Deborah's Victory and Gideon's Calling

1. The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, when Ehud was dead. 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. 3. The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years. 4. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time. 5. She lived under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 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 lead the way to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? 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.’” 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.” 9. She said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the journey that you take won’t be for your honor; for Yahweh will sell Sisera into a woman’s hand.” Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10. Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and ten thousand men followed him; and Deborah went up with him. 11. Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh. 12. They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor. 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. 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. 15. Yahweh confused Sisera, all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled away on his feet. 16. But Barak pursued the chariots and 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. 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. 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. 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 a drink, and covered him. 20. He said to her, “Stand in the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’” 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 fainted and died. 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. 23. So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel on that day. 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. 1. Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying, 2. “Because the leaders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly, be blessed, Yahweh! 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. 4. “Yahweh, when you went 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. The mountains quaked Yahweh’s presence, even Sinai at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 6. “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways. 7. The rulers ceased in Israel. They ceased until I, Deborah, arose; Until I arose a mother in Israel. 8. They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? 9. My heart is toward the governors of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless Yahweh! 10. “Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way. 11. Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, there they will rehearse Yahweh’s righteous acts, the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. “Then Yahweh’s people went down to the gates. 12. ‘Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.’ 13. “Then a remnant of the nobles and the people came down. Yahweh came down for me against the mighty. 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. 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. 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. 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. 18. Zebulun was a people that jeopardized their lives to the death; Naphtali also, on the high places of the field. 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. 20. From the sky the stars fought. From their courses, they fought against Sisera. 21. The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. My soul, march on with strength. 22. Then the horse hoofs stamped because of the prancing, the prancing of their strong ones. 23. ‘Curse Meroz,’ said Yahweh’s angel. ‘Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they didn’t come to help Yahweh, to help Yahweh against the mighty.’ 24. “Jael shall be blessed above women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed shall she be above women in the tent. 25. He asked for water. She gave him milk. She brought him butter in a lordly dish. 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. 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. 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?’ 29. Her wise ladies answered her, Yes, she returned answer to herself, 30. ‘Have they not found, have they not divided the plunder? A lady, two ladies to every man; to Sisera a plunder of dyed garments, a plunder of dyed garments embroidered, of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the plunder?’ 31. “So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had rest forty years. 1. The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight: and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2. The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. 3. So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them. 4. They encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you come to Gaza. They left no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep, ox, or donkey. 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. Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to Yahweh. 7. When the children of Israel cried to Yahweh because of Midian, 8. Yahweh sent a prophet to the children of Israel; and he said to them, “Yahweh says, the God of Israel, ‘I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage. 9. 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. 10. 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.’” 11. Yahweh’s angel came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. 12. Yahweh’s angel appeared to him, and said to him, “Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor!” 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.” 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?” 15. He said to him, “O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16. Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 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. 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.” 19. Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes of an ephah 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. 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. 21. Then Yahweh’s angel 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. Then Yahweh’s angel departed out of his sight. 22. Gideon saw that he was Yahweh’s angel; and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh! Because I have seen Yahweh’s angel face to face!” 23. Yahweh said to him, “Peace be to you! Don’t be afraid. You shall not die.” 24. Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it “Yahweh is Peace.” To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 25. That same night, 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. 26. Then build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold, in an orderly way, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” 27. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as Yahweh had spoken to him. Because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city, he could not do it by day, but he did it by night. 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. 29. They said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” When they inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” 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.” 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 by morning! If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has broken down his altar!” 32. Therefore on that day he named him Jerub-Baal, saying, “Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar.” 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. 34. But Yahweh’s Spirit came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together to follow him. 35. He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; and they also were gathered together to follow him. He sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them. 36. Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken, 37. behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken.” 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. 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.” 40. God did so that night; for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

1. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3. We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you towards one another abounds; 4. so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure. 5. This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of God’s Kingdom, for which you also suffer. 6. Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, 7. and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, 8. punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus, 9. who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10. when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 11. To this end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power; 12. that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1. Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him, we ask you 2. not to be quickly shaken in your mind, and not be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as if from us, saying that the day of Christ has already come. 3. Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, 4. he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God. 5. Don’t you remember that, when I was still with you, I told you these things? 6. Now you know what is restraining him, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. 7. For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way. 8. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming; 9. even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10. and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11. Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; 12. that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 13. But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth; 14. to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15. So then, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter. 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17. comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word. 1. Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, even as also with you; 2. and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for not all have faith. 3. But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and guard you from the evil one. 4. We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you both do and will do the things we command. 5. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love, and into the perseverance of Christ. 6. Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the tradition which they received from us. 7. For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn’t behave ourselves rebelliously among you, 8. neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you; 9. not because we don’t have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us. 10. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone will not work, don’t let him eat.” 11. For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don’t work at all, but are busybodies. 12. Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. 13. But you, brothers, don’t be weary in doing what is right. 14. If any man doesn’t obey our word in this letter, note that man, that you have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed. 15. Don’t count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. 16. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all. 17. The greeting of me, Paul, with my own hand, which is the sign in every letter: this is how I write. 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

1. Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! 2. Sing to the glory of his name! Offer glory and praise! 3. Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you. 4. All the earth will worship you, and will sing to you; they will sing to your name.” Selah. 5. Come, and see God’s deeds— awesome work on behalf of the children of men. 6. He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There, we rejoiced in him. 7. He rules by his might forever. His eyes watch the nations. Don’t let the rebellious rise up against him. Selah. 8. Praise our God, you peoples! Make the sound of his praise heard, 9. who preserves our life among the living, and doesn’t allow our feet to be moved. 10. For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined. 11. You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs. 12. You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance. 13. I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you, 14. which my lips promised, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress. 15. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals, with the offering of rams, I will offer bulls with goats. Selah. 16. Come, and hear, all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul. 17. I cried to him with my mouth. He was extolled with my tongue. 18. If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened. 19. But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer. 20. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me.