Thematic Bible: Life summarized


Thematic Bible



And at nightfall the two angels came to Sodom; and Lot was seated at the way into the town: and when he saw them he got up and came before them, falling down on his face to the earth.

Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to the lowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.


Then the Lord sent fire and flaming smoke raining down from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah. And he sent destruction on those towns, with all the lowland and all the people of those towns and every green thing in the land. But Lot's wife, looking back, became a pillar of salt. read more.
And Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had been talking with the Lord: And looking in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the lowland, he saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of an oven. So it came about that when God sent destruction on the towns of the lowland, he kept his word to Abraham, and sent Lot safely away when he put an end to the towns where he was living. Then Lot went up out of Zoar to the mountain, and was living there with his two daughters, for fear kept him from living in Zoar: and he and his daughters made their living-place in a hole in the rock. And the older daughter said to her sister, Our father is old, and there is no man to be a husband to us in the natural way: Come, let us give our father much wine, and we will go into his bed, so that we may have offspring by our father, And that night they made their father take much wine; and the older daughter went into his bed; and he had no knowledge of when she went in or when she went away. And on the day after, the older daughter said to the younger, Last night I was with my father; let us make him take much wine this night again, and do you go to him, so that we may have offspring by our father. And that night again they made their father take much wine; and the younger daughter went into his bed; and he had no knowledge of when she went in or when she went away. And so the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father. And the older daughter had a son, and she gave him the name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the younger had a son and gave him the name Ben-ammi: from him come the children of Ammon to this day.


And Lot, lifting up his eyes and looking an the valley of Jordan, saw that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord had sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah; it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, on the way to Zoar. So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan, and went to the east, and they were parted from one another.


And when they had put them out, he said, Go for your life, without looking back or waiting in the lowland; go quickly to the mountain or you will come to destruction.


And kept safe Lot, the upright man, who was deeply troubled by the unclean life of the evil-doers (Because the soul of that upright man living among them was pained from day to day by seeing and hearing their crimes):


And certain women who had been made free from evil spirits and diseases, Mary named Magdalene, from whom seven evil spirits had gone out,


Is it not now the time of the grain cutting? My cry will go up to the Lord and he will send thunder and rain: so that you may see and be conscious of your great sin which you have done in the eyes of the Lord in desiring a king for yourselves.


Then Samuel said, Let all Israel come to Mizpah and I will make prayer to the Lord for you. So they came together to Mizpah, and got water, draining it out before the Lord, and they took no food that day, and they said, We have done evil against the Lord. And Samuel was judge of the children of Israel in Mizpah. Now when the Philistines had news that the children of Israel had come together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And the children of Israel, hearing of it, were full of fear. read more.
And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Go on crying to the Lord our God for us to make us safe from the hands of the Philistines.

But Samuel was not pleased when they said to him, Give us a king to be our judge. And Samuel made prayer to the Lord.


And Samuel became older, and the Lord was with him and let not one of his words be without effect.

And the Lord said to Samuel, Give ear to their voice and make a king for them. Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, Let every man go back to his town.

And the Lord was seen again in Shiloh; for the Lord gave to Samuel in Shiloh the revelation of his word.


And Samuel said to Saul, You have done a foolish thing: you have not kept the rules which the Lord your God gave you; it was the purpose of the Lord to make your authority over Israel safe for ever.

Then Samuel said to Saul, Say no more! Let me give you word of what the Lord has said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on. And Samuel said, Though you may seem little to yourself, are you not head of the tribes of Israel? for the Lord with the holy oil made you king over Israel, And the Lord sent you on a journey and said, Go and put to the curse those sinners, the Amalekites, fighting against them till every one is dead. read more.
Why then did you not do the orders of the Lord, but by violently taking their goods did evil in the eyes of the Lord? And Saul said, Truly, I have done the orders of the Lord and have gone the way the Lord sent me; I have taken Agag, the king of Amalek, and have given the Amalekites up to destruction. But the people took some of their goods, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which were put to the curse, to make an offering of them to the Lord your God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Has the Lord as much delight in offerings and burned offerings as in the doing of his orders? Truly, to do his pleasure is better than to make offerings, and to give ear to him than the fat of sheep. For to go against his orders is like the sin of those who make use of secret arts, and pride is like giving worship to images. Because you have put away from you the word of the Lord, he has put you from your place as king. And Saul said to Samuel, Great is my sin: for I have gone against the orders of the Lord and against your words: because, fearing the people, I did what they said. So now, let my sin have forgiveness, and go back with me to give worship to the Lord. And Samuel said to Saul, I will not go back with you: for you have put away from you the word of the Lord, and the Lord has put you from your place as king over Israel. And when Samuel was turning round to go away, Saul took the skirt of his robe in his hand, and the cloth came away. And Samuel said to him, The Lord has taken away the kingdom of Israel from you this day by force, and has given it to a neighbour of yours who is better than you. And further, the Glory of Israel will not say what is false, and his purpose may not be changed: for he is not a man, whose purpose may be changed.


Then when she had done so, she took him with her, with a three-year old ox and an ephah of meal and a skin full of wine, and took him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh: now the child was still very young. And when they had made an offering of the ox, they took the child to Eli. And she said, O my lord, as your soul is living, my lord, I am that woman who was making a prayer to the Lord here by your side: read more.
My prayer was for this child; and the Lord has given him to me in answer to my request: So I have given him to the Lord; for all his life he is the Lord's. Then he gave the Lord worship there.


Now the young Samuel was the servant of the Lord before Eli. In those days the Lord kept his word secret from men; there was no open vision. And at that time, when Eli was resting in his place, (now his eyes were becoming clouded so that he was not able to see,) And the light of God was still burning, while Samuel was sleeping in the Temple of the Lord where the ark of God was, read more.
The voice of the Lord said Samuel's name; and he said, Here am I. And running to Eli he said, Here am I, for you said my name. And Eli said, I did not say your name; go to your rest again. So he went back to his bed. And again the Lord said, Samuel. And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, Here am I; for you certainly said my name. But he said in answer, I said nothing, my son; go to your rest again. Now at that time Samuel had no knowledge of the Lord, and the revelation of the word of the Lord had not come to him. And for the third time the Lord said Samuel's name. And he got up and went to Eli and said, Here am I; for you certainly said my name. Then it was clear to Eli that the voice which had said the child's name was the Lord's. So Eli said to Samuel, Go back: and if the voice comes again, let your answer be, Say on, Lord; for the ears of your servant are open. So Samuel went back to his bed. Then the Lord came and said as before, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel made answer, Say on, Lord; for the ears of your servant are open. And the Lord said to Samuel, See, I will do a thing in Israel at which the ears of everyone hearing of it will be burning. In that day I will do to Eli everything which I have said about his family, from first to last. And you are to say to him that I will send punishment on his family for ever, for the sin which he had knowledge of; because his sons have been cursing God and he had no control over them. So I have made an oath to the family of Eli that no offering of meat or of meal which they may make will ever take away the sin of his family. And Samuel kept where he was, not moving till the time came for opening the doors of the house of God in the morning. And fear kept him from giving Eli an account of his vision. Then Eli said, Samuel, my son. And Samuel answering said, Here am I. And he said, What did the Lord say to you? Do not keep it from me: may God's punishment be on you if you keep from me anything he said to you. Then Samuel gave him an account of everything, keeping nothing back. And he said, It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.


Lifting the poor out of the dust, and him who is in need out of the lowest place, to give them their place among rulers, and for their heritage the seat of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he has made them the base of the world. He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the evil-doers will come to their end in the dark night, for by strength no man will overcome. Those who make war against the Lord will be broken; against them he will send his thunder from heaven: the Lord will be judge of the ends of the earth, he will give strength to his king, lifting up the horn of him on whom the holy oil has been put. read more.
Then Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child became the servant of the Lord under the direction of Eli the priest. Now the sons of Eli were evil and good-for-nothing men, having no knowledge of the Lord. And the priests' way with the people was this: when any man made an offering, the priest's servant came while the flesh was being cooked, having in his hand a meat-hook with three teeth; This he put into the pot, and everything which came up on the hook the priest took for himself. This they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. And more than this, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was making the offering, Give me some of the flesh to be cooked for the priest; he has no taste for meat cooked in water, but would have you give it uncooked. And if the man said to him, First let the fat be burned, then take as much as you will; then the servant would say, No, you are to give it to me now, or I will take it by force. And the sin of these young men was very great before the Lord; for they gave no honour to the Lord's offerings. But Samuel did the work of the Lord's house, while he was a child, dressed in a linen ephod. And his mother made him a little robe and took it to him every year when she came with her husband for the year's offering. And every year Eli gave Elkanah and his wife a blessing, saying, May the Lord give you offspring by this woman in exchange for the child you have given to the Lord. And they went back to their house. And the Lord had mercy on Hannah and she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the young Samuel became older before the Lord.




From year to year he went in turn to Beth-el and Gilgal and Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places.


Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain