Midian Oppresses Israel
1 The Israelites did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. 2 The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, and because of Midian the Israelites made for themselves shelters in the mountains and caves and strongholds. 3 So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the people of the east came up against them. 4 They encamped against them and destroyed their crops, up to Gaza. They left no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep, ox, or donkey. 5 For they came up with their livestock and their tents. They came in like locusts in their multitude. Both they and their camels were without number, and they came into the land to destroy it. 6 Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the Israelites cried to the Lord.
7 When the Israelites cried to the Lord because of Midian, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites, and he said to them, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage. 9 I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, “I am the Lord your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not listened to my voice.’ ”
11 The angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!”
13 Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all of this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Didn’t the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord looked upon him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?”
15 He said to him, “O Lord, how shall I save Israel? My family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16 The Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as if you were fighting one man.”
Gideon’s Offering Consumed with Fire
17 He said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who is talking with me. 18 Please don’t go away until I come to you, and bring out my gift, and lay it before you.”
He said, “I will wait until you come back.”
19 Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a basket of flour. He put the meat in a basket and he put the broth in a pot and brought it out to him under the oak and presented it.
20 The angel of the Lord said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth.”
He did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord stretched out the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread, and fire went up out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then angel of the Lord departed from his sight.
22 Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, and Gideon said, “Oh no, Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
23 The Lord said to him, “Peace be to you! Do not be afraid. You shall not die.”
Gideon Destroys Baal’s Altar
24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it “The Lord is Peace.” To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25 That same night, the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, the second bull seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it.
26 Then build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold, in an orderly way, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.”
27 Then Gideon took ten of his servants, and did as the Lord had spoken to him. Because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city, he could not do it by day, but he did it by night.
28 When the men of the city got up early in the morning, the altar of Baal was broken down, the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bull was offered on the altar that was built. 29 They said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” When they had asked around and investigated, 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 broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it.” 31 Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has broken down his altar!” 32 Therefore on that day he named him Jerub-Baal, saying, “Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar.”
The Signs of the Fleece
33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east assembled together, and they passed over and encamped in the valley of Jezreel. 34 But the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered together to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they also were gathered together to follow him. He sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.
36 Gideon said to the Lord, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken, 37 I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken.”
38 It was thus. The next day he rose up early and pressed the fleece together, and when he wrung the dew out of the fleece, it filled a bowl with the water.
39 Gideon said to the Lord, “Do not let your anger burn against me, and I will speak but this once. Please let me make a trial just this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.”
40 The Lord did thus that night, for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew all over the ground.