God

On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.

“When the princes take the lead in Israel, when the people volunteer, bless the LORD.

Listen, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.

O LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, and the clouds poured down water.

The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.

My heart is with the princes of Israel, with the volunteers among the people. Bless the LORD!

the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates:

Then the survivors came down to the nobles; the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty.

‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD. ‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants; for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’

So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.

Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; so He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,

Israel was greatly impoverished by Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD.

Now when the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian,

He sent them a prophet, who told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

I delivered you out of the hands of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

And I said to you: ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.’ But you did not obey Me.”

Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

And the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

“Surely I will be with you,” the LORD replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.”

Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me.

Please do not depart from this place until I return to You. Let me bring my offering and set it before You.” And the LORD said, “I will stay until you return.”

So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to present to Him under the oak.