Judges 6
Open in the reader1Again the children of Strives-with-God did evil in the sight of He-Who-Is; so He delivered them into the hand of Strife for seven years,
2and the hand of Strife prevailed against Strives-with-God. Because of the children of Strife, the children of Strives-with-God prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.
3Whenever the children of Strives-with-God planted their crops, the children of Strife, children of Amalek, and other people of the east would come up and invade them,
4encamping against them as far as Stronghold and destroying the produce of the land. They left Strives-with-God with no sustenance, neither sheep nor oxen nor donkeys.
5For the Midianites came with their livestock and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were innumerable, and they entered the land to ravage it.
6Strives-with-God was greatly impoverished by Strife, and the children of Strives-with-God cried out to He-Who-Is.
7Now when the children of Strives-with-God cried out to He-Who-Is because of Strife,
8He-Who-Is sent them a prophet, who told them, “This is what He-Who-Is, the God of Strives-with-God, says: I brought you up out of Two-Straits, out of the house of slavery.
9I delivered you out of the hands of Two-Straits and all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.
10And I said to you: ‘I am He-Who-Is your God. You must not fear the gods of the Mountaineers, in whose land you dwell.’ But you did not obey Me.”
11Then the messenger of He-Who-Is came and sat down under the oak in Fawn that belonged to He-Who-Is-Strong Of-My-Father-Is-Help Abiezrite, where his son Hewer was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the children of Strife.
12And the messenger of He-Who-Is appeared to Hewer and said, “He-Who-Is is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
13“Please, my Lord,” Hewer replied, “if He-Who-Is is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not He-Who-Is brought us up out of Two-Straits?’ But now He-Who-Is has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Strife.”
14He-Who-Is turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Strives-with-God from the hand of Strife. Am I not sending you?”
15“Please, my Lord,” Hewer replied, “how can I save Strives-with-God? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Causing-to-Forget, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”
16“Surely I will be with you,” He-Who-Is replied, “and you will strike down all the children of Strife as one man.”
17Hewer answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me.
18Please do not depart from this place until I return to You. Let me bring my offering and set it before You.” And He-Who-Is said, “I will stay until you return.”
19So Hewer went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to present to Him under the oak.
20And the messenger of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Hewer did so.
21Then the messenger of He-Who-Is extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire flared from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the messenger of He-Who-Is vanished from his sight.
22When Hewer realized that it was the messenger of He-Who-Is, he said, “Oh no, Lord He-Who-Is! I have seen the messenger of He-Who-Is face to face!”
23But He-Who-Is said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid, for you will not die.”
24So Hewer built an altar to He-Who-Is there and called it He-Who-Is Is Peace. To this day it stands in Fawn Of-My-Father-Is-Help the Abiezrites.
25On that very night He-Who-Is said to Hewer, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old, tear down your father’s altar to The-Ruler, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
26Then build a proper altar to He-Who-Is your God on the top of this stronghold. And with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down, take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering.”
27So Hewer took ten of his servants and did as He-Who-Is had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city, he did it by night rather than in the daytime.
28When the men of the city got up in the morning, there was The-Ruler’s altar torn down, with the Asherah pole cut down beside it and the second bull offered up on the newly built altar.
29“Who did this?” they said to one another. And after they had investigated thoroughly, they were told, “Hewer son of He-Who-Is-Strong did it.”
30Then the men of the city said to He-Who-Is-Strong, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has torn down The-Ruler altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
31But He-Who-Is-Strong said to all who stood against him, “Are you contending for Baal? Are you trying to save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If Baal is a God, let him contend for himself with the one who has torn down his altar.”
32So on that day Hewer was called Let-Baal-Contend, that is to say, “Let The-Ruler contend with him,” because he had torn down Baal’s altar.
33Then all the children of Strife, children of Amalek, and other people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Descender, and camped in the Valley of God-Sows.
34So the Spirit of He-Who-Is came upon Hewer, who blew the ram’s horn and rallied the Abiezrites behind him.
35Calling them to arms, Hewer sent messengers throughout Causing-to-Forget, as well as Happy, Dwelling, and My-Wrestling, so that they came up to meet him.
36Then Hewer said to God, “If You are going to save Strives-with-God by my hand, as You have said,
37then behold, I will place a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that You are going to save Strives-with-God by my hand, as You have said.”
38And that is what happened. When Hewer arose the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
39Then Hewer said to God, “Do not be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time let it be dry, and the ground covered with dew.”
40And that night God did so. Only the fleece was dry, and dew covered the ground.