Lead Me to the Rock

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. Of David.

3 ^(A)Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. ² It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. ³ These are the nations: ^(B)the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. ⁴ They were for ^(C)the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. ⁵ So the people of Israel lived ^(D)among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ^6 (E)And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.

Othniel

^7 (F)And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and ^(G)the Asheroth. ⁸ Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, ^(H)and he sold them into the hand of ^(I)Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. ⁹ But when the people of Israel ^(J)cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a ^(K)deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, ^(L)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. ^10 (M)The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. ^11 (N)So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

^12 (O)And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon ^(P)the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³ He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the ^(Q)Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of ^(R)the city of palms. ¹⁴ And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵ Then the people of Israel ^(S)cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them ^(T)a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, ^(U)a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶ And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit^[a] in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. ¹⁷ And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸ And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back ^(V)at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. ²⁰ And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his ^(W)cool roof chamber. ^(X)And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. ²¹ And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. ²² And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. ²³ Then Ehud went out into the porch^[b] and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him ^(Y)and locked them.

²⁴ When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, ^(Z)“Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” ²⁵ And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

²⁶ Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond ^(AA)the idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ When he arrived, ^(AB)he sounded the trumpet in ^(AC)the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. ²⁸ And he said to them, “Follow after me, ^(AD)for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized ^(AE)the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. ²⁹ And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. ^(AF)And the land had rest for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹ After him was ^(AG)Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines ^(AH)with an oxgoad, and he also ^(AI)saved Israel.

The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath

16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling ^(A)the seven angels, “Go and ^(B)pour out on the earth ^(C)the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

² So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful ^(D)sores came upon the people who bore ^(E)the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

³ The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and ^(F)it became like the blood of a corpse, and ^(G)every living thing died that was in the sea.

⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl into ^(H)the rivers and the springs of water, and ^(I)they became blood. ⁵ And I heard the angel in charge of the waters^[a] say,

⁷ And I heard ^(P)the altar saying,

⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people ^(R)with fire. ⁹ They were scorched by the fierce heat, and ^(S)they cursed^[b] the name of God who had power over these plagues. ^(T)They did not repent ^(U)and give him glory.

¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on ^(V)the throne of the beast, and ^(W)its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish ¹¹ and cursed ^(X)the God of heaven for their pain and ^(Y)sores. ^(Z)They did not repent of their deeds.

¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on ^(AA)the great river Euphrates, and ^(AB)its water was dried up, ^(AC)to prepare the way for the kings ^(AD)from the east. ¹³ And I saw, coming out of the mouth of ^(AE)the dragon and out of the mouth of ^(AF)the beast and out of the mouth of ^(AG)the false prophet, three ^(AH)unclean spirits like ^(AI)frogs. ¹⁴ For they are ^(AJ)demonic spirits, ^(AK)performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, ^(AL)to assemble them for battle on ^(AM)the great day of God the Almighty. ¹⁵ (“Behold, ^(AN)I am coming like a thief! ^(AO)Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, ^(AP)that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) ¹⁶ And ^(AQ)they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called ^(AR)Armageddon.

The Seventh Bowl

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into ^(AS)the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, ^(AT)“It is done!” ¹⁸ And there were ^(AU)flashes of lightning, rumblings,^[c] peals of thunder, and ^(AV)a great earthquake ^(AW)such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. ^19 (AX)The great city ^(AY)was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God ^(AZ)remembered ^(BA)Babylon the great, ^(BB)to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ And ^(BC)every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. ²¹ And ^(BD)great hailstones, about one hundred pounds^[d] each, fell from heaven on people; and ^(BE)they cursed God for ^(BF)the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.