Judges 6

1 And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian 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 the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.

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 so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them;

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

4 and they encamped against them, and destroyed the produce of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.

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 came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land to destroy it.

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 brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.

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

7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of Midian,

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

8 that the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel; and he said unto them: 'Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

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 delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land.

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 unto you: I am the LORD your God; ye shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but ye have not hearkened unto 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 And the angel of the LORD came, and sat under the terebinth which was in Ophrah, that belonged unto Joash the Abiezrite; and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

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 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him: 'The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.'

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

13 And Gideon said unto him: 'Oh, my lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all His wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying: Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath cast us off, and 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 turned towards him, and said: 'Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian; have not I sent thee?'

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 he said unto him: 'Oh, my lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.'

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 unto him: 'Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as 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 unto him: 'If now I have found favour in thy sight, then show me a sign that it is thou that talkest with 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 Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and lay it before thee.' And he said: 'I will tarry until thou come back.'

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 Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal; the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the terebinth, and presented it.

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 God said unto him: 'Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth.' And he did 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 Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the LORD departed out of 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 saw that he was the angel of the LORD; and Gideon said: 'Alas, O Lord GOD! forasmuch as 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 unto him: 'Peace be unto thee; fear not; thou shalt not die.'

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

24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it 'Adonai-shalom'; unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

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 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him: 'Take thy father's bullock, and the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah that is by it;

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 build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this stronghold, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah which thou shalt cut down.'

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 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had spoken unto him; and it came to pass, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it 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 the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was 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 hath done this thing?' And when they inquired and asked, they said: 'Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.'

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 Then the men of the city said unto Joash: 'Bring out thy son, that he may die; because he hath broken down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the Asherah that was by it.'

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 And Joash said unto all that stood against him: 'Will ye contend for Baal? or will ye save him? he that will contend for him, shall be put to death before morning; if he be a god, let him contend for himself, because one hath broken down 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 Therefore on that day he was called Jerubbaal, saying: 'Let Baal contend against him, because he hath broken down his altar.'

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

33 Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and pitched 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 clothed Gideon; and he blew a horn; and Abiezer was gathered together after 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 throughout all Manasseh; and they also were gathered together after him; and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

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 unto God: 'If Thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as Thou hast spoken,

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

37 behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing-floor; if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the ground, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as Thou hast spoken.'

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 it was so; for he rose up early on the morrow, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.

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 Gideon said unto God: 'Let not Thine anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once: let me make trial, I pray Thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be 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 God did so that night; for it was dry upon the fleece only, 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.