5 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang:
2aWhen b-locks go untrimmed-b in Israel,
When people dedicate themselves—
Bless the LORD!
3Hear, O kings! Give ear, O potentates!
I will sing, will sing to the LORD,
Will hymn the LORD, the God of Israel.
4O LORD, when You came forth from Seir,
Advanced from the country of Edom,
The earth trembled;
The heavens dripped,
Yea, the clouds dripped water,
5The mountains quakedc—
Before the LORD, Him of Sinai,
Before the LORD, God of Israel.
6In the days of Shamgar d-son of Anath,-d
In the days of Jael, caravanse ceased,
And wayfarers went
By roundabout paths.
7Deliverance ceased,
Ceased in Israel,
Till youf arose, O Deborah,
Arose, O mother, in Israel!
8When they chose new gods,
g-Was there a fighter then in the gates?-g
No shield or spear was seen
Among forty thousand in Israel!
9My heart is with Israel’s leaders,
With the dedicated of the people—
Bless the LORD!
10You riders on tawny she-asses,
You who sit on saddle rugs,
And you wayfarers, declare it!
11Louder than the h-sound of archers,-h
There among the watering places
Let them chant the gracious acts of the LORD,
His gracious deliverance of Israel.
Then did the people of the LORD
March down to the gates!
12Awake, awake, O Deborah!
Awake, awake, strike up the chant!
Arise, O Barak;
Take your captives, O son of Abinoam!
13Then was the remnant made victor over the mighty,
The LORD’s peoplei won my victory over the warriors.
14From Ephraim came they whose roots are in Amalek;
After you, your kin Benjamin;
From Machir came down leaders,
From Zebulun such as hold the marshal’s staff.
15And Issachar’s chiefs were with Deborah;
As Barak, so was Issachar—
Rushing after him into the valley.
Among the clans of Reuben
Were great decisions of heart.
16Why then did you stay among the sheepfolds
And listen as they pipe for the flocks?
Among the clans of Reuben
Were great searchings of heart!
17Gilead tarried beyond the Jordan;
And Dan—why did he linger j-by the ships?-j
Asher remained at the seacoast
And tarried at his landings.
18Zebulun is a people k-that mocked at death,-k
Naphtali—on the open heights.
19Then the kings came, they fought:
The kings of Canaan fought
At Taanach, by Megiddo’s waters—
They got no spoil of silver.
20The stars fought from heaven,
From their courses they fought against Sisera.
21The torrent Kishon swept theml away,
The raging torrent, the torrent Kishon.
March on, my soul, with courage!
22Then the horses’ hoofs pounded
m-As headlong galloped the steeds.-m
23“Curse Meroz!” said the angel of the LORD.
“Bitterly curse its inhabitants,
Because they came not to the aid of the LORD,
To the aid of the LORD amongn the warriors.”
24Most blessed of women be Jael,
Wife of Heber the Kenite,
Most blessed of women in tents.
25He asked for water, she offered milk;
In a princely bowl she brought him curds.
26Her [left] hand reached for the tent pin,
Her right for the workmen’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, crushed his head,
Smashed and pierced his temple.
27At her feet he sank, lay outstretched,
At her feet he sank, lay still;
Where he sank, there he lay—destroyed.
28Through the window peered Sisera’s mother,
Behind the lattice she whined:o
“Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why so late the clatter of his wheels?”
29The wisest of her ladies give answer;
She, too, replies to herself:
30“They must be dividing the spoil they have found:
A damsel or two for each man,
Spoil of dyed cloths for Sisera,
Spoil of embroidered cloths,
A couple of embroidered cloths
Round every neck as spoil.”
31So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD!
But may His friends be as the sun rising in might!
And the land was tranquil forty years.
6 Then the Israelites did what was offensive to the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Midianites for seven years. 2The hand of the Midianites prevailed over Israel; and because of Midian, the Israelites a-provided themselves with refuges in the caves and strongholds of the mountains.-a 3After the Israelites had done their sowing, Midian, Amalek, and the Kedemites would come up and raid them; 4they would attack them, destroyb the produce of the land all the way to Gaza, and leave no means of sustenance in Israel, not a sheep or an ox or an ass. 5For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, swarming as thick as locusts; they and their camels were innumerable. Thus they would invade the land and ravage it. 6Israel was reduced to utter misery by the Midianites, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD.
7When the Israelites cried to the LORD on account of Midian, 8the LORD sent a prophet to the Israelites who said to them, “Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: I brought you up out of Egypt and freed you from the house of bondage. 9I rescued you from the Egyptians and from all your oppressors; I drove them out before you, and gave you their land. 10And I said to you, ‘I the LORD am your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you did not obey Me.”
11An angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was then beating out wheat inside a winepress in order to keep it safe from the Midianites. 12The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, valiant warrior!” 13Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why has all this befallen us? Where are all His wondrous deeds about which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Truly the LORD brought us up from Egypt’? Now the LORD has abandoned us and delivered us into the hands of Midian!” 14The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours and deliver Israel from the Midianites. I herewith make you My messenger.” 15He said to Him, “Please, my lord, how can I deliver Israel? Why, my clan is the humblest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s household.” 16The LORD replied, “I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian to a man.” 17And he said to Him, “If I have gained Your favor, give me a sign that it is You who are speaking to me: 18do not leave this place until I come back to You and bring out my offering and place it before You.” And He answered, “I will stay until you return.”
19So Gideon went in and prepared a kid, and [baked] unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and poured the broth into a pot, and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth. As he presented them, 20the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, put them on yonder rock, and spill out the broth.” He did so. 21The angel of the LORD held out the staff that he carried, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread with its tip. A fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. 22Then Gideon realized that it was an angel of the LORD; and Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.”
23But the LORD said to him, “All is well; have no fear, you shall not die.” 24So Gideon built there an altar to the LORD and called it c-Adonaishalom.-c To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25That night the LORD said to him: “Take the a-young bull-a belonging to your father and another bull seven years old; pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the sacred post which is beside it. 26Then build an altar to the LORD your God, on a-the level ground-a on top of this stronghold. Take the other bull and offer it as a burnt offering, using the wood of the sacred post that you have cut down.” 27So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD had told him; but as he was afraid to do it by day, on account of his father’s household and the townspeople, he did it by night. 28Early the next morning, the townspeople found that the altar of Baal had been torn down and the sacred post beside it had been cut down, and that the second bull had been offered on the newly built altar. 29They said to one another, “Who did this thing?” Upon inquiry and investigation, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did this thing!” 30The townspeople said to Joash, “Bring out your son, for he must die: he has torn down the altar of Baal and cut down the sacred post beside it!” 31But Joash said to all who had risen against him, “Do you have to contend for Baal? Do you have to vindicate him? Whoever fights his battles shall be dead by morning! If he is a god, let him fight his own battles, since it is his altar that has been torn down!” 32That day they named himd Jerubbaal, meaning “Let Baal contend with him, since he tore down his altar.”
33All Midian, Amalek, and the Kedemites joined forces; they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34The spirit of the LORD enveloped Gideon; he sounded the horn, and the Abiezrites rallied behind him. 35And he sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they too rallied behind him. He then sent messengers through Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet the Manassites.e
36And Gideon said to God, “If You really intend to deliver Israel through me as You have said—37here I place a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If dew falls only on the fleece and all the ground remains dry, I shall know that You will deliver Israel through
