The Gospel of Mark (Part Six)

The Story of the Bible

Thanksgiving Overflow! - Ten Days of Bounty in Worship & Gratitude

Know Your Role

Faith Conversations

Overcoming Procrastination

Inherit Your Freedom

[Be a Gentleman] Identity

Embraced by Love

Christmas - That We Might Have Life

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

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 <div class="label">1</div><div class="s1">Israel Fights the Remaining Canaanites</div><div class="p"> 1After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, &#8220;Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2The Lord answered, &#8220;Judah shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, &#8220;Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.&#8221; So the Simeonites went with them.</div><div class="p"> 4When Judah attacked, the Lord gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek. 5It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites. 6Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.</div><div class="p"> 7Then Adoni-Bezek said, &#8220;Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them.&#8221; They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.</div><div class="p"> 8The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.</div><div class="p"> 9After that, Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills. 10They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. 11From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).</div><div class="p"> 12And Caleb said, &#8220;I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.&#8221; 13Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb&#8217;s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.</div><div class="p"> 14One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him#1:14 Hebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate Othniel, he urged her to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, &#8220;What can I do for you?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15She replied, &#8220;Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.&#8221; So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.</div><div class="p"> 16The descendants of Moses&#8217; father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms#1:16 That is, Jericho with the people of Judah to live among the inhabitants of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.</div><div class="p"> 17Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites their fellow Israelites and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed#1:17 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them. the city. Therefore it was called Hormah.#1:17 Hormah means destruction. 18Judah also took#1:18 Hebrew; Septuagint Judah did not take Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron&#8212;each city with its territory.</div><div class="p"> 19The Lord was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron. 20As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak. 21The Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.</div><div class="p"> 22Now the tribes of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the Lord was with them. 23When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz), 24the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, &#8220;Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.&#8221; 25So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family. 26He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.</div><div class="p"> 27But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. 28When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. 29Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. 30Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor. 31Nor did Asher drive out those living in Akko or Sidon or Ahlab or Akzib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob. 32The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out. 33Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them. 34The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain. 35And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor. 36The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Pass to Sela and beyond.</div>
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 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">The Angel of the Lord at Bokim</div><div class="p"> 1The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, &#8220;I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, &#8216;I will never break my covenant with you, 2and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.&#8217; Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3And I have also said, &#8216;I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, 5and they called that place Bokim.#2:5 Bokim means weepers. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.</div><div class="s1">Disobedience and Defeat</div><div class="p"> 6After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. 7The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.</div><div class="p"> 8Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres#2:9 Also known as Timnath Serah (see Joshua 19:50 and 24:30) in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.</div><div class="p"> 10After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord&#8217;s anger 13because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.</div><div class="p"> 16Then the Lord raised up judges,#2:16 Or leaders; similarly in verses 17-19 who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord&#8217;s commands. 18Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.</div><div class="p"> 20Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, &#8220;Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, 21I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.&#8221; 23The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="JDG.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="p"> 1These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2(he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): 3the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord&#8217;s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.</div><div class="p"> 5The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.</div><div class="s1">Othniel</div><div class="p"> 7The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim,#3:8 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. 9But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb&#8217;s younger brother, who saved them. 10The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel&#8217;s judge#3:10 Or leader and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. 11So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.</div><div class="s1">Ehud</div><div class="p"> 12Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. 13Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.#3:13 That is, Jericho 14The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.</div><div class="p"> 15Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer&#8212;Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. 16Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit#3:16 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. 17He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. 18After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it. 19But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, &#8220;Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">The king said to his attendants, &#8220;Leave us!&#8221; And they all left.</div><div class="p"> 20Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace#3:20 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain; also in verse 24. and said, &#8220;I have a message from God for you.&#8221; As the king rose from his seat, 21Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king&#8217;s belly. 22Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. 23Then Ehud went out to the porch#3:23 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.</div><div class="p"> 24After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, &#8220;He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace.&#8221; 25They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.</div><div class="p"> 26While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah. 27When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.</div><div class="p"> 28&#8220;Follow me,&#8221; he ordered, &#8220;for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.&#8221; So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over. 29At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped. 30That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.</div><div class="s1">Shamgar</div><div class="p"> 31After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="JDG.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">Deborah</div><div class="p"> 1Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. 2So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.</div><div class="p"> 4Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading#4:4 Traditionally judging Israel at that time. 5She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, &#8220;The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: &#8216;Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. 7I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin&#8217;s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Barak said to her, &#8220;If you go with me, I will go; but if you don&#8217;t go with me, I won&#8217;t go.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Certainly I will go with you,&#8221; said Deborah. &#8220;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.&#8221; So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.</div><div class="p"> 11Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses&#8217; brother-in-law,#4:11 Or father-in-law and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.</div><div class="p"> 12When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.</div><div class="p"> 14Then Deborah said to Barak, &#8220;Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?&#8221; So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. 15At Barak&#8217;s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.</div><div class="p"> 16Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera&#8217;s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. 17Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.</div><div class="p"> 18Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, &#8220;Come, my lord, come right in. Don&#8217;t be afraid.&#8221; So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.</div><div class="p"> 19&#8220;I&#8217;m thirsty,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Please give me some water.&#8221; She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;Stand in the doorway of the tent,&#8221; he told her. &#8220;If someone comes by and asks you, &#8216;Is anyone in there?&#8217; say &#8216;No.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21But Jael, Heber&#8217;s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.</div><div class="p"> 22Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. &#8220;Come,&#8221; she said, &#8220;I will show you the man you&#8217;re looking for.&#8221; So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple&#8212;dead.</div><div class="p"> 23On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. 24And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="JDG.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1">Gideon</div><div class="p"> 1The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.</div><div class="p"> 7When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8he sent them a prophet, who said, &#8220;This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10I said to you, &#8216;I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.&#8217; But you have not listened to me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, &#8220;The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;Pardon me, my lord,&#8221; Gideon replied, &#8220;but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, &#8216;Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?&#8217; But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14The Lord turned to him and said, &#8220;Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian&#8217;s hand. Am I not sending you?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;Pardon me, my lord,&#8221; Gideon replied, &#8220;but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16The Lord answered, &#8220;I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17Gideon replied, &#8220;If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">And the Lord said, &#8220;I will wait until you return.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah#6:19 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms 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.</div><div class="p"> 20The angel of God said to him, &#8220;Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.&#8221; And Gideon did so. 21Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, &#8220;Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23But the Lord said to him, &#8220;Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.</div><div class="p"> 25That same night the Lord said to him, &#8220;Take the second bull from your father&#8217;s herd, the one seven years old.#6:25 Or Take a full-grown, mature bull from your father&#8217;s herd Tear down your father&#8217;s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole#6:25 That is, a wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah; also in verses 26, 28 and 30 beside it. 26Then build a proper kind of#6:26 Or build with layers of stone an 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#6:26 Or full-grown; also in verse 28 bull as a burnt offering.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27So 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.</div><div class="p"> 28In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal&#8217;s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!</div><div class="p"> 29They asked each other, &#8220;Who did this?&#8221;</div><div class="p">When they carefully investigated, they were told, &#8220;Gideon son of Joash did it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30The people of the town demanded of Joash, &#8220;Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal&#8217;s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, &#8220;Are you going to plead Baal&#8217;s cause? 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.&#8221; 32So because Gideon broke down Baal&#8217;s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal#6:32 Jerub-Baal probably means let Baal contend. that day, saying, &#8220;Let Baal contend with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.</div><div class="p"> 36Gideon said to God, &#8220;If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised&#8212; 37look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.&#8221; 38And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew&#8212;a bowlful of water.</div><div class="p"> 39Then Gideon said to God, &#8220;Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.&#8221; 40That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch7" data-usfm="JDG.7">
 <div class="label">7</div><div class="s1">Gideon Defeats the Midianites</div><div class="p"> 1Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2The Lord said to Gideon, &#8220;You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, &#8216;My own strength has saved me.&#8217; 3Now announce to the army, &#8216;Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.</div><div class="p"> 4But the Lord said to Gideon, &#8220;There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, &#8216;This one shall go with you,&#8217; he shall go; but if I say, &#8216;This one shall not go with you,&#8217; he shall not go.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, &#8220;Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.&#8221; 6Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.</div><div class="p"> 7The Lord said to Gideon, &#8220;With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.&#8221; 8So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.</div><div class="p">Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. 9During that night the Lord said to Gideon, &#8220;Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. 10If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.&#8221; So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. 12The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.</div><div class="p"> 13Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. &#8220;I had a dream,&#8221; he was saying. &#8220;A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14His friend responded, &#8220;This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, &#8220;Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.&#8221; 16Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;Watch me,&#8221; he told them. &#8220;Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. 18When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, &#8216;For the Lord and for Gideon.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. 20The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, &#8220;A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!&#8221; 21While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.</div><div class="p"> 22When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. 23Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites. 24Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, &#8220;Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they seized the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah. 25They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="JDG.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Zebah and Zalmunna</div><div class="p"> 1Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, &#8220;Why have you treated us like this? Why didn&#8217;t you call us when you went to fight Midian?&#8221; And they challenged him vigorously.</div><div class="p"> 2But he answered them, &#8220;What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren&#8217;t the gleanings of Ephraim&#8217;s grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer? 3God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to you?&#8221; At this, their resentment against him subsided.</div><div class="p"> 4Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it. 5He said to the men of Sukkoth, &#8220;Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6But the officials of Sukkoth said, &#8220;Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Then Gideon replied, &#8220;Just for that, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8From there he went up to Peniel#8:8 Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel; also in verses 9 and 17 and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had. 9So he said to the men of Peniel, &#8220;When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. 11Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the unsuspecting army. 12Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.</div><div class="p"> 13Gideon son of Joash then returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres. 14He caught a young man of Sukkoth and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven officials of Sukkoth, the elders of the town. 15Then Gideon came and said to the men of Sukkoth, &#8220;Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me by saying, &#8216;Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; 16He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Sukkoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers. 17He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.</div><div class="p"> 18Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, &#8220;What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Men like you,&#8221; they answered, &#8220;each one with the bearing of a prince.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Gideon replied, &#8220;Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the Lord lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you.&#8221; 20Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, &#8220;Kill them!&#8221; But Jether did not draw his sword, because he was only a boy and was afraid.</div><div class="p"> 21Zebah and Zalmunna said, &#8220;Come, do it yourself. &#8216;As is the man, so is his strength.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; So Gideon stepped forward and killed them, and took the ornaments off their camels&#8217; necks.</div><div class="s1">Gideon&#8217;s Ephod</div><div class="p"> 22The Israelites said to Gideon, &#8220;Rule over us&#8212;you, your son and your grandson&#8212;because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23But Gideon told them, &#8220;I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.&#8221; 24And he said, &#8220;I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.&#8221; (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)</div><div class="p"> 25They answered, &#8220;We&#8217;ll be glad to give them.&#8221; So they spread out a garment, and each of them threw a ring from his plunder onto it. 26The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels,#8:26 That is, about 43 pounds or about 20 kilograms not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels&#8217; necks. 27Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.</div><div class="s1">Gideon&#8217;s Death</div><div class="p"> 28Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon&#8217;s lifetime, the land had peace forty years.</div><div class="p"> 29Jerub-Baal son of Joash went back home to live. 30He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. 31His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelek. 32Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.</div><div class="p"> 33No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god 34and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. 35They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="JDG.9">
 <div class="label">9</div><div class="s1">Abimelek</div><div class="p"> 1Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal went to his mother&#8217;s brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother&#8217;s clan, 2&#8220;Ask all the citizens of Shechem, &#8216;Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal&#8217;s sons rule over you, or just one man?&#8217; Remember, I am your flesh and blood.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelek, for they said, &#8220;He is related to us.&#8221; 4They gave him seventy shekels#9:4 That is, about 1 3/4 pounds or about 800 grams of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelek used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers. 5He went to his father&#8217;s home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding. 6Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelek king.</div><div class="p"> 7When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, &#8220;Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you. 8One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, &#8216;Be our king.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;But the olive tree answered, &#8216;Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;Next, the trees said to the fig tree, &#8216;Come and be our king.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 11&#8220;But the fig tree replied, &#8216;Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 12&#8220;Then the trees said to the vine, &#8216;Come and be our king.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;But the vine answered, &#8216;Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and humans, to hold sway over the trees?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 14&#8220;Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, &#8216;Come and be our king.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;The thornbush said to the trees, &#8216;If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 16&#8220;Have you acted honorably and in good faith by making Abimelek king? Have you been fair to Jerub-Baal and his family? Have you treated him as he deserves? 17Remember that my father fought for you and risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian. 18But today you have revolted against my father&#8217;s family. You have murdered his seventy sons on a single stone and have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is related to you. 19So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelek be your joy, and may you be his, too! 20But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelek and consume you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelek!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and he lived there because he was afraid of his brother Abimelek.</div><div class="p"> 22After Abimelek had governed Israel three years, 23God stirred up animosity between Abimelek and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelek. 24God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal&#8217;s seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelek and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers. 25In opposition to him these citizens of Shechem set men on the hilltops to ambush and rob everyone who passed by, and this was reported to Abimelek.</div><div class="p"> 26Now Gaal son of Ebed moved with his clan into Shechem, and its citizens put their confidence in him. 27After they had gone out into the fields and gathered the grapes and trodden them, they held a festival in the temple of their god. While they were eating and drinking, they cursed Abimelek. 28Then Gaal son of Ebed said, &#8220;Who is Abimelek, and why should we Shechemites be subject to him? Isn&#8217;t he Jerub-Baal&#8217;s son, and isn&#8217;t Zebul his deputy? Serve the family of Hamor, Shechem&#8217;s father! Why should we serve Abimelek? 29If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelek, &#8216;Call out your whole army!&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;#9:29 Septuagint; Hebrew him.&#8221; Then he said to Abimelek, &#8220;Call out your whole army!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30When Zebul the governor of the city heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry. 31Under cover he sent messengers to Abimelek, saying, &#8220;Gaal son of Ebed and his clan have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you. 32Now then, during the night you and your men should come and lie in wait in the fields. 33In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, seize the opportunity to attack them.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 34So Abimelek and all his troops set out by night and took up concealed positions near Shechem in four companies. 35Now Gaal son of Ebed had gone out and was standing at the entrance of the city gate just as Abimelek and his troops came out from their hiding place.</div><div class="p"> 36When Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, &#8220;Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains!&#8221;</div><div class="p">Zebul replied, &#8220;You mistake the shadows of the mountains for men.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 37But Gaal spoke up again: &#8220;Look, people are coming down from the central hill,#9:37 The Hebrew for this phrase means the navel of the earth. and a company is coming from the direction of the diviners&#8217; tree.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38Then Zebul said to him, &#8220;Where is your big talk now, you who said, &#8216;Who is Abimelek that we should be subject to him?&#8217; Aren&#8217;t these the men you ridiculed? Go out and fight them!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 39So Gaal led out#9:39 Or Gaal went out in the sight of the citizens of Shechem and fought Abimelek. 40Abimelek chased him all the way to the entrance of the gate, and many were killed as they fled. 41Then Abimelek stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his clan out of Shechem.</div><div class="p"> 42The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelek. 43So he took his men, divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose to attack them. 44Abimelek and the companies with him rushed forward to a position at the entrance of the city gate. Then two companies attacked those in the fields and struck them down. 45All that day Abimelek pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.</div><div class="p"> 46On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith. 47When Abimelek heard that they had assembled there, 48he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon. He took an ax and cut off some branches, which he lifted to his shoulders. He ordered the men with him, &#8220;Quick! Do what you have seen me do!&#8221; 49So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelek. They piled them against the stronghold and set it on fire with the people still inside. So all the people in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, also died.</div><div class="p"> 50Next Abimelek went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it. 51Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women&#8212;all the people of the city&#8212;had fled. They had locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof. 52Abimelek went to the tower and attacked it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, 53a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.</div><div class="p"> 54Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, &#8220;Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can&#8217;t say, &#8216;A woman killed him.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; So his servant ran him through, and he died. 55When the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead, they went home.</div><div class="p"> 56Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. 57God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.</div>
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