Study Desk

Israel humiliated Moab that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.

The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord , because Sisera had nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels, and he cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

She said, "I will indeed go with you. But you will not gain fame on the expedition you are undertaking, for the Lord will turn Sisera over to a woman." Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Deborah said to Barak, "Spring into action, for this is the day the Lord is handing Sisera over to you! Has the Lord not taken the lead?" Barak quickly went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

Now Sisera ran away on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, for King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite had made a peace treaty.

Now Barak was chasing Sisera. Jael went out to welcome him. She said to him, "Come here and I will show you the man you are searching for." He went with her into the tent, and there he saw Sisera sprawled out dead with the tent peg in his temple.

Why do you remain among the sheepfolds, listening to the shepherds playing their pipes for their flocks? As for the clans of Reuben—there was intense searching of heart.

Gilead stayed put beyond the Jordan River. As for Dan—why did he seek temporary employment in the shipyards? Asher remained on the seacoast, he stayed by his harbors.

He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for a king, she served him curds.

Her left hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workmen's hammer. She "hammered" Sisera, she shattered his skull, she smashed his head, she drove the tent peg through his temple.

‘No doubt they are gathering and dividing the plunder— a girl or two for each man to rape! Sisera is grabbing up colorful cloth, he is grabbing up colorful embroidered cloth, two pieces of colorful embroidered cloth, for the neck of the plunderer!'

May all your enemies perish like this, O Lord ! But may those who love you shine like the rising sun at its brightest!" And the land had rest for forty years.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord 's sight, so the Lord turned them over to Midian for seven years.

The Midianites overwhelmed Israel. Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds.

They invaded the land and devoured its crops all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, and they took away the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

Israel was so severely weakened by Midian that the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.

When the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help because of Midian,

Gideon built an altar for the Lord there, and named it "The Lord is on friendly terms with me." To this day it is still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Then build an altar for the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold according to the proper pattern. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down."

That very day Gideon's father named him Jerub-Baal, because he had said, "Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down."