Judges 6:1-18 ▼

1 Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; so He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,

2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.

3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east would come up and invade them,

4 encamping against them as far as Gaza and destroying the produce of the land. They left Israel with no sustenance, neither sheep nor oxen nor donkeys.

5 For the Midianites came with their livestock and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were innumerable, and they entered the land to ravage it.

6 Israel was greatly impoverished by Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD.

7 Now when the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian,

8 He sent them a prophet, who told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

9 I delivered you out of the hands of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

10 And I said to you: ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.’ But you did not obey Me.”

11 Then 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 hide it from the Midianites.

12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

13 “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

15 “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

16 “Surely I will be with you,” the LORD replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.”

17 Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me.

18 Please do not depart from this place until I return to You. Let me bring my offering and set it before You.” And the LORD said, “I will stay until you return.”