³ For whenever the Israelites put in seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up against them.^{(A) 4} They would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land, as far as the neighborhood of Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, nor any sheep or ox or donkey.^{(B) 5} For they and their livestock would come up, and they would even bring their tents, as thick as locusts; neither they nor their camels could be counted, so they wasted the land as they came in.^{(C) 6} Thus Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.^(D)

³³ A people whom you do not know shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors; you shall be continually abused and crushed^(A)

³¹ Your ox shall be butchered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. Your donkey shall be stolen in front of you and shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies without anyone to help you.

⁵ and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I chose Israel, I swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob—making myself known to them in the land of Egypt—I swore to them, saying, “I am the Lord your God.”^(A)