2. The Midianites were stronger than Israel, and the people of Israel hid from them in caves and other safe places in the hills.
3. Whenever the Israelites sowed any seed, the Midianites would come with the Amalekites and the desert tribes and attack them.
4. They would camp on the land and destroy the crops as far south as the area round Gaza. They would take all the sheep, cattle, and donkeys, and leave nothing for the Israelites to live on.
5. They would come with their livestock and tents, as thick as locusts. They and their camels were too many to count. They came and devastated the land,
6. and Israel was helpless against them.
7. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help against the Midianites,
8. and he sent them a prophet who brought them this message from the Lord, the God of Israel: “I brought you out of slavery in Egypt.
9. I rescued you from the Egyptians and from the people who fought against you here in this land. I drove them out as you advanced, and I gave you their land.
10. I told you that I am the Lord your God and that you should not worship the gods of the Amorites, whose land you are now living in. But you did not listen to me.”
11. Then the Lord's angel came to the village of Ophrah and sat under the oak tree that belonged to Joash, a man of the clan of Abiezer. His son Gideon was threshing some wheat secretly in a winepress, so that the Midianites would not see him.
12. The Lord's angel appeared to him there and said, “The Lord is with you, brave and mighty man!”