He has obstructed my paths ¹  and torn me to pieces; ²  he has made me desolate.

They will know that I am the Lord when I ignite a fire in Egypt and all her allies are defeated. ¹ 

I will pour out my anger upon Pelusium, ¹  the stronghold of Egypt; I will cut off ²  the hordes of Thebes.

Indeed, look! The Lord is giving the command. ¹  He will smash the large house to bits, and the small house into little pieces.

And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Later, ¹  the other virgins came too, saying, ‘Lord, lord! Let us in!’ ² 

He has brought down the mighty ¹  from their thrones, and has lifted up those of lowly position; ² 

for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, ¹  but are made powerful by God ²  for tearing down strongholds. ³  We tear down arguments ⁴ 

They will besiege all of your villages ¹  until all of your high and fortified walls collapse – those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you.

When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had. ¹  The man ²  said, “Look! I had a dream. I saw ³  a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.” ⁴ 

Edom ¹  says, “Though we are devastated, we will once again build the ruined places.” So the Lord who rules over all ²  responds, “They indeed may build, but I will overthrow. They will be known as ³  the land of evil, the people with whom the Lord is permanently displeased.

I tell you, even though the man inside ¹  will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of the first man’s ²  sheer persistence ³  he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

When the man ¹  saw that he could not defeat Jacob, ²  he struck ³  the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives.

That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, ¹  because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

Zimri came in and struck him dead. (This happened in the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah.) Zimri replaced Elah as king. ¹ 

He was committed to following the Lord; ¹  he even removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.

They burned down the Lord’s temple and tore down the wall of Jerusalem. ¹  They burned all its fortified buildings and destroyed all its valuable items.

When he pulls it out ¹  and it comes out of his back, the gleaming point ²  out of his liver, terrors come over him.

May the evil deeds of the wicked ¹  come to an end! ²  But make the innocent ³  secure, ⁴  O righteous God, you who examine ⁵  inner thoughts and motives! ⁶