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flight. And Sisera, fleeing, took refuge with a certain woman, 1.70 asking her to hide him; the woman's name was Jael. And she received him and gave him milk to drink, and when he had drunk, he fell asleep. And as he was sleeping, Jael set upon him, and driving a nail through his temple, she fastened him to the ground, and she showed the dead enemy to Barak's men. And Barak, having made war also against Jabin king of Canaan, killed him and razed the city. And having served as general for thirty years, he died, and Deborah died at the same time. Then the Midianites with the Amalekites and the Arabs turned the Israelites in battle. And when they had been oppressed by them for seven years, there was a famine and a lack of necessities, and they prayed to God. And Gideon, being of the tribe of Manasseh, was secretly beating out sheaves of grain in the winepress, and he saw someone in the form of a young man standing by him and calling him a friend to God and blessed. But he, speaking ironically, said that the proof of his blessedness was his using the winepress instead of a threshing floor. And the young man urged him to be brave and to hasten on behalf of the freedom of his kinsmen. And Gideon begged the one who appeared not to depart from there, and going in, he brought a sacrifice. And the angel commanded him to place it by the rock; and touching the rock with his staff, he kindled a fire spontaneously and consumed the sacrifice. Then Gideon asked God for dew to be on the fleece, and it was so; and again he asked for dew to be on all the ground, but dryness on the fleece, and it happened thus. Gideon therefore was persuaded and armed himself with ten thousand men against the enemy. Then by God's command he led everyone at midday to the river, and taking with him those who lapped while drinking and with haste, as if drinking in great fear, 1.71 and these were three hundred, he went off to the war, but he left the rest behind. And at night, taking one of his soldiers with him, he went away to the camp of the enemy. And he heard one of the enemies relating to his tent-mate how he seemed to see in a dream a barley loaf rolling through the camp, which knocked down the king's tent and those of the army; and the other judged that the dream signified the destruction of the army, comparing Gideon and those with him to a barley loaf because of their small number and weakness. Having heard these things, Gideon took courage, and returning, he commanded his men to be in their armor, and dividing the army into three companies, he commanded each to carry an empty jar and a lighted torch and a ram's horn, and at the fourth watch of the night he led them out against the enemy. And when they were already near them, they blew the horns, broke the jars, and with the torches rushed forward shouting. And these things cast terror into the enemy, and some were killed by their adversaries, but most were destroyed by one another since it was night, and nearly all perished, including two of their kings, Oreb and Zeeb. But the remaining leaders and the remnant of the army were overtaken in their flight by Gideon and his men, and they all fell. And Gideon held the rule for forty years, and he died an old man, leaving behind seventy legitimate sons by various wives, and one by a concubine, named Abimelech. who, having killed all his brothers except for one, Jotham, who escaped, became a tyrant. But the people, 1.72 rising up against Abimelech, drove him out of the city of Shechem. But he, with the help of one of the Shechemites, took the city by treachery and killed the Shechemites to a man, and razed the city. And he marched against Thebez, another city, and took it by assault. But the multitude ran together into a great tower, which was in the middle of the city. And as Abimelech approached its gates, a woman from above threw a piece of a millstone on his head and killed him. And the leadership of the Hebrews was entrusted to Jair, who was from the tribe of Manasseh; and this man twenty-two

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φυγήν. φεύγων δὲ καὶ Σισάρας πρός τινα γυναῖκα κατέφυγε, 1.70 κατακρύψαι αὐτὸν ἀξιῶν· ̓Ιαὴλ ὠνόμαστο ἡ γυνή. ἡ δὲ δέχεται αὐτὸν καὶ δίδωσι γάλα πιεῖν, καὶ ος πιὼν υπνωσεν. κοιμωμένῳ δ' αὐτῷ ἐπέθετο ̓Ιαήλ, καὶ ηλον διὰ τοῦ κροτάφου ἐκείνου ἐλάσασα τῷ ἐδάφει προσεπαττάλευσε, καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὸν Βαρὰκ νεκρὸν τὸν πολέμιον δείκνυσι. στρατεύσας δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ ̓Ιαβεὶν βασιλέα Χαναὰν ὁ Βαρὰκ αὐτόν τε εκτεινε καὶ τὴν πόλιν κατέσκαψε. καὶ στρατηγήσας ἐπὶ ετη τριάκοντα τελευτᾷ, καὶ ∆εβώρας κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν θανούσης καιρόν. ειτα Μαδιανῖται σὺν τοῖς ̓Αμαληκίταις καὶ Αραψι μάχῃ τοὺς ̓Ισραηλίτας ἐτρέψαντο. καὶ ἐπὶ ετη ἑπτὰ ἐπιτιθεμένων αὐτοῖς λιμὸς ην καὶ σπάνις τῶν ἀναγκαίων, καὶ ἐδέοντο τοῦ θεοῦ. Γεδεὼν δὲ φυλῆς ων Μανασσῆ δράγματα σταχύων εἰς τὴν ληνὸν εκοπτε κρύφα, καὶ ὁρᾷ τινα ἐν ειδει νεανίσκου παρεστῶτα αὐτῷ καὶ καλοῦντα αὐτὸν φίλον τῷ θεῷ καὶ εὐδαίμονα. ὁ δ' εἰρωνευόμενος τεκμήριον ελεγεν ειναι αὐτοῦ τῆς εὐδαιμονίας τὸ κεχρῆσθαι τῷ ληνῷ ἀντὶ αλωνος. καὶ ὁ νεανίας θαρρεῖν καὶ σπεύδειν αὐτῷ παρεκελεύετο ὑπὲρ ἐλευθερίας τῶν φυλετῶν. Γεδεὼν δὲ ἱκέτευσε τὸν φαινόμενον μὴ μεταναστῆναι ἐκεῖθεν, καὶ εἰσελθὼν ἐκόμισε θυσίαν. καὶ ὁ αγγελος θεῖναι αὐτὴν παρὰ τὴν πέτραν ἐκέλευσε· καὶ τῇ ῥάβδῳ ψαύσας τῆς πέτρας πῦρ ἀνῆψεν αὐτόματον καὶ τὴν θυσίαν κατέκαυσεν. ειτα ῃτησε Γεδεὼν τὸν θεὸν ἐπὶ τὸν πόκον γενέσθαι δρόσον, καὶ ἐγένετο· καὶ αυθις δρόσον ῃτησεν ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν γενέσθαι, ἐπὶ τὸν πόκον δὲ ξηρασίαν, καὶ γέγονεν ουτως. πείθεται ουν ὁ Γεδεὼν καὶ σὺν μυρίοις κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων ὡπλίζετο. ειτα ἐντολῇ τοῦ θεοῦ αγει πάντας κατὰ μεσημβρίαν ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμόν, καὶ τοὺς μὲν λάψαντας ἐν τῷ πίνειν καὶ μετὰ σπουδῆς ὡς περι1.71 φόβους πιόντας, τριακόσιοι δὲ ησαν ουτοι, εχων μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ ἀπῄει πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς καταλέλοιπεν. νυκτὸς δὲ ενα τῶν στρατιωτῶν προσλαβόμενος ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὸ τῶν ἐναντίων στρατόπεδον. καὶ ἀκούει ἑνός τινος τῶν πολεμίων τῷ συσκηνοῦντι διηγουμένου ὡς εδοξεν ὁρᾶν καθ' υπνους μᾶζαν κριθίνην διὰ τοῦ στρατοπέδου κυλιομένην, η τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως σκηνὴν κατέβαλε καὶ τὰς τοῦ στρατεύματος· ὁ δὲ τοῦ στρατοῦ δηλοῦν ολεθρον τὸ ἐνύπνιον εκρινεν, ἀπεικάζων μάζῃ κριθίνῃ τὸν Γεδεὼν καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ διὰ τὴν ὀλιγότητα καὶ τὸ ἀσθενές. τούτων ἀκούσας ὁ Γεδεὼν ἀνεθάρσησε, καὶ ὑποστρέψας ἐν τοῖς οπλοις ειναι τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ ἐνετείλατο, καὶ εἰς τρεῖς ἑκατοστύας τὴν στρατιὰν διελὼν ἀμφορέα κενὸν κομίζειν εκαστον καὶ λαμπάδα ἡμμένην καὶ κριοῦ κέρας ἐκέλευσε, κατὰ τετάρτην τε φυλακὴν τῆς νυκτὸς ἐξῆγεν αὐτοὺς κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων. καὶ ηδη πλησίον οντες αὐτῶν ἐσάλπισαν μὲν τοῖς κέρασι, τοὺς δ' ἀμφορέας κατέαξαν, καὶ μετὰ τῶν λαμπάδων ωρμησαν ἀλαλάξαντες. ταῦτα δὲ τοῖς πολεμίοις πτοίαν ἐνέβαλον, καὶ οἱ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐκτείνοντο, οἱ δέ γε πλείους ὑπ' ἀλλήλων ουσης νυκτὸς διεφθάρησαν, καὶ σχεδὸν απαντες ωλοντο, καὶ δύο τῶν βασιλέων αὐτῶν ̓Ωρήβ τε καὶ Ζήβ. οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες τῶν ἡγεμόνων καὶ τοῦ στρατεύματος φεύγοντες καταλαμβάνονται παρὰ Γεδεὼν καὶ τῶν μετ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ πεπτώκασιν απαντες. εσχηκε δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁ Γεδεὼν ἐν τεσσαράκοντα ετεσι, καὶ ἐτελεύτησε γηραιός, καταλιπὼν ἐκ διαφόρων γυναικῶν γνησίους υἱοὺς ἑβδομήκοντα, ενα δ' ἐκ παλλακῆς ̓Αβιμέλεχ καλούμενον. ος τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς κτείνας απαντας ανευ ἑνὸς ̓Ιωαθάνου φυγόντος τετυράννηκεν. ὁ δὲ λαὸς 1.72 ἐπαναστάντες κατὰ τοῦ ̓Αβιμέλεχ ἐξελαύνουσιν αὐτὸν τῆς πόλεως τῶν Σικίμων. ὁ δὲ συνεργούμενος ὑφ' ἑνὸς τῶν Σικιμιτῶν δόλῳ τὴν πόλιν αἱρεῖ καὶ τοὺς Σικιμίτας ἡβηδὸν ἀναιρεῖ, τὴν πόλιν δὲ κατασκάπτει. ηλαυνε δ' ἐπὶ Θήβας, ἑτέραν πόλιν, καὶ ειλεν αὐτὴν ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς. τὸ δὲ πλῆθος εἰς ενα πύργον μέγαν συνέδραμον, οντα ἐν μέσῳ τῆς πόλεως. πλησιάσαντα δὲ ταῖς πύλαις τούτου τὸν ̓Αβιμέλεχ θραύσματι μύλης γύναιον ανωθεν κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς εβαλε καὶ ἀπέκτεινε. τὴν δὲ τῶν ̔Εβραίων ἡγεμονίαν ̓Ιαεὶρ ἐμπεπίστευτο ἐκ τῆς Μανασσῆ τυγχάνων φυλῆς· δύο δὲ καὶ εικοσιν ουτος