Judges 6:37

37 lo, I am placing the fleece of wool in the threshing-floor: if dew is on the fleece alone, and on all the earth drought -- then I have known that Thou dost save Israel by my hand, as Thou hast spoken;'

Judges 6:37 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 6:37

Behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor
On the floor where he was threshing, where the angel first appeared to him, and which lay exposed to the open air, so that the dew might easily fall upon it:

and if the dew be on the fleece only;
the dew that falls from heaven in the night, when he proposed it should lie on the floor till morning:

and it be dry upon all the earth beside;
meaning not upon all the world, nor even upon all the land of Israel, but upon all the floor about the fleece: then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said; for the dew being a token of divine favour, see ( Hosea 14:5 ) it would show that Gideon would partake of it, while his enemies would be dry and desolate, and ruin and destruction would be their portion.

Judges 6:37 In-Context

35 and messengers he hath sent into all Manasseh, and it also is called after him; and messengers he hath sent into Asher, and into Zebulun, and into Naphtali, and they come up to meet them.

36 And Gideon saith unto God, `If Thou art Saviour of Israel by my hand, as Thou hast spoken,

37 lo, I am placing the fleece of wool in the threshing-floor: if dew is on the fleece alone, and on all the earth drought -- then I have known that Thou dost save Israel by my hand, as Thou hast spoken;'

38 and it is so, and he riseth early on the morrow, and presseth the fleece, and wringeth dew out of the fleece -- the fulness of the bowl, of water.

39 And Gideon saith unto God, `Let not Thine anger burn against me, and I speak only this time; let me try, I pray Thee, only this time with the fleece -- let there be, I pray Thee, drought on the fleece alone, and on all the earth let there be dew.'