Judges 5 - 6 — Legacy Standard Bible

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.