Study Desk

So let all those who hate You die, O Lord. But let those who love Him be like the sun as he rises in his power." And the land had peace for forty years.

They would come with their animals and their tents. They were like locusts, there were so many of them. There were too many of them and their camels to number. And they came into the land to destroy it.

So Israel became very poor because of Midian. The people of Israel cried to the Lord.

The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the bread without yeast and lay them on this rock. Then pour out the water." Gideon did so.

So Gideon knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And he said, "I am afraid, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face."

Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him to do. But he was too afraid of those of his father's house and the men of the city to do it during the day. So he did it during the night.

Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son, so he may die. For he has torn down the altar of Baal. And he has cut down our goddess Asherah which was beside it."

So on that day he gave Gideon the name Jerubbaal, which means, "Let Baal fight against him." Because he tore down his altar.

It was so. Gideon got up early the next morning and took the wool in his hand. Enough water poured from the wool to fill a pot.

God did so that night. For it was dry only on the wool. And all the ground was wet around it.

So say to all the people, ‘Whoever is afraid and shaking with fear may leave Mount Gilead and return home.'" So 22,000 people returned. But 10,000 stayed.

So Gideon brought the people down to the water. The Lord said to Gideon, "Divide every man who drinks the water as dogs drink with their tongues from every man who gets down on his knees to drink."

So the 300 men took the people's food and their horns. Gideon sent all the other men of Israel to their tents. He kept only the 300 men. And the tents of Midian were below him in the valley.

You will hear what they say. Then your hands will become strong enough to go down and fight against them." So he went with his servant Purah down to the side of the tents where soldiers were keeping watch.

The Midianites and Amalekites and all the people of the east were lying in the valley. They were like locusts, there were so many. Their camels were too many to number. They were like sand beside the sea, there were so many.

When Gideon came, a man was telling a dream to his friend. The man said, "I had a dream. A loaf of barley bread was rolling toward the tents of Midian. It came to the tent and hit it so it fell down. It turned it up-side-down so the tent fell apart."

So Gideon and the 100 men who were with him came to the side of the tents. It was late in the night. Different soldiers had just come to keep watch. Then the men blew the horns and broke the pots that were in their hands.

Gideon sent men through all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against Midian. Take the waters in front of them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan." So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together. And they took the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.

So he said to the men of Penuel, "When I return safe, I will tear down this tower."

Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Stand up yourself and kill us. For as the man is, so is his strength." So Gideon stood up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna. And he took the religious objects that were on their camels' necks.