<p class="poetry">You who ride on light-colored female donkeys,p> <p class="poetry">who sit on saddle blankets,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you who walk on the road, pay attention!p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The Israelites did evil in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s sight,<n id="1" /> so the <sc>Lordsc> turned them over to<n id="2" /> Midian for seven years.

Whenever the Israelites planted their crops,<n id="1" /> the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east would attack them.<n id="2" />

Israel was so severely weakened by Midian that the Israelites cried out to the <sc>Lordsc> for help.p>

<p class="bodytext">When the Israelites cried out to the <sc>Lordsc> for help because of Midian,

The <sc>Lordsc> said to him, &#8220;Ah, but<n id="1" /> I will be with you! You will strike down the whole Midianite army.&#8221;<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">All the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east<n id="1" /> assembled. They crossed the Jordan River<n id="2" /> and camped in the Jezreel Valley.

Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites.<n id="1" />p>

my father fought for you; he risked his life<n id="1" /> and delivered you from Midian&#8217;s power.<n id="2" />

The Midianites<n id="1" /> overwhelmed Israel.<n id="2" /> Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters<n id="3" /> for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds.

They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb.<n id="1" /> They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb<n id="2" /> in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites<n id="3" /> and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River.<n id="4" />p>

Then the <sc>Lordsc> himself<n id="1" /> turned to him and said, &#8220;You have the strength.<n id="2" /> Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites!<n id="3" /> Have I not sent you?&#8221;

When Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, Gideon<n id="1" /> chased them and captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. He had surprised<n id="2" /> their entire army.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The men of Israel said to Gideon, &#8220;Rule over us &#8211; you, your son, and your grandson. For you have delivered us from Midian&#8217;s power.&#8221;<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites&#8217; fighting spirit was broken.<n id="1" /> The land had rest for forty years during Gideon&#8217;s time.<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s angelic messenger<n id="1" /> came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash&#8217;s son Gideon<n id="2" /> was threshing<n id="3" /> wheat in a winepress<n id="4" /> so he could hide it from the Midianites.<n id="5" />

Gideon said to him, &#8220;Pardon me,<n id="1" /> but if the <sc>Lordsc> is with us, why has such disaster<n id="2" /> overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said,<n id="3" /> &#8216;Did the <sc>Lordsc> not bring us up from Egypt?&#8217; But now the <sc>Lordsc> has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.&#8221;

<t /><p class="bodytext">Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men<n id="1" /> got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod.<n id="2" /> The Midianites<n id="3" /> were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley.

The <sc>Lordsc> said to Gideon, &#8220;You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you.<n id="1" /> Israel might brag,<n id="2" /> &#8216;Our own strength has delivered us.&#8217;<n id="3" />

The <sc>Lordsc> said to Gideon, &#8220;With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army<n id="1" /> and I will hand Midian over to you.<n id="2" /> The rest of the men should go home.&#8221;<n id="3" />