It happened the same night, that the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull, even the second bull seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it;

and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold, in the orderly manner, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down."

Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had spoken to him: and it came about, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

They said one to another, "Who has done this thing?" When they inquired and asked, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing."

Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it."

Joash said to all who stood against him, "Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death while it is yet morning: if he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has broken down his altar."

Therefore on that day he named him Jerubbaal, saying, "Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar."

He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; and they also were gathered together after him: and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,

behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken."

It was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

Gideon said to God, "Do not let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once. Please let me make one more test with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew."

God did so that night, for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew all over the ground.

The LORD said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'

Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.' There returned of the people twenty-two thousand; but ten thousand remained.

The LORD said to Gideon, "The people are yet too many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for you there: and it shall be, that of whom I tell you, This shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and of whoever I tell you, This shall not go with you, the same shall not go.

So he brought down the people to the water: and the LORD said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, him you shall set by himself; likewise everyone who kneels down on his knees to drink."

The number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: but all the rest of the people kneeled down on their knees to drink water.

The LORD said to Gideon, "By the three hundred men who lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand; and let all the people go every man to his home."

So the people took food in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the men of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men. And the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

It happened the same night, that the LORD said to him, "Arise, get down into the camp; for I have delivered it into your hand.

But if you fear to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp:

and you shall hear what they say; and afterward will your hands be strengthened to go down into the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outermost part of the armed men who were in the camp.

When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his friend; and he said, "Behold, I had a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent collapsed."

He said to them, "Look at me, and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so you shall do.

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.

The three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they called out, "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon.'"

They each stood in his place every man around the camp; and all the army ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight.

They took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian: and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

The men of Ephraim said to him, "Why have you done such a thing to us, not calling us when you went to fight with Midian?" And they argued with him fiercely.

He said to them, "What have I now done in comparison with you? Isn't the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?" Then their anger subsided toward him, when he had said that.

Gideon came to the Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men who were with him, exhausted, yet pursuing.

He said to the men of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me; for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian."

The princes of Succoth said, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?"

He went up there to Penuel, and spoke to them in like manner; and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.

He spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, "When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower."

Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued after them, and he took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the entire army.

He came to the men of Succoth, and said, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?"

Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?" They answered, "As you are, so were they; each one resembled the son of a king."

He said to Jether his firstborn, "Get up, and kill them." But the youth did not draw his sword; for he feared, because he was yet a youth.

Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you, and your son, and your son's son also; for you have saved us out of the hand of Midian."

Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you."

Gideon said to them, "I would make a request of you, that you would give me every man the earrings from his plunder." (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)

Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel prostituted themselves after it there; and it became a snare to Gideon, and to his house.

neither did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shown to Israel.

Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brothers, and spoke with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying,

And his mother's brothers spoke of him in the ears of all the lords of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, "He is our brother."

He went to his father's house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said to them, "Listen to me, you lords of Shechem, that God may listen to you.

The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive tree, 'Reign you over us.'

"But the olive tree said to them, 'Should I leave my fatness, with which by me they honor God and man, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?'

"The trees said to the fig tree, 'Come, and reign over us.'

"But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?'

"The trees said to the vine, 'Come, and reign over us.'

"The vine said to them, 'Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?'

"Then all the trees said to the bramble, 'Come, and reign over us.'

"The bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'

"Now therefore, if you have dealt truly and righteously, in that you have made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands

and you are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the lords of Shechem, because he is your brother).

If you then have dealt truly and righteously with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice you in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you:

And Jotham escaped and fled and went to Beer and lived there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.

And the lords of Shechem set an ambush for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who came along that way by them. And it was told to Abimelech.

And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers, and went over to Shechem; and the lords of Shechem put their trust in him.

Gaal the son of Ebed said, "Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn't he the son of Jerubbaal, and Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem. But why should we serve him?

Would that this people were under my hand. Then would I remove Abimelech." He said to Abimelech, "Increase your army, and come out."

He sent messengers to Abimelech craftily, saying, "Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers are come to Shechem; and behold, they constrain the city to take part against you.

And it shall be that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early, and rush on the city. And behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, then do whatever you can to them."

When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, "Behold, there are people coming down from the tops of the mountains." Zebul said to him, "You see the shadow of the mountains as if they were men."

Then Zebul said to him, "Where is now your mouth, that you said, 'Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?' Is not this the people that you have despised? Please go out now and fight with them."

Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and there fell many wounded, even to the entrance of the gate.

It happened on the next day, that the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech.

Abimelech, and the companies that were with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and the two companies rushed against all who were in the field, and struck them.

Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and killed the people who were in it. And he destroyed the city, and sowed it with salt.

Abimelech got him up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a branch from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the people who were with him, "What you have seen me do, do quickly, and do as I have done."

Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it.

But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women fled, and all the lords of the city, and shut themselves in, and got them up to the roof of the tower.

Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

Then he called quickly to the young man his armor bearer, and said to him, "Draw your sword, and kill me, that men not say of me, 'A woman killed him.'" So the young man thrust him through, and he died.

When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man to his place.

Thus God requited the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in killing his seventy brothers;

After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.

After him arose Jair, the Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years.

He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havvoth Jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead.

The children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was very distressed.

The children of Israel cried to the LORD, saying, "We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals."

The LORD said to the children of Israel, "Did I not save you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?

The Sidonians also, and the Amalek, and Maon oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand.

Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress."

The children of Israel said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, please, this day."

And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to each other, "What man is he who will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

Gilead's wife bore him sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove out Jephthah, and said to him, "You shall not inherit in our father's house; for you are the son of another woman."

Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and lived in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain fellows to Jephthah, and they went out with him.

It was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah out of the land of Tob;

and they said to Jephthah, "Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon."

Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "Did you not hate me, and drive me out of my father's house? And why have you come to me now when you are in distress?"

The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "Therefore we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us, and fight with the children of Ammon; and you shall be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them before me, shall I be your head?"

The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The LORD shall be witness between us; surely according to your word so will we do."