April 9: 1 Samuel 1:9 – 1 Samuel 4:11

The Birth of Samuel – 1 Samuel 1

• While they are in Shiloh, Hannah suffers great sadness and refuses to eat. Her husband asks her if he is not worth more to her than ten sons. She goes to the temple, and prays and weeps bitterly, and promises the Lord that if he will grant her a son, she will give him to the Lord and a servant son (a Nazirite).
• Eli the priest sees her moving her mouth but not speaking as she prays, and tells her to stop drinking wine. She objects, saying she is only pouring out her soul to the Lord. Eli tells her to go in peace, and may God grant her petition. Hannah goes back to Elkanah, no longer sad.
• The next morning, after worshiping the Lord, Elkanah, Hannah, and Peninnah return home to Ramah. God remembers Hannah, and she bears a son and calls him Samuel.

Samuel Given to the Lord

• Elkanah continues to go to Shiloh to worship, but Hannah stays home with Samuel until he is old enough to be weaned. Then they take him to Shiloh, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. They slaughter the bull and then bring Samuel to Eli. Hannah tells him that God granted her petition, and she now brings Samuel to serve the Lord.

Hannah's Prayer – 1 Samuel 2

• Hannah prays, exulting the Lord. Elkanah and Hannah return to Ramah, leaving Samuel with Eli to serve God.

Eli's Worthless Sons

• The sons of Eli are worthless men who don't know the Lord. When people would bring sacrifices, they would send over a servant and instruct the servant to offer the sacrifice in a way different from God's command.
• Samuel ministers before the Lord, clothed in a linen ephod. Every year, Hannah brings his a robe. Each year Eli blesses Elkanah and Hannah, and she bears three sons and two daughters. Samuel grows up in the presence of the Lord.

Eli Rebukes His Sons

• Eli is very old, and he hears what his sons are doing to Israel and how they lie with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Eli rebukes their behavior, but they don't listen to him. At the same time, Samuel grows in stature and in favor with God and man.

The Lord Rejects Eli's Household

• A man of God comes to Eli and reminds him of His instructions for sacrifice, then asks why he scorns His sacrifices and offerings by the actions of Eli's sons. God tells Eli that the time is coming when He will put an end to Eli's family serving as priests. They will die before their time, and only a few will survive, but those will lose their sight, have their hearts broken, and lose their children to violent deaths. He tells Eli that to prove it, his sons' Hophni and Phinehas will die on the same day. God will then raise up a faithful priest.

The Lord Calls Samuel – 1 Samuel 3:1

• The Lord calls Samuel while he is lying down, and the boy runs to Eli and says, "Here I am." Eli tells him that he didn't call him and that he should go lie down again. Two more times the Lord calls Samuel again, and he runs to Eli again. After the third time, Eli tells him to go lie down again, and if he is called again, to respond, "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears."
• Samuel does as instructed, and God calls to him again. This time Samuel does as Eli instructed, and God tells him that He is about to punish Eli's household. The next morning, Eli asks Samuel what God told him, but Samuel is afraid to tell him. Eli asks again, and Samuel finally tells him. Samuel states that may God do what seems good to him.
• Samuel grows, and all of Israel knows he is a prophet. The Lord appears at Shiloh, revealing himself to Samuel by the word of the Lord.

The Philistines Capture the Ark – 1 Samuel 4:1–11

• Israel goes to battle against the Philistines at Ebenezer, and the Philistine defeat them. The Israelites bring the ark of the covenant to Ebenezer, hoping it will give them power against their enemies. When it comes into camp, the Israelites give a great shout, and when the Philistine hear that the ark is now in their camp, they are afraid. The Philistines again fight the Israelites, and they slaughter 30,000 men and capture the ark of the covenant and Eli's two sons.

April 8: Ruth 4:13–22; 1 Chronicles 2:9-55; 1 Chronicles 4:1–23; 1 Samuel 1:1–8

Ruth and Boaz Marry – Ruth 4

• Ruth and Boaz marry, and she conceives a son. The women bless the Lord and tell Naomi that God has restored life to her. Naomi becomes the child's nurse, and they name him Obed. He would later become the father of Jesse, the father of David.

The Genealogy of David – Ruth 4:18–22

• The genealogy of David is given, from Perez (Judah's son) to David.

A Genealogy of David – 1 Chronicles 2:9–55

• The descendants of Judah's grandson Hezron are given.
• The descendants of Hezron's son Caleb are given.
• The descendants of Hezron's son Jerahmeel are given.
• More descendants of Hezron's son Caleb (by other women) are given.
• The descendants of Hezron's son Hur are given. 

The Descendants of Judah – 1 Chronicles 4:1–23

• The descendants of Judah are given and Judah's son Shelah are given.

The Birth of Samuel – 1 Samuel 1:1–8 

• In the land of Ephraim lives a man named Elkanah. He has two wives, Hannah (who has no children) and Peninnah (who has children). Every year, he goes up to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord. On the days he did so, he would give a portion to Peninnah and a double portion to Hannah, because he loved her even though the Lord had closed her womb (and Peninnah would provoke her).

April 7: Ruth 1:1 – Ruth 4:12

Naomi Widowed – Ruth 1

• Late in the time when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. Elimelech, a man of Bethlehem in Judah (an Ephraimite), goes to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife Ruth and sons Mahlon and Chillion. While they are there, Elimelech dies and the sons take wives, named Orpah and Ruth. They live there for about ten years, then Mahlon and Chillion also die.

Ruth's Loyalty to Naomi

• Naomi decides to return to her people, as she has heard that the famine has passed. She sets out with her daughters-in-law, but then she tells them to return to their mothers' houses and may God bless them. 
• When she kisses them, they weep and tell her they will return with her to her people. She responds that she is too old to have sons who could marry them. Orpah agrees to return to her mother's house, but Ruth insists she will go with Naomi.

Naomi and Ruth Return

• Naomi returns to Bethlehem with Ruth. She tells the people there to call her Mara now, for she left full and returned empty. They reach Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Ruth Meets Boaz – Ruth 2

• Naomi had a relative of her husband's named Boaz. Ruth asks Naomi if she may go to the field to glean among the ears of grain, in hopes that she might find favor with him. Naomi agrees.
• When Boaz sees her in the fields, he asks who she is and the man in charge of the reapers tells him she is the Moabite woman who returned with Naomi and that she has been working all day with only a short rest. 
• Boaz tells Ruth to stay in his field and keep close to the other young women. He continues that he has told his men to leave her alone and that she may drink of his waters when she is thirsty. She falls on her face before him and asks what she has done to find favor in his eyes. He tells her that he is repaying her for all she has done for Naomi.
• At mealtime, Boaz asks Ruth to eat with him and his reapers. When she leaves, he tells him men to allow her to glean among the sheaves, and to leave her alone. She gleans until evening and then beats out what she gleaned (about an ephah of barley), then takes it home to Naomi. Naomi asks who allowed her to glean in the field, and Ruth tells her. Naomi informs her that he is one of her kinsman redeemers and that Ruth should follow his instructions and stay in his fields.

Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor – Ruth 3

• Naomi tells Ruth to wash and anoint herself and then go down to the threshing floor, where Boaz is winnowing. She is to not make herself known to him until he is finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, she is to uncover his feet and lie at them, and he will tell her what to do. Ruth does as instructed.
• At midnight Boaz awakens and finds her there. He asks her who she is, and she gives her name and tells him he is a redeemer. He tells her not to fear, that because she has not gone after younger men, she has found favor with him. He points out that there is a closer redeemer than he, so if that man will redeem her, fine, but if not, then he will redeem her.
• She lays at his feet until morning, then wakes before anyone else will see her there with him. He gives her six measures of barley, and she returns to Naomi.

Boaz Redeems Ruth – Ruth 4

• Boaz goes to the city elders and when Ruth's closer redeemer walks by, he tells him that Naomi has returned and plans to sell her parcel of land in Bethlehem. The closer redeemer agrees to buy it until he learns that he must also take Ruth (a foreigner) along with it. The closer redeemer refuses, as marrying a foreigner would impair his inheritance. He tells Boaz to redeem the field and Ruth instead and takes off his sandal. Boaz announces that all the surrounding people are witnesses to his buying Naomi's land and taking Ruth as a wife. The people bless Boaz.

April 6: Judges 19:1 – Judges 21:25

A Levite and His Concubine – Judges 19

• A Levite sojourns in the remote parts of the land of Ephraim and takes a concubine from Bethlehem of Judah. She is unfaithful to him, and returns to the house of her father. After four months, the Levite goes to her father's house to try to take her back, bringing with him a servant and two donkeys.
• His woman's father greets him warmly and encourages him to stay with them. The Levite does, and after three days determines to return home. The woman's father talks him into staying another night. The next day the Levite intends to leave again, taking the woman with him, but her father again tries to get him to stay the night. 
• The Levite leaves anyway. As they near (Jebus) Jerusalem, the servant suggests they spend the night there. The Levite refuses since the city is full of foreigners, and determines that they will travel on to Gilbeah or Ramah. The sun sets as they near Gilbeah (in the land of Benjamin), and they go to the center square since no one will take them into their home.
• An old man returns from the fields at dusk and asks the Levite where he is going and where he is from. The Levite explains, and the man invites them to stay at his house so they will not spend the night in the square. 

Gilbeah's Crime

• As the Levite, his servant, his concubine, and the man are eating and drinking, the men of the city surround the house and beat on the door. They tell the old man to bring out the Levite so they can have sexual relations with him. The man offers them his virgin daughter and the concubine instead, and though the men protested, he seized the concubine and gave her over to the men. They abuse her all night, then let her go at daybreak. She falls down at the old man's door.
• The Levite awakes in the morning and finds her lying outside the door. She doesn't answer him (she has died) when he tells her to get up so they can leave, so he puts her on one of his donkeys. When they returns home, he takes a knife and cuts her into twelve pieces and sends the pieces of her throughout the territory of Israel to rally them against the people of Gilbeah.

Israel's War with the Tribe of Benjamin – Judges 20

• The chiefs of all the tribe of Israel, 400,000 men, come together. They ask the Levite about the evil done to his concubine, and he explains to them what happened and asks for their counsel. The tribes of Israel prepare to repay Gilbeah. The men of Benjamin gather in Gilbeah to defend the city—26,700 men against the 400,000 men of Israel.
• The night, the people of Israel ask God who should go to fight first, and God tells them to send Judah first. The next morning, the fighting begins, and the men of Benjamin kill 22,000 of the Israelites. That night, the Israelites weep before the Lord and ask if they should continue to fight. God tells them to go against them again.
• The next day, the Israelites go against the men of Benjamin, and 18,000 Israelites are killed. That night they weep and fast and offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. They again ask, through Phinehas, if they should continue fighting. God tells them that tomorrow he will give the men of Benjamin into their hands.
• The Israelites set up an ambush around Gilbeah. In the end the Israelites destroy 25,100 men of Benjamin, defeating them. 600 flee into the wilderness for four months, and all the towns and cities are destroyed.

Wives Provided for the Tribe of Benjamin – Judges 21

• The men of Israel had all sworn not to give their daughters to the men of Benjamin. Israel mourns for their lost tribe and questions who will be wives for the remaining men of Benjamin. They determine that since no one had come to the camp (to fight Benjamin) from the town of Jabesh-gilead, they will destroy the entire town (men and women who have lain with a man). 400 virgins are found among the inhabitants, and they bring them to Shiloh.
• The Israelites make peace with the 600 men of Benjamin in the wilderness, and elders determine that when the virgins in Shiloh come out to dance dances, the men of Benjamin may take them as wives. The men of Benjamin do as instructed and return to their lands to rebuild their towns. There was no king of Israel at this time, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

April 5: Judges 16:1 – Judges 18:31

Samson and Delilah – Judges 16

• Samson goes to Gaza, and there he sees and prostitute and goes in to her. When the Gazites learn he is there, they set up an ambush at the gate of the city and plan to kill him in the morning. At midnight he arises, takes hold of the city gates and two posts, and carries themto the top of the hill in front of Hebron.
• After this, Samson falls in love with Delilah, and the Philistine lords tell her to seduce him and see where his great strength lies. If she does, they will give her 1,000 pieces of silver. 
• She asks Samson where his strength lies, and he tells her that if he is bound by seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, he will be only as strong as other men. She has the lords get her the bowstrings and then binds Samson while the lords prepare to ambush him outside. When she tells Samson that the Philistine lords are upon him, he breaks the bowstrings.
• She tells him he has mocked her and again asks where his strength lies. He tells her that if she binds him with new ropes that have never been used, he will be only as strong as any other man. Again he breaks off the ropes. They do this again, and this time he tells her that if she weaves the seven locks of his head with the web and fastens it tight with the pin, he will be only as strong as other men.
• This doesn't work either, and Delilah again presses him for an answer. This time, he tells her about his being a Nazirite and how if his head is shaved, he will become weak. She calls upon the Philistine lords to lay in wait, then has Samson fall asleep on her knees and calls in a man two cut off the seven locks of his head. His strength leaves him and he is caught by the Philistines, who gouge out his eyes and take him to Gaza. While he is in prison, his hair begins to grow back.

The Death of Samson

• The lords of the Philistines gather to worship their god Dagon and rejoice that he has given Samson into their hands. They bring Samson out of prison to entertain them, and they have him stand between two pillars. He asks the man with him to place his hands on the pillars so he can lean on them, then calls out to God to remember him and strengthen him so he can avenge the Philistines. He says, "Let me die with the Philistines," and pulls down the pillars holding the house up. The house collapses, killing himself and the 3,000 men and women inside.
• Samson's family comes down to retrieve his body, then buries it in the tomb of Manoah, his father.

Micah and the Levite – Judges 17

• In the country of Ephraim there lives a man named Micah. His mother has 1,100 pieces of silver that he steals from herr, and he takes it back and gives it to her. She takes 200 pieces of silver to the silversmith and has a carved image made, which Micah uses as a shrine (there is no king, and the Israelites do what is right in their own eyes).
• A young man from Judah (a Levite) stops at the house of Micah while on a journey. Micah asks him to stay with him and be a father and priest to him in return for 10 pieces of silver a year, clothing, and shelter. The Levite dwells with Micah, and becomes like a son to him. Micah believes God will prosper him since he now has a Levite priest.

Danites Take the Levite and the Idol – Judges 18

• Israel is not ruled by a king, and the Danites (who have received no inheritance among the tribes) go in search of an inheritance to dwell in. The Danites send out five men to explore the land, and they end up staying in the house of Micah. They question the Levite why he is there, and he explains that Micah has employed him as his priest. They ask the Levite to inquire of God whether their journey will succeed, and the Levite assures them that their journey is under the eye of the Lord.
• They then travel on and come to Laish, where they find people living well. The return to their leaders and tell them of the place they have found, then 600 men are sent out with weapons of war. The five men tell the others about Micah's ephod, household gods, carved image, and metal image, and they all go to his house and the five take the items. The Levite asks them what they're doing, and they tell him to come with them and be a priest to their entire tribe. He agrees.
• Micah chases after them with his own men, but when he addresses them, he knows that he won't be able to overtake them. He returns home, and the Danites move on to Laish, where they kill the people and burn their city. They rebuild the city, naming it Dan, and live there. They set up the carved images for themselves, and Jonathan (son of Gershom, son of Moses) and his sons become their priests.

April 4: Judges 11:29 – Judges 15:20

Jephthah's Tragic Vow – Judges 11

• The Spirit of the Lord is on Jephthah, and he goes to the Ammonites. Jephthah makes a vow to the Lord that if He will give the Ammonites into his hand, whatever comes out the door of his house when he returns will be the Lord's as a burnt offering. Jephthah goes to fight the Ammonites, and God gives them into his hand.
• Jephthah returns home to Mizpah, and his daughter (his only child) comes out to meet him with tambourines and dances. As soon as he sees her, he tears his clothes and tells her of his vow to God. She tells him he must do as he vowed, but asks for two months to go up and down the mountains with her companions and weep for her virginity. When she returns, he follows through with his vow, and after that, the daughters of Israel lament Jephthah's daughter for four days each year.

Jephthah's Conflict with Ephraim – Judges 12

• The men of Ephraim question Jephthah why he fought the Ammonites without them, and tell him they will burn his house. Jephthah points out that they did not aid him when he asked them to go against the Ammonites with him, so he went on his own. Jephthah gathers all the men of Gilead to fight against Ephraim. 42,000 Ephraimites fall, and Jephthah judges Israel for six years before dying and being buried in Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

• After Jephthah, Ibzan judges Israel for seven years before dying and being buried in Bethlehem. Then Elon judges Israel for ten years before dying and being buried in Aijalon. Then Abdon judges Israel for eight years before dying and being buried at Pirathon.

The Birth of Samson – Judges 13

• Israel again does what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, and He gives them over to the Philistines for forty years.
• In the town of Zorah is a man named Manoah (of the Danites). His wife is barren, and the angel of the Lord appears to her and tells her she will bear a son. She is told that the child will be a Nazirite to God from the day of his birth to the day of his death.
• Manoah prays to God, asking that the angel return and teach them how to raise this child. The angel reappears when the woman is in the field without her husband. She brings her husband to the angel, and Manoah asks what the child's manner of life and mission is to be. The angel again says that she may not eat anything from the vine or any other unclean thing. Manoah offers to prepare a young goat for the angel, but the angel suggests a burnt offering instead. The offering is prepared, and the angel is take to heaven by its fire. Manoah and his wife fall on their faces.
• The woman bears a son, whom they name Samson. He grows, and God blesses him.

Samson's Marriage – Judges 14

• Samson goes down to Timnah, and there he sees one of the daughters of the Philistines. He returns home and tells his parents that he wants her for a wife. His parents ask why he cannot pick a wife from the Israelites, but he insists he wants the Philistine woman (God was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel).
• Samson and his parents go to Timnah. There, a young lion approaches him, roaring. Though Samson has no weapons, he tears it to pieces like it was a young goat. He doesn't tell his parents what he has done, but instead goes to speak with the woman he desires for a wife.
• After some days, Samson decides to take the woman. He comes upon the lion he destroyed and there was a swarm of bees in its body as well as honey. He scrapes the honey into his hands (breaking his Nazirite law) and takes it to his parents, eating some on the way.
• Samson's father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there. He tells his 30 Philistine companions a riddle at his wedding feast, but they are unable to answer it. After three days, they talk his wife into getting the answer out of him. After seven days of weeping, she finally gets him to tell her and she tells her people.
• The Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, and Samson kills 30 men in Ashkelon, taking their spoil and using their garments to give to the thirty men he lost the bet with. In anger he returns to his father's house, and his wife is given to his best man.

Samson Defeats the Philistines – Judges 15

• At the times of the wheat harvest, Samson returns to his wife with a young goat, but her father refuses to allow Samson into her bedchamber. Her father tells him that he believed Samson hated her, so he gave her to another, and then he suggests Samson take her younger sister as a wife. In retaliation, Samson ties torches to the tails of 300 foxes and sets them loose in the grain fields and olive orchards. The Philistines burn his wife and her father with fire, and Samson swears vengeance.
• The Philistines make a raid on Lehi, in the land of Judah. When the men of Judah ask why they have done this, the Philistines tell them it is because of what Samson did to them. The men of Judah go to where Samson is hiding in the cleft of the rock of Etam and bind him with ropes to take him to the Philistines.
• When he meets the Philistines, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him and the ties on his arms catch fire and melt away. Using the jawbone of a donkey, Samson kills 1,000 men. He is then thirsty and he calls upon the Lord. God splits open the hollow place at Lehi, and water flows from it. Samson drinks and is revived. He judges Israel for twenty years.

April 3: Judges 9:22 – Judges 11:28

The Downfall of Abimelech – Judges 9

• Abimelech rules over Israel for three years. God sends an evil spirit between him and the people of Shechem, and the people treat him treacherously. Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his family move into Shechem, and the leaders put confidence in him. He asks them who Abimelech is that they should serve him. The recommend serving Hamor, son of Shechem
• Zebul, the ruler of the city learns what Gaal is doing and sends word to Abimelech. Abimelech and his men ambush them by night. He and Zebul are able to quell the revolt and raze Shechem, destroying its tower.
• Abimelech then goes to Thebez and captures it. All the men and women flee to a strong tower within the city and shutter themselves, going to its roof. As Abimelech is fighting the tower, a woman throws a millstone from the roof onto his head, crushing it. He calls over a soldier and tells him to kill him with his sword so it won't be said that he was killed by a woman. The man does as instructed, and the men of Israel return home. God has returned the evil committed by Abimelech and the Shechemites.

Tola and Jair – Chapter 10

• Tola, a man from the land of Ephraim, judges Israel for twenty-three years. After him rises Jair the Gileadite, who judged for twenty-two years. Jair had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys and had thirty cities. He died and was buried in Kamon.

Further Disobedience and Oppression

• The people of Israel continue to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, serving the gods of the peoples around them, so God sells them into the hands of the Philistine and Ammonites, who oppress them for eighteen years.
• The Israelites cry out to the Lord, begging for deliverance.
• The Ammonites are called to arms, and they encamp at Gilead. Israel encamps at Mizpah. The leaders ask who will fight against the Ammonites.

Jephthah Delivers Israel – Judges 11

• Jephthah the Gileadite is a mighty warrior but also the son of Gilead and a prostitute. His half-brothers drive him out because he was not born of their mother, and he flees to the land of Tob, where he meets worthless fellows.
• The Ammonites make war with Israel, and the elders of Gilead summon Jephthah back to Gilead to be their leader. Jephthah eventually agrees. (He is the first leader raised up by the people and not by God.)
• Jephthah sends messengers to the Ammonites, asking them why they are coming to fight against his land. The Ammonites claim it is because of how Israel came from Egypt and claimed their land. He reminds them that it was God who gave them the land, then tells them that he has not sinned against them and that God will decide between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon. The Ammonites do not listen to the words he sends.