Judges 6
1 The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight. So the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years.
Fecerunt autem filii Israël malum in conspectu Domini: qui tradidit illos in manu Madian septem annis,
2 The Midianite oppression was so great that because of them the Israelites made themselves hiding places in mountains, caves, and fortifications.
et oppressi sunt valde ab eis. Feceruntque sibi antra et speluncas in montibus, et munitissima ad repugnandum loca.
3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other peoples from the east would come and attack them.
Cumque sevisset Israël, ascendebat Madian et Amalec, ceterique orientalium nationum:
4 They would set up their camps and destroy the country's crops as far away as Gaza. They didn't leave anything to eat in the whole of Israel, and they took for themselves all the sheep, cattle, and donkeys.
et apud eos figentes tentoria, sicut erant in herbis cuncta vastabant usque ad introitum Gazæ: nihilque omnino ad vitam pertinens relinquebant in Israël, non oves, non boves, non asinos.
5 They arrived in huge numbers with their livestock and tents like swarms of locusts, with so many camels they couldn't be counted. They invaded the land to completely devastate it.
Ipsi enim et universi greges eorum veniebant cum tabernaculis suis, et instar locustarum universa complebant, innumera multitudo hominum et camelorum, quidquid tetigerant devastantes.
6 The Israelites were made desperately poor by the Midianites and they called out to the Lord for help.
Humiliatusque est Israël valde in conspectu Madian.
7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help because of the Midianites,
Et clamavit ad Dominum postulans auxilium contra Madianitas.
8 the Lord sent the Israelites a prophet. He told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt; I led you out from the place where you were slaves.
Qui misit ad eos virum prophetam, et locutus est: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus Israël: Ego vos feci conscendere de Ægypto, et eduxi vos de domo servitutis,
9 I saved you from the power of the Egyptians and from everyone who oppressed you. I expelled them before you and gave their land to you.
et liberavi de manu Ægyptiorum, et omnium inimicorum qui affligebant vos: ejecique eos ad introitum vestrum, et tradidi vobis terram eorum.
10 I warned you: I am the Lord your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you're now living.’ But you didn't listen to me.”
Et dixi: Ego Dominus Deus vester: ne timeatis deos Amorrhæorum, in quorum terra habitatis. Et noluistis audire vocem meam.
11 The angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress there to hide it from the Midianites.
Venit autem angelus Domini, et sedit sub quercu, quæ erat in Ephra, et pertinebat ad Joas patrem familiæ Ezri. Cumque Gedeon filius ejus excuteret atque purgaret frumenta in torculari, ut fugeret Madian,
12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, great man of courage!”
apparuit ei angelus Domini, et ait: Dominus tecum, virorum fortissime.
13 “Excuse me, my lord, but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?” Gideon replied. “Where are all his wonderful miracles that our forefathers reminded us about when they said, ‘Wasn't it the Lord who led us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has given up on us and has handed us over to the Midianites.”
Dixitque ei Gedeon: Obsecro, mi domine, si Dominus nobiscum est, cur apprehenderunt nos hæc omnia? ubi sunt mirabilia ejus, quæ narraverunt patres nostri, atque dixerunt: De Ægypto eduxit nos Dominus? nunc autem dereliquit nos Dominus, et tradidit in manu Madian.
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength that you have and save Israel from the Midianites. Aren't I the one sending you?”
Respexitque ad eum Dominus, et ait: Vade in hac fortitudine tua, et liberabis Israël de manu Madian: scito quod miserim te.
15 “Excuse me, my lord, but how can I save Israel?” Gideon replied. “My family is the least important of the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important person of that family!”
Qui respondens ait: Obsecro, mi domine, in quo liberabo Israël? ecce familia mea infima est in Manasse, et ego minimus in domo patris mei.
16 “I will be with you,” the Lord told him. “You will defeat the Midianites as if they were just one man.”
Dixitque ei Dominus: Ego ero tecum: et percuties Madian quasi unum virum.
17 “Please, Lord, if you think well of me, give me a sign that it's really you telling me this,” Gideon asked.
Et ille: Si inveni, inquit, gratiam coram te, da mihi signum quod tu sis qui loqueris ad me:
18 “Don't leave until I come back and present my offering to you.” “I will remain here until you return,” he replied.
nec recedas hinc, donec revertar ad te, portans sacrificium, et offerens tibi. Qui respondit: Ego præstolabor adventum tuum.
19 Gideon went and cooked a young goat, and baked some unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He carried them out and presented them to the angel under the oak tree.
Ingressus est itaque Gedeon, et coxit hædum, et de farinæ modio azymos panes: carnesque ponens in canistro, et jus carnium mittens in ollam, tulit omnia sub quercu, et obtulit ei.
20 The angel of God told him, “Place the meat and the unleavened bread on this rock and pour the broth over them.” So Gideon did.
Cui dixit angelus Domini: Tolle carnes et azymos panes, et pone supra petram illam, et jus desuper funde. Cumque fecisset ita,
21 The angel of the Lord held out the staff he was holding and touched the meat and unleavened bread with the tip. Fire flamed from the rock and burned up the meat and unleavened bread. Then the angel vanished.
extendit angelus Domini summitatem virgæ, quam tenebat in manu, et tetigit carnes et panes azymos: ascenditque ignis de petra, et carnes azymosque panes consumpsit: angelus autem Domini evanuit ex oculis ejus.
22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he cried out, “Oh no, Lord God! I've seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
Vidensque Gedeon quod esset angelus Domini, ait: Heu mi Domine Deus: quia vidi angelum Domini facie ad faciem.
23 But the Lord told him, “Peace! Don't worry, you're not going to die.”
Dixitque ei Dominus: Pax tecum: ne timeas, non morieris.
24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it “The Lord is Peace.” It's still there today, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Ædificavit ergo ibi Gedeon altare Domino, vocavitque illud, Domini pax, usque in præsentem diem. Cumque adhuc esset in Ephra, quæ est familiæ Ezri,
25 That night the Lord told Gideon, “Take your father's bull and a second bull seven years old, and tear down your father's altar of Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
nocte illa dixit Dominus ad eum: Tolle taurum patris tui, et alterum taurum annorum septem, destruesque aram Baal, quæ est patris tui, et nemus, quod circa aram est, succide.
26 Then build an altar to the Lord your God in the proper way on hilltop. Using the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down as firewood, take the second bull and present it as a burnt offering.”
Et ædificabis altare Domino Deo tuo in summitate petræ hujus, super quam ante sacrificium posuisti: tollesque taurum secundum, et offeres holocaustum super struem lignorum, quæ de nemore succideris.
27 Gideon accompanied by ten of his servants did what the Lord had told him. However, because he was afraid of his family and the people of the town, he did it during the night rather than in the day.
Assumptis ergo Gedeon decem viris de servis suis, fecit sicut præceperat ei Dominus. Timens autem domum patris sui, et homines illius civitatis, per diem noluit id facere, sed omnia nocte complevit.
28 Early in the morning when the people of the town got up, they saw that the altar of Baal had been torn down and the Asherah pole beside it had been cut down, with the second bull sacrificed on the altar that had just been built.
Cumque surrexissent viri oppidi ejus mane, viderunt destructam aram Baal, lucumque succisum, et taurum alterum impositum super altare, quod tunc ædificatum erat.
29 They asked one another, “Who did this?” They made inquiries and they were told, “Gideon, son of Joash, did it.”
Dixeruntque ad invicem: Quis hoc fecit? Cumque perquirerent auctorem facti, dictum est: Gedeon filius Joas fecit hæc omnia.
30 “Hand over your son,” the people of the town ordered Joash. “He must die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
Et dixerunt ad Joas: Produc filium tuum huc, ut moriatur: quia destruxit aram Baal, et succidit nemus.
31 Joash replied to all those confronting him, “Are you arguing on Baal's behalf? Do you have to save him? Anyone who argues for him will be put to death by morning! If he is a god let him fight for himself against those who tore down his altar.”
Quibus ille respondit: Numquid ultores estis Baal, ut pugnetis pro eo? qui adversarius est ejus, moriatur antequam lux crastina veniat: si deus est, vindicet se de eo, qui suffodit aram ejus.
32 That day Gideon was called Jerub-baal, which means “Let Baal fight with him,” because he had torn down his altar.
Ex illo die vocatus est Gedeon Jerobaal, eo quod dixisset Joas: Ulciscatur se de eo Baal, qui suffodit aram ejus.
33 All the Midianites, Amalekites, and other peoples of the East gathered together and crossed over the Jordan. They camped in the Valley of Jezreel.
Igitur omnis Madian, et Amalec, et orientales populi, congregati sunt simul: et transeuntes Jordanem, castrametati sunt in valle Jezraël.
34 The Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew the trumpet, calling Abiezrites to join him.
Spiritus autem Domini induit Gedeon, qui clangens buccina convocavit domum Abiezer, ut sequeretur se.
35 He sent messengers through the whole territory of Manasseh, calling them to join him, and also to Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so they also came and joined the others.
Misitque nuntios in universum Manassen, qui et ipse secutus est eum: et alios nuntios in Aser et Zabulon et Nephthali, qui occurrerunt ei.
36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel through me as you promised,
Dixitque Gedeon ad Deum: Si salvum facis per manum meam Israël, sicut locutus es,
37 then look—I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If the fleece is wet with dew but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to save Israel through me as you promised.”
ponam hoc vellus lanæ in area: si ros in solo vellere fuerit, et in omni terra siccitas, sciam quod per manum meam, sicut locutus es, liberabis Israël.
38 That's what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he pressed on the fleece and squeezed out the dew, enough water to fill a bowl.
Factumque est ita. Et de nocte consurgens expresso vellere, concham rore implevit.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Please don't get cross with me. Just let me make one more request. Let me do one more test with the fleece. This time let the fleece be dry and the whole ground covered with dew.”
Dixitque rursus ad Deum: Ne irascatur furor tuus contra me si adhuc semel tentavero, signum quærens in vellere. Oro ut solum vellus siccum sit, et omnis terra rore madens.
40 That night God did exactly that. The fleece alone was dry and the whole ground was covered with dew.
Fecitque Deus nocte illa ut postulaverat: et fuit siccitas in solo vellere, et ros in omni terra.
