Judges 2-8
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 2
1Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, 'I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, 2and as for you, you shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed Me; what is this thing that you have done? 3Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from you; but they will become like thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’?' 4Now when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people raised their voices and wept. 5So they named that place Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the Lord.
6When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went, each one to his inheritance, to take possession of the land.
7The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel.
8Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110.
9And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and another generation rose up after them who did not know the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.
11Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals,
12and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed other gods from the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them; so they provoked the Lord to anger.
13They abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
14Then the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He handed them over to plunderers, and they plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand against their enemies.
15Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken and just as the Lord had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.
16Then the Lord raised up judges who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.
17Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they committed infidelity with other gods and bowed down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do the same as their fathers.
18And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who tormented and oppressed them.
19But it came about, when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their obstinate ways.
20So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, 'Because this nation has violated My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice,
21I in turn will no longer drive out from them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,
22in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.'
23So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not hand them over to Joshua.
Chapter 3
1Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them ( that is, all the Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan; 2only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it previously). 3These nations are: the five governors of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. 4They were left to test Israel by them, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses. 5The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; 6and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7So the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.
8Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, so that He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years.
9But the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to set them free, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
10And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went to war, the Lord handed over to him Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia, so that he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.
11Then the land was at rest for forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord.
13And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and defeated Israel, and they took possession of the city of the palm trees.
14And the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab for eighteen years.
15But when the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.
16Now Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length, and he strapped it on his right thigh under his cloak.
17Then he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.
18And it came about, when he had finished presenting the tribute, that Ehud sent away the people who had carried the tribute.
19But he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal, and said, 'I have a secret message for you, O king.' And the king said, 'Silence!' And all who were attending him left him.
20Then Ehud came to him while he was sitting in his cool roof chamber alone. And Ehud said, 'I have a message from God for you.' And he got up from his seat.
21Then Ehud reached out with his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.
22The hilt of the sword also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade because he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the refuse came out.
23Then Ehud went out into the vestibule, and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him, and locked them.
24When he had left, the king’s servants came and looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber were locked; and they said, 'Undoubtedly he is relieving himself in the cool room.'
25So they waited until it would have been shameful to wait longer; but behold, he did not open the doors of the roof chamber. So they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the floor dead.
26Now Ehud escaped while they were hesitating, and he passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah.
27And when he arrived, he blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was leading them.
28Then he said to them, 'Pursue them, for the Lord has handed your enemies the Moabites over to you.' So they went down after him and took control of the crossing places of the Jordan opposite Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross.
29They struck and killed about ten thousand Moabites at that time, all robust and valiant men; and no one escaped.
30So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was at rest for eighty years.
Chapter 4
1Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. 2So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. 3The sons of Israel cried out to the Lord; for he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.
4Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
5She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went up to her for judgment.
6Now she sent word and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, 'The Lord, the God of Israel, has indeed commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun.
7I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his many troops to the river Kishon, and I will hand him over to you.’?'
8Then Barak said to her, 'If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.'
9She said, 'I will certainly go with you; however, the fame shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.' Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up with him; Deborah also went up with him.
12Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13Sisera summoned all his chariots, nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon.
14Then Deborah said to Barak, 'Arise! For this is the day on which the Lord has handed Sisera over to you; behold, the Lord has gone out before you.' So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
15And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
16But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not even one was left.
17Now Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, 'Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.' So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.
19And he said to her, 'Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.' So she opened a leather bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him.
20And he said to her, 'Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’?'
21But Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died.
22And behold, while Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, 'Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.' So he entered with her, and behold, Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.
23So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan on that day before the sons of Israel.
24And the hand of the sons of Israel pressed harder and harder upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had eliminated Jabin the king of Canaan.
2'For the leaders leading in Israel, For the people volunteering, Bless the Lord!
3Hear, you kings; listen, you dignitaries! I myself—to the Lord, I myself will sing, I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel!
4Lord, when You went out from Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth quaked, the heavens also dripped, The clouds also dripped water.
5The mountains flowed with water at the presence of the Lord, This Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.
6'In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the roads were deserted, And travelers went by roundabout ways.
7The peasantry came to an end, they came to an end in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Until I arose, a mother in Israel.
8New gods were chosen; Then war was in the gates. Not a shield or a spear was seen Among forty thousand in Israel.
9My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, The volunteers among the people; Bless the Lord!
10You who ride on white donkeys, You who sit on rich carpets, And you who travel on the road—shout in praise!
11At the sound of those who distribute water among the watering places, There they will recount the righteous deeds of the Lord, The righteous deeds for His peasantry in Israel. Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates.
12'Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, son of Abinoam.
13Then survivors came down to the nobles; The people of the Lord came down to me as warriors.
14From Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek came down, Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples; From Machir commanders came down, And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of office.
15And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; As was Issachar, so was Barak; Into the valley they rushed at his heels; Among the divisions of Reuben There were great determinations of heart.
16Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, To hear the piping for the flocks? Among the divisions of Reuben There were great searchings of heart.
17Gilead remained across the Jordan; And why did Dan stay on ships? Asher sat at the seashore, And remained by its landings.
18Zebulun was a people who risked their lives, And Naphtali too, on the high places of the field.
19'The kings came and fought; Then the kings of Canaan fought At Taanach near the waters of Megiddo; They took no plunder in silver.
20The stars fought from heaven, From their paths they fought against Sisera.
21The torrent of Kishon swept them away, The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. My soul, march on with strength!
22Then the horses’ hoofs beat From the galloping, the galloping of his mighty stallions.
23‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord, ‘Utterly curse its inhabitants, Because they did not come to the help of the Lord, To the help of the Lord against the warriors.’
24'Most blessed of women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Most blessed is she of women in the tent.
25He asked for water, she gave him milk; In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.
26She reached out her hand for the tent peg, And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer. Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head; And she shattered and pierced his temple.
27Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay; Between her feet he bowed, he fell; Where he bowed, there he fell dead.
28'Out of the window she looked and wailed, The mother of Sisera through the lattice, ‘Why does his chariot delay in coming? Why do the hoofbeats of his chariots delay?’
29Her wise princesses would answer her, Indeed she repeats her words to herself,
30‘Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoils? A concubine, two concubines for every warrior; To Sisera a spoil of dyed cloth, A spoil of dyed cloth embroidered, Dyed cloth of double embroidery on the neck of the plunderer?’
Chapter 6
1Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord handed them over to Midian for seven years. 2The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3For whenever Israel had sown, the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the people of the east and march against them. 4So they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, nor a sheep, ox, or donkey. 5For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts in number, and both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to ruin it. 6So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord.
7Now it came about, when the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of Midian,
8that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery.
9And I rescued you from the hands of the Egyptians, and from the hands of all your oppressors, and I drove them out from you and gave you their land,
10and I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live.' But you have not obeyed Me.’?'
11Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites.
12And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, 'The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.'
13Then Gideon said to him, 'O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.'
14And the Lord looked at him and said, 'Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?'
15But he said to Him, 'O Lord, how am I to save Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.'
16Yet the Lord said to him, 'I will certainly be with you, and you will defeat Midian as one man.'
17So Gideon said to Him, 'If now I have found favor in Your sight, then perform for me a sign that it is You speaking with me.
18Please do not depart from here until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.' And He said, 'I will remain until you return.'
19Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them.
20And the angel of God said to him, 'Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.' And he did so.
21Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22When Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, 'Oh, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!'
23But the Lord said to him, 'Peace to you, do not be afraid; you shall not die.'
24Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25Now on the same night the Lord said to him, 'Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it;
26and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly way, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.'
27Then Gideon took ten men from his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.
28When the people of the city got up early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal had been torn down, and the Asherah which had been beside it had been cut down, and the second bull had been offered on the altar which had been built.
29So they said to one another, 'Who did this thing?' And when they searched and inquired, they said, 'Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.'
30Then the men of the city said to Joash, 'Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.'
31But Joash said to all who stood against him, 'Will you contend for Baal, or will you save him? Whoever will contend for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, since someone has torn down his altar!'
32Therefore on that day he named Gideon Jerubbaal, that is to say, 'Let Baal contend against him,' because he had torn down his altar.
33Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the people of the east assembled together; and they crossed over and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.
34So the Spirit of the Lord covered Gideon like clothing; and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him.
35And he sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.
36Then Gideon said to God, 'If You are going to save Israel through me, as You have spoken,
37behold, I am putting a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will save Israel through me, as You have spoken.'
38And it was so. When he got up early the next morning and wrung out the fleece, he wrung the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water.
39Then Gideon said to God, 'Do not let Your anger burn against me, so that I may speak only one more time; please let me put You to the test only one more time with the fleece: let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.'
40And God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.
2And the Lord said to Gideon, 'The people who are with you are too many for Me to hand Midian over to them, otherwise Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has saved me.’
3Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is afraid and worried, is to return and leave Mount Gilead.’?' So twenty-two thousand from the people returned, but ten thousand remained.
4Then the Lord said to Gideon, 'The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. So it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.'
5So he brought the people down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, 'You shall put everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps in one group, and everyone who kneels down to drink in another.'
6Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people kneeled down to drink water.
7And the Lord said to Gideon, 'I will save you with the three hundred men who lapped, and will hand the Midianites over to you; so have all the other people go, each man to his home.'
8So the three hundred men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And Gideon dismissed all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the three hundred men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
9Now on the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, 'Arise, go down against the camp, for I have handed it over to you.
10But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp,
11so that you will hear what they say; and afterward you will have the courage to go down against the camp.' So he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the army that was in the camp.
12Now the Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the people of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
13When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, 'Behold, I had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent collapsed.'
14And his friend replied, 'This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has handed over to him Midian and all the camp.'
15When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, 'Arise, for the Lord has handed over to you the camp of Midian!'
16And he divided the three hundred men into three units, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers.
17Then he said to them, 'Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.
18When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets around the entire camp and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’?'
19So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle night watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands.
20When the three units blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and shouted, 'A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!'
21And each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran, crying out as they fled.
22And when they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the entire army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
23And the men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.
24Then Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, 'Come down against Midian and take control of the waters ahead of them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.' So all the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they took control of the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.
25And they captured the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.
Chapter 8
1Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, 'What is this thing that you have done to us, not calling upon us when you went to fight against Midian?' And they quarreled with him vehemently. 2But he said to them, 'What have I done now in comparison with you? Is the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim not better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3God has handed over to you the leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?' Then their anger toward him subsided when he said that.
4Then Gideon and the three hundred men who were with him came to the Jordan and crossed over, exhausted yet still pursuing.
5And he said to the men of Succoth, 'Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.'
6But the leaders of Succoth said, 'Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?'
7So Gideon said, 'For this answer, when the Lord has handed over to me Zebah and Zalmunna, I will thrash your bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.'
8Then he went up from there to Penuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered.
9So he said also to the men of Penuel, 'When I return safely, I will tear down this tower.'
10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of the entire army of the people of the east; for the fallen were 120,000 swordsmen.
11Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked the camp when the camp was unsuspecting.
12When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the entire army.
13Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres.
14And he captured a youth from Succoth and questioned him. Then the youth wrote down for him the leaders of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.
15And he came to the men of Succoth and said, 'Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘ Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?’?'
16Then he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them.
17And he tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
18Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, 'Where were the men whom you killed at Tabor?' But they said, 'You and they were alike, each one resembling the son of a king.'
19And he said, 'They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you.'
20So he said to Jether his firstborn, 'Rise, kill them.' But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth.
21Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, 'Rise up yourself, and attack us; for as the man, so is his strength.' So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent amulets which were on their camels’ necks.
22Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, 'Rule over us, both you and your son, your son’s son as well, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian!'
23But Gideon said to them, 'I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.'
24Yet Gideon said to them, 'I would request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his plunder.' (For they had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
25And they said, 'We will certainly give them to you.' So they spread out a garment, and every one of them tossed an earring there from his plunder.
26The weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, apart from the crescent amulets, the ear pendants, and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and apart from the neck chains that were on their camels’ necks.
27Gideon made it into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah; but all Israel committed infidelity with it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
29Then Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house.
30Now Gideon had seventy sons who were his direct descendants, for he had many wives.
31And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.
32And Gideon the son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel again committed infidelity with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god.
34So the sons of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had saved them from the hands of all their enemies on every side;
35nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal ( that is, Gideon) in accordance with all the good that he had done for Israel.
King James Version
Chapter 2
1And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I swore unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. 2And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? 3Wherefore I also said, 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 unto you.
4And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spoke these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
5And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.
6And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.
7And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel.
8And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a hundred and ten years old.
9And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.
10And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
11And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim:
12And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger.
13And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
14And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
15Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
16Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
17And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.
18And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
19And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.
20And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;
21I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them 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 therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.
23Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.
Chapter 3
1Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; 3Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath. 4And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:
6And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
8Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.
9And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
10And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the Lord delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Cushan-rishathaim.
11And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord.
13And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.
14So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man left-handed: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.
16But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.
17And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.
18And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bore the present.
19But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.
20And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlor, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.
21And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
22And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.
23Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlor upon him, and locked them.
24When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.
25And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlor; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.
26And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.
27And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.
28And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.
29And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valor; and there escaped not a man.
30So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.
Chapter 4
1And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead. 2And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. 3And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
4And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
5And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
7And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
8And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
9And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
11Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
12And they showed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.
13And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.
14And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
16But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.
17Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
19And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
20Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.
21Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
22And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
23So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
24And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
Chapter 5
1Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, 2Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.Chapter 6
1And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strongholds. 3And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; 4And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 5For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. 6And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.
7And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites,
8That the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;
9And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land;
10And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.
11And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
12And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.
13And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
14And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
15And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.
16And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
17And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me.
18Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.
19And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.
20And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.
21Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.
22And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.
23And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.
24Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.
25And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:
26And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.
27Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.
28And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.
29And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.
30Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.
31And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.
32Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.
33Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.
34But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abi-ezer was gathered after him.
35And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
36And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,
37Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.
38And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
39And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
40And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
Chapter 7
1Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 3Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. 4And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 5So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. 6And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 7And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. 8So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. 9And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. 10But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: 11And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. 12And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. 13And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. 14And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host. 15And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshiped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. 16And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. 17And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. 18When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.
19So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.
20And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.
21And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.
22And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath.
23And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.
24And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan.
25And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.
Chapter 8
1And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. 2And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abi-ezer? 3God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that. 4And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. 5And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. 6And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army? 7And Gideon said, Therefore when the Lord hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. 8And he went up thence to Penuel, and spoke unto them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him. 9And he spoke also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.
10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell a hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword.
11And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host: for the host was secure.
12And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the host.
13And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up,
14And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men.
15And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary?
16And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.
17And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.
18Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.
19And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the Lord liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.
20And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth.
21Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks.
22Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian.
23And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you.
24And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
25And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey.
26And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks.
27And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
28Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.
29And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.
30And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives.
31And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.
32And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulcher of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.
33And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god.
34And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:
35Neither showed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had showed unto Israel.
Christian Standard Bible
Chapter 2
1The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, "I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your fathers. I also said: I will never break my covenant with you. 2You are not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed me. What is this you have done? 3Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap for you." 4When the angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. 5So they named that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the Lord.
6Previously, when Joshua had sent the people away, the Israelites had gone to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.
7The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works he had done for Israel.
8Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110.
9They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works he had done for Israel.
11The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals
12and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They angered the Lord,
13for they abandoned him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.
14The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies.
15Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against them and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them. So they suffered greatly.
16The Lord raised up judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders,
17but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands. They did not do as their fathers did.
18Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. The Lord was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them.
19Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly than their fathers, following other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate ways.
20The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he declared, "Because this nation has violated my covenant that I made with their fathers and disobeyed me,
21I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.
22I did this to test Israel and to see whether or not they would keep the Lord’s way by walking in it, as their fathers had."
23The Lord left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua.
Chapter 3
1These are the nations the Lord left in order to test all those in Israel who had experienced none of the wars in Canaan. 2This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before. 3These nations included the five rulers of the Philistines and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath. 4The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord’s commands he had given their fathers through Moses. 5But they settled among the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 6The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.
7The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; they forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs.
8The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them to King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.
9The Israelites cried out to the Lord. So the Lord raised up Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s youngest brother, as a deliverer to save the Israelites.
10The Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he judged Israel. Othniel went out to battle, and the Lord handed over King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram to him, so that Othniel overpowered him.
11Then the land had peace for forty years, and Othniel son of Kenaz died.
12The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He gave King Eglon of Moab power over Israel, because they had done what was evil in the Lord’s sight.
13After Eglon convinced the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join forces with him, he attacked and defeated Israel and took possession of the City of Palms.
14The Israelites served King Eglon of Moab eighteen years.
16Ehud made himself a double-edged sword eighteen inches long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his clothes
17and brought the tribute to King Eglon of Moab, who was an extremely fat man.
18When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he dismissed the people who had carried it.
19At the carved images near Gilgal he returned and said, "King Eglon, I have a secret message for you." The king said, "Silence!" and all his attendants left him.
20Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in his upstairs room where it was cool. Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you," and the king stood up from his throne.
21Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly.
22Even the handle went in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And the waste came out.
23Ehud escaped by way of the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upstairs room behind him.
24Ehud was gone when Eglon’s servants came in. They looked and found the doors of the upstairs room locked and thought he was relieving himself in the cool room.
25The servants waited until they became embarrassed and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upstairs room. So they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor!
26Ehud escaped while the servants waited. He passed the Jordan near the carved images and reached Seirah.
27After he arrived, he sounded the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hill country, and he became their leader.
28He told them, "Follow me, because the Lord has handed over your enemies, the Moabites, to you." So they followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over.
29At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all stout and able-bodied men. Not one of them escaped.
30Moab became subject to Israel that day, and the land had peace for eighty years.
Chapter 4
1The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died. 2So the Lord sold them to King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera who lived in Harosheth of the Nations. 3Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, because Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them twenty years.
4Deborah, a prophetess and the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
5She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to settle disputes.
6She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "Hasn’t the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you: ‘Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the Naphtalites and Zebulunites?
7Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his infantry at the Wadi Kishon to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.’"
9"I will gladly go with you," she said, "but you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera to a woman." So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.
12It was reported to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor.
13Sisera summoned all his nine hundred iron chariots and all the troops who were with him from Harosheth of the Nations to the Wadi Kishon.
14Then Deborah said to Barak, "Go! This is the day the Lord has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn’t the Lord gone before you?" So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
15The Lord threw Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army into a panic before Barak’s assault. Sisera left his chariot and fled on foot.
16Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth of the Nations, and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left.
17Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, "Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Don’t be afraid." So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
19He said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty." She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again.
20Then he said to her, "Stand at the entrance to the tent. If a man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’"
21While he was sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She hammered the peg into his temple and drove it into the ground, and he died.
23That day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites.
24The power of the Israelites continued to increase against King Jabin of Canaan until they destroyed him.
2When the leaders lead in Israel, when the people volunteer, blessed be the Lord.
3Listen, kings! Pay attention, princes! I will sing to the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
4 Lord, when you came from Seir, when you marched from the fields of Edom, the earth trembled, the skies poured rain, and the clouds poured water.
5The mountains melted before the Lord, even Sinai, before the Lord, the God of Israel.
6In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the main roads were deserted because travelers kept to the side roads.
7Villages were deserted, they were deserted in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.
8Israel chose new gods, then there was war in the city gates. Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.
9My heart is with the leaders of Israel, with the volunteers of the people. Blessed be the Lord!
10You who ride on white donkeys, who sit on saddle blankets, and who travel on the road, give praise!
11Let them tell the righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous deeds of his warriors in Israel, with the voices of the singers at the watering places. Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates.
12"Awake! Awake, Deborah! Awake! Awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and take your prisoners, son of Abinoam!"
13Then the survivors came down to the nobles; the Lord’s people came down to me with the warriors.
14Those with their roots in Amalek came from Ephraim; Benjamin came with your people after you. The leaders came down from Machir, and those who carry a marshal’s staff came from Zebulun.
15The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; Issachar was with Barak; they were under his leadership in the valley. There was great searching of heart among the clans of Reuben.
16Why did you sit among the sheep pens listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks? There was great searching of heart among the clans of Reuben.
17Gilead remained beyond the Jordan. Dan, why did you linger at the ships? Asher remained at the seashore and stayed in his harbors.
18The people of Zebulun defied death, Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.
19Kings came and fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo, but they did not plunder the silver.
20The stars fought from the heavens; the stars fought with Sisera from their paths.
21The river Kishon swept them away, the ancient river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul, in strength!
22The horses’ hooves then hammered— the galloping, galloping of his stallions.
23"Curse Meroz," says the angel of the Lord, "Bitterly curse her inhabitants, for they did not come to help the Lord, to help the Lord with the warriors."
24Jael is most blessed of women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; she is most blessed among tent-dwelling women.
25He asked for water; she gave him milk. She brought him cream in a majestic bowl.
26She reached for a tent peg, her right hand, for a workman’s hammer. Then she hammered Sisera— she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple.
27He collapsed, he fell, he lay down between her feet; he collapsed, he fell between her feet; where he collapsed, there he fell—dead.
28Sisera’s mother looked through the window; she peered through the lattice, crying out: "Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why don’t I hear the hoofbeats of his horses?"
29Her wisest princesses answer her; she even answers herself:
Chapter 6
1The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord handed them over to Midian seven years, 2and they oppressed Israel. Because of Midian, the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. 3Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the Qedemites came and attacked them. 4They encamped against them and destroyed the produce of the land, even as far as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. 5For the Midianites came with their cattle and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to lay waste to it. 6So Israel became poverty-stricken because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord.
7When the Israelites cried out to him because of Midian,
8the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said to them, "This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery.
9I rescued you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.
10I said to you: I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey me.’"
11The angel of the Lord came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites.
12Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: "The Lord is with you, valiant warrior."
23But the Lord said to him, "Peace to you. Don’t be afraid, for you will not die."
24So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites today.
25On that very night the Lord said to him, "Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
26Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this mound. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down."
27So Gideon took ten of his male servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night.
28When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built.
29They said to each other, "Who did this?" After they made a thorough investigation, they said, "Gideon son of Joash did it."
31But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar."
32That day he was called Jerubbaal, since Joash said, "Let Baal contend with him," because he tore down his altar.
34The Spirit of the Lord enveloped Gideon, and he blew the ram’s horn and the Abiezrites rallied behind him.
35He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh, who rallied behind him. He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who also came to meet him.
36Then Gideon said to God, "If you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you said,
37I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by my strength, as you said."
38And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water.
39Gideon then said to God, "Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground."
40That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.
Chapter 7
1Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops who were with him, got up early and camped beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2The Lord said to Gideon, "You have too many troops for me to hand the Midianites over to them, or else Israel might elevate themselves over me and say, ‘My own strength saved me.’ 3Now announce to the troops: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’" So twenty-two thousand of the troops turned back, but ten thousand remained.
4Then the Lord said to Gideon, "There are still too many troops. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one can go with you,’ he can go. But if I say about anyone, ‘This one cannot go with you,’ he cannot go."
5So he brought the troops down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, "Separate everyone who laps water with his tongue like a dog. Do the same with everyone who kneels to drink."
6The number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men, and all the rest of the troops knelt to drink water.
7The Lord said to Gideon, "I will deliver you with the three hundred men who lapped and hand the Midianites over to you. But everyone else is to go home."
8So Gideon sent all the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred troops, who took the provisions and their trumpets. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
9That night the Lord said to him, "Get up and attack the camp, for I have handed it over to you.
10But if you are afraid to attack the camp, go down with Purah your servant.
11Listen to what they say, and then you will be encouraged to attack the camp." So he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the troops who were in the camp.
12Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the Qedemites had settled down in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore.
13When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling his friend about a dream. He said, "Listen, I had a dream: a loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp, struck a tent, and it fell. The loaf turned the tent upside down so that it collapsed."
15When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to Israel’s camp and said, "Get up, for the Lord has handed the Midianite camp over to you."
16Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each of the men a trumpet in one hand and an empty pitcher with a torch inside it in the other hand.
17"Watch me," he said to them, "and do what I do. When I come to the outpost of the camp, do as I do.
18When I and everyone with me blow our trumpets, you are also to blow your trumpets all around the camp. Then you will say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’"
19Gideon and the hundred men who were with him went to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch after the sentries had been stationed. They blew their trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.
20The three companies blew their trumpets and shattered their pitchers. They held their torches in their left hands, their trumpets in their right hands, and shouted, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"
21Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army began to run, and they cried out as they fled.
22When Gideon’s men blew their three hundred trumpets, the Lord caused the men in the whole army to turn on each other with their swords. They fled to Acacia House in the direction of Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.
23Then the men of Israel were called from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites.
24Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim with this message: "Come down to intercept the Midianites and take control of the watercourses ahead of them as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan." So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they took control of the watercourses as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.
25They captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian; they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb, while they were pursuing the Midianites. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.
2So he said to them, "What have I done now compared to you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?
3God handed over to you Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian. What was I able to do compared to you?" When he said this, their anger against him subsided.
4Gideon and the three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it. They were exhausted but still in pursuit.
5He said to the men of Succoth, "Please give some loaves of bread to the troops under my command, because they are exhausted, for I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian."
7Gideon replied, "Very well, when the Lord has handed Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will tear your flesh with thorns and briers from the wilderness!"
8He went from there to Penuel and asked the same thing from them. The men of Penuel answered just as the men of Succoth had answered.
9He also told the men of Penuel, "When I return safely, I will tear down this tower!"
10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and with them was their army of about fifteen thousand men, who were all those left of the entire army of the Qedemites. Those who had been killed were one hundred twenty thousand armed men.
11Gideon traveled on the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked their army while the army felt secure.
12Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them. He captured these two kings of Midian and routed the entire army.
13Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the Ascent of Heres.
14He captured a youth from the men of Succoth and interrogated him. The youth wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth.
15Then he went to the men of Succoth and said, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. You taunted me about them, saying, ‘Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your power that we should give bread to your exhausted men?’"
16So he took the elders of the city, and he took some thorns and briers from the wilderness, and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them.
17He also tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
19So he said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother! As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you."
20Then he said to Jether, his firstborn, "Get up and kill them." The youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still a youth.
23But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you."
24Then he said to them, "Let me make a request of you: Everyone give me an earring from his plunder." Now the enemy had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.
25They said, "We agree to give them." So they spread out a cloak, and everyone threw an earring from his plunder on it.
26The weight of the gold earrings he requested was forty-three pounds of gold, in addition to the crescent ornaments and ear pendants, the purple garments on the kings of Midian, and the chains on the necks of their camels.
27Gideon made an ephod from all this and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. Then all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
28So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they were no longer a threat. The land had peace for forty years during the days of Gideon.
29Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) son of Joash went back to live at his house.
30Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, since he had many wives.
31His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.
32Then Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33When Gideon died, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves by worshiping the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.
34The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God who had rescued them from the hand of the enemies around them.
35They did not show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.
New Living Translation
Chapter 2
1The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said to the Israelites, 'I brought you out of Egypt into this land that I swore to give your ancestors, and I said I would never break my covenant with you. 2For your part, you were not to make any covenants with the people living in this land; instead, you were to destroy their altars. But you disobeyed my command. Why did you do this? 3So now I declare that I will no longer drive out the people living in your land. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a constant temptation to you.'
4When the angel of the Lord finished speaking to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.
5So they called the place Bokim (which means 'weeping'), and they offered sacrifices there to the Lord.
6After Joshua sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them.
7And the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him — those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
8Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110.
9They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
11The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal.
12They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord.
13They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth.
14This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions. He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them.
15Every time Israel went out to battle, the Lord fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as he had warned. And the people were in great distress.
16Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers.
17Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves by worshiping other gods. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands.
18Whenever the Lord raised up a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime. For the Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering.
19But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them. They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
20So the Lord burned with anger against Israel. He said, 'Because these people have violated my covenant, which I made with their ancestors, and have ignored my commands,
21I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died.
22I did this to test Israel — to see whether or not they would follow the ways of the Lord as their ancestors did.'
23That is why the Lord left those nations in place. He did not quickly drive them out or allow Joshua to conquer them all.
Chapter 3
1These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. 2He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. 3These are the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. 4These people were left to test the Israelites — to see whether they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses.
5So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,
6and they intermarried with them. Israelite sons married their daughters, and Israelite daughters were given in marriage to their sons. And the Israelites served their gods.
7The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They forgot about the Lord their God, and they served the images of Baal and the Asherah poles.
8Then the Lord burned with anger against Israel, and he turned them over to King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim. And the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years.
9But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, the Lord raised up a rescuer to save them. His name was Othniel, the son of Caleb’s younger brother, Kenaz.
10The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge. He went to war against King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram, and the Lord gave Othniel victory over him.
11So there was peace in the land for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
12Once again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight, and the Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel because of their evil.
13Eglon enlisted the Ammonites and Amalekites as allies, and then he went out and defeated Israel, taking possession of Jericho, the city of palms.
14And the Israelites served Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.
15But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, the Lord again raised up a rescuer to save them. His name was Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed man of the tribe of Benjamin. The Israelites sent Ehud to deliver their tribute money to King Eglon of Moab.
16So Ehud made a double-edged dagger that was about a foot long, and he strapped it to his right thigh, keeping it hidden under his clothing.
17He brought the tribute money to Eglon, who was very fat.
20Ehud walked over to Eglon, who was sitting alone in a cool upstairs room. And Ehud said, 'I have a message from God for you!' As King Eglon rose from his seat,
21Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled out the dagger strapped to his right thigh, and plunged it into the king’s belly.
22The dagger went so deep that the handle disappeared beneath the king’s fat. So Ehud did not pull out the dagger, and the king’s bowels emptied.
23Then Ehud closed and locked the doors of the room and escaped down the latrine.
24After Ehud was gone, the king’s servants returned and found the doors to the upstairs room locked. They thought he might be using the latrine in the room,
25so they waited. But when the king didn’t come out after a long delay, they became concerned and got a key. And when they opened the doors, they found their master dead on the floor.
26While the servants were waiting, Ehud escaped, passing the stone idols on his way to Seirah.
27When he arrived in the hill country of Ephraim, Ehud sounded a call to arms. Then he led a band of Israelites down from the hills.
29They attacked the Moabites and killed about 10,000 of their strongest and most able-bodied warriors. Not one of them escaped.
30So Moab was conquered by Israel that day, and there was peace in the land for eighty years.
Chapter 4
1After Ehud’s death, the Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. 2So the Lord turned them over to King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite king. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. 3Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help.
4Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet who was judging Israel at that time.
5She would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment.
6One day she sent for Barak son of Abinoam, who lived in Kedesh in the land of Naphtali. She said to him, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: Call out 10,000 warriors from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun at Mount Tabor.
7And I will call out Sisera, commander of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and warriors, to the Kishon River. There I will give you victory over him.'
9Very well,' she replied, 'I will go with you. But you will receive no honor in this venture, for the Lord’s victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman.' So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.
10At Kedesh, Barak called together the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, and 10,000 warriors went up with him. Deborah also went with him.
12When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,
13he called for all 900 of his iron chariots and all of his warriors, and they marched from Harosheth-haggoyim to the Kishon River.
14Then Deborah said to Barak, 'Get ready! This is the day the Lord will give you victory over Sisera, for the Lord is marching ahead of you.' So Barak led his 10,000 warriors down the slopes of Mount Tabor into battle.
15When Barak attacked, the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and warriors into a panic. Sisera leaped down from his chariot and escaped on foot.
16Then Barak chased the chariots and the enemy army all the way to Harosheth-haggoyim, killing all of Sisera’s warriors. Not a single one was left alive.
17Meanwhile, Sisera ran to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because Heber’s family was on friendly terms with King Jabin of Hazor.
18Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, 'Come into my tent, sir. Come in. Don’t be afraid.' So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
23So on that day Israel saw God defeat Jabin, the Canaanite king.
24And from that time on Israel became stronger and stronger against King Jabin until they finally destroyed him.
4'Lord, when you set out from Seir and marched across the fields of Edom, the earth trembled, and the cloudy skies poured down rain.
5The mountains quaked in the presence of the Lord, the God of Mount Sinai — in the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.
6'In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, and in the days of Jael, people avoided the main roads, and travelers stayed on winding pathways.
7There were few people left in the villages of Israel — until Deborah arose as a mother for Israel.
8When Israel chose new gods, war erupted at the city gates. Yet not a shield or spear could be seen among forty thousand warriors in Israel!
9My heart is with the commanders of Israel, with those who volunteered for war. Praise the Lord!
10'Consider this, you who ride on fine donkeys, you who sit on fancy saddle blankets, and you who walk along the road.
11Listen to the village musicians gathered at the watering holes. They recount the righteous victories of the Lord and the victories of his villagers in Israel. Then the people of the Lord marched down to the city gates.
13'Down from Tabor marched the few against the nobles. The people of the Lord marched down against mighty warriors.
14They came down from Ephraim — a land that once belonged to the Amalekites; they followed you, Benjamin, with your troops. From Makir the commanders marched down; from Zebulun came those who carry a commander’s staff.
15The princes of Issachar were with Deborah and Barak. They followed Barak, rushing into the valley. But in the tribe of Reuben there was great indecision.
16Why did you sit at home among the sheepfolds — to hear the shepherds whistle for their flocks? Yes, in the tribe of Reuben there was great indecision.
17Gilead remained east of the Jordan. And why did Dan stay home? Asher sat unmoved at the seashore, remaining in his harbors.
18But Zebulun risked his life, as did Naphtali, on the heights of the battlefield.
19'The kings of Canaan came and fought, at Taanach near Megiddo’s springs, but they carried off no silver treasures.
20The stars fought from heaven. The stars in their orbits fought against Sisera.
21The Kishon River swept them away — that ancient torrent, the Kishon. March on with courage, my soul!
22Then the horses’ hooves hammered the ground, the galloping, galloping of Sisera’s mighty steeds.
23‘Let the people of Meroz be cursed,’ said the angel of the Lord. ‘Let them be utterly cursed, because they did not come to help the Lord — to help the Lord against the mighty warriors.’
24'Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. May she be blessed above all women who live in tents.
25Sisera asked for water, and she gave him milk. In a bowl fit for nobles, she brought him yogurt.
26Then with her left hand she reached for a tent peg, and with her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera with the hammer, crushing his head. With a shattering blow, she pierced his temples.
27He sank, he fell, he lay still at her feet. And where he sank, there he died.
29'Her wise women answer, and she repeats these words to herself:
30‘They must be dividing the captured plunder — with a woman or two for every man. There will be colorful robes for Sisera, and colorful, embroidered robes for me. Yes, the plunder will include colorful robes embroidered on both sides.’
Chapter 6
1The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. So the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. 2The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. 3Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, marauders from Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east would attack Israel, 4camping in the land and destroying crops as far away as Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. 5These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as locusts; they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare. 6So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.
7When they cried out to the Lord because of Midian,
8the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt.
9I rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you. I drove out your enemies and gave you their land.
10I told you, ‘I am the Lord your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live.’ But you have not listened to me.'
11Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites.
12The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, 'Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!'
20The angel of God said to him, 'Place the meat and the unleavened bread on this rock, and pour the broth over it.' And Gideon did as he was told.
21Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and bread with the tip of the staff in his hand, and fire flamed up from the rock and consumed all he had brought. And the angel of the Lord disappeared.
23It is all right,' the Lord replied. 'Do not be afraid. You will not die.'
24And Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it Yahweh-Shalom (which means 'the Lord is peace'). The altar remains in Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer to this day.
25That night the Lord said to Gideon, 'Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one that is seven years old. Pull down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole standing beside it.
26Then build an altar to the Lord your God here on this hilltop sanctuary, laying the stones carefully. Sacrifice the bull as a burnt offering on the altar, using as fuel the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.'
28Early the next morning, as the people of the town began to stir, someone discovered that the altar of Baal had been broken down and that the Asherah pole beside it had been cut down. In their place a new altar had been built, and on it were the remains of the bull that had been sacrificed.
29The people said to each other, 'Who did this?' And after asking around and making a careful search, they learned that it was Gideon, the son of Joash.
31But Joash shouted to the mob that confronted him, 'Why are you defending Baal? Will you argue his case? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If Baal truly is a god, let him defend himself and destroy the one who broke down his altar!'
32From then on Gideon was called Jerub-baal, which means 'Let Baal defend himself,' because he broke down Baal’s altar.
33Soon afterward the armies of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east formed an alliance against Israel and crossed the Jordan, camping in the valley of Jezreel.
34Then the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with power. He blew a ram’s horn as a call to arms, and the men of the clan of Abiezer came to him.
35He also sent messengers throughout Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, summoning their warriors, and all of them responded.
36Then Gideon said to God, 'If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised,
37prove it to me in this way. I will put a wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.'
38And that is just what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water.
39Then Gideon said to God, 'Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more request. Let me use the fleece for one more test. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.'
40So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew.
Chapter 7
1So Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon) and his army got up early and went as far as the spring of Harod. The armies of Midian were camped north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2The Lord said to Gideon, 'You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. 3Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’' So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.
4But the Lord told Gideon, 'There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.'
5When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, 'Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.'
6Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream.
8So Gideon collected the provisions and rams’ horns of the other warriors and sent them home. But he kept the 300 men with him. The Midianite camp was in the valley just below Gideon.
9That night the Lord said, 'Get up! Go down into the Midianite camp, for I have given you victory over them!
10But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah.
11Listen to what the Midianites are saying, and you will be greatly encouraged. Then you will be eager to attack.' So Gideon took Purah and went down to the edge of the enemy camp.
12The armies of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels were like grains of sand on the seashore — too many to count!
13Gideon crept up just as a man was telling his companion about a dream. The man said, 'I had this dream, and in my dream a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent, turned it over, and knocked it flat!'
15When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship before the Lord. Then he returned to the Israelite camp and shouted, 'Get up! For the Lord has given you victory over the Midianite hordes!'
16He divided the 300 men into three groups and gave each man a ram’s horn and a clay jar with a torch in it.
17Then he said to them, 'Keep your eyes on me. When I come to the edge of the camp, do just as I do.
18As soon as I and those with me blow the rams’ horns, blow your horns, too, all around the entire camp, and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’'
19It was just after midnight, after the changing of the guard, when Gideon and the 100 men with him reached the edge of the Midianite camp. Suddenly, they blew the rams’ horns and broke their clay jars.
20Then all three groups blew their horns and broke their jars. They held the blazing torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, and they all shouted, 'A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!'
21Each man stood at his position around the camp and watched as all the Midianites rushed around in a panic, shouting as they ran to escape.
22When the 300 Israelites blew their rams’ horns, the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords. Those who were not killed fled to places as far away as Beth-shittah near Zererah and to the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.
24Gideon also sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, 'Come down to attack the Midianites. Cut them off at the shallow crossings of the Jordan River at Beth-barah.' So all the men of Ephraim did as they were told.
25They captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two Midianite commanders, killing Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. And they continued to chase the Midianites. Afterward the Israelites brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan River.
2But Gideon replied, 'What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren’t even the leftover grapes of Ephraim’s harvest better than the entire crop of my little clan of Abiezer?
3God gave you victory over Oreb and Zeeb, the commanders of the Midianite army. What have I accomplished compared to that?' When the men of Ephraim heard Gideon’s answer, their anger subsided.
4Gideon then crossed the Jordan River with his 300 men, and though exhausted, they continued to chase the enemy.
5When they reached Succoth, Gideon asked the leaders of the town, 'Please give my warriors some food. They are very tired. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.'
8From there Gideon went up to Peniel and again asked for food, but he got the same answer.
9So he said to the people of Peniel, 'After I return in victory, I will tear down this tower.'
10By this time Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with about 15,000 warriors — all that remained of the allied armies of the east, for 120,000 had already been killed.
11Gideon circled around by the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, taking the Midianite army by surprise.
12Zebah and Zalmunna, the two Midianite kings, fled, but Gideon chased them down and captured all their warriors.
13After this, Gideon returned from the battle by way of Heres Pass.
14There he captured a young man from Succoth and demanded that he write down the names of all the seventy-seven officials and elders in the town.
15Gideon then returned to Succoth and said to the leaders, 'Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. When we were here before, you taunted me, saying, ‘Catch Zebah and Zalmunna first, and then we will feed your exhausted army.’'
16Then Gideon took the elders of the town and taught them a lesson, punishing them with thorns and briers from the wilderness.
17He also tore down the tower of Peniel and killed all the men in the town.
23But Gideon replied, 'I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The Lord will rule over you!
24However, I do have one request — that each of you give me an earring from the plunder you collected from your fallen enemies.' (The enemies, being Ishmaelites, all wore gold earrings.)
25Gladly!' they replied. They spread out a cloak, and each one threw in a gold earring he had gathered from the plunder.
26The weight of the gold earrings was forty-three pounds, not including the royal ornaments and pendants, the purple clothing worn by the kings of Midian, or the chains around the necks of their camels.
29Then Gideon son of Joash returned home.
30He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives.
31He also had a concubine in Shechem, who gave birth to a son, whom he named Abimelech.
32Gideon died when he was very old, and he was buried in the grave of his father, Joash, at Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer.
33As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping the images of Baal, making Baal-berith their god.
34They forgot the Lord their God, who had rescued them from all their enemies surrounding them.
35Nor did they show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon), despite all the good he had done for Israel.
English Standard Version
Chapter 2
1Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, "I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? 3So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you." 4As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5And they called the name of that place Bochim. And they sacrificed there to the Lord.
6When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of 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 work that the Lord had done for Israel.
8And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years.
9And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.
10And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
11And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.
12And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.
13They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.
14So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.
15Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
16Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
17Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so.
18Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.
19But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.
20So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, "Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice,
21I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died,
22in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not."
23So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
Chapter 3
1Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. 2It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. 3These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. 4They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. 5So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.
7And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.
8Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.
9But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb 's younger brother.
10The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.
11So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
13He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of palms.
14And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.
16And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes.
17And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.
18And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute.
19But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." And he commanded, "Silence." And all his attendants went out from his presence.
20And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." And he arose from his seat.
21And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.
22And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out.
23Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.
24When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, "Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber."
25And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.
26Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah.
27When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader.
28And he said to them, "Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand." So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over.
29And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped.
30So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.
Chapter 4
1And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. 2And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. 3Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.
4Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
5She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, "Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun.
7And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin 's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?"
8Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go."
9And she said, "I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.
12When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,
13Sisera called out all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon.
14And Deborah said to Barak, "Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him.
15And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot.
16And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.
17But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid." So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.
19And he said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty." So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him.
20And he said to her, "Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’"
21But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died.
22And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking." So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.
23So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel.
24And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
2"That the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offered themselves willingly, bless the Lord!
3"Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes; to the Lord I will sing; I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.
4"Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, yes, the clouds dropped water.
5The mountains quaked before the Lord, even Sinai before the Lord, the God of Israel.
6"In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, and travelers kept to the byways.
7The villagers ceased in Israel; they ceased to be until I arose; I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.
8 When new gods were chosen, then war was in the gates. Was shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel?
9My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the Lord.
10"Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets and you who walk by the way.
11To the sound of musicians at the watering places, there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the Lord, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. "Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.
12 "Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, break out in a song! Arise, Barak, lead away your captives, O son of Abinoam.
13Then down marched the remnant of the noble; the people of the Lord marched down for me against the mighty.
14From Ephraim their root they marched down into the valley, following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen; from Machir marched down the commanders, and from Zebulun those who bear the lieutenant 's staff;
15the princes of Issachar came with Deborah, and Issachar faithful to Barak; into the valley they rushed at his heels. Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
16Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds, to hear the whistling for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan; and Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher sat still at the coast of the sea, staying by his landings.
18 Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death; Naphtali, too, on the heights of the field.
19"The kings came, they fought; then fought the kings of Canaan, at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; they got no spoils of silver.
20 From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The torrent Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. March on, my soul, with might!
22"Then loud beat the horses ' hoofs with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.
23"Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord, curse its inhabitants thoroughly, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.
24"Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
25 He asked for water and she gave him milk; she brought him curds in a noble 's bowl.
26 She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen 's mallet; she struck Sisera; she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple.
27Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; between her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell — dead.
28 "Out of the window she peered, the mother of Sisera wailed through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’
29Her wisest princesses answer, indeed, she answers herself,
30‘Have they not found and divided the spoil? — A womb or two for every man; spoil of dyed materials for Sisera, spoil of dyed materials embroidered, two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?’
31 "So may all your enemies perish, O Lord! But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might." And the land had rest for forty years.
Chapter 6
1The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number — both they and their camels could not be counted — so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.
7When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites,
8the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.
9And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.
10And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice."
11Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
12And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor."
13And Gideon said to him, "Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian."
14And the Lord turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?"
15And he said to him, "Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father 's house."
16And the Lord said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man."
17And he said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me.
18Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you." And he said, "I will stay till you return."
19So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them.
20And the angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them." And he did so.
21Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face."
23But the Lord said to him, "Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die."
24Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
25That night the Lord said to him, "Take your father 's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it
26and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down."
27So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.
28When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.
29And they said to one another, "Who has done this thing?" And after they had searched and inquired, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing."
30Then the men of the town said to Joash, "Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it."
31But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down."
32Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, "Let Baal contend against him," because he broke down his altar.
33Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.
34But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him.
35And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.
36Then Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said,
37behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said."
38And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.
39Then Gideon said to God, "Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew."
40And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
2The Lord said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
3Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’" Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
4And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go."
5So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, "Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink."
6And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.
7And the Lord said to Gideon, "With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home."
8So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
9That same night the Lord said to him, "Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.
10But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant.
11And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp.
12And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance.
13When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, "Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat."
14And his comrade answered, "This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp."
15As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, "Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand."
16And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars.
17And he said to them, "Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.
18When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’"
19So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.
20Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"
21Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled.
22When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man 's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
23And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.
24Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan." So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.
25And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.
Chapter 8
1Then the men of Ephraim said to him, "What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?" And they accused him fiercely. 2And he said to them, "What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? 3God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?" Then their anger against him subsided when he said this.
4And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing.
5So he said to the men of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian."
6And the officials of Succoth said, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?"
7So Gideon said, "Well then, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers."
8And from there he went up to Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.
9And he said to the men of Penuel, "When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower."
10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword.
11And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, for the army felt secure.
12And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw all the army into a panic.
13Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres.
14And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men.
15And he came to the men of Succoth and said, "Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?’"
16And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson.
17And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
18Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?" They answered, "As you are, so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a king."
19And he said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you."
20So he said to Jether his firstborn, "Rise and kill them!" But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a young man.
21Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength." And Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
22Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian."
23Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you."
24And Gideon said to them, "Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil." (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
25And they answered, "We will willingly give them." And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil.
26And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels.
27And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.
28So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
29Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house.
30Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.
31And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech.
32And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.
34And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side,
35and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.
New International Version
Chapter 2
1The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’ "
4When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,
5and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.
6After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance.
7The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
8Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten.
9And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.
11Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.
12They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger
13because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
14In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.
15Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
16Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.
17Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands.
18Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.
19But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
20Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, "Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me,
21I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.
22I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did."
23The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.
Chapter 3
1These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2(he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): 3the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.
5The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
6They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
8The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.
9But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.
10The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.
11So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
12Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.
13Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.
14The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
15Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
16Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.
17He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man.
18After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it.
20Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace and said, "I have a message from God for you." As the king rose from his seat,
21Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly.
22Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.
23Then Ehud went out to the porch ; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.
24After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, "He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace."
25They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.
26While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah.
27When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.
28"Follow me," he ordered, "for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands." So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over.
29At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped.
30That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.
Chapter 4
1Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. 2So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.
4Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.
5She 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.
6She 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.
7I 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.’ "
9"Certainly I will go with you," said Deborah. "But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.
10There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.
12When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,
13Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.
14Then Deborah said to Barak, "Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?" So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him.
15At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
16Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left.
17Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
23On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.
24And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.
3"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.
4"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.
5The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai, before the Lord, the God of Israel.
6"In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned; travelers took to winding paths.
7Villagers in Israel would not fight; they held back until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel.
8God chose new leaders when war came to the city gates, but not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.
9My heart is with Israel’s princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. Praise the Lord!
10"You who ride on white donkeys, sitting on your saddle blankets, and you who walk along the road, consider
12‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, break out in song! Arise, Barak! Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’
13"The remnant of the nobles came down; the people of the Lord came down to me against the mighty.
14Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek; Benjamin was with the people who followed you. From Makir captains came down, from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s staff.
15The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; yes, Issachar was with Barak, sent under his command into the valley. In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart.
16Why did you stay among the sheep pens to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart.
17Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he linger by the ships? Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves.
18The people of Zebulun risked their very lives; so did Naphtali on the terraced fields.
19"Kings came, they fought, the kings of Canaan fought. At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo, they took no plunder of silver.
20From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21The river Kishon swept them away, the age-old river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul; be strong!
22Then thundered the horses’ hooves— galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.
23‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord. ‘Curse its people bitterly, because they did not come to help the Lord, to help the Lord against the mighty.’
24"Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
25He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
26Her hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple.
27At her feet he sank, he fell; there he lay. At her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell—dead.
28"Through the window peered Sisera’s mother; behind the lattice she cried out, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’
29The wisest of her ladies answer her; indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
Chapter 6
1The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.
7When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian,
8he 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.
9I 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.
10I 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."
11The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.
12When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."
20The 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.
21Then 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.
22When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, "Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!"
25That 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.
26Then 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."
31But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, "Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar."
32So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal that day, saying, "Let Baal contend with him."
33Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.
34Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.
35He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.
36Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—
37look, 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."
38And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
39Then 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."
40That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
Chapter 7
1Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2The Lord said to Gideon, "You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ 3Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ " So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
5So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink."
6Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.
8So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.
9During that night the Lord said to Gideon, "Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.
10If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah
11and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp." So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp.
12The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.
15When 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."
16Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.
17"Watch me," he told them. "Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.
18When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’ "
19Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands.
20The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"
21While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
22When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.
23Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites.
24Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah." So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they seized the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah.
25They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.
2But 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?
3God 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.
4Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it.
5He said to the men of Sukkoth, "Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian."
8From there he went up to Peniel and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had.
9So he said to the men of Peniel, "When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower."
10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.
11Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the unsuspecting army.
12Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.
13Gideon son of Joash then returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres.
14He caught a young man of Sukkoth and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven officials of Sukkoth, the elders of the town.
15Then Gideon came and said to the men of Sukkoth, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me by saying, ‘Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’ "
16He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Sukkoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers.
17He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.
19Gideon replied, "Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the Lord lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you."
20Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, "Kill them!" But Jether did not draw his sword, because he was only a boy and was afraid.
23But Gideon told them, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you."
24And he said, "I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder." (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)
25They answered, "We’ll be glad to give them." So they spread out a garment, and each of them threw a ring from his plunder onto it.
26The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels’ necks.
27Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.
29Jerub-Baal son of Joash went back home to live.
30He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives.
31His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelek.
32Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god
34and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.
35They 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.
New King James Version
Chapter 2
1Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore 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; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 3Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’ ” 4So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.
5Then they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
6And when Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.
7So 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 had done for Israel.
8Now Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was one hundred and ten years old.
9And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.
10When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.
11Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals;
12and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger.
13They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
14And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
15Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.
16Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
17Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so.
18And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them.
19And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.
20Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice,
21I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,
22so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.”
23Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.
Chapter 3
1Now these are the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan 2( this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), 3namely, five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. 4And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
6And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods.
7So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs.
8Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years.
9When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
10The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim.
11So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord.
13Then he gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel, and took possession of the City of Palms.
14So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.
15But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
16Now Ehud made himself a dagger (it was double-edged and a cubit in length) and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh.
17So he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.)
18And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute.
20So Ehud came to him (now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber). Then Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” So he arose from his seat.
21Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.
22Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out.
23Then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.
24When he had gone out, Eglon’s servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked. So they said, “He is probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber.”
25So they waited till they were embarrassed, and still he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them. And there was their master, fallen dead on the floor.
26But Ehud had escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the stone images and escaped to Seirah.
27And it happened, when he arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and he led them.
28Then he said to them, “Follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over.
29And at that time they killed about ten thousand men of Moab, all stout men of valor; not a man escaped.
30So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.
Chapter 4
1When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. 2So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. 3And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.
4Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
5And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun;
7and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”
9So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command, and Deborah went up with him.
12And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.
14Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
15And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot.
16But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.
17However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket.
19Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him.
20And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ”
21Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
22And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.
23So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel.
24And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
2“When leaders lead in Israel, When the people willingly offer themselves, Bless the Lord!
3“Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I, even I, will sing to the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
4“Lord, when You went out from Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth trembled and the heavens poured, The clouds also poured water;
5 The mountains gushed before the Lord, This Sinai, before the Lord God of Israel.
6“In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, In the days of Jael, The highways were deserted, And the travelers walked along the byways.
7Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Arose a mother in Israel.
8They chose new gods; Then there was war in the gates; Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.
9My heart is with the rulers of Israel Who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless the Lord!
10“Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, Who sit in judges’ attire, And who walk along the road.
11Far from the noise of the archers, among the watering places, There they shall recount the righteous acts of the Lord, The righteous acts for His villagers in Israel; Then the people of the Lord shall go down to the gates.
12“Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, O son of Abinoam!
13“Then the survivors came down, the people against the nobles; The Lord came down for me against the mighty.
14From Ephraim were those whose roots were in Amalek. After you, Benjamin, with your peoples, From Machir rulers came down, And from Zebulun those who bear the recruiter’s staff.
15And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; As Issachar, so was Barak Sent into the valley under his command; Among the divisions of Reuben There were great resolves of heart.
16Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, To hear the pipings for the flocks? The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart.
17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan, And why did Dan remain on ships? Asher continued at the seashore, And stayed by his inlets.
18 Zebulun is a people who jeopardized their lives to the point of death, Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.
19“The kings came and fought, Then the kings of Canaan fought In Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; They took no spoils of silver.
20They fought from the heavens; The stars from their courses fought against Sisera.
21 The torrent of Kishon swept them away, That ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. O my soul, march on in strength!
22Then the horses’ hooves pounded, The galloping, galloping of his steeds.
23‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord, ‘Curse its inhabitants bitterly, Because they did not come to the help of the Lord, To the help of the Lord against the mighty.’
24“Most blessed among women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed is she among women in tents.
25He asked for water, she gave milk; She brought out cream in a lordly bowl.
26She stretched her hand to the tent peg, Her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; She pounded Sisera, she pierced his head, She split and struck through his temple.
27At her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; At her feet he sank, he fell; Where he sank, there he fell dead.
28“The mother of Sisera looked through the window, And cried out through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?’
29Her wisest ladies answered her, Yes, she answered herself,
30‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil: To every man a girl or two; For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments, Plunder of garments embroidered and dyed, Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?’
Chapter 6
1Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, 2and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. 3So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. 5For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. 6So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.
7And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites,
8that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage;
9and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.
10Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.’ ”
11Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.
12And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
19So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them.
20The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.
23Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.”
24So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it The-Lord- Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it;
26and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.”
27So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night.
28And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built.
29So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.”
30Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.”
31But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!”
32Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.”
33Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.
34But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him.
35And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
36So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said—
37look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”
38And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.
39Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.”
40And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.
2And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
3Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.
4But the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.”
5So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.”
6And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.
7Then the Lord said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.”
8So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
9It happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.
10But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant,
11and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp.
12Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.
15And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.”
16Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers.
17And he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do:
18When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, ‘ The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!’ ”
19So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.
20Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers—they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing—and they cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”
21And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.
22When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
24Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the mountains of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.” Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and seized the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.
25And they captured two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.
2So he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?
3God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger toward him subsided when he said that.
4When Gideon came to the Jordan, he and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit.
5Then he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”
7So Gideon said, “For this cause, when the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers!”
8Then he went up from there to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way. And the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.
9So he also spoke to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I come back in peace, I will tear down this tower!”
10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East; for one hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword had fallen.
11Then Gideon went up by the road of those who dwell in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah; and he attacked the army while the camp felt secure.
12When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them; and he took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army.
13Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle, from the Ascent of Heres.
14And he caught a young man of the men of Succoth and interrogated him; and he wrote down for him the leaders of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.
15Then he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you ridiculed me, saying, ‘ Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your weary men?’ ”
16And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.
17Then he tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
19Then he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”
20And he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise, kill them!” But the youth would not draw his sword; for he was afraid, because he was still a youth.
23But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.”
24Then Gideon said to them, “I would like to make a request of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from his plunder.” For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.
25So they answered, “We will gladly give them.” And they spread out a garment, and each man threw into it the earrings from his plunder.
26Now the weight of the gold earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, pendants, and purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were around their camels’ necks.
27Then Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot with it there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house.
29Then Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.
30Gideon had seventy sons who were his own offspring, for he had many wives.
31And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.
32Now Gideon the son of Joash died at a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33So it was, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-Berith their god.
34Thus the children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side;
35nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) in accordance with the good he had done for Israel.
