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Judges 4

Deborah

    ² So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim.

    ³ Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help.

    ⁴ Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.

    ⁵ She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.

    ⁶ She 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 the way to Mount Tabor.

    ⁷ I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.'

    ⁸ Barak said to her, If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go.

    ⁹ Very well, Deborah said, I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honour will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman. So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh,

    ¹⁰ where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

    ¹¹ Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.

    ¹² When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,

    ¹³ Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.

    ¹⁴ Then 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, followed by ten thousand men.

    ¹⁵ At Barak's advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.

    ¹⁶ But Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left.

    ¹⁷ Sisera, however, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite.

    ¹⁸ Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, Come, my lord, come right in. Don't be afraid. So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him.

    ¹⁹ I'm thirsty, he said. Please give me some water. She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.

    ²⁰ Stand in the doorway of the tent, he told her. If someone comes by and asks you, 'Is anyone here?' say 'No.'

    ²¹ But Jael, Heber's wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.

    ²² Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. Come, she said, I will show you the man you're looking for. So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple— dead.

    ²³ On that day God subdued Jabin, the Canaanite king, before the Israelites.

    ²⁴ And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin, the Canaanite king, until they destroyed him.

Judges 5

The Song of Deborah

 ²When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves— praise the LORD!

 ³Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I will sing to the LORD, I will sing; I will make music to the LORD, the God of Israel.

 ⁴O LORD, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the land of Edom, the earth shook, the heavens poured, the clouds poured down water.

    ⁵ The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.

 ⁶In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned; travellers took to winding paths.

    ⁷ Village life in Israel ceased, ceased until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel.

    ⁸ When they chose new gods, war came to the city gates, and not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.

    ⁹ My heart is with Israel's princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. Praise the LORD!

 ¹⁰You who ride on white donkeys, sitting on your saddle blankets, and you who walk along the road, consider

    ¹¹ the voice of the singers at the watering places. They recite the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous acts of his warriors in Israel.

   Then the people of the LORD went down to the city gates.

    ¹² 'Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, break out in song! Arise, O Barak! Take captive your captives, O son of Abinoam.'

 ¹³Then the men who were left came down to the nobles; the people of the LORD came to me with themighty.

    ¹⁴ Some 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.

    ¹⁵ The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; yes, Issachar was with Barak, rushing after him into the valley. In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart.

    ¹⁶ Why did you stay among the campfires to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart.

    ¹⁷ Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he linger by the ships? Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves.

    ¹⁸ The people of Zebulun risked their very lives; so did Naphtali on the heights of the field.

 ¹⁹Kings came, they fought; the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, but they carried off no silver, no plunder.

    ²⁰ From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.

    ²¹ The river Kishon swept them away, the age-old river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul; bestrong!

    ²² Then thundered the horses' hoofs— 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.'

 ²⁴Most blessed of women beJael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

    ²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.

    ²⁶ Her 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.

    ²⁷ At her feet he sank, he fell; there he lay. At her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell— dead.

 ²⁸Through 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?'

    ²⁹ The wisest of her ladies answer her; indeed, she keeps saying to herself,

    ³⁰ 'Are they not finding and dividing the spoils: a girl or two for each man, colourful garments as plunder for Sisera, colourful garments embroidered, highly embroidered garments for my neck— all this as plunder?'

 ³¹So may all your enemies perish, O LORD! But may they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.

   Then the land had peace for forty years.

Judges 6

Gideon

    ² Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.

    ³ Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.

    ⁴ They 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.

    ⁵ They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.

    ⁶ Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.

    ⁷ When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian,

    ⁸ he 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.

    ⁹ I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land.

    ¹⁰ I 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.

    ¹¹ The 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.

    ¹² When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.

    ¹³ But sir, Gideon replied, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.

    ¹⁴ The LORD turned to him and said, Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?

    ¹⁵ But Lord, Gideon asked, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.

    ¹⁶ The LORD answered, I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.

    ¹⁷ Gideon replied, If now I have found favour in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.

    ¹⁸ Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you. And the LORD said, I will wait until you return.

    ¹⁹ Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

    ²⁰ The 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.

    ²¹ With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared.

    ²² When Gideon realised that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!

    ²³ But the LORD said to him, Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.

    ²⁴ So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

    ²⁵ That 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.

    ²⁶ Then 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.

    ²⁷ So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

    ²⁸ In the morning when the men of the town got up, there was Baal's altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly-built altar!

    ²⁹ They asked each other, Who did this? When they carefully investigated, they were told, Gideon son of Joash did it.

    ³⁰ The men of the town demanded of Joash, Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal's altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

    ³¹ But 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.

    ³² So that day they called Gideon Jerub-Baal, saying, Let Baal contend with him, because he broke down Baal's altar.

    ³³ Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

    ³⁴ Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.

    ³⁵ He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.

    ³⁶ Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—

    ³⁷ look, 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.

    ³⁸ And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew— a bowlful of water.

    ³⁹ Then 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. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew.

    ⁴⁰ That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

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Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit

    ³² They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.

    ³³ In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice,

    ³⁴ Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are— the Holy One of God!

    ³⁵ Be quiet! Jesus said sternly. Come out of him! Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.

    ³⁶ All the people were amazed and said to each other, What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!

    ³⁷ And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.

Jesus Heals Many

    ³⁹ So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.

    ⁴⁰ When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.

    ⁴¹ Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, You are the Son of God! But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.

    ⁴² At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them.

    ⁴³ But he said, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.

    ⁴⁴ And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.