One Year Bible.

Midian Oppresses Israel

¹Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; so He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, ²and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.

³Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east would come up and invade them, ⁴encamping against them as far as Gaza and destroying the produce of the land. They left Israel with no sustenance, neither sheep nor oxen nor donkeys. ⁵For the Midianites came with their livestock and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were innumerable, and they entered the land to ravage it.

⁶Israel was greatly impoverished by Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD.

⁷Now when the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian, ⁸He sent them a prophet, who told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ⁹I delivered you out of the hands of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰And I said to you: ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.’ But you did not obey Me.”

The Call of Gideon

¹¹Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. ¹²And the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

¹³“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁴The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

¹⁵“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

¹⁶“Surely I will be with you,” the LORD replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.”

¹⁷Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me. ¹⁸Please do not depart from this place until I return to You. Let me bring my offering and set it before You.”

And the LORD said, “I will stay until you return.”

¹⁹So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to present to Him under the oak.

²⁰And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so.

²¹Then the angel of the LORD extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire flared from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.

²²When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he said, “Oh no, Lord GOD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!”

²³But the LORD said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid, for you will not die.”

²⁴So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Gideon Destroys Baal’s Altar

²⁵On that very night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old, tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. ²⁶Then build a proper altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold. And with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down, take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering.”

²⁷So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city, he did it by night rather than in the daytime.

²⁸When the men of the city got up in the morning, there was Baal’s altar torn down, with the Asherah pole cut down beside it and the second bull offered up on the newly built altar. ²⁹“Who did this?” they said to one another.

And after they had investigated thoroughly, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”

³⁰Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has torn down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

³¹But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Are you contending for Baal? Are you trying to save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If Baal is a god, let him contend for himself with the one who has torn down his altar.”

³²So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he had torn down Baal’s altar.

The Sign of the Fleece

³³Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

³⁴So the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, who blew the ram’s horn and rallied the Abiezrites behind him. ³⁵Calling them to arms, Gideon sent messengers throughout Manasseh, as well as Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, so that they came up to meet him.

³⁶Then Gideon said to God, “If You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said, ³⁷then behold, I will place a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”

³⁸And that is what happened. When Gideon arose the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew — a bowlful of water.

³⁹Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time let it be dry, and the ground covered with dew.”

⁴⁰And that night God did so. Only the fleece was dry, and dew covered the ground.

Gideon’s Army of Three Hundred

¹Early in the morning Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the men with him camped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.

²Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ ³Now, therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the men: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’”

So twenty-two thousand of them turned back, but ten thousand remained.

⁴Then the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go. But if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

⁵So Gideon brought the men down to the water, and the LORD said to him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel to drink.” ⁶And the number of those who lapped the water with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men; all the others knelt to drink.

⁷Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped the water I will save you and deliver the Midianites into your hand. But all the others are to go home.”

⁸So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred men, who took charge of the provisions and rams’ horns of the others. And the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

The Sword of Gideon

⁹That night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up and go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. ¹⁰But if you are afraid to do so, then go down to the camp with your servant Purah ¹¹and listen to what they are saying. Then your hands will be strengthened to attack the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant to the outposts where armed men were guarding the camp.

¹²Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore. ¹³And as Gideon arrived, a man was telling his friend about a dream. “Behold, I had a dream,” he said, “and I saw a loaf of barley bread come tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent so hard that the tent overturned and collapsed.”

¹⁴His friend replied: “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has delivered Midian and the whole camp into his hand.”

Gideon Defeats Midian

¹⁵When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Get up, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” ¹⁶And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.

¹⁷“Watch me and do as I do,” Gideon said. “When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do exactly as I do. ¹⁸When I and all who are with me blow our horns, then you are also to blow your horns from all around the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’”

¹⁹Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands. ²⁰The three companies blew their horns and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

²¹Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, crying out as they ran. ²²And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath. ²³Then the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites.

²⁴Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah. ²⁵They also captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian; and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. So they pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.

The Destroyers of Jerusalem Destroyed

¹Behold, a day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence. ²For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.

³Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. ⁴On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half the mountain moving to the north and half to the south. ⁵You will flee by My mountain valley, for it will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him.

⁶On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. ⁷It will be a unique day known only to the LORD, without day or night; but when evening comes, there will be light.

⁸And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the Eastern Sea and the other half toward the Western Sea, in summer and winter alike. ⁹On that day the LORD will become King over all the earth— the LORD alone, and His name alone.

¹⁰All the land from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem will be turned into a plain, but Jerusalem will be raised up and will remain in her place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. ¹¹People will live there, and never again will there be an utter destruction. So Jerusalem will dwell securely.

¹²And this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

¹³On that day a great panic from the LORD will come upon them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of one will rise against the other. ¹⁴Judah will also fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected — gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance. ¹⁵And a similar plague will strike the horses and mules, camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

All Nations Will Worship the King

¹⁶Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁷And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, then the rain will not fall on them. ¹⁸And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter in, then the rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁹This will be the punishment of Egypt and of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

²⁰On that day, HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the house of the LORD will be like the sprinkling bowls before the altar. ²¹Indeed, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD of Hosts, and all who sacrifice will come and take some pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of Hosts.

Temptations and Trespasses

¹Jesus said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come! ²It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

³Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

The Power of Faith

⁵The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

⁶And the Lord answered, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

⁷Which of you whose servant comes in from plowing or shepherding in the field will say to him, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? ⁸Instead, won’t he tell him, ‘Prepare my meal and dress yourself to serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you may eat and drink’? ⁹Does he thank the servant because he did what he was told? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

The Ten Lepers

¹¹While Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As He entered one of the villages, He was met by ten lepers. They stood at a distance ¹³and raised their voices, shouting, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

¹⁴When Jesus saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were on their way, they were cleansed.

¹⁵When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶He fell facedown at Jesus’ feet in thanksgiving to Him — and he was a Samaritan.

¹⁷“Were not all ten cleansed?” Jesus asked. “Where then are the other nine? ¹⁸Was no one found except this foreigner to return and give glory to God?”

¹⁹Then Jesus said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well!”

The Coming of the Kingdom

²⁰When asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God will not come with observable signs. ²¹Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

²²Then He said to the disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. ²³People will tell you, ‘Look, there He is!’ or ‘Look, here He is!’ Do not go out or chase after them. ²⁴For just as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so will be the Son of Man in His day. ²⁵But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

²⁶Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man: ²⁷People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸It was the same in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. ²⁹But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. ³¹On that day, let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve his possessions. Likewise, let no one in the field return for anything he has left behind. ³²Remember Lot’s wife! ³³Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. ³⁴I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed: one will be taken and the other left. ³⁵Two women will be grinding grain together: one will be taken and the other left.”

³⁷“Where, Lord?” they asked.

Jesus answered, “Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”