Old/New Testament
7 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him set out and camped by the Spring of Harod. The Midianite camp was north of him, in the valley below the Hill of Moreh.
2 The Lord said to Gideon, “There are too many people with you for me to give Midian into your hands. If I did that, Israel would glorify itself at my expense and say, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’ 3 So then, make an announcement for the people to hear: ‘Whoever is trembling with fear can return home and fly away from Mount Gilead.’”[a] Twenty-two thousand people turned and left. Only ten thousand remained.
4 The Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Lead them down to the water, and there I will refine them further for you. If I tell you, ‘This one will go with you,’ he may go with you, but if I say to you, ‘This one will not go with you,’ he must not go.”
5 So Gideon led the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “Place everyone who laps water with his tongue, as a dog would lap, to one side. Place everyone who kneels down to drink on the other side.” 6 The number of those who lapped—those who put their hands to their mouths[b]—was three hundred men, while all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.
7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped, I will deliver you, and I will give Midian into your hand. As for all the other people, let each man go back to his place.”
8 The men who had been chosen took provisions in hand, along with their ram’s horns, but Gideon sent every other Israelite man back to his own tent. He kept only the three hundred men. The camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.
9 That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up and go down against the Midianite camp, for I have given them into your hand. 10 But if you are afraid to go down to attack them, then go down to the camp with your young attendant Purah. 11 Listen to what they say. After that your hands will be strengthened to go down to attack the camp.”
So Gideon and his young attendant Purah went down to the sentry posts at the edge of the camp.
12 Meanwhile, the Midianites and Amalekites and the whole army of the eastern peoples were spread out in the valley, thick as locusts, and their camels were more than could be counted, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore.
13 When Gideon went down, he arrived just as a man was telling his fellow soldier about a dream. He said, “Listen! I had a dream. I dreamed that a round loaf of barley bread came tumbling over and over into the Midianite camp. It crashed into a tent and struck it so that the tent fell down. It overturned the tent, and the tent collapsed!”
14 His companion responded, “What can that be but the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the man of Israel. God has given Midian and the whole camp into his hand.”
15 So when Gideon heard the retelling of the dream and its meaning, he bowed down in worship and returned to the camp of Israel. He said, “Get up, because the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hand.” 16 He divided the three hundred men into three groups. He placed a ram’s horn into the hand of each one of them, as well as empty jars with torches inside them. 17 Then he said to them, “Watch me and do whatever I do. When you see me arrive at the edge of the camp, do whatever I do. 18 When I and all the men who are with me blow our ram’s horns, the rest of you, who are around the whole camp, also blow your ram’s horns and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”
19 Gideon and the one hundred men with him went to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the Midianites had posted the guards. Gideon and his men blew their ram’s horns and shattered the jars that were in their hands. 20 All three groups blew their ram’s horns and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hands, and in their right hands they held the ram’s horns that they were to blow. They shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 Each man stood at his station around the camp. The whole Midianite camp started running, raised the alarm, and fled.[c]
22 When the Israelites blew the three hundred ram’s horns,[d] the Lord turned the sword of each Midianite against the person next to him throughout the whole camp.
The Midianite army fled up to Beth Shittah, toward Zererah, up to the border of Abel Meholah, as far as Tabbath.
23 Then all the men of Israel were summoned, from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian. 24 Gideon sent messengers throughout the entire hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Go down to confront Midian. Seize the waters[e] before them, all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan.” So all the Ephraimites who were called out seized the waters as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan. 25 They also captured Oreb and Ze’eb,[f] the two generals of Midian. They killed Oreb at the Rock of Oreb and Ze’eb at the Winepress of Ze’eb. Then they pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Ze’eb to Gideon by the crossing of the Jordan.
8 The men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “What kind of thing was that which you did to us by not inviting us when you went to fight against Midian?” They contended with him vigorously.
2 Gideon said to them, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the whole grape harvest of Abiezer? 3 It was into your hands that God delivered Oreb and Ze’eb, the leaders of Midian. So what have I been able to accomplish compared to you?” Their anger against him died down when he said this.
4 Gideon then went to the Jordan and crossed over with the three hundred men who were with him. They were exhausted but kept pursuing the enemy.
5 Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the troops who are following right behind me, because they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”
6 But the leaders of Succoth said, “Are the cut-off hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands? Why then would we give bread to your army?”
7 Gideon replied, “Just for that, when the Lord gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with thorns from the wilderness and with briars.”
8 Then Gideon went up from there to Penuel[g] and made the same request, and the men of Penuel gave him the same answer that the men of Succoth had. 9 So Gideon said to the men of Penuel, “When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower.”
10 In the meantime Zebah and Zalmunna had arrived in Karkor. Their armies were with them, but only about fifteen thousand men were left from all the forces of the peoples from the East. One hundred twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.
11 Gideon went up by the route of the nomads who live in tents east of Nobah and Jogbehah. He struck the camp when it was not on alert. 12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but Gideon pursued them and captured Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian. This made the entire army tremble.
13 When Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the Ascent of Heres, 14 he captured a young man from Succoth. Gideon questioned the young man, who wrote down for him the names of the leaders of Succoth and of the town’s elders, seventy-seven men in all.
15 Gideon then went to the men of Succoth and said, “Look! Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hands? Why then would we give bread to your exhausted men?’”
16 Then Gideon took the elders of the town, and he taught the men of Succoth a lesson with thorns from the wilderness and with briars. 17 He also tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
18 Then Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about[h] the men you killed at Tabor?”
They said, “They were just like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.”
19 “They were my brothers,” Gideon answered, “the sons of my mother. As surely as the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”
20 Then he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them right now.” But the young man did not draw his sword because he was afraid, because he was still just a youth.
21 Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You get up and strike us down yourself, for a man’s strength shows what kind of man he is.” Gideon stepped up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he collected the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you and your son and also your grandson—because you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.”
23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. Only the Lord will rule over you.” 24 But Gideon also said to them, “Let me ask you for one thing: that each man give me an earring from his plunder.” (The enemy wore gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
25 They answered, “All right, we will give them to you.” Then they spread out a garment, and each man among them threw in an earring from his plunder. 26 The weight of the gold earrings that he had requested was seventeen hundred shekels.[i] This was in addition to the crescents, the pendants, and the purple clothing that had been worn by the kings of Midian, and the ornaments that were on the necks of their camels. 27 Gideon made the gold into a sacred breastplate.[j] He set it up in his town of Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
28 In this way Midian was humbled before the people of Israel, and they did not raise their heads again.
The land was quiet for forty years during the days of Gideon.
29 Jerubbaal son of Joash returned and lived in his own house. 30 Gideon had seventy sons, who were his direct descendants from his own body, because he had many wives. 31 Also his concubine at Shechem bore him a son, and he named him Abimelek.[k]
32 Finally Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age, and he was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33 After Gideon died, the people of Israel again prostituted themselves to the Baals, and they set up Baal of the Covenant as their god. 34 The people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who saved them from the hand of all their enemies around them. 35 They were not loyal to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good he had done for Israel.
The Calling of the First Disciples
5 One time, while the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.[a] 2 He saw two boats there along the lakeshore. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Jesus got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. He sat down and began teaching the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered him, “Master, we worked hard all through the night and caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were about to tear apart. 7 They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, because I am a sinful man, Lord.” 9 For Peter and all those with him were amazed at the number of fish they had caught, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Have no fear. From now on you will be catching people.”
11 After they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
Jesus Heals a Leper
12 On another occasion, Jesus was in one of the towns, and there was a man full of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
13 Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be made clean.”
Immediately the leprosy left him. 14 Jesus ordered him to tell no one, “But go, show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony for them.” 15 The news about him spread even more, and large crowds gathered to listen and be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.