The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 7: Judges
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Unknown >> The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 7: Judges
5:21. The torrent of Cison dragged their carcasses, the torrent of
Cadumim, the torrent of Cison: tread thou, my soul, upon the strong
ones.
5:22. The hoofs of the horses were broken whilst the stoutest of the
enemies fled amain, and fell headlong down.
5:23. Curse ye the land of Meroz, said the angel of the Lord: curse the
inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to
help his most valiant men.
Meroz... Where this land of Meroz was, which is here laid under a curse,
we cannot find: nor is there mention of it anywhere else in holy writ.
In the spiritual sense, they are cursed who refuse to assist the people
of God in their warfare against their spiritual enemies.
5:24. Blessed among women be Jahel, the wife of Haber the Cinite, and
blessed be she in her tent.
5:25. He asked her water, and she gave him milk, and offered him butter
in a dish fit for princes.
5:26. She put her left hand to the nail, and her right hand to the
workman's hammer, and she struck Sisara, seeking in his head a place for
the wound, and strongly piercing through his temples.
5:27. Between her feet he fell: he fainted, and he died: he rolled
before her feet, and there he lay lifeless and wretched.
5:28. His mother looked out at a window, and howled: and she spoke from
the dining room: Why is his chariot so long in coming back? Why are the
feet of his horses so slow?
5:29. One that was wiser than the rest of his wives, returned this
answer to her mother in law:
5:30. Perhaps he is now dividing the spoils, and the fairest of the
women is chosen out for him: garments of divers colours are given to
Sisara for his prey, and furniture of different kinds is heaped together
to adorn necks.
5:31. So let all thy enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love thee
shine, as the sun shineth in his rising.
5:32. And the land rested for forty years.
Judges Chapter 6
The people for their sins, are oppressed by the Madianites. Gedeon is
called to deliver them.
6:1. And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord:
and he delivered them into the hand of Madian seven years,
6:2. And they were grievously oppressed by them. And they made
themselves dens and caves in the mountains, and strong holds to resist.
6:3. And when Israel had sown, Madian and Amalec, and the rest of the
eastern nations, came up:
6:4. And pitching their tents among them, wasted all things as they were
in the blade, even to the entrance of Gaza: and they left nothing at all
in Israel for sustenance of life, nor sheep, nor oxen, nor asses.
6:5. For they and all their flocks came with their tents, and like
locusts filled all places, an innumerable multitude of men, and of
camels, wasting whatsoever they touched.
6:6. And Israel was humbled exceedingly in the sight of Madian.
6:7. And he cried to the Lord, desiring help against the Madianites.
6:8. And he sent unto them a prophet, and he spoke: Thus saith the Lord,
the God of Israel: I made you to come up out of Egypt, and brought you
out of the house of bondage,
6:9. And delivered you out of the hands of the Egyptians, and of all the
enemies that afflicted you: and I cast them out at your coming in, and
gave you their land.
6:10. And I said: I am the Lord your God, fear not the gods of the
Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell. And you would not hear my voice.
6:11. And an angel of the Lord came, and sat under an oak that was in
Ephra, and belonged to Joas, the father of the family of Ezri. And when
Gedeon, his son, was threshing and cleansing wheat by the winepress, to
flee from Madian,
6:12. The angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said: The Lord is with
thee, O most valiant of men.
6:13. And Gedeon said to him: I beseech thee, my lord, if the Lord be
with us, why have these evils fallen upon us? Where are his miracles,
which our fathers have told us of, saying: The Lord brought us out of
Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hand
of Madian.
6:14. And the Lord looked upon him, and said: Go, in this thy strength,
and thou shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of Madian: know that I
have sent thee.
6:15. He answered, and said: I beseech thee, my lord wherewith shall I
deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the meanest in Manasses, and I am
the least in my father's house.
The meanest in Manasses, etc... Mark how the Lord chooseth the humble
(who are mean and little in their own eyes) for the greatest
enterprises.
6:16. And the Lord said to him: I will be with thee: and thou shalt cut
off Madian as one man.
6:17. And he said: If I have found grace before thee, give me a sign
that it is thou that speakest to me:
6:18. And depart not hence, till I return to thee, and bring a
sacrifice, and offer it to thee. And he answered: I will wait thy
coming.
6:19. So Gedeon went in, and boiled a kid, and made unleavened loaves of
a measure of flour: and putting the flesh in a basket, and the broth of
the flesh into a pot, he carried all under the oak, and presented to
him.
6:20. And the angel of the Lord said to him: Take the flesh and the
unleavened loaves, and lay them upon that rock, and pour out the broth
thereon. And when he had done so,
6:21. The angel of the Lord put forth the tip of the rod, which he held
in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened loaves: and there
arose a fire from the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened
loaves: and the angel of the Lord vanished out of his sight.
6:22. And Gedeon seeing that it was the angel of the Lord, said: Alas,
my Lord God: for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.
6:23. And the Lord said to him: Peace be with thee: fear not, thou shalt
not die.
6:24. And Gedeon built there an altar to the Lord, and called it the
Lord's peace, until this present day. And when he was yet in Ephra,
which is of the family of Ezri,
6:25. That night the Lord said to him: Take a bullock of thy father's,
and another bullock of seven years, and thou shalt destroy the altar of
Baal, which is thy father's: and cut down the grove that is about the
altar:
6:26. And thou shalt build un altar to the Lord thy God, in the top of
this rock, whereupon thou didst lay the sacrifice before: and thou shalt
take the second bullock, and shalt offer a holocaust upon a pile of the
wood, which thou shalt cut down out of the grove.
6:27. Then Gedeon, taking ten men of his servants, did as the Lord had
commanded him. But fearing his father's house, and the men of that city,
he would not do it by day, but did all by night.
6:28. And when the men of that town were risen in the morning, they saw
the altar of Baal destroyed, and the grove cut down, and the second
bullock laid upon the altar, which then was built.
6:29. And they said one to another: Who hath done this? And when they
inquired for the author of the fact, it was said: Gedeon, the son of
Joas, did all this.
6:30. And they said to Joas: Bring out thy son hither, that he may die:
because he hath destroyed the altar of Baal, and hath cut down his
grove.
6:31. He answered them: Are you the avengers of Baal, that you fight for
him? he that is his adversary, let him die before to morrow light
appear: if he be a god, let him revenge himself on him that hath cast
down his altar.
6:32. From that day Gedeon was called Jerobaal, because Joas had said:
Let Baal revenge himself on him that hath cast down his altar.
6:33. Now all Madian, and Amalec, and the eastern people, were gathered
together, and passing over the Jordan, camped in the valley of Jezrael.
6:34. But the spirit of the Lord came upon Gedeon, and he sounded the
trumpet, and called together the house of Abiezer, to follow him.
6:35. And he sent messengers into all Manasses, and they also followed
him and other messengers into Aser and Zabulon, and Nephthali, and
they came to meet him.
6:36. And Gedeon said to God: If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as
thou hast said,
6:37. I will put this fleece of wool on the floor: if there be dew in
the fleece only, and it be dry on all the ground beside, I shall know
that by my hand, as thou hast said, thou wilt deliver Israel.
6:38. And it was so. And rising before day, wringing the fleece, he
filled a vessel with the dew.
6:39. And he said again to God: Let not thy wrath be kindled against me,
if I try once more, seeking a sign in the fleece. I pray that the fleece
only may be dry, and all the ground wet with dew.
6:40. And God did that night as he had requested: and it was dry on the
fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
Judges Chapter 7
Gedeon, with three hundred men, by stratagem defeateth the Madianites.
7:1. Then Jerobaal, who is the same as Gedeon, rising up early, and all
the people with him, came to the fountain that is called Harad. Now the
camp of Madian was in the valley, on the north side of the high hill.
7:2. And the Lord said to Gedeon: The people that are with thee are
many, and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands: lest Israel
should glory against me, and say: I was delivered by my own strength.
Lest Israel, etc... By this we see that God will not choose for his
instruments in great achievements, which depend purely on his grace,
such as, through pride and self conceit, will take the glory to
themselves.
7:3. Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all: Whosoever
is fearful and timorous, let him return. So two and twenty thousand men
went away from Mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand
remained.
7:4. And the Lord said to Gedeon: The people are still too many, bring
them to the waters, and there I will try them: and of whom I shall say
to thee, This shall go with thee, let him go: whom I shall forbid to go,
let him return.
7:5. And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to
Gedeon: They that shall lap the water with their tongues, as dogs are
wont to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves: but they that shall
drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side.
7:6. And the number of them that had lapped water; casting it with the
hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: and all the rest of the
multitude had drunk kneeling.
7:7. And the Lord said to Gedeon: By the three hundred men, that lapped
water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all
the rest of the people return to their place.
That lapped water... These were preferred that took the water up in
their hands, and so lapped it, before them who laid themselves quite
down to the waters to drink: which argued a more eager and sensual
disposition.
7:8. So taking victuals and trumpets according to their number, he
ordered all the rest of the multitude to depart to their tents: and he
with the three hundred gave himself to the battle. Now the camp of Madia
was beneath him in the valley.
7:9. The same night the Lord said to him: Arise, and go down into the
camp: because I have delivered them into thy hand.
7:10. But if thou be afraid to go alone, let Phara, thy servant, go down
with thee.
7:11. And when thou shalt hear what they are saying, then shall thy
hands be strengthened, and thou shalt go down more secure to the
enemies' camp. And he went down with Phara his servant, into part of the
camp, where was the watch of men in arms.
7:12. But Madian and Amalec, and all the eastern people, lay scattered
in the valley, as a multitude of locusts: their camels also were
innumerable, as the sand that lieth on the sea shore.
7:13. And when Gedeon was come, one told his neighbour a dream: and in
this manner related what he had seen: I dreamt a dream, and it seemed to
me as if a hearth cake of barley bread rolled and came down into the
camp of Madian: and when it was come to a tent, it struck it, and beat
it down flat to the ground.
A dream... Observation of dreams is commonly superstitious, and as such
is condemned in the word of God: but in some extraordinary cases, as we
here see, God is pleased by dreams to foretell what he is about to do.
7:14. He to whom he spoke, answered: This is nothing else but the sword
of Gedeon, the son of Joas, a man of Israel. For the Lord hath delivered
Madian, and all their camp into his hand.
7:15. And when Gedeon had heard the dream, and the interpretation
thereof, he adored: and returned to the camp of Israel, and said: Arise,
for the Lord hath delivered the camp of Madian into our hands.
7:16. And he divided the three hundred men into three parts, and gave
them trumpets in their hands, and empty pitchers, and lamps within the
pitchers.
7:17. And he said to them: What you shall see me do, do you the same: I
will go into one part of the camp, and do you as I shall do.
7:18. When the trumpet shall sound in my hand, do you also blow the
trumpets on every side of the camp, and shout together to the Lord and
to Gedeon.
7:19. And Gedeon, and the three hundred men that were with him, went
into part of the camp, at the beginning of the midnight watch, and the
watchmen being alarmed, they began to sound their trumpets, and to clap
the pitchers one against another.
Their trumpets, etc... In a mystical sense, the preachers of the gospel,
in order to spiritual conquests, must not only sound with the trumpet of
the word of God, but must also break their earthen pitchers, by the
mortification of the flesh and its passions, and carry lamps in their
hands by the light of their virtues.
7:20. And when they sounded their trurmpets in three places round about
the camp, and had broken their pitchers, they held their lamps in their
left hands, and with their right hands the trumpets which they blew, and
they cried out: The sword of the Lord and of Gedeon:
7:21. Standing every man in his place round about the enemies' camp. So
all the camp was troubled, and crying out and howling, they fled away:
7:22. And the three hundred men nevertheless persisted sounding the
trumpets. And the Lord sent the sword into all the camp, and they killed
one another,
7:23. Fleeing as far as Bethsetta, and the border of Abelmahula, in
Tebbath. But the men of Israel, shouting from Nephthali, and Aser, and
from all Manasses, pursued after Madian.
7:24. And Gedeon sent messengers into all Mount Ephraim, saying: Come
down to meet Madian, and take the waters before them to Bethbera and the
Jordan. And all Ephraim shouted, and took the waters before them and
the Jordan as far as Bethbera.
7:25. And having taken two men of Madian, Oreb and Zeb: Oreb they slew
in the rock of Oreb, and Zeb in the winepress of Zeb. And they pursued
Madian, carrying the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gedeon, beyond the waters
of the Jordan.
Two men... That is, two of their chiefs.
Judges Chapter 8
Gedeon appeaseth the Ephraimites. Taketh Zebee and Salmana. Destroyeth
Soccoth and Phanuel. Refuseth to be king. Maketh an ephod of the gold of
the prey, and dieth in a good old age. The people return to idolatry.
8:1. And the men of Ephraim said to him: What is this that thou meanest
to do, that thou wouldst not call us, when thou wentest to fight against
Madian? And they chid him sharply, and almost offered violence.
8:2. And he answered them: What could I have done like to that which you
have done? Is not one bunch of grapes of Ephraim better than the
vintages of Abiezer?
What could I, etc... A meek and humble answer appeased them; who
otherwise might have come to extremities. So great is the power of
humility both with God and man.
8:3. The Lord hath delivered into your hands the princes of Madian, Oreb
and Zeb: what could I have done like to what you have done? And when he
had said this, their spirit was appeased, with which they swelled
against him.
8:4. And when Gedeon was come to the Jordan, he passed over it with the
three hundred men that were with him: who were so weary that they could
not pursue after them that fled.
8:5. And he said to the men of Soccoth: Give, I beseech you, bread to
the people that is with me, for they are faint: that we may pursue
Zebee, and Salmana, the kings of Madian.
8:6. The princes of Soccoth answered: Peradventure the palms of the
hands of Zebee and Salmana are in thy hand, and therefore thou demandest
that we should give bread to thy army.
8:7. And he said to them: When the Lord therefore shall have delivered
Zebee and Salmana into my hands, I will thresh your flesh with the
thorns and briers of the desert.
8:8. And going up from thence, he came to Phanuel: and he spoke the like
things to the men of that place. And they also answered him, as the men
of Soccoth had answered.
8:9. He said, therefore, to them also: When I shall return a conqueror
in peace, I will destroy this tower.
8:10. But Zebee and Salmana were resting with all their army. For
fifteen thousand men were left of all the troops of the eastern people,
and one hundred and twenty thousand warriors that drew the sword were
slain.
8:11. And Gedeon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents, on the
east of Nobe and Jegbaa, and smote the camp of the enemies, who were
secure, and suspected no hurt.
8:12. And Zebee and Salmana fled, and Gedeon pursued and took them, all
their host being put in confusion.
8:13. And returning from the battle before the sun rising,
8:14. He took a boy of the men of Soccoth: and he asked him the names of
the princes and ancients of Soccoth, and he described unto him seventy-
seven men.
8:15. And he came to Soccoth, and said to them: Behold Zebee, and
Salmana, concerning whom you upbraided me, saying: Peradventure the
hands of Zebee and Salmana are in thy hands, and therefore thou
demandest that we should give bread to the men that are weary and faint.
8:16. So he took the ancients of the city, and thorns and briers of the
desert, and tore them with the same, and cut in pieces the men of
Soccoth.
8:17. And he demolished the tower of Phanuel, and slew the men of the
city.
8:18. And he said to Zebee and Salmana: What manner of men were they,
whom you slew in Thabor? They answered: They were like thee, and one of
them as the son of a king.
8:l9. He answered them: They were my brethren, the sons of my mother. As
the Lord liveth, if you had saved them, I would not kill you.
8:20. And he said to Jether, his eldest son: Arise, and slay them. But
he drew not his sword: for he was afraid, being but yet a boy.
8:21. And Zebee and Salmana said: Do thou rise and run upon us: because
the strength of a man is according to his age: Gedeon rose up, and slew
Zebee and Salmana: and he took the ornaments and bosses, with which the
necks of the camels of kings are wont to be adorned.
8:22. And all the men of Israel said to Gedeon: Rule thou over us, and
thy son, and thy son's son: because thou hast delivered us from the hand
of Madian.
8:23. And he said to them: I will not rule over you, neither shall my
son rule over you, but the Lord shall rule over you.
8:24. And he said to them: I desire one request of you: Give me the
earlets of your spoils. For the Ismaelites were accustomed to wear
golden earlets.
8:25. They answered: We will give them most willingly. And spreading a
mantle on the ground, they cast upon it the earlets of the spoils.
8:26. And the weight of the earlets that he requested, was a thousand
seven hundred sicles of gold, besides the ornaments, and jewels, and
purple raiment, which the kings of Madian were wont to use, and besides
the golden chains that were about the camels necks.
8:27. And Gedeon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city Ephra.
And all Israel committed fornication with it, and it became a ruin to
Gedeon, and to all his house.
An ephod... A priestly garment which Gedeon made with a good design; but
the Israelites, after his death, abused it by making it an instrument of
their idolatrous worship.
8:28. But Madian was humbled before the children of Israel, neither
could they any more lift up their heads: but the land rested for forty
years, while Gedeon presided.
8:29. So Jerobaal, the son of Joas, went and dwelt in his own house:
8:30. And he had seventy sons, who came out of his thigh, for he had
many wives.
8:31. And his concubine, that he had in Sichem, bore him a son, whose
name was Abimelech.
His concubine... She was his servant, but not his harlot: and is called
his concubine, as wives of an inferior degree are commonly called in the
Old Testament, though otherwise lawfully married.
8:32. And Gedeon, the son of Joas died in a good old age, and was buried
in the sepulchre of his father, in Ephra, of the family of Ezri.
8:33. But after Gedeon was dead, the children of Israel turned again,
and committed fornication with Baalim. And they made a covenant with
Baal, that he should be their god:
8:34. And they remembered not the Lord their God, who delivered them out
of the hands of all their enemies round about:
8:35. Neither did they shew mercy to the house of Jerobaal Gedeon,
according to all the good things he had done to Israel.
Judges Chapter 9
Abimelech killeth his brethren. Joatham's parable. Gaal conspireth with
the Sichemites against Abimelech, but is overcome. Abimelech destroyeth
Sichem: but is killed at Thebes.
9:1. And Abimelech, the son of Jerobaal, went to Sichem, to his mother's
brethren, and spoke to them, and to all the kindred of his mother's
father, saying:
9:2. Speak to all the men of Sichem: whether is better for you that
seventy men, all the sons of Jerobaal, should rule over you, or that one
man should rule over you? And withal, consider that I am your bone, and
your flesh.
9:3. And his mother's brethren spoke of him to all the men of Sichem,
all these words, and they inclined their hearts after Abimelech, saying:
He is our brother:
9:4. And they gave him seventy weight of silver out of the temple of
Baalberith: wherewith he hired to himself men that were needy, and
vagabonds, and they followed him.
Baalberith... That is, Baal of the covenant, so called from the covenant
they had made with Baal, chap. 8.33.
9:5. And he came to his father's house in Ephra, and slew his brethren,
the sons of Jerobaal, seventy men, upon one stone: and there remained
only Joatham, the youngest son of Jerobaal, who was hidden.
9:6. And all the men of Sichem were gathered together, and all the
families of the city of Mello: and they went and made Abimelech king, by
the oak that stood in Sichem.
9:7. This being told to Joatham, he went, and stood on the top of Mount
Garizim: and lifting up his voice, he cried, and said: Hear me, ye men
of Sichem, so may God hear you.
9:8. The trees went to anoint a king over them: and they said to the
olive tree: Reign thou over us.
9:9. And it answered: Can I leave my fatness, which both gods and men
make use of, to come to be promoted among the trees?
Both gods and men make use of... The olive tree is introduced, speaking
in this manner, because oil was used both in the worship of the true
God, and in that of the false gods, whom the Sichemites served.
9:10. And the trees said to the fig tree: Come thou and reign over us.
9:11. And it answered them: Can I leave my sweetness, and my delicious
fruits, and go to be promoted among the other trees?
9:12. And the trees said to the vine: Come thou and reign over us.
9:13. And it answered them: Can I forsake my wine, that cheereth God and
men, and be promoted among the other trees?
Cheereth God and men... Wine is here represented as agreeable to God,
because he had appointed it to be offered up with his sacrifices. But we
are not obliged to take these words, spoken by the trees, in Joatham's
parable, according to the strict literal sense: but only in a sense
accomodated to the design of the parable expressed in the conclusion of
it.
9:14. And all the trees said to the bramble: Come thou and reign over
us.
9:15. And it answered them: If, indeed, you mean to make me king, come
ye, and rest under my shadow: but if you mean it not, let fire come out
from the bramble, and devour the cedars of Libanus.
9:16. Now, therefore, if you have done well, and without sin, in
appointing Abimelech king over you, and have dealt well with Jerobaal,
and with his house, and have made a suitable return for the benefits of
him who fought for you,
9:17. And exposed his life to dangers, to deliver you from the hand of
Madian,
9:18. And you are now risen up against my father's house, and have
killed his sons, seventy men, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech,
the son of his handmaid, king over the inhabitants of Sichem, because he
is your brother:
9:19. If therefore you have dealt well, and without fault, with Jerobaal
and his house, rejoice ye, this day, in Abimelech, and may he rejoice in
you.
9:20. But if unjustly: let fire come out from him, and consume the
inhabitants of Sichem, and the town of Mello: and let fire come out from
the men of Sichem and from the town of Mello, and devour Abimelech.
9:21. And when he had said thus, he fled, and went into Bera: and dwelt
there for fear of Abimelech, his brother.
9:22. So Abimelech reigned over Israel three years.