Gideon

Then the angel of ADONAI came and sat under the pistachio tree in 'Ofrah that belonged to Yo'ash the Avi'ezri. His son Gid'on was threshing wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from Midyan.

"Excuse me, sir," answered Gid'on, "but if ADONAI is with us, then why is all this happening to us? And where are all his miracles our ancestors told us about when they said, 'Didn't ADONAI bring us up from Egypt?' For now ADONAI has abandoned us and handed us over to Midyan."

Gid'on went in, cooked a young goat and made matzot from a bushel of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them out to him under the pistachio tree and presented them.

Gid'on realized that he was the angel of ADONAI and said, "Oh no! My Lord! ADONAI! Because I've seen the angel of ADONAI face-to-face!"

Then Gid'on built an altar there to ADONAI and called it "ADONAI-Shalom"; to this day it remains in 'Ofrah of the Avi'ezri.

Gid'on took ten of his servants and did what ADONAI had told him to do. He didn't do it by day, because he was afraid of the men in his father's household and those from the city, so he did it at night.

They asked each other, "Who could have done this?" But after investigating, they concluded that Gid'on the son of Yo'ash had done it.

Therefore on that day Gid'on was given the name Yeruba'al [let Ba'al defend], because they said, "Let Ba'al defend himself against him, since he destroyed his altar."

But the Spirit of ADONAI covered Gid'on. He sounded the call on the shofar, and Avi'ezer rallied behind him.

Gid'on said to God, "If you are going to save Isra'el through me, as you said you would,

But Gid'on said to God, "Don't be angry with me because I am asking one more thing, let me make one more test, please: this time let it be dry only on the fleece, with dew all over the ground."

Then Yeruba'al, that is, Gid'on, and all the people with him, got up early and set up camp by 'Ein-Harod; the camp of Midyan was north of them, by Giv'at-Moreh, in the valley.

ADONAI said to Gid'on, "There are too many people with you for me to hand Midyan over to them, because I don't want Isra'el to be able to boast against me, 'We saved ourselves by our own strength.'

ADONAI said to Gid'on, "There are still too many people. Have them come down to the water, and there I will screen them for you. If I say of anyone, 'This one is for you,' he will go with you; and if I say, 'This one is not for you,' he won't go with you."

So he brought the people down to the water, and ADONAI said to Gid'on, "Put to one side everyone who laps up water with his tongue the way a dog does, and put to the other side everyone who gets down on his knees to drink."

ADONAI said to Gid'on, "I will use the three hundred men who lapped the water to save you; I will hand Midyan over to you. Let all these others go back home."

Gid'on got there just as a man was telling a comrade about a dream he had had: "I just now dreamt that a loaf of barley bread fell into the camp of Midyan, came to the tent and struck it so hard that it overturned the tent and knocked it flat."

His comrade answered, "This can only be the sword of Gid'on son of Yo'ash, a man of Isra'el. God has given Midyan and all its army into his hands."

When Gid'on heard the dream and its interpretation, he fell on his knees in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Isra'el and said, "Get up! because ADONAI has handed Midyan's army over to you."

When I and everyone with me blow the shofar, then you blow your shofars all around the whole camp, and shout, "For ADONAI and for Gid'on!"

Gid'on and the hundred men with him arrived at the edge of the camp a little before midnight, just after they had changed the guard. They blew the shofars and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.

All three companies blew the shofars, broke the pitchers and held the torches in their left hands, keeping their right hands free for the shofars they were blowing; and they shouted, "The sword for ADONAI and for Gid'on!"

Gid'on sent messengers through all the hills of Efrayim, with the message, "Come down and attack Midyan; and capture the rivers before they get there, as far as Beit-Barah, and also the Yarden." So all the men of Efrayim came together and seized the rivers as far as Beit-Barah and the Yarden.

They also captured two chiefs of Midyan, 'Orev and Ze'ev. They put 'Orev to death at the Rock of 'Orev and Ze'ev at Ze'ev's Winepress; then, as they kept pursuing Midyan, they brought the heads of Orev and Ze'ev to Gid'on, who had crossed to the far side of the Yarden.

By now Gid'on and his three hundred men had come to the Yarden and crossed over. They were exhausted but were still pursuing the enemy.