The Daily Audio Bible
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1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, named Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
2 He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
3 This man went from his city year by year to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were the Lord’s priests.
4 When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give to Peninnah his wife and all her sons and daughters portions [of the sacrificial meat].
5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had given her no children.
6 [This embarrassed and grieved Hannah] and her rival provoked her greatly to vex her, because the Lord had left her childless.
7 So it was year after year; whenever Hannah went up to the Lord’s house, Peninnah provoked her, so she wept and did not eat.
8 Then Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you cry? And why do you not eat? And why are you grieving? Am I not more to you than ten sons?
9 So Hannah rose after they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat beside a post of the temple (tent) of the Lord.
10 And [Hannah] was in distress of soul, praying to the Lord and weeping bitterly.
11 She vowed, saying, O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your handmaid and [earnestly] remember, and not forget Your handmaid but will give me a son, I will give him to the Lord all his life; no razor shall touch his head.
12 And as she continued praying before the Lord, Eli noticed her mouth.
13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk.
14 Eli said to her, How long will you be intoxicated? Put wine away from you.
15 But Hannah answered, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I was pouring out my soul before the Lord.(A)
16 Regard not your handmaid as a wicked woman; for out of my great complaint and bitter provocation I have been speaking.
17 Then Eli said, Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.
18 Hannah said, Let your handmaid find grace in your sight. So [she] went her way and ate, her countenance no longer sad.
19 The family rose early the next morning, worshiped before the Lord, and returned to their home in Ramah. Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her.
20 Hannah became pregnant and in due time bore a son and named him Samuel [heard of God], Because, she said, I have asked him of the Lord.
21 And Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow.
22 But Hannah did not go, for she said to her husband, I will not go until the child is weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and remain there as long as he lives.
23 Elkanah her husband said to her, Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may the Lord establish His word. So Hannah remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.
24 When she had [a]weaned him, she took him with her, with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin bottle of wine [to pour over the burnt offering for a sweet odor], and brought Samuel to the Lord’s house in Shiloh. The child was growing.
25 Then they slew the bull, and brought the child to Eli.
26 Hannah said, Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here praying to the Lord.
27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted my petition made to Him.
28 Therefore I have given him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is given to the Lord. And they worshiped the Lord there.
2 Hannah prayed, and said, My heart exults and triumphs in the Lord; my horn (my strength) is lifted up in the Lord. My mouth is no longer silent, for it is opened wide over my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.
2 There is none holy like the Lord, there is none besides You; there is no Rock like our God.
3 Talk no more so very proudly; let not arrogance go forth from your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.
4 The bows of the mighty are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength.
5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children languishes and is forlorn.
6 The Lord slays and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and He lifts up.
8 He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with nobles and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set the world upon them.
9 He will guard the feet of His godly ones, but the wicked shall be silenced and perish in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them will He thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge [all peoples] to the ends of the earth; and He will give strength to [b]His king (King) and exalt the power of His anointed (Anointed [c]His Christ).(B)
11 Elkanah and his wife Hannah returned to Ramah to his house. But the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest.
12 The sons of Eli were base and worthless; they did not know or regard the Lord.
13 And the custom of the priests with the people was this: when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the flesh was boiling with a fleshhook of three prongs in his hand;
14 And he thrust it into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh with all the Israelites who came there.
15 Also, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant came and said to the man who sacrificed, Give the priest meat to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.
16 And if the man said to him, Let them burn the fat first, and then you may take as much as you want, the priest’s servant would say, No! Give it to me now or I will take it by force.
17 So the sin of the [two] young men was very great before the Lord, for they despised the offering of the Lord.
18 But Samuel ministered before the Lord, a child girded with a linen ephod.
19 Moreover, his mother made him a little robe and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
20 And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, May the Lord give you children by this woman for the gift she asked for and gave to the Lord. Then they would go to their own home.
21 And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord.
5 Later on there was a Jewish festival (feast) for which Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem a pool near the Sheep Gate. This pool in the Hebrew is called Bethesda, having five porches (alcoves, colonnades, doorways).
3 In these lay a great number of sick folk—some blind, some crippled, and some paralyzed (shriveled up)—[a]waiting for the bubbling up of the water.
4 For an angel of the Lord went down at appointed seasons into the pool and moved and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was cured of whatever disease with which he was afflicted.
5 There was a certain man there who had suffered with a deep-seated and lingering disorder for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, Do you want to become well? [Are you really in earnest about getting well?]
7 The invalid answered, Sir, I have nobody when the water is moving to put me into the pool; but while I am trying to come [into it] myself, somebody else steps down ahead of me.
8 Jesus said to him, Get up! Pick up your bed (sleeping pad) and walk!
9 Instantly the man became well and recovered his strength and picked up his bed and walked. But that happened on the Sabbath.
10 So the Jews kept saying to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath, and you have no right to pick up your bed [it is not lawful].
11 He answered them, The [b]Man Who healed me and gave me back my strength, He Himself said to me, Pick up your bed and walk!
12 They asked him, Who is the Man Who told you, Pick up your bed and walk?
13 Now the invalid who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had quietly gone away [had passed on unnoticed], since there was a crowd in the place.
14 Afterward, when Jesus found him in the temple, He said to him, See, you are well! Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.
15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus Who had made him well.
16 For this reason the Jews began to persecute (annoy, torment) Jesus [c]and sought to kill Him, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus answered them, My Father has worked [even] until now, [He has never ceased working; He is still working] and I, too, must be at [divine] work.
18 This made the Jews more determined than ever to kill Him [to do away with Him]; because He not only was breaking (weakening, violating) the Sabbath, but He actually was speaking of God as being [in a special sense] His own Father, making Himself equal [putting Himself on a level] with God.
19 So Jesus answered them by saying, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the Son is able to do nothing of Himself (of His own accord); but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does is what the Son does in the same way [in His turn].
20 The Father dearly loves the Son and discloses to (shows) Him everything that He Himself does. And He will disclose to Him (let Him see) greater things yet than these, so that you may marvel and be full of wonder and astonishment.
21 Just as the Father raises up the dead and gives them life [makes them live on], even so the Son also gives life to whomever He wills and is pleased to give it.
22 Even the Father judges no one, for He has given all judgment (the last judgment and the whole business of judging) entirely into the hands of the Son,
23 So that all men may give honor (reverence, homage) to the Son just as they give honor to the Father. [In fact] whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, Who has sent Him.
37 He brought [Israel] forth also with silver and gold, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.(A)
38 Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen upon the people.(B)
39 The Lord spread a cloud for a covering [by day], and a fire to give light in the night.(C)
40 [The Israelites] asked, and He brought quails and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.(D)
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it ran in the dry places like a river.(E)
42 For He [earnestly] remembered His holy word and promise to Abraham His servant.(F)
43 And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen ones with gladness and singing,
44 And gave them the lands of the nations [of Canaan], and they reaped the fruits of those peoples’ labor,(G)
45 That they might observe His statutes and keep His laws [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
28 In a multitude of people is the king’s glory, but in a lack of people is the prince’s ruin.
29 He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is hasty of spirit exposes and exalts his folly.(A)
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