²⁴ Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the ^(A)mountains of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.” Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and ^(B)seized the watering places as far as ^(C)Beth Barah and the Jordan.

Striving and Suffering for Christ

²⁷ Only ^(A)let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, ^(B)with one mind ^(C)striving together for the faith of the gospel,

³⁰ Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and ^(A)through the love of the Spirit, ^(B)that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me,

²⁸ These things were done ^(A)in ^[a]Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

⁵ The Gileadites seized the ^(A)fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,”

²⁷ And it happened, when he arrived, that ^(A)he blew the trumpet in the ^(B)mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and ^[a]he led them. ²⁸ Then he said to them, “Follow me, for ^(C)the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him, seized the ^(D)fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over.