Judges 6:1-16

New King James Version

Midianites Oppress Israel

6 Then the children of Israel did ^(A)evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of ^(B)Midian for seven years, ² and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, ^(C)the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. ³ So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the ^(D)people of the East would come up against them. ⁴ Then they would encamp against them and ^(E)destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor ^(F)donkey. ⁵ For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were ^[a]without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. ⁶ So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel ^(G)cried out to the Lord.

⁷ And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, ⁸ that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the ^(H)house of ^[b]bondage; ⁹ and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and ^(I)drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰ Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; ^(J)do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My ^(K)voice.’ ”

Gideon

¹¹ Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash ^(L)the Abiezrite, while his son ^(M)Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² And the ^(N)Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is ^(O)with you, you mighty man of valor!”

¹³ Gideon said to Him, “O ^[c]my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And ^(P)where are all His miracles ^(Q)which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has ^(R)forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ^(S)“Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. ^(T)Have I not sent you?”

¹⁵ So he said to Him, “O ^[d]my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed ^(U)my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

¹⁶ And the Lord said to him, ^(V)“Surely I will be with you, and you shall ^[e]defeat the Midianites as one man.”