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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Judges 6 New American Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/judges/6.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/judges/6-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</a> > Judges 6</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/5.htm" title="Judges 5">◄</a> Judges 6 <a href="../judges/7.htm" title="Judges 7">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch07006" class="chapter"> <h1 id="cn07006" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">The Call of Gideon.</span> <span id="v07006001" class="ver">1</span>The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, who therefore delivered them into the power of Midian for seven years, <span id="v07006002" class="ver">2</span>so that Midian held Israel subject. From fear of Midian the Israelites made dens in the mountains, the caves, and the strongholds.<a id="ren07006002-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006002-a">a</a> <span id="v07006003" class="ver">3</span>For it used to be that whenever the Israelites had completed sowing their crops, Midian, Amalek, and the Kedemites<a id="rfn07006003-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07006003-1">*</a> would come up, <span id="v07006004" class="ver">4</span>encamp against them, and lay waste the produce of the land as far as the outskirts of Gaza, leaving no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep, ox, or donkey. <span id="v07006005" class="ver">5</span>For they would come up with their livestock, and their tents would appear as thick as locusts. They would be too many to count when they came into the land to lay it waste. <span id="v07006006" class="ver">6</span><a id="ren07006006-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006006-b">b</a> Israel was reduced to utter poverty by Midian, and so the Israelites cried out to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>.</p> <p><span id="v07006007" class="ver">7</span>When Israel cried out to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> because of Midian, <span id="v07006008" class="ver">8</span><a id="ren07006008-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006008-c">c</a> the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> sent a prophet to the Israelites who said to them: Thus says the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the God of Israel: I am the one who brought you up from Egypt; I brought you out of the house of slavery. <span id="v07006009" class="ver">9</span>I rescued you from the power of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. <span id="v07006010" class="ver">10</span>And I said to you: I, the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, am your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are dwelling. But you did not listen to me.</p> <p><span id="v07006011" class="ver">11</span>Then the messenger of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> came and sat under the terebinth in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. Joash’s son Gideon<a id="ren07006011-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006011-d">d</a> was beating out wheat in the wine press to save it from the Midianites, <span id="v07006012" class="ver">12</span>and the messenger of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> appeared to him and said: The <span class="tetr">Lord</span> is with you, you mighty warrior! <span id="v07006013" class="ver">13</span>“My lord,” Gideon said to him, “if the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are his wondrous deeds about which our ancestors told us when they said, ‘Did not the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> bring us up from Egypt?’ For now the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> has abandoned us and has delivered us into the power of Midian.” <span id="v07006014" class="ver">14</span><a id="ren07006014-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006014-e">e</a> The <span class="tetr">Lord</span> turned to him and said: Go with the strength you have, and save Israel from the power of Midian. Is it not I who send you? <span id="v07006015" class="ver">15</span>But he answered him, “Please, my Lord, how can I save Israel? My family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house.”<a id="ren07006015-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006015-f">f</a> <span id="v07006016" class="ver">16</span>The <span class="tetr">Lord</span> said to him: I will be with you,<a id="rfn07006016-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07006016-1">*</a> and you will cut down Midian to the last man. <span id="v07006017" class="ver">17</span>He answered him, “If you look on me with favor, give me a sign that you are the one speaking with me. <span id="v07006018" class="ver">18</span>Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my offering and set it before you.” He answered: I will await your return.</p> <p><span id="v07006019" class="ver">19</span>So Gideon went off and prepared a young goat and an ephah<a id="rfn07006019-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07006019-1">*</a> of flour in the form of unleavened cakes. Putting the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, he brought them out to him under the terebinth and presented them. <span id="v07006020" class="ver">20</span><a id="ren07006020-g" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006020-g">g</a> The messenger of God said to him: Take the meat and unleavened cakes and lay them on this rock; then pour out the broth. When he had done so, <span id="v07006021" class="ver">21</span>the messenger of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> stretched out the tip of the staff he held. When he touched the meat and unleavened cakes, a fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened cakes. Then the messenger of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> disappeared from sight. <span id="v07006022" class="ver">22</span><a id="rfn07006022-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07006022-1">*</a> Gideon, now aware that it had been the messenger of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, said, “Alas, Lord <span class="tetr">God</span>, that I have seen the messenger of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> face to face!”<a id="ren07006022-h" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006022-h">h</a> <span id="v07006023" class="ver">23</span>The <span class="tetr">Lord</span> answered him: You are safe. Do not fear. You shall not die. <span id="v07006024" class="ver">24</span>So Gideon built there an altar to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> and called it Yahweh-shalom.<a id="rfn07006024-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07006024-1">*</a> <a id="ren07006024-i" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006024-i">i</a> To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.</p> <p><span id="v07006025" class="ver">25</span>That same night the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> said to him: Take your father’s bull, the bull fattened for seven years, and pull down your father’s altar to Baal. As for the asherah<a id="rfn07006025-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07006025-1">*</a> beside it, cut it down <span id="v07006026" class="ver">26</span>and build an altar to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, on top of this stronghold with the pile of wood. Then take the fattened bull and offer it as a whole-burnt sacrifice on the wood from the asherah you have cut down. <span id="v07006027" class="ver">27</span>So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> had commanded him. But he was too afraid of his family and of the townspeople to do it by day; he did it at night. <span id="v07006028" class="ver">28</span>Early the next morning the townspeople found that the altar of Baal had been dismantled, the asherah beside it cut down, and the fattened bull offered on the altar that was built. <span id="v07006029" class="ver">29</span>They asked one another, “Who did this?” They inquired and searched until they were told, “Gideon, son of Joash, did it.” <span id="v07006030" class="ver">30</span>So the townspeople said to Joash, “Bring out your son that he may die, for he has dismantled the altar of Baal and cut down the asherah that was beside it.” <span id="v07006031" class="ver">31</span>But Joash replied to all who were standing around him, “Is it for you to take action for Baal, or be his savior? Anyone who takes action for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him act for himself,<a id="ren07006031-j" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006031-j">j</a> since his altar has been dismantled!” <span id="v07006032" class="ver">32</span>So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal,<a id="rfn07006032-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07006032-1">*</a> <a id="ren07006032-k" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006032-k">k</a> because of the words, “Let Baal take action against him, since he dismantled his altar.”</p> <p><span id="v07006033" class="ver">33</span>Then all Midian and Amalek and the Kedemites mustered and crossed over into the valley of Jezreel, where they encamped. <span id="v07006034" class="ver">34</span>And Gideon was clothed with the spirit of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>,<a id="rfn07006034-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07006034-1">*</a> <a id="ren07006034-l" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07006034-l">l</a> and he blew the horn summoning Abiezer to follow him. <span id="v07006035" class="ver">35</span>He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they, too, were summoned to follow him; he also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they advanced to meet the others. <span id="v07006036" class="ver">36</span>Gideon said to God, “If indeed you are going to save Israel through me, as you have said, <span id="v07006037" class="ver">37</span>I am putting this woolen fleece on the threshing floor, and if dew is on the fleece alone, while all the ground is dry, I shall know that you will save Israel through me, as you have said.” <span id="v07006038" class="ver">38</span>That is what happened. Early the next morning when he wrung out the fleece, he squeezed enough dew from it to fill a bowl. <span id="v07006039" class="ver">39</span>Gideon then said to God, “Do not be angry with me if I speak once more. Let me make just one more test with the fleece. Let the fleece alone be dry, but let there be dew on all the ground.” <span id="v07006040" class="ver">40</span>That is what God did that night: the fleece alone was dry, but there was dew on all the ground.</p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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