Judges 6

Revised Geneva Translation

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.