Judges 5-6

New American Standard Bible

The Song of Deborah and Barak

5 ^(A)Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

²“^(B)For ^[a]the leaders leading in Israel,
For ^(C)the people volunteering,
Bless the Lord!
³Hear, you kings; listen, you dignitaries!
^(D)I myself—to the Lord, I myself will sing,
I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel!
⁴^(E)Lord, when You went out from Seir,
When You marched from the field of Edom,
^(F)The earth quaked, the heavens also dripped,
The clouds also dripped water.
⁵^(G)The mountains ^[b]flowed with water at the presence of the Lord,
^(H)This Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁶“In the days of ^(I)Shamgar the son of Anath,
In the days of ^(J)Jael, the roads ^[c]were deserted,
And travelers went by ^[d]roundabout ways.
⁷The ^[e]peasantry came to an end, they came to an end in Israel,
Until I, Deborah, arose,
Until I arose, a mother in Israel.
⁸^(K)New 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 ^(L)the commanders of Israel,
The volunteers among the people;
Bless the Lord!
¹⁰^(M)You who ride on ^[f]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 ^(N)the watering places,
There they will recount ^(O)the righteous deeds of the Lord,
The righteous deeds for His ^[g]peasantry in Israel.
Then the people of the Lord went down ^(P)to the gates.

¹²“^(Q)Awake, awake, Deborah;
Awake, awake, ^[h]sing a song!
Arise, Barak, and ^(R)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 ^(S)in Amalek came down,
Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples;
From Machir commanders came down,
And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of ^[i]office.
¹⁵And the ^[j]princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
As was Issachar, so was Barak;
Into the valley they rushed ^(T)at his ^[k]heels;
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great determinations of heart.
¹⁶Why did you sit among ^(U)the ^[l]sheepfolds,
To hear the piping for the flocks?
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart.
¹⁷^(V)Gilead ^[m]remained across the Jordan;
And why did Dan stay on ships?
Asher sat at the seashore,
And ^[n]remained by its landings.
¹⁸^(W)Zebulun was a people who risked their lives,
And Naphtali too, on the high places of the field.

¹⁹“^(X)The kings came and fought;
Then the kings of Canaan fought
^(Y)At Taanach near the waters of Megiddo;
^(Z)They took no plunder in silver.
²⁰^(AA)The stars fought from heaven,
From their paths they fought against Sisera.
²¹The torrent of Kishon swept them away,
The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon.
^(AB)My soul, march on with strength!
²²^(AC)Then 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,
^(AD)Because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
To the help of the Lord against the warriors.’

²⁴“^(AE)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 ^[o]dead.

²⁸“Out of the window she looked and wailed,
The mother of Sisera through the ^[p]lattice,
‘Why does his chariot delay in coming?
Why do the ^[q]hoofbeats of his chariots delay?’
²⁹Her wise princesses would answer her,
Indeed she repeats her words to herself,
³⁰‘^(AF)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 ^[r]neck of the plunderer?’
³¹^(AG)May all Your enemies perish in this way, Lord;
^(AH)But may those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.”

And the land was at rest for forty years.

Israel Oppressed by Midian

6 Then the sons of Israel ^(AI)did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord handed them over to ^(AJ)Midian for seven years. ²The ^[s]power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves ^(AK)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 ^[t]people of the east and ^[u]march against them. ⁴So they would camp against them and ^(AL)destroy the produce of the earth ^[v]as far as Gaza, and ^(AM)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 ^(AN)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 ^(AO)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 ^(AP)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 ^[w]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 ^(AQ)shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live.” But you have not ^[x]obeyed Me.’”

Gideon Is Visited

¹¹Then ^(AR)the angel of the Lord came and sat under the ^[y]oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the ^(AS)Abiezrite, as his son ^(AT)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 ^(AU)now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” ¹⁴And the Lord ^[z]looked at him and said, “^(AV)Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” ¹⁵^(AW)But he said to Him, “O Lord, ^[aa]how am I to save Israel? Behold, my family is the least in ^(AX)Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” ¹⁶^(AY)Yet the Lord said to him, “I will certainly be with you, and you will ^[ab]defeat Midian as one man.” ¹⁷So ^[ac]Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then perform for me ^(AZ)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 ^(BA)prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ^[ad]ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket ^[ae]and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the ^[af]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 ^(BB)fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord ^[ag]vanished from his sight. ²²^(BC)When Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord, ^[ah]he said, “Oh, Lord ^[ai]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 ^[aj]The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still ^(BD)in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull ^[ak]and a second bull seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the ^[al]^(BE)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.

The Altar of Baal Destroyed

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 ^[am]Gideon ^(BF)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 ^[an]people of the east assembled together; and they crossed over and camped in ^(BG)the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴So ^(BH)the Spirit of the Lord ^[ao]covered Gideon like clothing; and he ^(BI)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, ^(BJ)Zebulun, and Naphtali, and ^(BK)they came up to meet them.

Sign of the Fleece

³⁶Then Gideon said to God, “^(BL)If You are going to save Israel ^[ap]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 ^[aq]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, “^(BM)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.