Defilement Comes from Within^(A)

7 Then ^(B)the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. ² Now ^[a]when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with ^(C)unwashed hands, ^[b]they found fault. ³ For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands ^[c]in a special way, holding the ^(D)tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.

^5 (E)Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”

⁶ He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you ^(F)hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—^[d]the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”

⁹ He said to them, “All too well ^(H)you ^[e]reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ^(I)‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ^(J)‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ ¹¹ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, ^(K)“Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), ¹² then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, ¹³ making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

^14 (L)When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and ^(M)understand: ¹⁵ There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that ^(N)defile a man. ^16 (O)If^[f] anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”

^17 (P)When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. ¹⁸ So He said to them, ^(Q)“Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, ^[g]thus purifying all foods?” ²⁰ And He said, ^(R)“What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. ^21 (S)For from within, out of the heart of men, ^(T)proceed evil thoughts, ^(U)adulteries, ^(V)fornications, murders, ²² thefts, ^(W)covetousness, wickedness, ^(X)deceit, ^(Y)lewdness, an evil eye, ^(Z)blasphemy, ^(AA)pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

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Spiritual Gifts: Unity in Diversity

12 Now ^(A)concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: ² You know ^(B)that^[a] you were Gentiles, carried away to these ^(C)dumb^[b] idols, however you were led. ³ Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus ^[c]accursed, and ^(D)no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

^4 (E)There are ^[d]diversities of gifts, but ^(F)the same Spirit. ^5 (G)There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. ⁶ And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God ^(H)who works ^[e]all in all. ⁷ But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: ⁸ for to one is given ^(I)the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another ^(J)the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, ^9 (K)to another faith by the same Spirit, to another ^(L)gifts of healings by ^[f]the same Spirit, ^10 (M)to another the working of miracles, to another ^(N)prophecy, to another ^(O)discerning of spirits, to another ^(P)different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ But one and the same Spirit works all these things, ^(Q)distributing to each one individually ^(R)as He wills.

Unity and Diversity in One Body^(S)

¹² For ^(T)as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, ^(U)so also is Christ. ¹³ For ^(V)by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—^(W)whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and ^(X)have all been made to drink ^[g]into one Spirit.

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A Prayer for Help in Despondency

A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath Leannoth.” A ^[a]Contemplation of ^(A)Heman the Ezrahite.

The Birth of Samson^(A)

13 Again the children of Israel ^(B)did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them ^(C)into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

² Now there was a certain man from ^(D)Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. ³ And the ^(E)Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. ⁴ Now therefore, please be careful ^(F)not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. ⁵ For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no ^(G)razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be ^(H)a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall ^(I)begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

⁶ So the woman came and told her husband, saying, ^(J)“A Man of God came to me, and His ^(K)countenance^[a] was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I ^(L)did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name. ⁷ And He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”

⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, and said, “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.”

⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!”

¹¹ So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, “Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?”

And He said, “I am.”

¹² Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?”

¹³ So the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. ¹⁴ She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, ^(M)nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “Please ^(N)let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You.”

¹⁶ And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.)

¹⁷ Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?”

¹⁸ And the Angel of the Lord said to him, ^(O)“Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?”

¹⁹ So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, ^(P)and offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on— ²⁰ it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they ^(Q)fell on their faces to the ground. ²¹ When the Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, ^(R)then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord.

²² And Manoah said to his wife, ^(S)“We shall surely die, because 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 told us such things as these at this time.”

²⁴ So the woman bore a son and called his name ^(T)Samson; and ^(U)the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. ^25 (V)And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at ^[b]Mahaneh Dan ^(W)between Zorah and ^(X)Eshtaol.

Samson’s Philistine Wife

14 Now Samson went down ^(Y)to Timnah, and ^(Z)saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. ² So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, ^(AA)get her for me as a wife.”

³ Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of ^(AB)your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the ^(AC)uncircumcised Philistines?”

And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for ^[c]she pleases me well.”

⁴ But his father and mother did not know that it was ^(AD)of the Lord—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time ^(AE)the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

⁵ So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah.

Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. ⁶ And ^(AF)the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.

⁷ Then he went down and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. ⁸ After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. ⁹ He took some of it in his hands and went along, eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the ^(AG)carcass of the lion.

¹⁰ So his father went down to the woman. And Samson gave a feast there, for young men used to do so. ¹¹ And it happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.

¹² Then Samson said to them, “Let me ^(AH)pose a riddle to you. If you can correctly solve and explain it to me ^(AI)within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty ^(AJ)changes of clothing. ¹³ But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.”

And they said to him, ^(AK)“Pose your riddle, that we may hear it.”

¹⁴ So he said to them:

Now for three days they could not explain the riddle.

¹⁵ But it came to pass on the ^[d]seventh day that they said to Samson’s wife, ^(AL)“Entice your husband, that he may explain the riddle to us, ^(AM)or else we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us in order to take what is ours? Is that not so?”

¹⁶ Then Samson’s wife wept on him, and said, ^(AN)“You only hate me! You do not love me! You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me.”

And he said to her, “Look, I have not explained it to my father or my mother; so should I explain it to you?” ¹⁷ Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed him so much. Then she explained 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:

And he said to them:

¹⁹ Then ^(AO)the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle. So his anger was aroused, and he went back up to his father’s house. ²⁰ And Samson’s wife ^(AP)was given to his companion, who had been ^(AQ)his best man.

Samson Defeats the Philistines

15 After a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited his wife with a ^(AR)young goat. And he said, “Let me go in to my wife, into her room.” But her father would not permit him to go in.

² Her father said, “I really thought that you thoroughly ^(AS)hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead.”

³ And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them!” ⁴ Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes; and he took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. ⁵ When he had set the torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

⁶ Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?”

And they answered, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” ^(AT)So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.

⁷ Samson said to them, “Since you would do a thing like this, I will surely take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.” ⁸ So he attacked them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; then he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of ^(AU)Etam.

⁹ Now the Philistines went up, encamped in Judah, and deployed themselves ^(AV)against Lehi. ¹⁰ And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?”

So they answered, “We have come up to ^[e]arrest Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.”

¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines ^(AW)rule over us? What is this you have done to us?”

And he said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”

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

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

¹³ So they spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hand; but we will surely not kill you.” And they bound him with two ^(AX)new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then ^(AY)the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds ^[f]broke loose from his hands. ¹⁵ He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and ^(AZ)killed a thousand men with it. ¹⁶ Then Samson said:

¹⁷ And so it was, when he had finished speaking, that he threw the jawbone from his hand, and called that place ^[g]Ramath Lehi.

¹⁸ Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the Lord and said, ^(BA)“You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?” ¹⁹ So God split the hollow place that is in ^[h]Lehi, and water came out, and he drank; and ^(BB)his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he called its name ^[i]En Hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. ²⁰ And ^(BC)he judged Israel ^(BD)twenty years ^(BE)in the days of the Philistines.