1The people of Israel did evil in Yahweh's eyes, so Yahweh handed them over to Midian for seven years.
2Midian had power over Israel. Because of Midian, the people of Israel made themselves hiding places in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.
3Whenever Israel planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east would come up against them.
4They would set up camp against them and destroy all the produce of the land as far as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to live on—no sheep, oxen, or donkeys.
5They came with their livestock and their tents, as numerous as locusts. Both they and their camels were countless, and they came into the land to destroy it.
6Israel became very poor because of Midian, and the people of Israel cried out to Yahweh.
7When the people of Israel cried out to Yahweh because of Midian,
8Yahweh sent a prophet to the people of Israel. He said to them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and led you out of slavery.
9I rescued you from the Egyptians and from everyone else who oppressed you. I drove them out from before you and gave you their land.
10I told you, “I am Yahweh your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.” But you have not listened to me.’ ”
11The angel of Yahweh came and sat under the oak tree in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. Joash's son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to hide it from the Midianites.
12The angel of Yahweh appeared to Gideon and said, “Yahweh is with you, mighty warrior!”
13Gideon replied, “Please, sir, if Yahweh is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the amazing things our fathers told us about, when they said, ‘Didn’t Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But now Yahweh has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”
14Yahweh looked at him and said, “Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. Haven't I sent you?”
15Gideon said to him, “Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My family is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important in my father’s household.”
16Yahweh said to him, “I will certainly be with you, and you will defeat the Midianites as if they were just one man.”
17Gideon said to him, “If I have found favor with you, please give me a sign that it is really you speaking to me.
18Please don’t leave until I come back and bring my offering to put before you.” He said, “I will wait until you return.”
19So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread made from twenty-two liters of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, then brought them out and presented them to him under the oak tree.
20The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, place them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” Gideon did so.
21Then the angel of Yahweh reached out the tip of the staff he was holding and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. Fire shot up from the rock and consumed the meat and the cakes. Then the angel of Yahweh disappeared from his sight.
22When Gideon realized it was the angel of Yahweh, he exclaimed, “Oh no, Lord Yahweh! I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face!”
23But Yahweh said to him, “Peace be with you. Don’t be afraid. You will not die.”
24Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh and named it “Yahweh Is Peace.” It remains in Ophrah of the Abiezrites to this day.
25That same night, Yahweh said to him, “Take your father’s bull, the seven-year-old second bull, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah pole next to it.
26Then build an altar to Yahweh your God on top of this fortress, in the proper way. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering, using the wood from the Asherah pole you cut down.”
27So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as Yahweh had told him. Because he was afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city, he couldn’t do it during the day, so he did it at night.
28When the men of the city got up early in the morning, they saw that the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah pole next to it was cut down. The second bull had been offered on the altar that was built.
29They asked each other, “Who did this?” After they investigated, they said, “Gideon, the son of Joash, did this.”
30Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son so he can die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah pole next to it.”
31Joash said to everyone who opposed him, “Are you going to argue for Baal? Are you going to save him? Anyone who argues for him must be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him fight for himself, since someone has torn down his altar!”
32Because of this, on that day he named Gideon Jerub-Baal, saying, “Let Baal fight against him, because he tore down his altar.”
33Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and people from the east gathered together. They crossed the Jordan River and set up camp in the Jezreel Valley.
34But the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Gideon. He blew a trumpet, and people from Abiezer gathered to follow him.
35He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh, and they also gathered to follow him. He sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came to meet them.
36Gideon said to God, “If you are going to save Israel through me, as you have promised,
37then I will put a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground around it is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel through me, as you have promised.”
38And that is what happened. When Gideon got up early the next day, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a bowl full of water from the dew.
39Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be angry with me. I will speak just one more time. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. This time, let only the fleece be dry, and let there be dew on all the ground.”
40God did so that night; only the fleece was dry, and there was dew on all the ground.