Day 65 of 365

¹The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead.

²The Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

³The children of Israel cried to the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time.

⁵She lived under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

⁶She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, "Hasn't the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded, 'Go and draw to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

⁷I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.'"

⁸Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go."

⁹She said, "I will surely go with you: nevertheless, the journey that you take shall not be for your honor; for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

¹⁰Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.

¹²They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor.

¹³Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon.

¹⁴Deborah said to Barak, "Go; for this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Hasn't the Lord gone out before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

¹⁵The Lord confused Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera got off from his chariot, and fled away on his feet.

¹⁶But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; there was not a man left.

¹⁷However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

¹⁸Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, "Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; do not be afraid." He came in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

¹⁹He said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty." She opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

²⁰He said to her, "Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man comes and inquires of you, and says, 'Is there any man here?' that you shall say, 'No.'"

²¹Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died.

²²Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek." He came to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was in his temples.

²³So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.

²⁴The hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

¹Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

²"Because the leaders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly, be blessed, Lord!

³"Hear, you kings! Give ear, you princes! I, even I, will sing to the Lord. I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁴"Lord, when you went forth out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.

⁵The mountains quaked at the presence of the Lord, even Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁶"In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways.

⁷The rulers ceased in Israel. They ceased until I, Deborah, arose; Until I arose a mother in Israel.

⁸They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

⁹My heart is toward the leaders of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the Lord!

¹⁰"Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way.

¹¹Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, there they will rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. "Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates.

¹²'Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.'

¹³"Then a remnant of the nobles and the people came down. The Lord came down for me against the warriors.

¹⁴Those whose root is in Amalek came out of Ephraim, after you, Benjamin, among your peoples; out of Machir leaders came down, and out of Zebulun those that handle the staff of office.

¹⁵And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah. As was Issachar, so was Barak. They rushed into the valley at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben, there were great resolves of heart.

¹⁶Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, to hear the whistling for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben There were great searchings of heart.

¹⁷Gilead lived beyond the Jordan. Why did Dan remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, and lived by his harbors.

¹⁸Zebulun was a people that risked their lives even to death; Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.

¹⁹The kings came and fought, then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. They took no plunder of silver.

²⁰From the sky the stars fought. From their courses, they fought against Sisera.

²¹The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. My soul, march on with strength.

²²Then the horse hoofs stamped because of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones.

²³Curse Meroz, said the angel of the Lord. Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they did not come to help the Lord, to help the Lord against the mighty.

²⁴Jael shall be blessed above women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

²⁵He asked for water. She gave him milk. She brought him butter in a princely bowl.

²⁶She put her hand to the tent peg, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer. With the hammer she struck Sisera. She struck through his head. Yes, she pierced and struck through his temple.

²⁷At her feet he collapsed, he fell, he lay. At her feet he collapsed, he fell. Where he collapsed, there he fell down dead.

²⁸Through the window she looked out, and cried: Sisera's mother looked through the lattice. Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why are the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?

²⁹Her wise ladies answered her; indeed, she answers herself,

³⁰'Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil? A lady, two ladies to every man; to Sisera a spoil of dyed garments, A spoil of dyed garments embroidered, Of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, for the neck of the plunderer?'

³¹"So let all your enemies perish, Lord, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises forth in its strength." And the land had rest forty years.

¹And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

²And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.

³And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them.

⁴And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, as far as Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, as well as sheep, or ox, or donkey.

⁵For they came up with their livestock and their tents; they would come in like locusts in number; both they and their camels were without number, and they came into the land to ravage it.

⁶Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to the Lord.

⁷It happened, when the children of Israel cried to the Lord because of Midian,

⁸that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, and he said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

⁹and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land;

¹⁰and I said to you, "I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell." But you have not listened to my voice.'"

¹¹The angel of the Lord came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

¹²The angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!"

¹³Gideon said to him, "Oh, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, 'Didn't the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian."

¹⁴The Lord looked at him, and said, "Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven't I sent you?"

¹⁵He said to him, "O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."

¹⁶The Lord said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man."

¹⁷He said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.

¹⁸Please do not go away, until I come to you, and bring out my present, and lay it before you." He said, "I will wait until you come back."

¹⁹Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.

²⁰The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so.

²¹Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

²²Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, "Alas, Lord God! Because I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!"

²³The Lord said to him, "Peace be to you! Do not be afraid. You shall not die."

²⁴Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it "The Lord is Peace." To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵It happened the same night, that the Lord said to him, "Take your father's bull, even the second bull seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it;

²⁶and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold, in the orderly manner, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down."

²⁷Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had spoken to him: and it came about, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

²⁸When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bull was offered on the altar that was built.

²⁹They said one to another, "Who has done this thing?" When they inquired and asked, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing."

³⁰Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it."

³¹Joash said to all who stood against him, "Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death while it is yet morning: if he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has broken down his altar."

³²Therefore on that day he named him Jerubbaal, saying, "Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar."

³³Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and they crossed over, and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.

³⁴But the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon; and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together after him.

³⁵He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; and they also were gathered together after him: and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

³⁶Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,

³⁷behold, 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 shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken."

³⁸It was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

³⁹Gideon said to God, "Do not let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once. Please let me make one more test with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew."

⁴⁰God did so that night, for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew all over the ground.

¹Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

²The Lord said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'

³Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.' There returned of the people twenty-two thousand; but ten thousand remained.

⁴The Lord said to Gideon, "The people are yet too many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for you there: and it shall be, that of whom I tell you, This shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and of whoever I tell you, This shall not go with you, the same shall not go.

⁵So he brought down the people to the water: and the Lord said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, him you shall set by himself; likewise everyone who kneels down on his knees to drink."

⁶The number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: but all the rest of the people kneeled down on their knees to drink water.

⁷The Lord said to Gideon, "By the three hundred men who lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand; and let all the people go every man to his home."

⁸So the people took food in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the men of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men. And the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

⁹It happened the same night, that the Lord said to him, "Arise, get down into the camp; for I have delivered it into your hand.

¹⁰But if you fear to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp:

¹¹and you shall hear what they say; and afterward will your hands be strengthened to go down into the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outermost part of the armed men who were in the camp.

¹²The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand which is on the seashore.

¹³When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his friend; and he said, "Behold, I had a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent collapsed."

¹⁴His friend answered, "This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. Into his hand God has delivered Midian, and all the army."

¹⁵It was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and its interpretation, that he worshiped, and he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, "Get up, for the Lord has delivered into your hand the army of Midian."

¹⁶He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers.

¹⁷He said to them, "Look at me, and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so you shall do.

¹⁸When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, "For the Lord and for Gideon."

¹⁹So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.

²⁰The three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they called out, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.'"

²¹They each stood in his place every man around the camp; and all the army ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight.

²²They blew the three hundred trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.

²³The men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after Midian.

²⁴Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against Midian, and capture the waters, as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan." So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and seized the waters as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan.

²⁵They took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian: and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.