Judges 4 Cross References - ISV

¹ Deborah, Israel’s Fourth JudgeAfter Ehud died, while the LORD was watching, the Israelis made the evil they had been practicing even worse, ² so the LORD turned them over to domination by Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commanding officer of his army, lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. ³ The Israelis cried out to the LORD, because of his 900 iron chariots. Jabin oppressed the Israelis forcefully for twenty years.
⁴ Deborah, a woman, prophet, and wife of Lappidoth, was herself judging Israel during that time. ⁵ She regularly took her seat under the Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountainous region of Ephraim, where the Israelis would approach her for decisions. ⁶ She sent word to Abinoam’s son Barak from Kedesh-naphtali, summoning him. She asked him, “The LORD God of Israel has commanded you, hasn’t he? He told you, ‘Go out, march to Mount Tabor, and take 10,000 men with you from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun. ⁷ I will draw out Sisera, the commanding officer of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and troops, to the Kishon River, where I will drop him right into your hands.’”
⁸ “If you’ll go with me, I’ll go,” Barak replied. “But if you won’t go with me, then I’m not going.”
⁹ She responded, “I will surely go with you, but the road that you’re about to take will not lead to honor for you. The LORD will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak toward Kedesh. ¹⁰ Barak called out the army of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali to march on Kedesh, and 10,000 men went out to war with him, along with Deborah.
¹¹ Meanwhile, Heber the Kenite had been separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law Hobab. He had pitched his tents far away, near the Elon-bezaanannim. ¹² Furthermore, Sisera had been informed that Abinoam’s son Barak had marched on Mount Tabor. ¹³ So Sisera gathered his iron chariots together from Harosheth-haggoyim—all 900 of them, along with all the people who were assigned to them—and they assembled at the Kishon River.
¹⁴ “Get going!” Deborah told Barak. “Because today’s the day when the LORD has dropped Sisera into your hands! Look! The LORD has already gone out ahead of you!” So Barak left Mount Tabor, followed by 10,000 men, ¹⁵ and the LORD threw Sisera, all the chariots, and his entire army into a panic right in front of Barak. Then Sisera abandoned his chariot and escaped on foot ¹⁶ while Barak chased the chariots and army as far as Harosheth-haggoyim. Sisera’s entire army died in the battle—not even one soldier remained.
¹⁷ Heber’s Wife Jael Kills SiseraMeanwhile, Sisera had escaped on foot to a tent belonging to Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, since there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the household of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael went out to greet Sisera. “Turn aside, sir!” she told him. “Turn aside to me! Don’t be afraid.” So he turned aside to her and entered her tent, where she concealed him behind a curtain.
¹⁹ He asked her, “Please give me some water to drink, because I’m thirsty.” Instead, she opened a leather container of milk, gave him a drink, and then covered him up. ²⁰ He told her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and if anyone comes and asks ‘Is anybody here?’ say ‘No’.”
²¹ But Heber’s wife Jael grabbed a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other, crept up to him quietly, and drove the tent peg right through his temple into the ground below after he had fallen sound asleep from exhaustion. That’s how he died.
²² Meanwhile, as Barak continued chasing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him. “Come with me,” she told him, “and I’ll show you the man you’re looking for!” So he went with her, and there was Sisera, lying dead with the tent peg still embedded in his temple! ²³ That’s how God subdued Jabin, king of Canaan right in front of the Israelis that day. ²⁴ And the Israelis gained greater control over King Jabin of Canaan until they had eliminated him.

²³ “If, despite these things, you still won’t return to me, but live life contrary to me, ²⁴ then I’ll certainly oppose you. I’ll take vengeance against you seven fold on account of your sins. ²⁵ I’ll bring the sword against you to execute the vengeance of my covenant. When you gather in your cities, I’ll send a pestilence. As a result, you’ll be delivered into the control of your enemies.

¹¹ The Rise of the JudgesSo the Israelis practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by worshiping Canaanite deities.

¹⁹ However, after the leader had died, they would relapse to a condition more corrupt than their ancestors, following other gods, serving them, and worshiping them. They would not abandon their activities or their obstinate lifestyles.
²⁰ In his burning anger against Israel, the LORD said, “Because the people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors to keep, and because they haven’t obeyed me,

⁷ The Israelis kept on practicing evil in full view of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served Canaanite male and female deities.

¹² Ehud, Israel’s Second JudgeThe Israelis again practiced evil in full view of the LORD. So the LORD strengthened Eglon king of Moab in his control over Israel, because they had practiced evil in full view of the LORD.

¹ Gideon, Israel’s Fifth JudgeLater on, the Israelis practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, so the LORD handed them over to the domination of Midian for seven years.

⁶ Israel Descends into ApostasyLater on, the Israelis again practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by serving the Baals, the stars, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the descendants of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. In doing so, they ignored the LORD and wouldn’t serve him.

²³ “You multiplied their descendants like the stars in heaven and brought them to the land about which you told their ancestors to enter and possess. ²⁴ So their descendants entered and took possession of the land. Before their eyes you subdued those living in the land—the Canaanites— putting them under their control, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, so they could do with them as they pleased. ²⁵ They conquered fortified cities and fertile ground, possessing houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, with vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were satiated, and were well nourished, delighting themselves in your great goodness. ²⁶ “Then they disobeyed, rebelled against you, and threw your Law behind their backs. They murdered your prophets who had admonished the people to return to you, committing terrible blasphemies. ²⁷ So you delivered them into the control of their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed, they cried out to you, and you heard from heaven. In your great compassion you gave them deliverers who rescued them from the control of their enemies. ²⁸ “But after they had gained relief, they returned to doing evil before you. Therefore you abandoned them to the control of their enemies, who continued to oppress them. But when they came back and cried out to you, you listened from heaven and delivered them in your compassion on many occasions. ²⁹ You admonished them to return to your Law, but they acted arrogantly, and would not listen to your commands. They sinned against your regulations, which if anyone obeys, he will live by them. They turned away, being stubborn and stiff-necked, and they did not listen. ³⁰ You were patient with them for many years, warning them by your Spirit through your prophets. But they would not listen, so you turned them over to the control of people in other lands.

⁴³ He delivered them many times, but they demonstrated rebellion by their evil plans; therefore they sunk deep in their sins. ⁴⁴ Yet when he saw their distress and heard their cries for help, ⁴⁵ he remembered his covenant with them, and so relented according to the greatness of his gracious love.

³ The Prophet SpeaksLORD, don’t your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they didn’t flinch. You brought them to an end, but they refused to receive discipline. They made their faces harder than stone, and they refused to repent.

¹ The Northern CampaignWhen King Jabin of Hazor heard all of this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,

¹⁰ Joshua then turned back and captured Hazor, executing its king, because Hazor used to be the head of all of those kingdoms. ¹¹ They executed all of the people who lived in it, completely destroying it and leaving no one alive. Then he burned Hazor in fire.

³⁶ Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,

¹⁴ So in his burning anger against Israel, the LORD gave them into the domination of marauders who plundered them. The enemies who surrounded the Israelis controlled them, and they were no longer able to withstand their adversaries. ¹⁵ Wherever they went, the LORD worked against them to bring misfortune, just as the LORD had warned, and just as the LORD had promised them. As a result, they suffered greatly.

¹³ So Sisera gathered his iron chariots together from Harosheth-haggoyim—all 900 of them, along with all the people who were assigned to them—and they assembled at the Kishon River.

¹⁶ while Barak chased the chariots and army as far as Harosheth-haggoyim. Sisera’s entire army died in the battle—not even one soldier remained.

⁷ In his burning anger against Israel, he sold them into domination by the Philistines and the Ammonites,

⁹ But they forgot the LORD their God, so he handed them over to the domination of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into domination by the Philistines and by the king of Moab, and Israel fought against them.

⁹ Deal with them as you did to Midian, Sisera, and Jabin at the Kishon Brook.

¹ A Call to Return to God This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Look! It’s because of your sins that you were sold, and because of your transgressions that your mother was sent away.

²⁵ Because he couldn’t pay, his master ordered him, his wife, his children, and everything that he owned to be sold so that payment could be made.

²⁹ As a result, you’ll wander aimlessly in broad daylight just as a blind person wanders in darkness. You won’t prosper in life. Instead you’ll be oppressed and plundered all day long, with no deliverer.

³³ “A people whom you don’t know will devour what your land and labor produces. You’ll be only oppressed and discouraged continuously

⁴⁷ Servitude and Bondage“Because you didn’t serve the LORD your God joyfully and wholeheartedly, despite the abundance of everything you have, ⁴⁸ you’ll serve your enemies whom the LORD your God will send against you. You will serve in famine and in drought, in nakedness, and in lack of everything. They’ll set a yoke of iron upon your neck until they have exterminated you.

¹⁶ The descendants of Joseph replied, “The hill country isn’t sufficient for us, but all the Canaanites who live on the plain have iron chariots, both those in Beth-shean and its villages as well as the inhabitants of the Jezreel Valley.”

¹⁹ The LORD was with the army of Judah, and they captured the hill country, but did not expel the inhabitants of the valley because they were equipped with iron chariots.

⁹ When the Israelis cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz, to deliver them, and he did.

¹⁵ But when the Israelis cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up Gera’s son Ehud, a left-handed descendant of Benjamin, as a deliverer for them. The Israelis paid tribute through him to king Eglon of Moab.

⁸ New gods were chosen, then war came to the city gates, but there wasn’t a shield or spear to be seen among 40,000 soldiers of Israel.

¹⁶ When they put away their foreign gods and served the LORD, he brought Israel’s misery to an end.

⁸ The Israelis told Samuel, “Don’t stop crying out to the LORD our God for us that he may deliver us from the hand of the Philistines.”

¹⁵ Call on me in the day of distress; I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”

³⁴ When he struck them, they sought him; they repented, and eagerly sought God.

⁴² Their enemies oppressed them, so that they were humiliated by their power.

²⁷ who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ They have turned their back to me, but not their faces. In the time of their trouble, they’ll say, ‘Rise up! Deliver us!’” ²⁸ “But where are your gods that you made for yourselves? Let them rise up, if they can deliver you in the time of your trouble. You have as many gods as you have towns, Judah.

²⁰ The Song of MiriamThen Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand and went out with all the women behind her with tambourines and dancing.

¹⁴ Huldah Predicts DisasterSo Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophet Huldah, the wife of Tikvah’s son Shallum, the grandson of Harhas and supervisor of the royal wardrobe, who lived in the Second Quarter in Jerusalem. They spoke with her,

¹⁴ “Remember me, my God, and take note of what Tobiah and Sanballat are doing. Also take note of the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who intend to make me afraid.”

²⁸ The Day of the LORD“Then it will come about at a later time that I will pour out my Spirit on every person. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your elderly people will dream dreams, and your young people will see visions. ²⁹ Also at that time I will pour out my Spirit upon men and women servants.

⁴ For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and ransomed you from the house of slavery, sending Moses, Aaron, and Miriam into your presence.

³⁶ Now Anna, a prophetess, was also there. She was a descendant of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage,

⁹ He had four unmarried daughters who could prophesy.

⁵ and every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, which is the same as having her head shaved.

²⁸ Because all of you are one in the Messiah Jesus, a person is no longer a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a male or a female.

⁸ Rebekah’s nurse Deborah died and was buried there, under the oak tree that was below Beth-el. That’s why the place was named Allon-bacuth.

¹³ Jethro Advises Moses to Appoint JudgesThe next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening.

¹⁶ When they have a dispute, it comes to me and I decide between a person and his neighbor, and make known the statutes of God and his instructions.”

¹⁹ Now listen to me. I’ll advise you, and may God be with you. You are to represent the people before God and bring the disputes to God.

²⁶ They judged the people at all times; the difficult matters they brought to Moses, but every minor matter they judged.

⁸ Deciding Difficult Cases“If a case is too difficult for you to decide with respect to bloodshed, civil claims, assault and battery, or other matters of dispute within your courts, bring it to the place that the LORD your God will choose. ⁹ Present the case to the Levitical priest or the judge at that time. When you have inquired and they have announced the verdict, ¹⁰ carry out the verdict that was declared to you at the place that the LORD will choose. Carefully observe all of their instructions to you ¹¹ in accordance with what the Law says, and in accordance with the verdict that will be handed to you. You must not deviate from the verdict that they declare to you either to the right or to the left. ¹² If a man presumptuously disregards the priest who is serving the LORD your God there or the judge, that person must die so you will purge evil from Israel.

² and from Bethel to Luz, continuing to the border of the Archites at Ataroth.

²² Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,

²⁵ Also included were Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,

¹ The Birth of SamuelA certain man lived in Ramathaim-zophim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim. He was Jeroham’s son Elkanah, the grandson of Elihu and grandson of Tohu, who was the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

¹⁹ They got up early the next morning and worshipped in the LORD’s presence, and then they returned and came to their house at Ramah. Elkanah had marital relations with his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.

¹⁶ When the five Philistine lords saw this, they returned to Ekron that very day.
¹⁷ These are the gold tumors that the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron.

¹ The Death of SamuelSamuel died and all Israel assembled to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah.
David, Nabal, and AbigailDavid got up and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

² Then he would get up early, stand near the passageway to the palace gate, and when anyone arrived to file a legal complaint for a hearing before the king, Absalom would call to him and ask, “You’re from what city?” If he replied, “Your servant is from one of Israel’s tribes,” ³ Absalom would respond, “Look, your claims are valid and defensible, but nobody will listen to you on behalf of the king. ⁴ Who will appoint me to be a judge in the land? When anyone arrived to file a legal complaint or other cause, he could approach me for justice and I would settle it!” ⁵ Furthermore, if a man approached him to bow down in front of him, he would put out his hand, grab him, and embrace him. ⁶ By doing all of this to anyone who came to the king for a hearing, Absalom stole the loyalty of the men of Israel.

¹⁵ The End of Rachel’s MourningThis is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter crying. Rachel is crying, and she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no longer alive.”

⁹ I’ve commanded you, haven’t I? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be fearful or discouraged, because the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

³² Naphtali’s AllocationThe sixth lottery went to the tribe of Naphtali according to its families.

³⁷ Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,

³² From the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands were allocated as a city of refuge for the unintentional killer, Hammoth-dor with its pasture lands, and Kartan with its pasture lands, for a total of three cities.

¹⁰ Barak called out the army of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali to march on Kedesh, and 10,000 men went out to war with him, along with Deborah.

¹ Deborah and Barak Celebrate in SongLater that day, Deborah and Abinoam’s son Barak celebrated by singing this song:

¹⁴ Some came from Ephraim who had been harassed by Amalek, followed by Benjamin with your people. Some commanders came from Machir, along with some from Zebulun who carry a badge of office. ¹⁵ The officials of Issachar were with Deborah, as was the tribe of Issachar and Barak. They rushed out into the valley at his heels along with divisions from Reuben’s army. Great was their resolve of heart! ¹⁶ Why did you sit down among the sheepfolds? To hear the bleating of the flocks? Among the divisions of the army of Reuben there was great searching of heart. ¹⁷ The tribe of Gilead remained on the other side of the Jordan River. As for the tribe of Dan, why did they stay on board their ships? The tribe of Asher sat by the seashore and remained near its harbors. ¹⁸ The tribe of Zebulun did not worry about their lives at the price of death; neither did the tribe of Naphtali also on high places of the field.

¹⁸ Afterwards, he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What were the men like whom you killed at Tabor?”
They answered, “Like you, each one like the son of a king…”

³ Then you’ll go on further from there and come to the oak at Tabor. There three men going up to the LORD at Bethel will meet you. One will be herding three young goats, one will be carrying three loaves of bread, and one will be carrying a bottle of wine.

⁶ Get up, LORD, in your anger! Rise up, because of the fury of my enemies; Arouse yourself for me; you have ordained justice.

¹² The north and south—you created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.

² “Raise a banner on a bare hilltop! Cry out loud to them! Give a wave of the hand, signaling for them to enter the gates of the nobles. ³ I myself have commanded my consecrated ones; I have also summoned my warriors, those who rejoice in my triumph, to carry out my angry judgments. ⁴ “Listen! There’s a noise on the mountains like that of a great multitude! Listen! There’s an uproar among the kingdoms, like that of nations massing together! The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is mustering an army for battle. ⁵ They’re coming from a faraway land, from the distant horizon— the LORD and the weapons of his anger— to destroy the entire land.”

¹⁸ As certainly as I’m alive and living,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “Indeed, one will come like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.

¹ Judgment against Israel “Hear this, priests, pay attention, house of Israel, listen, royal family! For judgment is coming your way, because you have been a trap to Mizpah, a snare spread out on Mount Tabor.

⁴⁷ For that is what the Lord ordered us to do: ‘I have made you a light to the gentiles to be the means of salvation to the very ends of the earth.’”

³² And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.

⁴ I’ve made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn so he will pursue them. But I’ll receive honor by means of Pharaoh and his army, so that the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So this is what the Israelis did.

¹³ If he didn’t lie in wait, but God let him fall into his reach, then I’ll appoint for you a place to which he may flee.

⁷ you get up from the ambush and seize the city, because the LORD your God will give it into your control.

⁸ The LORD told Joshua, “Don’t fear them, because I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will withstand you.”

⁶ But the LORD told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them, because tomorrow about this time I am giving them all to you—dead—in the presence of Israel. Hamstring their horses and incinerate their chariots.”

²⁰ because the LORD had hardened their hearts so they would fight Israel in war, be completely destroyed without mercy, and be completely wiped out, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹⁴ “Get going!” Deborah told Barak. “Because today’s the day when the LORD has dropped Sisera into your hands! Look! The LORD has already gone out ahead of you!” So Barak left Mount Tabor, followed by 10,000 men,

²¹ The current of the Kishon River swept them downstream, that ancient current, the Kishon’s current! March on strongly, my soul!

¹⁰ Look, this very day you saw with your own eyes that the LORD gave you into my control in the cave, and one of my men told me to kill you, but I had pity on you and responded, ‘I won’t lift my hand against his majesty because he’s the LORD’s anointed.’

¹⁸ You have explained how you treated me well, in that the LORD delivered me into your hand but you didn’t kill me.

⁴⁰ But Elijah said, “Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don’t let even one of them get away.” So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there.

⁹ Deal with them as you did to Midian, Sisera, and Jabin at the Kishon Brook. ¹⁰ They were destroyed at En-dor and became as dung on the ground.

¹⁰ The Invasion Strategy“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘This is what’s going to happen on the very day that you begin your invasion: You’ll be thinking, making evil plans, ¹¹ and boasting, “I’m going to invade a land comprised of open country that is at rest, its people living confidently, all of whose inhabitants will be living securely, with neither fortification nor bars on their doors. ¹² I’m going to confiscate anything I can put my hands on. I’ll attack the restored ruins and the people who have been gathered together from the nations, who are acquiring livestock and other goods, and who live at the center of the world’s attention.” ¹³ ‘Businessmen based in Sheba, Dedan, Tarshish, and all of its growling lions will ask you, “Are you coming for war spoils? Have you assembled your armies to carry off silver and gold, and to gather lots of war booty?”’”
¹⁴ God’s Rebuke to Gog“Therefore, Son of Man, prophesy to Gog and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “When the day comes when my people are living securely, won’t you be aware of it? ¹⁵ You’ll come in from your home in the remotest parts of the north. You’ll come with many nations, all of them riding along on horses. You’ll be a huge, combined army. ¹⁶ You’ll come up to invade my people Israel like a storm cloud to cover the land. In the last days, Gog, I’ll bring you up to invade my land so that the world will learn to know me when I show them how holy I am before their very eyes.”’”

¹¹ Hurry and come, all you gentiles! Gather yourselves together!’” “LORD, cause your mighty army to come down. ¹² “Let the nations be awakened and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; because I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. ¹³ Put in the sickle, because the harvest is ripe. Come and go down, because the winepress is full. The wine vats are overflowing, because their evil is great! ¹⁴ “Multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Judgment! For the Day of the LORD is near in the Valley of Judgment!

¹⁰ Then Moses told the LORD, “Please, LORD, I’m not eloquent. I never was in the past nor am I now since you spoke to your servant. In fact, I talk too slowly and I have a speech impediment.”
¹¹ Then God asked him, “Who gives a person a mouth? Who makes him unable to speak, or deaf, or able to see, or blind, or lame? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹² Now, go! I myself will help you with your speech, and I’ll teach you what you are to say.”
¹³ Moses said, “Please, LORD, send somebody else.”
¹⁴ Then the LORD was angry with Moses and said, “There is your brother Aaron, a descendant of Levi, isn’t there? I know that he certainly is eloquent. Right now he’s coming to meet you and he will be pleased to see you.

³⁰ But when he noticed the strong wind, he was frightened. As he began to sink, he shouted, “Lord, save me!”
³¹ At once Jesus reached out his hand, caught him, and asked him, “You who have so little faith, why did you doubt?”

¹⁴ So in his burning anger against Israel, the LORD gave them into the domination of marauders who plundered them. The enemies who surrounded the Israelis controlled them, and they were no longer able to withstand their adversaries.

¹⁷ Heber’s Wife Jael Kills SiseraMeanwhile, Sisera had escaped on foot to a tent belonging to Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, since there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the household of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael went out to greet Sisera. “Turn aside, sir!” she told him. “Turn aside to me! Don’t be afraid.” So he turned aside to her and entered her tent, where she concealed him behind a curtain.
¹⁹ He asked her, “Please give me some water to drink, because I’m thirsty.” Instead, she opened a leather container of milk, gave him a drink, and then covered him up. ²⁰ He told her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and if anyone comes and asks ‘Is anybody here?’ say ‘No’.”
²¹ But Heber’s wife Jael grabbed a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other, crept up to him quietly, and drove the tent peg right through his temple into the ground below after he had fallen sound asleep from exhaustion. That’s how he died.
²² Meanwhile, as Barak continued chasing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him. “Come with me,” she told him, “and I’ll show you the man you’re looking for!” So he went with her, and there was Sisera, lying dead with the tent peg still embedded in his temple!

²⁴ “Blessed above all women is Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite; most blessed is she among women who live in tents! ²⁵ Sisera asked for water— she gave him milk. In a magnificent bowl she brought him yogurt! ²⁶ She reached out one hand for the tent peg, and her other for the workman’s mallet. Then she struck Sisera, smashing his head, shattering and piercing his temple. ²⁷ He crumpled to the ground between her feet, where he fell down and collapsed. Between her feet he crumpled, Fallen dead!

⁵⁴ So he cried out to his young armor bearer and ordered him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so no one will say about me that ‘A woman killed him.’” So the young man pierced him through, and he died.

³⁰ “Therefore, the LORD God of Israel has declared, ‘I did, in fact, say that your family and your ancestor’s family would walk before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from me! The one who honors me I’ll honor, and the one who despises me is to be treated with contempt.

²¹ That’s a lie! But there is a man from the Ephraim hill country—he’s known as Bichri’s son Sheba—who has rebelled against King David. Turn him over and I’ll withdraw from the city!”
So the woman replied, “Watch this! His head will be thrown to you over the city wall.” ²² Then the woman wisely went back to her people. They cut off the head of Bichri’s son Sheba and threw it out to Joab, so Joab sounded his battle trumpet and they withdrew from the city. Everybody went back home and Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem.

¹⁸ and they opposed King Uzziah. “Uzziah, it’s not for you to burn incense to the LORD,” they told him, “but for the priests to do, Aaron’s descendants who are consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary now, because you have been unfaithful and won’t receive any honor from the LORD God.”

⁸ All these officials of yours will come down to me, prostrate themselves to me, and say, ‘Get out, you and all the people following you!’ After that I’ll go out.” Then Moses angrily left Pharaoh.

⁶ She sent word to Abinoam’s son Barak from Kedesh-naphtali, summoning him. She asked him, “The LORD God of Israel has commanded you, hasn’t he? He told you, ‘Go out, march to Mount Tabor, and take 10,000 men with you from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun.

¹⁵ The officials of Issachar were with Deborah, as was the tribe of Issachar and Barak. They rushed out into the valley at his heels along with divisions from Reuben’s army. Great was their resolve of heart!

¹⁸ The tribe of Zebulun did not worry about their lives at the price of death; neither did the tribe of Naphtali also on high places of the field.

²⁷ Now let this present that your servant has brought to your majesty be given to the young men who follow your majesty.

¹¹ But the king of Israel replied, “Tell him, ‘The one who is starting to strap on his battle armor should never brag like the one who is taking it off.’”

¹⁸ When they returned to their father Reuel, he asked, “Why have you returned so quickly today?”

¹ God Calls MosesMeanwhile, Moses continued tending the sheep that belonged to his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the sheep to the western desert and came to Horeb, God’s mountain, where

¹ Jethro Visits MosesJethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

²⁹ Moses invites His Father-in-Law to Accompany IsraelThen Moses told Reuel’s son Hobab, Moses’ relative by marriage from Midian, “We are traveling to the place about which the LORD said ‘I will give it to you.’ So come with us and we’ll be good to you, because the LORD has spoken good things about Israel.”

²¹ Balaam also uttered this prophetic statement about the Kenites: “Your dwelling places are stable, because your nest is carved in solid rock.

³³ The territorial boundary proceeded from Heleph, the oak in Zaanannim, and Adami-nekeb, and Jabneel as far as Lakkum, terminating at the Jordan River.

¹⁶ The Capture of Certain Southern TerritoriesThe descendants of the Kenites, the tribe from which Moses’ father-in-law came, accompanied the descendants of Judah from the city of the palms to the Judean wilderness, which is in the desert area south of Arad, and lived with the people there.

¹² From Sarid it proceeded back eastward, creating a sunrise boundary at Chisloth-tabor, and proceeded from there to Daberath, then to Japhia,

³⁴ There the boundary proceeded west to Aznoth-tabor and then to Hukkok, reaching Zebulun at the south, Asher on the west, and Judah on the east at the Jordan River.

² so the LORD turned them over to domination by Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commanding officer of his army, lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. ³ The Israelis cried out to the LORD, because of his 900 iron chariots. Jabin oppressed the Israelis forcefully for twenty years.

⁷ I will draw out Sisera, the commanding officer of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and troops, to the Kishon River, where I will drop him right into your hands.’”

¹⁴ Lot then went out and told his sons-in-law (they had married his daughters), “Get out of here! The LORD is going to destroy this city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

⁴ They had not traveled far from the city when Joseph ordered his palace manager, “Get up, follow those men, and when you’ve caught up with them, ask them, ‘Why did you repay evil for good?

³ But know today that the LORD your God is going ahead of you as a consuming fire. He will destroy and subdue them before you. He will dispossess and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD told you.

¹³ So get up and sanctify the people. Tell them, ‘Sanctify yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, because this is what the LORD God of Israel, says: “There are things turned over to destruction among you, Israel. You won’t be able to defeat your enemies until you remove what has been turned over to destruction.

²⁸ He spoke to her, “Get up, and let’s go.”
But there was no response. So he placed her on the donkey, mounted his own animal, and went home.

²⁶ They got up early in the morning, and about daybreak Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get up and I’ll send you off.” Saul got up and the two of them, he and Samuel, went outside.

²⁴ When you hear the sound of marching coming from the tops of the balsam trees, then be sure to act quickly, since the LORD will have gone out ahead of you to cut down the Philistine army.”

⁷ God, when you led out your people, when you marched through the desert, Interlude ⁸ the land quaked. Indeed, the heavens poured down rain from the presence of God, this God of Sinai, from the presence of God, the God of Israel.

¹² For you won’t go out in haste, nor will you go in flight; for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. He is called the God of all the earth.”

¹³ God will stand up and break through in their presence. Then they will pass through the gate, going out by it. Their king will pass in front of them with the LORD at their head.”

¹⁰ The LORD threw the Amorites into a panic right in front of the army of Israel, which then slaughtered many of them at Gibeon. The Israeli army chased them along the road that goes up to Beth-horon, striking them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

²⁰ The stars fought from heaven; they fought against Sisera from their orbits. ²¹ The current of the Kishon River swept them downstream, that ancient current, the Kishon’s current! March on strongly, my soul!

⁶ The LORD had made the Aramean army hear the sounds of chariots, horses, and a large army, so they told one another, “Look! The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the Egyptians to come attack us!”

¹⁵ Then the army of Judah sounded a war cry, and God routed Jeroboam and the entire army of Israel in front of Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ When the descendants of Israel ran away from the army of Judah, God handed them over to the army of Judah. ¹⁷ Abijah and his army defeated them in a tremendous slaughter that resulted in 500,000 special forces from Israel being slain.

⁷ Instead, you’ll pursue your enemies and they’ll die by the sword before you. ⁸ Five of you will chase a hundred, a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

¹⁹ but don’t stay there yourselves. Instead, pursue your enemies and attack them from behind. Don’t allow them to enter their cities, because the LORD your God has delivered them into your control.”
²⁰ Now it came about that after Joshua and the Israelis had finished the battle, destroying and scattering their survivors, who retreated into their fortified cities,

⁸ The LORD handed them over to the control of Israel, who defeated them and chased them as far as Greater Sidon and east as far as the Mizpah Valley. They attacked them until none remained.

³⁵ May sinners disappear from the land and the wicked live no longer. Bless the LORD, my soul! Hallelujah!

¹⁷ who brings out chariots and horsemen, and armies and warriors at the same time. They lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a candle:

¹² For all who have sinned apart from the Law will also perish apart from the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law. ¹³ For the one who has shown no mercy will be judged without mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

⁶ During the lifetime of Anath’s son Shamgar and during the lifetime of Jael highways remained deserted, while travelers kept to back roads.

²⁴ “Blessed above all women is Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite; most blessed is she among women who live in tents!

¹⁹ He leads away the priests naked and overthrows the ruling class. ²⁰ He keeps reliable advisors from speaking, and removes discernment from elders. ²¹ He pours contempt on nobles and embarrasses the mighty.

⁷ His strong steps are restricted, and his own advice trips him up. ⁸ “For he has stumbled into a net with his own feet; he walked right into the network! ⁹ The trap seizes him by the heel; a snare tightens its hold on him. ¹⁰ A rope lies hidden in the dirt; a trap lies waiting for him where he is walking.”
¹¹ The Wicked Perish without Descendants“He is petrified by terror that surrounds him on all sides; they chase at his heels. ¹² He is starved for strength; and is ripe for a fall.

¹¹ dispensed the fury of your anger, made sure that you have humbled every proud person, ¹² stared down and subdued every proud person, trampled the wicked right where they are,

³⁵ I once observed a wicked and oppressive person, flourishing like a green tree in native soil. ³⁶ But then he passed away; in fact, he simply was not there. When I looked for him, he could not be found.

²² May their dining tables entrap them, and become a snare for their allies.

⁴⁰ Having poured contempt on their nobles, causing them to err aimlessly in the way.

²³ A person’s pride will bring about his downfall, but the humble in spirit will gain honor.

²¹ “Yet there is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

¹⁹ It will be like a man who runs from a lion, only to encounter a bear; or who comes home, leans his hand against a wall, and a serpent bites him! ²⁰ Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness, and not light— pitch black at that, without a ray of sunshine?”

¹⁹ Then Elisha told the army, “This isn’t the way, and this isn’t the city! Follow me, and I’ll bring you to the man you’re seeking. Then he led them to Samaria.

⁴³ here I am standing by the spring. May it be that the young woman who comes out to draw water, from whom I request a little water from her jug to drink,

²⁵ Sisera asked for water— she gave him milk. In a magnificent bowl she brought him yogurt! ²⁶ She reached out one hand for the tent peg, and her other for the workman’s mallet. Then she struck Sisera, smashing his head, shattering and piercing his temple.

¹⁰ So he got up and went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance to the city, a widow was there gathering sticks. So he asked her, “Please, may I have some water in a cup so I can have a drink.”

¹⁷ “As for the poor, the needy, those seeking water— when there is none and their tongues are parched from thirst— I, the LORD, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, won’t abandon them.

⁷ A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus told her, “Please give me a drink,”

³ So the king of Jericho sent for Rahab and ordered her, “Bring out the men who came to visit you and lodged in your house, because they’ve come to scout out the entire land.”
⁴ Now the woman had taken the two men and hid them. So she replied, “The men really did come to me, but I didn’t know from where they came. ⁵ At dusk, when it was time to close the city gates, the men left. I don’t know where the men went. Go after them quickly, and you might overtake them.”

²⁰ When Absalom’s servants approached the woman of the house, they asked her, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”
“They’ve already crossed the brook,” the woman answered. So Absalom’s servants went away in search of Jonathan and Ahimaaz, but they couldn’t find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ Ehud used his left hand to take the sword from his right thigh and then plunged it into Eglon’s abdomen.

³¹ Shamgar, Israel’s Third JudgeAfter Ehud, Anath’s son Shamgar attacked 600 Philistines with a cattle prod. He also delivered Israel.

¹⁵ He happened upon a jawbone from a putrefying donkey, reached out to grab it, and killed 1,000 men with it.

⁴³ The Philistine asked David, “Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his own gods and

⁴⁹ David reached his hand into the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead. The stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. ⁵⁰ David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone; he struck down the Philistine and killed him, and there was no sword in David’s hand.

⁷ Arise, LORD! Deliver me, my God! For you strike the jaw of all my enemies, and you break the teeth of the wicked.

¹⁹ For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will reject.”

²⁷ But God chose what is nonsense in the world to make the wise feel ashamed. God chose what is weak in the world to make the strong feel ashamed.

³ Then I’ll bring everybody else back to you. When the man you’re looking for is dead, all the rest of the people will return quietly.”

¹⁰ Then even men who would otherwise be as brave as lions will be scared, because every Israeli knows your father is a mighty man, and they know his men are valiant! ¹¹ So here’s my advice: Muster everybody from one end of the country to the other! You’ll have an army in number like the sand on the seashore! Then you’ll go into battle! ¹² We’ll go find David wherever he’s hiding. We’ll fall on him like dew on the ground! We’ll kill him and all of his men, and we won’t leave even one man alive! ¹³ If he escapes into a city, we’ll bring ropes to that city and tear it down! We won’t leave a single stone left in the valley!”
¹⁴ Absalom and all of the Israelis replied, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel’s!”
Hushai Warns DavidBut the LORD had planned to circumvent the sound advice of Ahithophel so the LORD could bring Absalom to destruction. ¹⁵ So Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, what Ahithophel had suggested to Absalom and the elders of Israel. He also reported what he himself had proposed. Hushai said,

¹⁸ “Isn’t the LORD your God with you? Hasn’t he surrounded you with comfort? He has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my control, and the land lies subdued both in the LORD’s presence and before his people.

²⁴ So their descendants entered and took possession of the land. Before their eyes you subdued those living in the land—the Canaanites— putting them under their control, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, so they could do with them as they pleased.

³⁹ You clothed me with strength for war; you will subdue under me those who rise up against me.

⁴⁷ He is the God who executes vengeance on my behalf; who destroys peoples under me;

³ He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.

¹⁴ Then I would quickly subdue their enemies. I would turn against their foes.

²⁸ But when everything has been put under him, then the Son himself will also become subject to the one who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

³³ Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, received promises, shut the mouths of lions,

¹² I’ll fulfill every promise that I’ve spoken concerning Eli’s family, from beginning to end.