Judges 7

• 1. Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.
• 2. The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her,
• 3. announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.'" So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
• 4. But the LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."
• 5. So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink."
• 6. Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.
• 7. The LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place."
• 8. So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.
• 9. During that night the LORD said to Gideon, "Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.
• 10. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah
• 11. and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp." So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp.
• 12. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.
• 13. Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed."
• 14. His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands."
• 15. When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands."
• 16. Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.
• 17. "Watch me," he told them. "Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.
• 18. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, 'For the LORD and for Gideon.'"
• 19. Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands.
• 20. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"
• 21. While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
• 22. When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.
• 23. Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites.
• 24. Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah." So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they took the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah.
• 25. They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.

Acts 11

• 1. The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.
• 2. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him
• 3. and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."
• 4. Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened:
• 5. "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was.
• 6. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air.
• 7. Then I heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.'
• 8. "I replied, 'Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'
• 9. "The voice spoke from heaven a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.'
• 10. This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
• 11. "Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.
• 12. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house.
• 13. He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.
• 14. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.'
• 15. "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.
• 16. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
• 17. So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"
• 18. When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."
• 19. Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews.
• 20. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.
• 21. The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
• 22. News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
• 23. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.
• 24. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
• 25. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,
• 26. and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
• 27. During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
• 28. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)
• 29. The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea.
• 30. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Jeremiah 20

• 1. When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,
• 2. he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the LORD's temple.
• 3. The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD's name for you is not Pashhur, but Magor-Missabib.
• 4. For this is what the LORD says: 'I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon, who will carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword.
• 5. I will hand over to their enemies all the wealth of this city-all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder and carry it off to Babylon.
• 6. And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.'"
• 7. O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.
• 8. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.
• 9. But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.
• 10. I hear many whispering, "Terror on every side! Report him! Let's report him!" All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, "Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him."
• 11. But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten.
• 12. O LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.
• 13. Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.
• 14. Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
• 15. Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, "A child is born to you-a son!"
• 16. May that man be like the towns the LORD overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon.
• 17. For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever.
• 18. Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?

New International Version

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