The King James Version of the Bible
Part 85
2250 words | Chapter 85
plead for
Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to
death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for
himself, because one hath cast down his altar.
6:32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal
plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.
6:33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of
the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the
valley of Jezreel.
6:34 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a
trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him.
6:35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was
gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto
Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
6:36 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand,
as thou hast said, 6:37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the
floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all
the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine
hand, as thou hast said.
6:38 And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the
fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of
water.
6:39 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me,
and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this
once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon
all the ground let there be dew.
6:40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only,
and there was dew on all the ground.
7:1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with
him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the
host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of
Moreh, in the valley.
7:2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are
too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel
vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
7:3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying,
Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from
mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two
thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
7:4 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring
them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it
shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the
same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall
not go with thee, the same shall not go.
7:5 So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said
unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a
dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that
boweth down upon his knees to drink.
7:6 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their
mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed
down upon their knees to drink water.
7:7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that
lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand:
and let all the other people go every man unto his place.
7:8 So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and
he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained
those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the
valley.
7:9 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him,
Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine
hand.
7:10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down
to the host: 7:11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward
shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went
he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that
were in the host.
7:12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the
east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and
their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for
multitude.
7:13 And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a
dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a
cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a
tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay
along.
7:14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the
sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand
hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.
7:15 And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and
the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the
host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your
hand the host of Midian.
7:16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he
put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps
within the pitchers.
7:17 And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold,
when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so
shall ye do.
7:18 When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow
ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword
of the LORD, and of Gideon.
7:19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the
outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had
but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the
pitchers that were in their hands.
7:20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the
pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in
their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the
LORD, and of Gideon.
7:21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and
all the host ran, and cried, and fled.
7:22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every
man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the
host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of
Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.
7:23 And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of
Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after
the Midianites.
7:24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying,
come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto
Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves
together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan.
7:25 And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and
they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress
of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to
Gideon on the other side Jordan.
8:1 And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us
thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the
Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply.
8:2 And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you?
Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage
of Abiezer? 8:3 God hath delivered into your hands the princes of
Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you?
Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
8:4 And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three
hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.
8:5 And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of
bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am
pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.
8:6 And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and
Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army?
8:7 And Gideon said, Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and
Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns
of the wilderness and with briers.
8:8 And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise: and
the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him.
8:9 And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come
again in peace, I will break down this tower.
8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them,
about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the
children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand
men that drew sword.
8:11 And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the
east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host; for the host was
secure.
8:12 And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took
the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the
host.
8:13 And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun
was up, 8:14 And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and
enquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and
the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men.
8:15 And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and
Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah
and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men
that are weary? 8:16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns
of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of
Succoth.
8:17 And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the
city.
8:18 Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were
they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were
they; each one resembled the children of a king.
8:19 And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother:
as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.
8:20 And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the
youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth.
8:21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as
the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and
Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels’
necks.
8:22 Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both
thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son also: for thou hast delivered us
from the hand of Midian.
8:23 And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither
shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you.
8:24 And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that
ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had
golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 8:25 And they
answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and
did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey.
8:26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a
thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and
collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and
beside the chains that were about their camels’ necks.
8:27 And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in
Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing
became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
8:28 Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that
they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness
forty years in the days of Gideon.
8:29 And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.
8:30 And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for
he had many wives.
8:31 And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son,
whose name he called Abimelech.
8:32 And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was
buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the
Abiezrites.
8:33 And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the
children of Israel turned
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