Judges 6

¹ The Israelites did what is evil in Yahweh's eyes, and for seven years Yahweh handed them over toMidian;

² and Midian bore down heavily on Israel. To escape from the Midianites the Israelites used the mountainclefts and the caves and shelters.

³ Whenever Israel sowed seed the Midianites would march up with Amalek and the sons of the East.They would march on Israel.

⁴ They would pitch camp on their territory and destroy the produce of the country as far as Gaza. Theyleft Israel nothing to live on, not a sheep or an ox or a donkey,

⁵ for they came up as thick as locusts with their cattle and their tents; they and their camels wereinnumerable, they invaded the country to pil age it.

⁶ Thus, Midian brought Israel to great distress, and the Israelites cried to Yahweh.

⁷ When the Israelites cried to Yahweh because of Midian,

⁸ Yahweh sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said to them, 'This is what Yahweh, God of Israel, says, "Itwas I who brought you out of Egypt, and led you out of the place of slave-labour.

⁹ I rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and from the power of al who oppressed you. I drovethem out before you and gave their country to you.

¹⁰ And I said to you: I am Yahweh your God. You are not to fear the gods of the Amorites in whosecountry you are now living. But you have not listened to my voice." '

¹¹ The Angel of Yahweh came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah which belonged to Joash ofAbiezer. Gideon his son was threshing wheat inside the wine-press, to keep it hidden from Midian,

¹² and the Angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said, 'Yahweh is with you, valiant warrior!'

¹³ Gideon replied, 'Excuse me, my lord, but if Yahweh is with us, why is al this happening to us? Andwhere are al his miracles which our ancestors used to tel us about when they said, "Did not Yahweh bring usout of Egypt?" But now Yahweh has deserted us; he has abandoned us to Midian.'

¹⁴ At this, Yahweh turned to him and said, 'Go in this strength of yours, and you wil rescue Israel fromthe power of Midian. Am I not sending you myself?'

¹⁵ Gideon replied, 'Forgive me, my lord, but how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manassehand I am the least important of my father's family.'

¹⁶ Yahweh replied, 'I shal be with you and you wil crush Midian as though it were one man.'

¹⁷ Gideon said, 'If I have found favour in your sight, give me a sign that you are speaking to me.

¹⁸ Please do not go away from here until I come back to you, bringing you my offering and laying it beforeyou.' And he replied, 'I shal stay until you come back.'

¹⁹ Gideon went away, he prepared a young goat and from an ephah of flour he made unleavened cakes.He put the meat into a basket and the broth into a pot, then brought it all to him under the terebinth. As heapproached,

²⁰ the Angel of Yahweh said to him, 'Take the meat and unleavened cakes, put them on this rock andpour the broth over them.' Gideon did so.

²¹ The Angel of Yahweh then stretched out the tip of the staff which he was carrying, and touched themeat and unleavened cakes. Fire sprang from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened cakes, and theAngel of Yahweh vanished before his eyes.

²² Gideon then knew that this was the Angel of Yahweh, and he said, 'Alas, my Lord Yahweh! Now I haveseen the Angel of Yahweh face to face!'

²³ Yahweh answered, 'Peace be with you; have no fear; you wil not die.'

²⁴ Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh and called it Yahweh-Peace. This altar stands in our own day atOphrah of Abiezer.

²⁵ Now that night, Yahweh said to Gideon, 'Take your father's bul , the seven-year-old bul , and pull downthe altar to Baal belonging to your father and cut down the sacred pole beside it.

²⁶ Then, on top of this strong-point, build a proper altar to Yahweh your God. Then take the bul and burnit as a burnt offering on the wood of the sacred pole which you have cut down.'

²⁷ Gideon then took ten of his servants and did as Yahweh had ordered him. But, being too frightened ofhis family and of the townspeople to do it in daylight, he did it at night.

²⁸ Next morning, when the townspeople got up, they found that the altar to Baal had been destroyed, thesacred pole standing beside it had been cut down and the bull had been sacrificed as a burnt offering on thenewly built altar.

²⁹ 'Who has done this?' they asked one another. They searched, made enquiries and declared, 'Gideonson of Joash has done it.'

³⁰ The townspeople then said to Joash, 'Bring out your son; he must die for having destroyed Baal's altarand cut down the sacred pole which stood beside it.'

³¹ To the people al crowding round him, Joash replied, 'Is it your job to plead for Baal? Is it your job tochampion his cause? (Anyone who pleads for Baal must be put to death before dawn.) If he is a god, let himplead for himself, now that Gideon has destroyed his altar.'

³² That day, Gideon was given the name Jerubbaal, because, they said, 'Baal must plead against him,because he has destroyed his altar!'

³³ Al Midian and Amalek and the sons of the East joined forces and, having crossed the Jordan, pitchedcamp in the plain of Jezreel.

³⁴ And the spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon around; he sounded the horn and Abiezer ral ied behind him.

³⁵ He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and Manasseh too rallied behind him; he sentmessengers to Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, and they marched out to meet him.

³⁶ Gideon said to God, 'If it is real y you delivering Israel by means of me, as you have said,

³⁷ look, I am going to put a wool en fleece on the threshing-floor; if there is dew only on the fleece and althe ground stays dry, then I shall know that you wil deliver Israel by means of me, as you have said.'

³⁸ And so it happened. Early next morning, Gideon got up, squeezed the fleece and wrung enough dewout of the fleece to fill a cup.

³⁹ Gideon then said to God, 'Do not be angry with me if I speak just once more. Al ow me to make thefleece-test just once more: let the fleece alone be dry and there be dew al over the ground!'

⁴⁰ And God did so that night. The fleece alone stayed dry, and there was dew al over the ground.