Judges 3:7-8:35

GOD’S WORD Translation

Othniel Defeats Cushan Rishathaim

⁷ The people of Israel did what the Lord considered evil. They forgot the Lord their God and served other gods and goddesses—the Baals and the Asherahs. ⁸ The Lord became angry with the people of Israel. He used King Cushan Rishathaim of Aram Naharaim to defeat them. So Israel served Cushan Rishathaim for eight years.

⁹ Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. The Lord sent a savior to rescue them. It was Othniel, son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz. ¹⁰ When the Lord’s Spirit came over him, he became the judge of Israel. He went out to war. The Lord handed King Cushan Rishathaim of Aram Naharaim over to him, and Othniel overpowered him. ¹¹ So there was finally peace in the land for 40 years. Then Othniel, son of Kenaz, died.

Ehud Defeats Moab

¹² Once again, the people of Israel did what the Lord considered evil. So the Lord made King Eglon of Moab stronger than Israel, because Israel did what the Lord considered evil. ¹³ Eglon got the Ammonites and the Amalekites to help him, and they defeated the Israelites and occupied the City of Palms. ¹⁴ The Israelites served King Eglon of Moab for 18 years.

¹⁵ Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. The Lord sent a savior to rescue them. It was Ehud, a left-handed man from the tribe of Benjamin. (Ehud was the son of Gera.)

The people sent him with their tax payment to King Eglon of Moab. ¹⁶ Ehud made a two-edged dagger for himself. He fastened it to his right side under his clothes. ¹⁷ Then he brought the tax payment to King Eglon. (Eglon was a very fat man.) ¹⁸ When Ehud had finished delivering the payment, he sent back the men who had carried it. ¹⁹ However, Ehud turned around at the stone idols near Gilgal ⌞and returned to Eglon⌟. He said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”

The king replied, “Keep quiet!” Then all his advisers left the room.

²⁰ Ehud came up to him as he sat alone in his room on the roof. He said to the king, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his throne, ²¹ Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right side, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. ²² Even the handle went in after the blade. Eglon’s fat covered the blade because Ehud didn’t pull the dagger out. The blade stuck out in back. ²³ Ehud left the room. (He had closed and locked the doors of the room before he left.)

²⁴ After Ehud went out, Eglon’s advisers came in. They were surprised that the doors were locked. “He must be using the toilet,” they said. ²⁵ They waited and waited, but Eglon didn’t open the doors. So they took the key and opened the door. They were shocked to see their ruler lying on the floor, dead.

²⁶ While they had been waiting, Ehud escaped. He went past the stone idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ When he arrived there, he blew a ram’s horn in the mountains of Ephraim ⌞to summon the troops⌟. So the troops of Israel came down from the mountains with him, and he led them. ²⁸ He told them, “Follow me! The Lord will hand your enemy Moab over to you.”

They followed him and captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River that led to Moab and refused to let anyone cross. ²⁹ At that time they killed about ten thousand of Moab’s best fighting men. Not one of them escaped. ³⁰ The power of Moab was crushed by Israel that day. So there was finally peace in the land for 80 years.

Shamgar Defeats the Philistines

³¹ After Ehud came Shamgar, son of Anath. He killed 600 Philistines with a sharp stick used for herding oxen. So he, too, rescued Israel.

The Lord Calls Barak Through Deborah

4 After Ehud died, the people of Israel again did what the Lord considered evil. ² So the Lord used King Jabin of Canaan, who ruled at Hazor, to defeat them. The commander of King Jabin’s army was Sisera, who lived at Harosheth Haggoyim. ³ The people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. King Jabin had 900 chariots made of iron and had cruelly oppressed Israel for 20 years.

⁴ Deborah, wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet. She was the judge in Israel at that time. ⁵ She used to sit under the Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. The people of Israel would come to her for legal decisions.

⁶ Deborah summoned Barak, son of Abinoam, from Kedesh in Naphtali. She told him, “The Lord God of Israel has given you this order: ‘Gather troops on Mount Tabor. Take 10,000 men from Naphtali and Zebulun with you. ⁷ I will lead Sisera (the commander of Jabin’s army), his chariots, and troops to you at the Kishon River. I will hand him over to you.’ ”

⁸ Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I’ll go. But if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

⁹ Deborah replied, “Certainly, I’ll go with you. But you won’t win any honors for the way you’re going about this, because the Lord will use a woman to defeat Sisera.”

Barak Defeats Jabin

So Deborah started out for Kedesh with Barak. ¹⁰ Barak called the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali together at Kedesh. Ten thousand men went to fight under his command. Deborah also went along with him.

¹¹ Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites (the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law). Heber went as far away as the oak tree at Zaanannim near Kedesh and set up his tent.

¹² The report reached Sisera that Barak, son of Abinoam, had come to fight at Mount Tabor. ¹³ So Sisera summoned all his chariots (900 chariots made of iron) and all his troops from Harosheth Haggoyim to come to the Kishon River.

¹⁴ Then Deborah said to Barak, “Attack! This is the day the Lord will hand Sisera over to you. The Lord will go ahead of you.”

So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men behind him. ¹⁵ The Lord threw Sisera, all his chariots, and his whole army into a panic in front of Barak’s deadly assault. Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶ Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth Haggoyim. So Sisera’s whole army was killed in combat. Not one man survived.

¹⁷ Meanwhile, Sisera fled on foot toward the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Sisera did this because King Jabin of Hazor and Heber’s family were on peaceful terms. ¹⁸ When Jael came out ⌞of her tent⌟, she met Sisera. She told him, “Sir, come in here! Come into my tent. Don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she hid him under a tent curtain.

¹⁹ Sisera said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink. I’m thirsty.” But instead she gave him milk to drink and covered him up again.

²⁰ He said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent. If anyone comes and asks if there has been a man around here, tell them no.”

²¹ When Sisera had fallen sound asleep from exhaustion, Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and walked quietly toward him with a hammer in her hand. She hammered the tent peg through his temples into the ground. So Sisera died.

²² Barak was still pursuing Sisera. When Jael came out ⌞of her tent⌟, she met him. She said to him, “Come in! I have something to show you—the man you’ve been looking for.” So Barak went into her tent. He saw Sisera lying there dead with the tent peg through his temples.

²³ So on that day, God used the people of Israel to crush the power of King Jabin of Canaan. ²⁴ The Israelites became stronger and stronger until they destroyed him.

The Victory Song of Deborah and Barak

5 On that day Deborah and Barak, son of Abinoam, sang this song:

So the land had peace for 40 years.

Israel Sins Again

6 The people of Israel did what the Lord considered evil. So the Lord handed them over to Midian for seven years. ² Midian’s power was too strong for Israel. The Israelites made hiding places in the mountains, caves, and mountain strongholds ⌞to protect themselves⌟ from Midian. ³ Whenever Israel planted crops, Midian, Amalek, and Kedem came and damaged the crops. ⁴ The enemy used to camp on the land and destroy the crops all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to live on—not one sheep, cow, or donkey. ⁵ Like swarms of locusts, they came with their livestock and their tents. They and their camels could not be counted. They came into the land only to ruin it. ⁶ So the Israelites became very poor because of Midian and cried out to the Lord for help.

⁷ When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help because of what the Midianites had done to them, ⁸ the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says:

Gideon Is Chosen to Be a Judge

¹¹ The Messenger of the Lord came and sat under the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash from Abiezer’s family. Joash’s son Gideon was beating out wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² The Messenger of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, brave man.”

¹³ Gideon responded, “Excuse me, sir! But if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracles our ancestors have told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and has handed us over to Midian.”

¹⁴ The Lord turned to him and said, “You will rescue Israel from Midian with the strength you have. I am sending you.”

¹⁵ Gideon said to him, “Excuse me, sir! How can I rescue Israel? Look at my whole family. It’s the weakest one in Manasseh. And me? I’m the least important member of my family.”

¹⁶ The Lord replied, “I will be with you. You will defeat Midian as if it were ⌞only⌟ one man.”

¹⁷ Gideon said to him, “If you find me acceptable, give me a sign that it is really you speaking to me. ¹⁸ Don’t leave until I come back. I want to bring my gift and set it in front of you.”

“I will stay until you come back,” he said.

¹⁹ Then Gideon went into ⌞his house⌟ and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread made with 18 quarts of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. Then he went out and presented them to the Messenger of the Lord under the oak tree.

²⁰ The Messenger of the Lord told him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” Gideon did so. ²¹ Then the Messenger of the Lord touched the meat and the bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared up from the rock and burned the meat and the bread. Then the Messenger of the Lord disappeared. ²² That’s when Gideon realized that this had been the Messenger of the Lord. So he said, “Lord God! I have seen the Messenger of the Lord face to face.”

²³ The Lord said to him, “Calm down! Don’t be afraid. You will not die.” ²⁴ So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord. He called it The Lord Calms. To this day it is still in Ophrah, which belongs to Abiezer’s family.

Gideon Destroys an Altar Dedicated to Baal

²⁵ That same night the Lord said to Gideon, “Take a bull from your father’s herd, a bull that is seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar dedicated to the god Baal and cut down the pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah that is next to it. ²⁶ Then, in the proper way, build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this fortified place. Take this second bull and sacrifice it as a burnt offering on the wood from the Asherah pole that you have cut down.”

²⁷ Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him to do. However, he didn’t do anything during the day. He was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city, so he did it at night. ²⁸ When the men of the city got up early in the morning, they saw that the Baal altar had been torn down. The Asherah pole next to it had also been cut down. They saw that the second bull had been sacrificed as a burnt offering on the altar that had been built. ²⁹ They asked each other, “Who did this?” While they were investigating the matter, someone said, “Gideon, son of Joash, did this.”

³⁰ Then the men of the city told Joash, “Bring your son out. He must die. He has torn down the Baal altar and cut down the Asherah pole that was beside it.”

³¹ But Joash said to everyone standing around him, “You’re not going to defend Baal, are you? Do you think you should save him? Whoever defends him will be put to death in the morning. If he’s a god, let him defend himself when someone tears down his altar.” ³² So that day they nicknamed Gideon “Jerubbaal” [Let Baal Defend Himself], because they said, “When someone tears down Baal’s altar, let Baal defend himself.”

Gideon Summons an Army

³³ All of Midian, Amalek, and Kedem combined their armies, crossed ⌞the Jordan River⌟, and camped in the valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ Then the Lord’s Spirit gave Gideon strength. So Gideon blew the ram’s horn to summon Abiezer’s family to follow him. ³⁵ He also sent messengers throughout Manasseh to summon the people to follow him. The tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali were also summoned to follow him, and they went to meet the enemy in battle.

³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “You said that you would rescue Israel through me. ³⁷ I’ll place some wool on the threshing floor.^[a] If there is dew on the wool while all the ground is dry, then I’ll know that you will rescue Israel through me, as you said.” ³⁸ And that is what happened. The next morning Gideon got up early. He squeezed out a bowl full of water from the wool.

³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “Don’t be angry with me. But let me ask one more thing. Let me make one more test with the wool. Let the wool be dry while all the ground is covered with dew.” ⁴⁰ During the night, God did what Gideon asked. The wool was dry, but all the ground was covered with dew.

Gideon Defeats Midian

7 Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops with him got up early and camped above En Harod. Midian’s camp was north of him at the hill of Moreh in the valley.

² The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men with you for me to hand Midian over to you. Israel might brag and say, ‘We saved ourselves.’ ³ Announce to the troops, ‘Whoever is scared or frightened should leave Mount Gilead and go back home.’ ” So 22,000 men went back home, and 10,000 were left.

⁴ The Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one will go with you,’ he must go with you. And if I say to you, ‘This one won’t go with you,’ he must not go.”

⁵ So Gideon took the men down to the water. The Lord said to him, “Separate those who lap water with their tongues like dogs from those who kneel down to drink.” ⁶ Three hundred men lapped water with their hands to their mouths. All the rest of the men knelt down to drink water. ⁷ Then the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped water I will save you and hand Midian over to you. All the other men should go home.” ⁸ So Gideon sent the other men of Israel home, but the 300 men who stayed kept all the supplies and rams’ horns.

The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹ That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Attack! Go into the camp! I will hand it over to you. ¹⁰ But if you’re afraid to go, take your servant Purah to the camp with you. ¹¹ Listen to what people are saying. After that, you will have the courage to go into the camp and attack it.”

So Gideon and his servant Purah went to the edge of the camp. ¹² Midian, Amalek, and all of Kedem were spread out in the valley like a swarm of locusts. There were so many camels that they could not be counted. They were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore.

¹³ When Gideon got there, he heard a man telling his friend a dream. The man said, “I had a strange dream. There was a loaf of barley bread rolling around in the camp of Midian. When it got to the command post, the loaf of bread hit that tent so hard that the tent collapsed, turned upside down, and fell flat.”

¹⁴ His friend replied, “That can only be the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, from Israel. God is going to hand Midian and the whole camp over to him.”

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped the Lord. Then he went back to the camp of Israel and said, “Attack! The Lord will hand Midian’s camp over to you.”

¹⁶ Gideon divided the 300 men into three companies. He gave them each rams’ horns and jars with torches inside. ¹⁷ He said to them, “Watch me, and do what I do. When I come to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. ¹⁸ When I and those with me blow our rams’ horns, then the rest of you around the camp do the same and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’ ”

¹⁹ Gideon and his 100 men came to the edge of the camp. It was the beginning of the midnight watch just at the change of the guards. They blew their rams’ horns and smashed the jars they were holding in their hands. ²⁰ The three companies also blew their rams’ horns and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the rams’ horns in their right hands so that they could blow them. They shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹ While each man kept his position around the camp, everyone in the Midianite camp began to run away, screaming as they fled. ²² The 300 men kept on blowing their rams’ horns, and the Lord caused the whole camp of Midian to fight among themselves. They fled as far as Beth Shittah, toward Zererah, and as far as the bank of the stream at Abel Meholah near Tabbath.

²³ The men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh to help pursue the troops of Midian. ²⁴ Gideon also sent messengers to the whole mountain region of Ephraim with this message, “Go into battle against Midian. Capture the watering holes as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” All the men of Ephraim were also summoned to help. They captured the watering holes as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan River. ²⁵ They also captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two Midianite commanders. They killed Oreb at the Rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the Winepress of Zeeb and kept on pursuing Midian. Then they brought the severed heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan River.

8 The men from Ephraim strongly protested Gideon’s actions. They said, “Why did you do this to us? You didn’t invite us to go fight Midian with you.”

² Gideon replied, “I haven’t done anything compared with what you have done. Aren’t the grapes that Ephraim picked after the harvest better than all the grapes in Abiezer’s entire harvest? ³ God handed Oreb and Zeeb, Midian’s commanders, over to you. What have I done compared with that?” When they heard what Gideon said, they weren’t angry with him anymore.

⁴ Gideon and his 300 men headed toward the Jordan River. They were exhausted when they crossed it, but they kept pursuing the enemy. ⁵ So Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give me some food for the men under my command. They’re exhausted, and I’m pursuing King Zebah and King Zalmunna of Midian.”

⁶ The generals at Succoth replied, “We shouldn’t give your army food. You haven’t captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet.”

⁷ Gideon responded, “Alright, then. When the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I’ll whip your bodies with thorns and thistles from the desert.”

⁸ Then Gideon went to Penuel and asked the people there for the same help. But they gave him the same reply that the men of Succoth gave. ⁹ So he told them, “When I come back after my victory, I’ll tear down this tower.”

¹⁰ Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with an army of about 15,000 men. This was all that was left of Kedem’s entire army. In the battle, 120,000 soldiers died. ¹¹ So Gideon went up Tent Dwellers Road, east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and defeated the unsuspecting Midianite army. ¹² Zebah and Zalmunna fled as Gideon pursued them. He captured King Zebah and King Zalmunna of Midian, and the whole Midianite army panicked.

¹³ Gideon, son of Joash, returned from the battle through the Heres Pass ¹⁴ and captured a young man from Succoth. He questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the 77 officials and leaders of Succoth. ¹⁵ Gideon went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me when you said, ‘We shouldn’t give your exhausted men food before you’ve captured Zebah and Zalmunna.’ ” ¹⁶ So Gideon took the leaders of the city and taught them a lesson using thorns and thistles from the desert. ¹⁷ Then he tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of that city.

¹⁸ He asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?”

They answered, “They were like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.”

¹⁹ Gideon replied, “They were my brothers, my mother’s sons. I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not have to kill you now.” ²⁰ Then he told Jether, his firstborn son, “Get up and kill them!” But Jether didn’t draw his sword. He was afraid because he was only a young man.

²¹ Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and do it yourself! It’s a man’s job!” So Gideon got up and killed them. Then he took the half-moon ornaments that were on their camels’ necks.

Gideon Makes a Gold Idol

²² The men of Israel said to Gideon, “You, then your son, and then your grandson, must rule us. You rescued us from Midian.”

²³ Gideon replied, “I will not rule you nor will my son. The Lord will rule you.” ²⁴ Then Gideon said to them, “Do me a favor. Each of you give me the earrings from your loot.” (Their enemies, the Ishmaelites, wore gold earrings.)

²⁵ The men of Israel answered, “Yes, we’ll give them to you.” So they spread out a coat. Each man took the earrings from his loot and dropped them on it. ²⁶ The gold earrings Gideon had asked for weighed 40 pounds. This did not include the half-moon ornaments, the earrings, the purple clothes worn by the kings of Midian, and the chains from their camels’ necks. ²⁷ Then Gideon used the gold to make an idol ^[b] and placed it in his hometown, Ophrah. All Israel chased after it there as though it were a prostitute. It became a trap for Gideon and his family.

²⁸ The power of Midian was crushed by the people of Israel, and Midian never again became a threat. So the land had peace for 40 years during Gideon’s life.

²⁹ Jerubbaal, son of Joash, went home to live. ³⁰ Gideon had 70 sons because he had many wives. ³¹ His concubine ^[c] at Shechem also gave birth to a son. That son was named Abimelech.

³² Gideon, son of Joash, died at a very old age. He was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah, the city belonging to Abiezer’s family.

³³ As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel chased after other gods—the Baals—as though they were prostitutes. They made Baal Berith their god. ³⁴ The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from all the enemies around them. ³⁵ And they were not kind to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) despite all the good he had done for Israel.