Study Desk

And Joash said to all that stood near him, Will *ye* contend for Baal? or will *ye* save him? he that contends for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning. If he be a god, let him plead for himself, because they have broken down his altar.

And Gideon said to God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said,

And Gideon said to God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once! Let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it, I pray thee, be dry upon the fleece only, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

And God did so that night, and it was dry upon the fleece only, but on all the ground there was dew.

And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, the man of Israel: God hath given into his hand Midian and all the host.

Into your hands hath God delivered the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their spirit was appeased toward him, when he said that word.

And it came to pass when Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after the Baals, and set up Baal-Berith as their god.

And the children of Israel remembered not Jehovah their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side.

And they told it to Jotham, and he went and stood on the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said to them, Hearken to me, ye citizens of Shechem, that God may hearken to you.

And the olive-tree said to them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to wave over the trees?

And the vine said to them, Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave over the trees?

And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem; and the citizens of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech,

And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode [the grapes], and made rejoicings, and went into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.

And all the men of the tower of Shechem heard [that], and they entered into the stronghold of the house of the god Berith.

And God rendered back the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father in slaying his seventy brethren.

And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render back upon their heads; and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

And the children of Israel cried to Jehovah, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served the Baals.

And Jehovah the God of Israel gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them; and Israel took possession of the whole land of the Amorites, who dwelt in that country.

And now Jehovah the God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou take possession of it?

Dost not thou possess what Chemosh thy god puts thee in possession of? and whatever Jehovah our God has dispossessed before us, that will we possess.