Deborah and Barak

1 ^xAnd the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. 2 And the Lord ^ysold them into the hand of ^zJabin king of Canaan, who reigned in ^zHazor. The commander of his army was ^aSisera, who lived in ^bHarosheth-hagoyim. 3 Then the people of Israel ^ccried out to the Lord for help, for he had ^d900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.

4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in ^ethe hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 She sent and summoned ^fBarak the son of Abinoam from ^gKedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount ^hTabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. 7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by ⁱthe river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, ^jand I will give him into your hand’?” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will ^ksell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called out ^lZebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber ^mthe Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of ⁿHobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in ^oZaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

12 When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera called out all his chariots, ^p900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. 14 And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which ^qthe Lord has given Sisera into your hand. ^rDoes not the Lord go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. 15 ^sAnd the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.

17 But Sisera fled away on foot 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 And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened ^ta skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” 21 But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. 22 And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

23 ^uSo on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. 24 And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

The Song of Deborah and Barak

1 ^vThen sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:

^jAnd the land had rest for forty years.

Midian Oppresses Israel

1 ^kThe people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of ^lMidian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and ^mthe caves and the strongholds. 3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and ⁿthe Amalekites and ^othe people of the East would come up against them. 4 They would encamp against them ^pand devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come ^qlike locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel ^rcried out for help to the Lord.

7 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^sI led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and ^tdrove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; ^uyou shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”

The Call of Gideon

11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash ^vthe Abiezrite, while his son ^wGideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And ^xthe angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ^y“The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are ^zall his wonderful deeds ^athat our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the Lord⁶ turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; ^bdo not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, ^c“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, ^dmy clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, ^e“But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, ^f“If now I have found favor in your eyes, then ^gshow me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please ^hdo not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”

19 So Gideon went into his house ⁱand prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah⁷ of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them ^jon this rock, and ^kpour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. ^lAnd fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, ^m“Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, ⁿ“Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, ^oThe Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at ^pOphrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down ^qthe Asherah that is beside it 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the ^rstronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.

Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal

28 When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. 29 And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” 30 Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” 31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” 32 Therefore on that day Gideon⁸ was called ^sJerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.

33 Now ^tall the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in ^uthe Valley of Jezreel. 34 But ^vthe Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, ^wand he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. 35 ^xAnd he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. ^xAnd he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.

The Sign of the Fleece

36 ^yThen Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, ^z“Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

The Widow’s Offering

1 ^yJesus¹ looked up and saw the rich ^zputting their gifts into ^athe offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two ^bsmall copper coins.² 3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, ^cthis poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her ^dpoverty put in all ^eshe had to live on.”

Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple

5 ^fAnd while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, ^gthe days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 7 And they asked him, “Teacher, ^hwhen will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” 8 And he said, ⁱ“See that you are not led astray. For ^jmany will come in my name, saying, ^k‘I am he!’ and, ^l‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. 9 And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be ^mterrified, for these things ⁿmust first take place, but the end will not be at once.”

Jesus Foretells Wars and Persecution

10 Then he said to them, ^o“Nation will rise against nation, and ^pkingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great ^qearthquakes, and in various places ^rfamines and pestilences. And there will be ^sterrors and great ^tsigns from heaven. 12 But before all this ^uthey will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to ^vthe synagogues and ^wprisons, and you ^xwill be brought before ^ykings and ^zgovernors for my name’s sake. 13 ^aThis will be your opportunity to bear witness. 14 Settle it therefore in your minds ^bnot to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15 for ^cI will give you a mouth and ^dwisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or ^econtradict. 16 You will be delivered up ^feven by parents and brothers³ and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 ^gYou will be hated by all for my name’s sake. 18 But ^hnot a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your ⁱendurance you will gain your lives.

Jesus Foretells Destruction of Jerusalem

20 “But ^jwhen you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that ^kits desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, 22 for these are ^ldays of ^mvengeance, to fulfill ⁿall that is written. 23 ^oAlas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and ^pwrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and ^qbe led captive among all nations, and ^rJerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, ^suntil the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Coming of the Son of Man

25 “And ^tthere will be signs in sun and moon ^uand stars, and on the earth ^vdistress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For ^wthe powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see ^xthe Son of Man coming in a cloud ^ywith power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and ^zraise your heads, because ^ayour redemption is drawing near.”

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

29 And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30 As soon as they come out in leaf, you see ^bfor yourselves and know that the summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 ^cTruly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. 33 ^dHeaven and earth will pass away, but ^emy words will not pass away.