6. Midian made the people of Israel very poor. So they cried out to the Lord for help.
7. They cried out to the Lord because of what Midian had done.
8. So he sent a prophet to them. The prophet said, "The Lord is the God of Israel. He says, 'I brought you up out of Egypt. That is the land where you were slaves.
9. I saved you from the power of Egypt. I saved you from all those who were beating you down. I drove the people of Canaan out to make room for you. I gave you their land.
10. " 'I said to you, "I am the Lord your God. You are now living in the land of the Amorites. Do not worship their gods." But you have not listened to me.' "
11. The angel of the Lord came. He sat down under an oak tree in Ophrah. The tree belonged to Joash. He was from the family line of Abiezer. Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress at Ophrah. He was the son of Joash. Gideon was threshing in a winepress to hide the wheat from the Midianites.