Old/New Testament
Chapter 4
Judges Deborah and Barak. 1 After Ehud died the Israelites once again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 2 The Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin, the king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera who lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. 3 The Israelites cried out to the Lord, for he had nine hundred iron chariots. He oppressed the Israelites terribly for twenty years.
4 Now Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, a prophetess, was then a judge in Israel.[a] 5 She used to sit underneath the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites would come up to her for judgment there. 6 She summoned Barak, the son of Ahinoam, from Kadesh of Naphtali, and she said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun with yourself and march toward Mount Tabor.[b] 7 I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and his forces, to the Kishon River, and I will deliver him up into your hands.’ ” 8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, then I will go, but if you do not go with me, then I will not go.” 9 She said, “Fine, I will go with you. But because of how you are doing this, it will not work out to your glory. The Lord will hand Sisera over into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah rose up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak had summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. Ten thousand men were under his command, and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber, the Kenite, had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses. He pitched his tent by the terebinth of Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.
12 They reported to Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and all of the men who were with him, and he traveled from Harosheth-haggoyim to the Wadi Kishon. 14 Deborah said to Barak, “Rise up, for this is the day that the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hands. Has the Lord not gone out before you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by his men.
15 The Lord routed Sisera before Barak at the edge of the sword along with all his chariots and all his troops. Sisera climbed down from his chariot and fled on foot. 16 Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-haggoyim. All of the troops of Sisera fell to the sword; there was not a survivor left among them.
17 Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin, the king of Hazor, and Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to greet Sisera. She said to him, “Come in, my lord, come right in. Do not be afraid.” He came into the tent, and she covered him with a blanket. 19 He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.” She opened up a skin of milk, gave him some to drink, and covered him again. 20 He told her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes by and asks, ‘Is there anyone here,’ tell that person, ‘No.’ ” 21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, got a tent peg, she took a hammer in her hands, and she snuck up to him when he was in a deep sleep. She drove it through his temple into the ground, and he died.[c]
22 Barak passed by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael came out to him and said to him, “Come in, I will show you the man you are looking for.” He found Sisera dead, the peg through his temple. 23 On that day the Lord brought Jabin, the king of Canaan, into subjection to the Israelites. 24 The hand of the Israelites constantly grew stronger against Jabin, the king of Canaan, until they had crushed Jabin, the king of Canaan.
Chapter 5[d]
The Song of Deborah. 1 On that day Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, sang,
2 “Israel’s leaders led bravely,
the people followed gladly,
praise the Lord.
3 Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes,
for I, myself, will sing about the Lord;
I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.
4 Lord, when you went out from Seir,
when you marched out of the fields in Edom,
the earth trembled, and the heavens poured,
the clouds poured down water.[e]
5 The mountains quaked before the Lord,
he who was on Sinai,
before the Lord, the God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath,
in the days of Jael,
the highways were deserted,
travelers took winding paths.
7 Village life ceased in Israel,
it ceased until I, Deborah,
until I rose up as mother in Israel.[f]
8 When they chose new gods,
war showed up at the gates.
Not a shield nor a spear was to be found
among the forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart was with the leaders of Israel;
they offered themselves willingly with the people.
Bless the Lord.
10 Speak, you who ride on white donkeys,
who sit in judgment,
who walk along the ways.
11 Far from the noise of archers,
in the places where there is water,
there they shall recount the righteous deeds of the Lord,
his righteous deeds toward his villagers in Israel.
Then the people of the Lord will go down to the gates.
12 Awake, awake, Deborah.
Awake, awake, sing a song.
Arise, O Barak,
and lead your captives away,
O son of Abinoam.
13 Then the remnant of the nobles marched,
the people of the Lord came to me with the mighty.
14 Some came from Ephraim,
whose roots were in Amalek;
Benjamin was with your people who followed you.
From Machir[g] officers came down,
from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s staff.
15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah,
Issachar was with Barak;
he sent them into the valley under his command.
In the districts of Reuben
there were serious doubts.
16 Why did you stay among the sheep folds
to hear the bleating of the flocks?
In the districts of Reuben
there were serious doubts.
17 Gilead remained beyond the Jordan.
Dan, why did he remain by the ships?
Asher remained by the seashore
and stayed in his coves.[h]
18 The people of Zebulun risked their lives,
as did Naphtali on the heights of the field.
19 Kings came and fought;
the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo,
but they took no plunder, no silver.
20 From the heavens the stars fought on;[i]
they fought against Sisera in their courses.
21 The Wadi Kishon swept them away;
the ancient wadi,
the Wadi Kishon.
March on, O my soul, be strong.
22 Then the horses’ hoof beats thundered,
galloping, galloping, go the mighty steeds.
23 ‘Curse Meroz,’[j] said the angel,
‘bitterly curse those who live there.
They did not come to help the Lord,
to help the Lord against the mighty.’
24 You will be blessed above other women,
O Jael, wife of Heber, the Kenite;
you are blessed above other women who live in tents.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk.
In a dish fit for royalty, she brought him cream.
26 Her hand reached for a tent peg,
her right hand for a workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera; she crushed his head,
she pierced and bored through his temple.
27 He sank down to her feet,
fell down and lay there.
At her feet he sank and fell down;
where he sank, there he fell, dead!
28 Sisera’s mother looked out through a window,
she cried from behind the lattice,
‘Why is his chariot taking so long?
Why is the clatter of chariots so late in coming?’
29 The wisest of her ladies answers her,
indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
30 ‘Are they having trouble finding and dividing the spoils?
A woman or two to each man,
colorful garments as plunder to Sisera,
the plunder of garments with colorful needlework,
colorful needlework for around the plunderer’s neck?’
31 So may all of your enemies perish, O Lord,
may those who love him come forth like the mighty sun.”
There was then peace in the land for forty years.
Chapter 6[k]
Gideon’s Call.[l] 1 The Israelites once again did what is evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of Midian for seven years. 2 The hand of Midian weighed heavy upon Israel, and because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared refuges for themselves in mountain caverns, caves, and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites sowed their crops, the Midianites, the Amalekites and other peoples from the East would attack them. 4 They camped against them and devastated the produce of the land all the way up to Gaza. They did not leave a living thing in Israel, not a sheep, nor an ox, nor a donkey. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. They and their camels were impossible to count; they invaded the land and laid it waste.
6 The Midianites oppressed Israel so terribly that the Israelites cried out to the Lord. 7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, 8 the Lord sent the Israelites a prophet[m] who said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought you up from the land of Egypt, bringing you forth from the land of your slavery. 9 I delivered you out of the hands of the Egyptians, out of the hands of everyone who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, “I am the Lord, your God. Do not show reverence to the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.” But you did not listen to my voice.’ ”
11 The angel came and sat under the oak in Ophrah[n] that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. It was there that Gideon, his son, was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide his activities from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared, he said, “The Lord is with you, O mighty warrior.” 13 Gideon said to him, “O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us into the hands of the Midianites.” 14 The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in your might and rescue Israel out of the hands of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” 15 But he said to him, “O Lord, how can I save Israel. My clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s household.” 16 The Lord said to him, “I will be with you,[o] and you will strike down the Midianites as if they were only one man.” 17 He answered him, “If I truly have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you speaking to me. 18 Please do not leave here until I return to you, bringing my offering that I will set before you.” He said, “I will wait here until you come back.”
19 Gideon went off and prepared a kid goat and unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to lay them down under the oak, presenting them to him. 20 The angel of God said, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, then pour out the broth.” He did these things. 21 The angel of the Lord stretched forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, touching the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire rose 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 it had been the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God, for now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid; you will not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it, “The Lord is peace.” It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites up to the present.
25 [p]Now that same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s spare ox, the ox that is seven years old. Break down the altar to Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it. 26 Build a proper altar to the Lord, your God, on top of this rock. Offer up the spare ox as a burnt offering, using the wood from the Asherah you cut down.”
27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him to do. Because he was afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city, he could not do it during the day; he did it at night.
28 Early in the morning the men from the city arose and saw the altar of Baal demolished and the Asherah alongside of it cut down. The spare ox had also been offered on the newly built altar. 29 They asked one another, “Who has done this?” When they carefully investigated it, they were told, “Gideon, the son of Joash, did this.” 30 The men from the city told Joash, “Bring your son out. He must die, because he demolished the altar to Baal and he cut down the Asherah that was alongside of it.” 31 But Joash said to all those who were confronting him, “Are you going to defend Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever defends his cause will be put to death by tomorrow morning. If he is really a god, then he can fight for himself when someone breaks down his altar.” 32 From that day on they called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal fight with him,” because he cast down his altar.
33 All of the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the peoples from the east gathered together. They crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.
34 The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew his trumpet, summoning those who were in Abiezer to follow him.[q] 35 He sent messengers all throughout Manasseh, summoning them to follow him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, so that they too gathered around him.
36 Gideon said to God, “If you intend to save Israel by my hands, as you have told me, 37 then I will put a wool fleece on the floor. If there is dew on the fleece itself, but the ground around it is dry, then I will know that you are going to save Israel by my hands, as you said.” 38 Gideon got up early the next morning. He squeezed the fleece, and dew flowed out of the fleece, producing a bowl full of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me if I make this request. Let me test the fleece one more time. This time let the fleece remain dry and the ground all around it be covered with dew.” 40 This is what God did that night. Only the fleece was dry, for there was dew on the ground that surrounded it.
31 Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon.[a]Jesus then went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and began to teach the people on the Sabbath. 32 They were astounded at his teaching because his message had authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he shrieked loudly, 34 “Leave us alone! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”[b] 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!”
Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and emerged from him without doing him any harm. 36 The people were all amazed, and they said to one another: “What is this teaching? For with authority and power he gives commands to unclean spirits, and they come forth.” 37 And reports about him began to spread throughout the entire region.
38 Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-in-Law. On leaving the synagogue, he entered Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they begged him to help her. 39 Jesus stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and began to serve them.
40 Jesus Ministers throughout Galilee. At sunset they brought to him all those who were sick with various diseases. He laid his hands on each of them and healed them. 41 Demons also emerged from many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.
42 Jesus Is the Envoy of God for All Israel.[c] At daybreak he departed and made his way to a secluded place. But the crowds went forth in search of him, and when they located him, they tried to prevent him from leaving there. 43 However, he said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, because this was the purpose for which I was sent.” 44 Thus, he continued to preach in the synagogues of Judea.
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