Judges 4-8
The Message
2GOD sold them off to Jabin king of Canaan who ruled from Hazor. Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim, was the commander of his army.
3The People of Israel cried out to GOD because he had cruelly oppressed them with his nine hundred iron chariots for twenty years.
5She held court under Deborah's Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the hills of Ephraim. The People of Israel went to her in matters of justice.
6She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "It has become clear that GOD, the God of Israel, commands you： Go to Mount Tabor and prepare for battle. Take ten companies of soldiers from Naphtali and Zebulun.
7I'll take care of getting Sisera, the leader of Jabin's army, to the Kishon River with all his chariots and troops. And I'll make sure you win the battle."
9She said, "Of course I'll go with you. But understand that with an attitude like that, there'll be no glory in it for you. GOD will use a woman's hand to take care of Sisera." Deborah got ready and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together at Kedesh. Ten companies of men followed him. And Deborah was with him.
11It happened that Heber the Kenite had parted company with the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses' in-law. He was now living at Zaanannim Oak near Kedesh.
13Sisera immediately called up all his chariots to the Kishon River—nine hundred iron chariots!—along with all his troops who were with him at Harosheth Haggoyim.
14Deborah said to Barak, "Charge! This very day GOD has given you victory over Sisera. Isn't GOD marching before you?" Barak charged down the slopes of Mount Tabor, his ten companies following him.
15GOD routed Sisera—all those chariots, all those troops!—before Barak. Sisera jumped out of his chariot and ran.
16Barak chased the chariots and troops all the way to Harosheth Haggoyim. Sisera's entire fighting force was killed—not one man left.
17Meanwhile Sisera, running for his life, headed for the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. Jabin king of Hazor and Heber the Kenite were on good terms with one another.
18Jael stepped out to meet Sisera and said, "Come in, sir. Stay here with me. Don't be afraid." So he went with her into her tent. She covered him with a blanket.
19He said to her, "Please, a little water. I'm thirsty." She opened a bottle of milk, gave him a drink, and then covered him up again.
20He then said, "Stand at the tent flap. If anyone comes by and asks you, 'Is there anyone here?' tell him, 'No, not a soul.'"
21Then while he was fast asleep from exhaustion, Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg and hammer, tiptoed toward him, and drove the tent peg through his temple and all the way into the ground. He convulsed and died.
22Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera. Jael went out to greet him. She said, "Come, I'll show you the man you're looking for." He went with her and there he was—Sisera, stretched out, dead, with a tent peg through his neck.
24The People of Israel pressed harder and harder on Jabin king of Canaan until there was nothing left of him.
2When they let down their hair in Israel, they let it blow wild in the wind. The people volunteered with abandon, bless GOD!
3Hear O kings! Listen O princes! To GOD, yes to GOD, I'll sing, Make music to GOD, to the God of Israel.
4GOD, when you left Seir, marched across the fields of Edom, Earth quaked, yes, the skies poured rain, oh, the clouds made rivers.
6In the time of Shamgar son of Anath, and in the time of Jael, Public roads were abandoned, travelers went by backroads.
7Warriors became fat and sloppy, no fight left in them. Then you, Deborah, rose up; you got up, a mother in Israel.
8God chose new leaders, who then fought at the gates. And not a shield or spear to be seen among the forty companies of Israel.
10You who ride on prize donkeys comfortably mounted on blankets And you who walk down the roads, ponder, attend!
11Gather at the town well and listen to them sing, Chanting the tale of GOD's victories, his victories accomplished in Israel. Then the people of GOD went down to the city gates.
12Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, sing a song! On your feet, Barak! Take your prisoners, son of Abinoam!
14The captains from Ephraim came to the valley, behind you, Benjamin, with your troops. Captains marched down from Makir, from Zebulun high-ranking leaders came down.
15Issachar's princes rallied to Deborah, Issachar stood fast with Barak, backing him up on the field of battle. But in Reuben's divisions there was much second-guessing.
16Why all those campfire discussions? Diverted and distracted, Reuben's divisions couldn't make up their minds.
17Gilead played it safe across the Jordan, and Dan, why did he go off sailing? Asher kept his distance on the seacoast, safe and secure in his harbors.
19The kings came, they fought, the kings of Canaan fought. At Taanach they fought, at Megiddo's brook, but they took no silver, no plunder.
21The torrent Kishon swept them away, the torrent attacked them, the torrent Kishon. Oh, you'll stomp on the necks of the strong!
23"Curse Meroz," says GOD's angel. "Curse, double curse, its people, Because they didn't come when GOD needed them, didn't rally to GOD's side with valiant fighters."
26She grabbed a tent peg in her left hand, with her right hand she seized a hammer. She hammered Sisera, she smashed his head, she drove a hole through his head.
27He slumped at her feet. He fell. He sprawled. He slumped at her feet. He fell. Slumped. Fallen. Dead.
28Sisera's mother waited at the window, a weary, anxious watch. "What's keeping his chariot? What delays his chariot's rumble?"
30"Don't you think they're busy at plunder, dividing up the loot? A girl, maybe two girls, for each man, And for Sisera a bright silk shirt, a prize, fancy silk shirt! And a colorful scarf—make it two scarves— to grace the neck of the plunderer."
31Thus may all GOD's enemies perish, while his lovers be like the unclouded sun. The land was quiet for forty years.
6Yet again the People of Israel went back to doing evil in GOD's sight. GOD put them under the domination of Midian for seven years.
2Midian overpowered Israel. Because of Midian, the People of Israel made for themselves hideouts in the mountains—caves and forts.
4camp in their fields, and destroy their crops all the way down to Gaza. They left nothing for them to live on, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.
5Bringing their cattle and tents, they came in and took over, like an invasion of locusts. And their camels—past counting! They marched in and devastated the country.
8GOD sent them a prophet with this message： "GOD, the God of Israel, says, I delivered you from Egypt, I freed you from a life of slavery;
9I rescued you from Egypt's brutality and then from every oppressor; I pushed them out of your way and gave you their land.
10"And I said to you, 'I am GOD, your God. Don't for a minute be afraid of the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.' But you didn't listen to me."
11One day the angel of GOD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, whose son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, out of sight of the Midianites.
13Gideon replied, "With me, my master? If GOD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracle-wonders our parents and grandparents told us about, telling us, 'Didn't GOD deliver us from Egypt?' The fact is, GOD has nothing to do with us—he has turned us over to Midian."
14But GOD faced him directly： "Go in this strength that is yours. Save Israel from Midian. Haven't I just sent you?"
15Gideon said to him, "Me, my master? How and with what could I ever save Israel? Look at me. My clan's the weakest in Manasseh and I'm the runt of the litter."
17Gideon said, "If you're serious about this, do me a favor： Give me a sign to back up what you're telling me.
19Gideon went and prepared a young goat and a huge amount of unraised bread (he used over half a bushel of flour!). He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and took them back under the shade of the oak tree for a sacred meal.
20The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and unraised bread, place them on that rock, and pour the broth on them." Gideon did it.
21The angel of GOD stretched out the tip of the stick he was holding and touched the meat and the bread. Fire broke out of the rock and burned up the meat and bread while the angel of God slipped away out of sight.
22And Gideon knew it was the angel of God! Gideon said, "Oh no! Master, GOD! I have seen the angel of God face to face!"
24Then Gideon built an altar there to GOD and named it "GOD's Peace." It's still called that at Ophrah of Abiezer.
25That night this happened. GOD said to him, "Take your father's best seven-year-old bull, the prime one. Tear down your father's Baal altar and chop down the Asherah fertility pole beside it.
26Then build an altar to GOD, your God, on the top of this hill. Take the prime bull and present it as a Whole-Burnt-Offering, using firewood from the Asherah pole that you cut down."
27Gideon selected ten men from his servants and did exactly what GOD had told him. But because of his family and the people in the neighborhood, he was afraid to do it openly, so he did it that night.
28Early in the morning, the people in town were shocked to find Baal's altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it chopped down, and the prime bull burning away on the altar that had been built.
29They kept asking, "Who did this?" Questions and more questions, and then the answer： "Gideon son of Joash did it."
30The men of the town demanded of Joash： "Bring out your son! He must die! Why, he tore down the Baal altar and chopped down the Asherah tree!"
31But Joash stood up to the crowd pressing in on him, "Are you going to fight Baal's battles for him? Are you going to save him? Anyone who takes Baal's side will be dead by morning. If Baal is a god in fact, let him fight his own battles and defend his own altar."
32They nicknamed Gideon that day Jerub-Baal because after he had torn down the Baal altar, he had said, "Let Baal fight his own battles."
33All the Midianites and Amalekites (the easterners) got together, crossed the river, and made camp in the Valley of Jezreel.
34GOD's Spirit came over Gideon. He blew his ram's horn trumpet and the Abiezrites came out, ready to follow him.
35He dispatched messengers all through Manasseh, calling them to the battle; also to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. They all came.
37then look： I'm placing a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If dew is on the fleece only, but the floor is dry, then I know that you will use me to save Israel, as you said."
38That's what happened. When he got up early the next morning, he wrung out the fleece—enough dew to fill a bowl with water!
39Then Gideon said to God, "Don't be impatient with me, but let me say one more thing. I want to try another time with the fleece. But this time let the fleece stay dry, while the dew drenches the ground."
7Jerub-Baal (Gideon) got up early the next morning, all his troops right there with him. They set up camp at Harod's Spring. The camp of Midian was in the plain, north of them near the Hill of Moreh.
2GOD said to Gideon, "You have too large an army with you. I can't turn Midian over to them like this—they'll take all the credit, saying, 'I did it all myself,' and forget about me.
3Make a public announcement： 'Anyone afraid, anyone who has any qualms at all, may leave Mount Gilead now and go home.'" Twenty-two companies headed for home. Ten companies were left.
4GOD said to Gideon： "There are still too many. Take them down to the stream and I'll make a final cut. When I say, 'This one goes with you,' he'll go. When I say, 'This one doesn't go,' he won't go."
5So Gideon took the troops down to the stream. GOD said to Gideon： "Everyone who laps with his tongue, the way a dog laps, set on one side. And everyone who kneels to drink, drinking with his face to the water, set to the other side."
7GOD said to Gideon： "I'll use the three hundred men who lapped at the stream to save you and give Midian into your hands. All the rest may go home."
8After Gideon took all their provisions and trumpets, he sent all the Israelites home. He took up his position with the three hundred. The camp of Midian stretched out below him in the valley.
11when you hear what they're saying, you'll be bold and confident." He and his armor bearer Purah went down near the place where sentries were posted.
12Midian and Amalek, all the easterners, were spread out on the plain like a swarm of locusts. And their camels! Past counting, like grains of sand on the seashore!
13Gideon arrived just in time to hear a man tell his friend a dream. He said, "I had this dream： A loaf of barley bread tumbled into the Midianite camp. It came to the tent and hit it so hard it collapsed. The tent fell!"
14His friend said, "This has to be the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite! God has turned Midian—the whole camp!—over to him."
15When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he went to his knees before God in prayer. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, "Get up and get going! GOD has just given us the Midianite army!"
16He divided the three hundred men into three companies. He gave each man a trumpet and an empty jar, with a torch in the jar.
18When I and those with me blow the trumpets, you also, all around the camp, blow your trumpets and shout, 'For GOD and for Gideon!'"
19Gideon and his hundred men got to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the sentries had been posted. They blew the trumpets, at the same time smashing the jars they carried.
20All three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands, ready to blow, and shouted, "A sword for GOD and for Gideon!"
21They were stationed all around the camp, each man at his post. The whole Midianite camp jumped to its feet. They yelled and fled.
22When the three hundred blew the trumpets, GOD aimed each Midianite's sword against his companion, all over the camp. They ran for their lives—to Beth Shittah, toward Zererah, to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.
23Israelites rallied from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all over Manasseh. They had Midian on the run.
24Gideon then sent messengers through all the hill country of Ephraim, urging them, "Come down against Midian! Capture the fords of the Jordan at Beth Barah."
25So all the men of Ephraim rallied and captured the fords of the Jordan at Beth Barah. They also captured the two Midianite commanders Oreb (Raven) and Zeeb (Wolf). They killed Oreb at Raven Rock; Zeeb they killed at Wolf Winepress. And they pressed the pursuit of Midian. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.
8Then the Ephraimites said to Gideon, "Why did you leave us out of this, not calling us when you went to fight Midian?" They were indignant and let him know it.
2But Gideon replied, "What have I done compared to you? Why, even the gleanings of Ephraim are superior to the vintage of Abiezer.
3God gave you Midian's commanders, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I done compared with you?" When they heard this, they calmed down and cooled off.
4Gideon and his three hundred arrived at the Jordan and crossed over. They were bone-tired but still pressing the pursuit.
5He asked the men of Succoth, "Please, give me some loaves of bread for my troops I have with me. They're worn out, and I'm hot on the trail of Zebah and Zalmunna, the Midianite kings."
6But the leaders in Succoth said, "You're on a wild goose chase; why should we help you on a fool's errand?"
7Gideon said, "If you say so. But when GOD gives me Zebah and Zalmunna, I'll give you a thrashing, whip your bare flesh with desert thorns and thistles!"
8He went from there to Peniel and made the same request. The men of Peniel, like the men of Succoth, also refused.
10Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with an army of about fifteen companies, all that was left of the fighting force of the easterners—they had lost 120 companies of soldiers.
11Gideon went up the caravan trail east of Nobah and Jogbehah, found and attacked the undefended camp.
12Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but he chased and captured the two kings of Midian. The whole camp had panicked.
14He captured a young man from Succoth and asked some questions. The young man wrote down the names of the officials and leaders of Succoth, seventy-seven men.
15Then Gideon went to the men of Succoth and said, "Here are the wild geese, Zebah and Zalmunna, you said I'd never catch. You wouldn't give so much as a scrap of bread to my worn-out men; you taunted us, saying that we were on a fool's errand."
16Then he took the seventy-seven leaders of Succoth and thrashed them with desert thorns and thistles.
18He then addressed Zebah and Zalmunna： "Tell me about the men you killed at Tabor." "They were men much like you," they said, "each one like a king's son."
19Gideon said, "They were my brothers, my mother's sons. As GOD lives, if you had let them live, I would let you live."
20Then he spoke to Jether, his firstborn： "Get up and kill them." But he couldn't do it, couldn't draw his sword. He was afraid—he was still just a boy.
21Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Do it yourself—if you're man enough!" And Gideon did it. He stepped up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna. Then he took the crescents that hung on the necks of their camels.
22The Israelites said, "Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson. You have saved us from Midian's tyranny."
24Then Gideon said, "But I do have one request. Give me, each of you, an earring that you took as plunder." Ishmaelites wore gold earrings, and the men all had their pockets full of them.
25They said, "Of course. They're yours!" They spread out a blanket and each man threw his plundered earrings on it.
26The gold earrings that Gideon had asked for weighed about forty-three pounds—and that didn't include the crescents and pendants, the purple robes worn by the Midianite kings, and the ornaments hung around the necks of their camels.
27Gideon made the gold into a sacred ephod and put it on display in his hometown, Ophrah. All Israel prostituted itself there. Gideon and his family, too, were seduced by it.
28Midian's tyranny was broken by the Israelites; nothing more was heard from them. The land was quiet for forty years in Gideon's time.
32Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age. He was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33Gideon was hardly cool in the tomb when the People of Israel had gotten off track and were prostituting themselves to Baal—they made Baal-of-the-Covenant their god.
34The People of Israel forgot all about GOD, their God, who had saved them from all their enemies who had hemmed them in.
35And they didn't keep faith with the family of Jerub-Baal (Gideon), honoring all the good he had done for Israel.
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