The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁸ Then he said to Zevach and Tzalmuna, “Tell me about the men you killed at Tavor.” They answered, “They looked like you, like a king’s sons.” ¹⁹ Gid‘on replied, “They were my brothers, my mother’s sons. As surely as Adonai is alive, I swear that if you had spared them, I would not kill you.” ²⁰ Then he ordered his oldest son, Yeter, “Get up, and kill them!” But the boy didn’t draw his sword; being still a boy, he was afraid. ²¹ Then Zevach and Tzalmuna said, “You, do it. You, kill us. Let a grown man do what takes a grown man’s strength.” So Gid‘on got up and killed Zevach and Tzalmuna; then he took the ornamental crescents from around their camels’ necks.

²² The men of Isra’el said to Gid‘on: “Rule over us, you, your son and your grandson, because you saved us from the power of Midyan. ²³ Gid‘on replied, “Neither I nor my son will rule over you; Adonai will rule over you.” ²⁴ Then he added, “But I have this request to make of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from the booty you have taken.” For the enemy soldiers had worn gold earrings, like all the other tribes descended from Yishma‘el. ²⁵ They replied, “We’re glad to give them to you.” They spread out a robe, and each man threw in the earrings from his booty. ²⁶ The gold earrings he requested weighed more than forty-two pounds; and this doesn’t include the crescents, pendants and purple cloth worn by the kings of Midyan and the chains around their camels’ necks. ²⁷ Out of these things Gid‘on made a ritual vest, which he located in his city, ‘Ofrah. But all Isra’el turned it into an idol there, and it thus became a snare to Gid‘on and his family.

²⁸ This is how Midyan was defeated by Isra’el, so that they ceased to be a threat. The land had rest forty years during the lifetime of Gid‘on; ²⁹ Yeruba‘al the son of Yo’ash returned to his home and stayed there.

³⁰ Gid‘on became the father of seventy sons, because he had many wives. ³¹ He also had a concubine in Sh’khem, and she too bore him a son, whom he called Avimelekh. ³² Gid‘on the son of Yo’ash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Yo’ash, in ‘Ofrah of the Avi‘ezri.

³³ But as soon as Gid‘on was dead, the people of Isra’el again went astray after the ba‘alim and made Ba‘al-B’rit their god. ³⁴ They forgot Adonai their God, who had saved them from the power of all their enemies on every side; ³⁵ and they showed no kindness toward the family of Yeruba‘al, that is, Gid‘on, to repay them for all the good he had done for Isra’el.

9 Avimelekh the son of Yeruba‘al went to Sh’khem, to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with the whole clan of his maternal grandfather. He said, ² “Please ask all the men of Sh’khem, ‘Which is better for you — that all seventy sons of Yeruba‘al rule over you, or that one person rule over you? And remember that I am your blood relative.’” ³ His mother’s brothers spoke to all the men of Sh’khem and said all this about him, so that they followed their feelings and supported Avimelekh, arguing, “After all, he’s our brother.” ⁴ They also gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Ba‘al-B’rit; and he used these to pay good-for-nothing thugs to follow him. ⁵ He went back to his father’s house in ‘Ofrah and killed his brothers the sons of Yeruba‘al, all seventy of them, on a single rock, except for Yotam Yeruba‘al’s youngest son, who stayed alive because he hid himself.

⁶ All the men of Sh’khem and all Beit-Millo got together and went and made Avimelekh king at the oak by the cult-pillar in Sh’khem. ⁷ When they told this to Yotam, he went and stood on top of Mount G’rizim and shouted, “Listen to me, you leaders of Sh’khem; then God will listen to you! ⁸ Once the trees went out to choose a king to rule them. They said to the olive tree, ‘Rule over us!’ ⁹ But the olive tree replied, ‘Am I supposed to leave my oil, which is used to honor both God and humanity, just to go and hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁰ So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come and rule over us!’ ¹¹ But the fig tree replied, ‘Am I supposed to leave my sweetness and my good fruit just to go and hold sway over the trees?’ ¹² So the trees said to the grapevine, ‘You, come and rule over us!’ ¹³ But the grapevine replied, ‘Am I supposed to leave my wine, which gives cheer to God and humanity, just to go and hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Finally, all the trees said to the thorn bush, ‘You, come and rule over us!’ ¹⁵ The thorn bush replied, ‘If you really make me king over you, then come and take shelter in my shade. But if not, let fire come out of the thorn bush and burn down the cedars of the L’vanon!’

¹⁶ “Here’s the point. Have you been honest and straightforward in making Avimelekh king? Have you been fair with Yeruba‘al and his household and treated him as he deserves? ¹⁷ My father fought on your behalf, risking his life, and rescued you from the power of Midyan; ¹⁸ and now you are rebelling against my father’s household. You’ve killed his seventy sons on a single stone and made Avimelekh, the son of his slave-girl, king over the men of Sh’khem, because he’s your brother. ¹⁹ I say this: if you are dealing honestly and righteously with Yeruba‘al and his household today, then may you enjoy Avimelekh and may he enjoy you! ²⁰ But if not, let fire come out from Avimelekh and burn up the men of Sh’khem and Beit-Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Sh’khem and Beit-Millo and burn up Avimelekh!” ²¹ Then Yotam fled, making his way to Be’er, and he lived there for fear of Avimelekh his brother.

⁴⁴ It was now about noon, and darkness covered the whole Land until three o’clock in the afternoon; ⁴⁵ the sun did not shine. Also the parokhet in the Temple was split down the middle. ⁴⁶ Crying out with a loud voice, Yeshua said, “Father! Into your hands I commit my spirit.”^[a] With these words he gave up his spirit.

⁴⁷ When the Roman officer saw what had happened, he began to praise God and said, “Surely this man was innocent!” ⁴⁸ And when all the crowds that had gathered to watch the spectacle saw the things that had occurred, they returned home beating their breasts. ⁴⁹ All his friends, including the women who had accompanied him from the Galil, had been standing at a distance; they saw it all.

⁵⁰ There was a man named Yosef, a member of the Sanhedrin. He was a good man, a tzaddik; ⁵¹ and he had not been in agreement with either the Sanhedrin’s motivation or their action. He came from the town of Ramatayim, a town of the Judeans; and he looked forward to the Kingdom of God. ⁵² This man approached Pilate and asked for Yeshua’s body. ⁵³ He took it down, wrapped it in a linen sheet, and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, that had never been used.

⁵⁴ It was Preparation Day, and a Shabbat was about to begin. ⁵⁵ The women who had come with Yeshua from the Galil followed; they saw the tomb and how his body was placed in it. ⁵⁶ Then they went back home to prepare spices and ointments.

On Shabbat the women rested, in obedience to the commandment;

24 but the next day, while it was still very early, they took the spices they had prepared, went to the tomb, ² and found the stone rolled away from the tomb! ³ On entering, they discovered that the body of the Lord Yeshua was gone! ⁴ They were standing there, not knowing what to think about it, when suddenly two men in dazzlingly bright clothing stood next to them. ⁵ Terror-stricken, they bowed down with their faces to the ground. The two men said to them, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has been raised. Remember how he told you while he was still in the Galil, ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be executed on a stake as a criminal, but on the third day be raised again’?” ⁸ Then they remembered his words; ⁹ and, returning from the tomb, they told everything to the Eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ The women who told the emissaries these things were Miryam of Magdala, Yochanah, Miryam the mother of Ya‘akov, and the others in their circle.

¹¹ But the emissaries didn’t believe them; in fact, they thought that what they said was utter nonsense! ¹² However, Kefa got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping down, he saw only the burial cloths and went home wondering what had happened.