GOD in the Old Testament - Ruth - Part 1

Ruth 1:14-18

    At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

    "Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."

    But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where  you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me." When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 

(see all Ruth 1)

 

Ruth 2:8-13  

    So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I  have told them not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled."

    At this she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me--a foreigner?"

    Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband--how you left father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." 

    "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant--though I do not have the standing of one of your servants."

(see all Ruth 2 - 3)

 

Ruth 4:13  

    So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

 

Ruth 4:15-17  

"He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth." 

    Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, "Naomi has a son!" And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. 

(see all Ruth 4) 

 

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post.

GOD in the Old Testament - Judges - Part 7

Judges 20:1-2

    Then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came together as one and assembled before the LORD at Mizpah. The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God's people, four hundred thousand men armed with swords.

 

Judges 20:18  

    The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, "Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Benjamites?"

    The LORD replied, "Judah shall go first."

 

Judges 20:26-29  

    Then all the Isrealites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the LORD. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the LORD. And the Israelites inquired of the LORD. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ministering before it.) They asked, "Shall we go up again to fight against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites, or not?"

    The LORD responded, "Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands."

    Then Israel set an ambush around Gibeah.

    [see all Judges 19-20] 

 

Judges 21:1-3  

    The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: "Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite."

    The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. "LORD, God of Israel," they cried, "why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?"

 

Judges 21:25  

    In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

    [see all Judges 21] 

 

[brackets are mine]

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post.

GOD in the Old Testament - Judges - Part 6

Judges 15:18-19

    Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD, "You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore ("caller's spring"), and it is still there in Lehi. 

(see all Judges 15)

 

Judges 16:17  

    So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazarite dedicated to God from my mother's womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."

 

Judges 16:28-30  

Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.

(see all Judges 16 - 17)

 

Judges 18:1-6  

    In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes if Israel. So the Danites sent five of their leading men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all the Danites. They told them, "Go, explore the land."

    So they entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. When they were near Micah's house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they turned in there and asked him, "Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?"

    He told them what Micah had done for him, and said, "He has hired me and I am his priest."

    Then they said to him, "Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful."

    The priest answered them, "Go in peace. Your journey has the LORD's approval." 

 

Judges 18:9-10  

    They answered, "Come on, let's attack them! We have seen the land, and it is very good. Aren't you going to do something? Don't hesitate to go there and take it over. When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever."

 

Judges 18:31  

They continued to use the idol Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.

(see all Judges 18) 

      

 

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post.

GOD in the Old Testament - Judges - Part 5

Judges 10:10-14

Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, "We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals."

    The LORD replied, "When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried for me to help, did I not save you from their hands? But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!"

(see all Judges 10) 

 

Judges 11:21-24  

    "Then the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and his whole army into Israel's hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country, capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.

    "Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the LORD our God has given us, we will possess."  

(see all Judges 11 - 12)

 

Judges 13:6-9  

    Then 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 where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. But he said to me, 'You will become pregnant and have 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 the womb until the day of his death.' "

    Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: "Pardon your servant, LORD. I beg you to 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."

    God 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. 

 

Judges 13:22-23  

    "We are doomed to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!"

    But 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."

(see all Judges 13 - 14) 

 

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post.

GOD in the Old Testament - Judges - Part 4

Judges 7:13-15

    Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed."

    His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands."

    When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands."

[see all Judges 7]

 

Judges 8:2-3  

    But he answered them, "What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren't the gleanings of Ephraim's grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer? God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to you?" At this, their resentment against him subsided.  [see Judges 7:24-25] 

 

Judges 8:33-35  

    No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them. 

[see all Judges 8] 

 

Judges 9:6-7  

Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelek king.

    When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, "Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you." 

 

Judges 9:22-24  

    After Abimelek had governed Israel three years, God stirred up animosity between Abimelek and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelek. God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal's seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelek and on the citizens of Shechem who had helped him murder his brothers. 

 

Judges 9:56-57  

    Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them. [see verse 20] 

[see all Judges 9] 

 

[brackets are mine]

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post.

GOD in the Old Testament - Judges - Part 3

Judges 6:7-10

    When the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian, he sent them a prophet, who said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you, 'I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to me."

 

Judges 6:20-21  

    The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And Gideon did so. Then the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared.

 

Judges 6:25-27  

    That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering."

    So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

 

Judges 6:36-40  

    Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised--look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said." And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew--a bowlful of water.

    Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew." That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

(see all Judges 6) 

 

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post.

GOD in the Old Testament - Judges - Part 2

Judges 4:4-7

    Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: "Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon river and give him into your hands."

 

Judges 4:23-24  

    On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.

(see all Judges 4)

 

Judges 5:1-9  

    On that day Deborah and Barak son of Ahinoam sang this song:

 

"When the princes of Israel take the lead,

    when the people willingly offer themselves--

    praise the LORD!

Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!

    I, even I, will sing to the LORD;

    I will praise the LORD, the God of Israel, in song.

 

"When you, LORD, went out from Seir, 

    when you marched from the land of Edom,

the earth shook, the heavens poured,

    the clouds poured down water.

The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai,

    before the LORD, the God of Israel.

 

"In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath,

    in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned;

    travelers took to winding paths.

Villagers in Israel would not fight;

    they held back until I, Deborah, arose,

    until I arose, a mother in Israel.

God chose new leaders

    when war came to the city gates,

but not a shield or spear was seen

    among forty thousand in Israel.

My heart is with Israel's princes,

    with willing volunteers among the people.

    Praise the LORD! 

    (see all Judges 5) 

 

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post.