Deborah and Barak

4 ^(A)And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. ² And the Lord ^(B)sold them into the hand of ^(C)Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in ^(D)Hazor. The commander of his army was ^(E)Sisera, who lived in ^(F)Harosheth-hagoyim. ³ Then the people of Israel ^(G)cried out to the Lord for help, for he had ^(H)900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.

⁴ Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵ She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in ^(I)the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶ She sent and summoned ^(J)Barak the son of Abinoam from ^(K)Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount ^(L)Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. ⁷ And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by ^(M)the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, ^(N)and I will give him into your hand’?” ⁸ Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹ And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will ^(O)sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ And Barak called out ^(P)Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

¹¹ Now Heber ^(Q)the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of ^(R)Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in ^(S)Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

¹² When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, ¹³ Sisera called out all his chariots, ^(T)900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. ¹⁴ And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which ^(U)the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. ^(V)Does not the Lord go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. ^15 (W)And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. ¹⁶ And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.

¹⁷ But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. ¹⁹ And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened ^(X)a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. ²⁰ And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” ²¹ But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. ²² And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

^23 (Y)So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. ²⁴ And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

The Song of Deborah and Barak

5 ^(Z)Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:

^(BO)And the land had rest for forty years.

Midian Oppresses Israel

6 ^(BP)The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of ^(BQ)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 ^(BR)the caves and the strongholds. ³ For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and ^(BS)the Amalekites and ^(BT)the people of the East would come up against them. ⁴ They would encamp against them ^(BU)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 ^(BV)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 ^(BW)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: ^(BX)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 ^(BY)drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰ And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; ^(BZ)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 ^(CA)the Abiezrite, while his son ^(CB)Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² And ^(CC)the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ^(CD)“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 ^(CE)all his wonderful deeds ^(CF)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^[f] turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; ^(CG)do not I send you?” ¹⁵ And he said to him, ^(CH)“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, ^(CI)my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” ¹⁶ And the Lord said to him, ^(CJ)“But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” ¹⁷ And he said to him, ^(CK)“If now I have found favor in your eyes, then ^(CL)show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. ¹⁸ Please ^(CM)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 ^(CN)and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah^[g] 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 ^(CO)on this rock, and ^(CP)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. ^(CQ)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, ^(CR)“Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” ²³ But the Lord said to him, ^(CS)“Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, ^(CT)The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at ^(CU)Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

²⁵ That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down ^(CV)the Asherah that is beside it ²⁶ and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the ^(CW)stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” ²⁷ So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.

Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal

²⁸ When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. ²⁹ And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” ³⁰ Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” ³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” ³² Therefore on that day Gideon^[h] was called ^(CX)Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.

³³ Now ^(CY)all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in ^(CZ)the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ But ^(DA)the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, ^(DB)and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. ^35 (DC)And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. ^(DD)And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.

The Sign of the Fleece

^36 (DE)Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, ³⁷ behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” ³⁸ And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, ^(DF)“Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” ⁴⁰ And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

The Contrast of Wisdom and Folly

The High Priestly Prayer

17 When Jesus had spoken these words, ^(A)he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, ^(B)the hour has come; ^(C)glorify your Son that the Son may ^(D)glorify you, ² since ^(E)you have given him authority over all flesh, ^(F)to give eternal life to all ^(G)whom you have given him. ^3 (H)And this is eternal life, ^(I)that they know you, ^(J)the only ^(K)true God, and ^(L)Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴ I ^(M)glorified you on earth, ^(N)having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, ^(O)glorify me in your own presence with the glory ^(P)that I had with you ^(Q)before the world existed.

^6 (R)“I have manifested your name to the people ^(S)whom you gave me out of the world. ^(T)Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything ^(U)that you have given me is from you. ⁸ For I have given them ^(V)the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that ^(W)I came from you; and ^(X)they have believed that you sent me. ⁹ I am praying for them. ^(Y)I am not praying for the world but for those ^(Z)whom you have given me, for ^(AA)they are yours. ^10 (AB)All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and ^(AC)I am glorified in them. ¹¹ And I am no longer in the world, but ^(AD)they are in the world, and ^(AE)I am coming to you. ^(AF)Holy Father, ^(AG)keep them in your name, ^(AH)which you have given me, ^(AI)that they may be one, ^(AJ)even as we are one. ^12 (AK)While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have ^(AL)guarded them, and ^(AM)not one of them has been lost except ^(AN)the son of destruction, ^(AO)that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now ^(AP)I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have ^(AQ)my joy fulfilled in themselves. ^14 (AR)I have given them your word, and ^(AS)the world has hated them ^(AT)because they are not of the world, ^(AU)just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I ^(AV)do not ask that you ^(AW)take them out of the world, but that you ^(AX)keep them from ^(AY)the evil one.^{[a] 16 (AZ)}They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ^17 (BA)Sanctify them^[b] in the truth; ^(BB)your word is truth. ^18 (BC)As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And ^(BD)for their sake ^(BE)I consecrate myself,^[c] that they also ^(BF)may be sanctified^[d] in truth.

²⁰ “I do not ^(BG)ask for these only, but also for those ^(BH)who will believe in me through their word, ^21 (BI)that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that ^(BJ)they also may be in ^(BK)us, so that the world ^(BL)may believe that you have sent me. ^22 (BM)The glory that you have given me ^(BN)I have given to them, ^(BO)that they may be one even as we are one, ^23 (BP)I in them and you in me, ^(BQ)that they may become perfectly one, ^(BR)so that the world may know that you sent me and ^(BS)loved them even as ^(BT)you loved me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be ^(BU)with me ^(BV)where I am, ^(BW)to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me ^(BX)before the foundation of the world. ^25 (BY)O righteous Father, even though ^(BZ)the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ^26 (CA)I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love ^(CB)with which you have loved me may be in them, and ^(CC)I in them.”