Bible Readings for May 2, 2026

Let's read the Bible together in the next year. Today, our passages are Judges 15:1–16:31; John 2:1-25; Psalm 103:1-22; and Proverbs 14:17-19. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

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Judges 15-16:31 (The Message)

Judges 15

 ^1-2 Later on—it was during the wheat harvest—Samson visited his bride, bringing a young goat. He said, "Let me see my wife—show me her bedroom."

    But her father wouldn't let him in. He said, "I concluded that by now you hated her with a passion, so I gave her to your best man. But her little sister is even more beautiful. Why not take her instead?"

 ³ Samson said, "That does it. This time when I wreak havoc on the Philistines, I'm blameless."

 ^4-5 Samson then went out and caught three hundred jackals. He lashed the jackals' tails together in pairs and tied a torch between each pair of tails. He then set fire to the torches and let them loose in the Philistine fields of ripe grain. Everything burned, both stacked and standing grain, vineyards and olive orchards—everything.

 ⁶ The Philistines said, "Who did this?"

    They were told, "Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite who took his bride and gave her to his best man."

    The Philistines went up and burned both her and her father to death.

 ⁷ Samson then said, "If this is the way you're going to act, I swear I'll get even with you. And I'm not quitting till the job's done!"

 ⁸ With that he tore into them, ripping them limb from limb—a huge slaughter. Then he went down and stayed in a cave at Etam Rock.

^9-10 The Philistines set out and made camp in Judah, preparing to attack Lehi (Jawbone). When the men of Judah asked, "Why have you come up against us?" they said, "We're out to get Samson. We're going after Samson to do to him what he did to us."

 ¹¹ Three companies of men from Judah went down to the cave at Etam Rock and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines already bully and lord it over us? So what's going on with you, making things even worse?"

    He said, "It was tit for tat. I only did to them what they did to me."

 ¹² They said, "Well, we've come down here to tie you up and turn you over to the Philistines."

    Samson said, "Just promise not to hurt me."

 ¹³ "We promise," they said. "We will tie you up and surrender you to them but, believe us, we won't kill you." They proceeded to tie him with new ropes and led him up from the Rock.

 ^14-16 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him, shouting in triumph. And then the Spirit of God came on him with great power. The ropes on his arms fell apart like flax on fire; the thongs slipped off his hands. He spotted a fresh donkey jawbone, reached down and grabbed it, and with it killed the whole company. And Samson said,
    With a donkey's jawbone
   I made heaps of donkeys of them.
   With a donkey's jawbone
   I killed an entire company.

 ¹⁷ When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone. He named that place Ramath Lehi (Jawbone Hill).

 ^18-19 Now he was suddenly very thirsty. He called out to God, "You have given your servant this great victory. Are you going to abandon me to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" So God split open the rock basin in Lehi; water gushed out and Samson drank. His spirit revived—he was alive again! That's why it's called En Hakkore (Caller's Spring). It's still there at Lehi today.

 ²⁰ Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Judges 16

 ^1-2 Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute. He went to her. The news got around: "Samson's here." They gathered around in hiding, waiting all night for him at the city gate, quiet as mice, thinking, "At sunrise we'll kill him."

 ³ Samson was in bed with the woman until midnight. Then he got up, seized the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts, bolts and all, hefted them on his shoulder, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

^4-5 Some time later he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek (Grapes). Her name was Delilah. The Philistine tyrants approached her and said, "Seduce him. Discover what's behind his great strength and how we can tie him up and humble him. Each man's company will give you a hundred shekels of silver."

 ⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me, dear, the secret of your great strength, and how you can be tied up and humbled."

 ⁷ Samson told her, "If they were to tie me up with seven bowstrings—the kind made from fresh animal tendons, not dried out—then I would become weak, just like anyone else."

 ^8-9 The Philistine tyrants brought her seven bowstrings, not dried out, and she tied him up with them. The men were waiting in ambush in her room. Then she said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He snapped the cords as though they were mere threads. The secret of his strength was still a secret.

 ¹⁰ Delilah said, "Come now, Samson—you're playing with me, making up stories. Be serious; tell me how you can be tied up."

 ¹¹ He told her, "If you were to tie me up tight with new ropes, ropes never used for work, then I would be helpless, just like anybody else."

 ¹² So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up. She said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" The men were hidden in the next room. He snapped the ropes from his arms like threads.

 ^13-14 Delilah said to Samson, "You're still playing games with me, teasing me with lies. Tell me how you can be tied up."

    He said to her, "If you wove the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and drew it tight, then I would be as helpless as any other mortal."

    When she had him fast asleep, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the fabric on the loom and drew it tight. Then she said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He woke from his sleep and ripped loose from both the loom and fabric!

 ¹⁵ She said, "How can you say 'I love you' when you won't even trust me? Three times now you've toyed with me, like a cat with a mouse, refusing to tell me the secret of your great strength."

 ^16-17 She kept at it day after day, nagging and tormenting him. Finally, he was fed up—he couldn't take another minute of it. He spilled it.

    He told her, "A razor has never touched my head. I've been God's Nazirite from conception. If I were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would be as helpless as any other mortal."

 ¹⁸ When Delilah realized that he had told her his secret, she sent for the Philistine tyrants, telling them, "Come quickly—this time he's told me the truth." They came, bringing the bribe money.

 ¹⁹ When she got him to sleep, his head on her lap, she motioned to a man to cut off the seven braids of his hair. Immediately he began to grow weak. His strength drained from him.

 ²⁰ Then she said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He woke up, thinking, "I'll go out, like always, and shake free." He didn't realize that God had abandoned him.

 ^21-22 The Philistines grabbed him, gouged out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza. They shackled him in irons and put him to the work of grinding in the prison. But his hair, though cut off, began to grow again.

 ^23-24 The Philistine tyrants got together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They celebrated, saying,
   Our god has given us
   Samson our enemy!
And when the people saw him, they joined in, cheering their god,
   Our god has given
   Our enemy to us,
   The one who ravaged our country,
   Piling high the corpses among us.

 ^25-27 Then this: Everyone was feeling high and someone said, "Get Samson! Let him show us his stuff!" They got Samson from the prison and he put on a show for them.

    They had him standing between the pillars. Samson said to the young man who was acting as his guide, "Put me where I can touch the pillars that hold up the temple so I can rest against them." The building was packed with men and women, including all the Philistine tyrants. And there were at least three thousand in the stands watching Samson's performance.

 ²⁸ And Samson cried out to God:
   Master, God!
      Oh, please, look on me again,
      Oh, please, give strength yet once more.
   God!
      With one avenging blow let me be avenged
      On the Philistines for my two eyes!

 ^29-30 Then Samson reached out to the two central pillars that held up the building and pushed against them, one with his right arm, the other with his left. Saying, "Let me die with the Philistines," Samson pushed hard with all his might. The building crashed on the tyrants and all the people in it. He killed more people in his death than he had killed in his life.

³¹ His brothers and all his relatives went down to get his body. They carried him back and buried him in the tomb of Manoah his father, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

    He judged Israel for twenty years.

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John 2:1-25 (The Message)

John 2

From Water to Wine

 ^1-3 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus' mother told him, "They're just about out of wine."

 ⁴Jesus said, "Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me."

 ⁵She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it."

 ^6-7Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, "Fill the pots with water." And they filled them to the brim.

 ⁸"Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host," Jesus said, and they did.

 ^9-10When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn't know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, "Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you've saved the best till now!"

 ¹¹This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

 ¹²After this he went down to Capernaum along with his mother, brothers, and disciples, and stayed several days.

Tear Down This Temple . . .

 ^13-14When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength.

 ^15-17Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, "Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a shopping mall!" That's when his disciples remembered the Scripture, "Zeal for your house consumes me."

 ^18-19But the Jews were upset. They asked, "What credentials can you present to justify this?" Jesus answered, "Tear down this Temple and in three days I'll put it back together."

 ^20-22They were indignant: "It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you're going to rebuild it in three days?" But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.

 ^23-25During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn't entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn't need any help in seeing right through them.

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Psalm 103:1-22 (The Message)

Psalm 103

A David Psalm

 ^1-2 O my soul, bless God. From head to toe, I'll bless his holy name!
   O my soul, bless God,
      don't forget a single blessing!

 ^3-5 He forgives your sins—every one.
      He heals your diseases—every one.
      He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
      He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
      He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
      He renews your youth—you're always young in his presence.

 ^6-18 God makes everything come out right;
      he puts victims back on their feet.
   He showed Moses how he went about his work,
      opened up his plans to all Israel.
   God is sheer mercy and grace;
      not easily angered, he's rich in love.
   He doesn't endlessly nag and scold,
      nor hold grudges forever.
   He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve,
      nor pay us back in full for our wrongs.
   As high as heaven is over the earth,
      so strong is his love to those who fear him.
   And as far as sunrise is from sunset,
      he has separated us from our sins.
   As parents feel for their children,
      God feels for those who fear him.
   He knows us inside and out,
      keeps in mind that we're made of mud.
   Men and women don't live very long;
      like wildflowers they spring up and blossom,
   But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly,
      leaving nothing to show they were here.
   God's love, though, is ever and always,
      eternally present to all who fear him,
   Making everything right for them and their children
      as they follow his Covenant ways
      and remember to do whatever he said.

 ^19-22 God has set his throne in heaven;
      he rules over us all. He's the King!
   So bless God, you angels,
      ready and able to fly at his bidding,
      quick to hear and do what he says.
   Bless God, all you armies of angels,
      alert to respond to whatever he wills.
   Bless God, all creatures, wherever you are—
      everything and everyone made by God.    And you, O my soul, bless God!

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Proverbs 14:17-19 (The Message)

 ¹⁷ The hotheaded do things they'll later regret;
   the coldhearted get the cold shoulder.

 ¹⁸ Foolish dreamers live in a world of illusion;
   wise realists plant their feet on the ground.

 ¹⁹ Eventually, evil will pay tribute to good;
   the wicked will respect God-loyal people.

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Thought for the Day

“We are certain that God will hear our prayers when we ask for what pleases him. And if we know that God listens when we pray, we are sure that our prayers have already been answered.” (1 John 5:14-15 - Contemporary English Version) "We are certain that God will hear our prayers when we ask for what pleases him." That's what John wrote. And what pleases God? That's easy, when we decide to follow the words of Jesus and to love one another as we've been loved.

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Quote for the Day

American singer and songwriter who has been the lead vocalist for Stone Temple Pilots since November 2017, Jeff Gutt wrote, "I just try to do what I can, control what I can, and let the rest handle itself."

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Joke for Today

An elderly couple who were childhood sweethearts had married & settled down in their old neighborhood.

To celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary they walk down to their old school. There, they hold hands as they find the desk they shared & where he had carved "I love you, Sally".

On their way back home, a bag of money falls out of an armoured car practically at their feet. She quickly picks it up, & they don't know what to do with it so they take it home. There, she counts the money, & its fifty-thousand dollars.

The husband says: "We've got to give it back".

She says, "Finders keepers" & puts the money back in the bag & hides it up in their attic.

The next day, two policemen are going from door-to-door in the neighbourhood looking for the money show up at their home.

One knocks on the door & says: "Pardon me, but did either of you find any money that fell out of an armoured car yesterday?"

She says: "No"..

The husband says: "She's lying. She hid it up in the attic."

She says: "Don't believe him, he's getting senile." 

But the policemen sit the man down & begin to question him.

One says: "Tell us the story from the beginning."

The old man says: "Well, when Sally & I were walking home from school yesterday ..."

At this, the policeman looks at his partner & says: "We're outta here ..."  

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A Prayer Request

As Christians, we can offer specific daily prayers for our community, nation and world. Below is the need that we're laying before God today.

That all racial divisions be healed.

Daily Lectionary Readings for May 01, 2026

Daily Lectionary Readings (Two-Year Cycle)

Lectionary Readings for Friday, May 1, 2026

Morning Psalm 96 1   O sing to the LORD a new song;           sing to the LORD, all the earth. 2   Sing to the LORD, bless his name;           tell of his salvation from day to day. 3   Declare his glory among the nations,           his marvelous works among all the peoples. 4   For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;           he is to be revered above all gods. 5   For all the gods of the peoples are idols,           but the LORD made the heavens. 6   Honor and majesty are before him;           strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7   Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,           ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 8   Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;           bring an offering, and come into his courts. 9   Worship the LORD in holy splendor;           tremble before him, all the earth. 10  Say among the nations, “The LORD is king!           The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.           He will judge the peoples with equity.” 11  Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;           let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 12       let the field exult, and everything in it.      Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy 13       before the LORD; for he is coming,           for he is coming to judge the earth.      He will judge the world with righteousness,           and the peoples with his truth. Morning Psalm 148 1   Praise the Lord!      Praise the Lord from the heavens;           praise him in the heights! 2   Praise him, all his angels;           praise him, all his host! 3   Praise him, sun and moon;           praise him, all you shining stars! 4   Praise him, you highest heavens,           and you waters above the heavens! 5   Let them praise the name of the Lord,           for he commanded and they were created. 6   He established them forever and ever;           he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed. 7   Praise the Lord from the earth,           you sea monsters and all deeps, 8   fire and hail, snow and frost,           stormy wind fulfilling his command! 9   Mountains and all hills,           fruit trees and all cedars! 10  Wild animals and all cattle,           creeping things and flying birds! 11  Kings of the earth and all peoples,           princes and all rulers of the earth! 12  Young men and women alike,           old and young together! 13  Let them praise the name of the Lord,           for his name alone is exalted;           his glory is above earth and heaven. 14  He has raised up a horn for his people,           praise for all his faithful,           for the people of Israel who are close to him.      Praise the Lord! First Reading Exodus 34:18-35 18You shall keep the festival of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt. 19All that first opens the womb is mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty-handed. 21Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest. 22You shall observe the festival of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year. 23Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. 24For I will cast out nations before you, and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. 25You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, and the sacrifice of the festival of the passover shall not be left until the morning. 26The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. 27The LORD said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. 28He was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. 29Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34but whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him. Second Reading 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13 1Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we decided to be left alone in Athens; 2and we sent Timothy, our brother and co-worker for God in proclaiming the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you for the sake of your faith, 3so that no one would be shaken by these persecutions. Indeed, you yourselves know that this is what we are destined for. 4In fact, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we were to suffer persecution; so it turned out, as you know. 5For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith; I was afraid that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor had been in vain. 6But Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love. He has told us also that you always remember us kindly and long to see us - just as we long to see you. 7For this reason, brothers and sisters, during all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith. 8For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord. 9How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? 10Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith. 11Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. 12And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. 13And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Gospel Reading Matthew 5:27-37 27"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. 31"It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 33"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' 34But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one. Evening Psalm 49 1   Hear this, all you peoples;           give ear, all inhabitants of the world, 2   both low and high,           rich and poor together. 3   My mouth shall speak wisdom;           the meditation of my heart shall be understanding. 4   I will incline my ear to a proverb;           I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp. 5   Why should I fear in times of trouble,           when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me, 6   those who trust in their wealth           and boast of the abundance of their riches? 7   Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life,           there is no price one can give to God for it. 8   For the ransom of life is costly,           and can never suffice, 9   that one should live on forever           and never see the grave. 10   When we look at the wise, they die;           fool and dolt perish together           and leave their wealth to others. 11   Their graves are their homes forever,           their dwelling places to all generations,           though they named lands their own. 12  Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;           they are like the animals that perish. 13  Such is the fate of the foolhardy,           the end of those who are pleased with their lot. Selah 14  Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;           Death shall be their shepherd;      straight to the grave they descend,           and their form shall waste away;           Sheol shall be their home. 15  But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,           for he will receive me. Selah 16  Do not be afraid when some become rich,           when the wealth of their houses increases. 17  For when they die they will carry nothing away;           their wealth will not go down after them. 18  Though in their lifetime they count themselves happy           — for you are praised when you do well for yourself — 19  they will go to the company of their ancestors,           who will never again see the light. 20  Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;           they are like the animals that perish. Evening Psalm 138 1   I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;           before the gods I sing your praise; 2   I bow down toward your holy temple           and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;           for you have exalted your name and your word           above everything. 3   On the day I called, you answered me,           you increased my strength of soul. 4   All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O LORD,           for they have heard the words of your mouth. 5   They shall sing of the ways of the LORD,           for great is the glory of the LORD. 6   For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly;           but the haughty he perceives from far away. 7   Though I walk in the midst of trouble,           you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;      you stretch out your hand,           and your right hand delivers me. 8   The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;           your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.           Do not forsake the work of your hands.

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