But
when Joshua and all the men that had known him were dead, the children of
Israel forgot God and turned to worship idols.
Then
God allowed the Midianites to come up against them and to overcome them, and
the children of Israel hid from their enemies in dens and caves in the
mountains.
And
they cried to God, and God sent His angel to Gideon as he threshed wheat by the
winepress. And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Go, and thou shalt save
Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?”
Then
all the Midianites were gathered together and pitched their tents in the
valley.
But
the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon and he blew a trumpet to gather the
children of Israel after him.
And
Gideon said unto God, “If Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, behold I will put
a fleece of wool in the floor, and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be
dry upon all the earth beside, then I shall know that Thou wilt save Israel by
my hand.”
And
it was so, for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together,
and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
Judges 6