²⁵ For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

⁴ For he was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of God. For we are weak in him,^[a] but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.^(A)

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

¹⁸ For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.^(A)

³³ O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!^(A)

³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.^(C)

⁶ He said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.^{(A) 7} What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain, and he shall bring out the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ ”^(B)

²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;^{(A) 28} God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to abolish things that are, ²⁹ so that no one^[a] might boast in the presence of God.^(B)

⁷ And the Lord will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over that of Judah.^{(A) 8} On that day the Lord will shield the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, at their head.^(B)

² The Lord said to Gideon, “The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’^{(A) 3} Now, therefore, proclaim this in the hearing of the troops, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home.’ ” Thus Gideon sifted them out;^[a] twenty-two thousand returned, and ten thousand remained.^(B)

⁴ Then the Lord said to Gideon, “The troops are still too many; take them down to the water, and I will sift them out for you there. When I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you, and when I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”^{(C) 5} So he brought the troops down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall put to one side; all those who kneel down to drink, putting their hands to their mouths,^[b] you shall put to the other side.” ⁶ The number of those who lapped was three hundred, but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water. ⁷ Then the Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred who lapped I will deliver you and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes.”^{(D) 8} So the people took provisions in their hands and their trumpets, and he sent all the rest of Israel back to their own tents but retained the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

¹⁴ Ahab said, “By whom?” He said, “Thus says the Lord: By the young men who serve the district governors.” Then he said, “Who shall begin the battle?” He answered, “You.” ¹⁵ Then he mustered the young men who served the district governors, two hundred thirty-two; after them he mustered all the people of Israel, seven thousand.

¹⁶ They went out at noon, while Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the booths, he and the thirty-two kings allied with him.^{(A) 17} The young men who served the district governors went out first. Ben-hadad had sent out scouts,^[a] and they reported to him, “Men have come out from Samaria.” ¹⁸ He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; if they have come out for war, take them alive.”^(B)

¹⁹ But these had already come out of the city: the young men who served the district governors and the army that followed them. ²⁰ Each killed his man; the Arameans fled, and Israel pursued them, but King Ben-hadad of Aram escaped on a horse with the cavalry. ²¹ The king of Israel went out, attacked the horses and chariots, and inflicted a massive defeat on the Arameans.

²² Then the prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, “Come, strengthen yourself, and consider well what you have to do, for in the spring the king of Aram will come up against you.”^(C)