Judges 6:28-7:8

New American Standard Bible

The Altar of Baal Destroyed

²⁸ When the people of the city got up early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal had been torn down, and the Asherah which had been beside it had been cut down, and the second bull had been offered on the altar which had been built. ²⁹ So they said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” ³⁰ Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” ³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you save him? Whoever will contend for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, since someone has torn down his altar!” ³² Therefore on that day he named ^[a]Gideon ^(A)Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar.

³³ Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the ^[b]people of the east assembled together; and they crossed over and camped in ^(B)the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ So ^(C)the Spirit of the Lord ^[c]covered Gideon like clothing; and he ^(D)blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him. ³⁵ And he sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, ^(E)Zebulun, and Naphtali, and ^(F)they came up to meet them.

Sign of the Fleece

³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “^(G)If You are going to save Israel ^[d]through me, as You have spoken, ³⁷ behold, I am putting 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 will know that You will save Israel ^[e]through me, as You have spoken.” ³⁸ And it was so. When he got up early the next morning and wrung out the fleece, he wrung the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “^(H)Do not let Your anger burn against me, so that I may speak only one more time; please let me put You to the test only one more time with the fleece: let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” ⁴⁰ And God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.

Gideon’s Three Hundred Chosen Men

7 Then ^(I)Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him got up early, and camped beside ^[f]the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of ^[g]them by the hill of ^(J)Moreh in the valley.

² And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to hand Midian over to them, ^(K)otherwise Israel would ^[h]become boastful, saying, ‘My own ^[i]power has saved me.’ ³ Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘^(L)Whoever is afraid and worried, is to return and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand from the people returned, but ten thousand remained.

^4 (M)Then the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. So it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” ⁵ So he brought the people down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall put everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps ^[j]in one group, and everyone who kneels down to drink in another.” ⁶ Now the number of those who lapped, ^[k]putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people kneeled down to drink water. ⁷ And the Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you ^(N)with the three hundred men who lapped, and will hand the Midianites over to you; so have all the other people go, each man to his ^[l]home.” ⁸ So ^[m]the three hundred men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And ^[n]Gideon dismissed all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the three hundred men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.