²⁵ That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.^[a] Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole^[b](A) beside it. ²⁶ Then build a proper kind of^[c] altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second^[d] bull as a burnt offering.^(B)”

²⁷ So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

²⁸ In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar,^(C) demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

²⁹ They asked each other, “Who did this?”

When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash^(D) did it.”

³⁰ The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar^(E) and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”