Judges 6

1The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and Yahweh gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years.

2The hand of Midian prevailed over Israel. Because of Midian the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, as well as caves and strongholds.

3Whenever Israel had sown their crops, the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the people of the East would come up and attack them.

4They would camp against them and destroy the produce of the land all the way to Gaza. They left nothing to live on in Israel, no sheep, no ox, no donkey.

5For they came up with their livestock and their tents, coming in like swarms of locusts; they and their camels were past counting. They came into the land to ruin it.

6So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to Yahweh.

7When the Israelites cried out to Yahweh because of Midian,

8Yahweh sent a prophet to the Israelites, who said to them, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.

9I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed 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, in whose land you are living.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”

11Now the angel of Yahweh came and sat under the oak at Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

12The angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said to him, “Yahweh is with you, mighty warrior.”

13Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, my lord, but if Yahweh is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But now Yahweh has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14Yahweh turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

15He said to him, “Pardon me, Lord, but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s family.”

16Yahweh said to him, “I will be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites as if they were one man.”

17He said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, then give me a sign that it is you who are speaking with me.

18Please do not leave here until I come back to you and bring out my offering and set it before you.” He said, “I will stay until you come back.”

19So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them out to him under the oak, and presented them.

20The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, put them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” He did so.

21Then the angel of Yahweh reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread, and the angel of Yahweh vanished from his sight.

22When Gideon realized that it was the angel of Yahweh, Gideon said, “Oh no, Lord Yahweh! For I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face!”

23But Yahweh said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid. You will not die.”

24So Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh and called it Yahweh Is Peace. To this day it still stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25That same night Yahweh said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull, seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

26Then build an altar to Yahweh your God on top of this stronghold, laying the stones in proper order. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down.”

27So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as Yahweh had told him. But because he was afraid of his father’s family and the men of the town, he did it by night instead of by day.

28When the men of the town got up early in the morning, there was Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered on the altar that had been built.

29They said to one another, “Who did this?” After they had asked around and searched, they said, “Gideon son of Joash did this.”

30Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son so that he may die, because he has torn down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

31But Joash said to all who stood around him, “Are you going to contend for Baal? Are you going to save him? Whoever contends for him will be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, since it is his altar that was torn down.”

32So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, meaning, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he tore down Baal’s altar.

33Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the people of the East joined forces, crossed over, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

34But the Spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon, and he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him.

35He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.

36Then Gideon said to God, “If you are going to save Israel by my hand, as you have said,

37look, I am putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.”

38That is what happened. When he got up early the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung the dew out of it, a bowlful of water.

39Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me; let me speak just once more. Please let me make just one more test with the fleece. This time let the fleece alone be dry, and let there be dew on all the ground.”

40God did so that night. The fleece alone was dry, and there was dew on all the ground.