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 Qedemites # 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 waste 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 delivered 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 Yahweh 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 # Or angel of the Lord # Ex 3:2 came, and He # Or 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 wine vat in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” # Jos 1:14; 8:3; 2Kg 24:14; 1Ch 12:8
13Gideon said to Him, “Please Sir, # Lit Please, my Lord, or Please, my lord if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? # Lit this found us out And where are all His wonders that our fathers 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 # LXX reads The Angel of the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not 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 house.”
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 in Your sight, # 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 # 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.” And he did so.
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 Yahweh Shalom. # = The Lord Is Peace It is in Ophrah of the Abiezrites until 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 rock. # 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 10 of his male servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s household 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’s father called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead his case with him,” because he tore down his altar.
The Sign of the Fleece
33All the Midianites, Amalekites, and Qedemites gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. # Jos 17:16; 1Sm 29:1,11; 1Kg 21:1
34The Spirit of the Lord took control of # Lit Lord clothed Himself with; 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 my hand, as You said, 37I will put a fleece of wool 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 my strength, 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.
Currently Selected:
Judges 6: HCSB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Judges 6
6
Gideon
1Once again the people of Israel sinned against the LORD, so he let the people of Midian rule them for seven years. 2The Midianites were stronger than Israel, and the people of Israel hid from them in caves and other safe places in the hills. 3Whenever the Israelites sowed any seed, the Midianites would come with the Amalekites and the desert tribes and attack them. 4They would camp on the land and destroy the crops as far south as the area round Gaza. They would take all the sheep, cattle, and donkeys, and leave nothing for the Israelites to live on. 5They would come with their livestock and tents, as thick as locusts. They and their camels were too many to count. They came and devastated the land, 6and Israel was helpless against them.
7Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help against the Midianites, 8and he sent them a prophet who brought them this message from the LORD, the God of Israel: “I brought you out of slavery in Egypt. 9I rescued you from the Egyptians and from the people who fought against you here in this land. I drove them out as you advanced, and I gave you their land. 10I told you that I am the LORD your God and that you should not worship the gods of the Amorites, whose land you are now living in. But you did not listen to me.”
11Then the LORD's angel came to the village of Ophrah and sat under the oak tree that belonged to Joash, a man of the clan of Abiezer. His son Gideon was threshing some wheat secretly in a winepress, so that the Midianites would not see him. 12The LORD's angel appeared to him there and said, “The LORD is with you, brave and mighty man!”
13Gideon said to him, “If I may ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the LORD is with us? What about all the wonderful things that our fathers told us the LORD used to do — how he brought them out of Egypt? The LORD has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites.”
14Then the LORD ordered him, “Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you.”
15Gideon replied, “But LORD, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family.”
16The LORD answered, “You can do it because I will help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man.”
17Gideon replied, “If you are pleased with me, give me some proof that you are really the LORD. 18Please do not leave until I bring you an offering of food.”
He said, “I will stay until you come back.”
19So Gideon went into his house and cooked a young goat and used ten kilogrammes of flour to make bread without any yeast. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them to the LORD's angel under the oak tree, and gave them to him. 20The angel ordered him, “Put the meat and the bread on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” Gideon did so. 21Then the LORD's angel reached out and touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick he was holding. Fire came out of the rock and burnt up the meat and the bread. Then the angel disappeared.
22Gideon then realized that it was the LORD's angel he had seen, and he said in terror, “Sovereign LORD! I have seen your angel face to face!”
23But the LORD said to him, “Peace. Don't be afraid. You will not die.” 24Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and named it “The LORD is Peace”. (It is still standing at Ophrah, which belongs to the clan of Abiezer.)
25That night the LORD told Gideon, “Take your father's bull and another bull seven years old,#6.25 bull and another bull seven years old; or bull, the seven-year-old one. tear down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the symbol of the goddess Asherah, which is beside it. 26Build a well-constructed altar to the LORD your God on top of this mound. Then take the second bull#6.26 the second bull; or the bull. and burn it whole as an offering, using for firewood the symbol of Asherah you have cut down.” 27So Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the LORD had told him. He was too afraid of his family and the people of the town to do it by day, so he did it at night.
28When the people of the town got up early the next morning, they found that the altar to Baal and the symbol of Asherah had been cut down, and that the second bull had been burnt on the altar that had been built there. 29They asked each other, “Who did this?” They investigated and found out that Gideon son of Joash had done it. 30Then they said to Joash, “Bring your son out here, so that we can kill him! He tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the symbol of Asherah beside it.”
31But Joash said to all those who confronted him, “Are you standing up for Baal? Are you defending him? Anyone who stands up for him will be killed before morning. If Baal is a god, let him defend himself. It is his altar that was torn down.” 32From then on Gideon was known as Jerubbaal,#6.32 Jerubbaal: This name in Hebrew means “Let Baal defend himself.” because Joash said, “Let Baal defend himself; it is his altar that was torn down.”
33Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the desert tribes assembled, crossed the River Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34The Spirit of the LORD took control of Gideon, and he blew a trumpet to call the men of the clan of Abiezer to follow him. 35He sent messengers throughout the territory of both parts of Manasseh to call them to follow him. He sent messengers to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they also came to join him.
36Then Gideon said to God, “You say that you have decided to use me to rescue Israel. 37Well, I am putting some wool on the ground where we thresh the wheat. If in the morning there is dew only on the wool but not on the ground, then I will know that you are going to use me to rescue Israel.” 38That is exactly what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the wool and wrung enough dew out of it to fill a bowl with water. 39Then Gideon said to God, “Don't be angry with me; let me speak just once more. Please let me make one more test with the wool. This time let the wool be dry, and the ground be wet.” 40That night God did that very thing. The next morning the wool was dry, but the ground was wet with dew.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.