Study Desk

The Midianites came with their tents and their animals like swarms of locusts to ruin the land. There were so many people and camels they could not be counted.

Israel became very poor because of the Midianites, so they cried out to the Lord .

Then Gideon said, "Sir, if the Lord is with us, why are we having so much trouble? Where are the miracles our ancestors told us he did when the Lord brought them out of Egypt? But now he has left us and has handed us over to the Midianites."

So Gideon went in and cooked a young goat, and with twenty quarts of flour, made bread without yeast. Then he put the meat into a basket and the broth into a pot. He brought them out and gave them to the angel under the oak tree.

Then Gideon understood he had been talking to the angel of the Lord . So Gideon cried out, "Lord God ! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!"

So Gideon built an altar there to worship the Lord and named it The Lord Is Peace. It still stands at Ophrah, where the Abiezrites live.

So Gideon got ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him to do. But Gideon was afraid that his family and the men of the city might see him, so he did it at night, not in the daytime.

So they said to Joash, "Bring your son out. He has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah idol beside it. He must die!"

So on that day Gideon got the name Jerub-Baal, which means "let Baal fight against him," because Gideon pulled down Baal's altar.

He sent messengers to all of Manasseh, calling them to follow him. He also sent messengers to the people of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. So they also went up to meet Gideon and his men.

So now, announce to the people, ‘Anyone who is afraid may leave Mount Gilead and go back home.'" So twenty-two thousand men returned home, but ten thousand remained.

So Gideon led the men down to the water. There the Lord said to him, "Separate them into those who drink water by lapping it up like a dog and those who bend down to drink."

So Gideon sent the rest of Israel to their homes. But he kept three hundred men and took the jars and the trumpets of those who left. Now the camp of Midian was in the valley below Gideon.

When you come to the camp of Midian, you will hear what they are saying. Then you will not be afraid to attack the camp." So Gideon and his servant Purah went down to the edge of the enemy camp.

The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the peoples from the east were camped in that valley. There were so many of them they seemed like locusts. Their camels could not be counted because they were as many as the grains of sand on the seashore!

When Gideon came to the enemy camp, he heard a man telling his friend about a dream. He was saying, "I dreamed that a loaf of barley bread rolled into the camp of Midian. It hit the tent so hard that the tent turned over and fell flat!"

So Gideon and the one hundred men with him came to the edge of the enemy camp just after they had changed guards. It was during the middle watch of the night. Then Gideon and his men blew their trumpets and smashed their jars.

Gideon sent messengers through all the mountains of Ephraim, saying, "Come down and attack the Midianites. Take control of the Jordan River as far as Beth Barah before the Midianites can get to it." So they called out all the men of Ephraim, who took control of the Jordan River as far as Beth Barah.

So Gideon said to the men of Peniel, "After I win the victory, I will return and pull down this tower."

Gideon captured a young man from Succoth and asked him some questions. So the young man wrote down for Gideon the names of seventy-seven officers and elders of Succoth.