Old/New Testament
Deborah, Israel’s Fourth Judge
4 After Ehud died, while the Lord was watching, the Israelis made the evil they had been practicing even worse, 2 so the Lord turned them over to domination by King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commanding officer of his army, lived in Harosheth-haggoyim.[a] 3 The Israelis cried out to the Lord, because of his 900 iron chariots. Jabin[b] oppressed the Israelis forcefully for twenty years.
4 Deborah, a woman, prophet, and wife of Lappidoth, was herself judging Israel during that time. 5 She regularly took her seat[c] under the Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountainous region[d] of Ephraim, where the Israelis would approach her for decisions. 6 She sent word to Abinoam’s son Barak from Kedesh-naphtali, summoning him. She asked him, “The Lord God of Israel has commanded you, hasn’t he? He told you,[e] ‘Go out, march to Mount Tabor, and take 10,000 men with you from the tribes[f] of Naphtali and Zebulun. 7 I will draw out Sisera, the commanding officer of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and troops, to the Kishon River, where I will drop him right into your hands.’”
8 “If you’ll go with me, I’ll go,” Barak replied. “But if you won’t go with me, then I’m not going.”
9 She responded, “I will surely go with you, but the road that you’re about to take will not lead to honor for you. The Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak toward Kedesh. 10 Barak called out the army of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali to march on Kedesh, and 10,000 men went out to war with him, along with Deborah.
11 Meanwhile, Heber the Kenite had been separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law Hobab. He had pitched his tents far away, near the Elon-bezaanannim.[g] 12 Furthermore, Sisera had been informed that Abinoam’s son Barak had marched on Mount Tabor. 13 So Sisera gathered his iron chariots together from Harosheth-haggoyim[h]—all 900 of them, along with all the people who were assigned to them—and they assembled at the Kishon River.
14 “Get going!” Deborah told Barak. “Because today’s the day when the Lord has dropped Sisera into your hands! Look! The Lord has already gone out ahead of you!” So Barak left Mount Tabor, followed by 10,000 men, 15 and the Lord threw Sisera, all the chariots, and his entire army into a panic right in front of Barak. Then Sisera abandoned his chariot and escaped on foot 16 while Barak chased the chariots and army as far as Harosheth-haggoyim.[i] Sisera’s entire army died in the battle—not even one soldier[j] remained.
Heber’s Wife Jael Kills Sisera
17 Meanwhile, Sisera had escaped on foot to a tent belonging to Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, since there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the household of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to greet Sisera. “Turn aside, sir!” she told him. “Turn aside to me! Don’t be afraid.” So he turned aside to her and entered her tent, where she concealed him behind a curtain.[k]
19 He asked her, “Please give me some water to drink, because I’m thirsty.” Instead, she opened a leather container of milk, gave him a drink, and then covered him up. 20 He told her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and if anyone comes and asks ‘Is anybody here?’ say ‘No’.”
21 But Heber’s wife Jael grabbed a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other,[l] crept up to him quietly, and drove the tent peg right through his temple into the ground below after he had fallen sound asleep from exhaustion. That’s how[m] he died.
22 Meanwhile, as Barak continued chasing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him. “Come with me,” she told him, “and I’ll show you the man you’re looking for!” So he went with her, and there was Sisera, lying dead with the tent peg still embedded in his temple! 23 That’s how God subdued Jabin, king of Canaan right in front of the Israelis that day. 24 And the Israelis gained greater control over King Jabin of Canaan until they had eliminated him.
Deborah and Barak Celebrate in Song
5 Later that day, Deborah and Abinoam’s son Barak celebrated by singing this song:
2 “When hair grows long[n] in Israel,[o]
when the people give themselves willingly,
bless the Lord!
3 Listen, you kings!
Turn your ears to me, you rulers!
As for me, to the Lord I will sing!
I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
4 Lord, when you left Seir,
when you marched out
from the grain field of Edom,
the earth quaked
and the heavens poured out rain;[p]
indeed, the clouds poured out water.
5 Mountains tremble at the presence of the Lord —
even[q] Sinai!—at the presence of the Lord God of Israel.
6 During the lifetime of Anath’s son Shamgar
and during the lifetime of Jael
highways remained deserted,
while travelers kept to back roads.
7 Rural populations plummeted[r] in Israel;
until I, Deborah, arose;
until I—an Israeli mother—arose.
8 New gods were chosen,
then war came to the city[s] gates,
but there wasn’t a shield or spear to be seen
among 40,000 soldiers[t] of Israel.
9 My heart is for the commanders of Israel,
to those who work willingly among the people.
Bless the Lord!
10 “Speak up, you who ride white donkeys,
sitting on cloth saddles[u]
while you travel on your way!
11 From the sound of those who divide their work loads
at the watering troughs,
there they will retell the righteous deeds of the Lord,
the righteous victories for his rural people in Israel.”
Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates.
12 “Wake up! Wake up, Deborah!
Wake up! Wake up, Deborah!
Get up, Barak, and dispose of your captives,
you son of Abinoam!
13 Then the survivors approached the nobles;
the people of the Lord approached me in battle array.
14 Some came[v] from Ephraim
who had been harassed by[w] Amalek,
followed by Benjamin with your people.
Some commanders came[x] from Machir,
along with some from Zebulun
who carry a badge[y] of office.[z]
15 The officials of Issachar were with Deborah,
as was the tribe of Issachar and Barak.
They rushed out into the valley at his heels
along with divisions from Reuben’s army.
Great was their resolve of heart!
16 Why did you sit down among the sheepfolds?
To hear the bleating of the flocks?
Among the divisions of the army of Reuben
there was great searching of heart.
17 The tribe of Gilead remained
on the other side of the Jordan River.
As for the tribe of Dan,
why did they stay on board their ships?
The tribe of Asher sat by the seashore
and remained near its harbors.
18 The tribe of Zebulun did not worry about their lives
at the price of death;
neither did the tribe of Naphtali also
on high places of the field.[aa]
19 “Kings came to fight,
then battled the kings of Canaan
at Taanach near the waters of Megiddo.
They took no silver
as the spoils of war.
20 The stars fought from heaven;
they fought against Sisera from their orbits.
21 The current[ab] of the Kishon River swept them downstream,
that ancient current, the Kishon’s current!
March on strongly, my soul!
22 Then loud was the beat of the horses’ hooves—
from the galloping, galloping war steeds!
23 “‘Meroz is cursed!’ declared the angel of the Lord.
‘Utterly and totally cursed are its inhabitants,
because they never came to the aid of the Lord,
to the aid of the Lord against the valiant warriors!’”
24 “Blessed above all women is Jael,
wife of Heber the Kenite;
most blessed is she among women who live in tents!
25 Sisera[ac] asked for water—
she gave him milk.
In a magnificent bowl she brought him yogurt![ad]
26 She reached out one hand for the tent peg,
and her other[ae] for the workman’s mallet.
Then she struck Sisera,
smashing his head,
shattering and piercing his temple.
27 He crumpled to the ground between her feet,
where he fell down and collapsed.
Between her feet he crumpled,
Fallen dead!
28 “Back at home,[af] out the window Sisera’s mother peered,
lamenting through the lattice.
‘Why is his chariot delayed in returning?
‘Why do the hoof beats of his chariots wait?’
29 Her wise attendants[ag] find an answer for her;
in fact, she tells the same words to herself:
30 ‘They’re busy finding and dividing the war booty, aren’t they?
A girl or two for each valiant warrior,
and some dyed materials for Sisera—
perhaps dyed, embroidered war booty—
or some detailed embroidery for my neck
as the booty of war!
31 “May all of your enemies perish like this, Lord!
But may those who love him be
like the ascending sun in its strength!”
Then the land enjoyed quiet for 40 years.
Gideon, Israel’s Fifth Judge
6 Later on, the Israelis practiced what the Lord considered to be evil, so the Lord handed them over to the domination of Midian for seven years. 2 Midian’s control predominated throughout Israel, and because of Midian the Israelis went out to find temporary hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and fortified places.
3 Whenever the Israelis sowed their crops,[ah] the Midianites, the Amalekites, and certain groups[ai] from the east would come up and invade them. 4 They set up their military encampments to fight them, destroyed the harvest of the land as far as Gaza, and left nothing in Israel, whether harvested grain, sheep, oxen, or donkeys. 5 They would invade with their livestock and tents, swooping in as numerous as locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels—and they came into the land to destroy it. 6 Because Israel was deeply impoverished due to the Midianites, they[aj] cried out to the Lord.
7 When the Israelis cried out to him about Midian, 8 the Lord sent a man who was a prophet to the Israelis and told them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I was the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, delivering you from the house of servitude. 9 I delivered you from the domination of Egypt and from the domination of all of your oppressors, expelling them right in front of you and giving their land to you. 10 I told you, “I am the Lord your God. You are not to fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you’ll be living.”’ But you haven’t obeyed what I said.”
Gideon is Visited by the Angel of the Lord
11 After this, the angel of the Lord arrived and sat down in the shade of[ak] the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash, a descendant of Abiezer, while his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press in order to safeguard it[al] from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him, “The Lord is with you, you valiant warrior!”
13 But Gideon replied, “Right… Sir, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? And where are all of his miraculous works that our ancestors recounted to us when they said, ‘The Lord brought us up from Egypt, didn’t he?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us over to Midian!”
14 The Lord looked straight at him and replied, “Go with this determination[am] of yours and deliver Israel from Midian’s domination. I’ve directed[an] you, haven’t I?”
15 “Right…,” Gideon[ao] responded. “Sir, how will I deliver Israel? Look—my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I’m the youngest in my father’s household.”
16 The Lord told him, “Because I’ll be with you, and you’ll defeat Midian—every single one of them!”
17 So Gideon asked him, “Please, if I have received favor from you, then do a miracle for me that shows that you’re making this[ap] promise to me. 18 And please don’t leave here until I’ve come back to you, brought my offering, and set it down in front of you.”
The Lord[aq] replied, “I’ll stay until you return.”
19 Then Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and poured the broth into a pot, and brought them to the angel[ar] right under the oak tree. Then he made his offering. 20 The angel, who was God,[as] replied, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this boulder. Then pour out the broth.” So he did that. 21 The angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and unleavened bread. Fire broke out from inside the boulder, consuming the meat and unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished in front of him.[at]
God Reassures Gideon
22 When Gideon realized that he had seen the angel of the Lord himself, he cried out, “Oh no! Lord God! I’ve been looking right at the angel of the Lord—and face-to-face at that!”
23 “Calm down![au] Don’t be afraid.” the Lord replied. “You’re not going to die!” 24 So Gideon built an altar right there to the Lord and called it “The Lord is peace.” (To this very day it still stands in Ophrah, which belongs to the descendants of Abiezer.)
25 Later that very night, the Lord told Gideon,[av] “Take the bull that belongs to your father, along with a second bull that’s seven years old. Then tear down the altar to Baal[aw] that your father owns, cut down the Asherah[ax] that’s beside it, 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this stronghold in an orderly manner. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering using the wood from the Asherah that you’ll be cutting down.”
Gideon Destroys His Father’s Altar
27 So Gideon went with ten men who were his servants and did just what the Lord had told him to do, though he did it at night because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the leading[ay] men of the city to do it during the day. 28 When the leading[az] men of the city got up early the next morning, the altar to Baal had been torn down, along with the Asherah that had stood beside it, and the second bull had been offered on the altar that had been erected.
29 They asked each other, “Who did this thing?” When they looked into it and asked around, they concluded, “Joash’s son Gideon did it.”[ba] 30 So the leading[bb] men of the city ordered Joash, “Bring us that son of yours. He’s going to die, because he tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah that stood beside it!”
31 But Joash responded to everyone who was opposing him, “Do you really intend to fight on Baal’s behalf? Do you really intend to rescue him by ordering[bc] that whoever fights him will be executed by morning? If Baal[bd] is a god, let him fight for himself. After all, it was his altar that was torn down.” 32 So that very day he named Gideon[be] Jerubbaal, that is, “Let Baal fight,” since he had torn down his altar.
33 Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and certain groups[bf] from the east gathered together, crossed the Jordan River, and set up camp in the Jezreel Valley. 34 So the Spirit of the Lord took control of[bg] Gideon, who blew a trumpet, mustering the descendants of Abiezer to follow him into battle.[bh] 35 He sent messengers to the entire tribe of Manasseh, calling them to follow him, and he also sent word to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, calling them to meet him.
Gideon Asks for a Sign from God
36 Then Gideon told God, “If you intend to deliver Israel by my efforts[bi] as you’ve said, 37 then take a look at this wool fleece that I’m placing on the threshing floor. If dew appears only on the fleece—and it’s dry on the ground all around it—then I’ll know that you’ll deliver Israel by my efforts[bj] like you’ve said.” 38 And that is what happened:[bk] When he got up early the next morning, he wrung out the fleece to drain the dew from it and extracted[bl] a bowl full of water.
39 Then Gideon told God, “Don’t let yourself be angry with me! I want to ask you once again: please let me make a test with the fleece just once more. Cause it to be dry only on the fleece, but let there be dew all around on the ground.” 40 And God did it just like that later that night. It was dry only on the fleece, but dew was all around on the ground.
Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Spirit(A)
31 Then Jesus[a] went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and began teaching the people[b] on Sabbath days.[c] 32 They were utterly amazed at what he taught, because his message was spoken[d] with authority.
33 In the synagogue was a man who had a demon.[e] He screamed with a loud voice, 34 “Oh, no! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
35 But Jesus rebuked him. “Be quiet,” he said, “and come out of him!” At this, the demon threw the man[f] down in the middle of the synagogue[g] and came out of him without hurting him.
36 Overwhelmed with amazement, they all kept saying to one another, “What kind of statement is this?—because with authority and power he gives orders to unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 So news about him spread to every place in the surrounding region.
Jesus Heals Many People(B)
38 Then Jesus[h] got up to leave the synagogue and went into Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, so they asked Jesus[i] about her. 39 He bent over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began serving them. 40 When the sun was setting, everyone who had any friends[j] suffering from various diseases brought them to him. He placed his hands on each of them and began healing them. 41 Even demons came out of many people, screaming, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus[k] rebuked them and ordered them not to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.[l]
Jesus Goes on a Preaching Tour(C)
42 At daybreak he left and went to a deserted place, while the crowds kept looking for him. When they came to him, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But he told them, “I have to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God in other cities, because I was sent to do that also.” 44 So he continued to preach in the synagogues of Galilee.[m]
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