Psalm 121
New American Standard Bible 1995
The Lord the Keeper of Israel.
A Song of Ascents.
121 I will (A)lift up my eyes to (B)the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My (C)help comes from the Lord,
Who (D)made heaven and earth.
3 He will not (E)allow your foot to slip;
He who (F)keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your (G)keeper;
The Lord is your (H)shade on your right hand.
6 The (I)sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will [a](J)protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8 The Lord will [b](K)guard your going out and your coming in
(L)From this time forth and forever.
Footnotes
- Psalm 121:7 Or keep
- Psalm 121:8 Or keep
Judges 5-6
New American Standard Bible 1995
The Song of Deborah and Barak
5 (A)Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,
2 “(B)That [a]the leaders led in Israel,
That (C)the people volunteered,
Bless the Lord!
3 “Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers!
(D)I—to the Lord, I will sing,
I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.
4 “(E)Lord, when You went out from Seir,
When You marched from the field of Edom,
(F)The earth quaked, the heavens also dripped,
Even the clouds dripped water.
5 “(G)The mountains [b]quaked at the presence of the Lord,
(H)This Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.
6 “In the days of (I)Shamgar the son of Anath,
In the days of (J)Jael, the highways [c]were deserted,
And travelers [d]went by [e]roundabout ways.
7 “The peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel,
Until I, Deborah, arose,
Until I arose, a mother in Israel.
8 “(K)New gods were chosen;
Then war was in the gates.
Not a shield or a spear was seen
Among forty thousand in Israel.
9 “My heart goes out to (L)the commanders of Israel,
The volunteers among the people;
Bless the Lord!
10 “(M)You who ride on [f]white donkeys,
You who sit on rich carpets,
And you who travel on the road—[g]sing!
11 “At the sound of those who divide flocks among (N)the watering places,
There they shall recount (O)the righteous deeds of the Lord,
The righteous deeds for His [h]peasantry in Israel.
Then the people of the Lord went down (P)to the gates.
12 “(Q)Awake, awake, Deborah;
Awake, awake, [i]sing a song!
Arise, Barak, and (R)take away your captives, O son of Abinoam.
13 “Then survivors came down to the nobles;
The people of the Lord came down to me as warriors.
14 “From Ephraim those whose root is (S)in Amalek came down,
Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples;
From Machir commanders came down,
And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of [j]office.
15 “And the [k]princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
As was Issachar, so was Barak;
Into the valley they rushed (T)at his [l]heels;
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great resolves of heart.
16 “Why did you sit among (U)the [m]sheepfolds,
To hear the piping for the flocks?
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart.
17 “(V)Gilead [n]remained across the Jordan;
And why did Dan stay in ships?
Asher sat at the seashore,
And [o]remained by its landings.
18 “(W)Zebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death,
And Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.
19 “(X)The kings came and fought;
Then fought the kings of Canaan
(Y)At Taanach near the waters of Megiddo;
(Z)They took no plunder in silver.
20 “(AA)The stars fought from heaven,
From their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 “The torrent of Kishon swept them away,
The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon.
(AB)O my soul, march on with strength.
22 “(AC)Then the horses’ hoofs beat
From the dashing, the dashing of his [p]valiant steeds.
23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord,
‘Utterly curse its inhabitants;
(AD)Because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
To the help of the Lord against the warriors.’
24 “(AE)Most blessed of women is Jael,
The wife of Heber the Kenite;
Most blessed is she of women in the tent.
25 “He asked for water and she gave him milk;
In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.
26 “She reached out her hand for the tent peg,
And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.
Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head;
And she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 “Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay;
Between her feet he bowed, he fell;
Where he bowed, there he fell [q]dead.
28 “Out of the window she looked and lamented,
The mother of Sisera through the [r]lattice,
‘Why does his chariot delay in coming?
Why do the [s]hoofbeats of his chariots tarry?’
29 “Her wise princesses would answer her,
Indeed she repeats her words to herself,
30 ‘(AF)Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil?
A maiden, two maidens for every warrior;
To Sisera a spoil of dyed work,
A spoil of dyed work embroidered,
Dyed work of double embroidery on the [t]neck of the spoiler?’
31 “(AG)Thus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord;
(AH)But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.”
And the land was undisturbed for forty years.
Israel Oppressed by Midian
6 Then the sons of Israel (AI)did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of (AJ)Midian seven years. 2 The [u]power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves (AK)the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3 For it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and [v]go against them. 4 So they would camp against them and (AL)destroy the produce of the earth [w]as far as Gaza, and (AM)leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in (AN)like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it. 6 So Israel was brought (AO)very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the Lord.
7 Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on account of Midian, 8 that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and (AP)he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of [x]slavery. 9 I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, 10 and I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you (AQ)shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not [y]obeyed Me.”’”
Gideon Is Visited
11 Then (AR)the angel of the Lord came and sat under the [z]oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the (AS)Abiezrite as his son (AT)Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” 13 Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But (AU)now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 The Lord [aa]looked at him and said, “(AV)Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” 15 (AW)He said to Him, “O Lord, [ab]how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in (AX)Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” 16 (AY)But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall [ac]defeat Midian as one man.” 17 So [ad]Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me (AZ)a sign that it is You who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”
19 Then Gideon went in and (BA)prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an [ae]ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket [af]and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the [ag]oak and presented them. 20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and (BB)fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord [ah]vanished from his sight. 22 (BC)When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, [ai]he said, “Alas, O Lord [aj]God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it [ak]The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still (BD)in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25 Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull [al]and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the [am](BE)Asherah that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.
The Altar of Baal Destroyed
28 When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. 29 They said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” 30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” 31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him? Whoever will [an]plead for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.” 32 Therefore on that day he named him (BF)Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar.
33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves; and they crossed over and camped in (BG)the valley of Jezreel. 34 So (BH)the Spirit of the Lord [ao]came upon Gideon; and he (BI)blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, (BJ)Zebulun, and Naphtali, and (BK)they came up to meet them.
Sign of the Fleece
36 Then Gideon said to God, “(BL)If You will deliver Israel [ap]through me, as You have spoken, 37 behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel [aq]through me, as You have spoken.” 38 And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “(BM)Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” 40 God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.
Footnotes
- Judges 5:2 Or locks hung loose in
- Judges 5:5 Lit flowed
- Judges 5:6 Lit had ceased
- Judges 5:6 Lit walked
- Judges 5:6 Lit twisted
- Judges 5:10 Or tawny
- Judges 5:10 Or declare it
- Judges 5:11 Or rural dwellers
- Judges 5:12 Or utter
- Judges 5:14 Lit the scribe
- Judges 5:15 So with ancient versions; Heb My princes
- Judges 5:15 Lit feet
- Judges 5:16 Or saddlebags
- Judges 5:17 Or dwelt
- Judges 5:17 Or dwelt
- Judges 5:22 Lit mighty ones
- Judges 5:27 Lit devastated
- Judges 5:28 Or window
- Judges 5:28 Lit steps
- Judges 5:30 Lit necks of the spoil
- Judges 6:2 Lit hand
- Judges 6:3 Lit go up
- Judges 6:4 Lit until your coming to
- Judges 6:8 Lit slaves
- Judges 6:10 Lit listened to My voice
- Judges 6:11 Or terebinth
- Judges 6:14 Or turned toward
- Judges 6:15 Lit with what
- Judges 6:16 Lit smite
- Judges 6:17 Lit he
- Judges 6:19 I.e. Approx one bu
- Judges 6:19 Lit and he put
- Judges 6:19 Or terebinth
- Judges 6:21 Or departed
- Judges 6:22 Lit Gideon
- Judges 6:22 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Judges 6:24 Heb Yahweh-shalom
- Judges 6:25 Or even
- Judges 6:25 I.e. wooden symbol of a female deity, also vv 26, 28, 30
- Judges 6:31 Or contend
- Judges 6:34 Lit clothed
- Judges 6:36 Lit by my hand
- Judges 6:37 Lit by my hand
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
