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Forsooth the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he betook them into the hand of Midian seven years. (And the Israelites did more evil before the Lord, and he delivered them into the hands of the Midianites for seven years.)

And Israel was oppressed of them greatly; and Israel made ditches, and dens to themselves in hills, and most strong places to fight against Midian. (And Israel was greatly oppressed by them; and in the hills they made ditches, and caves, and strongholds for themselves, from which to fight against the Midianites.)

And when Israel had sown, Midian ascended, and Amalek (was with them), and others of the nations of the east;

and they setted their tents beside the sons of Israel, and they wasted all things that were in herbs, either green corn, unto the entering of Gaza, and utterly they left not in Israel anything pertaining to life, not sheep, not oxen, not asses (and they left not utterly any beast alive in Israel, not sheep, nor oxen, nor donkeys).

For they and all their flocks came with their tabernacles, and at the likeness of locusts they full-filled all things, and a multitude of men and of camels was without number (yea, they were a multitude without number of men and of camels), and they wasted whatever thing(s) they touched.

And Israel was made low greatly in the sight of Midian (And Israel was brought greatly low before the Midianites). And Israel cried to the Lord,

and asked (for) help against (the) Midianites;

and he sent to them a man, a prophet, and he spake to them, (and said,) The Lord God of Israel saith these things, I made you to go up from Egypt, and I led you out of the house of servage,

and I delivered you from the hand of Egyptians, and of all [the] enemies that tormented you (and from all of the enemies who tormented you); and I casted them out at your entering, and I gave to you the land of them;

10 and I said, I am the Lord your God; dread ye not the gods of Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; and ye would not hear my voice. (and I said, I am the Lord your God; fear ye not, or do not ye worship, the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye live; but ye would not listen to me.)

11 And (then) an angel of the Lord came, and sat under an oak, that was in Ophrah, and it pertained to Joash, the father of the family of Abiezrites. And when Gideon, the son of Joash, threshed, and purged wheat in a presser, that he should flee Midian (And when Gideon, the son of Joash, threshed, and purged wheat in a winepress, to hide it from the Midianites),

12 an angel of the Lord appeared to him (the angel of the Lord appeared to him), and said, The Lord be with thee, thou strongest of men.

13 And Gideon said to him, My lord, I beseech, if the Lord is with us, why then have all these evils taken us? Where be the marvels of him, which our fathers told, and said, The Lord hath led us out of Egypt? For now he hath forsaken us, and hath betaken us into the hand of Midian. (And Gideon said to him, My lord, I beseech thee, if the Lord is with us, then why have all these evils overtaken us? Where be his miracles, which our fathers told us about? Yea, they said, The Lord led us out of Egypt. But now, he hath deserted us, and hath delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.)

14 And the Lord beheld to him, and said, Go thou in this strength of thee, and thou shalt deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; (and) know thou, that I have sent thee.

15 And Gideon answered (to the angel), and said, My lord, I beseech, in what thing shall I deliver Israel? (My lord, I beseech thee, how can I save Israel?) Lo! my family is the lowest in Manasseh, and I am the least in the house of my father.

16 And the Lord said to him, I shall be with thee, and thou shalt smite Midian as one man. (And the Lord said to him, I shall be with thee, and thou shalt strike down all of the Midianites like one man.)

17 And Gideon said, If I have found grace before thee, give to me a sign, that thou, that speakest to me, art sent of God’s part; (And Gideon said to the angel, If I have found grace before thee, give me a sign, that thou, who speakest to me, art sent from God;)

18 go thou not away from hence, till I turn again to thee, and bring (a) sacrifice, and offer (it) to thee. Which answered, I shall abide thy coming (And he answered, I shall wait for thee).

19 And so Gideon went in, and seethed a kid, and took therf loaves of a bushel of meal, and (he put) the flesh in a pannier; and he put the broth of the flesh in a pot, and he bare all these things (to) under the oak, and offered those to him.

20 To whom the angel of the Lord said, Take thou the flesh, and the therf loaves, and put them on that stone, and pour the broth above. And when he had done so, (To whom the angel of the Lord said, Take thou the flesh, and the unleavened bread, and put them on that stone, and pour the broth upon it. And when he had done so,)

21 the angel of the Lord held forth the end of the staff, which he held in the hand (which he held in his hand), and he touched the fleshes, and the therf loaves; and fire ascended from the stone, and wasted the fleshes, and [the] therf loaves. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his eyes.

22 And Gideon saw that he was an angel of the Lord, and he said, Lord God, alas to me, for I saw the angel of the Lord face to face. (And Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, and he said, Lord God, alas for me, for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.)

23 And the Lord said to him, Peace be with thee; dread thou not (fear not ), thou shalt not die.

24 Then Gideon builded there an altar to the Lord, and he called it the Peace of the Lord, (and it is there) unto this present day. And when he was yet in Ophrah, which is of the family of Abiezrites, (Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and he called it Jehovahshalom, and it is there unto this present day, in Ophrah, which is of the family of the Abiezrites.)

25 the Lord said to him in that night, Take thou thy father’s bull, and another bull of seven years, and thou shalt destroy the altar of Baal, that is thy father’s, and cut thou down the wood, which is about the altar; (And then the Lord said to him that night, Take thou thy father’s bull, and another bull that is seven years old, and destroy thou the altar of Baal, that is thy father’s, and cut thou down the pole of idolatry, which is beside the altar;)

26 and thou shalt build an altar to thy Lord God in the highness of this stone, on which thou puttedest (the) sacrifice before; and thou shalt take the second bull, and thou shalt offer (a) burnt sacrifice on the heap of trees, which thou cuttedest down of the wood. (and thou shalt build an altar to the Lord thy God on top of this stone, on which before thou hast put the sacrifice; and thou shalt take the second bull, and thou shalt offer a burnt sacrifice on the heap of wood from the pole of idolatry which thou hast cut down.)

27 Therefore Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord commanded to him. And Gideon dreaded the house of his father (And Gideon feared his father’s family), and the men of that city, and (so) he would not do (it) by day, but he fulfilled all things by night.

28 And when men of that city had risen early, they saw the altar of Baal destroyed, and the wood cut down, and the tother bull put on the altar, that was builded. (And when the men of that city had risen in the morning, they saw that the altar of Baal had been destroyed, and the pole of idolatry had been cut down, and the other bull put on the altar that Gideon had built there.)

29 And they said together, Who hath done this? And when they inquired (of) the doer of the deed, it was said, Gideon, the son of Joash, did all these things.

30 And they said to Joash, Bring forth thy son hither, that he die, for he hath destroyed the altar of Baal, and hath cut down the wood about it. (And they said to Joash, Bring thy son here, so that we can kill him, for he hath destroyed the altar of Baal, and hath cut down the pole of idolatry that was beside it.)

31 To whom Joash answered, Whether ye be the vengers of Baal, that ye fight for him? he that is (the) adversary of him, die he, before the morrow light come; if he is God, venge he himself of him that hath cast down his altar (yea, if he is a god, avenge he himself upon him who hath thrown down his altar).

32 From that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, for-thy that Joash had said, Baal take vengeance of him that hath cast down his altar. (So from that day, Gideon was called Jerubbaal, or Let Baal contend, for Joash had said, Let Baal himself take vengeance upon him who hath thrown down his altar.)

33 Therefore all Midian, and Amalek, and the peoples of the east were gathered together, and they passed over (the) Jordan, and setted tents in the valley of Jezreel. (And so all the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and the peoples of the east were gathered together, and they passed over the Jordan River to the west side, and pitched their tents in the Jezreel Valley.)

34 Forsooth the spirit of the Lord clothed, or full-filled, Gideon; and he sounded with a clarion, and called together the house of Abiezer, that it should follow him. (And the spirit of the Lord filled Gideon full; and he sounded with a trumpet, and called out all the house of Abiezer to follow him.)

35 And he sent messengers into all Manasseh, and he followed Gideon (and they followed Gideon); and he sent other messengers into Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali, and they (also) came to him.

36 And Gideon said to the Lord, If thou makest safe Israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken, (And Gideon said to the Lord, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said,)

37 I shall put this fleece of wool in the cornfloor; if the dew is in the fleece alone, and dryness is in all the earth, I shall know, that thou shalt deliver Israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken. (for me to be certain of that, I shall put this fleece of wool on the threshing floor; and tomorrow, if dew is found only on the fleece, and the ground all around it is dry, then I shall know for sure that thou shalt save Israel by my hand, just as thou hast said.)

38 And it was done so. And he rose by night (And he rose up early), and when the fleece was wrung out, he (had) filled a basin (full) with dew;

39 and (then) he said again to the Lord, Thy strong vengeance be not wroth against me, if I assay yet once (again), and seek a sign in the fleece (and seek a sign with the fleece); I pray, that the fleece alone be dry, and that all the earth (around it) be moist with dew.

40 And (so) the Lord did in that night, as Gideon asked; and dryness was in the fleece alone, and dew was in all the earth (and the next day, the fleece was dry, but there was dew on the ground all around it).

Gideon

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,(A) and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.(B) Because the power of Midian was so oppressive,(C) the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves(D) and strongholds.(E) Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites(F) and other eastern peoples(G) invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops(H) all the way to Gaza(I) and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts.(J) It was impossible to count them or their camels;(K) they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out(L) to the Lord for help.

When the Israelites cried out(M) to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet,(N) who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt,(O) out of the land of slavery.(P) I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors;(Q) I drove them out before you and gave you their land.(R) 10 I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship(S) the gods of the Amorites,(T) in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

11 The angel of the Lord(U) came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah(V) that belonged to Joash(W) the Abiezrite,(X) where his son Gideon(Y) was threshing(Z) wheat in a winepress(AA) to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you,(AB) mighty warrior.(AC)

13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders(AD) that our ancestors told(AE) us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned(AF) us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have(AG) and save(AH) Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan(AI) is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.(AJ)

16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you(AK), and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign(AL) that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”

And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”

19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat,(AM) and from an ephah[a](AN) of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.(AO)

20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock,(AP) and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread(AQ) with the tip of the staff(AR) that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized(AS) that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”(AT)

23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid.(AU) You are not going to die.”(AV)

24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called(AW) it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah(AX) of the Abiezrites.

25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.[b] Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole[c](AY) beside it. 26 Then build a proper kind of[d] 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[e] bull as a burnt offering.(AZ)

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,(BA) 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(BB) 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(BC) and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

31 But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause?(BD) Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” 32 So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal[f](BE) that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”

33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites(BF) and other eastern peoples(BG) joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.(BH) 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on(BI) Gideon, and he blew a trumpet,(BJ) summoning the Abiezrites(BK) to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher,(BL) Zebulun and Naphtali,(BM) so that they too went up to meet them.(BN)

36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save(BO) Israel by my hand as you have promised— 37 look, I will place a wool fleece(BP) on the threshing floor.(BQ) If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know(BR) that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.

39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request.(BS) Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.(BT)

Footnotes

  1. Judges 6:19 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms
  2. Judges 6:25 Or Take a full-grown, mature bull from your father’s herd
  3. Judges 6:25 That is, a wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah; also in verses 26, 28 and 30
  4. Judges 6:26 Or build with layers of stone an
  5. Judges 6:26 Or full-grown; also in verse 28
  6. Judges 6:32 Jerub-Baal probably means let Baal contend.