12 In the meanwhile, when so many thousands of the people had gathered that they were trampling on one another, Jesus commenced by saying primarily to His disciples, Be on your guard against the leaven (ferment) of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy [producing unrest and violent agitation].

² Nothing is [so closely] covered up that it will not be revealed, or hidden that it will not be known.

³ Whatever you have spoken in the darkness shall be heard and listened to in the light, and what you have whispered in [people’s] ears and behind closed doors will be proclaimed upon the housetops.

⁴ I tell you, My friends, do not dread and be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have nothing more that they can do.

⁵ But I will warn you whom you should fear: fear Him Who, after killing, has power to hurl into hell (Gehenna); yes, I say to you, fear Him!

⁶ Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And [yet] not one of them is forgotten or uncared for in the presence of God.

⁷ But [even] the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be struck with fear or seized with alarm; you are of greater worth than many [flocks] of sparrows.

⁸ And I tell you, Whoever declares openly [speaking out freely] and confesses that he is My worshiper and acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man also will declare and confess and acknowledge him before the angels of God.

⁹ But he who disowns and denies and rejects and refuses to acknowledge Me before men will be disowned and denied and rejected and refused acknowledgement in the presence of the angels of God.

¹⁰ And everyone who makes a statement or speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit [that is, whoever ^[a]intentionally comes short of the reverence due the Holy Spirit], it will not be forgiven him [for him there is no forgiveness].

¹¹ And when they bring you before the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, do not be anxious [beforehand] how you shall reply in defense or what you are to say.

¹² For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour and ^[b]moment what [you] ought to say.

¹³ Someone from the crowd said to Him, Master, order my brother to divide the inheritance and share it with me.

¹⁴ But He told him, Man, who has appointed Me a judge or umpire and divider over you?

¹⁵ And He said to them, Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness (the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more); for a man’s life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing ^[c]overflowing abundance or that which is ^[d]over and above his needs.

¹⁶ Then He told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man was fertile and yielded plentifully.

¹⁷ And he considered and debated within himself, What shall I do? I have no place [in which] to gather together my harvest.

¹⁸ And he said, I will do this: I will pull down my storehouses and build larger ones, and there I will store all ^[e]my grain or produce and my goods.

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many good things laid up, [enough] for many years. Take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself merrily.

²⁰ But God said to him, You fool! This very night ^[f] they [the messengers of God] will demand your soul of you; and all the things that you have prepared, whose will they be?^(A)

²¹ So it is with the one who continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself and is not rich [in his relation] to God [this is how he fares].

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7 Then Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

² The Lord said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel boast about themselves against Me, saying, My own hand has delivered me.

³ So now proclaim in the ears of the men, saying, Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him turn back and depart from Mount Gilead. And 22,000 of the men returned, but 10,000 remained.

⁴ And the Lord said to Gideon, The men are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. And he of whom I say to you, This man shall go with you, shall go with you; and he of whom I say to you, This man shall not go with you, shall not go.

⁵ So he brought the men down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, Everyone who laps up the water with his tongue as a dog laps it, you shall set by himself, likewise everyone who bows down on his knees to drink.

⁶ And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

⁷ And the Lord said to Gideon, With the 300 men who lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others return every man to his home.

⁸ So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands, and he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his home and retained those 300 men. And the host of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹ That same night the Lord said to Gideon, Arise, go down against their camp, for I have given it into your hand.

¹⁰ But if you fear to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp

¹¹ And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the camp of the armed men.

¹² And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east lay along the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand on the seashore for multitude.

¹³ When Gideon arrived, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of ^[a]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 replied, This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. Into his hand God has given Midian and all the host.

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped and returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise, for the Lord has given into your hand the host of Midian.

¹⁶ And he divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets and empty pitchers, with torches inside the pitchers.

¹⁷ And he said to them, Look at me, then do likewise. When I come to the edge of their camp, do as I do.

¹⁸ When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, For the Lord and for Gideon!

¹⁹ So Gideon and the 100 men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when the guards had just been changed, and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands.

²⁰ And the three companies blew the trumpets and shattered the pitchers, holding the torches in their left hands, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow [leaving no chance to use swords], and they cried, The sword for the Lord and Gideon!

²¹ They stood every man in his place round about the camp, and all the [Midianite] army ran—they cried out and fled.

²² When [Gideon’s men] blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every [Midianite’s] sword against his comrade and against all the army, and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah by Tabbath.

²³ And the men of Israel were called together out of Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

²⁴ And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites and take all the intervening fords as far as Beth-barah and also the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together and took all the fords as far as Beth-barah and also the Jordan.

²⁵ And [the men of Ephraim] took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they slew Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

8 And the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, Why have you treated us like this, not calling us when you went to fight with Midian? And they quarreled with him furiously.

² And he said to them, What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of [your big tribe of] Ephraim better than the vintage of [my little clan of] Abiezer?

^3 [b]God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger toward him was abated when he had said that.

⁴ And Gideon came to the Jordan and passed over, he and the 300 men with him, faint yet pursuing.

⁵ And he said to the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are faint, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.

⁶ And the princes of Succoth said, Are Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?

⁷ And Gideon said, For that, when the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thresh your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness!

⁸ And he went from there up to Penuel and made the same request, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had done.

⁹ And [Gideon] said to the men of Penuel, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army—about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of the sons of the east, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword.

¹¹ And Gideon went up by the route of those who dwelt in tents east of Nobah and Jogbehah and smote their camp [unexpectedly], for the army thought itself secure.

¹² And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and terrified all the army.

¹³ Then Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres.

¹⁴ And he caught a young man of Succoth and inquired of him, and [the youth] wrote down for him [the names of] the officials of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.

¹⁵ And he came to the men of Succoth and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you scoffed at me, saying, Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are faint?

¹⁶ And he took the elders of the city and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth [a lesson].

¹⁷ And he broke down the tower of Penuel and slew the men of the city.

¹⁸ Then [Gideon] said to Zebah and Zalmunna, What kind of men were they whom you slew at Tabor? And they replied, They were like you, each of them resembled the son of a king.

¹⁹ And he said, They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not slay you.

²⁰ And [Gideon] said to Jether his firstborn [to embarrass them], Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword, for he feared because he was yet a lad.

²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise yourself and fall on us; for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose and slew Zebah and Zalmunna and took the [crescent-shaped] ornaments that were on their camels’ necks.

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule over us—you and your son and your son’s son also—for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.

²³ And Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.

²⁴ And Gideon said to them, Let me make a request of you—every man of you give me the earrings of his spoil. For [the Midianites] had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites [general term for all descendants of Keturah].

²⁵ And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and every man cast on it the earrings of his spoil.

²⁶ And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescents and pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and the chains that were about their camels’ necks.

²⁷ And Gideon made an ephod [a sacred, high priest’s garment] of it, and put it in his city of Ophrah, and all Israel paid homage to it there, and ^[c]it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.

²⁸ Thus was Midian subdued before the Israelites so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the land had peace and rest for forty years in the days of Gideon.

²⁹ Jerubbaal (Gideon) son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.

³⁰ Now Gideon had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives.

³¹ And his concubine, who was in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech.

³² Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³ As soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned again and played the harlot after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.

³⁴ And the Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, Who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side;

³⁵ Neither did they show kindness to the family of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in return for all the good which he had done for Israel.