The Daily Audio Bible

Gideon attacks the Midianites

7 Gideon and his army got up the next morning. They marched to the spring of water at Harod. They made their camp near there. The Midianite army made their camp in the valley near the hill of Moreh. They were north of the Israelite army. ² The Lord said to Gideon, ‘You have too many men in your army. When I put the Midianites under your power, your soldiers may boast about their own strength. They may say that they have won the battle themselves. ³ So say to the men, “If you are very afraid of the battle and you are shaking with fear, you may go.” ’ So 22,000 men left that place and they went home. But 10,000 soldiers remained with Gideon.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Gideon, ‘There are still too many men. Take them to the spring of water to drink. I will test them for you there. If I say, “This man should go with you,” then take him. But if I say, “This man should not go with you,” then do not take him.’ ⁵ So Gideon took the men to the spring of water. The Lord said to Gideon, ‘Put the men who use their tongues to drink like a dog in one group. Put the men who go down on their knees to drink in another group.’

⁶ 300 men used their tongues to drink the water. The other men all went down on their knees to drink. ⁷ The Lord said to Gideon, ‘I will use those 300 men to rescue you and put the Midianites under your power. Let all the other men return to their homes.’

⁸ Gideon kept the 300 men with him. He took the food and trumpets from the other men and he gave it to the 300 men. Then Gideon sent the other men home.

The camp of the Midianite army was in the valley below the Israelites. ⁹ That night the Lord said to Gideon, ‘Get up now. Go down and attack the camp of the Midianites. I have put them under your power. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to attack them now, take your servant Purah down to their camp. ¹¹ Listen to what the Midianites are saying to each other. That will make you brave enough to attack them.’ So Gideon took Purah with him to the edge of the Midianite army's camp, where they had guards. ¹² The valley was full of Midianites, Amalekites and all the people from the east. They covered the ground like locusts. There were too many men to count. Their camels also were more than the sand on the shore of the sea.

¹³ When Gideon came nearer, he heard a Midianite soldier tell his friend about a dream. The soldier said, ‘In my dream, I saw a loaf of bread that was rolling into our camp. It hit one of our tents and it knocked the tent down to the ground!’

¹⁴ The other soldier replied, ‘This dream is telling us about Joash's son Gideon, the leader of the Israelites. It shows us that he has the power to kill us. God has put Midian and all our army under his power!’

¹⁵ When Gideon heard this news about the dream and its meaning, he praised God. He returned to the Israelites' camp. He shouted to his men, ‘Get up now! The Lord has put Midian's army under your power!’ ¹⁶ He divided his 300 men into three separate groups. He gave a trumpet and an empty pot to each soldier. Each man put a burning branch into his pot.

¹⁷ Gideon said to his men, ‘Watch me carefully. When we get near to the enemy's camp, you must do the same thing that I do. ¹⁸ You will be all around the camp. I and my group of men will make a noise with our trumpets. Then you must also make a noise with your trumpets. Then shout, “We are fighting for the Lord and for Gideon!” ’

¹⁹ Gideon took 100 men with him to the edge of the Midianites' camp. It was the middle of the night. A new group of Midianite guards had just started their work. Gideon's men made a loud noise with their trumpets. They also broke the pots that they were holding. ²⁰ Then all three groups of Israelite soldiers made a noise with their trumpets that they held in the right hands. They broke their pots and they held their burning branches in their left hands. Then they shouted, ‘Fight for the Lord and for Gideon!’ ²¹ They all stood in their places around the Midianites' camp. Then the whole Midianite army ran away! They were shouting as they ran as fast as they could run.

²² When Gideon's 300 men made a noise with their trumpets, it confused the Midianites everywhere in their camp. The Lord caused them to attack one another with their swords. Their army ran away to Beth Shittah, on the road towards Zererah. They ran as far as the border of Abel Meholah, near Tabbath. ²³ Then Gideon told men from the tribes of Naphtali, Asher and Manasseh to chase the Midianites.

²⁴ Then Gideon sent men to the hill country of Ephraim with this message: ‘Come down to the valleys and stop the Midianites from escaping. Put guards on all the places where people go across the streams and rivers. Do that on the Jordan River as far as Beth Barah.’ So all the men of Ephraim's tribe came together. They put guards on the Jordan River and the streams, as far as Beth Barah. ²⁵ They caught the two leaders of the Midianite army, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb. They killed Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They continued to chase the Midianites. They took the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the east side of the Jordan River.

8 The men of Ephraim's tribe asked Gideon, ‘Why have you insulted us? You should have called us to join with you to fight against the Midianites.’ They were very angry and they argued with Gideon. ² Gideon said to them, ‘What you did in the fight was more important than what I was able to do. My family started the battle, but your tribe finished the job! ³ God chose you to take power over the leaders of Midian's army. You killed Oreb and Zeeb! Nothing that I did was as great as that!’

When Gideon said that, the men of Ephraim stopped being angry.

Zebah and Zalmunna

⁴ Gideon and his 300 men were weak and tired. But they went across the Jordan and they continued to chase the Midianites. ⁵ Gideon said to the men of Succoth, ‘Please give my soldiers some food to eat. They are very tired. We are chasing the kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, to catch them.’ ⁶ The city leaders of Succoth said, ‘You have not yet caught Zebah and Zalmunna. We will not give you any food until you have done that.’ ⁷ Gideon replied, ‘Because you say that, I will return here. When the Lord has put Zebah and Zalmunna under my power, I will come back to punish you. I will beat you with thorn branches that will tear your skin to pieces!’

⁸ Gideon continued his journey to Peniel. He asked their people for food too. But they gave him the same answer as the men of Succoth. ⁹ Gideon also warned the men of Peniel, ‘When I have won the fight against my enemies, I will return. Then I will destroy your strong tower.’

¹⁰ Zebah and Zalmunna had 15,000 men with them in Karkor. They were the only men left of their great army from the east. 120,000 of their soldiers had died in the battle. ¹¹ Gideon went along a road near the desert. It was east of Nobah and Jogbehah. He attacked the enemy's army by surprise. ¹² The two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, ran away. Gideon chased after them and he caught them. The whole Midianite army ran away in fear.

¹³ Then Gideon left the place of the battle to return home. He went along the road across Heres hills. ¹⁴ He caught a young man who came from Succoth. He asked him about the leaders of Succoth. The young man wrote down the names of 77 leaders and officers of the city. ¹⁵ Gideon went to Succoth with Zebah and Zalmunna. He said to the leaders, ‘Now I have brought these kings to you! You insulted me! You said, “We will not give your tired men any food until you have caught Zebah and Zalmunna.” ’

¹⁶ Then Gideon took hold of Succoth's leaders. He beat them with thorn branches to punish them. ¹⁷ He also went to Peniel and he destroyed their tower. He killed the men of that city.

Pilate and the Jewish leaders argue about Jesus

¹³ Pilate then told the leaders of the priests, the leaders of the Jews and the people to come back to him. ¹⁴ He said to them, ‘You brought this man to me. You said that he was causing the people to fight against their rulers. Listen! I have asked him some questions in front of you. But I have not found that he has done anything wrong. ¹⁵ Herod also did not find that he had done anything wrong. That is why he has sent him back to me. You can see this. He has not done anything bad that means he ought to die. ¹⁶ So I will just punish him. I will command a soldier to hit him with whips. Then I will let him go.’

¹⁷ [Pilate usually let one person go free out of the prison at Passover time.]^[a]

¹⁸ But the crowd all shouted together, ‘Take this man away and kill him! We want Barabbas to go free.’

¹⁹ Barabbas had fought against the Roman rulers in Jerusalem. He had also killed somebody. That is why the rulers had put him in prison. ²⁰ But Pilate still wanted to let Jesus go. So he spoke to the crowd again. ²¹ But they continued to shout. They were shouting, ‘Kill him on a cross, kill him on a cross.’^[b]

²² Pilate asked them the same question for the third time. ‘Why should I kill him? What wrong things has he done? You want me to say that he should die. But I have not found anything wrong that would cause me to say that. So I will punish him. I will command my soldiers to hit him with a whip. Then I will let him go.’

²³ But they continued to shout at Pilate, ‘Kill him on a cross.’ They continued to shout very much. So, in the end, ²⁴ Pilate did what they wanted. ²⁵ They had asked Pilate to let Barabbas go free out of the prison. He was the man that had caused the Jewish people to fight against the Roman rulers. He had also killed somebody. He was the man that Pilate let go free. As for Jesus, Pilate commanded the soldiers to take him away. He let the people do to him what they wanted.

They kill Jesus on a cross

²⁶ So the soldiers took Jesus away, to go to the place where they would kill him. On the way, they took hold of a man called Simon. This man was from the town of Cyrene. He was coming in from outside the city. The soldiers took the cross that Jesus was carrying on his shoulders. They made Simon carry it instead as he walked behind Jesus.

²⁷ A very large crowd of people were following Jesus. There were many women among them. They were crying with loud voices. They were weeping and crying because they were very sad. ²⁸ So Jesus turned round and he said to them, ‘You women that live in Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Instead, cry for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ Listen! Days will come when people will say, “It is better for those women that could not have babies. Those women that never had babies to feed are the happy ones!” ³⁰ People will begin to say, “It would be better if we were dead.” They will ask the mountains to fall on top of them. They will ask the hills to cover them up. ³¹ There is much trouble and pain now. But much worse things will happen! Now the fire burns slowly. But soon it will be like a fire that quickly burns dry wood!’^[c]

³² The soldiers also took two other men out of the prison. These men had done bad things. The soldiers would kill them and Jesus together. ³³ They took them to the place that is called ‘The Skull’. There they fixed Jesus to a cross to die. They also fixed the two bad men to crosses. One of these men was on the right side of Jesus. The other was on his left side.

³⁴ Jesus said, ‘Father, these people do not know what they are doing. So please forgive them.’

The soldiers then picked up Jesus' clothes for themselves. They played a game to decide who would receive each piece of his clothes. ³⁵ The people stood there and they were watching. The Jewish leaders were laughing at Jesus. They said, ‘He saved other people, did he? Then he should save his own life! Then we will know that he is really the Messiah, the man that God has chosen.’

³⁶ The soldiers also laughed at him. They came up to him and they offered him cheap wine to drink. ³⁷ They said, ‘If you are really the King of the Jews, save your own life.’

³⁸ There was also a notice fixed at the top of the cross. It said, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

³⁹ One of the bad men on a cross at the side of Jesus started to insult him. He shouted, ‘You say that you are the Messiah, don't you? Then save your own life and save our lives too!’

⁴⁰ But the bad man on the other cross told him that he should be quiet. He said, ‘You should be more afraid of God. We will die here, as well as him. ⁴¹ We two men have done very bad things. So it is right that we should die. But this man has not done anything wrong.’ ⁴² Then the man said to Jesus, ‘Remember me, Jesus, when you start to rule in your kingdom.’ ⁴³ Jesus replied, ‘I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.’

The Lord rules as king!^[a]

God rules the world^[c]