Judges 6

1 Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, who delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years.

Again the Israelis did things that Yahweh said were very evil. So he allowed the people of Midian to conquer them and rule them for seven years.

2 And they were greatly oppressed by them. And they made for themselves hollows and caves in the mountains, and very fortified places for defense.

The people of Midian treated the Israelis so cruelly that the Israelis fled to the mountains. There they made places to live in caves and animal dens.

3 And when Israel had planted, Midian and Amalek, and the rest of the eastern nations ascended,

Whenever the Israelis planted things in their fields, the people of Midian and Amalek and other groups from the east invaded Israel.

4 and pitching their tents among them, they laid waste to all that was planted, as far as the entrance to Gaza. And they left behind nothing at all to sustain life in Israel, neither sheep, nor oxen, nor donkeys.

They set up tents in the area, and then destroyed the crops as far south as Gaza. They did not leave anything for the Israelis’ sheep or cattle or donkeys to eat.

5 For they and all their flocks arrived with their tents, and they filled all places like locusts, an innumerable multitude of men and camels, devastating whatever they touched.

They came into Israel with their tents and their livestock like a swarm of locusts. There were [so many of them that] arrived riding on their camels that no one could count them. They stayed and ruined the Israelis’ crops.

6 And Israel was humbled greatly in the sight of Midian.

The people of Midian took almost everything the Israelis owned. So finally the Israelis pleaded for Yahweh to help them.

7 And he cried out to the Lord, requesting assistance against the Midianites.

When the Israelis pleaded with Yahweh to help them because of [what] the people from Midian [were doing to them],

8 And he sent to them a man who was a prophet, and he said: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I caused you to ascend from Egypt, and I led you away from the house of servitude.

he sent to them a prophet, who said, “Yahweh, the God we Israelis worship, says this: ‘Your ancestors were slaves in Egypt.

9 And I freed you from the hand of the Egyptians and from all of the enemies who were afflicting you. And I cast them out at your arrival, and I delivered their land to you.

But I rescued them from the leaders of Egypt and from all the others who oppressed them. I expelled their enemies from this land, and gave it to your ancestors.

10 And I said: I am the Lord your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live. But you were not willing to listen to my voice.’”

I told you all, “I am Yahweh, your God. You are now in the land where the descendants of Amor live, but you must not worship the gods whom they worship.” But you did not pay attention to me.’”

11 Then an Angel of the Lord arrived, and he sat under an oak tree, which was at Ophrah, and which belonged to Joash, the father of the family of Ezri. And while his son Gideon was threshing and cleaning the grain at the winepress, so that he might flee from Midian,

One day Yahweh appeared [in the form of] an angel and sat underneath a big oak tree at Ophrah [town]. That tree belonged to Joash, who was from the clan of Abiezer. Joash’s son Gideon was threshing wheat in the pit where they pressed [grapes to make] wine. He was threshing the grain there in order to hide it from the people of Midian.

12 the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and he said: “The Lord is with you, most valiant of men.”

Yahweh [went over] to Gideon and said to him, “You mighty warrior, Yahweh is helping you!”

13 And Gideon said to him: “I beg you, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why have these things happened to us? Where are his miracles, which our fathers described when they said, ‘The Lord led us away from Egypt.’ But now the Lord has forsaken us, and he has delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

Gideon replied, “Sir, if Yahweh is helping us, why have all these [bad things] happened to us? We heard about [RHQ] all the miracles that Yahweh performed for our ancestors. We heard people tell us about how he rescued them from [being slaves in] Egypt. But now Yahweh has abandoned us, and we are ruled by the people from Midian.”

14 And the Lord looked down upon him, and he said: “Go forth with this, your strength, and you shall free Israel from the hand of Midian. Know that I have sent you.”

Then Yahweh turned toward him and said, “I will give you strength to enable you to rescue the Israelis from the people of Midian. I am sending you [to do that]!”

15 And responding, he said: “I beg you, my lord, with what shall I free Israel? Behold, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in the house of my father.”

Gideon replied, “But Yahweh, how can I rescue the Israelis? My clan is the least significant in the whole tribe descended from Manasseh, and I am the least significant person in my whole family!”

16 And the Lord said to him: “I will be with you. And so, you shall cut down Midian as if one man.”

Yahweh said to him, “I will help you. So you will defeat the army of Midian [as easily] as if you were fighting only one man!”

17 And he said: “If I have found grace before you, give me a sign that it is you who is speaking to me.

Gideon replied, “If you are truly pleased with me, do something which will prove that you who are speaking to me are really Yahweh.

18 And may you not withdraw from here, until I return to you, carrying a sacrifice and offering it to you.” And he responded, “I will wait for your return.”

But do not go away until I go and bring back an offering to you.” Yahweh answered, “Okay, I will stay here until you return.”

19 And so Gideon entered, and he boiled a goat, and he made unleavened bread from a measure of flour. And setting the flesh in a basket, and putting the broth of the flesh in a pot, he took it all under the oak tree, and he offered it to him.

Gideon hurried to his home. He [killed] a young goat [and] cooked [it]. Then he took (a half a bushel/18 liters) of flour and baked some bread without yeast. Then he put the cooked meat in a basket, and put the broth [from the meat] in a pot, and took it to Yahweh, who was sitting under the tree.

20 And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Take the flesh and the unleavened bread, and place them on that rock, and pour out the broth upon it.” And when he had done so,

Then Yahweh said to him, “Put the meat and the bread on this rock. Then pour the broth on top of it.” So Gideon did that.

21 the Angel of the Lord extended the end of a staff, which he was holding in his hand, and he touched the flesh and the unleavened loaves. And a fire ascended from the rock, and it consumed the flesh and the unleavened loaves. Then the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.

Then Yahweh touched the meat and bread with the walking stick that was in his hand. A fire flamed up from the rock and burned up everything that Gideon had brought! And then Yahweh disappeared.

22 And Gideon, realizing that it had been the Angel of the Lord, said: “Alas, my Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.”

When Gideon realized that it was really Yahweh [who had appeared in the form of an angel and talked with him], he exclaimed, “O, Yahweh, I have seen you face-to-face [when you had the form of] an angel! [So I will surely die]!”

23 And the Lord said to him: “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid; you shall not die.”

But Yahweh called to him and said, “Do not be afraid! You will not die [because of seeing me]!”

24 Therefore, Gideon built an altar to the Lord there, and he called it, the Peace of the Lord, even to the present day. And while he was still at Ophrah, which is of the family of Ezri,

Then Gideon built an altar to [worship] Yahweh there. He named it ‘Yahweh gives us peace’. That altar is still there in Ophrah [town], in the land that belongs to the descendants of Abiezer.

25 that night, the Lord said to him: “Take a bull of your father’s, and another bull of seven years, and you shall destroy the altar of Baal, which is your father’s. And you shall cut down the sacred grove which is around the altar.

That night Yahweh said to Gideon, “Take the second-best/oldest bull from your father’s herd, the bull that is seven years old. [Kill it]. Then tear down the altar that your father built to [worship] the god Baal. Also cut down the pole for worshipping [the goddess] Astarte that is there beside it.

26 And you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, at the summit of this rock, on which you placed the sacrifice before. And you shall take the second bull, and you shall offer a holocaust upon a pile of the wood, which you shall cut down from the grove.”

Then build a [stone] altar to worship me, your God Yahweh, here on this hill. Take the wood from the pole you cut down and make a fire [to cook the meat of the bull] as a burnt offering to me.”

27 Therefore, Gideon, taking ten men from his servants, did just as the Lord had instructed him. But fearing his father’s household, and the men of that city, he was not willing to do it by day. Instead, he completed everything by night.

So Gideon and his servants did what Yahweh commanded. But they did it at night, because he was afraid what the other members of his family and the other men in town would do to him if they found out that he had done that.

28 And when the men of that town had risen up in the morning, they saw the altar of Baal destroyed, and the sacred grove cut down, and the second bull set upon the altar, which then had been built.

Early the next morning, as soon as the men got up, they saw that the altar to Baal had been torn down, and the pole for worshiping Astarte was gone. They saw that there was a new altar there, and on it was what remained from the bull they had sacrificed.

29 And they said one to another, “Who has done this?” And when they inquired everywhere as to the author of the deed, it was said, “Gideon, the son of Joash, did all these things.”

The people asked each other, “Who did this?” After they investigated, someone told them that it was Gideon, the son of Joash, [who had done it].

30 And they said to Joash: “Bring forward your son here, so that he may die. For he has destroyed the altar of Baal, and he has cut down the sacred grove.”

They went to Joash and said to him, “Bring your son out here! (He must be executed/We must kill him), because he destroyed our god Baal’s altar and cut down the pole for our goddess Astarte!”

31 But he responded to them: “Could you be the avengers of Baal, so that you fight on his behalf? Whoever is his adversary, let him die before the light arrives tomorrow; if he is a god, let him vindicate himself against him who has overturned his altar.”

But Joash replied, “Are you trying to defend Baal? Are you trying to argue his case? Anyone who tries to defend Baal should be executed by tomorrow morning! If Baal is truly a god, he ought to be able to defend himself, and to get rid of the person who tore down his altar!”

32 From that day, Gideon was called Jerubbaal, because Joash had said, “Let Baal avenge himself against him who has overturned his altar.”

From that time, people called Gideon Jerub-Baal, which means ‘Baal should defend himself’, because he tore down Baal’s altar.

33 And so, all of Midian, and Amalek, and the eastern peoples were gathered together. And crossing the Jordan, they encamped in the valley of Jezreel.

Soon after that, the armies of the people of Midian and of Amalek and the people from the east gathered together. They crossed the Jordan River [to attack the Israelis]. They set up their tents in Jezreel Valley.

34 But the Spirit of the Lord entered Gideon, who, sounding the trumpet, summoned the house of Abiezer so that he might follow him.

Then Yahweh’s Spirit took control of Gideon. He blew a ram’s horn to summon the men to prepare to fight. So the men of the clan of Abiezer came to him.

35 And he sent messengers into all of Manasseh, who also followed him, and other messengers into Asher, and Zebulun, and Naphtali, who went to meet him.

He also sent messengers throughout the tribes descended from [the four tribes of] Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali [to tell their soldiers to come], and all of them came.

36 And Gideon said to God: “If you will save Israel by my hand, just as you have said:

Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly going to enable me to rescue the Israeli people as you promised,

37 I will set this wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there will be dew only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that by my hand, as you have said, you will free Israel.”

confirm it by doing this: Tonight I will put a dry wool fleece on the ground where I thresh the grain. Tomorrow morning, if the fleece is wet with dew but the ground is dry, then I will know that I am the one you will enable to rescue the people of Israel as you promised.”

38 And so it was done. And rising in the night, wringing out the fleece, he filled a vessel with the dew.

And that is what happened. When Gideon got up the next morning, he picked up the fleece, and squeezed out a whole bowlful of water!

39 And again he said to God: “Let not your fury be enkindled against me, if I test once more, seeking a sign in the fleece. I pray that only the fleece may be dry, and all the ground may be wet with dew.”

Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me ask you to do one more thing. Tonight I will put the fleece out again. This time, let the fleece remain dry, while the ground is wet with the dew.”

40 And that night, God did as he had requested. And it was dry only on the fleece, and there was dew on all the ground.

So that night, God did what Gideon asked him to do. The next morning the fleece was dry, but the ground was covered with dew.