Judi 5:1 (NRSV) {Council against the Israelites} It was reported to Holofernes,
the general of the Assyrian army, that the people of Israel had prepared for
war and had closed the mountain passes and fortified all the high hilltops and
set up barricades in the plains. 2 In great anger he called together all the
princes of Moab and the commanders of Ammon and all the governors of the coastland,
3 and said to them, "Tell me, you Canaanites, what people is this that
lives in the hill country? What towns do they inhabit? How large is their army,
and in what does their power and strength consist? Who rules over them as king
and leads their army? 4 And why have they alone, of all who live in the west,
refused to come out and meet me?"
5 {Achior's Report} Then Achior, the leader of all the Ammonites, said to him,
"May my lord please listen to a report from the mouth of your servant,
and I will tell you the truth about this people that lives in the mountain district
near you. No falsehood shall come from your servant's mouth. 6 These people
are descended from the Chaldeans. 7 At one time they lived in Mesopotamia, because
they did not wish to follow the gods of their ancestors who were in Chaldea.
8 Since they had abandoned the ways of their ancestors, and worshiped the God
of heaven, the God they had come to know, their ancestors {Gk [they] } drove
them out from the presence of their gods. So they fled to Mesopotamia, and lived
there for a long time. 9 Then their God commanded them to leave the place where
they were living and go to the land of Canaan. There they settled, and grew
very prosperous in gold and silver and very much livestock. 10 When a famine
spread over the land of Canaan they went down to Egypt and lived there as long
as they had food. There they became so great a multitude that their race could
not be counted. 11 So the king of Egypt became hostile to them; he exploited
them and forced them to make bricks. 12 They cried out to their God, and he
afflicted the whole land of Egypt with incurable plagues. So the Egyptians drove
them out of their sight. 13 Then God dried up the Red Sea before them, 14 and
he led them by the way of Sinai and Kadesh-barnea. They drove out all the people
of the desert, 15 and took up residence in the land of the Amorites, and by
their might destroyed all the inhabitants of Heshbon; and crossing over the
Jordan they took possession of all the hill country. 16 They drove out before
them the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Shechemites, and all
the Gergesites, and lived there a long time.
17 "As long as they did not sin against their God they prospered, for the
God who hates iniquity is with them. 18 But when they departed from the way
he had prescribed for them, they were utterly defeated in many battles and were
led away captive to a foreign land. The temple of their God was razed to the
ground, and their towns were occupied by their enemies. 19 But now they have
returned to their God, and have come back from the places where they were scattered,
and have occupied Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and have settled in the
hill country, because it was uninhabited.
20 "So now, my master and lord, if there is any oversight in this people
and they sin against their God and we find out their offense, then we can go
up and defeat them. 21 But if they are not a guilty nation, then let my lord
pass them by; for their Lord and God will defend them, and we shall become the
laughingstock of the whole world."
Web Author: Charles Wohlers
The Lectionary Page