Judges 6:22-40 ▼

22 When Gideon realized that he had seen the angel of the LORD himself, he cried out, |Oh no! Lord GOD! I've been looking right at the angel of the LORD—and face-to-face at that!|

23 |Calm down! Don't be afraid.| the LORD replied. |You're not going to die!|

24 So Gideon built an altar right there to the LORD and called it |The LORD is peace.| (To this very day it still stands in Ophrah, which belongs to the descendants of Abiezer.)

25 Later that very night, the LORD told Gideon, |Take the bull that belongs to your father, along with a second bull that's seven years old. Then tear down the altar to Baal that your father owns, cut down the Asherah that's beside it,

26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this stronghold in an orderly manner. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering using the wood from the Asherah that you'll be cutting down.|

27 So Gideon went with ten men who were his servants and did just what the LORD had told him to do, though he did it at night because he was too afraid of his father's family and the leading men of the city to do it during the day.

28 When the leading men of the city got up early the next morning, the altar to Baal had been torn down, along with the Asherah that had stood beside it, and the second bull had been offered on the altar that had been erected.

29 They asked each other, |Who did this thing?| When they looked into it and asked around, they concluded, |Joash's son Gideon did it.|

30 So the leading men of the city ordered Joash, |Bring us that son of yours. He's going to die, because he tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah that stood beside it!|

31 But Joash responded to everyone who was opposing him, |Do you really intend to fight on Baal's behalf? Do you really intend to rescue him by ordering that whoever fights him will be executed by morning? If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself. After all, it was his altar that was torn down.|

32 So that very day he named Gideon Jerubbaal, that is, |Let Baal fight,| since he had torn down his altar.

33 Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and certain groups from the east gathered together, crossed the Jordan River, and set up camp in the Jezreel Valley.

34 So the Spirit of the LORD took control of Gideon, who blew a trumpet, mustering the descendants of Abiezer to follow him into battle.

35 He sent messengers to the entire tribe of Manasseh, calling them to follow him, and he also sent word to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, calling them to meet him.

36 Then Gideon told God, |If you intend to deliver Israel by my efforts as you've said,

37 then take a look at this wool fleece that I'm placing on the threshing floor. If dew appears only on the fleece—and it's dry on the ground all around it—then I'll know that you'll deliver Israel by my efforts like you've said.|

38 And that is what happened: When he got up early the next morning, he wrung out the fleece to drain the dew from it and extracted a bowl full of water.

39 Then Gideon told God, |Don't let yourself be angry with me! I want to ask you once again: please let me make a test with the fleece just once more. Cause it to be dry only on the fleece, but let there be dew all around on the ground.|

40 And God did it just like that later that night. It was dry only on the fleece, but dew was all around on the ground.