1 And the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of Jehovah. And Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.2 And the hand of Midian was strong against Israel. Before the faces of Midian, the sons 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 sons 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 ass.5 For they came up with their cattle 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 sons of Israel cried to Jehovah.7 And it happened, when the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah because of the Midianites,8 Jehovah sent a man, a prophet to the sons of Israel, who said to them, So says Jehovah, the 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 Jehovah 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 Jehovah 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 Jehovah appeared to him, and said to him, Jehovah is with you, mighty warrior.13 And Gideon said to Him, O, my Lord, if Jehovah 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 Jehovah bring us up from Egypt? But now Jehovah has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.14 And Jehovah 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 Jehovah 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 food 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 on this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.21 Then the Angel of Jehovah 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 Jehovah went away out of his sight.22 And when Gideon saw that He was the Angel of Jehovah, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! Because I have seen the Angel of Jehovah face to face.23 And Jehovah said to him, Peace to you. Do not fear. You shall not die.24 Then Gideon built an altar there to Jehovah, and called it Jehovah-shalom. It is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites to this day.25 And it happened on that night Jehovah said to him, Take your father's young bull, even the second bull of seven years, and throw down the altar of Baal which your father has, and cut down the pillar by it.26 And build an altar to Jehovah 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 Jehovah 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 cast down, and the pillar 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 had cast down the altar of Baal, and because he had cut down the pillar 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 cast down his altar.32 And on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal contend against him because he has thrown down his altar.33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites, and the sons of the east were gathered together, and went over and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.34 But the spirit of Jehovah 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 in 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 once 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.