Judges 5 - 6, 1 Thessalonians 1 - 3, Psalm 147

The Song of Deborah and Barak

5^aThen Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

²“^aWhen ¹the leaders led in Israel,When ^bthe people volunteered,Bless Yahweh!³“Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers!^aAs for me, to Yahweh, I will sing;I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel.⁴“^aO Yahweh, when You went out from Seir,When You marched from the field of Edom,^bThe earth quaked, the heavens also dripped,Even the clouds dripped water.⁵“^aThe mountains ¹flowed at the presence of Yahweh,^bThis Sinai, at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.⁶“In the days of ^aShamgar the son of Anath,In the days of ^bJael, the paths had ceased,So travelers ¹went by ²roundabout paths.⁷“The peasantry ceased; they ceased in Israel,Until I, Deborah, arose,Until I arose, a mother in Israel.⁸“¹^,^aGod chose new leaders;Then war was in the gates.Not a shield or a spear was seenAmong forty thousand in Israel.⁹“My heart goes out to ^athe commanders of Israel,The volunteers among the people;Bless Yahweh!¹⁰“^aYou who ride on ¹white donkeys,You who sit on rich carpets,And you who travel on the road—muse aloud!¹¹“At the sound of those who divide flocks among ^athe watering places,There they shall ¹commemorate ^bthe righteous deeds of Yahweh,The righteous deeds for His ²peasantry in Israel.Then the people of Yahweh went down ^cto the gates.¹²“^aAwake, awake, Deborah;Awake, awake, ¹utter a song!Arise, Barak, and ^btake away your captives, O son of Abinoam.¹³“Then survivors came down to the mighty ones;The people of Yahweh came down to me as warriors.¹⁴“From Ephraim those whose root is ^ain Amalek came down,Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples;From Machir commanders came down,And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of a scribe.¹⁵“And ¹the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;As was Issachar, so was Barak;Into the valley they rushed ^aat his ²heels;Among the divisions of ReubenThere was great persistence of the heart.¹⁶“Why did you sit among ^athe ¹sheepfolds,To hear the whistling for the flocks?Among the divisions of ReubenThere were great probings of the heart.¹⁷“^aGilead dwelt across the Jordan;And why did Dan stay in ships?Asher sat at the seashore,And dwelt by its landings.¹⁸“^aZebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death,And Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.¹⁹“^aThe kings came and fought;Then fought the kings of Canaan^bAt Taanach near the waters of Megiddo;^cThey took no gain of silver.²⁰“^aThe stars fought from heaven;From their courses they fought against Sisera.²¹“The river of Kishon swept them away,The ancient river, the river Kishon.^aO my soul, march on with strength.²²“^aThen the horses’ hoofs beatFrom the dashing, the dashing of his ¹valiant steeds.²³‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of Yahweh,‘Utterly curse its inhabitants,^aBecause they did not come to the help of Yahweh,To the help of Yahweh against the warriors.’²⁴“^aMost blessed of women is Jael,The wife of Heber the Kenite;Most blessed is she of women in the tent.²⁵“He asked for water, and she gave him milk;In a mighty bowl she brought him curds.²⁶“She sent forth her hand for the tent peg,And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.Then she beat Sisera; she smashed his head,And she crushed and pierced his temple.²⁷“Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay;Between her feet he bowed, he fell;Where he bowed, there he fell violently devastated.²⁸“Out of the window she looked and lamented,The mother of Sisera through the ¹lattice,‘Why does his chariot delay in coming?Why do the ²hoofbeats of his chariots tarry?’²⁹“Her wise princesses would answer her,Indeed she repeats her words to herself,³⁰‘^aAre they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil?A maiden, two maidens for every mighty man;To Sisera a spoil of dyed work,A spoil of dyed work embroidered,Dyed work of double embroidery on the ¹neck of the spoil?’³¹“^aThus let all Your enemies perish, O Yahweh;^bBut let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.” And the land was quiet for forty years.

Midian Prevails Against Israel

6Then the sons of Israel ^adid what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; and Yahweh gave them into the hands of ^bMidian seven years. ²And the ¹power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves ^athe dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. ³And it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would go up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go up against them. ⁴So they would camp against them and ^aruin the produce of the earth ¹as far as Gaza and ^bleave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. ⁵For they would go up with their livestock and their tents; they would come in ^alike locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to make it a ruin. ⁶So Israel was brought ^avery low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh.

⁷Now it happened when the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh on account of Midian, ⁸that Yahweh sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and ^ahe said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. ⁹‘I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors and drove them out before you and gave you their land, ¹⁰and I said to you, “I am Yahweh your God; you ^ashall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not listened to My voice.”’”

Yahweh Sends Gideon to Save Israel

¹¹Then ^athe angel of Yahweh came and sat under the ¹oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the ^bAbiezrite as his son ^cGideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to ²preserve it from the Midianites. ¹²And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said to him, “Yahweh is with you, O mighty man of valor.” ¹³Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His wondrous deeds which our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But ^anow Yahweh has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴Then Yahweh turned to him and said, “^aGo in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” ¹⁵^aBut he said to Him, “O Lord, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the least in ^bManasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” ¹⁶^aBut Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike down Midian as one man.” ¹⁷So ¹Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your eyes, then do ^aa sign for me that it is You who speak with me. ¹⁸“Please do not depart from here until I come back to You, and I bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”

¹⁹So Gideon went in and ^aprepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ¹ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket ²and the broth in a pot and brought them out to him under the ³oak and presented them. ²⁰And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth.” And he did so. ²¹Then the angel of Yahweh put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and ^afire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of Yahweh went away from before his eyes. ²²^aAnd Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh, so ¹he said, “Alas, O Lord Yahweh! For now I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face.” ²³And Yahweh said to him, “Peace to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴So Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh and named it ¹Yahweh is Peace. To this day it is still ^ain Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵Now it happened on the same night that Yahweh said to him, “Take your father’s bull ¹and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the ²^,^aAsherah that is beside it, ²⁶and build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take the second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” ²⁷So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as Yahweh had spoken to him; and now it happened that because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.

Gideon Tears Down the Altar of Baal

²⁸Then the men of the city arose early in the morning, and behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. ²⁹And they said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” ³⁰Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” ³¹But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you save him? Whoever will contend for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.” ³²Therefore on that day he named him ^aJerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar.

³³Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves; and they crossed over and camped in ^athe valley of Jezreel. ³⁴But ^athe Spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon; and he ^bblew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him. ³⁵And he sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, ^aZebulun, and Naphtali, and ^bthey came up to meet them.

The Test of the Fleece

³⁶Then Gideon said to God, “^aIf You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken, ³⁷behold, 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 I will know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken.” ³⁸And it was so. Indeed he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece. And he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. ³⁹Then Gideon said to God, “^aDo not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” ⁴⁰And God did so that night. So it was dry only on the fleece, but dew was on all the ground.

Thanksgiving

1^aPaul and ^bSilvanus and ^cTimothy, To the ^dchurch of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: ^eGrace to you and peace.

²^aWe give thanks to God always for all of you, ^bmaking mention of you in our prayers; ³remembering without ceasing your ^awork of faith and labor of ^blove and ¹^,^csteadfastness of hope ²in our Lord Jesus Christ before ^dour God and Father, ⁴knowing, ^abrothers beloved by God, ^byour election, ⁵for our ^agospel did not come to you in word only, but also ^bin power and in the Holy Spirit and with ^cfull assurance; just as you know ^dwhat kind of men we ¹proved to be among you for your sake. ⁶You also became ^aimitators of us and of the Lord, ^bhaving received ^cthe word in much affliction with the ^djoy of the Holy Spirit, ⁷so that you became a model to all the believers in ^aMacedonia and in ^bAchaia. ⁸For ^athe word of the Lord has ^bsounded forth from you, not only in ^cMacedonia and ^dAchaia, but also ^ein every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. ⁹For they themselves report about us what kind of an ^aentrance we had ¹with you, and how you ^bturned to God ^cfrom ²idols to serve ³^,^da living and true God, ¹⁰and to ^await for His Son from ¹heaven, whom He ^braised from the dead, Jesus, who ^crescues us from ^dthe wrath to come.

Entrusted with the Gospel

2For you yourselves know, brothers, that our ^aentrance to you ^bwas not in vain, ²but after we had already suffered and been ^amistreated in ^bPhilippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God ^cto speak to you the ^dgospel of God amid much ^estruggle. ³For our ^aexhortation does not come from ^berror or ^cimpurity or ¹by way of ^ddeceit; ⁴^abut just as we have been approved by God to be ^bentrusted with the gospel, so we speak, ^cnot as pleasing men, but God who ¹^,^dexamines our hearts. ⁵For we never came with a flattering word, as you know, nor with ^aa pretext for greed—^bGod is witness— ⁶nor ^aseeking glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as ^bapostles of Christ we ¹could have been a burden to you. ⁷But we ¹proved to be ²^,^agentle ³among you, ^bas a nursing mother ⁴tenderly cares for her own children. ⁸In this way, having fond affection for you, we were pleased to ^aimpart to you not only the ^bgospel of God but also our own ¹lives, because you had become beloved to us.

⁹For you remember, brothers, our ^alabor and hardship, how ^bworking night and day so as not to be a ^cburden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the ^dgospel of God. ¹⁰You are witnesses, and so is ^aGod, of ^bhow devoutly and righteously and blamelessly we ¹behaved toward you ²believers; ¹¹just as you know how we were ^aexhorting and encouraging and ^bbearing witness to each one of you as ^ca father would his own children, ¹²so that you would ^awalk in a manner worthy of the God who ^bcalls you into His own kingdom and ^cglory.

¹³And for this reason we also ^athank God without ceasing that when you received the ^bword of God which you heard from us, you accepted it ^cnot as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, ^dwhich also is at work in you who believe. ¹⁴For you, brothers, became ^aimitators of ^bthe churches of God in Christ Jesus that are ^cin Judea, for ^dyou also suffered the same things at the hands of your own countrymen, ^eeven as they did from the Jews, ¹⁵^awho both killed the Lord Jesus and ^bthe prophets, and ¹drove us out, and do not please God, and are hostile to all men, ¹⁶^ahindering us from speaking to the Gentiles ^bso that they may be saved; with the result that they always ^cfill up the measure of their sins. But ^dwrath has come upon them ¹to the utmost.

¹⁷But we, brothers, having been taken away from you for a ¹short while—^ain face but not in heart—were all the more eager with great desire ^bto see your face. ¹⁸¹For ^awe wanted to come to you—I, Paul, ²^,^bmore than once—and yet ^cSatan ^dhindered us. ¹⁹For who is our hope or ^ajoy or crown of boasting? Is it not even you, before our Lord Jesus at His ¹^,^bcoming? ²⁰For you are ^aour glory and joy.

Timothy’s Good Report

3Therefore ^awhen we could endure it no longer, we were pleased to be left behind at ^bAthens alone, ²and we sent ^aTimothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, ³so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that ^awe have been destined for this. ⁴For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction, ^ajust as it happened and as you know. ⁵For this reason, ^awhen I could endure it no longer, I also ^bsent to know about your faith, lest somehow ^cthe tempter has tempted you, and ^dour labor be in vain.

⁶But now that ^aTimothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of ^byour faith and love, and that you always ^cremember us kindly, longing to see us just as we also long to see you, ⁷for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith; ⁸for now we really live, if you ^astand firm in the Lord. ⁹For ^awhat thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God because of you, ¹⁰as we ^anight and day keep praying most earnestly that we may ^bsee your face, and may ^ccomplete what is lacking in your faith?

¹¹^aNow may ^bour God and Father ^cHimself and Jesus our Lord ^ddirect our way to you, ¹²and may the Lord cause you to increase and ^aabound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you, ¹³so that He may ^astrengthen your hearts ^bblameless in holiness, before ^cour God and Father, at the ¹^,^dcoming of our Lord Jesus ^ewith all His ²saints.

He Heals the Brokenhearted

147¹Praise Yah!For ^ait is good to sing praises to our God;For ²it is pleasant and praise is ^bbecoming.²Yahweh ^abuilds up Jerusalem;He ^bgathers the ¹outcasts of Israel.³He is the One who heals the ^abrokenheartedAnd who ^bbinds up their ¹wounds,⁴Who ^acounts the number of the stars;He ¹^,^bgives names to all of them.⁵^aGreat is our Lord and abundant in power;His ^bdiscernment is ¹infinite.⁶Yahweh ¹^,^ahelps up the afflicted;He brings down the wicked to the ground.⁷^aSing to Yahweh with thanksgiving;Sing praises to our God on the lyre.⁸He is the One who ^acovers the heavens with clouds,The One who ^bprovides rain for the earth,The One who ^cmakes grass to sprout on the mountains,⁹Who ^agives to the animal its food,And to the ^byoung ravens which call out.¹⁰He does not delight in the might of the ^ahorse;He ^bdoes not take pleasure in the legs of a man.¹¹Yahweh ^ais pleased with those who fear Him,^bThose who wait for His lovingkindness.¹²Laud Yahweh, O Jerusalem!Praise your God, O Zion!¹³For He strengthened the ^abars of your gates;He ^bblessed your sons within you.¹⁴He is the One who ^asets ¹peace in your borders,He ^bsatisfies you with ^cthe ²finest of the wheat,¹⁵The One who sends forth His ^acommand to the earth;His ^bword runs very swiftly,¹⁶The One who gives ^asnow like wool;He scatters the ^bfrost like ashes,¹⁷Who casts forth His ^aice as fragments;Who can stand before His ^bcold?¹⁸He ^asends forth His word and melts them;He ^bcauses His wind to blow and so the waters flow,¹⁹Who ^adeclares His words to Jacob,His ^bstatutes and His judgments to Israel.²⁰He ^ahas not done so with any nation;So as for His judgments, they have ^bnot known them.¹Praise Yah!