The Song of Deborah and Barak

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

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. ² The ^[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. ³ For whenever Israel had sown, the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the ^[t]people of the east and ^[u]march against them. ⁴ So 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. ⁵ For 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. ⁶ So Israel was brought ^(AO)very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord.

⁷ Now it came about, when the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of Midian, ⁸ that 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. ⁹ And 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, ¹⁰ and 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

¹¹ Then ^(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. ¹² And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.” ¹³ Then 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.” ¹⁴ And 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.” ¹⁷ So ^[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. ¹⁸ Please 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.”

¹⁹ Then 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. ²⁰ And 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. ²¹ Then 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!” ²³ But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not be afraid; you shall not die.” ²⁴ Then 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.

²⁵ Now 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; ²⁶ and 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.” ²⁷ Then 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

²⁸ When 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. ²⁹ So 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.” ³⁰ Then 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.” ³¹ But 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!” ³² Therefore 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.

³³ Then 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. ³⁴ So ^(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. ³⁵ And 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

³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “^(BL)If You are going to save Israel ^[ap]through me, as You have spoken, ³⁷ behold, 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.” ³⁸ And 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. ³⁹ Then 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.” ⁴⁰ And God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.

Gideon’s Three Hundred Chosen Men

7 Then ^(BN)Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him got up early, and camped beside ^[ar]the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of ^[as]them by the hill of ^(BO)Moreh in the valley.

² And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to hand Midian over to them, ^(BP)otherwise Israel would ^[at]become boastful, saying, ‘My own ^[au]power has saved me.’ ³ Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘^(BQ)Whoever is afraid and worried, is to return and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand from the people returned, but ten thousand remained.

^4 (BR)Then 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.” ⁵ So 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 ^[av]in one group, and everyone who kneels down to drink in another.” ⁶ Now the number of those who lapped, ^[aw]putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people kneeled down to drink water. ⁷ And the Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you ^(BS)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 ^[ax]home.” ⁸ So ^[ay]the three hundred men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And ^[az]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.

⁹ Now on the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, ^(BT)for I have handed it over to you. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, ¹¹ so that you will hear what they say; and ^(BU)afterward ^[ba]you will have the courage to go down against the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to the ^[bb]outposts of the army that was in the camp. ¹² Now the Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the ^[bc]people of the east were lying in the valley ^(BV)as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, ^(BW)as numerous as the sand on the seashore. ¹³ When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I ^[bd]had a dream; ^[be]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 ^[bf]upside down so that the tent collapsed.” ¹⁴ And his friend replied, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has ^(BX)handed over to him Midian and all the camp.”

¹⁵ When 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!” ¹⁶ And he divided the three hundred men into three ^[bg]units, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷ Then he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, ^[bh]do as I do. ¹⁸ When 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!’”

Confusion of the Enemy

¹⁹ So 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. ²⁰ When the three ^[bi]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!” ²¹ And each stood in his place around the camp; and ^(BY)all the ^[bj]army ran, crying out as they fled. ²² And when they blew the three hundred trumpets, the ^(BZ)Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the entire ^[bk]army; and the ^[bl]army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of ^(CA)Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. ²³ And the men of Israel were summoned from ^(CB)Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

²⁴ Then Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down ^[bm]against Midian and ^(CC)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. ²⁵ And they captured the two leaders of Midian, ^(CD)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 ^(CE)from across the Jordan.

Futility of Boastful Wickedness.

For the music director. A ^[a]Maskil of David, ^[b]when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

Prophecy a Superior Gift

14 ^(A)Pursue love, yet earnestly ^(B)desire ^(C)spiritual gifts, but especially that you may ^(D)prophesy. ² For the one who ^(E)speaks in a tongue does not speak to people, but to God; for no one ^[a]understands, but ^[b]in his spirit he speaks ^(F)mysteries. ³ But the one who prophesies speaks to people for ^(G)edification, ^[c](H)exhortation, and consolation. ⁴ The one who ^(I)speaks in a tongue ^(J)edifies himself; but the one who ^(K)prophesies ^(L)edifies the church. ⁵ Now I wish that you all ^(M)spoke in tongues, but ^(N)rather that you would prophesy; and greater is the one who prophesies than the one who ^(O)speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive ^(P)edification.

⁶ But now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you either by way of ^(Q)revelation, or of ^(R)knowledge, or of ^(S)prophecy, or of ^(T)teaching? ⁷ Yet even lifeless instruments, whether flute or harp, in producing a sound, if they do not produce a distinction in the tones, how will it be known what is played on the flute or on the harp? ⁸ For if ^(U)the trumpet produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle? ⁹ So you too, unless you produce intelligible speech by the tongue, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will just be ^(V)talking to the air. ¹⁰ There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of ^[d]languages in the world, and none is incapable of meaning. ¹¹ So if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be ^(W)unintelligible to the one who speaks, and the one who speaks will be unintelligible ^[e]to me. ¹² So you too, since you are eager to possess ^[f]spiritual gifts, strive to excel for the ^(X)edification of the church.

¹³ Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue is to pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴ For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive. ^15 (Y)What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will ^(Z)sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the mind also. ¹⁶ For otherwise, if you bless God ^[g]in the spirit only, how will the one who occupies the place of the ^[h]outsider know to say ^(AA)the “Amen” at your ^(AB)giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you are saying? ¹⁷ For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not ^(AC)edified. ¹⁸ I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; ¹⁹ nevertheless, in church I prefer to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.

Instruction for the Church

^20 (AD)Brothers and sisters, ^(AE)do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil ^(AF)be infants, but in your thinking be mature. ²¹ In ^(AG)the ^[i]Law it is written: “^(AH)By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the Lord. ²² So then, tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but ^(AI)prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe. ²³ Therefore if the whole church gathers together and all the people speak in tongues, and ^[j]outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that ^(AJ)you are insane? ²⁴ But if all ^(AK)prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ^[k]outsider enters, he is ^(AL)convicted by all, he is called to account by all; ^25 (AM)the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will ^(AN)fall on his face and worship God, ^(AO)declaring that God is certainly among you.

^26 (AP)What is the outcome then, ^(AQ)brothers and sisters? When you assemble, ^(AR)each one has a ^(AS)psalm, has a ^(AT)teaching, has a ^(AU)revelation, has a ^(AV)tongue, has an ^(AW)interpretation. ^(AX)All things are to be done for edification. ²⁷ If anyone speaks in a ^(AY)tongue, it must be by two or at the most three, and each one in turn, and one is to ^(AZ)interpret; ²⁸ but if there is no interpreter, he is to keep silent in church; and have him speak to himself and to God. ²⁹ Have two or three ^(BA)prophets speak, and have the others ^(BB)pass judgment. ³⁰ But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, then the first one is to keep silent. ³¹ For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be ^[l]exhorted; ³² and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; ³³ for God is not a God of ^(BC)confusion, but of peace.

As in ^(BD)all the churches of the ^[m](BE)saints, ³⁴ the women are to ^(BF)keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but ^(BG)are to subject themselves, just as ^(BH)the Law also says. ³⁵ If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is ^[n]improper for a woman to speak in church. ³⁶ Or was it from you that the word of God first went out? Or has it come to you only?

^37 (BI)If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or ^(BJ)spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you ^(BK)are the Lord’s commandment. ³⁸ But if anyone does not recognize this, ^[o]he is not recognized.

³⁹ Therefore, my brothers and sisters, ^(BL)earnestly desire to ^(BM)prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. ⁴⁰ But ^(BN)all things must be done properly and in an orderly way.