King James Version · The judges
Judges 6
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And the did evil in the sight of : and them into the hand of seven years. And the hand of prevailed against Israel: and because of the made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that came up, and , and the children of the east, even they came up against them; And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto , and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of ; and the cried unto . 7And it came to pass, when the cried unto because of , That sent a unto the , which said unto them, Thus saith of Israel, I brought you up from , and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; And I you out of the hand of the , and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land; And I said unto you, I am your ; fear not the gods of the , in whose land ye : but ye have not . And there came of , and sat under an oak which was in , that pertained unto the Abi–ezrite: and his son threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from . And appeared unto him, and said unto him, is with thee, thou . And said unto him, Oh my , if be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not bring us up from ? but now hath forsaken us, and us into the hands of . And looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt Israel from the hand of : have not I sent thee? And he said unto him, Oh my , wherewith shall I Israel? behold, my family is in , and I am the least in ’s house. And said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite as one man. And he said unto him, If now I have found in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not hence, I thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. And went in, and made ready a kid, and cakes of an ephah of flour: he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. And said unto him, Take and the cakes, and lay them upon this , and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then put forth the end of the that was in his hand, and touched and the cakes; and there rose up out of , and consumed and the cakes. Then departed out of his sight. And when perceived that he was of , said, Alas, O ! for because I have seen of to . And said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not . Then built an there unto , and called it –shalom: unto this day it is yet in of the Abi–ezrites. And it came to pass the same night, that said unto him, Take thy ’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the of that thy hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: And build an unto thy upon the top of this , in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. Then took ten men of his servants, and did as had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his ’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. 28And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the of was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the that was built. 29And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, the son of hath done this thing. Then the men of the city said unto , Bring out thy son, that he may : because he hath cast down the of , and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it. And said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for ? will ye him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to whilst it is yet morning: if he be a , let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his . Therefore on that day he called him , saying, Let plead against him, because he hath thrown down his . Then all and and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of . But of came upon , and he blew a ; and Abi–ezer was gathered after him. And he sent throughout all ; who also was gathered after him: and he sent unto Asher, and unto , and unto ; and they came up to meet them. And said unto , If thou wilt Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And said unto , Let not thine be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be . 40And did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was on all the ground.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.