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Judges 6:1-40 — Gideon

Judg.6.1-40

¹Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years. ²The hand of Midian grew strong against Israel, and because of Midian the Israelites made for themselves hideouts in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. ³Whenever Israel had sown, Midian and Amalek and the people of the east would come up against them. ⁴They would camp against them and destroy the produce of the land as far as Gaza, and they left no sustenance in Israel, no sheep, ox, or donkey. ⁵For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they came like locusts in number. They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to ravage it. ⁶So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD. ⁷Now when the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian, ⁸the LORD sent a prophet to the Israelites, and he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. ⁹I delivered you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and I drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰And I said to you, 'I am the LORD your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.' But you did not listen to my voice." ¹¹Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak at Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from Midian. ¹²And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” ¹³And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” ¹⁵And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? See, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house.” ¹⁶And the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike Midian as one man.” ¹⁷And he said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, then give me a sign that it is you who are speaking with me. ¹⁸Please do not depart from here until I come back to you and bring out my offering and set it before you.“ And he said, ”I will remain until you return." ¹⁹So Gideon went in 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 brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. ²⁰And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. ²¹Then 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 rose from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread, and the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. ²²Then Gideon realized that he was the angel of the LORD, and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord GOD! For I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” ²³But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it The LORD Is Peace . To this day it still stands at Ophrah of the Abiezrites. ²⁵That night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull, and the second bull, seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it. ²⁶Then build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold, in proper order . Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you cut down." ²⁷So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the LORD had spoken to him. But because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. ²⁸When the men of the city rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal had been torn down, the Asherah beside it had been cut down, and the second bull had been offered on the altar that had been built. ²⁹And they said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And after they inquired and searched, they said, “Gideon son of Joash did this thing.” ³⁰Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal and because he has cut down the Asherah beside it.” ³¹But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.” ³²Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he had torn down his altar. ³³Then all Midian and Amalek and the people of the east gathered together, crossed over, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴But the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon, and he blew the trumpet, and Abiezer was summoned to follow him. ³⁵And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were summoned to follow him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them. ³⁶Then Gideon said to God, "If you are going to save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken, ³⁷behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and all the ground is dry, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken." ³⁸And it was so. He rose early the next day and squeezed the fleece, wringing from the fleece a bowl full of water. ³⁹Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me, and let me speak just this once. Please let me test only this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry on the fleece alone, and on all the ground let there be dew.” ⁴⁰And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece alone, and on all the ground there was dew.

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4/11/2026

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