²⁵ Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and ^(A)tear down the altar of ^(B)Baal that your father has, and ^(C)cut down the ^[a]wooden image that is beside it; ²⁶ and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this ^[b]rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.” ²⁷ So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night.

Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal

²⁸ And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. ²⁹ So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” ³⁰ Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.”

³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you ^[c]plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!” ³² Therefore on that day he called him ^(D)Jerubbaal,^[d] saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.”

³³ Then all ^(E)the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in ^(F)the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ But ^(G)the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he ^(H)blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. ³⁵ And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to ^(I)Asher, ^(J)Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

The Sign of the Fleece

³⁶ So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— ^37 (K)look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” ³⁸ And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, ^(L)“Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” ⁴⁰ And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

The Jerusalem Council

⁶ Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. ⁷ And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: ^(A)“Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. ⁸ So God, ^(B)who knows the heart, ^[a]acknowledged them by ^(C)giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, ^9 (D)and made no distinction between us and them, ^(E)purifying their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now therefore, why do you test God ^(F)by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? ¹¹ But ^(G)we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus ^[b]Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”

¹² Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had ^(H)worked through them among the Gentiles. ¹³ And after they had ^[c]become silent, ^(I)James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me: ^14 (J)Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. ¹⁵ And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:

^18 [e]“Known to God from eternity are all His works. ¹⁹ Therefore ^(L)I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who ^(M)are turning to God, ²⁰ but that we ^(N)write to them to abstain ^(O)from things polluted by idols, ^(P)from ^[f]sexual immorality, ^(Q)from things strangled, and from blood. ²¹ For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, ^(R)being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”