Judges 6

KJV · Chapter 6/21

¹And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

²And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.

³And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;

⁴And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.

⁵For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.

⁶And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.

⁷And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites,

⁸That the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

⁹And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land;

¹⁰And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.

¹¹And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi–ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

¹²And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

¹³And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

¹⁴And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

¹⁵And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

¹⁶And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.

¹⁷And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.

¹⁸Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.

¹⁹And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.

²⁰And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.

²¹Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

²²And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.

²³And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

²⁴Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah–shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi–ezrites.

²⁵And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:

²⁶And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.

²⁷Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

²⁸And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.

²⁹And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.

³⁰Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.

³¹And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.

³²Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.

³³Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.

³⁴But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abi–ezer was gathered after him.

³⁵And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

³⁶And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,

³⁷Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.

³⁸And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

³⁹And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

⁴⁰And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Israel suffers under the Midianites. An angel calls Gideon, a fearful farmer, to deliver the people. Gideon asks for signs — the fleece that is wet, then dry — before acting.

Explanation

Gideon is introduced threshing wheat hidden in a winepress, afraid of the Midianites who stripped the harvests like locusts — a vivid image of extreme economic oppression. His response to the angel's call is one of honest doubt ('if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?'), and God does not rebuke him for asking, but confirms his calling with concrete signs, such as the fire that consumes the offering and the test of the wool fleece. Tearing down his own father's altar to Baal, done at night out of fear, shows that even leaders God uses begin with real weaknesses — courage grows over the course of the process, it is not a perfect prerequisite from the start.

Fun facts

The name 'Jerubbaal' given to Gideon (meaning 'let Baal contend') was an ironic nickname given by the townspeople themselves, turning a pagan threat into a testimony to the false god's powerlessness.
The test of the wool fleece (dew only on the fleece, then dry only on the fleece) demonstrated control over opposite physical conditions in rapid succession, making it impossible to attribute the result to weather coincidence.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Judges 6:1Israel again does what is evil in the sight of the Lord, and this time God hands the people over to the Midianites for seven years, restarting the cycle already seen in earlier chapters.
Judges 6:2The Midianites gain such dominance that the Israelites take to living hidden in mountain dens, caves, and rock strongholds, afraid to stay out in the open.
Judges 6:3Every time Israel planted, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other peoples of the east would come up to attack as soon as the harvest began.
Judges 6:4These invaders would camp against Israel and destroy the produce of the land all the way to Gaza, leaving the people no food, sheep, ox, or donkey.
Judges 6:5They would come with their livestock and tents, a multitude as thick as locusts, impossible to count, coming only to ravage the land of Israel.
Judges 6:6Israel is reduced to poverty because of the Midianites, and it is this distress that finally drives the people to cry out to the Lord.
Judges 6:7The text repeats that it was this cry over the Midianites that reached God, setting up the response that follows.
Judges 6:8God sends a prophet to remind Israel that it was He who brought them up out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, long before anything to do with the Midianites.
Judges 6:9The prophet continues: God delivered them from the Egyptians and from every oppressor, drove out the peoples of the land, and gave that land to Israel.
Judges 6:10God had warned them not to fear the gods of the Amorites in the land where they now lived, but the people did not obey His voice. It is the same accusation already made by the angel back in chapter 2.
Judges 6:11The angel of the Lord sits down under an oak in Ophrah, and finds Gideon threshing wheat hidden inside a winepress, a low, enclosed spot, just so the Midianites will not see and steal the grain.
Judges 6:12The angel appears to Gideon and greets him as a mighty man of valor, a greeting that sounds ironic for someone hiding for fear of the enemy.
Judges 6:13Gideon answers with a question full of doubt: if the Lord is with them, why so much suffering, and where are the wonders their fathers used to tell about, from the exodus out of Egypt?
Judges 6:14The Lord looks at Gideon and sends him to go in this his might to deliver Israel from the Midianites, making clear that it is He Himself who is sending Gideon on this mission.
Judges 6:15Gideon answers the call by saying his family is the poorest in Manasseh and that he is the least in his father’s house. This is not false modesty; it is the same hesitation found in other biblical callings, such as Moses’, when an ordinary person is summoned to a task far too big for him.
Judges 6:16God promises to be with Gideon, assuring him that he will strike down the Midianites as though they were a single man, despite everything Gideon had just said about his own weakness.
Judges 6:17Gideon asks for a sign to confirm that it is really the Lord speaking with him, before accepting so great a mission.
Judges 6:18Gideon asks his visitor to wait there until he comes back with an offering, and the angel agrees to wait.
Judges 6:19Gideon prepares a young goat and unleavened bread, puts the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brings it all out under the oak to offer to the angel.
Judges 6:20The angel tells Gideon to lay the meat and the bread on a rock and pour out the broth over them, which he does without yet understanding what is about to happen.
Judges 6:21The angel touches the offering with the tip of his own staff, and fire comes up out of the rock and consumes everything instantly; after that, the angel vanishes from Gideon’s sight.
Judges 6:22Only at this point does Gideon realize he has been speaking with the angel of the Lord, and he is terrified, thinking that seeing an angel face to face might mean death.
Judges 6:23The Lord reassures Gideon, telling him that he has peace and will not die, despite this direct encounter with the angel.
Judges 6:24Gideon builds an altar there to the Lord and calls it Jehovah-shalom, meaning “the Lord is peace,” an altar that, according to the text, still stood in Ophrah at the time the book was written.
Judges 6:25That same night, God tells Gideon to take his father’s bull and tear down the altar of Baal that belonged to Joash, and also to cut down the sacred pole standing beside it.
Judges 6:26God also tells Gideon to build a proper altar to the Lord on that same spot, and to offer the bull as a burnt offering using the wood of the pole he is to cut down.
Judges 6:27Gideon tears down his father’s altar of Baal at night, afraid of the city’s reaction. The text does not hide this fear, which makes the act seem more human than heroic right from the start.
Judges 6:28In the morning, the men of the city find the altar of Baal torn down, the sacred pole cut down, and the bull already offered on the new altar, everything done before they woke up.
Judges 6:29The townspeople ask one another who did this, investigate, and discover that it was Gideon, the son of Joash.
Judges 6:30The men of the city demand that Joash hand over his own son to be put to death, because of his boldness in tearing down the altar of Baal.
Judges 6:31Joash defends his son by asking whether they themselves intend to plead Baal’s cause; he argues that if Baal is really a god, let him contend for himself against the one who tore down his altar.
Judges 6:32Because of this, on that day Gideon is given the name Jerubbaal, meaning “Let Baal plead against him,” a direct reference to what Joash had said.
Judges 6:33The Midianites, Amalekites, and the peoples of the east join together into a single army and camp in the valley of Jezreel, ready for yet another invasion.
Judges 6:34The Spirit of the Lord comes upon Gideon, and he blows a trumpet to summon the men of his own family to follow him into battle.
Judges 6:35Gideon sends messengers to the tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and all of them come out to join him.
Judges 6:36Gideon asks God for confirmation before acting: he wants to be certain that it is truly by his hand that Israel will be delivered.
Judges 6:37The test with the fleece of wool is not a lack of faith; it is a request for concrete confirmation before leading others into war. Gideon repeats the test in reverse the next day, as if trying to rule out any natural explanation for the phenomenon.
Judges 6:38The next morning, exactly as Gideon had asked, the fleece is so soaked with dew that he wrings out of it a bowlful of water, while the ground all around stays dry.
Judges 6:39Gideon apologizes for pressing further and makes a second request: this time, that the fleece stay dry while only the ground around it is wet with dew, to rule out any natural explanation.
Judges 6:40God grants this second request as well: that night only the fleece stays dry, while all the ground around it is covered with dew by morning.