6:1 以色列人又行耶和華眼中看為惡的事，耶和華就把他們交在米甸人手裡七年。
6:2 米甸人壓制以色列人；以色列人因為米甸人，就在山中挖穴、挖洞、建造營寨。
6:3 以色列人每逢撒種之後，米甸人、亞瑪力人，和東方人都上來攻打他們，
6:4 對著他們安營，毀壞土產，直到迦薩，沒有給以色列人留下食物，牛、羊、驢也沒有留下；
6:5 因為那些人帶著牲畜帳棚來，像蝗蟲那樣多，人和駱駝無數，都進入國內，毀壞全地。
6:6 以色列人因米甸人的緣故，極其窮乏，就呼求耶和華。
6:7 以色列人因米甸人的緣故，呼求耶和華，
6:8 耶和華就差遣先知到以色列人那裡，對他們說：「耶和華─以色列的上帝如此說：『我曾領你們從埃及上來，出了為奴之家，
6:9 救你們脫離埃及人的手，並脫離一切欺壓你們之人的手，把他們從你們面前趕出，將他們的地賜給你們』；
6:10 又對你們說：『我是耶和華─你們的上帝。你們住在亞摩利人的地，不可敬畏他們的上帝。你們竟不聽從我的話。』」
6:11 耶和華的使者到了俄弗拉，坐在亞比以謝族人約阿施的橡樹下。約阿施的兒子基甸正在酒醡那裡打麥子，為要防備米甸人。
6:12 耶和華的使者向基甸顯現，對他說：「大能的勇士啊，耶和華與你同在！」
6:13 基甸說：「主啊，耶和華若與我們同在，我們何致遭遇這一切事呢？我們的列祖不是向我們說『耶和華領我們從埃及上來』嗎？他那樣奇妙的作為在哪裡呢？現在他卻丟棄我們，將我們交在米甸人手裡。」
6:14 耶和華觀看基甸，說：「你靠著你這能力去從米甸人手裡拯救以色列人，不是我差遣你去的嗎？」
6:15 基甸說：「主啊，我有何能拯救以色列人呢？我家在瑪拿西支派中是至貧窮的。我在我父家是至微小的。」
6:16 耶和華對他說：「我與你同在，你就必擊打米甸人，如擊打一人一樣。」
6:17 基甸說：「我若在你眼前蒙恩，求你給我一個證據，使我知道與我說話的就是主。
6:18 求你不要離開這裡，等我歸回將禮物帶來供在你面前。」主說：「我必等你回來。」
6:19 基甸去預備了一隻山羊羔，用一伊法細麵做了無酵餅，將肉放在筐內，把湯盛在壺中，帶到橡樹下，獻在使者面前。
6:20 上帝的使者吩咐基甸說：「將肉和無酵餅放在這磐石上，把湯倒出來。」他就這樣行了。
6:21 耶和華的使者伸出手內的杖，杖頭挨了肉和無酵餅，就有火從磐石中出來，燒盡了肉和無酵餅。耶和華的使者也就不見了。
6:22 基甸見他是耶和華的使者，就說：「哀哉！主耶和華啊，我不好了，因為我覿面看見耶和華的使者。」
6:23 耶和華對他說：「你放心，不要懼怕，你必不致死。」
6:24 於是基甸在那裡為耶和華築了一座壇，起名叫「耶和華沙龍」（就是耶和華賜平安的意思）。（這壇在亞比以謝族的俄弗拉直到如今。）
6:25 當那夜，耶和華吩咐基甸說：「你取你父親的牛來，就是（或譯：和）那七歲的第二隻牛，並拆毀你父親為巴力所築的壇，砍下壇旁的木偶，
6:26 在這磐石（原文是保障）上整整齊齊地為耶和華─你的上帝築一座壇，將第二隻牛獻為燔祭，用你所砍下的木偶作柴。」
6:27 基甸就從他僕人中挑了十個人，照著耶和華吩咐他的行了。他因怕父家和本城的人，不敢在白晝行這事，就在夜間行了。
6:28 城裡的人清早起來，見巴力的壇拆毀，壇旁的木偶砍下，第二隻牛獻在新築的壇上，
6:29 就彼此說：「這事是誰做的呢？」他們訪查之後，就說：「這是約阿施的兒子基甸做的。」
6:30 城裡的人對約阿施說：「將你兒子交出來，好治死他；因為他拆毀了巴力的壇，砍下壇旁的木偶。」
6:31 約阿施回答站著攻擊他的眾人說：「你們是為巴力爭論嗎？你們要救他嗎？誰為他爭論，趁早將誰治死！巴力若果是神，有人拆毀他的壇，讓他為自己爭論吧！」
6:32 所以當日人稱基甸為耶路‧巴力，意思說：「他拆毀巴力的壇，讓巴力與他爭論。」
6:33 那時，米甸人、亞瑪力人，和東方人都聚集過河，在耶斯列平原安營。
6:34 耶和華的靈降在基甸身上，他就吹角；亞比以謝族都聚集跟隨他。
6:35 他打發人走遍瑪拿西地，瑪拿西人也聚集跟隨他；又打發人去見亞設人、西布倫人、拿弗他利人，他們也都出來與他們會合。
6:36 基甸對上帝說：「你若果照著所說的話，藉我手拯救以色列人，
6:37 我就把一團羊毛放在禾場上：若單是羊毛上有露水，別的地方都是乾的，我就知道你必照著所說的話，藉我手拯救以色列人。」
6:38 次日早晨基甸起來，見果然是這樣；將羊毛擠一擠，從羊毛中擰出滿盆的露水來。
6:39 基甸又對上帝說：「求你不要向我發怒，我再說這一次：讓我將羊毛再試一次。但願羊毛是乾的，別的地方都有露水。」
6:40 這夜上帝也如此行：獨羊毛上是乾的，別的地方都有露水。
The Israelites did evil in
the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the
power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for
themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites
planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples
invaded the country. 4 They
camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a
living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their
livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count
them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the
Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.
7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8 he sent
them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of
Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
9 I rescued you from the
hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your
oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land
you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah[a] of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.[b] Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole[c] beside it. 26 Then build a proper kind of[d] altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second[e] bull as a burnt offering.”
27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
28 In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!
29 They asked each other, “Who did this?”
When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
30 The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
31 But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” 32 So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal[f] that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”
33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.
36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— 37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
***********
基甸是生長在以色列倍米甸欺負的年代，怕糧食被米甸人搶走，還要去將糧食藏起來！而這一位「憤青」在藏米糧的時候預見天使，向天使抱怨：「主啊，耶和華若與我們同在，我們何致遭遇這一切事呢？我們的列祖不是向我們說『耶和華領我們從埃及上來』嗎？他那樣奇妙的作為在哪裡呢？現在他卻丟棄我們，將我們交在米甸人手裡。」
雖然如此說，上帝並不以為忤，反而透過天使乎召他：「你靠著你這能力去從米甸人手裡拯救以色列人，不是我差遣你去的嗎？」
然而這樣的呼召讓米甸震驚，無法接受於是向上帝回應：「主啊，我有何能拯救以色列人呢？我家在瑪拿西支派中是至貧窮的。我在我父家是至微小的。」
然而上帝對於祂所呼召的人，總是以祂的同再作回應！的確，上帝呼召一個人絕對不會讓他自生自滅，或是讓他單獨面對困難，必定與他同在，在四圍保守看顧，更是藉由祂的大能透過所呼召的人行奇妙的大事！
也因為這樣基甸就成了上帝的士師，要他先去除去父親的巴力祭壇和偶像，也因為上帝給他的保護和後來羊毛的憑證，讓他由軟弱的「憤青」轉變成堅強的大能勇士！
我們生命何嘗不是因為的呼召與同在而改變呢﹖從軟弱的變為剛強，一切都是因為上帝的同在，尤其是我們這些信靠主耶穌的人，更是有上帝兒女的身分，還是下聖靈在我們心中，聖靈就是上帝！
