Study Desk

Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, He was with that judge and delivered them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.

So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, "Because this nation has transgressed the covenant I laid down for their fathers and has not heeded My voice,

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

Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak

But 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.

Then 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.

"Follow me," he told them, "for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hands." So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over.

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

Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

And she would sit under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites would go up to her for judgment.

Then Deborah said to Barak, "Arise, for this is the day the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone before you?" So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

Sisera said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty." So she opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again.

Why did you sit among the sheepfolds to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the clans of Reuben there was great indecision.

'Curse Meroz,' says the angel of the LORD. 'Bitterly curse her inhabitants; for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.'

He asked for water, and she gave him milk. In a magnificent bowl she brought him curdled milk.

She reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman's hammer. She struck Sisera and crushed his skull; she shattered and pierced his temple.

'Are they not finding and dividing the spoil-a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?'

So 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.

Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; so He handed them over to Midian for seven years,

and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.