Old/New Testament
God takes what is different about Ehud and makes it a strength. This is God’s habit throughout the Old Testament—making unlikely heroes into agents of His deliverance from the enemies of Israel. Earlier God used Moses, an infant marked for death, to liberate His people from Egypt. Soon God will use two women, marginalized in a patriarchal society, to save Israel from Sisera. And much later, God will choose David, a young boy, to save Israel from the mighty Philistines. Time and again, God proves He can use anyone to accomplish His goals.
4 After Ehud died, the people returned to doing what the Eternal said was evil. 2 So the Eternal made them subservient to Jabin, king of Canaan, who ruled from Hazor. Jabin’s general was a man named Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.
3 The people of Israel cried out to the Eternal again for help. Since Sisera had 900 iron chariots, he prevailed against and oppressed the Israelites for 20 years.
These iron chariots are an especially potent assault vehicle against the Israelites on the plains, but not as much in mountainous regions.
4 At that time, Deborah the prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, served as judge over Israel. 5 She used to sit beneath the palm tree of Deborah, situated in the hill country of Ephraim between Ramah and Bethel, and the people would go up to her there to settle disputes. 6 She urgently sent for Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kedesh-naphtali.
Deborah: The Eternal God of Israel commands you: “Go and get into position near Mount Tabor. Take 10,000 soldiers from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun. 7 I will draw out Sisera, Jabin’s general, to meet you at the wadi Kishon with his chariots and his army, and I will deliver him to you.”
Barak (to Deborah): 8 I will do this if you will go with me; but if you won’t, then I won’t go either.
Deborah: 9 I will certainly go with you, but you should know from the beginning that this battle will not lead to your personal glory. The Eternal has decreed that the mighty Sisera will be defeated by a woman.
Then Deborah got up and accompanied Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak summoned the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun, and they sent 10,000 men to follow him. With Deborah, they went to Kedesh.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from all the other Kenites (the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses) and had camped far away, under the great tree at Zaanannim, near Kedesh.
12 When Sisera the general heard that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up in force to Mount Tabor, 13 he called out all 900 of his iron chariots, and all the soldiers who were with him from Harosheth-hagoyim to the wadi Kishon.
Deborah (to Barak): 14 Get up! For this is the day that the Eternal has given you victory over Sisera. In fact, He has already gone out ahead of you.
So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 warriors following. 15 As Barak and his forces watched, the Eternal threw Sisera and all his chariots and his entire army into a panic before them; all Sisera’s army died by the sword. Sisera himself climbed down from his chariot and escaped on foot, 16 while Barak and his army pursued Sisera’s chariots and army all the way back to Harosheth-hagoyim. All of Sisera’s warriors perished by the sword; not one of them was left alive.
17 Sisera had fled to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, and he must have thought himself safe at last, since there was peace between Jabin, the king of Hazor, and Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael went out to meet Sisera.
Jael: Come in, my lord, come in with me. There is nothing to be afraid of here.
So he came inside the tent with her, and she covered him with a rug just in case some of Barak’s soldiers came looking for him.
Sisera: 19 May I have a little water to drink?
He was very thirsty, so she opened a skin filled with milk and gave him a little, then covered him again.
Sisera: 20 Stand and wait at the opening to the tent. If anybody comes and asks you, “Is anyone inside?” tell them “No.”
21 Sisera fell into a deep sleep, for he was weary. Jael, the wife of Heber, took a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other. She crept softly to his side. Then she drove the peg into his temple, down into the ground, and killed him.
22 When Barak came looking for Sisera, Jael went out to meet him.
Jael: Come inside, and I will show you the man you seek.
So he went into the tent with her, and there lay Sisera dead, with a tent peg driven through his head.
23 On that day, God vanquished Jabin, king of Canaan, before the people of Israel; 24 and the Israelites bore down harder and harder on him until at last Jabin, king of Canaan, was destroyed.
Known as the Song of Deborah, this victory song is one of the oldest passages in the Bible; it is beautiful and powerful, as well as filled with information. In addition to praising and chastising certain tribes for their role—or lack thereof—in battle, it also celebrates a victory God has given His people through the agency of two women: the judge Deborah and Jael, who, as Deborah prophesied (verse 9), brings final victory over the enemy general Sisera.
These cultures value masculine strength, aggression, and war-prowess; they don’t value female ingenuity and courage. So for the first hearers of this story, the last people they expect to bring military victory are women. But once again, God takes ordinary people with their gifts, strengths, and weaknesses—and brings military victory through the unexpectedly strong hands of women.
5 Then, that same day, Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, sang a song in victory:
2 The leaders of Israel stood up,
and the people offered themselves willingly—
praise the Eternal One!
3 Listen, all you kings, and pay attention, you rulers:
I, I will sing to the Eternal,
I will sing praise to Him, the True God of Israel!
4 Eternal One, when You went out from Seir
and marched from the field of Edom,
The earth shook,
and the heavens poured;
yes, the clouds poured water.
5 The mountains flowed like water before the Eternal, the God of Sinai;
they melted into a flood before the Eternal One, the True God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath,
and in the days of Jael, the main roads were empty of caravans,
and the travelers kept to back roads.
7 But those from rural areas stayed away,
the destitute in Israel kept far off,[a]
Until I, Deborah, arose
to be a mother to Israel.
8 They had chosen new gods,
so war came to their gates.
Was there a spear or shield to be found then
among the 40,000 of Israel?
9 My heart is warmed by those in Israel called to command them,
who offered themselves willingly to the people.
Praise the Eternal One!
10 Sing this song, those of you who now ride white donkeys
and sit on rich carpets,
you who travel along the road.
11 All of you who now hear the sound of shepherds at the watering places,
proclaim the just victories of the Eternal,
the just triumphs of His destitute people in Israel,
As the people of the Eternal go down to the gates!
12 Wake up, wake up, Deborah!
Wake up, wake up, and sing!
Get up, Barak! Get up and carry off your captives,
O son of Abinoam!
13 Then down went a surviving people to those who were noble,
and the Eternal One marched to me with the mighty!
14 People with roots in Ephraim went down against the Amalekites after you, O Benjamin,
with your people.
From Machir marched those commanders,
and from Zebulun went those carrying the staff of a scribe.
15 The chiefs of Issachar came with Deborah;
Issachar was faithful to Barak,
And they rushed into the valley, close at his heels.
And the clans of Reuben wondered in their heart,
16 “Why did you remain idle and aloof in the sheepfolds?
To hear whistling for the flocks?”
And the clans of Reuben wondered in their heart,
17 “Why did those of Gilead remain beyond the Jordan?
Why did the people of Dan stay with their ships?
“Why did the people of Asher stay on the coast,
settling down where they landed?”
18 But Zebulun did not fear death,
and Naphtali, too, stared down death on the heights where the battle raged.
19 The kings came, they fought;
the kings of Canaan made war.
They fought at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,
but they won no spoils of silver.
20 The stars themselves fought against them;
from the heavens, the stars fought against Sisera.
21 The raging waters of Kishon swept them away,
the rushing waters, the raging waters of Kishon.
March forward, my soul, march on with strength!
22 The hooves of the horses beat loudly;
the galloping of the horses echoed.
23 “A curse on Meroz!” said the messenger of the Eternal One;
“May its people be bitterly cursed,
Because they did not come to help the Eternal,
to stand with the Eternal against the mighty foes!”
24 But Jael,
the wife of Heber, the Kenite—most blessed of women is she,
favored above all women who dwell in tents!
25 Sisera asked for water, and she gave him milk;
she gave him curds in a dish fit for lords.
26 And then she took a tent peg in her left hand
and a worker’s hammer in her right,
And she struck Sisera.
She broke and battered his head;
she pierced his temple.
27 At her feet he bowed, he fell,
he dropped silent.
At her feet he fell, he dropped,
and where he dropped, there he lay dead.
28 The mother of Sisera waited for him,
watching through the lattice of the window.
“Why is his chariot so long in returning?” she wondered.
“Where are the hoofbeats of his horses?”
29 Her wisest ladies in waiting have answers—
in fact, she herself thinks she knows the reason.
30 “Aren’t they still dividing the spoils of a successful battle?
A girl or two given to every man;
Spoils of beautiful dyed cloth for Sisera,
spoils of dyed cloth, beautifully embroidered.
Indeed two pieces of beautiful embroidered cloth for my neck.”
31 So may all Your enemies perish, O Eternal One!
But may those who love You be like the sun,
rising and going forth with power!
After this victory, the people knew peace from war for 40 years.
6 When the people of Israel again did what the Eternal One considered evil, He made them serve the Midianites for seven years. 2 The power of Midian prevailed over Israel so that the Israelites built for themselves hiding places in the mountains, in caves, and in safe strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted seed, the soldiers of Midian, Amalek, and others from the east would rise up against them 4 and destroy their farms and fields as far as Gaza in the west, leaving them nothing to eat and no livestock. 5 They would come up with their tents and their livestock, as thick as a cloud of locusts. They and their camels were so numerous they could not be counted, and they left the land desolate behind them.
6 So the people of Israel were impoverished because of the Midianites, and they cried out to the Eternal One for help. 7 When the people of Israel cried to the Eternal for relief from the Midianites, 8 He sent a prophet to them.
Prophet: Here are the words of the Eternal God of Israel: “I brought you out from slavery in Egypt. 9 I delivered you from the Egyptians, from all who would have oppressed you. I drove the Canaanites out before you and delivered their land into your care. 10 But I said to you, ‘I am the Eternal One, your True God, and you must not worship the gods of the Amorites, those people in whose land you settle.’ And you have not listened to Me.”
This unnamed messenger brings a familiar message, one we find coming from both well-known and unknown prophets in the Scriptures: “I am the Eternal God, and I have done many things for you. You swore to be My people, but you have turned away from Me and turned toward other gods.”
God has brought the patriarch Abraham out of the east and initiated a relationship with him. Later the people of God make a covenant with Him, a sacred contract that both sides are expected to honor. When they are faithful to God and God’s laws, the people of Israel prosper. Whenever the Israelites fall away from true belief and true practice, God withdraws His blessing from them. This messenger is simply reminding them of what they already know—as prophets sometimes must.
11 Now in Ophrah, the Eternal’s messenger sat under an oak tree that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. Gideon, the son of Joash, was beating out wheat in the winepress so that the Midianites could not see what he was doing. 12 The Eternal’s messenger appeared to Gideon.
Times are so bad that even when processing the wheat, one has to be quiet about it so that the Midianites do not notice and seize the food.
Messenger of the Eternal One: The Eternal One is with you, mighty warrior.
Gideon: 13 Sir, if He is with us, then why has all this misfortune come on us? Where are all the miracles that our ancestors told us about? They said, “Didn’t the Eternal deliver us out of Egypt?” But now He has left us. He has made us servants of the Midianites.
14 The Eternal turned to Gideon and addressed him.
Eternal One (speaking through His messenger): Go out with your strength and rescue Israel from the oppression of Midian. Do you understand that I am the one sending you?
Gideon: 15 But, Lord, how am I supposed to deliver Israel? My family is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least of my family.
Eternal One: 16 Go. I will be with you, and you will totally destroy the forces of Midian as one man.
Gideon: 17 If You do look on me with favor, then give me a sign that I’m really hearing from You. 18 Wait here until I return and bring out my offering and place it in front of You.
Eternal One: I will stay here until you return.
19 So Gideon went into his house, cooked a young goat, and made cakes of unleavened bread from half a bushel of flour. He then put the meat into a basket, poured the broth into a pot, and brought the food out to present it to Him under the oak.
Eternal One: 20 Put the meat and the unleavened bread on this rock, and pour out the broth.
Gideon did as he was told. 21 Then the Eternal’s messenger touched the meat and bread with the tip of the staff he carried. Fire raged out of the rock and consumed the food, and the Eternal’s messenger vanished from sight.
22 Then Gideon realized that he had been speaking to the Eternal’s messenger.
Gideon: Have mercy on me, my Lord, the Eternal, since I have seen Your messenger face-to-face!
Eternal One (speaking after the messenger had departed): 23 Don’t be afraid, Gideon. Be at peace. You will not die.
Gideon expects sure death after conversing and looking on a divine manifestation of the Lord.
24 Afterward Gideon built an altar to the Eternal there and called it “The Eternal One is Peace.” It still stands at Ophrah in the land of the Abiezrites.
25 That night, the Eternal spoke to Gideon.
Eternal One: Take your father’s bull, the second bull, seven years old, and pull down your father’s altar that has been consecrated to Baal. Then cut down the image of Asherah made of wood that is beside the altar. 26 Then build correctly an altar to the Eternal One, your True God, on the top of this stronghold. Build a fire using the wood from the image; then take your father’s bull and offer a burnt offering to Me.
27 So Gideon took 10 of his servants and did as the Eternal had told him; but since he was worried about what his family and the people of the town might think, he did it at night while they all slept. 28 Early the next morning, when the townspeople left their homes and saw the altar of Baal destroyed, the wooden image cut down, and the second bull offered on the new altar, 29 they asked each other, “Who did this?”
After the investigation, it became clear that it was Gideon, the son of Joash, 30 so they went to Joash’s home and called for him.
People: Send out your son Gideon. He has torn down the holy altar of Baal and the Asherah image beside it, and he must die!
31 Joash stood up as the angry crowd lined up against him.
Joash (to the crowd): Will you fight in place of Baal himself? Can you save him? Anyone daring to say such a thing will be put to death by morning! If Baal is indeed a god, then let him stand up for himself, because his is the altar that has been torn down.
32 From that time on, Gideon was also called “Jerubbaal” (“Let Baal fight against him”), because he pulled down Baal’s altar.
33 At that time, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east had come together, crossed the Jordan, and camped in the valley of Jezreel.
34 Then the Spirit of the Eternal touched Gideon; he sounded his trumpet, and the Abiezrites all gathered behind him. 35 Gideon sent messengers to the members of the tribe of Manasseh and called them also to follow him. He also sent messengers to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they, too, gathered at his call.
36 Then Gideon spoke to the True God.
Gideon: So that I can know if it’s true that You plan to use me to rescue Israel, 37 I am going to lay out a wool fleece on the threshing floor. Tomorrow morning, if it is wet with dew while the floor around it is dry, then I will know You are going to use me to deliver Israel, as You have told me.
38 So the next morning, that was what he found. In fact, Gideon wrung enough water out of the fleece to fill a bowl, while the floor around it remained dry. But Gideon still was not satisfied.
Gideon (to the True God): 39 Please don’t be angry with me, and I will ask this one thing more. Please let me use the fleece again to prove that You are with me. But this time, let me lay out the fleece, and let it remain dry while all the floor around it is wet with dew.
40 God did as he asked that night. The next morning, the fleece was completely dry, while all the floor around it was wet with dew. Gideon knew that God was calling him to deliver Israel.
31-33 Next He went to Capernaum, another Galilean city. Again He was in the synagogue teaching on the Sabbath, and as before, the people were enthralled by His words. He had a way of saying things—a special authority, a unique power.
In attendance that day was a man with a demonic spirit.
Demon-Possessed Man (screaming at Jesus): 34 Get out of here! Leave us alone! What’s Your agenda, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are: You’re the Holy One, the One sent by God!
Jesus (firmly rebuking the demon): 35 Be quiet. Get out of that man!
Then the demonic spirit immediately threw the man into a fit, and he collapsed right there in the middle of the synagogue. It was clear the demon had come out, and the man was completely fine after that. 36 Everyone was shocked to see this, and they couldn’t help but talk about it.
Synagogue Members: What’s this about? What’s the meaning of this message? Jesus speaks with authority, and He has power to command demonic spirits to go away.
The essential message of Jesus can be summed up this way: the kingdom of God is available to everyone, starting now. When Jesus refers to the kingdom of God, He doesn’t mean something that happens after death, far off in heaven; He equates the kingdom of God with God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven. So the kingdom of God is life as God intends it to be—life to the full, life in peace and justice, life in abundance and love. Individuals enter the Kingdom when they enter into a relationship with Jesus, when they trust Him enough to follow His ways. But make no mistake, the Kingdom is about more than individual lives; it is about the transformation and renewal of all God has created. It may start with individual responses, but it doesn’t stop there.
Jesus describes His purpose as proclaiming this message. But Jesus not only expresses His message of the kingdom of God in words, He also dramatizes it in deeds. Luke calls these amazing deeds “signs and wonders,” suggesting that these actions have symbolic meaning, which is significant, and are wonderful, which means they fill people with awe and wonder. In the coming chapters, the wonder that the original eyewitnesses feel is palpable, and Jesus’ actions are significant signs of the kingdom of God.
37 The excitement about Jesus spread into every corner of the surrounding region.
38 Picture this:
Jesus then leaves that synagogue and goes over to Simon’s place. Simon’s mother-in-law is there. She is sick with a high fever. Simon’s family asks Jesus to help her.
39 Jesus stands over her, and just as He had rebuked the demon, He rebukes the fever, and the woman’s temperature returns to normal. She feels so much better that she gets right up and cooks them all a big meal.
40 By this time, it’s just before nightfall, and as the sun sets, groups of families, friends, and bystanders come until a huge crowd has gathered. Each group has brought along family members or friends who are sick with any number of diseases. One by one, Jesus lays His hands on them and heals them. 41 On several occasions, demonic spirits are expelled from these people, after shouting at Jesus, “You are the Son of God!”
Jesus always rebukes them and tells them to be quiet. They know He is the Anointed One, but He doesn’t want to be acclaimed in this way.
42 The next morning, Jesus sneaks away. He finds a place away from the crowds, but soon they find Him. The crowd tries their best to keep Him from leaving.
Jesus: 43 No, I cannot stay. I need to preach the kingdom of God to other cities too. This is the purpose I was sent to fulfill.
44 So He proceeds from synagogue to synagogue across Judea,[a] preaching His message of the kingdom of God.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.