gideon

¹⁵And responding, he said: “I beg you, my lord, with what shall I free Israel? Behold, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in the house of my father.”

²³And he said to them: “I will not rule over you. Neither shall my son rule over you. Instead, the Lord shall rule over you.”

¹And so Jerubbaal, who is also Gideon, rising in the night, and all the people with him, went to the fountain which is called Harod. Now the camp of Midian was in the valley, to the northern region of the high hill. ²And the Lord said to Gideon: “The people with you are many, but Midian shall not be delivered into their hands, for then Israel might glory against me, and say, ‘I was freed by my own power.’ ³Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all, ‘Whoever has dread or fear, let him return.’ And twenty-two thousand of the men from the people withdrew from Mount Gilead and returned, and only ten thousand remained. ⁴And the Lord said to Gideon: “The people are still too many. Lead them to the waters, and there I will test them. And those about whom I tell you that he may go with you, let him go; he whom I shall forbid to go, let him return.” ⁵And when the people had descended to the waters, the Lord said to Gideon: “Whoever will lap the water with the tongue, as dogs usually lap, you shall separate them by themselves. Then those who will drink by bending their knees shall be on the other side.” ⁶And so the number of those who had lapped the water, by bringing it with the hand to the mouth, was three hundred men. And all the remainder of the multitude drank by bending the knee.

³⁶And Gideon said to God: “If you will save Israel by my hand, just as you have said: ³⁷I will set this wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there will be dew only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that by my hand, as you have said, you will free Israel.” ³⁸And so it was done. And rising in the night, wringing out the fleece, he filled a vessel with the dew. ³⁹And again he said to God: “Let not your fury be enkindled against me, if I test once more, seeking a sign in the fleece. I pray that only the fleece may be dry, and all the ground may be wet with dew.” ⁴⁰And that night, God did as he had requested. And it was dry only on the fleece, and there was dew on all the ground.

¹¹Then an Angel of the Lord arrived, and he sat under an oak tree, which was at Ophrah, and which belonged to Joash, the father of the family of Ezri. And while his son Gideon was threshing and cleaning the grain at the winepress, so that he might flee from Midian,

²And the Lord said to Gideon: “The people with you are many, but Midian shall not be delivered into their hands, for then Israel might glory against me, and say, ‘I was freed by my own power.’

¹²the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and he said: “The Lord is with you, most valiant of men.”

³²And what should I say next? For time is not sufficient for me to give an account of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the Prophets:

¹Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, who delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. ²And they were greatly oppressed by them. And they made for themselves hollows and caves in the mountains, and very fortified places for defense. ³And when Israel had planted, Midian and Amalek, and the rest of the eastern nations ascended, ⁴and pitching their tents among them, they laid waste to all that was planted, as far as the entrance to Gaza. And they left behind nothing at all to sustain life in Israel, neither sheep, nor oxen, nor donkeys. ⁵For they and all their flocks arrived with their tents, and they filled all places like locusts, an innumerable multitude of men and camels, devastating whatever they touched. ⁶And Israel was humbled greatly in the sight of Midian.

¹³And Gideon said to him: “I beg you, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why have these things happened to us? Where are his miracles, which our fathers described when they said, ‘The Lord led us away from Egypt.’ But now the Lord has forsaken us, and he has delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

¹Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not apparent. ²For this reason, the ancients were given testimony. ³By faith, we understand the world to be fashioned by the Word of God, so that the visible might be made by the invisible. ⁴By faith, Abel offered to God a much better sacrifice than that of Cain, through which he obtained testimony that he was just, in that God offered testimony to his gifts. And through that sacrifice, he still speaks to us, though he is dead. ⁵By faith, Enoch was transferred, so that he would not see death, and he was not found because God had transferred him. For before he was transferred, he had testimony that he pleased God. ⁶But without faith, it is impossible to please God. For whoever approaches God must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who seek him.