The Daily Audio Bible

7 Then Yeruba‘al, that is, Gid‘on, and all the people with him, got up early and set up camp by ‘Ein-Harod; the camp of Midyan was north of them, by Giv‘at-Moreh, in the valley. ² Adonai said to Gid‘on, “There are too many people with you for me to hand Midyan over to them, because I don’t want Isra’el to be able to boast against me, ‘We saved ourselves by our own strength.’ ³ Therefore, proclaim to the people ‘Anyone who is anxious or afraid should go back home, while we stay here on Mount Gil‘ad.’” Twenty-two thousand returned, but ten thousand remained.

⁴ Adonai said to Gid‘on, “There are still too many people. Have them come down to the water, and there I will screen them for you. If I say of anyone, ‘This one is for you,’ he will go with you; and if I say, ‘This one is not for you,’ he won’t go with you.” ⁵ So he brought the people down to the water, and Adonai said to Gid‘on, “Put to one side everyone who laps up water with his tongue the way a dog does, and put to the other side everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.” ⁶ Three hundred lapped, putting their hand to their mouth; all the rest of the men got down on their knees to drink water. ⁷ Adonai said to Gid‘on, “I will use the three hundred men who lapped the water to save you; I will hand Midyan over to you. Let all these others go back home.” ⁸ So they took the provisions and the shofars of the people; then he sent all the men of Isra’el away, each to his tent. But the three hundred men he kept.

The camp of Midyan was in the valley below him. ⁹ That night Adonai said to him, “Get up and attack the camp, because I have handed it over to you. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to attack, go down with your servant Purah; ¹¹ and after you hear what they are saying, you will have the courage to attack the camp.” So with his servant Purah he went down to the outposts of the camp. ¹² Now Midyan, ‘Amalek and all the others from the east had settled in the valley as thick as locusts; their camels too were beyond counting, like the sand on the seashore. ¹³ Gid‘on got there just as a man was telling a comrade about a dream he had had: “I just now dreamt that a loaf of barley bread fell into the camp of Midyan, came to the tent and struck it so hard that it overturned the tent and knocked it flat.” ¹⁴ His comrade answered, “This can only be the sword of Gid‘on son of Yo’ash, a man of Isra’el. God has given Midyan and all its army into his hands.”

¹⁵ When Gid‘on heard the dream and its interpretation, he fell on his knees in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Isra’el and said, “Get up! because Adonai has handed Midyan’s army over to you.” ¹⁶ He divided the three hundred men into three companies. He put in the hands of all of them shofars and empty pitchers with torches in them. ¹⁷ Then he said to them, “Watch me, and do what I do. When I get to the edge of the camp, whatever I do, you do the same. ¹⁸ When I and everyone with me blow the shofar, then you blow your shofars all around the whole camp, and shout, “For Adonai and for Gid‘on!”

¹⁹ Gid‘on and the hundred men with him arrived at the edge of the camp a little before midnight, just after they had changed the guard. They blew the shofars and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. ²⁰ All three companies blew the shofars, broke the pitchers and held the torches in their left hands, keeping their right hands free for the shofars they were blowing; and they shouted, “The sword for Adonai and for Gid‘on!” ²¹ Then, as every man stood still in place around the camp, the whole camp was thrown into panic, with everyone screaming and trying to escape. ²² Gid‘on’s men blew their 300 shofars, and Adonai caused everyone in the camp to attack his comrades; and the enemy fled beyond Beit-Sheetah near Tz’rerah, as far as the border of Avel-M’cholah, by Tabat.

²³ Then men of Isra’el were summoned from Naftali, Asher, and both regions of M’nasheh; and they pursued Midyan. ²⁴ Gid‘on sent messengers through all the hills of Efrayim, with the message, “Come down and attack Midyan; and capture the rivers before they get there, as far as Beit-Barah, and also the Yarden.” So all the men of Efrayim came together and seized the rivers as far as Beit-Barah and the Yarden. ²⁵ They also captured two chiefs of Midyan, ‘Orev and Ze’ev. They put ‘Orev to death at the Rock of ‘Orev and Ze’ev at Ze’ev’s Winepress; then, as they kept pursuing Midyan, they brought the heads of Orev and Ze’ev to Gid‘on, who had crossed to the far side of the Yarden.

8 But the men of Efrayim complained to Gid‘on, “Why didn’t you call on us when you went to fight Midyan? Why did you treat us this way?” They were sharp in their criticism. ² He answered by saying to them, “How can what I have done be compared with what you have done? Aren’t the grapes Efrayim leaves on the vines better than the ones Avi‘ezer harvests? ³ God handed over to you Midyan’s chiefs, ‘Orev and Ze’ev. What could I do that matches what you did?” By saying that, he appeased their anger at him.

⁴ By now Gid‘on and his three hundred men had come to the Yarden and crossed over. They were exhausted but were still pursuing the enemy. ⁵ In Sukkot he asked the people there, “Please give some loaves of bread to the men following me, because they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zevach and Tzalmuna the kings of Midyan.” ⁶ But the chiefs of Sukkot said, “You haven’t captured Zevach and Tzalmuna yet, so why should we give bread to your army?” ⁷ Gid‘on said: “If that’s your answer, then after Adonai has put Zevach and Tzalmuna in my hands, I will tear your flesh apart with desert thorns and thistles!”

⁸ From there he went up to P’nu’el and made the same request, and the people of P’nu’el gave the same answer as those of Sukkot. ⁹ So he answered the people of P’nu’el similarly, “When I return safe and sound, I will break down this tower!”

¹⁰ Now Zevach and Tzalmuna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all that remained of the entire army of the people from the east; since 120,000 arms-bearing soldiers had fallen. ¹¹ Gid‘on went up, using the route of the nomads east of Novach and Yogbehah, and struck down the army when they thought they were safe. ¹² Zevach and Tzalmuna fled, but Gid‘on pursued them. Thus he captured the two kings of Midyan, Zevach and Tzalmuna, and routed their whole army in panic. ¹³ When Gid‘on the son of Yo’ash returned from the battle by way of the Heres Pass, ¹⁴ he captured a young man from Sukkot and asked him about the chiefs and leaders of Sukkot; he wrote down for him the names of seventy-seven of them. ¹⁵ Then he came to the people of Sukkot and said: “You insulted me when you said, ‘You haven’t captured Zevach and Tzalmuna yet, so why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’ Well, here are Zevach and Tzalmuna!” ¹⁶ And he took the leaders of the city and desert thorns and thistles, and used them to teach the people of Sukkot a lesson! ¹⁷ He also broke down the tower of P’nu’el and put the men of the city to death.

¹³ Pilate summoned the head cohanim, the leaders and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, “You brought this man before me on a charge of subverting the people. I examined him in your presence and did not find the man guilty of the crime you are accusing him of. ¹⁵ And neither did Herod, because he sent him back to us. Clearly, he has not done anything that merits the death penalty. ¹⁶ Therefore, what I will do is have him flogged and release him.” ^{17 [a] 18} But with one voice they shouted, “Away with this man! Give us Bar-Abba!” ¹⁹ (He was a man who had been thrown in prison for causing a riot in the city and for murder.) ²⁰ Pilate appealed to them again, because he wanted to release Yeshua. ²¹ But they yelled, “Put him to death on the stake! Put him to death on the stake!” ²² A third time he asked them, “But what has this man done wrong? I haven’t found any reason to put him to death. So I’m going to have him flogged and set free.” ²³ But they went on yelling insistently, demanding that he be executed on the stake; and their shouting prevailed. ²⁴ Pilate decided to grant their demand; ²⁵ he released the man who had been thrown in prison for insurrection and murder, the one they had asked for; and Yeshua he surrendered to their will.

²⁶ As the Roman soldiers led Yeshua away, they grabbed hold of a man from Cyrene named Shim‘on, who was on his way in from the country. They put the execution-stake on his back and made him carry it behind Yeshua. ²⁷ Large numbers of people followed, including women crying and wailing over him. ²⁸ Yeshua turned to them and said, “Daughters of Yerushalayim, don’t cry for me; cry for yourselves and your children! ²⁹ For the time is coming when people will say, ‘The childless women are the lucky ones — those whose wombs have never borne a child, whose breasts have never nursed a baby! ³⁰ Then

³¹ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what is going to happen when it’s dry?”

³² Two other men, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. ³³ When they came to the place called The Skull, they nailed him to a stake; and they nailed the criminals to stakes, one on the right and one on the left. ³⁴ Yeshua said, “Father, forgive them; they don’t understand what they are doing.”

They divided up his clothes by throwing dice.^{[c] 35} The people stood watching, and the rulers sneered at him.^[d] “He saved others,” they said, “so if he really is the Messiah, the one chosen by God, let him save himself!” ³⁶ The soldiers too ridiculed him; they came up, offered him vinegar^{[e] 37} and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!” ³⁸ And there was a notice over him which read,

THIS IS

THE KING OF THE JEWS

³⁹ One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him. “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” ⁴⁰ But the other one spoke up and rebuked the first, saying, “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same punishment as he is. ⁴¹ Ours is only fair; we’re getting what we deserve for what we did. But this man did nothing wrong.” ⁴² Then he said, “Yeshua, remember me when you come as King.” ⁴³ Yeshua said to him, “Yes! I promise that you will be with me today in Gan-‘Eden.”