Portions: Judges 4-7

After Ehud died,
the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin,
a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.
Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth,
was leading Israel at that time.
(Judges 4:1-2,4)

On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam
sang this song:
"You who ride on white donkeys,
sitting on your saddle blankets,
and you who walk along the road,
consider the voice of the singers at the watering places.
They recite the righteous acts of the Lord,
the righteous acts of His warriors in Israel.
"So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!
But may they who love you
be like the sun when it rises in its strength.
Then the land had peace forty years.
(Judges 5:1,10-11,31)

The angel of the Lord came and sat down
under the oak in Ophrah
that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite,
where his son Gideon
was threshing wheat in a winepress
to keep it from the Midianites.
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said,
"The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."
The Lord turned to him and said,
"Go in the strength you have
and save Israel out of Midian's hand.
Am I not sending you?"
"But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel?
My clan is the weakest in Manasseh,
and I am the least in my family."
So  Gideon built an altar to the Lord there
and called it The Lord is Peace.
To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
(Judges 6:11-12,14-15,24)

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."
"Watch me," he told them.
"Follow my lead.
When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.
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.'"
(Judges 7:15-18)