¹⁷ And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in ^(A)Aphek until you have made an end of them.”

Ahab Defeats Ben-hadad Again

^26 (A)In the spring, Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to ^(B)Aphek to fight against Israel.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is ^(A)folly to ^(B)those who are perishing, but to us ^(C)who are being saved it is ^(D)the power of God.

¹⁰ And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ^(A)“Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” ¹¹ But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. ¹² Are not Abana^[a] and Pharpar, the rivers of ^(B)Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. ¹³ But his servants came near and said to him, ^(C)“My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, ^(D)and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, ^(E)and he was clean.

³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for ^(A)he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, ^(B)“Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see ^(C)the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus ^(D)lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Now there were six stone water jars there ^(A)for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty ^(B)gallons.^{[a] 7} Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.

²⁴ And ^(A)when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, ^(B)for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”

The Philistines Capture the Ark

4 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at ^(A)Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at ^(B)Aphek.

⁹ That same ^(A)night the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, ^(B)for I have given it into your hand. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. ^11 (C)And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” ^(D)Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp. ¹² And the Midianites and the Amalekites and ^(E)all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, ^(F)as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. ¹³ When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.” ¹⁴ And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.”

¹⁵ As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.” ¹⁶ And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with ^(G)torches inside the jars. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. ¹⁸ When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ^(H)‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

Gideon Defeats Midian

¹⁹ So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. ²⁰ Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. ^(I)And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”