Judges, starting at chapter 4
{4:1} The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh, when Ehud was dead. {4:2} Yahweh sold them into the
hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of
whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles. {4:3}
The children of Israel cried to Yahweh: for he had nine hundred
chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children
of Israel. {4:4} Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she
judged Israel at that time. {4:5} She lived under the palm tree of
Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim: and
the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. {4:6} She sent and
called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to
him, "Hasn't Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, 'Go and draw to
Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of
Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? {4:7} I will draw to you, to
the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his
chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.'"
{4:8} Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, then I will go;
but if you will not go with me, I will not go."
{4:9} She said, "I will surely go with you: nevertheless, the
journey that you take shall not be for your honor; for Yahweh will
sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." Deborah arose, and went with
Barak to Kedesh.
{4:10} Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and
there went up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with
him. {4:11} Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the
Kenites, even from the children of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses,
and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by
Kedesh. {4:12} They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone
up to Mount Tabor. {4:13} Sisera gathered together all his chariots,
even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with
him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon.
{4:14} Deborah said to Barak, "Go; for this is the day in which
Yahweh has delivered Sisera into your hand. Hasn't Yahweh gone out
before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men
after him. {4:15} Yahweh confused Sisera, and all his chariots, and
all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera
alighted from his chariot, and fled away on his feet. {4:16} But Barak
pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth of the
Gentiles: and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword;
there was not a man left.
{4:17} However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the
wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king
of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. {4:18} Jael went out to
meet Sisera, and said to him, "Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; don't
be afraid." He came in to her into the tent, and she covered him with
a rug.
{4:19} He said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink; for
I am thirsty."
She opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
{4:20} He said to her, "Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall
be, when any man comes and inquires of you, and says, 'Is there any
man here?' that you shall say, 'No.'"
{4:21} Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent peg, and took a hammer in
her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples,
and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so
he swooned and died. {4:22} Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came
out to meet him, and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man
whom you seek." He came to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the
tent peg was in his temples. {4:23} So God subdued on that day Jabin
the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. {4:24} The hand of
the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king
of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
{5:1} Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day,
saying,
{5:2} "Because the leaders took the lead in Israel,
because the people offered themselves willingly,
be blessed, Yahweh!
{5:3} "Hear, you kings!
Give ear, you princes!
I, [even] I, will sing to Yahweh.
I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
{5:4} "Yahweh, when you went forth out of Seir,
when you marched out of the field of Edom,
the earth trembled, the sky also dropped.
Yes, the clouds dropped water.
{5:5} The mountains quaked at the presence of Yahweh,
even Sinai, at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
{5:6} "In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,
in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied.
The travelers walked through byways.
{5:7} The rulers ceased in Israel.
They ceased until I, Deborah, arose;
Until I arose a mother in Israel.
{5:8} They chose new gods.
Then war was in the gates.
Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
{5:9} My heart is toward the governors of Israel,
who offered themselves willingly among the people.
Bless Yahweh!
{5:10} "Tell [of it], you who ride on white donkeys,
you who sit on rich carpets,
and you who walk by the way.
{5:11} Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water,
there they will rehearse the righteous acts of Yahweh,
[Even] the righteous acts of his rule in Israel.
"Then the people of Yahweh went down to the gates.
{5:12} 'Awake, awake, Deborah!
Awake, awake, utter a song!
Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.'
{5:13} "Then a remnant of the nobles [and] the people came down.
Yahweh came down for me against the mighty.
{5:14} Those whose root is in Amalek came out of Ephraim,
after you, Benjamin, among your peoples.
Governors come down out of Machir.
Those who handle the marshal's staff came out of Zebulun.
{5:15} The princes of Issachar were with Deborah.
As was Issachar, so was Barak.
They rushed into the valley at his feet.
By the watercourses of Reuben,
there were great resolves of heart.
{5:16} Why did you sit among the sheepfolds,
To hear the whistling for the flocks?
At the watercourses of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart.
{5:17} Gilead lived beyond the Jordan.
Why did Dan remain in ships?
Asher sat still at the haven of the sea,
and lived by his creeks.
{5:18} Zebulun was a people that jeopardized their lives to the deaths;
Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.
{5:19} "The kings came and fought,
then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo.
They took no plunder of silver.
{5:20} From the sky the stars fought.
From their courses, they fought against Sisera.
{5:21} The river Kishon swept them away,
that ancient river, the river Kishon.
My soul, march on with strength.
{5:22} Then the horse hoofs stamped because of the prancings,
the prancings of their strong ones.
{5:23} 'Curse Meroz,' said the angel of Yahweh.
'Curse bitterly its inhabitants,
because they didn't come to help Yahweh,
to help Yahweh against the mighty.'
{5:24} "Jael shall be blessed above women,
the wife of Heber the Kenite;
blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
{5:25} He asked for water.
She gave him milk.
She brought him butter in a lordly dish.
{5:26} She put her hand to the tent peg,
and her right hand to the workmen's hammer.
With the hammer she struck Sisera.
She struck through his head.
Yes, she pierced and struck through his temples.
{5:27} At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay.
At her feet he bowed, he fell.
Where he bowed, there he fell down dead.
{5:28} "Through the window she looked out, and cried:
Sisera's mother looked through the lattice.
'Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why do the wheels of his chariots wait?'
{5:29} Her wise ladies answered her,
Yes, she returned answer to herself,
{5:30} 'Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil?
A lady, two ladies to every man;
to Sisera a spoil of dyed garments,
a spoil of dyed garments embroidered,
of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the
spoil?'
{5:31} "So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh,
but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises forth in its
strength."
Then the land had rest forty years.
{6:1} The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of
Yahweh: and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
{6:2} The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of
Midian the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the
mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. {6:3} So it was, when
Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and
the children of the east; they came up against them; {6:4} and they
encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until
you come to Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor
ox, nor donkey. {6:5} For they came up with their livestock and their
tents; they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their
camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it.
{6:6} Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children
of Israel cried to Yahweh.
{6:7} It happened, when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh
because of Midian, {6:8} that Yahweh sent a prophet to the children of
Israel: and he said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'I
brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of
bondage; {6:9} and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians,
and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from
before you, and gave you their land; {6:10} and I said to you, "I am
Yahweh your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose
land you dwell." But you have not listened to my voice.'"
{6:11} The angel of Yahweh came, and sat under the oak which was in
Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was
beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
{6:12} The angel of Yahweh appeared to him, and said to him, "Yahweh
is with you, you mighty man of valor!"
{6:13} Gideon said to him, "Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why
then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works
which our fathers told us of, saying, 'Didn't Yahweh bring us up from
Egypt?' But now Yahweh has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand
of Midian."
{6:14} Yahweh looked at him, and said, "Go in this your might, and
save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven't I sent you?"
{6:15} He said to him, "Oh, Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold,
my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my
father's house."
{6:16} Yahweh said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall
strike the Midianites as one man."
{6:17} He said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight,
then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me. {6:18} Please
don't go away, until I come to you, and bring out my present, and lay
it before you."
He said, "I will wait until you come back."
{6:19} Gideon went in, and prepared a young goat, and unleavened
cakes of an [1>]ephah[<1] of meal. He put the meat in a basket and he
put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and
presented it.
{6:20} The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the
unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth."
He did so. {6:21} Then the angel of Yahweh stretched out the end of
the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the
unleavened cakes; and fire went up out of the rock, and consumed the
meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of Yahweh departed out of
his sight.
{6:22} Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh; and Gideon said,
"Alas, Lord Yahweh! Because I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to
face!"
{6:23} Yahweh said to him, "Peace be to you! Don't be afraid. You
shall not die."
{6:24} Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it
"[2>]Yahweh is Peace[<2]." To this day it is still in Ophrah of the
Abiezrites.
{6:25} It happened the same night, that Yahweh said to him, "Take
your father's bull, even the second bull seven years old, and throw
down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah
that is by it; {6:26} and build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top
of this stronghold, in the orderly manner, and take the second bull,
and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you
shall cut down."
{6:27} Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as Yahweh
had spoken to him: and it happened, because he feared his father's
household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day,
that he did it by night.
{6:28} When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold,
the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that
was by it, and the second bull was offered on the altar that was
built. {6:29} They said one to another, "Who has done this thing?"
When they inquired and asked, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash
has done this thing."
{6:30} Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son,
that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and
because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it." {6:31} Joash said
to all who stood against him, "Will you contend for Baal? Or will you
save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death while
[it is yet] morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself,
because someone has broken down his altar." {6:32} Therefore on that
day he named him [3>]Jerub-Baal,[<3] saying, "Let Baal contend against
him, because he has broken down his altar."
{6:33} Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children
of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and
encamped in the valley of Jezreel. {6:34} But the Spirit of Yahweh
came on Gideon; and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered
together after him. {6:35} He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh;
and they also were gathered together after him: and he sent messengers
to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet
them.
{6:36} Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as
you have spoken, {6:37} behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the
threshing floor; if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry on
all the ground, then shall I know that you will save Israel by my
hand, as you have spoken."
{6:38} It was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed
the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full
of water.
{6:39} Gideon said to God, "Don't let your anger be kindled against
me, and I will speak but this once. Please let me make a trial just
this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, and
on all the ground let there be dew."
{6:40} God did so that night: for it was dry on the fleece only, and
there was dew on all the ground.
________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes:
[1] {6:19} 1 ephah is about 22 litres or about 2/3 of a bushel
[2] {6:24} or, Yahweh Shalom
[3] {6:32} "Jerub-Baal" means "Let Baal contend."
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