The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, "We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals."The LORD replied, "When the Egyptians, the Ammonites, the Philistines . . . oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? But you have for...  Read More

Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, "Why have you treated us like this? Why didn't you call us when you went to fight Midian?" And they challenged him vigorously.But he answered them, "What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren't the gleanings of Ephraim's grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer? God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do c...  Read More

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. During the night the LORD said to Gideon, "Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp."So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the ...  Read More

The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, Mighty Warrior.""Pardon me, my lord," Gideon replied, "but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?  Where are...  Read More

The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men, I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, 'My own strength has saved me.'  . . . So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.But the LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, "This one shall go with you, he shal...  Read More

So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace.  . . . That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cu...  Read More