THE BOOK OF JUDGES
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
5:21. The torrent of Cison dragged their carcasses, the torrent of Cadumim, the torrent of Cison: tread thou, my soul, upon the strong ones.
5:22. The hoofs of the horses were broken whilst the stoutest of the enemies fled amain, and fell headlong down.
5:23. Curse ye the land of Meroz, said the angel of the Lord: curse the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to help his most valiant men.
Meroz... Where this land of Meroz was, which is here laid under a curse, we cannot find: nor is there mention of it anywhere else in holy writ. In the spiritual sense, they are cursed who refuse to assist the people of God in their warfare against their spiritual enemies.
5:24. Blessed among women be Jahel, the wife of Haber the Cinite, and blessed be she in her tent.
5:25. He asked her water, and she gave him milk, and offered him butter in a dish fit for princes.
5:26. She put her left hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workman's hammer, and she struck Sisara, seeking in his head a place for the wound, and strongly piercing through his temples.
5:27. Between her feet he fell: he fainted, and he died: he rolled before her feet, and there he lay lifeless and wretched.
5:28. His mother looked out at a window, and howled: and she spoke from the dining room: Why is his chariot so long in coming back? Why are the feet of his horses so slow?
5:29. One that was wiser than the rest of his wives, returned this answer to her mother in law:
5:30. Perhaps he is now dividing the spoils, and the fairest of the women is chosen out for him: garments of divers colours are given to Sisara for his prey, and furniture of different kinds is heaped together to adorn necks.
5:31. So let all thy enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love thee shine, as the sun shineth in his rising.
5:32. And the land rested for forty years.
Judges Chapter 6
The people for their sins, are oppressed by the Madianites. Gedeon is called to deliver them.
6:1. And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord: and he delivered them into the hand of Madian seven years,
6:2. And they were grievously oppressed by them. And they made themselves dens and caves in the mountains, and strong holds to resist.
6:3. And when Israel had sown, Madian and Amalec, and the rest of the eastern nations, came up:
6:4. And pitching their tents among them, wasted all things as they were in the blade, even to the entrance of Gaza: and they left nothing at all in Israel for sustenance of life, nor sheep, nor oxen, nor asses.
6:5. For they and all their flocks came with their tents, and like locusts filled all places, an innumerable multitude of men, and of camels, wasting whatsoever they touched.
6:6. And Israel was humbled exceedingly in the sight of Madian.
6:7. And he cried to the Lord, desiring help against the Madianites.
6:8. And he sent unto them a prophet, and he spoke: Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: I made you to come up out of Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage,
6:9. And delivered you out of the hands of the Egyptians, and of all the enemies that afflicted you: and I cast them out at your coming in, and gave you their land.
6:10. And I said: I am the Lord your God, fear not the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell. And you would not hear my voice.
6:11. And an angel of the Lord came, and sat under an oak that was in Ephra, and belonged to Joas, the father of the family of Ezri. And when Gedeon, his son, was threshing and cleansing wheat by the winepress, to flee from Madian,
6:12. The angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said: The Lord is with thee, O most valiant of men.
6:13. And Gedeon said to him: I beseech thee, my lord, if the Lord be with us, why have these evils fallen upon us? Where are his miracles, which our fathers have told us of, saying: The Lord brought us out of Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hand of Madian.
6:14. And the Lord looked upon him, and said: Go, in this thy strength, and thou shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of Madian: know that I have sent thee.
6:15. He answered, and said: I beseech thee, my lord wherewith shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the meanest in Manasses, and I am the least in my father's house.
The meanest in Manasses, etc... Mark how the Lord chooseth the humble (who are mean and little in their own eyes) for the greatest enterprises.
6:16. And the Lord said to him: I will be with thee: and thou shalt cut off Madian as one man.
6:17. And he said: If I have found grace before thee, give me a sign that it is thou that speakest to me:
6:18. And depart not hence, till I return to thee, and bring a sacrifice, and offer it to thee. And he answered: I will wait thy coming.
6:19. So Gedeon went in, and boiled a kid, and made unleavened loaves of a measure of flour: and putting the flesh in a basket, and the broth of the flesh into a pot, he carried all under the oak, and presented to him.
6:20. And the angel of the Lord said to him: Take the flesh and the unleavened loaves, and lay them upon that rock, and pour out the broth thereon. And when he had done so,
6:21. The angel of the Lord put forth the tip of the rod, which he held in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened loaves: and there arose a fire from the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened loaves: and the angel of the Lord vanished out of his sight.
6:22. And Gedeon seeing that it was the angel of the Lord, said: Alas, my Lord God: for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.
6:23. And the Lord said to him: Peace be with thee: fear not, thou shalt not die.
6:24. And Gedeon built there an altar to the Lord, and called it the Lord's peace, until this present day. And when he was yet in Ephra, which is of the family of Ezri,