Parallel Bible results for "judges 6"

Judges 6

Good News Translation GNT

1 Once again the people of Israel sinned against the Lord, so he let the people of Midian rule them for seven years.

2 The Midianites were stronger than Israel, and the people of Israel hid from them in caves and other safe places in the hills.

3 Whenever the Israelites would plant their crops, the Midianites would come with the Amalekites and the desert tribes and attack them.

4 They would camp on the land and destroy the crops as far south as the area around Gaza. They would take all the sheep, cattle, and donkeys, and leave nothing for the Israelites to live on.

5 They would come with their livestock and tents, as thick as locusts. They and their camels were too many to count. They came and devastated the land,

6 and Israel was helpless against them.

7 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help against the Midianites,

8 and he sent them a prophet who brought them this message from the Lord, the God of Israel: "I brought you out of slavery in Egypt.

9 I rescued you from the Egyptians and from the people who fought you here in this land. I drove them out as you advanced, and I gave you their land.

10 I told you that I am the Lord your God and that you should not worship the gods of the Amorites, whose land you are now living in. But you have not listened to me."

11 Then the Lord's angel came to the village of Ophrah and sat under the oak tree that belonged to Joash, a man of the clan of Abiezer. His son Gideon was threshing some wheat secretly in a wine press, so that the Midianites would not see him.

12 The Lord's angel appeared to him there and said, "The Lord is with you, brave and mighty man!"

13 Gideon said to him, "If I may ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the Lord is with us? What happened to all the wonderful things that our fathers told us the Lord used to do - how he brought them out of Egypt? The Lord has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites."

14 Then the Lord ordered him, "Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you."

15 Gideon replied, "But Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family."

16 The Lord answered, "You can do it because I will help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man."

17 Gideon replied, "If you are pleased with me, give me some proof that you are really the Lord.

18 Please do not leave until I bring you an offering of food." He said, "I will stay until you come back."

19 So Gideon went into his house and cooked a young goat and used a bushel of flour to make bread without any yeast. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them to the Lord's angel under the oak tree, and gave them to him.

20 The angel told him, "Put the meat and the bread on this rock, and pour the broth over them." Gideon did so.

21 Then the Lord's angel reached out and touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick he was holding. Fire came out of the rock and burned up the meat and the bread. Then the angel disappeared.

22 Gideon then realized that it was the Lord's angel he had seen, and he said in terror, "Sovereign Lord! I have seen your angel face-to-face!"

23 But the Lord told him, "Peace. Don't be afraid. You will not die."

24 Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it "The Lord is Peace." (It is still standing at Ophrah, which belongs to the clan of Abiezer.)

25 That night the Lord told Gideon, "Take your father's bull and another bull seven years old, tear down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the symbol of the goddess Asherah, which is beside it.

26 Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on top of this mound. Then take the second bull and burn it whole as an offering, using for firewood the symbol of Asherah you have cut down."

27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his family and the people in town to do it by day, so he did it at night.

28 When the people in town got up early the next morning, they found that the altar to Baal and the symbol of Asherah had been cut down, and that the second bull had been burned on the altar that had been built there.

29 They asked each other, "Who did this?" They investigated and found out that Gideon son of Joash had done it.

30 Then they said to Joash, "Bring your son out here, so that we can kill him! He tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the symbol of Asherah beside it."

31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, "Are you arguing for Baal? Are you defending him? Anyone who argues for him will be killed before morning. If Baal is a god, let him defend himself. It is his altar that was torn down."

32 From then on Gideon was known as Jerubbaal, because Joash said, "Let Baal defend himself; it is his altar that was torn down."

33 Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the desert tribes assembled, crossed the Jordan River, and camped in Jezreel Valley.

34 The spirit of the Lord took control of Gideon, and he blew a trumpet to call the men of the clan of Abiezer to follow him.

35 He sent messengers throughout the territory of both parts of Manasseh to call them to follow him. He sent messengers to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they also came to join him.

36 Then Gideon said to God, "You say that you have decided to use me to rescue Israel.

37 Well, I am putting some wool on the ground where we thresh the wheat. If in the morning there is dew only on the wool but not on the ground, then I will know that you are going to use me to rescue Israel."

38 That is exactly what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the wool and wrung enough dew out of it to fill a bowl with water.

39 Then Gideon said to God, "Don't be angry with me; let me speak just once more. Please let me make one more test with the wool. This time let the wool be dry, and the ground be wet."

40 That night God did that very thing. The next morning the wool was dry, but the ground was wet with dew.

World English Bible WEB

1 The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

2 The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.

3 So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them;

4 and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you come to Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey.

5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents; they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it.

6 Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to Yahweh.

7 It happened, when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh because of Midian,

8 that Yahweh sent a prophet to the children of Israel: and he said to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

9 and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land;

10 and I said to you, I am Yahweh your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But you have not listened to my voice.

11 The angel of Yahweh came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

12 The angel of Yahweh appeared to him, and said to him, Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor.

13 Gideon said to him, Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt? but now Yahweh has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.

14 Yahweh looked at him, and said, Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent you?

15 He said to him, Oh, Lord, with which shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

16 Yahweh said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.

17 He said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.

18 Please don't go away, until I come to you, and bring out my present, and lay it before you. He said, I will wait until you come again.

19 Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.

20 The angel of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth. He did so.

21 Then the angel of Yahweh put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of Yahweh departed out of his sight.

22 Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh; and Gideon said, Alas, Lord Yahweh! because I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face.

23 Yahweh said to him, Peace be to you; don't be afraid: you shall not die.

24 Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it Yahweh-shalom: to this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 It happened the same night, that Yahweh said to him, Take your father's bull, even the second bull seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it;

26 and build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold, in the orderly manner, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.

27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as Yahweh had spoken to him: and it happened, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

28 When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bull was offered on the altar that was built.

29 They said one to another, Who has done this thing? When they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.

30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it.

31 Joash said to all who stood against him, Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? he who will contend for him, let him be put to death while [it is yet] morning: if he be a god, let him contend for himself, because one has broken down his altar.

32 Therefore on that day he named him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar.

33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel.

34 But the Spirit of Yahweh came on Gideon; and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together after him.

35 He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; and they also were gathered together after him: and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

36 Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,

37 behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry on all the ground, then shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken.

38 It was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

39 Gideon said to God, Don't let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once: Please let me make a trial just this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.

40 God did so that night: for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.