After this, the angel of the LORD arrived and sat down in the shade of the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash, a descendant of Abiezer, while his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press in order to safeguard it from the Midianites.

But Gideon replied, "Right" Sir, if the LORD is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? And where are all of his miraculous works that our ancestors recounted to us when they said, "The LORD brought us up from Egypt, didn't he?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us over to Midian!"

"Right"," Gideon responded. "Sir, how will I deliver Israel? Look my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I'm the youngest in my father's household."

So Gideon asked him, "Please, if I have received favor from you, then do a miracle for me that shows that you're making this promise to me.

Then Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and poured the broth into a pot, and brought them to the angel right under the oak tree. Then he made his offering.

When Gideon realized that he had seen the angel of the LORD himself, he cried out, "Oh no! Lord GOD! I've been looking right at the angel of the LORD and face-to-face at that!"

So Gideon built an altar right there to the LORD and called it "The LORD is peace." (To this very day it still stands in Ophrah, which belongs to the descendants of Abiezer.)

Later that very night, the LORD told Gideon, "Take the bull that belongs to your father, along with a second bull that's seven years old. Then tear down the altar to Baal that your father owns, cut down the Asherah that's beside it,

So Gideon went with ten men who were his servants and did just what the LORD had told him to do, though he did it at night because he was too afraid of his father's family and the leading men of the city to do it during the day.

They asked each other, "Who did this thing?" When they looked into it and asked around, they concluded, "Joash's son Gideon did it."

So that very day he named Gideon Jerubbaal, that is, "Let Baal fight," since he had torn down his altar.

So the Spirit of the LORD took control of Gideon, who blew a trumpet, mustering the descendants of Abiezer to follow him into battle.

Then Gideon told God, "If you intend to deliver Israel by my efforts as you've said,

Then Gideon told God, "Don't let yourself be angry with me! I want to ask you once again: please let me make a test with the fleece just once more. Cause it to be dry only on the fleece, but let there be dew all around on the ground."

Then Jerubbaal, also known as Gideon, got up early along with all of his soldiers. They encamped near the Harod Spring. The Midian encampment lay in the valley to their north, near the hill of Moreh.

The LORD told Gideon, "You have too many soldiers with you for me to drop Midian into their hands, because Israel would become arrogant and say, "It was my own abilities that delivered me.'

"There are still too many soldiers," the LORD told Gideon. "Bring them down to the water and I'll refine them for you there. Therefore when I say to you, "This one will be going with you,' he'll go with you, but no one may go about whom I tell you, "This one won't be going with you.'"

So he brought his soldiers down to the water, and the LORD told Gideon, "You are to cull out everyone who laps up water with his tongue like a dog from everyone who kneels to drink."

Then the LORD told Gideon, "I'm going to deliver you with the 300 soldiers who lapped by giving the Midianites into your control. Send everyone else back to their own homes."

So the soldiers took provisions with them, along with their trumpets, and Gideon sent all the rest of the soldiers of Israel back to their own tents, but he retained the 300 men. And the Midian encampment was below him in the valley.

Later that same night, the LORD directed Gideon, "Get up and go down to the Midianite encampment, because I've given it into your control.

Gideon arrived just as a soldier was talking to a friend about a dream. "Look!" he was saying. "I had a dream that went like this: A loaf of barley bread rolled into the Midianite encampment, came to a tent, and collided with it. The loaf of bread fell down, turned upside down, and the tent collapsed!"

Then his friend replied, "Can this be anything else than the sword of Joash's son Gideon, that man from Israel? God must have given Midian and the entire encampment into his control!"

When Gideon heard the tale of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down in worship and then returned to the Israeli encampment.

When I sound my trumpet, accompanied by everyone who is with me, you must blow your trumpets all around the entire encampment. Then shout out, "For the LORD and for Gideon!'"

So Gideon and the 100 men with him arrived at the outer perimeter of the encampment at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had posted sentries. They blew their trumpets and smashed the jars that they were carrying in their hands.

When the three companies sounded their trumpets and broke the jars, they held the torches in their left hands and sounded their trumpets with their right hands. Then they cried out, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

Gideon dispatched messengers throughout the mountainous region of Ephraim, notifying them, "Come down to fight Midian. Capture the water crossings as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan River before they can get to them."

They captured two Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. While they were pursuing the Midianites, they executed Oreb at Oreb's Rock and Zeeb at Zeeb's Winepress, and then they carried the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from the east bank of the Jordan River.

Later on, the descendants of Ephraim spoke to Gideon. They argued vehemently, "What are you doing to us? You never called us! But you went out to fight Midian!"

Meanwhile, Gideon and the 300 soldiers with him came to the Jordan, exhausted but continuing their pursuit.

So Gideon responded, "Okay then, but when the LORD has turned over Zebah and Zalmunna into my control, I'm going to whip you with thorns and briers from the desert!"

Gideon went up by a caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked their encampment when they were off guard.

Then Joash's son Gideon returned from the battle along the Heres Ascent.

He caught a young man from Succoth and interrogated him. He wrote out for Gideon a list of the 77 officials of Succoth, including its elders.

Then Gideon approached the men of Succoth and announced, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. You criticized me about them when you said, "Do you have Zebah and Zalmunna in custody already, so that we should give food to your weary army?'"

Gideon replied, "They were my brothers sons from my own mother. As the LORD lives, if you had let them live, I wouldn't be killing you."

Then Zebah and Zalmunna responded, "Get up and attack us yourself, since a man's valor is only as good as the man himself." So Gideon got up, killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the crescent-shaped necklaces that adorned the necks of their camels.

Then the men of Israel asked Gideon, "Rule over us you, your son, and your grandsons because you have delivered us from Midian's domination."

But Gideon told them, "I won't rule over you and my son won't rule over you. The LORD will rule you."

But Gideon also added, "I would like to ask that each of you give me a ring from his war booty" because, as Ishmaelites, the Midianites had been wearing gold rings.

Gideon crafted the booty into an ephod and enshrined it in his home town of Ophrah. Then all of Israel committed spiritual adultery with it there, and it became a snare for Gideon and his household.

Midian remained subjugated to the Israelis, and they didn't so much as raise their heads anymore, so the land was peaceful for 40 years during the lifetime of Gideon.

Gideon raised 70 sons as his direct descendants, since he had many wives.

Later, Joash's son Gideon died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah, which belonged to the descendants of Abiezer.

Later on, as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelis again committed spiritual adultery with various Canaanite deities and appointed Baal-berith to be their god.

And they showed no gracious love to the household of Jerubbaal also known as Gideon despite all the good that he had done for Israel.