3
And [so] it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;
4
And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou comest to Gaza; and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.
5
For they came up with their cattle, and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; [for] both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.
6
And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried to the LORD.
7
And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried to the LORD because of the Midianites,
8
That the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth from the house of bondage;
9
And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land;
10
And I said to you, I [am] the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.
11
And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which [was] in Ophrah, that [pertained] to Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon thrashed wheat by the wine-press, to hide [it] from the Midianites.
12
And the angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, The LORD [is] with thee, thou mighty man of valor.
13
And Gideon said to him, O my Lord, if the LORD is with us, why then hath all this befallen us? and where [are] 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.
