Thursday, 28 March

1.   When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. 2.   So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. 3.   And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he harshly oppressed the children of Israel. 4.   Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5.   And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6.   Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, "Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; 7.   ‘and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?" 8.   And Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!" 9.   So she said, "I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10.   And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command, and Deborah went up with him. 11.   Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father–in–law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh. 12.   And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13.   So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon. 14.   Then Deborah said to Barak, "Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone out before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 15.   And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16.   But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left. 17.   However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18.   And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, "Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear." And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket. 19.   Then he said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty." So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. 20.   And he said to her, "Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’" 21.   Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. 22.   And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, "Come, I will show you the man whom you seek." And when he went into her tent , there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple. 23.   So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. 24.   And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

1.   Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying: 2.   "When leaders lead in Israel, When the people willingly offer themselves, Bless the LORD! 3.   "Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I, even I, will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel. 4.   "LORD, when You went out from Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth trembled and the heavens poured, The clouds also poured water; 5.   The mountains gushed before the LORD, This Sinai, before the LORD God of Israel. 6.   "In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, In the days of Jael, The highways were deserted, And the travelers walked along the byways. 7.   Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Arose a mother in Israel. 8.   They chose new gods; Then there was war in the gates; Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel. 9.   My heart is with the rulers of Israel Who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless the LORD! 10.   "Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, Who sit in judges’ attire, And who walk along the road. 11.   Far from the noise of the archers, among the watering places, There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, The righteous acts for His villagers in Israel; Then the people of the LORD shall go down to the gates. 12.   "Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, O son of Abinoam! 13.   "Then the survivors came down, the people against the nobles; The LORD came down for me against the mighty. 14.   From Ephraim were those whose roots were in Amalek. After you, Benjamin, with your peoples, From Machir rulers came down, And from Zebulun those who bear the recruiter’s staff. 15.   And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; As Issachar, so was Barak Sent into the valley under his command; Among the divisions of Reuben There were great resolves of heart. 16.   Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, To hear the pipings for the flocks? The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart. 17.   Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan, And why did Dan remain on ships? Asher continued at the seashore, And stayed by his inlets. 18.   Zebulun is a people who jeopardized their lives to the point of death, Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield. 19.   "The kings came and fought, Then the kings of Canaan fought In Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; They took no spoils of silver. 20.   They fought from the heavens; The stars from their courses fought against Sisera. 21.   The torrent of Kishon swept them away, That ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. O my soul, march on in strength! 22.   Then the horses’ hooves pounded, The galloping, galloping of his steeds. 23.   ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD, ‘Curse its inhabitants bitterly, Because they did not come to the help of the LORD, To the help of the LORD against the mighty.’ 24.   "Most blessed among women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed is she among women in tents. 25.   He asked for water, she gave milk; She brought out cream in a lordly bowl. 26.   She stretched her hand to the tent peg, Her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; She pounded Sisera, she pierced his head, She split and struck through his temple. 27.   At her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; At her feet he sank, he fell; Where he sank, there he fell dead. 28.   "The mother of Sisera looked through the window, And cried out through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?’ 29.   Her wisest ladies answered her, Yes, she answered herself, 30.   ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil: To every man a girl or two; For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments, Plunder of garments embroidered and dyed, Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?’ 31.   "Thus let all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But let those who love Him be like the sun When it comes out in full strength." So the land had rest for forty years.

1.   Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, 2.   and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. 3.   So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4.   Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. 5.   For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. 6.   So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. 7.   And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD because of the Midianites, 8.   that the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; 9.   ‘and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10.   ‘Also I said to you, "I am the LORD your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell." But you have not obeyed My voice.’" 11.   Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12.   And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!" 13.   Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites." 14.   Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?" 15.   So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house." 16.   And the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man." 17.   Then he said to Him, "If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. 18.   "Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You." And He said, "I will wait until you come back." 19.   So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them . 20.   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. 21.   Then the Angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight. 22.   Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the LORD. So Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face." 23.   Then the LORD said to him, "Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die." 24.   So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The–LORD– Is –Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 25.   Now it came to pass the same night that the LORD said to him, "Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; 26.   "and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down." 27.   So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the LORD had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. 28.   And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. 29.   So they said to one another, "Who has done this thing?" And when they had inquired and asked, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing." 30.   Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it." 31.   But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!" 32.   Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, "Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar." 33.   Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34.   But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. 35.   And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them. 36.   So Gideon said to God, "If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said–– 37.   "look, I shall 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 shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said." 38.   And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. 39.   Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew." 40.   And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

1.   Now after five days Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul. 2.   And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying: "Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace, and prosperity is being brought to this nation by your foresight, 3.   "we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. 4.   "Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your courtesy, a few words from us. 5.   "For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. 6.   "He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law. 7.   "But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands, 8.   "commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him." 9.   And the Jews also assented, maintaining that these things were so. 10.   Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered: "Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself, 11.   "because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship. 12.   "And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city. 13.   "Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me. 14.   "But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets. 15.   "I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. 16.   "This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. 17.   "Now after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation, 18.   "in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult. 19.   "They ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me. 20.   "Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council, 21.   "unless it is for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day.’" 22.   But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the Way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, "When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case." 23.   So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and told him not to forbid any of his friends to provide for or visit him. 24.   And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. 25.   Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self–control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you." 26.   Meanwhile he also hoped that money would be given him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him. 27.   But after two years Porcius Festus succeeded Felix; and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound.