Judges 6
A Fleece Wet and a Threshing Floor Dry
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Midian Oppresses Israel
6:1The sons of Israel did evil before the Lord, and the Lord handed them into Midian’s hand for seven years.
6:2Midian’s hand prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian, the sons of Israel made enclosures for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.
6:3Whenever an Israelite man sowed, Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east came up; they came up against him.
6:4They camped against them and ruined the land’s produce as far as Gaza. They left no means of life in Israel, neither flock nor calf nor donkey.
6:5For they and their livestock came up, bringing their tents; they arrived like locusts in multitude. They and their camels were beyond numbering, and they entered Israel’s land to ruin it.
6:6Israel became very poor because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord.
A Prophet Sent to Israel
6:7When the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord because of Midian,
6:8the Lord sent a man who was a prophet to the sons of Israel. He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I am the One who brought you up from Egypt, and I brought you out of the house of slavery.
6:9I rescued you from Egypt’s hand and from the hand of all who oppressed you. I cast them out before you and gave you their land.
6:10I said to you, “I am the Lord your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, among whom you dwell in their land.” But you have not obeyed My voice.’”
The Messenger Calls Gideon
6:11The Lord’s messenger came and sat beneath the oak in Ephrathah that belonged to Joash, father of Abiezri. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in a winepress to escape from Midian.
6:12The Lord’s messenger appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, mighty in strength.”
6:13Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why have all these evils found us? Where are all His wonders that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now He has rejected us and handed us into Midian’s hand.”
6:14The Lord’s messenger looked toward him and said to him, “Go in your strength and you will save Israel. Look, I have sent you.”
6:15Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, with what shall I save Israel? Look, my thousand is the lowliest in Manasseh, and I am small in my father’s house.”
6:16The Lord’s messenger said to him, “The Lord will be with you, and you will strike Midian as one man.”
6:17Gideon said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is you who are speaking with me.
6:18Do not move from here until I come to you, bring my sacrifice, and set it before you.” He said, “I am here; I will sit until you return.”
The Sign of Fire from the Rock
6:19Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an oiphi of flour. He put the meat on the basket and poured the broth into a pot. He brought it out to him beneath the oak and bowed down.
6:20The Lord’s messenger said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened loaves, set them by that rock, and pour out the broth.” He did so.
6:21The Lord’s messenger stretched out the end of the staff in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. Fire was kindled from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. The Lord’s messenger went from his sight.
6:22Gideon saw that he was the Lord’s messenger. Gideon said, “Ah, ah, Lord, Lord! For I have seen the Lord’s messenger face to face.”
6:23The Lord said to him, “Peace to you. Do not fear that you may die.”
6:24Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it Peace of the Lord. To this day it is still there in Ephrathah of the father of Ezri.
Baal’s Altar Demolished
6:25That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s fattened bull, the seven-year-old bull. Pull down your father’s altar of Baal and cut down the grove beside it.
6:26Build an altar to the Lord your God, who appeared to you, on top of this Mount Maoz, in battle array. Take the bull and offer it as a whole burnt offering with the wood of the grove that you cut down.”
6:27Gideon took thirteen men from his servants and did as the Lord had told him. 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.
6:28The men of the city rose early in the morning. Look, Baal’s altar had been demolished, the grove beside it had been cut down, and the fattened bull had been offered as a whole burnt offering on the newly built altar.
6:29Each said to his neighbor, “Who did this thing?” They examined and searched, and said, “Gideon son of Joash did this thing.”
6:30The men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, and let him die, because he demolished Baal’s altar and cut down the grove beside it.”
6:31Joash said to the men who stood against him, “Are you now pleading Baal’s case? Are you saving him? Whoever disputed with him will die by morning. If he is a god, he himself will avenge him, because someone demolished his altar.”
6:32On that day he called it Tribunal of Baal, because he demolished his altar.
The Spirit Clothes Gideon
6:33All Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east gathered together, crossed over, and camped in the valley of Jezreel.
6:34The Spirit of God clothed Gideon. He sounded a horn trumpet, and Abiezer cried out behind him.
6:35He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and it too cried out behind him. He sent messengers through Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet him.
The Fleece and the Dew
6:36Gideon said to God, “If You are saving Israel by my hand, as You have spoken,
6:37look, I am laying a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If dew comes upon the fleece alone while all the ground is dry, I will know that You are saving Israel by my hand, as You have spoken.”
6:38It was so. Gideon rose early the next day and squeezed the fleece. The dew flowed from the fleece, a basin full of water.
6:39Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your wrath be angry with me, and let me speak once more. Let me test once more with the fleece: let the fleece alone be dry, and let dew be on all the ground.”
6:40God did so that night. The fleece alone was dry, and dew was on all the ground.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V2 · working draft awaiting specialist review.