⁹ Then the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a savior for the sons of Israel to save them, ^(A)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

Yahweh Raises Up Ehud and Shamgar

¹⁵ Then the sons of Israel ^(A)cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a savior for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by his hand to Eglon the king of Moab.

³ Then the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh; for he had 900 ^(A)iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

¹⁴ Then Yahweh turned to him and said, “^(A)Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” ^15 (B)But he said to Him, “O Lord, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the least in ^(C)Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” ^16 (D)But Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike down Midian as one man.” ¹⁷ So ^[a]Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your eyes, then do ^(E)a sign for me that it is You who speak with me. ¹⁸ Please do not depart from here until I come back to You, and I bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”

¹⁹ So Gideon went in and ^(F)prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ^[b]ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket ^[c]and the broth in a pot and brought them out to him under the ^[d]oak and presented them. ²⁰ And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth.” And he did so. ²¹ Then the angel of Yahweh put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and ^(G)fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of Yahweh went away from before his eyes. ^22 (H)And Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh, so ^[e]he said, “Alas, O Lord Yahweh! For now I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face.” ²³ And Yahweh said to him, “Peace to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴ So Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh and named it ^[f]Yahweh is Peace. To this day it is still ^(I)in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵ Now it happened on the same night that Yahweh said to him, “Take your father’s bull ^[g]and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the ^[h](J)Asherah that is beside it, ²⁶ and build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take the second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” ²⁷ So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as Yahweh had spoken to him; and now it happened that because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.

Gideon Tears Down the Altar of Baal

²⁸ Then the men of the city arose early in the morning, and behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. ²⁹ And they said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about 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, because someone has torn down his altar.” ³² Therefore on that day he named him ^(K)Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar.

³³ Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves; and they crossed over and camped in ^(L)the valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ But ^(M)the Spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon; and he ^(N)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, ^(O)Zebulun, and Naphtali, and ^(P)they came up to meet them.

The Test of the Fleece

³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “^(Q)If You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken, ³⁷ behold, I will 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 will know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken.”

² And Yahweh said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, ^(A)lest Israel honor themselves, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

⁷ And Yahweh said to Gideon, “I will save you ^(A)with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his place.”

Tola and Jair Judge Israel

10 Then after Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, ^(A)arose to save Israel; and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. ² And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried in Shamir.

³ After him, Jair the Gileadite arose and judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴ And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities ^[a]in the land of Gilead ^(B)that are called ^[b]Havvoth-jair to this day. ⁵ And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

Israel Forsakes Yahweh Again

⁶ Then the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and ^(C)served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, ^(D)the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus ^(E)they forsook Yahweh and did not serve Him. ⁷ So the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He ^(F)sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon. ⁸ And they shattered and smashed the sons of Israel ^[c]that year; for eighteen years they did this to all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan ^[d]in Gilead in the land of the Amorites. ⁹ Then the sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed.

Israel Cries Out to Yahweh

¹⁰ And the ^(G)sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh, saying, “We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have forsaken our God and served the Baals.” ¹¹ Then Yahweh said to the sons of Israel, “Did I not save you ^(H)from the Egyptians, ^(I)the Amorites, ^(J)the sons of Ammon, and the Philistines? ¹² Also the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites ^(K)oppressed you. And you cried out to Me, and I saved you from their hand. ¹³ Yet ^(L)you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer save you. ^14 (M)Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.”