Judges 1–3
1 After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, “Who should go up against the Canaanites first, in order to wage war against them?”
2 The Lord said, “Judah shall go up. Indeed, I have given the land into their hands.”
3 Then the men of Judah said to Simeon, their brothers, “Come up with us into our allotted territory. We will wage war against the Canaanites. Likewise we will go with you into your allotted territory.” So Simeon went with them.
4 Then Judah went up, and the Lord gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands. They struck down ten thousand men in Bezek. 5 They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek and fought against him. They struck down the Canaanites and Perizzites. 6 Yet Adoni-Bezek fled, and they chased after him, seized him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
7 Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings whose thumbs and big toes were cut off once collected scraps of food under my table. Just as I have done, so God has repaid me.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8 Then Judah waged war against Jerusalem. They captured it, struck it with the edge of the sword, and sent the city up in flames.
9 Afterwards, Judah went down to wage war against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev, and the lowlands. 10 Judah went against the Canaanites living in Hebron (previously the name of Hebron was Kiriath Arba) and they struck down Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. 11 From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir (previously the name of Debir was Kiriath Sepher).
12 Caleb said, “He who attacks Kiriath Sepher and takes it, I will give him my daughter Aksah as wife.” 13 Othniel son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb, captured it. So Caleb gave him Aksah his daughter in marriage.
14 When she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. As she dismounted from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What can I do for you?”
15 She answered, “Please give me a special gift. Since you have given me land in the Negev, now give me springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.
16 The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the descendants of Judah from the City of Palms to the Negev near Arad. Then they went and lived with the people.
17 But Judah went with his brother Simeon and struck down the Canaanites living in Zephath and utterly destroyed it. So now they call the city Hormah. 18 Then Judah captured Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and the territory belonging to each of these cities.
19 The Lord was with Judah, and they took the hill country but could not drive out the inhabitants of the coastal plain, for they had iron chariots. 20 They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said, and he drove out the three sons of Anak. 21 However, the tribe of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites live with the tribe of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
22 The descendants of Joseph went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them. 23 The descendants of Joseph sent spies into Bethel (the former name of the city was Luz). 24 The spies saw a man coming out of the city and said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will deal kindly with you.” 25 So he showed them an entrance to the city. They struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and his extended family go. 26 The man went to the land of the Hittites. He built a city and named it Luz, and that is its name to this day.
27 Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shan, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, or their daughter villages, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. 28 When the children of Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to hard labor as slaves, but they did not actually drive them out. 29 Ephraim did not drive out the inhabitants of Gezer, so the Canaanites lived among them in Gezer. 30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron and Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them and became slave laborers. 31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Akko, Sidon, Ahlab, Akzib, Helbah, Aphek, or Rehob. 32 Asher lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. 33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath, so they live among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. The Canaanites of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became slave laborers for them. 34 The Amorites pushed the tribe of Dan into the hill country, for they would not let them come down to the coastal plain. 35 The Amorites were determined to live in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim, but the hand of the descendants of Joseph was heavy on them, and they became slave laborers. 36 The border of the Amorites was from the Ascent of Akrabbim to Sela and beyond.
Chapter 2
1 The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I promised your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, 2 but you must not make a pact with the inhabitants of this land, and you must tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done? 3 So now I say, ‘I will not drive them out before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’”
4 When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people raised their voices and wept aloud. 5 They named that place Bokim and sacrificed to the Lord there.
6 When Joshua dismissed the people, each Israelite went to his inheritance to possess the land. 7 So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works that the Lord had done for Israel.
8 Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten. 9 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 That entire generation passed away, and after them grew up a generation who did not know the Lord or the deeds that He had done for Israel.
11 The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They abandoned the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed after other gods, the gods of the peoples around them. They worshipped them and provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of those who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they were no longer able to stand against their enemies. 15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them to bring disaster, as the Lord had said and as He had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges, for they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord. They did not do as their fathers had done. 18 When the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for their groaning before their oppressors and tormentors grieved the Lord. 19 When the judge died, the people turned back and acted more wickedly than their fathers, pursuing other gods to serve and worship them. They would not give up their practices and obstinate ways.
20 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has violated My covenant that I commanded their fathers and has not heeded My voice, 21 I will no longer drive out from before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, 22 so that through them I may test Israel and see whether or not they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers did.” 23 So the Lord left those nations, not hurrying to drive them out; and He did not deliver them into the hand of Joshua.
Chapter 3
1 Now these are the nations that the Lord left to test those in Israel who had not experienced war in Canaan 2 (so that later generations of the children of Israel who did not know war before might know it, to teach them how to fight): 3 the five Philistine lords, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4 They were to test Israel, in order to know if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5 The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7 The children of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. The children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim for eight years. 9 Then the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a deliverer in order to save the children of Israel—Othniel son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he judged Israel. He went out to battle, and the Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hands, so that Othniel overpowered Cushan-Rishathaim. 11 The land rested forty years, then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
12 Then the children of Israel once more did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord strengthened King Eglon of Moab against Israel because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 13 Eglon joined forces with the Ammonites and Amalekites; then he went and attacked Israel and took possession of the City of Palms. 14 The children of Israel served King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.
15 Then the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a deliverer—Ehud son of Gera the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The children of Israel sent a tribute payment by him to King Eglon of Moab. 16 Ehud made a cubit-long two-edged sword for himself and strapped it onto his right thigh under his cloak. 17 He brought the tribute payment to King Eglon of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 18 When Ehud finished offering the tribute payment, he sent away the people who carried it. 19 But he himself turned back from the stone idols that were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”
And he said, “Keep silence!” And all who attended him departed from him.
20 Ehud approached him as he was sitting alone in his cool upper chamber. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And Eglon rose from his seat. 21 Then Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into the belly of Eglon. 22 The hilt went in after the blade and the fat closed over the blade and his entrails came out, for he did not pull the sword out of the belly of Eglon. 23 Then Ehud went out to the entrance hall and closed the doors of the upper chamber on him and locked them.
24 When he went out, the servants of Eglon came. They looked and noticed the doors of the upper chamber were locked. They thought, “Surely he is attending to his needs in the cool chamber.” 25 They waited until they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper chamber. So they took a key and opened it. There, fallen dead on the floor, was their lord.
26 Yet Ehud escaped while they were waiting. He passed the sacred stones and escaped to Seirah. 27 Upon his arrival, he blew a ram’s horn trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he led them.
28 He said to them, “Follow me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands.” They followed him, and they captured the Jordan fords leading to Moab. They did not let anyone cross. 29 They struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all strong and valorous men, and not a single man escaped. 30 So Moab was humbled under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had peace for eighty years.
31 After Ehud was Shamgar son of Anath. He struck down six hundred Philistine men with an ox goad. He also saved Israel.
Luke 4:1–30
1 Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted by the devil for forty days. During those days He ate nothing. And when they were ended, He was hungry.
3 The devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”
5 The devil, taking Him up onto a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this power and their glory, for it has been delivered to me. And I give it to whomever I will. 7 If You, then, will worship me, all will be Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’”
9 He brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
‘He shall give His angels charge concerning you,
to preserve you,’
11 and
‘In their hands they shall hold you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”
13 When the devil had ended all the temptations, he departed from Him until another time.
14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And His fame went throughout the surrounding region. 15 He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by everyone.
16 He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And He stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. When He had unrolled the scroll, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
because He has anointed Me
to preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He rolled up the scroll, and He gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all those who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All bore witness to Him, and wondered at the gracious words which came from His mouth. Then they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
23 He said to them, “You will surely say to Me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal Yourself. Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’”
24 He also said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truthfully, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed for three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. 26 Yet to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, a city of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. But none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. 29 They rose up and thrust Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down headlong. 30 But passing through the midst of them, He went His way.