<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;

<p class="bodytext">Gideon went and prepared a young goat,<n id="1" /> along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food<n id="2" /> to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.

So Gideon took ten of his servants<n id="1" /> and did just as the <sc>Lordsc> had told him. He was too afraid of his father&#8217;s family<n id="2" /> and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime.<n id="3" />p>

Gideon said to God, &#8220;Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign.<n id="1" /> Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.&#8221;<n id="2" />

<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" />

So he brought the men<n id="1" /> down to the water. Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to Gideon, &#8220;Separate those who lap the water as a dog laps from those who kneel to drink.&#8221;<n id="2" />

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" />

When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had.<n id="1" /> The man<n id="2" /> said, &#8220;Look! I had a dream. I saw<n id="3" /> a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.&#8221;<n id="4" />

The other man said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Without a doubt this symbolizes<n id="2" /> the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God.<n id="1" /> Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, &#8220;Get up, for the <sc>Lordsc> is handing the Midianite army over to you!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Gideon took a hundred men to the edge of the camp<n id="1" /> at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying.<n id="2" />

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>

Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Come on,<n id="2" /> you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.&#8221;<n id="3" /> So Gideon killed<n id="4" /> Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.p>

The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Gideon again, &#8220;There are still too many men.<n id="1" /> Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more.<n id="2" /> When I say, &#8216;This one should go with you,&#8217; pick him to go;<n id="3" /> when I say,<n id="4" /> &#8216;This one should not go with you,&#8217; do not take him.&#8221;<n id="5" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, &#8220;Go down and head off the Midianites.<n id="1" /> Take control of the fords of the streams<n id="2" /> all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.&#8221;<n id="3" /> When all the Ephraimites had assembled,<n id="4" /> they took control of the fords<n id="5" /> all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.