Midian Oppresses Israel

6 ^(A)The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of ^(B)Midian seven years. ² And 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 ^(C)the caves and the strongholds. ³ For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and ^(D)the Amalekites and ^(E)the people of the East would come up against them. ⁴ They would encamp against them ^(F)and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. ⁵ For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come ^(G)like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. ⁶ And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel ^(H)cried out for help to the Lord.

⁷ When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, ⁸ the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^(I)I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. ⁹ And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and ^(J)drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰ And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; ^(K)you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”

The Call of Gideon

¹¹ Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash ^(L)the Abiezrite, while his son ^(M)Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² And ^(N)the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ^(O)“The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” ¹³ And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are ^(P)all his wonderful deeds ^(Q)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.” ¹⁴ And the Lord^[a] turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; ^(R)do not I send you?” ¹⁵ And he said to him, ^(S)“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, ^(T)my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” ¹⁶ And the Lord said to him, ^(U)“But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” ¹⁷ And he said to him, ^(V)“If now I have found favor in your eyes, then ^(W)show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. ¹⁸ Please ^(X)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.”

¹⁹ So Gideon went into his house ^(Y)and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah^[b] 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. ²⁰ And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them ^(Z)on this rock, and ^(AA)pour the broth over them.” And he did so. ²¹ Then 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. ^(AB)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. ²² Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, ^(AC)“Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” ²³ But the Lord said to him, ^(AD)“Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, ^(AE)The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at ^(AF)Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

The Cheerful Giver

⁶ The point is this: ^(A)whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully^[a] will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, ^(B)not reluctantly or under compulsion, for ^(C)God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And ^(D)God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency^[b] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written,

¹⁰ He who supplies ^(F)seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and ^(G)increase the harvest of your righteousness. ^11 (H)You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which ^(I)through us will produce thanksgiving to God. ¹² For the ministry of this service is not only supplying ^(J)the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. ¹³ By their approval of this service, ^(K)they^[c] will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your ^(L)confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, ¹⁴ while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. ^15 (M)Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

²⁰ Then he went ^(A)home, and the crowd gathered again, ^(B)so that they could not even eat. ^21 (C)And when ^(D)his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He ^(E)is out of his mind.”

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

²² And ^(F)the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, ^(G)“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ^23 (H)And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷ But ^(I)no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. ^(J)Then indeed he may plunder his house.

^28 (K)“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, ²⁹ but whoever ^(L)blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”