Judges 6

New King James Version

Midianites Oppress Israel

6 Then the children of Israel did^(A)evil in the sight of theLord. So theLorddelivered them into the hand of^(B)Midian for seven years,² and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens,^(C)the caves, and the strongholds whicharein the mountains.³ So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the^(D)people of the East would come up against them.⁴ Then they would encamp against them and^(E)destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor^(F)donkey.⁵ For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were^[a]without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.⁶ So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel^(G)cried out to theLord.

⁷ And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to theLordbecause of the Midianites,⁸ that theLordsent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says theLordGod of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the^(H)house of^[b]bondage;⁹ and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and^(I)drove them out before you and gave you their land.¹⁰ Also I said to you, “IamtheLordyour God;^(J)do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My^(K)voice.’ ”

Gideon

¹¹ Now the Angel of theLordcame and sat under the terebinth tree whichwasin Ophrah, whichbelongedto Joash^(L)the Abiezrite, while his son^(M)Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hideitfrom the Midianites.¹² And the^(N)Angel of theLordappeared to him, and said to him, “TheLordis^(O)with you, you mighty man of valor!”

¹³ Gideon said to Him, “O^[c]my lord, if theLordis with us, why then has all this happened to us? And^(P)whereareall His miracles^(Q)which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not theLordbring us up from Egypt?’ But now theLordhas^(R)forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

¹⁴ Then theLordturned to him and said,^(S)“Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.^(T)Have I not sent you?”

¹⁵ So he said to Him, “O^[d]my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed^(U)my clanisthe weakest in Manasseh, and Iamthe least in my father’s house.”

¹⁶ And theLordsaid to him,^(V)“Surely I will be with you, and you shall^[e]defeat the Midianites as one man.”

¹⁷ Then he said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then^(W)show me a sign that it is You who talk with me.^18 (X)Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and setitbefore You.”

And He said, “I will wait until you come back.”

^19 (Y)So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he broughtthemout to Him under the terebinth tree and presentedthem.²⁰ The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and^(Z)laythemon this rock, and^(AA)pour out the broth.” And he did so.

²¹ Then the Angel of theLordput out the end of the staff thatwasin His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and^(AB)fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of theLorddeparted out of his sight.

²² Now Gideon^(AC)perceived that Hewasthe Angel of theLord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O LordGod!^(AD)For I have seen the Angel of theLordface to face.”

²³ Then theLordsaid to him,^(AE)“Peacebewith you; do not fear, you shall not die.”²⁴ So Gideon built an altar there to theLord, and called it^[f]The-Lord-Is-Peace. To this day itisstill^(AF)in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵ Now it came to pass the same night that theLordsaid to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and^(AG)tear down the altar of^(AH)Baal that your father has, and^(AI)cut down the^[g]wooden image thatisbeside it;²⁶ and build an altar to theLordyour God on top of this^[h]rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.”²⁷ So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as theLordhad said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to doitby day, he diditby night.

Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal

²⁸ And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image thatwasbeside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altarwhich had beenbuilt.²⁹ So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they had 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, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image thatwasbeside it.”

³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you^[i]plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If heisa god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!”³² Therefore on that day he called him^(AJ)Jerubbaal,^[j]saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.”

³³ Then all^(AK)the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in^(AL)the Valley of Jezreel.³⁴ But^(AM)the Spirit of theLordcame upon Gideon; then he^(AN)blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him.³⁵ And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to^(AO)Asher,^(AP)Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

The Sign of the Fleece

³⁶ So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said—^37 (AQ)look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, andit isdry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”³⁸ And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.³⁹ Then Gideon said to God,^(AR)“Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.”⁴⁰ And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.