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the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hands of Midian for seven years. 2 The Midianites sorely oppressed Israel, so the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the eastern peoples would invade and attack them. 4 They would encamp against Israel and destroy the produce of the land, even as far as Gaza, so there was nothing left for the Israelites to eat. Neither would they leave behind even a single sheep, nor an ox, nor a donkey. 5 For the Midianites would come up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. They and their camels were numerous beyond counting, and they invaded the land and ravaged it. 6 So Israel was greatly impoverished by the Midianites, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord.
7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites. , He said to the Israelites, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 I delivered you from the power of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you, and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, “I am the Lord your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live’. But you have not obeyed Me.”
11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was at Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat inside a winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 The Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!”
13 Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, then why has all this happened? And where are all His miracles that our fathers told us about, when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have, for you will deliver Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Please my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will certainly be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites as though they were one man.”
17 Then Gideon said to Him, “If I now have found favour in your eyes, show me a sign that it is really You speaking with me. 18 Please do not leave from here until I return to you and bring my offering and place it before You.”
And the Lord answered, “I will wait until you return.”
19 So Gideon went away and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and he brought them out and offered them to the Lord under the oak tree.
20 The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21 Then the Angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared up from the rock, and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22 When Gideon realised that He was the Angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.”
23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you! Do not be afraid, for you will not die.”
24 Then Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it, The Lord is Peace. To this day it stands at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Tear down the altar of Baal belonging to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 26 Then build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this rock here in the proper manner. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down.”
27 So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.
28 When the men of the city got up in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.
29 So they asked each other, “Who did this?”
After they had made a careful investigation, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
31 But Joash said to the hostile crowd, “Why do you plead for Baal’s cause? 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 his own altar is torn down.” 32 So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he had torn down Baal’s altar.
33 All the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern peoples came together; and they crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites rallied behind him. 35 He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they also rallied behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will deliver Israel by my hand, as You have said, 37 I will put a fleece of wool here on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and all the ground is dry, then I will know that You will deliver Israel by my hand, as You have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung dew out of the fleece, filling a bowl full of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me, but let me speak one more time. Please allow me to test just once more with the fleece. Let the fleece alone remain dry, while there is dew on all the ground.” 40 And God did so that night. Only the fleece remained dry, while there was dew on all the ground.