Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men ¹  got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. ²  The Midianites ³  were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley.

“Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub-Baal and his family, ¹  if you have properly repaid him ²  –

He did this so the violent deaths of Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons might be avenged and Abimelech, their half-brother ¹  who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them. ² 

From earliest times our worship of that shameful god, Baal, has taken away ¹  all that our ancestors ²  worked for. It has taken away our flocks and our herds, and even our sons and daughters.

They turn to Baal; ¹  they are like an unreliable bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because their prayers to Baal ²  have made me angry. So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt. ³ 

My people are obsessed ¹  with turning away from me; ²  they call to Baal, ³  but he will never exalt them!

“Tell ¹  all the leaders of Shechem this: ‘Why would you want ²  to have seventy men, all Jerub-Baal’s sons, ruling over you, when you can have just one ruler? Recall that I am your own flesh and blood.’” ³ 

Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and is not Zebul the deputy he appointed? ¹  Serve the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem! But why should we serve Abimelech? ² 

When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem ¹  heard the news, they went to the stronghold ²  of the temple of El-Berith. ³ 

Let them bring us two bulls. Let them choose one of the bulls for themselves, cut it up into pieces, and place it on the wood. But they must not set it on fire. I will do the same to the other bull and place it on the wood. But I will not set it on fire.

because they bring trouble to you by their treachery with which they have deceived ¹  you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, ²  their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague that happened as a result of Peor.”

The sin we committed at Peor was bad enough. To this very day we have not purified ourselves; it even brought a plague on the community of the Lord. ¹ 

This is your fate, the destiny to which I have appointed you, because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods.

She is disobedient; ¹  she refuses correction. ²  She does not trust the Lord; she does not seek the advice of ³  her God.

They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors ¹  who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped ²  them and made the Lord angry.

O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly ¹  like the nations, for you are unfaithful ²  to your God. You love to receive a prostitute's wages ³  on all the floors where you thresh your grain.

Israel was a fertile vine that yielded fruit. As his fruit multiplied, he multiplied altars to Baal. ¹  As his land prospered, they adorned the fertility pillars.