← Through the ESV Bible in a Year with Jackie Hill Perry
Through the ESV Bible in a Year with Jackie Hill Perry
April 29 (Judges 6–7; Psalm 108; Romans 12–13)
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A reading from the Book of Judges. The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian. Seven years, and the hand of Midian overpowered Israel. And because of Midian, the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up against them. They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land as far as Gaza and leave no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep or ox or donkey, for they would come up with their livestock in their tents. They would come like locusts in number. Both they and their camels could not be counted, so that they laid waste the land as they came in. And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord. When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, I am the Lord your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed my voice. Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joaz the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, the Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor. And Gideon said to him, please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt, but now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian? And the Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian, do not I send you? And he said to him, please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And The Lord said to him, but I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man. And he said to him, if now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you. And he said, I will stay till you return. So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from a ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket and the broth he put in a pot and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. And the angel of God said to him, take the meat and the unleavened cakes and put them on this rock and pour the broth over them. And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, alas, O Lord God, for now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. But the Lord said to him, peace be to you. Do not fear, you shall not die. Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it the Lord is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. That night the Lord said to him, take your father's bull and the second bull, seven years old, and pull down the altar of BAAL that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it, and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down. So Gideon took 10 men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night. When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of BAAL was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down. And the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. And they said to one another, who has done this thing? And after they had searched and inquired, they said, gideon, the son of Joash has done this thing. Then the men of the town said to Joash, bring out your son that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of BAAL and cut down the Asherah beside it. But Joash said to all who stood against them, will you contend for BAAL or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a God, let him contend for himself because his altar has been broken down. Therefore, on that day, Gideon was called Jerubaal. That is to say, let BAAL contend against him because he broke down his altar. Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the valley of Jezreel. But the spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet. And the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh. And they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them. Then Gideon said to God, if you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said. And it was so when he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece. He wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, let not your anger burn against me. Let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night. And it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew. Then Jerubaal, that is Gideon and all the people who were with him, rose early and encamped beside the spring of Herod. And the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, the people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, my own hand has saved me. Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead. Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, the people are still Too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. And anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, shall go with you. And anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall not go with you, shall not go. So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise everyone who kneels down to drink. And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men. But all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, with the 300 men who lapped, I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand. And let all the others go, every man, to his home. So the people took provisions in their hands and their trumpets, and they sent all the rest of Israel, every man, to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. That same night the Lord said to him, arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah, your servant, and you shall hear what they say. And afterwards your hand shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. Then he went down with Purah, his servant, to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley like locusts in abundance. And their camels were without number as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, behold, I dreamed a dream. And behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat. And his comrade answered, this is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp. As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped, and he returned to the camp of Israel and said, arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand. And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them, and empty jars with torches inside the jars. And they said to them, look at me and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do As I do when I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout for the Lord and for Gideon. So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out a sword for the Lord and for Gideon. Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beath Shitta, toward Zerarah, as far as the border of Abel, Meholah, by Tabith. And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh. And they pursued after Midian. Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them as far as Beth Barah and also the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were called out. And they captured the waters as far as Beth Barah and also the Jordan. And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the Rock of Oreb. And Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan. A reading from the Book of Psalms. A song. A Psalm of David. My heart is steadfast, O God. I will sing and make melody with all my being Awake, O harp and lyre. I will awake the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great above the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth that your beloved ones may be delivered. Give salvation by your right hand and answer me. God has promised in his holiness. With exultation I will divide up Shechem and portion out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim is my helmet. Judah my scepter. Moab is my washbasin. Upon Edom I cast my shoe over Philistia. I shout in triumph. Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies. O grant us help against the foe. For vain is the salvation of man. With God we shall do valiantly. It is he who will tread down our foes. A reading from the Book of Romans. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function. So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness, let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all, if possible, so far as it depends on you. Live peaceably with all, beloved. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord to the contrary. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil. But overcome evil with good. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resist what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval. For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed. Respect to whom respect is owed. Honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet. And any other commandment are summed up in this, shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this, you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone, the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the daytime. Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.