Sunday, 14 July

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.   "Hear this, O house of Jacob, Who are called by the name of Israel, And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah; Who swear by the name of the LORD, And make mention of the God of Israel, But not in truth or in righteousness; 2.   For they call themselves after the holy city, And lean on the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is His name: 3.   "I have declared the former things from the beginning; They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them , and they came to pass. 4.   Because I knew that you were obstinate, And your neck was an iron sinew, And your brow bronze, 5.   Even from the beginning I have declared it to you; Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you, Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them, And my carved image and my molded image Have commanded them.’ 6.   "You have heard; See all this. And will you not declare it ? I have made you hear new things from this time, Even hidden things, and you did not know them. 7.   They are created now and not from the beginning; And before this day you have not heard them, Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’ 8.   Surely you did not hear, Surely you did not know; Surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, And were called a transgressor from the womb. 9.   "For My name’s sake I will defer My anger, And for My praise I will restrain it from you, So that I do not cut you off. 10.   Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. 11.   For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it ; For how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another. 12.   "Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last. 13.   Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, And My right hand has stretched out the heavens; When I call to them, They stand up together. 14.   "All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear! Who among them has declared these things ? The LORD loves him; He shall do His pleasure on Babylon, And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans. 15.   I, even I, have spoken; Yes, I have called him, I have brought him, and his way will prosper. 16.   "Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit Have sent Me." 17.   Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go. 18.   Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea. 19.   Your descendants also would have been like the sand, And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand; His name would not have been cut off Nor destroyed from before Me." 20.   Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing, Declare, proclaim this, Utter it to the end of the earth; Say, "The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!" 21.   And they did not thirst When He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them; He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out. 22.   " There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."

1.   Therefore, my beloved and longed–for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. 2.   I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3.   And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. 4.   Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5.   Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6.   Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7.   and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8.   Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy––meditate on these things. 9.   The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. 10.   But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11.   Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12.   I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13.   I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 14.   Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. 15.   Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. 16.   For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. 17.   Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. 18.   Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet–smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. 19.   And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20.   Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. 21.   Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. 22.   All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household. 23.   The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.