Judges 4; Judges 5; Judges 6

1 After Ehud died, the Israelites again did what the Lord said was wrong.

2 So he let Jabin, a king of Canaan who ruled in the city of Hazor, defeat Israel. Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim, was the commander of Jabin's army.

3 Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and was very cruel to the people of Israel for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.

4 A prophetess named Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was judge of Israel at that time.

5 Deborah would sit under the Palm Tree of Deborah, which was between the cities of Ramah and Bethel, in the mountains of Ephraim. And the people of Israel would come to her to settle their arguments.

6 Deborah sent a message to Barak son of Abinoam. Barak lived in the city of Kedesh, which is in the area of Naphtali. Deborah said to Barak, "The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: 'Go and gather ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them to Mount Tabor.

7 I will make Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, and his chariots, and his army meet you at the Kishon River. I will hand Sisera over to you.'"

8 Then Barak said to Deborah, "I will go if you will go with me, but if you won't go with me, I won't go."

9 "Of course I will go with you," Deborah answered, "but you will not get credit for the victory. The Lord will let a woman defeat Sisera." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.

10 At Kedesh, Barak called the people of Zebulun and Naphtali together. From them, he gathered ten thousand men to follow him, and Deborah went with him also.

11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law. Heber had put up his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim, near Kedesh.

12 When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone to Mount Tabor,

13 Sisera gathered his nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.

14 Then Deborah said to Barak, "Get up! Today is the day the Lord will hand over Sisera. The Lord has already cleared the way for you." So Barak led ten thousand men down Mount Tabor.

15 As Barak approached, the Lord confused Sisera and his army and chariots. The Lord defeated them with the sword, but Sisera left his chariot and ran away on foot.

16 Barak and his men chased Sisera's chariots and army to Harosheth Haggoyim. With their swords they killed all of Sisera's men; not one of them was left alive.

17 But Sisera himself ran away to the tent where Jael lived. She was the wife of Heber, one of the Kenite family groups. Heber's family was at peace with Jabin king of Hazor.

18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Come into my tent, master! Come in. Don't be afraid." So Sisera went into Jael's tent, and she covered him with a rug.

19 Sisera said to Jael, "I am thirsty. Please give me some water to drink." So she opened a leather bag of milk and gave him a drink. Then she covered him up.

20 He said to her, "Go stand at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes and asks you, 'Is anyone here?' say, 'No.'"

21 But Jael, the wife of Heber, took a tent peg and a hammer and quietly went to Sisera. Since he was very tired, he was in a deep sleep. She hammered the tent peg through the side of Sisera's head and into the ground. And so Sisera died.

22 At that very moment Barak came by Jael's tent, chasing Sisera. Jael went out to meet him and said, "Come. I will show you the man you are looking for." So Barak entered her tent, and there Sisera lay dead, with the tent peg in his head.

23 On that day God defeated Jabin king of Canaan in the sight of Israel.

24 Israel became stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan until finally they destroyed him.

1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

2 "The leaders led Israel. The people volunteered to go to battle.

3 Listen, kings. Pay attention, rulers! I myself will sing to the Lord. I will make music to the Lord, the God of Israel.

4 "Lord, when you came from Edom, when you marched from the land of Edom, the earth shook, the skies rained, and the clouds dropped water.

5 The mountains shook before the Lord, the God of Mount Sinai, before the Lord, the God of Israel!

6 "In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the main roads were empty. Travelers went on the back roads.

7 There were no warriors in Israel until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose to be a mother to Israel.

8 At that time they chose to follow new gods. Because of this, enemies fought us at our city gates. No one could find a shield or a spear among the forty thousand people of Israel.

9 My heart is with the commanders of Israel. They volunteered freely from among the people.

10 "You who ride on white donkeys and sit on saddle blankets, and you who walk along the road, listen!

11 Listen to the sound of the singers at the watering holes. There they tell about the victories of the Lord, the victories of the Lord's warriors in Israel. Then the Lord's people went down to the city gates.

12 "Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, sing a song! Get up, Barak! Go capture your enemies, son of Abinoam!

13 "Then those who were left came down to the important leaders. The Lord's people came down to me with strong men.

14 They came from Ephraim in the mountains of Amalek. Benjamin was among the people who followed you. From the family group of Makir, the commanders came down. And from Zebulun came those who lead.

15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah. and followed him into the valley. about what they would do.

16 Why did you stay by the sheepfold? Was it to hear the music played for your sheep? about what they would do.

17 The people of Gilead stayed east of the Jordan River. People of Dan, why did you stay by the ships? The people of Asher stayed at the seashore, at their safe harbors.

18 But the people of Zebulun risked their lives, as did the people of Naphtali on the battlefield.

19 "The kings came, and they fought. at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo. But they took away no silver or possessions of Israel.

20 The stars fought from heaven; from their paths, they fought Sisera.

21 The Kishon River swept Sisera's men away, that old river, the Kishon River. March on, my soul, with strength!

22 Then the horses' hoofs beat the ground. Galloping, galloping go Sisera's mighty horses.

23 'May the town of Meroz be cursed,' said the angel of the Lord. 'Bitterly curse its people, because they did not come to help the Lord. They did not fight the strong enemy.'

24 "May Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, be blessed above all women who live in tents.

25 Sisera asked for water, but Jael gave him milk. In a bowl fit for a ruler, she brought him cream.

26 Jael reached out and took the tent peg. Her right hand reached for the workman's hammer. She crushed and pierced the side of his head!

27 At Jael's feet he sank. He fell, and he lay there. At her feet he sank. He fell. Where Sisera sank, there he fell, dead!

28 "Sisera's mother looked out through the window. She looked through the curtains and cried out, 'Why is Sisera's chariot so late in coming? Why are sounds of his chariots' horses delayed?'

29 The wisest of her servant ladies answer her, and Sisera's mother says to herself,

30 'Surely they are robbing the people they defeated! Surely they are dividing those things among themselves! Each soldier is given a girl or two. Maybe Sisera is taking pieces of dyed cloth. Maybe they are even taking pieces of dyed, embroidered cloth for the necks of the victors!'

31 "Let all your enemies die this way, Lord! But let all the people who love you be as strong as the rising sun!" Then there was peace in the land for forty years.

1 Again the Israelites did what the Lord said was wrong. So for seven years the Lord handed them over to Midian.

2 Because the Midianites were very powerful and were cruel to Israel, the Israelites made hiding places in the mountains, in caves, and in safe places.

3 Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other peoples from the east would come and attack them.

4 They camped in the land and destroyed the crops that the Israelites had planted as far away as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, and no sheep, cattle, or donkeys.

5 The Midianites came with their tents and their animals like swarms of locusts to ruin the land. There were so many people and camels they could not be counted.

6 Israel became very poor because of the Midianites, so they cried out to the Lord.

7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord against the Midianites,

8 the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you out of Egypt, the land of slavery.

9 I saved you from the Egyptians and from all those who were against you. I forced the Canaanites out of their land and gave it to you.

10 Then I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God. Live in the land of the Amorites, but do not worship their gods.' But you did not obey me."

11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak tree at Ophrah that belonged to Joash, one of the Abiezrite people. Gideon, Joash's son, was separating some wheat from the chaff in a winepress to keep the wheat from the Midianites.

12 The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!"

13 Then Gideon said, "Sir, if the Lord is with us, why are we having so much trouble? Where are the miracles our ancestors told us he did when the Lord brought them out of Egypt? But now he has left us and has handed us over to the Midianites."

14 The Lord turned to Gideon and said, "Go with your strength and save Israel from the Midianites. I am the one who is sending you."

15 But Gideon answered, "Lord, how can I save Israel? My family group is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family."

16 The Lord answered him, "I will be with you. It will seem as if the Midianites you are fighting are only one man."

17 Then Gideon said to the Lord, "If you are pleased with me, give me proof that it is really you talking with me.

18 Please wait here until I come back to you. Let me bring my offering and set it in front of you." And the Lord said, "I will wait until you return."

19 So Gideon went in and cooked a young goat, and with twenty quarts of flour, made bread without yeast. Then he put the meat into a basket and the broth into a pot. He brought them out and gave them to the angel under the oak tree.

20 The angel of God said to Gideon, "Put the meat and the bread without yeast on that rock over there. Then pour the broth on them." And Gideon did as he was told.

21 The angel of the Lord touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick that was in his hand. Then fire jumped up from the rock and completely burned up the meat and the bread! And the angel of the Lord disappeared!

22 Then Gideon understood he had been talking to the angel of the Lord. So Gideon cried out, "Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!"

23 But the Lord said to Gideon, "Calm down! Don't be afraid! You will not die!"

24 So Gideon built an altar there to worship the Lord and named it The Lord Is Peace. It still stands at Ophrah, where the Abiezrites live.

25 That same night the Lord said to Gideon, "Take the bull that belongs to your father and a second bull seven years old. Pull down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah idol beside it.

26 Then build an altar to the Lord your God with its stones in the right order on this high ground. Kill and burn a second bull on this altar, using the wood from the Asherah idol."

27 So Gideon got ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him to do. But Gideon was afraid that his family and the men of the city might see him, so he did it at night, not in the daytime.

28 When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw that the altar for Baal had been destroyed and that the Asherah idol beside it had been cut down! They also saw the altar Gideon had built and the second bull that had been sacrificed on it.

29 The men of the city asked each other, "Who did this?" After they asked many questions, someone told them, "Gideon son of Joash did this."

30 So they said to Joash, "Bring your son out. He has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah idol beside it. He must die!"

31 But Joash said to the angry crowd around him, "Are you going to take Baal's side? Are you going to defend him? Anyone who takes Baal's side will be killed by morning! If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself. It's his altar that has been pulled down."

32 So on that day Gideon got the name Jerub-Baal, which means "let Baal fight against him," because Gideon pulled down Baal's altar.

33 All the Midianites, the Amalekites, and other peoples from the east joined together and came across the Jordan River and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

34 But the Spirit of the Lord entered Gideon, and he blew a trumpet to call the Abiezrites to follow him.

35 He sent messengers to all of Manasseh, calling them to follow him. He also sent messengers to the people of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. So they also went up to meet Gideon and his men.

36 Then Gideon said to God, "You said you would help me save Israel.

37 I will put some wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the wool but all of the ground is dry, then I will know that you will use me to save Israel, as you said."

38 And that is just what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning and squeezed the wool, he got a full bowl of water from it.

39 Then Gideon said to God, "Don't be angry with me if I ask just one more thing. Please let me make one more test. Let only the wool be dry while the ground around it gets wet with dew."

40 That night God did that very thing. Just the wool was dry, but the ground around it was wet with dew.