One Year Bible.

Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna

¹Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you done this to us? Why did you fail to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him violently.

²But Gideon answered them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? ³God has delivered Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian, into your hand. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he had said this, their anger against him subsided.

⁴Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit. ⁵So Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give my troops some bread, for they are exhausted, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁶But the leaders of Succoth asked, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your army?”

⁷“Very well,” Gideon replied, “when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness!”

⁸From there he went up to Penuel and asked the same from them, but the men of Penuel gave the same response as the men of Succoth. ⁹So Gideon told the men of Penuel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower!”

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army of about fifteen thousand men — all that were left of the armies of the people of the east. A hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had already fallen. ¹¹And Gideon went up by way of the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, taking them by surprise. ¹²When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, Gideon pursued and captured these two kings of Midian, routing their entire army.

¹³After this, Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle along the Ascent of Heres. ¹⁴There he captured a young man of Succoth and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth.

¹⁵And Gideon went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your weary men?’” ¹⁶Then he took the elders of the city, and using the thorns and briers of the wilderness, he disciplined the men of Succoth. ¹⁷He also pulled down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸Next, Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?”

“Men like you,” they answered, “each one resembling the son of a king.”

¹⁹“They were my brothers,” Gideon replied, “the sons of my mother! As surely as the LORD lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

²⁰So he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword; he was fearful because he was still a youth.

²¹Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and kill us yourself, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from the necks of their camels.

Gideon’s Ephod

²²Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us — you and your son and grandson — for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”

²³But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.”

²⁴Then he added, “Let me make a request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his plunder.” (For the enemies had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)

²⁵“We will give them gladly,” they replied.

So they spread out a garment, and each man threw an earring from his plunder onto it. ²⁶The weight of the gold earrings he had requested was 1 ,700 shekels, in addition to the crescent ornaments, the pendants, the purple garments of the kings of Midian, and the chains from the necks of their camels.

²⁷From all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

Forty Years of Peace

²⁸In this way Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. So the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon, ²⁹and he — Jerubbaal son of Joash — returned home and settled down.

³⁰Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives. ³¹His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

Gideon’s Death

³²Later, Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god.

³⁴The Israelites failed to remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. ³⁵They did not show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for Israel.

Esther Appeals for the Jews

¹That same day King Xerxes awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed his relation to her. ²The king removed the signet ring he had recovered from Haman and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai over the estate of Haman.

³And once again, Esther addressed the king. She fell at his feet weeping and begged him to revoke the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.

⁴The king extended the gold scepter toward Esther, and she arose and stood before the king.

⁵“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. ⁶For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”

The Decree of Xerxes

⁷So King Xerxes said to Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews. ⁸Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”

⁹At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush — writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

¹⁰Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.

¹¹By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions. ¹²The single day appointed throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

¹³A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. ¹⁴The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses, pressed on by the command of the king. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.

¹⁵Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal garments of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

¹⁶For the Jews it was a time of light and gladness, of joy and honor. ¹⁷In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

¹Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart: ²“In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected men. ³And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

⁴For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect men, ⁵yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice. Otherwise, she will wear me out with her perpetual requests.’”

⁶And the Lord said, “Listen to the words of the unjust judge. ⁷Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay in helping them? ⁸I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men — swindlers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’

¹³But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus Blesses the Children

¹⁵Now people were even bringing their babies to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them. And when the disciples saw this, they rebuked those who brought them.

¹⁶But Jesus called the children to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

The Rich Young Ruler

¹⁸Then a certain ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹“Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied. “No one is good except God alone. ²⁰You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.’”

²¹“All these I have kept from my youth,” he said.

²²On hearing this, Jesus told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

²³But when the ruler heard this, he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy.

²⁴Seeing the man’s sadness, Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵Indeed, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

²⁸“Look,” said Peter, “we have left all we had to follow You.”

²⁹“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God ³⁰will fail to receive many times more in this age — and in the age to come, eternal life.”

The Third Prediction of the Passion

³¹Then Jesus took the Twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything the prophets have written about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. ³²He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. ³³They will flog Him and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again.”

³⁴But the disciples did not understand any of these things. The meaning was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend what He was saying.

Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar

³⁵As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting beside the road, begging. ³⁶When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening.

³⁷“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by,” they told him.

³⁸So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹Those who led the way admonished him to be silent, but he cried out all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰Jesus stopped and directed that the man be brought to Him. When he had come near, Jesus asked him, ⁴¹“What do you want Me to do for you?”

“Lord,” he said, “let me see again.”

⁴²“Receive your sight!” Jesus replied. “Your faith has healed you.” ⁴³Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.