Joyce Meyer - Run Your Race 2/2
Judges 1
1AFTER THE death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?
2And the Lord said, Judah shall go up; behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. 3And Judah [the tribe] said to [the tribe of] Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my allotted territory, so that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your
territory. So Simeon went with him.
4Then Judah went up and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they smote 10,000 of them in Bezek.
5And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they smote the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
6Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
7Adoni-bezek said, Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off had to gather their food under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
8And the men of Judah fought against [Jebusite] Jerusalem and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. 9Afterward the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the hill country, in the South (the Negeb), and in the lowland.
10And Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron. The name of Hebron before was Kiriath-arba. And they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.
11From there [Judah] went against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir before was Kiriath-sepher [city of books and scribes].
12And Caleb said, Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and takes it, to him will I give Achsah, my daughter, as wife. 13And Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; and he gave him Achsah, his daughter, as wife.
14And when she came to [Othniel], she got his consent to ask her father for a [sloping] field. And she alighted off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, What do you want? 16And the descendants of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up with the Judahites from the City of Palms (Jericho) into the Wilderness of Judah, which lies in the South (the Negeb) near Arad; and they went and dwelt with the people.
17And [the tribe of] Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and utterly destroyed it. So the city was called Hormah [destruction].
18Also Judah took Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron--each with its territory.
19The Lord was with Judah, and [Judah] drove out the inhabitants of the hill country, but he could not drive out those inhabiting the [difficult] valley basin because they had chariots of iron.
20Hebron was given to Caleb as Moses said, and he expelled from there the three sons of Anak. 21But the Benjamites did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; the Jebusites dwell with the Benjamites in Jerusalem to this day.
22The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them.
23And the house of Joseph was sent to spy out Bethel. The name of the city formerly had been Luz.
24And the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, Show us, we pray you, the way into the city and we will show you mercy.
25When he showed them the entrance to the city, they smote the city with the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.
26And the man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.
27Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or of Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their villages, but the Canaanites remained in that land.
28When Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor but did not utterly drive them out.
29Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.
30Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or of Nahalol, but the Canaanites dwelt among them and were put to forced labor.
31Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco or of Sidon or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob;
32But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.
33Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh or of Beth-anath, but dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; but the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.
34The Amorites forced the Danites back into the hill country, for they would not allow them to come down into the plain;
35The Amorites remained fixed in Mount Heres [mountain of the sun], in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim; yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to forced labor.
36And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock Sela and onward.
Judges 2
1NOW THE [a]Angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And He said, I brought you up from Egypt and have brought you to the land which I swore to give to your fathers, and I said, I will never break My covenant with you;
2And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; but you shall break down their altars. But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?
3So now I say, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you. 4When the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voice and wept.
5They named that place Bochim [weepers], and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
6And when Joshua had let the people go, the Israelites went every man to his inheritance to possess the land. 
7And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He did for Israel.
8And Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old.
9And they buried him within the boundary of his inheritance in Timnath-heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers, and there arose another generation after them who did not know (recognize, understand) the Lord, or even the work which He had done for Israel.
11And the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.
12And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods of the peoples round about them and bowed down to them, and provoked the Lord to anger.
13And they forsook the Lord and served Baal [the god worshiped by the Canaanites] and the Ashtaroth [female deities such as Ashtoreth and Asherah].
14So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them into the power of plunderers who robbed them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could no longer stand before their foes. 15Whenever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them; and they were bitterly distressed.
16But the Lord raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hands of those who robbed them.
17And yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed down to them. They turned quickly out of the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not so.
18When the Lord raised them up judges, then He was with the judge and delivered them out of the hands of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to relent because of their groanings by reason of those who oppressed and vexed them.
19But when the judge was dead, they turned back and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, following and serving other gods, and bowing down to them. They did not cease from their practices or their stubborn way.
20So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel; and He said, Because this people have transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and have not listened to My voice,
21I from now on will also not drive out from before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,
22That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not. 23So the Lord left those nations, without driving them out at once, nor had He delivered them into Joshua's power.
Acts 1
1IN THE former account [which I prepared], O Theophilus, I made [a continuous report] dealing with all the things which Jesus began to do and to teach
2Until the day when He ascended, after He through the Holy Spirit had instructed and commanded the apostles (special messengers) whom He had chosen. 
3To them also He showed Himself alive after His passion (His suffering in the garden and on the cross) by [a series of] many convincing demonstrations [unquestionable evidences and infallible proofs], appearing to them during forty days and talking [to them] about the things of the kingdom of God.
4And while being in their company and eating with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised, Of which [He said] you have heard Me speak.
5For John baptized with water, but not many days from now you shall be baptized with ([a]placed in, introduced into) the Holy Spirit.
6So when they were assembled, they asked Him, Lord, is this the time when You will reestablish the kingdom and restore it to Israel?
7He said to them, It is not for you to become acquainted with and know [b]what time brings [the things and events of time and their definite periods] or fixed [c]years and seasons (their critical niche in time), which the Father has appointed (fixed and reserved) by His own choice and authority and personal power.
8But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.
9And when He had said this, even as they were looking [at Him], He was caught up, and a cloud received and carried Him away out of their sight. 
10And while they were gazing intently into heaven as He went, behold, two men [dressed] in white robes suddenly stood beside them,
11Who said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, Who was caught away and lifted up from among you into heaven, will return in [just] the same way in which you saw Him go into heaven.
12Then [the disciples] went back to Jerusalem from the hill called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, [only] a Sabbath day's journey (three-quarters of a mile) away. 13And when they had entered [the city], they mounted [the stairs] to the upper room where they were [[d]indefinitely] staying--Peter and John and James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas [son] of James.
14All of these with their minds in full agreement devoted themselves steadfastly to prayer, [waiting together] with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
15Now on one of those days Peter arose among the brethren, the whole number of whom gathered together was about a hundred and twenty. 16Brethren, he said, it was necessary that the Scripture be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit foretold by the lips of David, about Judas who acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus.
17For he was counted among us and received [by divine allotment] his portion in this ministry.
18Now this man obtained a piece of land with the [money paid him as a] reward for his treachery and wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle [of his body] and all his intestines poured forth.
19And all the residents of Jerusalem became acquainted with the facts, so that they called the piece of land in their own dialect--Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.
20For in the book of Psalms it is written, Let his place of residence become deserted and gloomy, and let there be no one to live in it; and [again], Let another take his position or overseership.
21So one of the [other] men who have accompanied us [apostles] during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
22From the baptism of John at the outset until the day when He was taken up from among us--one of these men must join with us and become a witness to testify to His resurrection.
23And they accordingly proposed (nominated) two men, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.
24And they prayed and said, You, Lord, Who know all hearts ([e]their thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, purposes, and endeavors), indicate to us which one of these two You have chosen
25To take the place in this ministry and receive the position of an apostle, from which Judas fell away and went astray to go [where he belonged] to his own [proper] place. 26And they drew lots [between the two], and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to and counted with the eleven apostles (special messengers).
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