Joshua 6

1

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven

years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.

2

Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared

shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.

3

Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites

and other eastern people invaded the country.

4

They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza

and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle

nor donkeys.

5

They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locust.

It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded

the land to ravage it.

6

Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD

for help.

7

When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian,

8

he sent them a prophet, who said, "This is what the LORD, the

God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the

land of slavery.

9

I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all

your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you

this land.

10

I said to you, 'I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods

of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened

to me."

11

The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah

that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was

threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.

12

When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD

is with you, mighty warrior."

13

"But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this

happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us

about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?'

But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand

of Midian." 

14

The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and

save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"

15

"But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the

weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."

16

The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all

the Midianites together."

17

Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a

sign that it is really you talking to me.

18

Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering

and set it before you." And the LORD said, "I will wait until

you return."

19

Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of

flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket

and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them

to him under the oak.

20

The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened

bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And

Gideon did so.

21

With the tio of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD

touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the

rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the

LORD disappeared.

22

When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he

exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the

LORD face to face!"

23

But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not

going to die."

24

So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD

is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 

25

That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the second bull from

your father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's

altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

26

Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top

of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut

down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering."

27

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him.

But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town,

he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

28

In the morning when the men of the town got up, there was Baal's altar

demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second

bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

29

They asked each other, "Who did this?" When they carefully investigated,

they were told, "Gideon son of Joash did it."

30

The men of the town demanded of Joash, "Bring out your son. He must

die, because he has broken down Baal's altar and cut down Asherah

pole beside it."

31

But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, "Are you going to

plead Baal's cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him

shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend

himself when someone breaks down his altar."

32

So that day they called Gideon "Jerub-Baal, saying, "Let Baal contend

with him," because he broke down Baal's altar.

33

Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined

forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of

Jezreel.

34

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, an he blew a trumpet,

summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.

35

He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and

also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to

meet them.

36

Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have

promised -

37

look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is a

dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know

that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said."

38

And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he

squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew - a bowlful of water.

39

Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me

make just one more request. Allow me one more test with

the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered

with dew."

40

That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was

covered with dew.