The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD,
and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the
hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people
of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains
and the caves and the strongholds. For whenever the Israelites
planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of
the East would come up against them. They would encamp against them
and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no
sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. For they would
come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like
locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be
counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. And
Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of
Israel cried out for help to the LORD.
When the people of Israel cried out to the LORD on account of the
Midianites, the LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he
said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up
from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I
delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of
all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you
their land. And I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; you shall
not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you
have not obeyed my voice.”
Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at
Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon
was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the
Midianites. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to
him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said
to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all
this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our
fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from
Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand
of Midian.” And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might
of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send
you?” And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel?
Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in
my father's house.” And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with
you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” And he said
to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a
sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from
here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before
you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and
unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a
basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him
under the terebinth and presented them. And the angel of God said
to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on
this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. Then the
angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his
hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang
up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes.
And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. Then Gideon
perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said,
“Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face
to face.” But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear;
you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD
and called it, The LORD Is Peace. To this day it still stands at
Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father's bull, and
the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal
that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it
and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the
stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the
second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the
Asherah that you shall cut down.” So Gideon took ten men of his
servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too
afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he
did it by night.
When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the
altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut
down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been
built. And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And
after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of
Joash has done this thing.” Then the men of the town said to Joash,
“Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the
altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” But Joash said
to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will
you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by
morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his
altar has been broken down.” Therefore on that day Gideon was
called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,”
because he broke down his altar.
Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the
East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the
Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon, and
he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to
follow him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and
they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to
Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.
Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as
you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the
threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry
on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by
my hand, as you have said.” And it was so. When he rose early next
morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the
fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, “Let not
your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let
me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the
fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did
so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the
ground there was dew.
