Judges 6

1. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. And the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

2. And the hand of Midian was strong against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made themselves dens in the mountains and caves and strongholds.

3. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them.

4. And they camped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you come to Gaza. And they left no food for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey,

5. For they came up with their livestock and their tents, and they came as locusts for multitude, both they and their camels were without number. And they entered into the land to destroy it.

6. And Israel was made very poor because of the Midianites. And the children of Israel cried to the LORD.

7. And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried to the LORD because of the Midianites,

8. The LORD sent a man, a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel,’I brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the house of bondage.

9. And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you and gave 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 live.” But you have not obeyed My voice.’ ”

11. And the angel of the LORD came and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. And his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

12. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

13. And Gideon said to Him, “O, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

14. And the LORD looked upon him and said, “Go in your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

15. And he said to him, “O, my LORD, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

16. And the LORD said to him, “Surely, I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

17. And he said to Him, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, then show me a sign that You talk with me.

18. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You, and bring forth my grain offering and set it before You.” And He said, “I will stay until you come again.”

19. And Gideon went in and made ready a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour. He put the flesh in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to Him to the oak, and offered it.

20. And the angel of God said to him, “Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.

21. Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And there rose up fire out of the rock and burned up the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD went away out of his sight.

22. And when Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD, Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.”

23. And the LORD said to him, “Peace to you. Do not fear. You shall not die.”

24. Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it Jehovah Shalom.The-LORD-Is-PeaceIt is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites to this day.

25. And it came to pass on that night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, even the second bull of seven years, and destroy the altar of Baal which your father has, and cut down the grove by it.

26. And build an altar to the LORD your God upon the top of this rock in an orderly manner, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which you shall cut down.”

27. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said to him. And so it was because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day. So he did it by night.

28. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was destroyed, and the grove which was by it was cut down, and the second bull had been offered upon the altar that was built.

29. And they said to one 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 because he has destroyed the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the grove by it.”

31. And Joash said to all that stood against him, “Will you plead for Baal? Will you save him? He who contends for him shall be killed by the morning. If he is a god, let him plead for himself because one has destroyed his altar.”

32. And on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal contend against him because he has destroyed his altar.”

33. Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites, and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.

34. But the Spirit of the LORD came to Gideon, and he blew a ram’s horn. And he called the Abiezrites after him.

35. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also were gathered after him. And he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali. And they came up to meet them.

36. And 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 on the grain-floor. And if the dew is on the fleece only, and dry upon all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”

38. And it was so, for he rose up early in the morning, and gathered the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

39. And Gideon said to God, “Let not Your anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once. I pray You, let me test but this one more time with the fleece. Let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.”

40. And God did so that night, for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.