I rescued you from Egypt’s power ¹  and from the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave their land to you.

I said to you, “I am the Lord your God! Do not worship ¹  the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living!” But you have disobeyed me.’” ² 

Then the Lord himself ¹  turned to him and said, “You have the strength. ²  Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! ³  Have I not sent you?”

Gideon ¹  said to him, “But Lord, ²  how ³  can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.” ⁴ 

Do not leave this place until I come back ¹  with a gift ²  and present it to you.” The Lord said, “I will stay here until you come back.”

God’s messenger said to him, “Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock, ¹  and pour out the broth.” Gideon did as instructed. ² 

That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, ¹  because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

The Lord did as he asked. ¹  When he got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece, and enough dew dripped from it to fill a bowl. ² 

He divided the three hundred men into three units. ¹  He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them. ² 

Gideon went up the road of the nomads ¹  east of Nobah and Jogbehah and ambushed the surprised army. ² 

He captured a young man from Succoth ¹  and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth’s officials and city leaders – seventy-seven men in all. ² 

The Israelites did not remain true ¹  to the Lord their God, who had delivered them from all the enemies who lived around them.

All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar ¹  in Shechem.

But the olive tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my oil, which is used to honor gods and men, just to sway above the other trees!’ ¹ 

But the fig tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my sweet figs, my excellent fruit, just to sway above the other trees!’ ¹ 

But the grapevine said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my wine, which makes gods and men so happy, just to sway above the other trees!’ ¹ 

The leaders of Shechem rebelled against Abimelech by putting ¹  bandits in ²  the hills, who robbed everyone who traveled by on the road. But Abimelech found out about it. ³ 

He sent messengers to Abimelech, who was in Arumah, ¹  reporting, “Beware! ²  Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers are coming ³  to Shechem and inciting the city to rebel against you. ⁴ 

he took his men ¹  and divided them into three units and set an ambush in the field. When he saw the people coming out of the city, ²  he attacked and struck them down. ³ 

After Abimelech’s death, ¹  Tola son of Puah, grandson ²  of Dodo, from the tribe of Issachar, ³  rose up to deliver Israel. He lived in Shamir in the Ephraimite hill country.