¹⁰After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.¹¹Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.¹²They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger¹³because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.¹⁴In his anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.¹⁵Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

¹⁶Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.¹⁷Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the LORD’s commands.¹⁸Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.¹⁹But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

²⁰Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me,²¹I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.²²I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their ancestors did.”²³The LORD had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.

3 These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan²(he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience):³the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.⁴They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.

⁵The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.⁶They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

Othniel

⁷The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.⁸The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.⁹But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.¹⁰The Spirit of the LORD came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The LORD gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.¹¹So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

¹²Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.¹³Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.¹⁴The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.

¹⁵Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.¹⁶Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.¹⁷He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man.¹⁸After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it.¹⁹But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”

The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left.

²⁰Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his seat,²¹Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly.²²Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.²³Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

²⁴After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace.”²⁵They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.

²⁶While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah.²⁷When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.

²⁸“Follow me,” he ordered, “for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over.²⁹At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped.³⁰That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.

¹⁴When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table.¹⁵And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.¹⁶For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you.¹⁸For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁰In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.²¹But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table.²²The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!”²³They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

²⁴A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.²⁵Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.²⁶But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.²⁷For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.²⁸You are those who have stood by me in my trials.²⁹And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me,³⁰so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

³¹“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.³²But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

³³But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

³⁴Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

Psalm 92

92 It is good to praise the LORD
    and make music to your name, O Most High,
²proclaiming your love in the morning
    and your faithfulness at night,
³to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
    and the melody of the harp.

⁴For you make me glad by your deeds, LORD;
    I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
⁵How great are your works, LORD,
    how profound your thoughts!
⁶Senseless people do not know,
    fools do not understand,
⁷that though the wicked spring up like grass
    and all evildoers flourish,
    they will be destroyed forever.

⁸But you, LORD, are forever exalted.

⁹For surely your enemies, LORD,
    surely your enemies will perish;
    all evildoers will be scattered.
¹⁰You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox;
    fine oils have been poured on me.
¹¹My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries;
    my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.

¹²The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
    they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
¹³planted in the house of the LORD,
    they will flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴They will still bear fruit in old age,
    they will stay fresh and green,
¹⁵proclaiming, “The LORD is upright;
    he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

Psalm 93

93 The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty;
    the LORD is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
    indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
²Your throne was established long ago;
    you are from all eternity.

³The seas have lifted up, LORD,
    the seas have lifted up their voice;
    the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
⁴Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
    mightier than the breakers of the sea—
    the LORD on high is mighty.

⁵Your statutes, LORD, stand firm;
    holiness adorns your house
    for endless days.

14 The wise woman builds her house,
    but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

²Whoever fears the LORD walks uprightly,
    but those who despise him are devious in their ways.