Judges 6

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1 The sons of Israel did [again] to do evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
2 Heavy was the hand of Midian over Israel, and the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains and caves and strongholds.
3 When Israel had sown, Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east and go against them;
4 and stand in their tents, and destroyed the increase of the earth as far as Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox, nor ass.
5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, coming in such numerous as locusts; they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.
6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord.

7 And when the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites,
8 The Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites and say to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I brought you out of Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage;
9 I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out before you, and gave you their land;
10 and I said to you, `I - the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living '; but you did not listen to my voice.

eleven And the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite; and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him: The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor!
13 Gideon said to him: My lord! if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us, saying, `Lord brought out of Egypt have '? Now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
14 The Lord turned to him and said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian; I am sending you.
15 [Gideon] said to him, O Lord! how I save Israel? behold, my family in the [tribe] of Manasseh is poor, and I'm in my father's house.
16 And the Lord said to him: I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
17 [Gideon] said to him, If I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that You talk with me:
18 Do not go away, until I come to thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. He said, I will tarry until thou come again.
19 Gideon went in and made ready a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour; the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought to him under the oak and presented it.
20 And the angel of God said to him: Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.
21 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 out fire from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened bread; and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, [alas] [me], O Lord GOD! because I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.
23 The Lord said to him, Peace to you, do not worry, you will not die.
24 And Gedeon built there an altar unto the LORD, and called it Jehovah Shalom. It still to this day in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 That night the Lord said to him: Take a bullock of thy flock, and another bullock of seven years of his father, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the sacred tree, which for him,
26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock, in the order and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood, which is the framework.
27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD said to him; but how to do it the day he feared his father's household and the inhabitants of the city, it did it by night.
28 Rose up men of the city, and, behold, the altar of Baal destroyed, and the grove cut down it, and the second bullock for a burnt offering on the altar that was built.
29 And they said one to another, who did it? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash did it.
thirty They said residents of Joash, Bring out your son; he must die for what destroyed the altar of Baal and cut down the grove that was by it.
31 Joash said unto all to him: Do you plead for Baal, whether you defend him? who would stand up for him, he shall be put to death whilst it is yet morning; if it is a god, let him plead for himself, because he has thrown down his altar.
32 And he called him that day, Jerubbaal, because he said: Let Baal plead with him, because he destroyed his altar.

33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east were gathered together, and went [River], and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.
34 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; he blew a trumpet, and the tribe was convened Abiezrites to follow him.
35 And he sent messengers throughout the tribe of Manasseh, and it is called to follow him; also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.
36 Then Gideon said to God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said,
37 behold, I will put [there] on the threshing floor of wool if the dew be on the fleece only, but on all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said.
38 And it was so: the next day, getting up early, he began to squeeze the wool and wrung out the dew wool bowl full of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, Do not be angry with me if I repeat only once and still do a test with the fleece: let it be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
40 And God did so that night: only on the fleece was dry, and the whole earth was dew.

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