are you doing here? Who brought you here?"
    ⁴The Levite replied, " Micah hired me as his priest." Then he told them how well Micah had treated him.
    ⁵" Please talk to God for us," the men said. " Ask God if we will be successful in what we are trying to do."
    ⁶" Don't worry," answered the priest. " The LORD is pleased with what you are doing."
    ⁷The five men left and went to the town of Laish, whose people were from Sidon, ^[h] but Sidon was too far away to protect them. Even though their town had no walls, the people thought they were safe from attack. So they had not asked anyone else ^[i] for protection, which meant that the tribe of Dan could easily take over Laish. ^[j]
    ⁸The five men went back to Zorah and Eshtaol, where their relatives asked, " Did you find any land?"
    ^9-10" Let's go!" the five men said. " We saw some very good land with enough room for all of us, and it has everything we will ever need. What are you waiting for? Let's attack and take it. You'll find that the people think they're safe, but God is giving the land to us."
    ¹¹Six hundred men from the tribe of Dan strapped on their weapons and left Zorah and Eshtaol with their families. ^[k]
    ¹²One night they camped near Kiriath-Jearim in the territory of Judah, and that's why the place just west of Kiriath-Jearim is still known as Dan's Camp. ^[l]
    ¹³Then they went into the hill country of Ephraim. When they came close to Micah's house,
    ¹⁴the five men who had been spies asked the other warriors, " Did you know that someone in this village has several idols and a sacred priestly vest? What do you think we should do about it?"
    ^15-18The six hundred warriors left the road and went to the house on Micah's property where the young Levite priest lived. They stood at the gate and greeted the priest. Meanwhile, the five men who had been there before went into Micah's house and took the sacred priestly vest and the idols.
   " Hey!" the priest shouted. " What do you think you're doing?"
    ¹⁹" Quiet!" the men said. " Keep your mouth shut and listen. Why don't you come with us and be our priest, so you can tell us what God wants us to do? You could stay here and be a priest for one man's family, but wouldn't you rather be the priest for a clan or even a whole tribe of Israel?"
    ²⁰The priest really liked that idea. So he took the vest and the idols and joined the others
    ²¹from the tribe of Dan. Then they turned and left, after putting their children, their cattle, and the rest of their other possessions in front.
    ²²They had traveled for some time, before Micah asked his neighbors to help him get his things back. He and his men caught up with the people of Dan
    ²³and shouted for them to stop.
   They turned to face him and asked, " What's wrong? Why did you bring all these men?"
    ²⁴Micah answered, " You know what's wrong. You stole the gods ^[m] I made, and you took my priest. I don't have anything left."
    ²⁵" We don't want to hear any more about it," the people of Dan said. " And if you make us angry, you'll only get yourself and your family killed."
    ²⁶After saying this, they turned and left.
   Micah realized there was no way he could win a fight with them, and so he went back home.
   

The Tribe of Dan Captures Laish

 ^27-28The tribe of Dan took Micah's priest and the things Micah had made, and headed for Laish, which was located in a valley controlled by the town of Beth-Rehob. Laish was defenseless, because it had no walls and was too far from Sidon for the Sidonians to help defend it. The leaders of Laish had not even asked nearby towns to help them in case of an attack.    The warriors from Dan made a surprise attack on Laish, killing everyone and burning it down. Then they rebuilt the town and settled there themselves.
    ²⁹But they named it Dan, after one of Israel's ^[n] sons, who was the ancestor of their tribe.
    ^30-31Even though the place of worship ^[o] was in Shiloh, the people of Dan set up the idol Micah had made. They worshiped the idol, and the Levite was their priest. His name was Jonathan, and he was a descendant of Gershom the son of Moses. ^[p] His descendants served as priests for the tribe of Dan, until the people of Israel were taken away as prisoners by their enemies.
   

Footnotes:

1. Judges 17:1 Micah: The Hebrew also uses the longer form " Micaiah."
2. Judges 17:2 eleven hundred. . . silver: About 28 pounds.
3. Judges 17:2 curse. . . bless: A curse could not be taken back, but it could be made powerless by a blessing.
4. Judges 17:3 two hundred pieces: About 5 pounds.
5. Judges 17:3 idol: Probably carved from wood and covered with the silver.
6. Judges 17:7 place to live: The people of the Levi tribe did not have a large area of land like the other tribes.
7. Judges 17:7 to find. . . priest: Or " and was on his way to find a new place to live."
8. Judges 18:7 whose people. . . Sidon: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
9. Judges 18:7 anyone else: Hebrew; one ancient translation has " the Arameans," who were a short distance to the north.
10. Judges 18:7 which. . . Laish: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
11. Judges 18:11 Eshtaol with their families: Hebrew " Eshtaol" (see verse 21).
12. Judges 18:12 Dan's Camp: See the note at 13.25.
13. Judges 18:24 gods: Or " god."
14. Judges 18:29 Israel's: Israel was another name for Jacob, the father of the twelve ancestors of the tribes of Israel.
15. Judges 18:30 place of worship: The Hebrew text has " house of God," which at this time was probably the sacred tent.
16. Judges 18:30 Moses: Some manuscripts of two ancient translations; the Standard Hebrew Text has " Manasseh," but written in a special way that tells the reader " Moses" had been changed to " Manasseh."

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John 3:1-21 (Contemporary English Version)

John 3

Jesus and Nicodemus

 ¹There was a man named Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and a Jewish leader. ²One night he went to Jesus and said, "Sir, we know that God has sent you to teach us. You could not work these miracles, unless God were with you."     ³Jesus replied, "I tell you for certain that you must be born from above before you can see God's kingdom!"
    ⁴Nicodemus asked, "How can a grown man ever be born a second time?"
    ⁵Jesus answered:
   I tell you for certain that before you can get into God's kingdom, you must be born not only by water, but by the Spirit. ⁶Humans give life to their children. Yet only God's Spirit can change you into a child of God. ⁷Don't be surprised when I say that you must be born from above. ⁸Only God's Spirit gives new life. The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the wind, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going.
    ⁹"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
    ¹⁰Jesus replied:
   How can you be a teacher of Israel and not know these things? ¹¹I tell you for certain that we know what we are talking about because we have seen it ourselves. But none of you will accept what we say. ¹²If you don't believe when I talk to you about things on earth, how can you possibly believe if I talk to you about things in heaven?
    ¹³No one has gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from there. ¹⁴And the Son of Man must be lifted up, just as that metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert. ^[a] ¹⁵Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life. ¹⁶God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. ¹⁷God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! ¹⁸No one who has faith in God's Son will be condemned. But everyone who doesn't have faith in him has already been condemned for not having faith in God's only Son.
    ¹⁹The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. ²⁰People who do evil hate the light and won't come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done. ²¹But everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do.
   

Footnotes:

1. John 3:14 just as that metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert: When the Lord punished the people of Israel by sending snakes to bite them, he told Moses to hold a metal snake up on a pole. Everyone who looked at the snake was cured of the snake bites (see Numbers 21.4-9).

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Psalm 104:1-23 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 104

The LORD Takes Care of His Creation

 ¹I praise you, LORD God,    with all my heart.
   You are glorious and majestic,
   dressed in royal robes
    ²and surrounded by light.
   You spread out the sky
   like a tent,
    ³and you built your home
   over the mighty ocean.
   The clouds are your chariot
   with the wind as its wings.
    ⁴The winds are your messengers,
   and flames of fire
   are your servants.
    ⁵You built foundations
   for the earth,
   and it
   will never be shaken.
    ⁶You covered the earth
   with the ocean
   that rose
   above the mountains.
    ⁷Then your voice thundered!
   And the water flowed
    ⁸down the mountains
   and through the valleys
   to the place you prepared.
    ⁹Now you have set boundaries,
   so that the water will never
   flood the earth again.
    ¹⁰You provide streams of water
   in the hills and valleys,
    ¹¹so that the donkeys
   and other wild animals
   can satisfy their thirst.
    ¹²Birds build their nests nearby
   and sing in the trees.
    ¹³From your home above
   you send rain on the hills
   and water the earth.
    ¹⁴You let the earth produce
   grass for cattle,
   plants for our food,
    ¹⁵wine to cheer us up,
   olive oil for our skin,
   and grain for our health.
    ¹⁶Our LORD, your trees
   always have water,
   and so do the cedars
   you planted in Lebanon.
    ¹⁷Birds nest in those trees,
   and storks make their home
   in the fir trees.
    ¹⁸Wild goats find a home
   in the tall mountains,
   and small animals can hide
   between the rocks.
    ¹⁹You created the moon
   to tell us the seasons.
   The sun knows when to set,
    ²⁰and you made the darkness,
   so the animals in the forest
   could come out at night.
    ²¹Lions roar as they hunt
   for the food you provide.
    ²²But when morning comes,
   they return to their dens,
    ²³then we go out to work
   until the end of day.

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Proverbs 14:20-21 (Contemporary English Version)

²⁰You have no friends
   if you are poor,
   but you have lots of friends
   if you are rich.
    ²¹It's wrong to hate others,
   but God blesses everyone
   who is kind to the poor.

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Verse of the Day

“Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying.” - Romans 12:12

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature, William Butler Yeats wrote, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

 

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A Joke for Today

 

A young executive is working late one evening. As he comes out of his office about 8 PM he sees the Big Boss standing by the shredder in the hallway, a piece of paper in his hand. "Do you know how to work this thing?" the older man asks. "My secretary’s gone home and I don’t know how to run it."

"Yes, sir," says the young executive, who turns on the machine, takes the paper from the other man, and feeds it in.

"Now," says his boss, "I just need the one copy." 

Bible Readings for May 26, 2016

Today our passages are 2 Samuel 9:1–11:27; John 15:1-27; Psalm 119:49-64; and Proverbs 16:1-3. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal.

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2 Samuel 9-11:27 (The Message)

2 Samuel 9

An Open Table for Mephibosheth

 ¹ One day David asked, "Is there anyone left of Saul's family? If so, I'd like to show him some kindness in honor of Jonathan."  ² It happened that a servant from Saul's household named Ziba was there. They called him into David's presence. The king asked him, "Are you Ziba?" "Yes sir," he replied.
 ³ The king asked, "Is there anyone left from the family of Saul to whom I can show some godly kindness?"
    Ziba told the king, "Yes, there is Jonathan's son, lame in both feet."
 ⁴ "Where is he?"
    "He's living at the home of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar."
 ⁵ King David didn't lose a minute. He sent and got him from the home of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.
 ⁶ When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan (who was the son of Saul), came before David, he bowed deeply, abasing himself, honoring David.
    David spoke his name: "Mephibosheth."
    "Yes sir?"
 ⁷ "Don't be frightened," said David. "I'd like to do something special for you in memory of your father Jonathan. To begin with, I'm returning to you all the properties of your grandfather Saul. Furthermore, from now on you'll take all your meals at my table."
 ⁸ Shuffling and stammering, not looking him in the eye, Mephibosheth said, "Who am I that you pay attention to a stray dog like me?"
 ^9-10 David then called in Ziba, Saul's right-hand man, and told him, "Everything that belonged to Saul and his family, I've handed over to your master's grandson. You and your sons and your servants will work his land and bring in the produce, provisions for your master's grandson. Mephibosheth himself, your master's grandson, from now on will take all his meals at my table." Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
 ^11-12 "All that my master the king has ordered his servant," answered Ziba, "your servant will surely do."
    And Mephibosheth ate at David's table, just like one of the royal family. Mephibosheth also had a small son named Mica. All who were part of Ziba's household were now the servants of Mephibosheth.
 ¹³ Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, taking all his meals at the king's table. He was lame in both feet.

2 Samuel 10

 ^1-2 Sometime after this, the king of the Ammonites died and Hanun, his son, succeeded him as king. David said, "I'd like to show some kindness to Hanun, the son of Nahash—treat him as well and as kindly as his father treated me." So David sent Hanun condolences regarding his father.  ^2-3 But when David's servants got to the land of the Ammonites, the Ammonite leaders warned Hanun, their head delegate, "Do you for a minute suppose that David is honoring your father by sending you comforters? Don't you think it's because he wants to snoop around the city and size it up that David has sent his emissaries to you?"
 ⁴ So Hanun seized David's men, shaved off half their beards, cut off their robes halfway up their buttocks, and sent them packing.
 ⁵ When all this was reported to David, he sent someone to meet them, for they were seriously humiliated. The king told them, "Stay in Jericho until your beards grow out. Only then come back."
 ⁶ When it dawned on the Ammonites that as far as David was concerned they stunk to high heaven, they hired Aramean soldiers from Beth-Rehob and Zobah—twenty thousand infantry—and a thousand men from the king of Maacah, and twelve thousand men from Tob.
 ⁷ When David heard of this, he dispatched Joab with his strongest fighters in full force.
 ^8-12 The Ammonites marched out and arranged themselves in battle formation at the city gate. The Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah took up a position out in the open fields. When Joab saw that he had two fronts to fight, before and behind, he took his pick of the best of Israel and deployed them to confront the Arameans. The rest of the army he put under the command of Abishai, his brother, and deployed them to confront the Ammonites. Then he said, "If the Arameans are too much for me, you help me. And if the Ammonites prove too much for you, I'll come and help you. Courage! We'll fight with might and main for our people and for the cities of our God. And God will do whatever he sees needs doing!"
 ^13-14 But when Joab and his soldiers moved in to fight the Arameans, they ran off in full retreat. Then the Ammonites, seeing the Arameans run for dear life, took to their heels from Abishai and went into the city.
    So Joab left off fighting the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.
 ^15-17 When the Arameans saw how badly they'd been beaten by Israel, they picked up the pieces and regrouped. Hadadezer sent for the Arameans who were across the River. They came to Helam. Shobach, commander of Hadadezer's army, led them. All this was reported to David.
 ^17-19 So David mustered Israel, crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Arameans went into battle formation, ready for David, and the fight was on. But the Arameans again scattered before Israel. David killed seven hundred chariot drivers and forty thousand cavalry. And he mortally wounded Shobach, the army commander, who died on the battlefield. When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace and became Israel's vassals. The Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites ever again.

2 Samuel 11

David's Sin and Sorrow

 ¹When that time of year came around again, the anniversary of the Ammonite aggression, David dispatched Joab and his fighting men of Israel in full force to destroy the Ammonites for good. They laid siege to Rabbah, but David stayed in Jerusalem.  ^2-5 One late afternoon, David got up from taking his nap and was strolling on the roof of the palace. From his vantage point on the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was stunningly beautiful. David sent to ask about her, and was told, "Isn't this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?" David sent his agents to get her. After she arrived, he went to bed with her. (This occurred during the time of "purification" following her period.) Then she returned home. Before long she realized she was pregnant.
    Later she sent word to David: "I'm pregnant."
 ⁶ David then got in touch with Joab: "Send Uriah the Hittite to me." Joab sent him.
 ^7-8 When he arrived, David asked him for news from the front—how things were going with Joab and the troops and with the fighting. Then he said to Uriah, "Go home. Have a refreshing bath and a good night's rest."
 ^8-9 After Uriah left the palace, an informant of the king was sent after him. But Uriah didn't go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance, along with the king's servants.
 ¹⁰ David was told that Uriah had not gone home. He asked Uriah, "Didn't you just come off a hard trip? So why didn't you go home?"
 ¹¹ Uriah replied to David, "The Chest is out there with the fighting men of Israel and Judah—in tents. My master Joab and his servants are roughing it out in the fields. So, how can I go home and eat and drink and enjoy my wife? On your life, I'll not do it!"
 ^12-13 "All right," said David, "have it your way. Stay for the day and I'll send you back tomorrow." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem the rest of the day.
    The next day David invited him to eat and drink with him, and David got him drunk. But in the evening Uriah again went out and slept with his master's servants. He didn't go home.
 ^14-15 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In the letter he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front lines where the fighting is the fiercest. Then pull back and leave him exposed so that he's sure to be killed."
 ^16-17 So Joab, holding the city under siege, put Uriah in a place where he knew there were fierce enemy fighters. When the city's defenders came out to fight Joab, some of David's soldiers were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.
 ^18-21 Joab sent David a full report on the battle. He instructed the messenger, "After you have given to the king a detailed report on the battle, if he flares in anger, say, 'And by the way, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'"
 ^22-24 Joab's messenger arrived in Jerusalem and gave the king a full report. He said, "The enemy was too much for us. They advanced on us in the open field, and we pushed them back to the city gate. But then arrows came hot and heavy on us from the city wall, and eighteen of the king's soldiers died."
 ²⁵ When the messenger completed his report of the battle, David got angry at Joab. He vented it on the messenger: "Why did you get so close to the city? Didn't you know you'd be attacked from the wall? Didn't you remember how Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth got killed? Wasn't it a woman who dropped a millstone on him from the wall and crushed him at Thebez? Why did you go close to the wall!"
    "By the way," said Joab's messenger, "your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead."
    Then David told the messenger, "Oh. I see. Tell Joab, 'Don't trouble yourself over this. War kills—sometimes one, sometimes another—you never know who's next. Redouble your assault on the city and destroy it.' Encourage Joab."
 ^26-27 When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she grieved for her husband. When the time of mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son.

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John 15:1-27 (The Message)

John 15

The Vine and the Branches

 ^1-3 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.  ⁴"Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
 ^5-8"I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.
 ^9-10"I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done—kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love.
 ^11-15"I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.
 ¹⁶"You didn't choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won't spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.
 ¹⁷"But remember the root command: Love one another.

Hated by the World

^18-19"If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it got its start hating me. If you lived on the world's terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God's terms and no longer on the world's terms, the world is going to hate you.  ²⁰"When that happens, remember this: Servants don't get better treatment than their masters. If they beat on me, they will certainly beat on you. If they did what I told them, they will do what you tell them.
 ^21-25"They are going to do all these things to you because of the way they treated me, because they don't know the One who sent me. If I hadn't come and told them all this in plain language, it wouldn't be so bad. As it is, they have no excuse. Hate me, hate my Father—it's all the same. If I hadn't done what I have done among them, works no one has ever done, they wouldn't be to blame. But they saw the God-signs and hated anyway, both me and my Father. Interesting—they have verified the truth of their own Scriptures where it is written, 'They hated me for no good reason.'
 ^26-27"When the Friend I plan to send you from the Father comes—the Spirit of Truth issuing from the Father—he will confirm everything about me. You, too, from your side must give your confirming evidence, since you are in this with me from the start."

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Psalm 119:49-64 (The Message)

 ^49-56 Remember what you said to me, your servant—
      I hang on to these words for dear life!
   These words hold me up in bad times;
      yes, your promises rejuvenate me.
   The insolent ridicule me without mercy,
      but I don't budge from your revelation.
   I watch for your ancient landmark words,
      and know I'm on the right track.
   But when I see the wicked ignore your directions,
      I'm beside myself with anger.
   I set your instructions to music
      and sing them as I walk this pilgrim way.
   I meditate on your name all night, God,
      treasuring your revelation, O God.
   Still, I walk through a rain of derision
      because I live by your Word and counsel.
 ^57-64 Because you have satisfied me, God, I promise
      to do everything you say.
   I beg you from the bottom of my heart: smile,
      be gracious to me just as you promised.
   When I took a long, careful look at your ways,
      I got my feet back on the trail you blazed.
   I was up at once, didn't drag my feet,
      was quick to follow your orders.
   The wicked hemmed me in—there was no way out—
      but not for a minute did I forget your plan for me.
   I get up in the middle of the night to thank you;
      your decisions are so right, so true—I can't wait till morning!
   I'm a friend and companion of all who fear you,
      of those committed to living by your rules.
   Your love, God, fills the earth!
      Train me to live by your counsel.

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Proverbs 16:1-3 (The Message)

Proverbs 16

Everything with a Place and a Purpose

 ¹ Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has the last word.

 ² Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good;
   God probes for what is good.

 ³ Put God in charge of your work,
   then what you've planned will take place.

 

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Verse of the Day

 

“God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!” - John 3:17

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature, William Butler Yeats wrote, “There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met.”

Bible Readings for May 2, 2016

Today our passages are Judges 15:1–16:31; John 2:1-25; Psalm 103:1-22; and Proverbs 14:17-19. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal.

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Judges 15-16:31 (The Message)

Judges 15

 ^1-2 Later on—it was during the wheat harvest—Samson visited his bride, bringing a young goat. He said, "Let me see my wife—show me her bedroom."

    But her father wouldn't let him in. He said, "I concluded that by now you hated her with a passion, so I gave her to your best man. But her little sister is even more beautiful. Why not take her instead?"

 ³ Samson said, "That does it. This time when I wreak havoc on the Philistines, I'm blameless."

 ^4-5 Samson then went out and caught three hundred jackals. He lashed the jackals' tails together in pairs and tied a torch between each pair of tails. He then set fire to the torches and let them loose in the Philistine fields of ripe grain. Everything burned, both stacked and standing grain, vineyards and olive orchards—everything.

 ⁶ The Philistines said, "Who did this?"

    They were told, "Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite who took his bride and gave her to his best man."

    The Philistines went up and burned both her and her father to death.

 ⁷ Samson then said, "If this is the way you're going to act, I swear I'll get even with you. And I'm not quitting till the job's done!"

 ⁸ With that he tore into them, ripping them limb from limb—a huge slaughter. Then he went down and stayed in a cave at Etam Rock.

^9-10 The Philistines set out and made camp in Judah, preparing to attack Lehi (Jawbone). When the men of Judah asked, "Why have you come up against us?" they said, "We're out to get Samson. We're going after Samson to do to him what he did to us."

 ¹¹ Three companies of men from Judah went down to the cave at Etam Rock and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines already bully and lord it over us? So what's going on with you, making things even worse?"

    He said, "It was tit for tat. I only did to them what they did to me."

 ¹² They said, "Well, we've come down here to tie you up and turn you over to the Philistines."

    Samson said, "Just promise not to hurt me."

 ¹³ "We promise," they said. "We will tie you up and surrender you to them but, believe us, we won't kill you." They proceeded to tie him with new ropes and led him up from the Rock.

 ^14-16 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him, shouting in triumph. And then the Spirit of God came on him with great power. The ropes on his arms fell apart like flax on fire; the thongs slipped off his hands. He spotted a fresh donkey jawbone, reached down and grabbed it, and with it killed the whole company. And Samson said,
    With a donkey's jawbone
   I made heaps of donkeys of them.
   With a donkey's jawbone
   I killed an entire company.

 ¹⁷ When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone. He named that place Ramath Lehi (Jawbone Hill).

 ^18-19 Now he was suddenly very thirsty. He called out to God, "You have given your servant this great victory. Are you going to abandon me to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" So God split open the rock basin in Lehi; water gushed out and Samson drank. His spirit revived—he was alive again! That's why it's called En Hakkore (Caller's Spring). It's still there at Lehi today.

 ²⁰ Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Judges 16

 ^1-2 Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute. He went to her. The news got around: "Samson's here." They gathered around in hiding, waiting all night for him at the city gate, quiet as mice, thinking, "At sunrise we'll kill him."

 ³ Samson was in bed with the woman until midnight. Then he got up, seized the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts, bolts and all, hefted them on his shoulder, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

^4-5 Some time later he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek (Grapes). Her name was Delilah. The Philistine tyrants approached her and said, "Seduce him. Discover what's behind his great strength and how we can tie him up and humble him. Each man's company will give you a hundred shekels of silver."

 ⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me, dear, the secret of your great strength, and how you can be tied up and humbled."

 ⁷ Samson told her, "If they were to tie me up with seven bowstrings—the kind made from fresh animal tendons, not dried out—then I would become weak, just like anyone else."

 ^8-9 The Philistine tyrants brought her seven bowstrings, not dried out, and she tied him up with them. The men were waiting in ambush in her room. Then she said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He snapped the cords as though they were mere threads. The secret of his strength was still a secret.

 ¹⁰ Delilah said, "Come now, Samson—you're playing with me, making up stories. Be serious; tell me how you can be tied up."

 ¹¹ He told her, "If you were to tie me up tight with new ropes, ropes never used for work, then I would be helpless, just like anybody else."

 ¹² So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up. She said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" The men were hidden in the next room. He snapped the ropes from his arms like threads.

 ^13-14 Delilah said to Samson, "You're still playing games with me, teasing me with lies. Tell me how you can be tied up."

    He said to her, "If you wove the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and drew it tight, then I would be as helpless as any other mortal."

    When she had him fast asleep, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the fabric on the loom and drew it tight. Then she said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He woke from his sleep and ripped loose from both the loom and fabric!

 ¹⁵ She said, "How can you say 'I love you' when you won't even trust me? Three times now you've toyed with me, like a cat with a mouse, refusing to tell me the secret of your great strength."

 ^16-17 She kept at it day after day, nagging and tormenting him. Finally, he was fed up—he couldn't take another minute of it. He spilled it.

    He told her, "A razor has never touched my head. I've been God's Nazirite from conception. If I were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would be as helpless as any other mortal."

 ¹⁸ When Delilah realized that he had told her his secret, she sent for the Philistine tyrants, telling them, "Come quickly—this time he's told me the truth." They came, bringing the bribe money.

 ¹⁹ When she got him to sleep, his head on her lap, she motioned to a man to cut off the seven braids of his hair. Immediately he began to grow weak. His strength drained from him.

 ²⁰ Then she said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He woke up, thinking, "I'll go out, like always, and shake free." He didn't realize that God had abandoned him.

 ^21-22 The Philistines grabbed him, gouged out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza. They shackled him in irons and put him to the work of grinding in the prison. But his hair, though cut off, began to grow again.

 ^23-24 The Philistine tyrants got together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They celebrated, saying,
   Our god has given us
   Samson our enemy!
And when the people saw him, they joined in, cheering their god,
   Our god has given
   Our enemy to us,
   The one who ravaged our country,
   Piling high the corpses among us.

 ^25-27 Then this: Everyone was feeling high and someone said, "Get Samson! Let him show us his stuff!" They got Samson from the prison and he put on a show for them.

    They had him standing between the pillars. Samson said to the young man who was acting as his guide, "Put me where I can touch the pillars that hold up the temple so I can rest against them." The building was packed with men and women, including all the Philistine tyrants. And there were at least three thousand in the stands watching Samson's performance.

 ²⁸ And Samson cried out to God:
   Master, God!
      Oh, please, look on me again,
      Oh, please, give strength yet once more.
   God!
      With one avenging blow let me be avenged
      On the Philistines for my two eyes!

 ^29-30 Then Samson reached out to the two central pillars that held up the building and pushed against them, one with his right arm, the other with his left. Saying, "Let me die with the Philistines," Samson pushed hard with all his might. The building crashed on the tyrants and all the people in it. He killed more people in his death than he had killed in his life.

³¹ His brothers and all his relatives went down to get his body. They carried him back and buried him in the tomb of Manoah his father, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

    He judged Israel for twenty years.

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John 2:1-25 (The Message)

John 2

From Water to Wine

 ^1-3 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus' mother told him, "They're just about out of wine."

 ⁴Jesus said, "Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me."

 ⁵She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it."

 ^6-7Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, "Fill the pots with water." And they filled them to the brim.

 ⁸"Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host," Jesus said, and they did.

 ^9-10When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn't know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, "Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you've saved the best till now!"

 ¹¹This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

 ¹²After this he went down to Capernaum along with his mother, brothers, and disciples, and stayed several days.

Tear Down This Temple . . .

 ^13-14When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength.

 ^15-17Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, "Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a shopping mall!" That's when his disciples remembered the Scripture, "Zeal for your house consumes me."

 ^18-19But the Jews were upset. They asked, "What credentials can you present to justify this?" Jesus answered, "Tear down this Temple and in three days I'll put it back together."

 ^20-22They were indignant: "It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you're going to rebuild it in three days?" But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.

 ^23-25During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn't entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn't need any help in seeing right through them.

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Psalm 103:1-22 (The Message)

Psalm 103

A David Psalm

 ^1-2 O my soul, bless God. From head to toe, I'll bless his holy name!
   O my soul, bless God,
      don't forget a single blessing!

 ^3-5 He forgives your sins—every one.
      He heals your diseases—every one.
      He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
      He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
      He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
      He renews your youth—you're always young in his presence.

 ^6-18 God makes everything come out right;
      he puts victims back on their feet.
   He showed Moses how he went about his work,
      opened up his plans to all Israel.
   God is sheer mercy and grace;
      not easily angered, he's rich in love.
   He doesn't endlessly nag and scold,
      nor hold grudges forever.
   He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve,
      nor pay us back in full for our wrongs.
   As high as heaven is over the earth,
      so strong is his love to those who fear him.
   And as far as sunrise is from sunset,
      he has separated us from our sins.
   As parents feel for their children,
      God feels for those who fear him.
   He knows us inside and out,
      keeps in mind that we're made of mud.
   Men and women don't live very long;
      like wildflowers they spring up and blossom,
   But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly,
      leaving nothing to show they were here.
   God's love, though, is ever and always,
      eternally present to all who fear him,
   Making everything right for them and their children
      as they follow his Covenant ways
      and remember to do whatever he said.

 ^19-22 God has set his throne in heaven;
      he rules over us all. He's the King!
   So bless God, you angels,
      ready and able to fly at his bidding,
      quick to hear and do what he says.
   Bless God, all you armies of angels,
      alert to respond to whatever he wills.
   Bless God, all creatures, wherever you are—
      everything and everyone made by God.    And you, O my soul, bless God!

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Proverbs 14:17-19 (The Message)

 ¹⁷ The hotheaded do things they'll later regret;
   the coldhearted get the cold shoulder.

 ¹⁸ Foolish dreamers live in a world of illusion;
   wise realists plant their feet on the ground.

 ¹⁹ Eventually, evil will pay tribute to good;
   the wicked will respect God-loyal people.

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Verse of the Day

“We are certain that God will hear our prayers when we ask for what pleases him. And if we know that God listens when we pray, we are sure that our prayers have already been answered.” - 1 John 5:14-15

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature, William Butler Yeats wrote, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”