Ruth 2

Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field

1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.”

3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “TheLordbe with you!”

“TheLordbless you!” they answered.

5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi.

7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me.

9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.

12 May theLordrepay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by theLord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over.

15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her.

16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.

18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

20 “TheLordbless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”

21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’ ”

22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/3/32k/RUT/2-204d9c41986e771a77f1590aa0494a8a.mp3?version_id=111—

Ruth 3

Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor

1 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a homefor you, where you will be well provided for.

2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.

3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.

4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered.

6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.

8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!

9 “Who are you?” he asked.

# “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemerof our family.”

10 “TheLordbless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.

11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.

12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I.

13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as theLordlives I will do it. Lie here until morning.”

14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.”

15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then hewent back to town.

16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”

Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her

17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ ”

18 Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/3/32k/RUT/3-1eb060234759c639379b5f4e16d85de1.mp3?version_id=111—

Ruth 4

Boaz Marries Ruth

1 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemerhe had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.

3 Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek.

4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if youwill not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”

“I will redeem it,” he said.

5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, thedead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”

6 At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”

7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

8 So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.

9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon.

10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”

11 Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May theLordmake the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.

12 Through the offspring theLordgives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

Naomi Gains a Son

13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, theLordenabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to theLord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!

15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him.

17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

The Genealogy of David

18 This, then, is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,

19 Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

# Nahshon the father of Salmon,

21 Salmon the father of Boaz,

Boaz the father of Obed,

22 Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/3/32k/RUT/4-0c3d95b9eb435154f253778d2b7a4f00.mp3?version_id=111—

Judges 1

Israel Fights the Remaining Canaanites

1 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked theLord, “Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?”

2 TheLordanswered, “Judah shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.”

3 The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.” So the Simeonites went with them.

4 When Judah attacked, theLordgave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.

5 It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites.

6 Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

7 Then Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.

9 After that, Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills.

10 They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.

11 From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).

12 And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.”

13 Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.

14 One day when she came to Othniel, she urged himto ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”

15 She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

16 The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palmswith the people of Judah to live among the inhabitants of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.

17 Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites their fellow Israelites and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyedthe city. Therefore it was called Hormah.

18 Judah also tookGaza, Ashkelon and Ekron—each city with its territory.

19 TheLordwas with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron.

20 As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.

21 The Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

22 Now the tribes of Joseph attacked Bethel, and theLordwas with them.

23 When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz),

24 the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.”

25 So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family.

26 He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.

27 But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land.

28 When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.

29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.

30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor.

31 Nor did Asher drive out those living in Akko or Sidon or Ahlab or Akzib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob.

32 The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out.

33 Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them.

34 The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.

35 And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.

36 The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Pass to Sela and beyond.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/3/32k/JDG/1-792bf10ba6b9969570720890551a99fe.mp3?version_id=111—

Judges 2

The Angel of the Lord at Bokim

1 The angel of theLordwent up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,

2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?

3 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’ ”

4 When the angel of theLordhad spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,

5 and they called that place Bokim.There they offered sacrifices to theLord.

Disobedience and Defeat

6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance.

7 The people served theLordthroughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things theLordhad done for Israel.

8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of theLord, died at the age of a hundred and ten.

9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heresin the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither theLordnor what he had done for Israel.

11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of theLordand served the Baals.

12 They forsook theLord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused theLord’s anger

13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

14 In his anger against Israel theLordgave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.

15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of theLordwas against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

16 Then theLordraised up judges,who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.

17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to theLord’s commands.

18 Whenever theLordraised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for theLordrelented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.

19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

20 Therefore theLordwas very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me,

21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.

22 I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of theLordand walk in it as their ancestors did.”

23 TheLordhad allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/3/32k/JDG/2-50145a4499397bd45d4f68a3e702b1d6.mp3?version_id=111—

Judges 3

1 These are the nations theLordleft to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan

2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience):

3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.

4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey theLord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.

5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

Othniel

7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of theLord; they forgot theLordtheir God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

8 The anger of theLordburned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim,to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.

9 But when they cried out to theLord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.

10 The Spirit of theLordcame on him, so that he became Israel’s judgeand went to war. TheLordgave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.

11 So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

12 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of theLord, and because they did this evil theLordgave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.

13 Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.

14 The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.

15 Again the Israelites cried out to theLord, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

16 Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubitlong, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.

17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man.

18 After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it.

19 But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”

The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left.

20 Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palaceand said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his seat,

21 Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly.

22 Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.

23 Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

24 After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace.”

25 They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.

26 While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah.

27 When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.

28 “Follow me,” he ordered, “for theLordhas given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over.

29 At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped.

30 That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.

Shamgar

31 After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/3/32k/JDG/3-4630efc1f76d1a2fb2abd7b33ae1a156.mp3?version_id=111—

Judges 4

Deborah

1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of theLord, now that Ehud was dead.

2 So theLordsold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim.

3 Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to theLordfor help.

4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leadingIsrael at that time.

5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided.

6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “TheLord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor.

7 I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’ ”

8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

9 “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for theLordwill deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.

10 There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.

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

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

13 Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.

14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day theLordhas given Sisera into your hands. Has not theLordgone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him.

15 At Barak’s advance, theLordrouted Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.

16 Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left.

17 Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.

18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.

20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’ ”

21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.

22 Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.

23 On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.

24 And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/3/32k/JDG/4-982b653c2ae17331b89970fbba16e5e5.mp3?version_id=111—

Judges 5

The Song of Deborah

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

2 “When the princes in Israel take the lead,

when the people willingly offer themselves—

praise theLord!

3 “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!

# I, even I, will sing totheLord;

I will praise theLord, the God of Israel, in song.

4 “When you,Lord, went out from Seir,

when you marched from the land of Edom,

the earth shook, the heavens poured,

the clouds poured down water.

5 The mountains quaked before theLord, the One of Sinai,

before theLord, the God of Israel.

6 “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned;

travelers took to winding paths.

7 Villagers in Israel would not fight;

they held back until I, Deborah, arose,

until I arose, a mother in Israel.

8 God chose new leaders

when war came to the city gates,

but not a shield or spear was seen

among forty thousand in Israel.

9 My heart is with Israel’s princes,

with the willing volunteers among the people.

Praise theLord!

10 “You who ride on white donkeys,

sitting on your saddle blankets,

and you who walk along the road,

consider

11 the voice of the singersat the watering places.

They recite the victories of theLord,

the victories of his villagers in Israel.

“Then the people of theLord

went down to the city gates.

12 ‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah!

Wake up, wake up, break out in song!

Arise, Barak!

Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’

13 “The remnant of the nobles came down;

the people of theLordcame down to me against the mighty.

14 Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek;

Benjamin was with the people who followed you.

From Makir captains came down,

# from Zebulun those who bear a commander’sstaff.

15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;

yes, Issachar was with Barak,

sent under his command into the valley.

In the districts of Reuben

there was much searching of heart.

16 Why did you stay among the sheep pens

to hear the whistling for the flocks?

In the districts of Reuben

there was much searching of heart.

17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.

And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?

Asher remained on the coast

and stayed in his coves.

18 The people of Zebulun risked their very lives;

so did Naphtali on the terraced fields.

19 “Kings came, they fought,

the kings of Canaan fought.

At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,

they took no plunder of silver.

20 From the heavens the stars fought,

from their courses they fought against Sisera.

21 The river Kishon swept them away,

the age-old river, the river Kishon.

March on, my soul; be strong!

22 Then thundered the horses’ hooves—

galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.

23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of theLord.

‘Curse its people bitterly,

because they did not come to help theLord,

to help theLordagainst the mighty.’

24 “Most blessed of women be Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;

in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.

26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple.

27 At her feet he sank,

he fell; there he lay.

At her feet he sank, he fell;

where he sank, there he fell—dead.

28 “Through the window peered Sisera’s mother;

behind the lattice she cried out,

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’

29 The wisest of her ladies answer her;

indeed, she keeps saying to herself,

30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:

a woman or two for each man,

colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,

colorful garments embroidered,

highly embroidered garments for my neck—

all this as plunder?’

31 “So may all your enemies perish,Lord!

But may all who love you be like the sun

when it rises in its strength.”

Then the land had peace forty years.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/3/32k/JDG/5-c5f2908ccb96a3280cfd47655b93345b.mp3?version_id=111—

Judges 6

Gideon

1 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of theLord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.

2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.

3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.

4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.

5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.

6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to theLordfor help.

7 When the Israelites cried out to theLordbecause of Midian,

8 he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what theLord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

9 I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

10 I said to you, ‘I am theLordyour God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

11 The angel of theLordcame and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.

12 When the angel of theLordappeared to Gideon, he said, “TheLordis with you, mighty warrior.”

13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if theLordis with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not theLordbring us up out of Egypt?’ But now theLordhas abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14 TheLordturned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

16 TheLordanswered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.

18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”

And theLordsaid, “I will wait until you return.”

19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephahof flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so.

21 Then the angel of theLordtouched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of theLorddisappeared.

22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of theLord, he exclaimed, “Alas, SovereignLord! I have seen the angel of theLordface to face!”

23 But theLordsaid to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

24 So Gideon built an altar to theLordthere and called it TheLordIs Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 That same night theLordsaid to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah polebeside it.

26 Then build a proper kind ofaltar to theLordyour God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the secondbull as a burnt offering.”

27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as theLordtold him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

28 In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

29 They asked each other, “Who did this?”

When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”

30 The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

31 But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.”

32 So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baalthat day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”

33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

34 Then the Spirit of theLordcame on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.

35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.

36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—

37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.”

38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.

39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.”

40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/3/32k/JDG/6-6ce32a8ddc29aebd9d4207e878320f70.mp3?version_id=111—

Judges 7

Gideon Defeats the Midianites

1 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.

2 TheLordsaid to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’

3 Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

4 But theLordsaid to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There theLordtold him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.”

6 Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

7 TheLordsaid to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”

8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

9 During that night theLordsaid to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.

10 If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah

11 and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp.

12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

13 Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”

14 His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”

15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! TheLordhas given the Midianite camp into your hands.”

16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.

17 “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.

18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For theLordand for Gideon.’ ”

19 Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands.

20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for theLordand for Gideon!”

21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

22 When the three hundred trumpets sounded, theLordcaused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.

23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites.

24 Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.”

So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they seized the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah.

25 They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/3/32k/JDG/7-66cf9ec90672cc79198b79d1b4da95c3.mp3?version_id=111—