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6 Afterward, the children of Israel committed wickedness in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD gave them into the hands of Midian for seven years.
2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made themselves dens in the mountains and caves and strongholds.
3 Whenever Israel had sown, then the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and those from the East, and came upon them,
4 and camped by them and destroyed the fruit of the earth as far as Gaza, and left no food for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.
5 For they and their cattle went up and came with their tents, as grasshoppers in multitude, so that they and their camels were without number. And they came into the land, to destroy it.
6 So was Israel exceedingly impoverished by the Midianites. Therefore, the children of Israel cried to the LORD.
7 And when the children of Israel cried to the LORD because of the Midianites,
8 the LORD sent a Prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I have brought you up from Egypt and have brought you out of the house of bondage.
9 ‘And I have delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you and have cast them out before you and given you their land.
10 ‘And I said to you, “I am the LORD your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My Voice.’”
11 And the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the father of the Abiezrites. And his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
12 Then the Angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you valiant man.”
13 To whom Gideon answered, “Ah, my Lord! If the LORD is with us, why then has all this come upon us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us of, and said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of the Midianites.”
14 And the LORD looked upon him, and said, “Go in this, your might. And you shall save Israel out of the hands of the Midianites. Have not I sent you?”
15 And he answered him, “Ah, my Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my father is poor in Manasseh. And I am the least in my father’s house.”
16 Then the LORD said to him, “I will, therefore, be with you; and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
17 And he answered him, “Please, if I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign, that You are talking with me.
18 “Please do not depart from here until I come to You and bring my offering and lay it before You.” And he said, “I will wait until You come back.”
19 Then Gideon went in and prepared a kid, and unleavened bread of an ephah of flour, and put the flesh in a basket, and put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to Him under the oak, and presented it.
20 And the Angel of God said to him, “Take the flesh and the unleavened bread and lay them upon this stone and pour out the broth.” And he did so.
21 Then the Angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that he held in his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened bread. And fire rose up out of the stone and consumed the flesh and the unleavened bread. So the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.
22 And when Gideon perceived that it was an Angel of the LORD, Gideon then said, “Alas, my Lord GOD! I have seen an Angel of the LORD face to face!
23 And the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”
24 Then Gideon made an Altar there to the LORD and called it Jehovah Shalom. To this day it is in Ophrah, of the father of the Abiezrites.
25 And the same night, the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s young bullock, and another bullock of seven years old, and destroy the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the grove that is by it,
26 “and build an Altar to the LORD your God upon the top of this rock, in a plain place. And take the second bullock and offer a Burnt Offering with the wood of the grove which you shall cut down.”
27 Then Gideon took ten men from his servants and did as the LORD bade him. But because he feared to do it by day because of his father’s household and the men of the city, he did it by night.
28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken, and the grove that was next to it was cut down. And the second bullock was offered upon the Altar that was made.
29 Therefore, they said one to another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they 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, so that he may die! For he has destroyed the altar of Baal and has also cut down the grove that was by it!”
31 And Joash said to all who stood by him, “Will you plead Baal’s cause? Or will you save him? He who will contend for him, let him die by the morning. If he is a god, let him plead for himself against him who has cast down his altar.”
32 And on that day, Gideon was called “Jerubbaal”; that is, “Let Baal plead for himself because he has broken down his altar.”
33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and those from the East were gathered together and went and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.
34 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet, and Abiezer joined with him.
35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, which had also joined with him. And he sent messengers to Asher and to Zebulun and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said,
37 “behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the threshing place. If the dew appears on the fleece only and it is dry upon the earth, then I shall be sure that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”
38 And so it was. For he rose up early the next day and squeezed the fleece together and wrung the dew out of the fleece and filled a bowl of water.
39 Again, Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, so that I may speak once more. Please let me test once again with the fleece. Let it now be dry only upon the fleece and let dew be upon all the ground.”
40 And God did so the same night. For it was dry upon the fleece only and there was dew on all the ground.
7 Then Jerubbaal (who is Gideon) rose up early, and all the people who were with him, and camped beside the well of Harod, so that the army of the Midianites was on the northern side of them, in the valley, by the hill of Moreh.
2 And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too numerous for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel glorifies himself against Me, and says, ‘My hand has saved me!’
3 “Now, therefore, proclaim in the audience of the people, and say, ‘Whoever is afraid or fearful, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead.’” And twenty-two thousand of the people who were at Mount Gilead returned. So, ten thousand remained.
4 And the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. And of whomever I say to you, ‘This man shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you. And of whomever I say to you, ‘This man shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.”
5 So, he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, “As many as lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, separate, likewise everyone who bows down on his knees to drink.”
6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was three hundred men. But all the remaining people kneeled down upon their knees to drink water.
7 Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With these three hundred men who lapped I will save you and deliver the Midianites into your hand. And let all the other men go, each to his home.”
8 So, the people took provisions with them, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained the three hundred men. And the army of Midian was beneath him in a valley.
9 And the same night, the LORD said to him, “Arise. Go down against the army. For I have delivered it into your hand.
10 “But if you fear to go down, you and Purah, your servant, go down to the army.
11 “And you shall hear what they say, and so shall your hands be strong to go down against the army.” Then he and Purah, his servant, went down to an outpost of the soldiers who were in the camp.
12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all those of the East lay in the valley, like grasshoppers in multitude. And their camels were without number, as the sand which is by the seaside in multitude.
13 And when Gideon had come, behold, a man told a dream to his neighbor, and said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream. And lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled from above, into the camp of Midian, and came into a tent, and struck it so that it fell. And it overturned it, so that the tent fell down.”
14 And his friend answered, and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. Into his hand has God delivered Midian and all the army.”
15 When Gideon heard the dream told, and the interpretation of the same, he worshipped and returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Up! For the LORD has delivered the army of Midian into your hand!”
16 And he divided the three hundred men into three bands, and gave every man a trumpet in his hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps inside the pitchers.
17 And he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise when I come to the edge of the camp. Just as I do, so do you.
18 “When I blow with a trumpet, all who are with me also blow with trumpets, on every side of the camp, and say, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’”
19 So, Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outer edge of the camp, in the beginning of the middle watch, and they raised up the watchmen. And they blew with their trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.
20 And the three companies blew with trumpets and broke the pitchers. And they held the lamps in their left hand and the trumpets in their right hands, to blow them. And they cried, “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!”
21 And they stood, every man in his place, all around the camp. And the whole army ran and cried and fled.
22 And the three hundred blew with trumpets. And the LORD set every man’s sword upon his neighbor, and upon all the camp. So the army fled to Beth Hashittah in Zererah, to the border of Abel Meholah, to Tabbath.
23 Then the men of Israel being gathered together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, pursued after the Midianites.
24 And Gideon sent messengers to all Mount Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites, and take from them the waters up to Beth Barah and Jordan!” Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and took the waters up to Beth Barah and Jordan.
25 And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb, and killed Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and killed Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued the Midianites, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, beyond Jordan.
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