Idolatry Leads to Servitude

3 ^(A)Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not ^[a]experienced any of the wars of Canaan; ² only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might ^[b]be taught war, ^[c]those who had not ^[d]experienced it formerly). ³ These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and ^(B)the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as ^[e]Lebo-hamath. ⁴ They were for ^[f](C)testing Israel, to find out if they would ^[g]obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers ^[h]through Moses. ^5 (D)The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; ⁶ and ^(E)they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

⁷ The sons of Israel did ^(F)what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and ^(G)forgot the Lord their God and ^(H)served the Baals and the ^[i]Asheroth. ⁸ Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of ^[j]Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

The First Judge Delivers Israel

⁹ When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, ^(I)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. ^10 (J)The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went out to war, the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of ^[k]Mesopotamia into his hand, so that ^[l]he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. ¹¹ Then the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

¹² Now the sons of Israel again ^(K)did evil in the sight of the Lord. So ^(L)the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³ And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and ^[m]defeated Israel, and they possessed ^(M)the city of the palm trees. ¹⁴ The sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

Ehud Delivers from Moab

¹⁵ But when the sons of Israel ^(N)cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by ^[n]him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶ Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his cloak. ¹⁷ He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸ It came about when he had finished presenting the tribute, that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he said, “Keep silence.” And all who attended him left him. ²⁰ Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. ²¹ Ehud stretched out his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly. ²² The handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the refuse came out. ²³ Then Ehud went out into the vestibule and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him, and locked them.

²⁴ When he had gone out, his servants came and looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber were locked; and they said, “^(O)He is only ^[o]relieving himself in the cool room.” ²⁵ They waited until they ^[p]became anxious; but behold, he did not open the doors of the roof chamber. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the ^[q]floor dead.

²⁶ Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying, and he passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ It came about when he had arrived, that ^(P)he blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was in front of them. ²⁸ He said to them, “Pursue them, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands.” So they went down after him and seized ^(Q)the fords of the Jordan opposite Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross. ²⁹ They struck down at that time about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men; and no one escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was undisturbed for eighty years.

Shamgar Delivers from Philistines

³¹ After him came ^(R)Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel.

Deborah and Barak Deliver from Canaanites

4 Then ^(S)the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. ² And the Lord sold them into the hand of ^(T)Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in ^(U)Harosheth-hagoyim. ³ The sons of Israel cried to the Lord; for he had nine hundred ^(V)iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

⁴ Now Deborah, a ^[r]prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵ She used to ^[s]sit under the ^(W)palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶ Now she sent and summoned ^(X)Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “^[t]Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. ⁷ I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his ^[u]many troops to the river Kishon, and ^(Y)I will give him into your hand.’” ⁸ Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹ She said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, ^(Z)for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ Barak called ^(AA)Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up ^[v](AB)with him; Deborah also went up with him.

¹¹ Now Heber ^(AC)the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the ^[w]oak in ^(AD)Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

¹² Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³ Sisera called together all his chariots, ^(AE)nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from ^(AF)Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. ¹⁴ Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands; ^[x]behold, ^(AG)the Lord has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. ^15 (AH)The Lord ^[y]routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. ¹⁶ But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; ^(AI)not even one was left.

¹⁷ Now 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 Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” And he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a ^[z]rug. ^19 (AJ)He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a ^[aa]bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. ²⁰ He said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’” ²¹ But Jael, Heber’s wife, ^(AK)took a tent peg and ^[ab]seized a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. ²² And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” And he entered ^[ac]with her, and behold Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.

²³ So ^(AL)God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. ²⁴ The hand of the sons of Israel pressed heavier and heavier upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had ^[ad]destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan.

The Song of Deborah and Barak

5 ^(AM)Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

And the land was undisturbed for forty years.

Jesus Goes to Galilee

4 Therefore when ^(A)the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and ^(B)baptizing more disciples than John ² (although ^(C)Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His ^(D)disciples were), ³ He left ^(E)Judea and went away ^(F)again into Galilee. ⁴ And He had to pass through ^(G)Samaria. ⁵ So He *came to a city of ^(H)Samaria called Sychar, near ^(I)the parcel of ground that ^(J)Jacob gave to his son Joseph; ⁶ and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about ^[a]the sixth hour.

The Woman of Samaria

⁷ There *came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus *said to her, “Give Me a drink.” ⁸ For His ^(K)disciples had gone away into ^(L)the city to buy food. ⁹ Therefore the ^(M)Samaritan woman *said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For ^(N)Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you ^(O)living water.” ¹¹ She *said to Him, “^[b]Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that ^(P)living water? ¹² You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who ^(Q)gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” ¹³ Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^(R)shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to ^(S)eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman *said to Him, “^[c]Sir, ^(T)give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” ¹⁶ He *said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus *said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” ¹⁹ The woman *said to Him, “^[d]Sir, I perceive that You are ^(U)a prophet. ^20 (V)Our fathers worshiped in ^(W)this mountain, and you people say that ^(X)in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” ²¹ Jesus *said to her, “Woman, believe Me, ^(Y)an hour is coming when ^(Z)neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ^22 (AA)You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for ^(AB)salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But ^(AC)an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father ^(AD)in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. ²⁴ God is ^[e]spirit, and those who worship Him must worship ^(AE)in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman *said to Him, “I know that ^(AF)Messiah is coming (^(AG)He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” ²⁶ Jesus *said to her, “^(AH)I who speak to you am He.”

²⁷ At this point His ^(AI)disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?” ²⁸ So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and *said to the men, ²⁹ “Come, see a man ^(AJ)who told me all the things that I have done; ^(AK)this is not ^[f]the Christ, is it?” ³⁰ They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “^(AL)Rabbi, eat.” ³² But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the ^(AM)disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” ³⁴ Jesus *said to them, “My food is to ^(AN)do the will of Him who sent Me and to ^(AO)accomplish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white ^(AP)for harvest. ³⁶ Already he who reaps is receiving ^(AQ)wages and is gathering ^(AR)fruit for ^(AS)life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this case the saying is true, ‘^(AT)One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

The Samaritans

³⁹ From ^(AU)that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “^(AV)He told me all the things that I have done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹ Many more believed because of His word; ⁴² and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed ^(AW)the Savior of the world.”

⁴³ After ^(AX)the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. ⁴⁴ For Jesus Himself testified that ^(AY)a prophet has no honor in his own country. ⁴⁵ So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, ^(AZ)having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.

Healing a Nobleman’s Son

⁴⁶ Therefore He came again to ^(BA)Cana of Galilee ^(BB)where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at ^(BC)Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come ^(BD)out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see ^[g](BE)signs and ^(BF)wonders, you simply will not believe.” ⁴⁹ The royal official *said to Him, “^[h]Sir, come down before my child dies.” ⁵⁰ Jesus *said to him, “^(BG)Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. ⁵¹ As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his ^[i]son was living. ⁵² So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the ^[j]seventh hour the fever left him.” ⁵³ So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed and ^(BH)his whole household. ⁵⁴ This is again a ^(BI)second ^[k]sign that Jesus performed when He had ^(BJ)come out of Judea into Galilee.