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Judges 4-6
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Judges 4-6
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Deborah and Barak
4 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin(A) king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.(B) The commander of his forces was Sisera(C) who lived in Harosheth of the Nations.[a] 3 Then the Israelites cried out(D) to the Lord, because Jabin had 900 iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them 20 years.
4 Deborah, a woman who was a prophetess(E) and the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 It was her custom to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her for judgment.(F)
6 She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t the Lord, the God of Israel,(G) commanded you: ‘Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor,(H) and take with you 10,000 men from the Naphtalites(I) and Zebulunites?(J) 7 Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s forces, his chariots, and his army at the Wadi Kishon(K) to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.’”(L)
8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.”
9 “I will go with you,” she said, “but you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera into a woman’s hand.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; 10,000 men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the sons of Hobab,(M) Moses’ father-in-law,(N) and pitched his tent beside the oak tree of Zaanannim,(O) which was near Kedesh.
12 It was reported to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor. 13 Sisera summoned all his 900 iron chariots and all the people who were with him from Harosheth of the Nations[b] to the Wadi Kishon. 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Move on, for this is the day the Lord has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn’t the Lord gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him.
15 The Lord threw Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army into confusion(P) with the sword before Barak. Sisera left his chariot and fled on foot. 16 Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth of the Nations,[c] and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left.
17 Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again. 20 Then he said to her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent. If a man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’” 21 While he was sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She hammered the peg into his temple and drove it into the ground, and he died.
22 When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come and I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!
23 That day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 The power of the Israelites continued to increase against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.
Deborah’s Song
5 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang:
2 When the leaders lead[d] in Israel,
when the people volunteer,
praise the Lord.
3 Listen, kings! Pay attention, princes!
I will sing to the Lord;
I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
4 Lord, when You came from Seir,(Q)
when You marched from the fields of Edom,
the earth trembled,(R)
the heavens poured(S) rain,
and the clouds poured water.
5 The mountains melted before the Lord,
even Sinai[e] before the Lord, the God of Israel.(T)
6 In the days of Shamgar(U) son of Anath,
in the days of Jael,(V)
the main ways were deserted
because travelers kept to the side roads.
7 Villages were deserted,[f]
they were deserted in Israel,
until I, Deborah,[g] arose,
a mother in Israel.
8 Israel chose new gods,
then war was in the gates.
Not a shield or spear was seen
among 40,000 in Israel.
9 My heart is with the leaders of Israel,
with the volunteers of the people.
Praise the Lord!
10 You who ride on white[h] donkeys,
who sit on saddle blankets,
and who travel on the road, give praise!
11 Let them tell the righteous acts(W) of the Lord,
the righteous deeds of His warriors in Israel,
with the voices of the singers at the watering places.[i]
Then the Lord’s people went down to the gates.
12 “Awake! Awake, Deborah!
Awake! Awake, sing a song!
Arise, Barak,
and take hold of your captives,
son of Abinoam!”
13 The survivors(X) came down to the nobles;(Y)
the Lord’s people came down to me[j] with the warriors.
14 Those with their roots in Amalek[k] came from Ephraim;
Benjamin came with your people after you.
The leaders came down from Machir,(Z)
and those who carry a marshal’s staff came from Zebulun.
15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
Issachar was with Barak.
They set out at his heels(AA) in the valley.
There was great searching[l] of heart
among the clans of Reuben.
16 Why did you sit among the sheepfolds
listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks?
There was great searching of heart
among the clans of Reuben.
17 Gilead(AB) remained beyond the Jordan.
Dan, why did you linger at the ships?
Asher remained at the seashore
and stayed in his harbors.
18 Zebulun was a people risking their lives,
Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.
19 Kings came and fought.
Then the kings of Canaan fought
at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo,
but they took no spoil of silver.
20 The stars fought from the heavens;
the stars fought with Sisera from their courses.
21 The river Kishon swept them away,(AC)
the ancient river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul, in strength!
22 The horses’ hooves then hammered—
the galloping, galloping of his[m] stallions.
23 “Curse Meroz,” says the Angel of the Lord,
“Bitterly curse her inhabitants,
for they did not come to help the Lord,
to help the Lord against the mighty warriors.”
24 Jael is most blessed of women,
the wife of Heber the Kenite;
she is most blessed among tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water; she gave him milk.
She brought him curdled milk(AD) in a majestic bowl.
26 She reached for a tent peg,
her right hand, for a workman’s mallet.
Then she hammered Sisera—
she crushed his head;
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 He collapsed, he fell, he lay down at[n] her feet;
he collapsed, he fell at her feet;
where he collapsed, there he fell—dead.
28 Sisera’s mother looked through the window;
she peered through the lattice, crying out:
“Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why don’t I hear the hoofbeats of his horses?”[o]
29 Her wisest princesses answer her;
she even answers herself:[p]
30 “Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—
a girl or two for each warrior,
the spoil of colored garments for Sisera,
the spoil of an embroidered garment or two for my neck?”[q]
31 Lord, may all your enemies perish as Sisera did.[r]
But may those who love Him
be like the rising of the sun in its strength.
And the land was peaceful 40 years.
Midian Oppresses Israel
6 The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord handed(AE) them over to Midian seven years, 2 and they oppressed Israel.(AF) Because of Midian, the Israelites made hiding places(AG) for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the Qedemites(AH) came and attacked them. 4 They encamped against them and destroyed the produce of the land, even as far as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, as well as no sheep, ox or donkey. 5 For the Midianites came with their cattle and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to waste it. 6 So Israel became poverty-stricken because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord.
7 When the Israelites cried out to Him because of Midian, 8 the Lord sent a prophet(AI) to them. He said to them, “This is what the Lord(AJ) God of Israel says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery.(AK) 9 I delivered you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed(AL) you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you: I am Yahweh your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey Me.’”
The Lord Calls Gideon
11 The Angel[s] of the Lord(AM) came, and He[t] sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine vat in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 Gideon said to Him, “Please Sir,[u] if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened?[v] And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”
14 The Lord[w] turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you?”
15 He said to Him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”
16 “But I will be with you,”(AN) the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”
17 Then he said to Him, “If I have found favor in Your sight,(AO) give me a sign(AP) that You are speaking with me. 18 Please do not leave this place until I return to You. Let me bring my gift and set it before You.”
And He said, “I will stay until you return.”
19 So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a half bushel[x] of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought them out and offered them to Him under the oak.
20 The Angel of God(AQ) said to him, “Take the meat with the unleavened bread, put it on this stone, and pour the broth on it.” And he did so.
21 The Angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in His hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22 When Gideon realized that He was the Angel of the Lord, he said, “Oh no, Lord God!(AR) I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face!”(AS)
23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you. Don’t be afraid, for you will not die.” 24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it Yahweh Shalom.[y] It is in Ophrah of the Abiezrites until today.
Gideon Tears Down a Baal Altar
25 On that very night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal(AT) that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 26 Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this rock.(AU) Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.” 27 So Gideon took 10 of his male servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night.
28 When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built. 29 They said to each other, “Who did this?” After they made a thorough investigation, they said, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he tore down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar.” 32 That day, Gideon’s father called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead his case with him,” because he tore down his altar.
The Sign of the Fleece
33 All the Midianites, Amalekites, and Qedemites gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.(AV)
34 The Spirit of the Lord took control of[z] Gideon, and he blew the ram’s horn and the Abiezrites rallied behind him. 35 He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh, who rallied behind him. He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who also came to meet him.
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If You will deliver Israel by my hand, as You said, 37 I will put a fleece of wool here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that You will deliver Israel by my strength, as You said.” 38 And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water.
39 Gideon then said to God, “Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.” 40 That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.
Footnotes
- Judges 4:2 Or Harosheth-ha-goiim
- Judges 4:13 Or Harosheth-ha-goiim
- Judges 4:16 Or Harosheth-ha-goiim
- Judges 5:2 Or the locks of hair are loose
- Judges 5:5 Or Lord, this [One of] Sinai
- Judges 5:7 Hb obscure
- Judges 5:7 Or you
- Judges 5:10 Hb obscure
- Judges 5:11 Hb obscure
- Judges 5:13 LXX reads down for him
- Judges 5:14 LXX reads in the valley
- Judges 5:15 Some Hb mss, Syr read There were great resolves
- Judges 5:22 = Sisera’s
- Judges 5:27 Lit between
- Judges 5:28 Lit Why have the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed
- Judges 5:29 Lit answers her words
- Judges 5:30 Hb obscure
- Judges 5:31 Lit perish in this way
- Judges 6:11 Or angel
- Judges 6:11 Or he
- Judges 6:13 Lit Please, my Lord, or Please, my lord
- Judges 6:13 Lit this found us out
- Judges 6:14 LXX reads The Angel of the Lord
- Judges 6:19 Lit an ephah
- Judges 6:24 = The Lord Is Peace
- Judges 6:34 Lit Lord clothed Himself with; 1Ch 12:18; 2Ch 24:20
Judges 4-6
New International Version
Judges 4-6
New International Version
Deborah
4 Again the Israelites did evil(A) in the eyes of the Lord,(B) now that Ehud(C) was dead. 2 So the Lord sold them(D) into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.(E) Sisera,(F) the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron(G) and had cruelly oppressed(H) the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.
4 Now Deborah,(I) a prophet,(J) the wife of Lappidoth, was leading[a] Israel at that time. 5 She held court(K) under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah(L) and Bethel(M) in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam(N) from Kedesh(O) in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali(P) and Zebulun(Q) and lead them up to Mount Tabor.(R) 7 I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s(S) army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River(T) and give him into your hands.(U)’”
8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”
9 “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.(V) 10 There Barak summoned(W) Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites,(X) the descendants of Hobab,(Y) Moses’ brother-in-law,[b] and pitched his tent by the great tree(Z) in Zaanannim(AA) near Kedesh.
12 When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,(AB) 13 Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River(AC) all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.(AD)
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands.(AE) Has not the Lord gone ahead(AF) of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. 15 At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed(AG) Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
16 Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left.(AH) 17 Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael,(AI) the wife of Heber the Kenite,(AJ) because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor(AK) and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael(AL) went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk,(AM) gave him a drink, and covered him up.
20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”
21 But Jael,(AN) Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep,(AO) exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.(AP)
22 Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael(AQ) went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.(AR)
23 On that day God subdued(AS) Jabin(AT) king of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.(AU)
The Song of Deborah
5 On that day Deborah(AV) and Barak son of Abinoam(AW) sang this song:(AX)
2 “When the princes in Israel take the lead,
when the people willingly offer(AY) themselves—
praise the Lord!(AZ)
3 “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
I, even I, will sing to[c] the Lord;(BA)
I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.(BB)
4 “When you, Lord, went out(BC) from Seir,(BD)
when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook,(BE) the heavens poured,
the clouds poured down water.(BF)
5 The mountains quaked(BG) before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
before the Lord, the God of Israel.
6 “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,(BH)
in the days of Jael,(BI) the highways(BJ) were abandoned;
travelers took to winding paths.(BK)
7 Villagers in Israel would not fight;
they held back until I, Deborah,(BL) arose,
until I arose, a mother in Israel.
8 God chose new leaders(BM)
when war came to the city gates,(BN)
but not a shield or spear(BO) was seen
among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart is with Israel’s princes,
with the willing volunteers(BP) among the people.
Praise the Lord!
10 “You who ride on white donkeys,(BQ)
sitting on your saddle blankets,
and you who walk along the road,
consider 11 the voice of the singers[d] at the watering places.
They recite the victories(BR) of the Lord,
the victories of his villagers in Israel.
“Then the people of the Lord
went down to the city gates.(BS)
12 ‘Wake up,(BT) wake up, Deborah!(BU)
Wake up, wake up, break out in song!
Arise, Barak!(BV)
Take captive your captives,(BW) son of Abinoam.’
13 “The remnant of the nobles came down;
the people of the Lord came down to me against the mighty.
14 Some came from Ephraim,(BX) whose roots were in Amalek;(BY)
Benjamin(BZ) was with the people who followed you.
From Makir(CA) captains came down,
from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s[e] staff.
15 The princes of Issachar(CB) were with Deborah;(CC)
yes, Issachar was with Barak,(CD)
sent under his command into the valley.
In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
16 Why did you stay among the sheep pens[f](CE)
to hear the whistling for the flocks?(CF)
In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
17 Gilead(CG) stayed beyond the Jordan.
And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?
Asher(CH) remained on the coast(CI)
and stayed in his coves.
18 The people of Zebulun(CJ) risked their very lives;
so did Naphtali(CK) on the terraced fields.(CL)
19 “Kings came(CM), they fought,
the kings of Canaan fought.
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,(CN)
they took no plunder of silver.(CO)
20 From the heavens(CP) the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The river Kishon(CQ) swept them away,
the age-old river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul; be strong!(CR)
22 Then thundered the horses’ hooves—
galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.(CS)
23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord.
‘Curse its people bitterly,
because they did not come to help the Lord,
to help the Lord against the mighty.’
24 “Most blessed of women(CT) be Jael,(CU)
the wife of Heber the Kenite,(CV)
most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;(CW)
in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,
her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.(CX)
27 At her feet he sank,
he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell—dead(CY).
28 “Through the window(CZ) peered Sisera’s mother;
behind the lattice she cried out,(DA)
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’
29 The wisest of her ladies answer her;
indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:(DB)
a woman or two for each man,
colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,
colorful garments embroidered,
highly embroidered garments(DC) for my neck—
all this as plunder?(DD)’
31 “So may all your enemies perish,(DE) Lord!
But may all who love you be like the sun(DF)
when it rises in its strength.”(DG)
Then the land had peace(DH) forty years.
Gideon
6 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,(DI) and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.(DJ) 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive,(DK) the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves(DL) and strongholds.(DM) 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites(DN) and other eastern peoples(DO) invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops(DP) all the way to Gaza(DQ) and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts.(DR) It was impossible to count them or their camels;(DS) they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out(DT) to the Lord for help.
7 When the Israelites cried out(DU) to the Lord because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet,(DV) who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt,(DW) out of the land of slavery.(DX) 9 I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors;(DY) I drove them out before you and gave you their land.(DZ) 10 I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship(EA) the gods of the Amorites,(EB) in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”
11 The angel of the Lord(EC) came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah(ED) that belonged to Joash(EE) the Abiezrite,(EF) where his son Gideon(EG) was threshing(EH) wheat in a winepress(EI) to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you,(EJ) mighty warrior.(EK)”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders(EL) that our ancestors told(EM) us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned(EN) us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have(EO) and save(EP) Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan(EQ) is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.(ER)”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you(ES), and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign(ET) that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat,(EU) and from an ephah[g](EV) of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.(EW)
20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock,(EX) and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread(EY) with the tip of the staff(EZ) that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized(FA) that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”(FB)
23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid.(FC) You are not going to die.”(FD)
24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called(FE) it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah(FF) of the Abiezrites.
25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.[h] Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole[i](FG) beside it. 26 Then build a proper kind of[j] altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second[k] bull as a burnt offering.(FH)”
27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
28 In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar,(FI) demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!
29 They asked each other, “Who did this?”
When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash(FJ) did it.”
30 The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar(FK) and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
31 But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause?(FL) Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” 32 So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal[l](FM) that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”
33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites(FN) and other eastern peoples(FO) joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.(FP) 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on(FQ) Gideon, and he blew a trumpet,(FR) summoning the Abiezrites(FS) to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher,(FT) Zebulun and Naphtali,(FU) so that they too went up to meet them.(FV)
36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save(FW) Israel by my hand as you have promised— 37 look, I will place a wool fleece(FX) on the threshing floor.(FY) If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know(FZ) that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request.(GA) Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.(GB)
Footnotes
- Judges 4:4 Traditionally judging
- Judges 4:11 Or father-in-law
- Judges 5:3 Or of
- Judges 5:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Judges 5:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Judges 5:16 Or the campfires; or the saddlebags
- Judges 6:19 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms
- Judges 6:25 Or Take a full-grown, mature bull from your father’s herd
- Judges 6:25 That is, a wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah; also in verses 26, 28 and 30
- Judges 6:26 Or build with layers of stone an
- Judges 6:26 Or full-grown; also in verse 28
- Judges 6:32 Jerub-Baal probably means let Baal contend.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
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