Juízes 6

¹ Afterwarde the children of Israel committed wickednesse in the sight of the Lorde, and the Lorde gaue them into the handes of Midian seuen yeres.

² And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel:For fear of the Midianites, they fled into the dens of the mountains.[and] because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which [are] in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.

³ When Israel had sowen, then came vp the Midianites, the Amalekites, & they of the East, and came vpon them,

⁴ And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come untoEven almost the whole country.Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.

⁵ For they went vp, and their cattel, & came with their tentes as grashoppers in multitude: so that they & their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it.

⁶ And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and theThis is the purpose of God's punishments, to call his to repentance, that they may seek help from him.children of Israel cried unto the LORD.

⁷ And when the children of Israel cryed vnto the Lord because of the Midianites,

⁸ The Lord sent vnto the children of Israel a Prophet, who sayd vuto them, Thus sayth the Lord God of Israel, I haue brought you vp from Egypt, and haue brought you out of the house of bondage,

⁹ And I haue deliuered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and haue cast them out before you, and giuen you their land.

¹⁰ And I sayde vnto you, I am the Lord your God: feare not the gods of the Amorites in whose lande you dwell: but ye haue not obeyed my voyce.

¹¹ And the Angell of the Lord came, and sate vnder the oke which was in Ophrah, that perteined vnto Ioash the father of the Ezrites, and his sonne Gideon threshed wheate by the winepresse, to hide it from the Midianites.

¹² Then the Angel of the Lord appeared vnto him, and said vnto him, The Lord is with thee, thou valiant man.

¹³ And Gideon said unto him,This came not from distrust, but from weakness of faith, which is in the most perfect: for no man in this life can have a perfect faith: yet the children of God have a true faith, by which they are justified.Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where [be] all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

¹⁴ And theThat is, Christ appearing in visible form.LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thyWhich I have given to you.might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

¹⁵ And he answered him, Ah my Lord, whereby shal I saue Israel? beholde, my father is poore in Manasseh, and I am the least in my fathers house.

¹⁶ Then the Lord sayd vnto him, I wil therefore be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites, as one man.

¹⁷ And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew meSo that we see how the flesh is the enemy of God's calling, which cannot be persuaded without signs.a sign that thou talkest with me.

¹⁸ Depart not hence, I pray thee, vntil I come vnto thee, and bring mine offring, and lay it before thee; he sayde, I will tary vntill thou come againe.

¹⁹ And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of anOf Ephah, read (Exo_16:36).ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought [it] out unto him under the oak, and presented [it].

²⁰ And the Angell of God saide vnto him, Take the flesh and the vnleauened bread, and lay them vpon this stone, and powre out the broth: and he did so.

²¹ Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that [was] in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fireBy the power of God only, as in the sacrifice of Elijah, (1Ki_18:38).out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.

²² And when Gideon perceiued that it was an Angel of the Lord, Gideon then sayde, Alas, my Lord God: for because I haue seene an Angell of the Lord face to face, I shall die.

²³ And the Lord said vnto him, Peace be vnto thee: feare not, thou shalt not die.

²⁴ Then Gideon made an altar there vnto the Lord, and called it, Iehouah shalom: vnto this day it is in Ophrah, of the father of the Ezrites.

²⁵ And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullockThat is, as the Chaldea text writes, fed seven years.of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that [is] by it:

²⁶ And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of theWhich grew about Baal's altar.grove which thou shalt cut down.

²⁷ Then Gideon tooke tenne men of his seruants, and did as ye Lord bade him: but because he feared to doe it by day for his fathers housholde, and the men of the citie, he did it by night.

²⁸ And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that [was] by it, and theMeaning, the fat bull, which was kept to be offered to Baal.second bullock was offered upon the altar [that was] built.

²⁹ Therefore they saide one to another, Who hath done this thing? and when they inquired & asked, they saide, Gideon the sonne of Ioash hath done this thing.

³⁰ Then the men of the citie said vnto Ioash, Bring out thy sonne, that hee may dye: for he hath destroyed the altar of Baal, and hath also cut downe the groue that was by it.

³¹ And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him?Thus we ought to justify those who are zealous of God's cause, though all the multitude are against us.he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst [it is yet] morning: if he [be] a god, let him plead for himself, because [one] hath cast down his altar.

³² And in that day was Gideon called Ierubbaal, that is, Let Baal pleade for himselfe because he hath broken downe his altar.

³³ Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and they of ye East, were gathered together, aud went and pitched in the valley of Izreel.

³⁴ But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; andThe family of Abiezer, of which he was.Abiezer was gathered after him.

³⁵ And he sent messengers thorowout al Manasseh, which also was ioyned with him, and he sent messengers vnto Asher, and to Zebulun and to Naphtali, and they came vp to meete them.

³⁶ And Gideon said unto God,This request proceeds not from infidelity, but that he might be confirmed in his calling.If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,

³⁷ Beholde, I wil put a fleece of wooll in the threshing place: if the dewe come on the fleece onely, and it be drie vpon all the earth, then shall I be sure, that thou wilt saue Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.

³⁸ And so it was: for he rose vp earely on the morow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, and filled a bowle of water.

³⁹ Againe, Gideon sayde vnto God, Be not angry with me, that I may speake once more: let me prooue once againe, I pray thee, with the fleece: let it now be drie onely vpon the fleece, and let dewe be vpon all the ground.

⁴⁰ And God did so that night: for it wasBy which he was assured that it was a miracle of God.dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.