THEINC-HIM DAILY BIBLE MEDITATION: February 9

Sunday, October 25, 2009

February 9

Genesis 1:1 1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

FEBRUARY 9

PSALMS: 9, 39, 69, 99, 129

PROVERBS: 9

OLD TESTAMENT

JUDGES 13:1 - 14:20

NEW TESTAMENT

JOHN 1:29 - 51

PSALMS: 9

ForA the director of music. To the tune of "The Death of the Son." A psalm of David.

1I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;

I will tell of all your wonders.

2I will be glad and rejoice in you;

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

3My enemies turn back;

they stumble and perish before you.

4For you have upheld my right and my cause;

you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.

5You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;

you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.

6Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy,

you have uprooted their cities;

even the memory of them has perished.

7The LORD reigns forever;

he has established his throne for judgment.

8He will judge the world in righteousness;

he will govern the peoples with justice.

9The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

10Those who know your name will trust in you,

for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

11Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;

proclaim among the nations what he has done.

12For he who avenges blood remembers;

he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted. [1]

13O LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!

Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,

14that I may declare your praises

in the gates of the Daughter of Zion

and there rejoice in your salvation.

15The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;

their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

16The LORD is known by his justice;

the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.

Higgaion.B Selah

17The wicked return to the grave,C

all the nations that forget God.

18But the needy will not always be forgotten,

nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.

19Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph;

let the nations be judged in your presence.

20Strike them with terror, O LORD;

let the nations know they are but men.

Selah[2]

PSALMS: 39

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

1I said, "I will watch my ways

and keep my tongue from sin;

I will put a muzzle on my mouth

as long as the wicked are in my presence."

2But when I was silent and still,

not even saying anything good,

my anguish increased.

3My heart grew hot within me,

and as I meditated, the fire burned;

then I spoke with my tongue:

4"Show me, O LORD, my life's end

and the number of my days;

let me know how fleeting is my life.

5You have made my days a mere handbreadth;

the span of my years is as nothing before you.

Each man's life is but a breath.

Selah

6Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:

He bustles about, but only in vain;

he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

7"But now, Lord, what do I look for?

My hope is in you.

8Save me from all my transgressions;

do not make me the scorn of fools.

9I was silent; I would not open my mouth, [3]

for you are the one who has done this.

10Remove your scourge from me;

I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

11You rebuke and discipline men for their sin;

you consume their wealth like a moth--

each man is but a breath.

Selah

12"Hear my prayer, O LORD,

listen to my cry for help;

be not deaf to my weeping.

For I dwell with you as an alien,

a stranger, as all my fathers were.

13Look away from me, that I may rejoice again

before I depart and am no more." [4]

PSALMS: 69

For the director of music. To the tune of "Lilies." Of David.

1Save me, O God,

for the waters have come up to my neck.

2I sink in the miry depths,

where there is no foothold.

I have come into the deep waters;

the floods engulf me.

3I am worn out calling for help;

my throat is parched.

My eyes fail,

looking for my God.

4Those who hate me without reason

outnumber the hairs of my head;

many are my enemies without cause,

those who seek to destroy me.

I am forced to restore

what I did not steal.

5You know my folly, O God;

my guilt is not hidden from you.

6May those who hope in you

not be disgraced because of me,

O Lord, the LORD Almighty;

may those who seek you

not be put to shame because of me,

O God of Israel.

7For I endure scorn for your sake,

and shame covers my face.

8I am a stranger to my brothers, [5]

an alien to my own mother's sons;

9for zeal for your house consumes me,

and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.

10When I weep and fast,

I must endure scorn;

11when I put on sackcloth,

people make sport of me.

12Those who sit at the gate mock me,

and I am the song of the drunkards.

13But I pray to you, O LORD,

in the time of your favor;

in your great love, O God,

answer me with your sure salvation.

14Rescue me from the mire,

do not let me sink;

deliver me from those who hate me,

from the deep waters.

15Do not let the floodwaters engulf me

or the depths swallow me up

or the pit close its mouth over me.

16Answer me, O LORD, out of the goodness of your love;

in your great mercy turn to me.

17Do not hide your face from your servant;

answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.

18Come near and rescue me;

redeem me because of my foes.

19You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed;

all my enemies are before you.

20Scorn has broken my heart [6]

and has left me helpless;

I looked for sympathy, but there was none,

for comforters, but I found none.

21They put gall in my food

and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

22May the table set before them become a snare;

may it become retribution andA a trap.

23May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,

and their backs be bent forever.

24Pour out your wrath on them;

let your fierce anger overtake them.

25May their place be deserted;

let there be no one to dwell in their tents.

26For they persecute those you wound

and talk about the pain of those you hurt.

27Charge them with crime upon crime;

do not let them share in your salvation.

28May they be blotted out of the book of life

and not be listed with the righteous.

29I am in pain and distress;

may your salvation, O God, protect me.

30I will praise God's name in song

and glorify him with thanksgiving.

31This will please the LORD more than an ox,

more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.

32The poor will see and be glad--

you who seek God, may your hearts live!

33The LORD hears the needy

and does not despise his captive people. [7]

34Let heaven and earth praise him,

the seas and all that move in them,

35for God will save Zion

and rebuild the cities of Judah.

Then people will settle there and possess it;

36the children of his servants will inherit it,

and those who love his name will dwell there. [8]

PSALMS: 99

1The LORD reigns,

let the nations tremble;

he sits enthroned between the cherubim,

let the earth shake.

2Great is the LORD in Zion;

he is exalted over all the nations.

3Let them praise your great and awesome name--

he is holy.

4The King is mighty, he loves justice--

you have established equity;

in Jacob you have done

what is just and right.

5Exalt the LORD our God

and worship at his footstool;

he is holy.

6Moses and Aaron were among his priests,

Samuel was among those who called on his name;

they called on the LORD

and he answered them.

7He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;

they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.

8O LORD our God,

you answered them;

you were to IsraelA a forgiving God,

though you punished their misdeeds.B

9Exalt the LORD our God

and worship at his holy mountain,

for the LORD our God is holy. [9]

PSALMS: 129

A song of ascents.

1They have greatly oppressed me from my youth--

let Israel say--

2they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,

but they have not gained the victory over me.

3Plowmen have plowed my back

and made their furrows long.

4But the LORD is righteous;

he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.

5May all who hate Zion

be turned back in shame.

6May they be like grass on the roof,

which withers before it can grow;

7with it the reaper cannot fill his hands,

nor the one who gathers fill his arms.

8May those who pass by not say,

"The blessing of the LORD be upon you;

we bless you in the name of the LORD." [10]

PROVERBS: 9

91 Wisdom has built her house;

she has hewn out its seven pillars.

2She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;

she has also set her table.

3She has sent out her maids, and she calls

from the highest point of the city.

4"Let all who are simple come in here!"

she says to those who lack judgment.

5"Come, eat my food

and drink the wine I have mixed.

6Leave your simple ways and you will live;

walk in the way of understanding.

7"Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult;

whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse.

8Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you;

rebuke a wise man and he will love you.

9Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still;

teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.

10"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

11For through me your days will be many,

and years will be added to your life.

12If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;

if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer."

13The woman Folly is loud;

she is undisciplined and without knowledge.

14She sits at the door of her house,

on a seat at the highest point of the city,

15calling out to those who pass by,

who go straight on their way.

16"Let all who are simple come in here!" [11]

she says to those who lack judgment.

17"Stolen water is sweet;

food eaten in secret is delicious!"

18But little do they know that the dead are there,

that her guests are in the depths of the grave.A [12]

OLD TESTAMENT

JUDGES 13:1 - 14:20

131Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

2A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. 3The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. 4Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, 5because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."

6Then the woman went to her husband and told him, "A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. 7But he said to me, `You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.' "

8Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: "O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born."

9God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10The woman hurried to tell her husband, "He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!"

11Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, "Are you the one who talked to my wife?" [13]"I am," he said.

12So Manoah asked him, "When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?"

13The angel of the LORD answered, "Your wife must do all that I have told her. 14She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her."

15Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you."

16The angel of the LORD replied, "Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD." (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.)

17Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?"

18He replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.A" 19Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. 21When the angel of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD.

22"We are doomed to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!" [14]23But his wife answered, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this."

24The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him, 25and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

141Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."

3His father and mother replied, "Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?"

But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She's the right one for me." 4(His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) 5Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her. [15]8Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey, 9which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion's carcass.

10Now his father went down to see the woman. And Samson made a feast there, as was customary for bridegrooms. 11When he appeared, he was given thirty companions.

12"Let me tell you a riddle," Samson said to them. "If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13If you can't tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes."

"Tell us your riddle," they said. "Let's hear it."

14He replied,

"Out of the eater, something to eat;

out of the strong, something sweet."

For three days they could not give the answer.

15On the fourthA day, they said to Samson's wife, "Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father's household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?"

16Then Samson's wife threw herself on him, sobbing, "You hate me! You don't really love me. You've given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer."

"I haven't even explained it to my father or mother," he replied, [16]days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.

18Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,

"What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?"

Samson said to them,

"If you had not plowed with my heifer,

you would not have solved my riddle."

19Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he went up to his father's house. 20And Samson's wife was given to the friend who had attended him at his wedding.[17]

NEW TESTAMENT

JOHN 1:29 - 51

29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the one I meant when I said, `A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' 31I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

32Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, `The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"

37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"

They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

39"Come," he replied, "and you will see."

So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

40Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have [18]found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42And he brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is PeterJ).

43The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."

44Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

46"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.

"Come and see," said Philip.

47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."

48"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

50Jesus said, "You believeK because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that."

51He then added, "I tell youL the truth, youM shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."[19]

^{John 3:16-21 16}"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,^F that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.^G ¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."^H

THEINC-HIM DAILY BIBLE MEDITATION

Sunday, October 25, 2009

February 9

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John 3:16-21