The Judges & Ruth

And Ioash said vnto all that stood by him, Will ye pleade Baals cause? or will ye saue him? he that will contend for him, let him dye or the morning. If he be God, let him pleade for himselfe against him that hath cast downe his altar.

And in that day was Gideon called Ierubbaal, that is, Let Baal pleade for himselfe because he hath broken downe his altar.

Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and they of ye East, were gathered together, aud went and pitched in the valley of Izreel.

But the Spirit of the Lord came vpon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and Abiezer was ioyned with him.

And he sent messengers thorowout al Manasseh, which also was ioyned with him, and he sent messengers vnto Asher, and to Zebulun and to Naphtali, and they came vp to meete them.

Then Gideon said vnto God, If thou wilt saue Israel by mine hand, as thou hast sayd,

Beholde, I wil put a fleece of wooll in the threshing place: if the dewe come on the fleece onely, and it be drie vpon all the earth, then shall I be sure, that thou wilt saue Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.

And so it was: for he rose vp earely on the morow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, and filled a bowle of water.

Againe, Gideon sayde vnto God, Be not angry with me, that I may speake once more: let me prooue once againe, I pray thee, with the fleece: let it now be drie onely vpon the fleece, and let dewe be vpon all the ground.

And God did so that same night: for it was drie vpon the fleece onely, and there was dewe on all the ground.

Then Ierubbaal (who is Gideon) rose vp early, and all the people that were with him, and pitched beside the well of Harod, so that the hoste of the Midianites was on the Northside of them in the valley by the hill of Moreh.

And the Lord said vnto Gideon, The people that are with thee, are too many for me to giue the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel make their vaunt against me, and say, Mine hand hath saued mee.

Now therefore proclaime in the audience of the people, and say, Who so is timerous or fearefull, let him returne, and depart earely from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people which were at mount Gilead, two and twentie thousand: so ten thousand remayned.

And the Lord said vnto Gideon, The people are yet too many: bring them downe vnto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and of whome I say vnto thee, This man shall goe with thee, the same shall go with thee: and of whomsoeuer I say vnto thee, This man shall not goe with thee, the same shall not go.

So he brought downe the people vnto the water. And the Lord sayd vnto Gideon, As many as lap the water with their tongues, as a dog lappeth, them put by themselues, and euery one that shall bow downe his knees to drinke, put apart.

And the nomber of them that lapped by putting their handes to their mouthes, were three hundreth men: but all the remnant of the people kneeled downe vpon their knees to drinke water.

Then the Lord sayde vnto Gideon, By these three hundreth men that lapped, will I saue you, and deliuer the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go euery man vnto his place.

So the people tooke vitailes with them, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel, euery man vnto his tent, and reteined the three hundreth men: and the hoste of Midian was beneath him in a valley.

And the same night the Lord sayde vnto him, Arise, get thee downe vnto the hoste: for I haue deliuered it into thine hand.

But if thou feare to go downe, then go thou, and Phurah thy seruant downe to the hoste,

And thou shalt hearken what they say, and so shall thine handes be strong to go downe vnto the hoste. Then went he downe and Phurah his seruant vnto the outside of the souldiers that were in the hoste.

And the Midianites, and the Amalekites and all they of the East, lay in the valley like grashoppers in multitude, and their camels were without nomber, as the sande which is by the sea side for multitude.

And when Gideon was come, beholde, a man tolde a dreame vnto his neighbour, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dreame, and lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled from aboue into the hoste of Midian, and came vnto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and ouerturned it, that the tent fell downe.

And his fellow answered, and sayde, This is nothing els saue the sworde of Gideon the sonne of Ioash a man of Israel: for into his hande hath God deliuered Midian and all the hoste.

When Gideon heard the dreame tolde, and the interpretation of the same, he worshipped, and returned vnto the hoste of Israel, and said, Vp: for the Lord hath deliuered into your hande the hoste of Midian.