6Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,H1121H3478H6213H7451H5869H3068H3068H5414H3027H4080H7651H81412and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.H3027H4080H5810H3478H6440H4080H1121H3478H6213H4492H2022H4631H46793So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.H3478H2232H4080H5927H6002H1121H6924H59274Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.H2583H7843H2981H776H935H5804H7604H4241H3478H7716H7794H25435For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.H5927H4735H168H935H935H1767H697H7230H1581H4557H935H776H78436So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.H3478H3966H1809H6440H4080H1121H3478H2199H30687And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD because of the Midianites,H1121H3478H2199H3068H182H40808that the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage;H3068H7971H376H5030H1121H3478H559H559H3068H430H3478H5927H4714H3318H1004H56509'and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.H5337H3027H4714H3027H3905H1644H6440H5414H77610'Also I said to you, "I am the LORD your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell." But you have not obeyed My voice.'"H559H3068H430H3372H430H567H776H3427H8085H696311Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.H935H4397H3068H3427H424H6084H3101H33H1121H1439H2251H2406H1660H5127H6440H408012And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!"H4397H3068H7200H559H3068H1368H242813Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites."H1439H559H994H113H3426H3068H4672H6381H1H5608H559H3068H5927H4714H3068H5203H5414H3709H408014Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?"H3068H6437H559H3212H3581H3467H3478H3709H4080H797115So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."H559H994H136H4100H3467H3478H504H505H1800H4519H6810H1H100416And the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man."H3068H559H5221H4080H259H37617Then he said to Him, "If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me.H559H4672H2580H5869H6213H226H169618"Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You." And He said, "I will wait until you come back."H4185H935H3318H4503H3240H6440H559H3427H772519So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them.H1439H935H6213H5795H1423H4682H374H7058H1320H7760H5536H7760H4839H6517H3318H424H506620The 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.H4397H430H559H3947H1320H4682H3240H1975H5553H8210H4839H621321Then the Angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.H4397H3068H7971H7097H4938H3027H5060H1320H4682H5927H784H6697H398H1320H4682H4397H3068H1980H586922Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the LORD. So Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face."H1439H7200H4397H3068H1439H559H162H136H3069H3651H7200H4397H3068H6440H644023Then the LORD said to him, "Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die."H3068H559H7965H3372H419124So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.H1439H1129H4196H3068H7121H3073H3117H6084H3325Now it came to pass the same night that the LORD said to him, "Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it;H3915H3068H559H3947H1H6499H7794H8145H6499H7651H8141H2040H4196H1168H1H3772H84226"and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down."H1129H4196H3068H430H7218H4581H4634H3947H8145H6499H5927H5930H6086H842H377227So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the LORD had said 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.H1439H3947H6235H582H5650H6213H3068H1696H3372H1H1004H582H5892H6213H3119H6213H391528And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built.H582H5892H7925H1242H4196H1168H5422H842H3772H8145H6499H5927H4196H112929So they said to one another, "Who has done this thing?" And when they had inquired and asked, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing."H559H376H7453H6213H1697H1875H1245H559H1439H1121H3101H6213H169730Then 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 wooden image that was beside it."H582H5892H559H3101H3318H1121H4191H5422H4196H1168H3772H84231But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!"H3101H559H5975H7378H1168H3467H7378H4191H1242H430H7378H5422H419632Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, "Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar."H3117H7121H3378H559H1168H7378H5422H419633Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.H4080H6002H1121H6924H622H3162H5674H2583H6010H315734But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him.H7307H3068H3847H1439H8628H7782H44H2199H31035And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.H7971H4397H4519H2199H310H7971H4397H836H2074H5321H5927H712536So Gideon said to God, "If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said—H1439H559H430H3426H3467H3478H3027H169637"look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said."H3322H1492H6785H1637H2919H1492H2721H776H3045H3467H3478H3027H169638And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.H7925H4283H2115H1492H2115H4680H2919H1492H5602H4393H432539Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew."H1439H559H430H639H2734H1696H6471H5254H6471H1492H2721H1492H776H291940And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.H430H6213H3915H2721H1492H2919H776
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