Old/New Testament
God Chooses Gideon’s 300 Soldiers
7 Then Jerubbaal, also known as Gideon, got up early along with all of his soldiers. They encamped near the Harod Spring. The Midian encampment lay in the valley to their north, near the hill of Moreh. 2 The Lord told Gideon, “You have too many soldiers with you for me to drop Midian into their hands, because Israel would become arrogant and say, ‘It was my own abilities that delivered me.’ 3 That’s why you’re to ask in full view of the soldiers, “Whoever is afraid or is trembling may go back from Mount Gilead and return home.”[a] So 22,000 soldiers left and 10,000 remained.
4 “There are still too many soldiers,” the Lord told Gideon. “Bring them down to the water and I’ll refine them for you there. Therefore when I say to you, ‘This one will be going with you,’ he’ll go with you, but no one may go about whom I tell you, ‘This one won’t be going with you.’”
5 So he brought his soldiers down to the water, and the Lord told Gideon, “You are to cull out everyone who laps up water with his tongue like a dog from everyone who kneels to drink.” 6 The contingent of soldiers who lapped water[b] with their hands to their mouths numbered 300 men, but everyone else kneeled to drink water.
7 Then the Lord told Gideon, “I’m going to deliver you with the 300 soldiers who lapped by giving the Midianites into your control. Send everyone else back to their own homes.”[c]
8 So the soldiers took provisions with them, along with their trumpets, and Gideon[d] sent all the rest of the soldiers of Israel back to their own tents, but he retained the 300 men. And the Midian encampment was below him in the valley.
Gideon Sneaks Down to the Midianite Encampment
9 Later that same night, the Lord directed Gideon,[e] “Get up and go down to the Midianite[f] encampment, because I’ve given it into your control. 10 But if you’re afraid to go down there, you may take your servant Purah with you to their encampment, 11 where you will hear what they’re talking about. That way, you’ll be encouraged to attack the encampment.” So he and his servant Purah went down to the perimeter outposts of the encamped army.
12 The Midianites, the Amalekites, and certain groups[g] from the east lay encamped in the valley, as thick as locusts. The number of their camels couldn’t be calculated—they seemed as numerous as the sand on the seashore. 13 Gideon arrived just as a soldier was talking to a friend about a dream. “Look!” he was saying. “I had a dream that went like this: A loaf of barley bread rolled into the Midianite encampment, came to a tent, and collided with it. The loaf of bread fell down, turned upside down, and the tent collapsed!”
14 Then his friend replied, “Can this be anything else than the sword of Joash’s son Gideon, that man from Israel? God must have given Midian and the entire encampment into his control!”
15 When Gideon[h] heard the tale of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down in worship and then returned to the Israeli encampment.
Gideon’s 300 Attack
There he announced, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite army into your control!” 16 Then he separated the 300 men into three companies, gave them each trumpets to carry, along with jars into which he placed lit torches.
17 He instructed them, “Watch me, and do what I do. When we come to the outer perimeter of the encampment, do what I do. 18 When I sound my trumpet, accompanied by everyone who is with me, you must blow your trumpets all around the entire encampment. Then shout out, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”
19 So Gideon and the 100 men with him arrived at the outer perimeter of the encampment at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had posted sentries. They blew their trumpets and smashed the jars that they were carrying in their hands. 20 When the three companies sounded their trumpets and broke the jars, they held the torches in their left hands and sounded their trumpets with their right hands. Then they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 They stood up, each soldier in his assigned[i] place surrounding the encampment, and the entire army ran away, sounding the alarm to retreat.
22 As the 300 trumpets were being sounded, the Lord turned the swords of the Midianite[j] soldiers against one another throughout the entire army, and the army ran away as far as Beth-shittah in the direction of Zererah. They got as far as the outskirts of Abel-meholah, near Tabbath. 23 Israeli soldiers were called out from the territories of[k] Naphtali, Asher, and throughout Manasseh, and they chased after the Midianites.
24 Gideon dispatched messengers throughout the mountainous region[l] of Ephraim, notifying them, “Come down to fight Midian. Capture the water crossings[m] as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan River before they can get to them.” 25 They captured two Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. While they were pursuing the Midianites, they executed Oreb at Oreb’s Rock and Zeeb at Zeeb’s Winepress, and then they carried the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from the east bank[n] of the Jordan River.
Gideon Assuages the Anger of Ephraim
8 Later on, the descendants of Ephraim spoke to Gideon.[o] They argued vehemently, “What are you doing to us? You never called us! But you went out to fight Midian!”
2 “What have I accomplished compared to you?” he responded. “Isn’t what’s left from Ephraim’s harvest better than the best vintage of Abiezer? 3 God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the leaders of Midian, into your control. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he said this, their anger calmed down.
4 Meanwhile, Gideon and the 300 soldiers with him came to the Jordan, exhausted but continuing their pursuit. 5 He told the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the soldiers who are following behind me. They’re tired, and I’m pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
6 But the officials of Succoth replied, “Do you have Zebah and Zalmunna in custody[p] already, so that we should give food to your army?”
7 So Gideon responded, “Very well then, but when the Lord has turned over Zebah and Zalmunna into my control, I’m going to whip you with thorns and briers from the desert!”
8 Then he left there to go to Penuel and asked the same thing from them, but the men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth did. 9 So he responded the same way to the men of Penuel, “When I come back safely,[q] I’m going to tear down this tower.”
10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, along with their armies, about 15,000 men who survived from the entire army of the group from[r] the east, since 120,000 swordsmen had already fallen. 11 Gideon went up by a caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked their encampment when they were off guard. 12 When Zebah and Zalmunna escaped, he pursued them, captured those two kings of Midian,[s] and threw the entire army into a panic.
13 Then Joash’s son Gideon returned from the battle along the Heres Ascent. 14 He caught a young man from Succoth and interrogated him. He wrote out for Gideon[t] a list of the 77 officials of Succoth, including its elders. 15 Then Gideon[u] approached the men of Succoth and announced, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. You criticized me about them when you said, ‘Do you have Zebah and Zalmunna in custody[v] already, so that we should give food to your weary army?’” 16 So he took the elders of the city and disciplined the men of Succoth with thorns and briers from the desert. 17 He also demolished the tower in Penuel and killed the men of the city.
18 Afterwards, he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What were the men like whom you killed at Tabor?”
They answered, “Like you, each one like the son of a king…”
19 Gideon replied, “They were my brothers—sons from my own mother. As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I wouldn’t be killing you.” 20 Then he told his firstborn son Jether, “Get up and kill them!” But he was afraid, since he was still only a youngster.
21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna responded, “Get up and attack us yourself, since a man’s valor is only as good as the man himself.” So Gideon got up, killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the crescent-shaped necklaces that adorned the necks of their camels.
22 Then the men of Israel asked Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son, and your grandsons—because you have delivered us from Midian’s domination.”
23 But Gideon told them, “I won’t rule over you and my son won’t rule over you. The Lord will rule you.”
Gideon Falls into Idolatry
24 But Gideon also added, “I would like to ask that each of you give me a ring from his war booty” because, as Ishmaelites, the Midianites[w] had been wearing gold rings.
25 They responded, “We’ll be happy to give them.” So they laid out a garment, and each of them contributed a ring from his war booty. 26 The weight of the rings that he had asked for was 1,700 gold coins,[x] not counting the crescent-shaped necklaces, pendants, and purple garments worn by the Midian kings, and also not counting the bands adorning the necks of their camels.
27 Gideon crafted the booty into an ephod[y] and enshrined it in his home town of Ophrah. Then all of Israel committed spiritual adultery with it there, and it became a snare for Gideon and his household.
Gideon Dies
28 Midian remained subjugated to the Israelis, and they didn’t so much as raise their heads anymore, so the land was peaceful for 40 years during the lifetime of Gideon. 29 Afterwards, Joash’s son Jerubbaal went home and retired.[z] 30 Gideon raised 70 sons as his direct descendants, since he had many wives. 31 His mistress[aa] in Shechem bore him a son whom he named Abimelech.[ab] 32 Later, Joash’s son Gideon died at a ripe[ac] old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah, which belonged to the descendants of Abiezer.
33 Later on, as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelis again committed spiritual adultery with various Canaanite deities[ad] and appointed Baal-berith[ae] to be their god. 34 The Israelis did not remember the Lord their God, who continually delivered them from the domination of their enemies who surrounded them on every side. 35 And they showed no gracious love to the household of Jerubbaal—also known as Gideon—despite all the good that he had done for Israel.
Jesus Calls His First Disciples(A)
5 One day, as the crowd was pressing in on him to listen to God’s word, Jesus[a] was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats lying on the shore, but the fishermen had stepped out of them and were washing their nets. 3 So Jesus[b] got into one of the boats (the one that belonged to Simon) and asked him to push out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and began to teach the crowds from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he told Simon, “Push out into deep water, and lower your nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we have worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll lower the nets.” 6 After the men[c] had done this, they caught so many fish that the nets began to tear. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats until the boats[d] began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees and said, “Leave me, Lord! I am a sinful man!”— 9 because Simon[e] and all the people who were with him were amazed at the number of fish they had caught, 10 and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons and Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus told Simon, “Stop being afraid. From now on you will be catching people.” 11 So when they brought the boats to shore, they left everything and followed Jesus.[f]
Jesus Cleanses a Leper(B)
12 One day, while Jesus[g] was in one of the cities, a man covered with leprosy saw Jesus and fell on his face, begging him, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”
13 So Jesus[h] reached out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do want to. Be clean!” Instantly the leprosy left him. 14 Then Jesus[i] ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as proof to the authorities.”[j] 15 But the news about Jesus[k] spread even more, and many crowds began gathering to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. 16 However, he continued his habit of retiring to deserted places and praying.
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