Judges 6
6
Midian Oppresses Israel
1The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.#Jdg 2:11; 3:7,12; 4:1; 10:6; 13:1 So the Lord handed#Jos 11:8; Jdg 11:32; 12:3; 13:1; 1Sm 14:10,12 them over to Midian seven years, 2and they oppressed Israel.#Jdg 3:10 Because of Midian, the Israelites made hiding places#1Sm 23:14,19; 1Ch 11:7; Is 33:16; Jr 48:41 for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. 3Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people of the east#Gn 29:1; 1Kg 4:30; Is 11:14 came and attacked them. 4They encamped against them and destroyed the produce of the land, even as far as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. 5For the Midianites came with their cattle and their tents like a great swarm of locusts.#Jdg 7:12; Jr 46:23 They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to lay waste to it. 6So Israel became poverty-stricken because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord.#Jdg 3:9,15; 4:3; 10:10
7When the Israelites cried out to him because of Midian, 8the Lord sent a prophet#Gn 20:7; Ex 7:1; Nm 11:29; 12:6; Dt 18:15,18,20,22; 34:10 to them. He said to them, “This is what the Lord#Ex 4:22; 5:1; Dt 6:4; Jos 7:13 God of Israel says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery.#Ex 13:3,14; 20:2; Dt 5:6; 7:8; Jr 34:13; Mc 6:4 9I rescued you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed#Ex 3:9; 1Sm 10:18; Ps 106:42 you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10I said to you: I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in.#Ex 23:24; Dt 7:16; 8:19; 11:16; Jos 24:14 But you did not obey me.’”
The Lord Calls Gideon
11The angel of the Lord#Ex 3:2 came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah,#Jos 18:23; Jdg 8:27,32 which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.”#Jos 1:14; 8:3; 2Kg 24:14; 1Ch 12:8
13Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt? ’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”
14The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!” #Ex 3:10; 1Sm 9:16; 16:1; Jr 1:7; 25:15; Ezk 2:3–4; Mal 4:5; Jn 20:21
15He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.”
16“But I will be with you,”#Gn 26:3; Ex 3:12 the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”
17Then he said to him, “If I have found favor with you,#Gn 6:8; 18:3; Ex 33:12–13; Ru 2:2,10,13; Est 5:8; 7:3 give me a sign#Ex 3:12; 1Sm 10:7,9; Is 7:11,14 that you are speaking with me. 18Please do not leave this place until I return to you. Let me bring my gift and set it before you.”
And he said, “I will stay until you return.”
19So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a half bushel#6:19 Lit an ephah of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
20The angel of God#Gn 31:11; Ex 14:19; Jdg 13:6,9; 2Sm 14:17,20; 2Ch 36:16 said to him, “Take the meat with the unleavened bread, put it on this stone, and pour the broth on it.” So he did that.
21The angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22When Gideon realized that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Oh no, Lord God!#Jos 7:7; Jr 1:6; Ezk 4:14 I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” #Gn 32:20; Ex 24:10–11; 33:19–23; Jdg 13:21–23; Is 6:5
23But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you. Don’t be afraid, for you will not die.” 24So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace.#6:24 = Yahweh-shalom It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites today.
Gideon Tears Down a Baal Altar
25On that very night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal#Jdg 2:11,13; 10:6; 1Kg 18:21; 2Ch 33:3; Jr 2:23; Zph 1:4 that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 26Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this mound.#Neh 8:10; Ps 27:1; 37:39; Pr 10:29; Is 17:9–10 Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.” 27So Gideon took ten of his male servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night.
28When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built. 29They said to each other, “Who did this?” After they made a thorough investigation, they said, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
30Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he tore down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
31But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar.” 32That day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, since Joash said, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he tore down his altar.
The Sign of the Fleece
33All the Midianites, Amalekites, and people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Jezreel Valley.#Jos 17:16; 1Sm 29:1,11; 1Kg 21:1
34The Spirit of the Lord enveloped#6:34 Lit clothed; 1Ch 12:18; 2Ch 24:20 Gideon,#Jdg 3:10; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6,19; 15:14; 1Sm 10:6; 16:13–14 and he blew the ram’s horn and the Abiezrites rallied behind him. 35He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh, who rallied behind him. He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who also came to meet him.
36Then Gideon said to God, “If you will deliver Israel by me, as you said, 37I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by me, as you said.” 38And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water.
39Gideon then said to God, “Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.” 40That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.
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Judges 6: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Judges 6
6
1And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of Jehovah; and Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites the children of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. 3And it came to pass when Israel sowed, that Midian came up, and Amalek, and the children of the east, and came up against them. 4And they encamped against them, and destroyed the produce of the land, until thou come to Gazah, and they left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 5For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number; and they entered into the land to destroy it. 6And Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian. And the children of Israel cried to Jehovah.
7And it came to pass when the children of Israel cried to Jehovah because of Midian, 8that Jehovah sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, Thus saith Jehovah the God#GodHebrew: Elohim of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; 9and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land, 10and I said to you, I am Jehovah your God#GodHebrew: Elohim fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. But ye have not hearkened to my voice.
11And an angel of Jehovah came and sat under the terebinth that was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abi-ezrite. And his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, to secure it from the Midianites. 12And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him, and said to him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. 13And Gideon said to him, Ah my Lord, if Jehovah be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his miracles that our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt? And now Jehovah hath cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian. 14And Jehovah looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have not I sent thee? 15And he said to him, Ah Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my thousand is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. 16And Jehovah said to him, I will certainly be with thee; and thou shalt smite Midian as one man. 17And he said to him, If now I have found favour in thine eyes, shew me a sign that it is thou who talkest with me. 18Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. 19And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid of the goats, and an ephah of flour in unleavened cakes: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the terebinth, and presented it. 20And the Angel of God#GodHebrew: Elohim said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. 21And the Angel of Jehovah put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And the Angel of Jehovah departed out of his sight. 22And Gideon perceived that he was an angel of Jehovah; and Gideon said, Alas, Lord Jehovah! for because I have seen an angel of Jehovah face to face... 23And Jehovah said to him, Peace be unto thee: fear not; thou shalt not die. 24And Gideon built there an altar to Jehovah, and called it Jehovah-shalom. To this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.
25And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said to him, Take the young bullock, which thy father hath, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah that is by it; 26and build an altar to Jehovah thy God#GodHebrew: Elohim upon the top of this strong place in the ordered manner, and take the second bullock, and offer up a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah that thou shalt cut down. 27And Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as Jehovah had said to him. And it came to pass, because he feared his father's house, and the men of the city, if he did it by day, that he did it by night. 28And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered up upon the altar that was built. 29And they said one to another, Who has done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing. 30And the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it. 31And Joash said to all that stood near him, Will ye contend for Baal? or will ye save him? he that contends for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning. If he be a god, let him plead for himself, because they have broken down his altar. 32And on that day they called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead with him, because he has broken down his altar.
33And all Midian and Amalek and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel. 34And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Gideon, and he blew the trumpet, and the Abi-ezrites were gathered after him. 35And he sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were gathered after him; and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them. 36And Gideon said to God#GodHebrew: Elohim If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said, 37behold, I put a fleece of wool on the threshing-floor; if dew shall be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the ground, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said. 38And it was so. And when he rose up early on the morrow, he pressed the fleece together, and wrung dew out of the fleece, a bowl-full of water. 39And Gideon said to God#GodHebrew: Elohim Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once! Let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it, I pray thee, be dry upon the fleece only, and upon all the ground let there be dew. 40And God#GodHebrew: Elohim did so that night, and it was dry upon the fleece only, but on all the ground there was dew.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.