Tuesday in Season after Pentecost

13Verse 13. The next day Moses took his seat to judge the people, and they stood around him from morning until evening. 14Verse 14. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone as judge, with all the people standing around you from morning till evening?” 15Verse 15. “Because the people come to me to inquire of God,” Moses replied. 16Verse 16. “Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me to judge between one man and another, and I make known to them the statutes and laws of God.” 17Verse 17. But Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18Verse 18. Surely you and these people with you will wear yourselves out, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone. 19Verse 19. Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their causes to Him. 20Verse 20. Teach them the statutes and laws, and show them the way to live and the work they must do. 21Verse 21. Furthermore, select capable men from among the people — God-fearing, trustworthy men who are averse to dishonest gain. Appoint them over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22Verse 22. Have these men judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you any major issue, but all minor cases they can judge on their own, so that your load may be lightened as they share it with you. 23Verse 23. If you follow this advice and God so directs you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people can go home in peace.” 24Verse 24. Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25Verse 25. So Moses chose capable men from all Israel and made them heads over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 26Verse 26. And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but any minor issue they would judge themselves. 27Verse 27. Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own land.

1Verse 1. One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her. 2Verse 2. When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.” 3Verse 3. But Samson lay there only until midnight, when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and both gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. Then he put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron. 4Verse 4. Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5Verse 5. The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver. ” 6Verse 6. So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.” 7Verse 7. Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.” 8Verse 8. So the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. 9Verse 9. While the men were hidden in her room, she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings like a strand of yarn seared by a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown. 10Verse 10. Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me! Now please tell me how you can be tied up.” 11Verse 11. He replied, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become as weak as any other man.” 12Verse 12. So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men were hidden in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like they were threads. 13Verse 13. Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me all along! Tell me how you can be tied up.” He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man. ” 14Verse 14. So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. Then she tightened [it] with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin with the loom and the web. 15Verse 15. “How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!” 16Verse 16. Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death, 17Verse 17. Samson told her all that was in his heart: “My hair has never been cut, because I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man.” 18Verse 18. When Delilah realized that he had revealed to her all that was in his heart, she sent this message to the lords of the Philistines: “Come up once more, for he has revealed to me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came to her, bringing the money in their hands. 19Verse 19. And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him. 20Verse 20. Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. 21Verse 21. Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison. 22Verse 22. However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved.