Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
7 (A)Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice,
And be gracious to me and (B)answer me.
8 When You said, “(C)Seek My face,” my heart said to You,
“Your face, O Lord, (D)I shall seek.”
9 (E)Do not hide Your face from me,
Do not turn Your servant away in (F)anger;
You have been (G)my help;
(H)Do not abandon me nor (I)forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
10 [a]For my father and (J)my mother have forsaken me,
But (K)the Lord will take me up.
11 (L)Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a (M)level path
Because of [b]my foes.
12 Do not deliver me over to the [c](N)desire of my adversaries,
For (O)false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as (P)breathe out violence.
13 [d]I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the (Q)goodness of the Lord
In the (R)land of the living.
14 (S)Wait for the Lord;
Be (T)strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.
12 Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley (A)as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, (B)as numerous as the sand on the seashore. 13 When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I [a]had a dream; [b]a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it [c]upside down so that the tent lay flat.” 14 His friend replied, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp (C)into his hand.”
15 When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands.” 16 He divided the 300 men into three [d]companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. 17 He said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, [e]do as I do. 18 When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets all around the camp and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”
Confusion of the Enemy
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 When the three [f]companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 Each stood in his place around the camp; and (D)all the [g]army ran, crying out as they fled. 22 When they blew 300 trumpets, the (E)Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole [h]army; and the [i]army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of (F)Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
12 So then, my beloved, (A)just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your (B)salvation with (C)fear and trembling; 13 for it is (D)God who is at work in you, both to will and to work (E)for His good pleasure.
14 Do all things without (F)grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will [a]prove yourselves to be (G)blameless and innocent, (H)children of God above reproach in the midst of a (I)crooked and perverse generation, among whom you [b](J)appear as [c]lights in the world, 16 holding [d]fast the word of life, so that in (K)the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not (L)run in vain nor (M)toil in vain. 17 But even if I am being (N)poured out as a drink offering upon (O)the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.