Judges 6-9

New Catholic Bible

Chapter 6^[a]

Gideon’s Call.^{[b] 1} The Israelites once again did what is evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of Midian for seven years. ² The hand of Midian weighed heavy upon Israel, and because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared refuges for themselves in mountain caverns, caves, and strongholds. ³ Whenever the Israelites sowed their crops, the Midianites, the Amalekites and other peoples from the East would attack them. ⁴ They camped against them and devastated the produce of the land all the way up to Gaza. They did not leave a living thing in Israel, not a sheep, nor an ox, nor a donkey. ⁵ They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. They and their camels were impossible to count; they invaded the land and laid it waste.

⁶ The Midianites oppressed Israel so terribly that the Israelites cried out to the Lord. ⁷ When the Israelites cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, ⁸ the Lord sent the Israelites a prophet^[c] who said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought you up from the land of Egypt, bringing you forth from the land of your slavery. ⁹ I delivered you out of the hands of the Egyptians, out of the hands of everyone who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰ I said to you, “I am the Lord, your God. Do not show reverence to the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.” But you did not listen to my voice.’ ”

¹¹ The angel came and sat under the oak in Ophrah^[d] that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. It was there that Gideon, his son, was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide his activities from the Midianites. ¹² When the angel of the Lord appeared, he said, “The Lord is with you, O mighty warrior.” ¹³ Gideon said to him, “O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us into the hands of the Midianites.” ¹⁴ The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in your might and rescue Israel out of the hands of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” ¹⁵ But he said to him, “O Lord, how can I save Israel. My clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s household.” ¹⁶ The Lord said to him, “I will be with you,^[e] and you will strike down the Midianites as if they were only one man.” ¹⁷ He answered him, “If I truly have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you speaking to me. ¹⁸ Please do not leave here until I return to you, bringing my offering that I will set before you.” He said, “I will wait here until you come back.”

¹⁹ Gideon went off and prepared a kid goat and unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to lay them down under the oak, presenting them to him. ²⁰ The angel of God said, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, then pour out the broth.” He did these things. ²¹ The angel of the Lord stretched forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, touching the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire rose up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.

²² When Gideon realized that it had been the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God, for now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” ²³ But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid; you will not die.” ²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it, “The Lord is peace.” It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites up to the present.

^25 [f]Now that same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s spare ox, the ox that is seven years old. Break down the altar to Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it. ²⁶ Build a proper altar to the Lord, your God, on top of this rock. Offer up the spare ox as a burnt offering, using the wood from the Asherah you cut down.”

²⁷ So Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him to do. Because he was afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city, he could not do it during the day; he did it at night.

²⁸ Early in the morning the men from the city arose and saw the altar of Baal demolished and the Asherah alongside of it cut down. The spare ox had also been offered on the newly built altar. ²⁹ They asked one another, “Who has done this?” When they carefully investigated it, they were told, “Gideon, the son of Joash, did this.” ³⁰ The men from the city told Joash, “Bring your son out. He must die, because he demolished the altar to Baal and he cut down the Asherah that was alongside of it.” ³¹ But Joash said to all those who were confronting him, “Are you going to defend Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever defends his cause will be put to death by tomorrow morning. If he is really a god, then he can fight for himself when someone breaks down his altar.” ³² From that day on they called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal fight with him,” because he cast down his altar.

³³ All of the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the peoples from the east gathered together. They crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

³⁴ The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew his trumpet, summoning those who were in Abiezer to follow him.^{[g] 35} He sent messengers all throughout Manasseh, summoning them to follow him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, so that they too gathered around him.

³⁶ Gideon said to God, “If you intend to save Israel by my hands, as you have told me, ³⁷ then I will put a wool fleece on the floor. If there is dew on the fleece itself, but the ground around it is dry, then I will know that you are going to save Israel by my hands, as you said.” ³⁸ Gideon got up early the next morning. He squeezed the fleece, and dew flowed out of the fleece, producing a bowl full of water.

³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me if I make this request. Let me test the fleece one more time. This time let the fleece remain dry and the ground all around it be covered with dew.” ⁴⁰ This is what God did that night. Only the fleece was dry, for there was dew on the ground that surrounded it.

Chapter 7

Midian’s Defeat. ¹ Early in the morning Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all of the people who were with him camped at the well of Harod. The Midianite army was to the north of them, in the valley by the hill of Moreh.

² The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many people with you for me to deliver over the Midianites into your hands. Otherwise, Israel might vaunt themselves against me saying, ‘We have saved ourselves by our own efforts.’ ³ Announce to the people, ‘Whoever is afraid and panicking, let him go back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” Twenty-two thousand of the men left, and there were ten thousand left.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you. Of whomever I say to you, ‘This one will go with you,’ that is the one who will go with you. Of whomever I say to you, ‘This one will not go with you,’ that one will not go with you.” ⁵ He brought the men down to the water. The Lord said to Gideon, “You will set apart everyone who laps up water like a dog from anyone who kneels down to drink.” ⁶ There were three hundred men who lapped up water by holding their hands to their face. The rest of the men knelt down to drink their water. ⁷ The Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you through the three hundred men who lapped up their water. I will deliver the Midianites into your hands. Let everyone else go back home.”^{[h] 8} So they took the other people’s provisions, and they placed their trumpets in their hands. Gideon sent all the other Israelite men back to their homes, but he kept three hundred men with him.

The army of Midian was camped in the valley below them. ⁹ That same night the Lord said to him, “Rise up, go down against the army, for I have delivered them into your hands. ¹⁰ Draw near them until you can hear what they are saying, ¹¹ and then your hands will be strengthened so that you can descend upon the camp.” So he and his servant Purah went down to the outskirts of the camp. ¹² The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all of the other easterners were lying in the valley, as thick as locusts. There were so many camels that they could not be counted; there were as many of them as there is sand on the seashore.

¹³ Gideon arrived just as a man was telling his friend about a dream. He said, “I dreamed that a barley cake^[i] came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard that it overturned and collapsed.” ¹⁴ His friend said, “This can only be the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, the Israelite. God has delivered Midian and its entire army into his hands.”

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the content of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. He returned to the army of Israel and said, “Rise up, for the Lord has delivered the army of Midian into your hands.”

¹⁶ He divided the three hundred men into three groups, and he placed trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them into each man’s hands. ¹⁷ He said to them, “Watch me. Do whatever I do. When we reach the edge of the camp, do whatever I do. ¹⁸ When I and all those who are with me blow our trumpets, then blow your trumpets all around the camp and shout out, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’ ”

¹⁹ Gideon and the three hundred men who were 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 groups blew their trumpets and broke their jars, holding the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands. They blew their trumpets and cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.”

²¹ While each man stood in his place around the camp, the army ran away crying. ²² When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused each man to attack his fellow soldiers with his sword. The army fled to Beth-shittah, toward Zeredah, coming to the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.^[j]

²³ The men of Israel from out of Naphtali, from out of Asher, and from out of Manasseh gathered together and pursued the Midianites. ²⁴ Gideon sent messengers all throughout the hill country of Ephraim who said, “Come down against the Midianites, and capture the fords of the Jordan at Beth-barah before they reach them.” So all the men from Ephraim gathered together and captured the fords of the Jordan at Beth-barah. ²⁵ They also captured Oreb and Zeeb, two of the princes of the Midianites. They killed Oreb upon the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon who was alongside of the Jordan.

Chapter 8

Gideon’s Second Campaign. ¹ The Ephraimites said to him, “Why have you treated us this way? Why did you not summon us when you went out to fight against the Midianites?” And they rebuked him severely. ² He answered them, “What have I ever done that could be compared to what you have done? Are not the gleanings of the grapes in Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? ³ God delivered Oreb and Zeeb, the princes of Midian, into your hands. What was I able to do compared with what you did?” Their anger against him calmed down when he said that.

⁴ Gideon and the three hundred men with him came to and crossed over the Jordan, exhausted, but still in pursuit. ⁵ He said to the men of Succoth, “Give some bread to the men who are with me, for they are weary, and I am chasing after Zebah and Zal-munna, the kings of Midian.” ⁶ The princes of Succoth asked, “Do you already have the hands^[k] of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your soldiers?” ⁷ Gideon answered, “For this, when the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will tear at your flesh with desert thorns and briars.”

⁸ He went up to Penuel and said the same thing to them. The men of Penuel answered him the same way that the men of Succoth had, ⁹ so he said to the men of Penuel, “When I come back again in peace, I will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and they had their armies with them, fifteen thousand men. These were all that were left from the armies of the easterners, for some one hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. ¹¹ Gideon went up by the nomad route to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah and he fell upon the unsuspecting army. ¹² Zebah and Zalmunna fled away, and he chased after the two kings of Midian and captured them. Zebah, Zalmunna and their entire army were routed.

¹³ Gideon, the son of Joash, then returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres. ¹⁴ He captured a young man from Succoth and questioned him. He wrote down the names of the seventy-seven princes and elders of Succoth for him. ¹⁵ He came to the men of Succoth and said, “Look at Zebah and Zalmunna, the ones about whom you taunted me when you said, ‘Are Zebah and Zalmunna in your hands now that we should give bread to your weary men?’ ” ¹⁶ He picked out the elders of the city, and he taught the men of Succoth a lesson with desert thorns and briars. ¹⁷ He also smashed down the tower of Penuel and he killed the men of the city.

¹⁸ Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?” They replied, “Each one of them looked like you, like the son of a king.” ¹⁹ He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. I swear to God, if you had spared them, I would not kill you.”

²⁰ Then he said to Jether,^[l] his firstborn, “Stand up, kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword because he was afraid; he was still quite young. ²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up yourself and fall upon us! It takes the courage of a man.” So Gideon stood up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the ornaments off the necks of their camels.

²² The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you, and your son, and your grandson, for you have delivered us out of the hands of Midian.” ²³ But Gideon said to them, “Neither I nor my son will rule over you. The Lord will rule over you!”

²⁴ Gideon continued, “I do have one request to make of you. Let each man give me an earring from his share of the plunder.” (They had gold earrings, for they were Ishmaelites.)^{[m] 25} They answered, “We would be glad to give them to you.” They spread out a garment, and each man threw his earrings from the plunder onto it. ²⁶ The weight of the golden earnings he had asked for was one thousand, seven hundred golden shekels, not counting the ornaments, the necklaces, the purple garments that had been worn by the kings of Midian, and the chains that had been on the necks of their camels.

²⁷ Gideon had the gold made into an ephod^[n] which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. All of Israel prostituted itself by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household. ²⁸ This is how Midian was subjected to the Israelites, so that they did not lift up their heads again. During Gideon’s lifetime there was peace in the land, for forty years.

²⁹ Abimelech, Son of Gideon. Jerubbaal went to his home and lived there. ³⁰ Gideon had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. ³¹ His concubine^[o] who lived in Shechem also had a son who was called Abimelech. ³² Gideon, the son of Joash, lived to a good old age, and he was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³ As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites turned again and prostituted themselves after the Baals. They set up Baal-berith^[p] as their god ³⁴ and the Israelites forgot that the Lord, their God, had delivered them out of the hands of their enemies who surrounded them. ³⁵ They also failed to respect the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all of the good things that he had done for Israel.

Chapter 9

^1 [q]Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, traveled to Shechem to see his mother’s brothers, and he said to them and to all of his mother’s clan,^{[r] 2} “Ask in the hearing of the men of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that you have the seventy sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that you have one rule over you?’ Remember that I am your flesh and blood.” ³ When his mother’s brothers proclaimed this in the hearing of the men of Shechem, they were inclined to agree with Abimelech about this matter, for they said, “He is our brother.” ⁴ They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, and Abimelech used it to hire some worthless and reckless fellows who followed him. ⁵ Then he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and he killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, upon one stone. There was no one left except for Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal, the youngest, for he had hid himself. ⁶ All of the men in Shechem and Beth-millo assembled together and they went and made Abimelech king by the oak of the pillar that is in Shechem.

⁷ When Jotham was told about it, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and shouted out, “Listen to me, O men of Shechem, so that God might listen to you. ⁸ Once the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Why should I give up my oil, with which God and men are honored, to go and hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁰ Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Why should I give up my sweetness and my good fruit to go and hold sway over the trees?’ ¹² Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹³ But the vine said to them, ‘Why should I give up my wine which cheers both God and man^[s] to go and hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Then all of the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹⁵ The bramble said to the trees, ‘If you truly intend to anoint me as your king, then come, and take refuge in my shade. If not, then let fire come out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now if you have truly and in all sincerity made Abimelech king, if you have treated Abimelech and his household well, dealing with him as he deserved, ¹⁷ for my father fought for you, he risked his life and delivered you out of the hands of Midian, ¹⁸ but you have risen up against my father’s household, killing his sons, seventy men on one stone, and you have made Abimelech, the son of his handmaid, as king of the men of Shechem because he is your relative, ¹⁹ if you have truly and in all sincerity dealt with Jerubbaal and his household today, then rejoice in Abimelech and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰ But if not, then let fire come out of Abimelech and consume the men of Shechem and Beth-millo, and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.”

²¹ Jotham ran away and fled, going to Beer where he remained, for he was afraid of Abimelech his brother. ²² Now Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years. ²³ Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech. ²⁴ This happened because of the violence that was done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, so that their blood might be upon Abimelech, their brother, and upon the men of Shechem, who had assisted in killing his brothers.

²⁵ The men of Shechem sat in ambush against him upon the mountain tops. They robbed all of those who passed by on the road, and Abimelech was told about it. ²⁶ Now Gaal, the son of Ebed, arrived in Shechem, and the men of Shechem trusted him. ²⁷ They went out into the fields and gathered the grapes, treading them. They threw a celebration and went in to the temple of their god, eating and drinking and cursing Abimelech. ²⁸ Then Gaal, the son of Ebed, asked, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his assistant? Serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve him? ²⁹ I wish that the people were under my authority, for then I would get rid of Abimelech. I would say to Abimelech, ‘Gather your army and come out!’ ”

³⁰ Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard what Gaal, the son of Ebed, had said and he grew angry at him. ³¹ He secretly sent messengers to Abimelech saying, “Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brethren have come to Shechem, and they are stirring up the city against you. ³² You and your men should come up by night and lie in wait in the fields. ³³ In the morning, at sunrise, advance on the city. He and his men will come out against you, and you can do whatever you see fit to them.”

³⁴ So Abimelech and all the men who were with him arose, and they laid in wait near Shechem during the night. They were divided into four companies. ³⁵ Now Gaal, the son of Ebed, had gone out and he was standing at the entrance to the city just as Abimelech and his men were coming out from their hiding places. ³⁶ When Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountain tops.” Zebul said to him, “You are just seeing the shadows on the mountain, they just look like men.” ³⁷ But Gaal said, “Look, people are coming down from Tabbur-haarez. Another company is coming by way of the Diviner’s Terebinth.” ³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the men whom you despised? So go out, now, and fight them!”

³⁹ Gaal went out with the men of Shechem and they fought against Abimelech. ⁴⁰ Abimelech chased after him, and he fled away from him. A large number fell wounded at the entrance to the city. ⁴¹ Abimelech dwelt in Arumah, and Zebul expelled Gaal and his brethren so that they could no longer live in Shechem. ⁴² The next day the people went out into the field, and they told Abimelech. ⁴³ He took his men, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the fields for them. He kept watch, and when they came out of the city, he rose up and attacked them. ⁴⁴ Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood in the entranceway to the gate of the city; the other two companies rushed upon the people who were in the fields and killed them. ⁴⁵ Abimelech fought against the city all day long, and he captured the city and killed the people who were there. He demolished the city and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ When the men in the tower of Shechem^[t] heard about this, they entered the stronghold in the temple of El-berith. ⁴⁷ Abimelech was told that all the men from the tower of Shechem were gathered together, ⁴⁸ so Abimelech and all the people who were with him climbed up Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took an ax in his hand and cut down a branch from a tree, and he carried it on his shoulder. He said to the people who were with him, “Hurry up and do what I just did.” ⁴⁹ So each of the men cut a branch like he had and they followed Abimelech. They laid them next to the stronghold, and they set fire to them so that all of the men in the tower of Shechem died, a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Abimelech went off to Thebez. He camped before Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹ There was a strong tower in the city, so all the men and women from the city fled there and shut themselves in, climbing up to the top of the tower. ⁵² So Abimelech came up to the tower and fought against it. He approached the door of the tower to set it on fire.

^53 [u]A certain woman cast the upper part of a millstone down upon Abimelech’s head, and it cracked his skull. ⁵⁴ He called out quickly to his young man, his armor-bearer, and he said, “Draw out your sword and kill me, so that they cannot say, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” His young man thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they left, each man going home.

⁵⁶ God repaid Abimelech for the wicked thing that he had done against his father by killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ The Lord repaid all of the evil that the men of Shechem had done upon their own heads, for the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal, came down upon them.