1. And the children of Yisra’ĕl did evil in the eyes of יהוה, and יהוה gave them into the hand of Miḏyan for seven years,
2. and the hand of Miḏyan was strong against Yisra’ĕl. And before the faces of the Miḏyanites the children of Yisra’ĕl made for themselves the refuges which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.
3. And it came to be, whenever Yisra’ĕl had sown, that Miḏyan would come up, and Amalĕq and the people of the East would come up against them,
4. and encamp against them and destroy the increase of the soil as far as Azzah, and leave no food in Yisra’ĕl, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.
5. For they came up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts. And they and their camels were without number. And they came into the land to destroy it.
6. Thus Yisra’ĕl was brought very low because of Miḏyan, and the children of Yisra’ĕl cried out to יהוה.
7. And it came to be, when the children of Yisra’ĕl cried out to יהוה because of Miḏyan,
8. that יהוה sent a prophet to the children of Yisra’ĕl, who said to them, “Thus said יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘I have brought you up from Mitsrayim and I brought you out of the house of bondage,
9. and I delivered you out of the hand of the Mitsrites and out of the hand of all your oppressors, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.
10. ‘And I said to you, “I am יהוה your Elohim, do not fear the mighty ones of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. And you have not obeyed My voice.” ’ ”
11. And the Messenger of יהוה came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Yo’ash the Aḇi‛ezerite, while his son Giḏ‛on threshed wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the eyes of the Miḏyanites.
12. And the Messenger of יהוה appeared to him, and said to him, “יהוה is with you, you mighty brave one!”
13. And Giḏ‛on said to Him, “O my master, if יהוה is with us, why has all this come upon us? And where are all His wonders which our fathers related to us, saying, ‘Did not יהוה bring us up from Mitsrayim?’ But now יהוה has left us and given us into the hands of Miḏyan.”
14. And יהוה turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours, and you shall save Yisra’ĕl from the hand of the Miḏyanites. Have I not sent you?”
15. And he said to Him, “O יהוה, with what do I save Yisra’ĕl? See, my clan is the weakest in Menashsheh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16. And יהוה said to him, “Because I am with you, you shall smite the Miḏyanites as one man.”