The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁸ Then Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna, ‘Tell me about the men that you killed at Tabor. What kind of men were they?’ The kings answered, ‘They were like you. They looked like the sons of kings.’ ¹⁹ Gideon said, ‘Those were my brothers, my own mother's sons. If you had not killed my brothers, I would not kill you. I promise you that, as surely as the Lord lives.’

²⁰ Gideon said to his oldest son, Jether, ‘Kill them now!’ But Jether was only a boy. He was too afraid to do anything. ²¹ Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, ‘Kill us yourself! Let us see if you are brave enough to do that!’

So Gideon did kill them. He took away the silver images from the necks of their camels.

Gideon makes a gold ephod

²² After that, the Israelites said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us as our king! You, your son and your grandson should rule us. You have rescued us from Midian's power.’

²³ But Gideon said to them, ‘I will not agree to rule over you. Nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.’

²⁴ Gideon also said, ‘I will ask you only to do one thing for me. Each of you should give me one ear-ring from the things that you took from our enemies.’ (The Midianites wore gold ear-rings because they were descendants of Ishmael.)

²⁵ The people replied, ‘We are happy to give them to you.’

So they put a coat on the ground. Each man threw a ring onto it. ²⁶ The weight of all the rings was 20 kilograms. They also had valuable silver images and jewels. They had valuable clothes that the kings of Midian wore and necklaces from the camels. ²⁷ Gideon used the gold to make an image of an ephod. He put it in Ophrah, where he lived. All the Israelites came there and they worshipped the image.^[a] It caused them to turn away from the true God. It became like a trap that caught Gideon and his family.

Gideon dies

²⁸ The Israelites now had complete power over the Midianites. The Midianites were too ashamed to fight against them. While Gideon was alive, the land of Israel had peace for 40 years.

²⁹ Then Gideon went back home to live. ³⁰ He had many wives. They gave birth to 70 sons for him. ³¹ Gideon also had a slave wife who lived in Shechem. She gave birth to a son for him. Gideon called him Abimelech.

³² Joash's son Gideon died when he was very old. People buried him in the grave of his father, Joash. That was in Ophrah, on the land of Abiezer's clan.

³³ Soon after Gideon died, the Israelites stopped being faithful to the Lord. They started to worship the idols of Baal again. They chose Baal-Berith to be their new god. ³⁴ They no longer served the Lord their God. They forgot that he had saved them from all the enemies who lived around them. ³⁵ The Israelites did not remain faithful to Gideon's family either. They did not remember all the good things that he had done to help Israel.

Abimelech becomes king

9 Gideon's son Abimelech went to Shechem to speak to his mother's brothers. He said to them and to her family's clan, ² ‘Say this to the leaders of Shechem: “You should not agree to let all of Gideon's 70 sons rule over you. It would be better for you to have only one man rule over you. Remember that I belong to your own family.” ’

³ Abimelech's mother's family told the men of Shechem what Abimelech had said. They agreed that Abimelech would be a good ruler for them. They said, ‘He is our brother.’

⁴ So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of their god, Baal-Berith. Abimelech used this money to pay some wicked men to help him. ⁵ He went to his father's home in Ophrah. He killed his 70 brothers, the sons of Gideon. He killed them all on one rock. But Jotham, Gideon's youngest son, hid himself and he escaped.^[b]

⁶ Then the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo met together. They took Abimelech to the oak tree near the pillar of rock in Shechem. There they made Abimelech king.

⁷ When Jotham heard the news of what had happened, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim. He stood there and he shouted to the people, ‘Leaders of Shechem, listen to me! Then perhaps God will listen to you.

⁸ One day, the trees decided to choose a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, “Be our king.” ⁹ But the olive tree replied, “My oil pleases men and even the gods. I will not stop making my oil so that I can rule over all you other trees!”

¹⁰ Then the trees said to the fig tree, “Come and be our king.” ¹¹ The fig tree replied, “I will not stop making my good, sweet figs so that I can rule over you.”

¹² Then the trees said to the vine, “Come and be our king.” ¹³ But the vine answered, “Wine from my grapes makes gods and people happy. I will not stop making wine so that I can rule over you.”

¹⁴ Finally, the trees said to the thorn bush, “Come and be our king.” ¹⁵ The thorn bush said to the trees, “If you really want to choose me as your king, come here. Hide under my branches to keep safe. If not, I will cause fire to come out from the thorn bush. It will burn up all the big cedar trees in Lebanon!”^[c]

¹⁶ When you chose Abimelech to be your king, you have not been faithful to Gideon and his family. You have not given Gideon the honour that he deserves. ¹⁷ My father Gideon fought to save you. He did not try to keep his own life safe. He rescued you from the power of the Midianites. ¹⁸ But you have turned against my father's family today. You killed his 70 sons on one rock. You have made Abimelech king because he belongs to your family. He is the son of my father's slave wife. ¹⁹ If you have really been faithful to Gideon and his family today, I pray that Abimelech will make you happy! I pray that you will make Abimelech happy, too! ²⁰ But if you have not been faithful, I pray that Abimelech will destroy you! I pray that his fire will completely burn up the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo. And I pray that fire from you leaders will completely destroy Abimelech!’

²¹ After he said that, Jotham ran away to Beer. He lived there because he was afraid of his brother, Abimelech.

Jesus dies

⁴⁴ It was now about midday. The whole country became dark for three hours. ⁴⁵ The sun did not give any light. Then the curtain inside the temple tore into two parts. ⁴⁶ Then Jesus shouted loudly, ‘Father, I give my spirit to you.’ After he shouted this, he died.

⁴⁷ There was a captain of the soldiers there. When he saw what had happened, he praised God. He said. ‘I am sure that this man had not done anything wrong.’

⁴⁸ A very big crowd had come together to watch the men die. They saw what had happened. Then they began to go home. They were very sad, and they were hitting their own bodies with their hands. ⁴⁹ The friends of Jesus were there. The women that had come with him from Galilee were also there. They were all standing a long way away. They also saw what happened to him.

Joseph buries Jesus

⁵⁰ A man called Joseph was also there. He was one of a special group of important Jewish leaders.^[a] He was a good man that wanted to do right things. ⁵¹ He was from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He had not agreed with the other leaders that Jesus should die. He was waiting for God to begin to rule his people in his kingdom.

⁵² So Joseph went to see Pilate. He asked Pilate for the dead body of Jesus. Pilate agreed to this. ⁵³ Joseph then went to the place where Jesus died. He took the dead body down from the cross. He put a piece of linen cloth around the body. Then he put the body into a large hole in the rock. People had made that hole to put dead bodies in, but it was the first time that anyone had used it.^[b]

⁵⁴ This all happened on the day before the Jewish day of rest. It was nearly time for the Jewish day of rest to begin.^[c]

Jesus becomes alive again

⁵⁵ The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph. They saw the place where the hole in the rock was. They also saw Joseph put Jesus' body into the empty hole. ⁵⁶ Then they returned to the house where they were staying in Jerusalem. They prepared spices and oil that had a beautiful smell. On the Jewish day of rest they obeyed God's Law and they did not work.

24 Very early on the first day of the week, they went to the place where Joseph had put Jesus' dead body. They took with them the spices that they had prepared. ² They arrived there. They found that someone had rolled the big stone away from the hole. ³ They went inside the hole in the rock, but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus there. ⁴ They did not understand this at all. But while they were thinking about it, two men appeared. Their clothes shone brightly like lightning. These men came and stood beside them. ⁵ So the women became very afraid and they went down low with their faces on the ground.

The men said to the women, ‘This is a place to bury dead people. You should not be looking here for someone who is alive. ⁶ Jesus is not here. He has become alive again! Remember what he said to you, while he was still with you in Galilee. ⁷ He said, “It is necessary that someone should give the Son of Man into the power of bad men. They will kill him on a cross. But three days later he will become alive again.” ’

⁸ Then the women remembered the words that Jesus had said in Galilee. ⁹ They left the hole where Jesus' body had been. They went to the 11 apostles. They told them what had happened. They also told all the other people who were there. ¹⁰ It was Mary from Magdala, Joanna, James' mother Mary, and other women who were with them that told the news about Jesus to the apostles. ¹¹ But they did not believe what the women said. They thought that it was just a silly story. ¹² But Peter got up and he ran to the hole in the rock. He bent down and he looked inside. He saw only the pieces of linen cloth that they had put around Jesus' body. There was nothing else. So he went home again. He could not understand what might have happened.

The Lord is holy!^[a]