King James VersionJudges6

Judges

1 And the chil­dren of Is­rael did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD de­liv­ered them into the hand of Mid­i­an sev­en years. 2 And the hand of Mid­i­an pre­vailed against Is­rael: and be­cause of the Mid­i­an­ites the chil­dren of Is­rael made them the dens which are in the moun­tains, and caves, and strong holds. 3 And so it was, when Is­rael had sown, that the Mid­i­an­ites came up, and the Amalekites, and the chil­dren of the east, even they came up against them; 4 And they en­camped against them, and de­stroyed the in­crease of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sus­te­nance for Is­rael, nei­ther sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 5 For they came up with their cat­tle and their tents, and they came as grasshop­pers for mul­ti­tude; for both 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 chil­dren of Is­rael cried unto the LORD. 7 And it came to pass, when the chil­dren of Is­rael cried unto the LORD be­cause of the Mid­i­an­ites, 8 That the LORD sent a prophet unto the chil­dren of Is­rael, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Is­rael, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; 9 And I de­liv­ered you out of the hand of the Egyp­tians, and out of the hand of all that op­pressed you, and drave them out from be­fore you, and gave you their land; 10 And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amor­ites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice. 11 And there came an an­gel of the LORD, and sat un­der an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto 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 unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of val­our. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this be­fall­en us? and where be all his mir­a­cles which our fa­thers told us of, say­ing, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath for­sak­en us, and de­liv­ered us into the hands of the Mid­i­an­ites. 14 And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Is­rael from the hand of the Mid­i­an­ites: have not I sent thee? 15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, where­with shall I save Is­rael? be­hold, my fam­i­ly is poor in Man­asseh, and I am the least in my father's house. 16 And the LORD said unto him, Sure­ly I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Mid­i­an­ites as one man. 17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talk­est with me. 18 De­part not hence, I pray thee, un­til I come unto thee, and bring forth my pre­sent, and set it be­fore thee. And he said, I will tar­ry un­til thou come again. 19 And 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 it out unto him un­der the oak, and pre­sent­ed it. 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. 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 rose up fire out of the rock, and con­sumed the flesh and the un­leav­ened cakes. Then the an­gel of the LORD de­part­ed out of his sight. 22 And when Gideon per­ceived that he was an an­gel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for be­cause I have seen an an­gel of the LORD face to face. 23 And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. 24 Then Gideon built an al­tar there unto the LORD, and called it Je­ho­vahshalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 25 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father's young bul­lock, even the sec­ond bul­lock of sev­en years old, and throw down the al­tar of Baal that thy fa­ther hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: 26 And build an al­tar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the or­dered place, and take the sec­ond bul­lock, and of­fer a burnt sac­ri­fice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his ser­vants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, be­cause he feared his father's house­hold, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. 28 And when the men of the city arose ear­ly in the morn­ing, be­hold, the al­tar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the sec­ond bul­lock was of­fered upon the al­tar that was built. 29 And they said one to an­oth­er, Who hath done this thing? And when they en­quired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing. 30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: be­cause he hath cast down the al­tar of Baal, and be­cause he hath cut down the grove that was by it. 31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morn­ing: if he be a god, let him plead for him­self, be­cause one hath cast down his al­tar. 32 There­fore on that day he called him Jerub­baal, say­ing, Let Baal plead against him, be­cause he hath thrown down his al­tar. 33 Then all the Mid­i­an­ites and the Amalekites and the chil­dren of the east were gath­ered to­geth­er, and went over, and pitched in the val­ley of Jezreel. 34 But the Spir­it of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trum­pet; and Abiez­er was gath­ered af­ter him. 35 And he sent mes­sen­gers through­out all Man­asseh; who also was gath­ered af­ter him: and he sent mes­sen­gers unto Ash­er, and unto Ze­bu­lun, and unto Naph­tali; and they came up to meet them. 36 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Is­rael by mine hand, as thou hast said, 37 Be­hold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece on­ly, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Is­rael by mine hand, as thou hast said. 38 And it was so: for he rose up ear­ly on the mor­row, and thrust the fleece to­geth­er, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of wa­ter. 39 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, 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. 40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece on­ly, and there was dew on all the ground.