Judges 3

²¹I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.

²²In this way I will test whether Israel will keep the way of the Lord by walking in it as their fathers did.”

³A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the Lord is the tester of hearts.

²²The Lord your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you.

¹²Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you.

¹⁶He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble you and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.

¹⁰Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

³Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

⁵“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

⁷And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.

⁸Nevertheless, they will become his servants, so that they may learn the difference between serving Me and serving the kings of other lands.”

¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses.

³from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—that of the five Philistine rulers of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as that of the Avvites;

⁵the land of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath.

¹⁸The number of gold rats also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers—the fortified cities and their outlying villages. And the large rock on which they placed the ark of the Lord stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

⁵Now the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.

¹²Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites oppressed you and you cried out to Me, did I not save you from their hands?

¹⁵And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

¹⁶the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

²²In this way I will test whether Israel will keep the way of the Lord by walking in it as their fathers did.”

¹These are the nations that the Lord left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan,

²⁵And Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened. There the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them,

²Remember that these forty years the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.

⁸Concerning Levi he said: “Give Your Thummim to Levi and Your Urim to Your godly one, whom You tested at Massah and contested at the waters of Meribah.

¹⁹And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.

³⁴They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them,

³⁵but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.

⁸I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

¹⁵And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

¹⁶the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

¹⁷And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹Now when news of this reached all the kings west of the Jordan—those in the hill country, the foothills, and all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon (the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites)—

⁸You found his heart faithful before You, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites and Hittites, of the Amorites and Perizzites, of the Jebusites and Girgashites—to give it to his descendants. You have kept Your promise, because You are righteous.

¹⁶And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.

³Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

⁴because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.

¹King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.

²These women were from the nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love.

¹¹that You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have filled it from end to end.

¹²Now, therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, leaving it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’

²³In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

²⁴Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah.

³and tell her that this is what the Lord God says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

¹³Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.

⁹Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

⁶He brought the Asherah pole from the house of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and there he burned it, ground it to powder, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.

¹⁹Now summon all Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

¹⁴He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones.

¹¹And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.

¹²Thus they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and provoked the Lord to anger,

¹⁴Then the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.

³You withheld all Your fury; You turned from Your burning anger.

⁹“I will certainly go with you,” Deborah replied, “but the road you are taking will bring you no honor, because the Lord will be selling Sisera into the hand of a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh,

⁷I saw the tents of Cushan in distress; the curtains of Midian were trembling.

²⁰The Lord will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The Lord will blot out his name from under heaven

³⁰How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the Lord had given them up?

¹⁵And again they cried out to the Lord, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

⁵They cried out to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disappointed.

¹³So Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz captured the city, and Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.

⁷Now when the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian,

¹⁰Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals.”

¹⁶Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.

¹⁹Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. And burning with anger, Samson returned to his father’s house,

²⁹Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah of Gilead. And from there he advanced against the Ammonites.

⁶and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

⁶When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he burned with great anger.

²⁵And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

¹Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded.

³¹So may all Your enemies perish, O Lord! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.

³⁰So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.

²³So Joshua took the entire land, in keeping with all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to the allotments to their tribes. Then the land had rest from war.

²⁸In this way Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. So the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon,

²²as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.

¹⁷So Othniel son of Caleb’s brother Kenaz captured the city, and Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.

⁹But they forgot the Lord their God, and He sold them into the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them.

¹¹Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of greater sin.”

¹⁹But when the judge died, the Israelites became even more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They would not give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

¹⁸As for you, O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness, glory and honor.

¹Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded, for through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. And he was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

²²you, O king, are that tree! For you have become great and strong; your greatness has grown to reach the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth.

¹⁶Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad. They went to live among the people.

³the Negev, and the region from the Valley of Jericho (the City of Palms) all the way to Zoar.

¹⁴Some came from Ephraim, with their roots in Amalek; Benjamin came with your people after you. The commanders came down from Machir, the bearers of the marshal’s staff from Zebulun.

⁶the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷of Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, of Philistia with the people of Tyre.

²³And if in spite of these things you do not accept My discipline, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me,

²⁴then I will act with hostility toward you, and I will strike you sevenfold for your sins.

⁴⁰You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off.

⁴⁷Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,

⁴⁸you will serve your enemies the Lord will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

⁹But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them.

³⁴When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

¹⁶Among all these soldiers there were 700 select left-handers, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair without missing.

¹⁶Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern,

³Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

¹²To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword.

¹²For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

³Strap your sword at your side, O mighty warrior; appear in your majesty and splendor.

²¹And Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly.

¹⁶He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.

⁸All are skilled with the sword, experienced in warfare. Each has his sword at his side prepared for the terror of the night.

²⁰Therefore this is what the Lord God says to them: ‘Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

²⁷Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with flesh,

²⁸They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy.

²⁹At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men. Not one of them escaped.

¹⁹How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

¹¹“Because you rejoice, because you sing in triumph—you who plunder My inheritance—because you frolic like a heifer treading grain and neigh like stallions,

²⁰And there at Gilgal Joshua set up the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan.

¹⁸So the centurion took him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner sent and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside, and asked, “What do you need to tell me?”

⁵and when he arrived, the army commanders were sitting there. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said. “For which of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander,” he replied.

⁶So Jehu got up and went into the house, where the young prophet poured the oil on his head and declared, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people Israel.

²⁰Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat.

¹Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.

⁷Who would not fear You, O King of nations? This is Your due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.

¹⁵I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses of ivory will also perish, and the great houses will come to an end,” declares the Lord.

¹⁹But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” “Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him.

⁹The voice of the Lord calls out to the city (and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name): “Heed the rod and the One who ordained it.

¹²“Go and tell David that this is what the Lord says: ‘I am offering you three options. Choose one of them, and I will carry it out against you.’”

¹Then the Lord sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

²The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle,

³³But Samuel declared: “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

³And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not remain alive, because you have spoken falsely in the name of the Lord.’ When he prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will pierce him through.

²⁵It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.

⁷On seeing this, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand,

⁸followed the Israelite into the tent, and drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and on through the belly of the woman. So the plague against the Israelites was halted,

³Soon Saul came to the sheepfolds along the road, where there was a cave, and he went in to relieve himself. And David and his men were hiding in the recesses of the cave.

³Then Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. So Saul blew the ram’s horn throughout the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!”

³⁴So the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, who blew the ram’s horn and rallied the Abiezrites behind him.

¹Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim

¹³Quickly, each man took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bare steps. Then they blew the ram’s horn and proclaimed, “Jehu is king!”

²⁴Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah.

¹Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.

⁵The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim would say, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites would ask him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he answered, “No,”

¹⁵When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Get up, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.”

⁹That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up and go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.

⁷So the king’s men set out in pursuit of the spies along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they had gone out, the gate was shut.

⁴⁷And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”

²⁴Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah.

¹⁵But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

¹⁷and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man.

¹⁰They have closed their callous hearts; their mouths speak with arrogance.

²⁷Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with flesh,

¹¹So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

³¹So may all Your enemies perish, O Lord! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.

⁶In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted and the travelers took the byways.

⁴⁷And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

⁵⁰Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

¹⁶Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.

¹⁵He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men.