Gideon
1 Ndelenee ovana vaIsrael eshi va ninga osho shii momesho Omwene, Omwene e va yandja momake Ovamidian omido heyali. 2 Neke lOvamidian la fininika Israel. OmolwOvamidian ovana vaIsrael ove lihokela omakololo aa e li meemhunda nomakololo manene neehotengulu domeemhunda. 3 Osheshi alushe Ovaisraeli ngeenge va kuna, Ovamidian nOvaamaleki novanhu vokoushilo ve uya, ndele ve va homona, 4 va onga eenhanda oku va lwifa, ndele va hanauna po oilya yomomapya fiyo okuGasa, ndele inava fiya po nande eendja, needi neengobe ile eendongi muIsrael. 5 Osheshi ovo ve uya noimuna yavo neefaila davo ndele ve uya ngaashi oshipaxu meemhunga, osheshi vo neengamelo davo oda li di he shii okuvalwa. Osho ngaha hano ve uya moshilongo ve shi tokeke. 6 NOvaisraeli va ninga eehepele unene omolwOvamidian, ndelenee ovana vaIsrael va kuwa kOmwene. 7 Novana vaIsrael eshi va kuwa kOmwene omolwOvamidian, 8 Omwene okwa tumina ovana vaIsrael omuxunganeki, ndele ye okwa lombwela Ovaisraeli: “Omwene Kalunga kaIsrael ta ti ngaha: Ame mwene nde mu pitifa muEgipiti, ndele nde mu kufa mo meumbo loupika. 9 Ndele nde mu xupifa momake Ovaegipiti nomomake ovafininiki veni aveshe, ndele nde va taataa komesho yeni, ndele nde mu pa oshilongo shavo. 10 Naame onde mu lombwela: ‘Aame Omwene Kalunga keni. Inamu tila oikalunga yOvaamori mu li moshilongo shavo. Ndelenee nye inamu pwilikina ondaka yange.’ ”
11 Opo nee omweengeli wOmwene okwe uya nokwa kala omutumba momwandi u li muOfra, ou wa li waJoas, Omuabieser, fimbo omona waye omumati, Gideon, ta xu oilya moshikolelo sheeviinyu, opo ye e i holeke Ovamidian. 12 Nomweengeli wOmwene okwe mu holokela ndele ta ti kuye: “Omwene oku li pamwe naave, omukwanyati omuladi!” 13 Opo nee Gideon te mu pula: “Akutu, Omwene wange, Omwene ngeenge e li pamwe nafye, omolwashike hano oinima aishe ei ye tu wila? Noikumwifalonga yaye, oyo ootate ve tu hepaululila, oi li peni? Venya eshi va tile: Omwene haye e tu pitifa mo muEgipiti? Ndelenee paife Omwene e tu ekelashi ndele e tu yandja meke lOvamidian.” 14 Opo nee Omwene e mu pungulukila ndele ta ti: “Inda meenghono tuu edi doye ndele xupifa Israel meke lOvamidian. Ame ohandi ku tumu.” 15 Ndelenee ye okwe mu pula: “Akutu, Omwene, Israel ohandi ke shi xupifa nashike? Tala, oludi letu olongahoelela kuManasse, naame mwene omuxupielela movambuletu.” 16 Opo nee Omwene ta ti kuye: “Ame ondi li pamwe naave, onghee to ka taataa Ovamidian ngaashi omulumenhu umwe.” 17 Ndele ye okwe mu nyamukula ta ti: “Ame ngeenge nda filwa onghenda koshipala shoye, talife nge edidiliko, ndi shiive kutya ove to popi naame. 18 Ino dja po apa, fimbo inandi aluka kwoove ndele handi ku etele oshali ndele handi i tula pomesho yoye.” Ye ta ti: “Ame ohandi kala fiyo to aluka.” 19 Opo nee Gideon okwa ya mo nokwa longekida okakombwena noikuki ihe nonhafi youfila u fike peekilograma omulongo. Nombelela e i tula mokambale nomunghoka okwe u tila metiti. Ndele okwe i twala kuye pomwandi ndele te i tula puye. 20 Ndelenee omweengeli wOmwene okwe mu lombwela: “Kufa ombelela noikuki ihe nonhafi, u i tile kemanya eli ndele tila ko kombada yayo omunghoka.” Ndele osho a ninga. 21 Opo nee omweengeli wOmwene okwa ulika onhele yonhaili ei ya li meke laye nokwa kuma ombelela noikuki ihe nonhafi. Opo nee omundilo wa dja memanya ndele wa lungwinifa po ombelela noikuki ihe nonhafi. Ndele omweengeli wOmwene okwa kana po momesho aye. 22 Gideon eshi a dimbulukwa nokutya, ou okwa li omweengeli wOmwene, Gideon ta ti: “Akutu, Omwene Kalunga, osheshi ame nda mona omweengeli wOmwene koshipala noshipala!” 23 Ndelenee Omwene okwe mu lombwela: “Ombili nai kale naave! Ino tila! Ito fi!” 24 Opo nee Gideon okwa tungila ko Omwene oaltari ndele te i luku: “Omwene Oye ombili!” Oko shi li fiyo onena eli puOfra shOvaabieser.
25 Ndele oufiku tuu winya Omwene okwe mu lombwela ta ti: “Kufa ongobe yomhedi yaxo, nongobe imwe yomido heyali, ndele ngumauna po oaltari yaBaal, xo e i na, ka po olupwelele loshikalunga Asera olo li li pomunghulo washo; 26 ndele tungila Omwene Kalunga koye, oaltari koxulo yoshikulundu eshi nokulondekafana omamanya, ndele kufa ongobe yomhedi onhivali ndele i yamba omundiloyambo pamwe noikuni yokolupwelele tai di komuti waAsera, olo u noku li ka po.” 27 Opo nee Gideon okwa kufa ovalumenhu omulongo vomovapiya vaye nokwa ninga ngaashi Omwene e mu lombwela. Ndelenee ye eshi a tila eumbo laye novalumenhu vomoshilando, e shi ninge omutenya, ye okwe shi ninga oufiku. 28 Novalumenhu vomoshilando eshi va penduka ongula inene, oaltari yaBaal oya ngumaunwa po nolupwelele laAsera olo la li momunghulo wayo la kewa po nongobe onhivali ya yambwa koaltari, oyo ya tungwa ko. 29 Opo nee ova pulafana: “Olyelye e shi ninga?” Ndele fimbo tava konakona ndele tava pula, opa tiwa: Gideon yaJoas e shi ninga! 30 Opo nee ovalumenhu vomoshilongo tava ti kuJoas: “Omona woye omumati, mu yandja a fye, shaashi ye okwa ngumauna po oaltari yaBaal, naashi a ka po olupwelele laAsera la li momunghulo wayo.” 31 Ndelenee Joas okwa lombwela aveshe ava va kala puye: “Mwa hala okukondjela Baal? Ile mwa hala oku mu kwafa? Ou te mu kondjele ota ka fya mongula. Ye ngeenge oshikalunga, ne lipopile mwene, shaashi winya a ngumauna po oaltari yaye.” 32 Onghee hano ve mu luka efiku olo: “Jerubbaal, ndele tava ti: Baal ne mu kondjife, ye eshi a ngumauna po oaltari yaye.”
33 Opo nee Ovamidian aveshe nOvaamaleki novanhu vokoushilo va ongala kumwe ndele va tauluka omulonga waJordan ndele va onga onhanda mepumbu laJisreel. 34 NOmhepo yOmwene ya yada muGideon. Ndele ye okwa shika enghuma lodi yomhedi, nOvaabieser va ifanwa ve mu shikule. 35 Ye okwa tuma yo ovatumwa kuManasse ashishe, navo yo va ifanwa ve mu shikule. Nokwa tuma yo ovatumwa kuAsser nokuSebulon nokuNaftali, ndele vo ova fikama ve ke va lwife. 36 Opo nee Gideon okwa popya naKalunga ta ti: “Ove ngeenge wa hala shili okuxupifa Israel kekwafo leke lange, ngaashi wa tonga, 37 tala, ame ohandi tula olududi lodi moshipale: omume ngeenge tai wile kolududi, fimbo edu alishe la kukuta, opo nee ame ndi shi shii Ove oto ka xupifa Israel, kekwafo leke lange ngaashi wa tonga.” 38 Ndele osho sha ningwa: Ye eshi a penduka ongula inene, okwa fingonona olududi nokwa kama mo omume ndee tai yada okalwiyo. 39 Opo nee Gideon okwa popya naKalunga ta ti: “Ehandu loye liha xwamene nge, ndele itavelele nge ndi popye lumwe aluke. Nandi yelekele lumwe aluke nolududi: olududi nali kale la kukuta, fimbo edu alishe li nomume.” 40 NOmwene osho a ninga oufiku winya: olududi la li la kukuta, fimbo edu alishe li nomume.
Gideon
1 Once again the people of Israel sinned against the Lord, so he let the people of Midian rule them for seven years. 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 would plant their crops, 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 around 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 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 have not listened 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 wine press, 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!”
13 Gideon said to him, “If I may ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the Lord is with us? What happened to all the wonderful things that our fathers told us the Lord used to do—how he brought them out of Egypt? The Lord has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites.”
14 Then the Lord ordered him, “Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you.”
15 Gideon replied, “But Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family.”
16 The Lord answered, “You can do it because I will help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man.”
17 Gideon replied, “If you are pleased with me, give me some proof that you are really the Lord. 18 Please do not leave until I bring you an offering of food.”
He said, “I will stay until you come back.”
19 So Gideon went into his house and cooked a young goat and used a bushel of flour to make bread without any yeast. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them to the Lord's angel under the oak tree, and gave them to him. 20 The angel told him, “Put the meat and the bread on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” Gideon did so. 21 Then the Lord's angel reached out and touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick he was holding. Fire came out of the rock and burned up the meat and the bread. Then the angel disappeared.
22 Gideon then realized that it was the Lord's angel he had seen, and he said in terror, “Sovereign Lord! I have seen your angel face-to-face!”
23 But the Lord told him, “Peace. Don't be afraid. You will not die.” 24 Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it “The Lord is Peace.” (It is still standing at Ophrah, which belongs to the clan of Abiezer.)
25 That night the Lord told Gideon, “Take your father's bull and another bull seven years old, tear down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the symbol of the goddess Asherah, which is beside it. 26 Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on top of this mound. Then take the second bull and burn it whole as an offering, using for firewood the symbol of Asherah you have cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his family and the people in town to do it by day, so he did it at night.
28 When the people in town got up early the next morning, they found that the altar to Baal and the symbol of Asherah had been cut down, and that the second bull had been burned on the altar that had been built there. 29 They asked each other, “Who did this?” They investigated and found out that Gideon son of Joash had done it. 30 Then they said to Joash, “Bring your son out here, so that we can kill him! He tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the symbol of Asherah beside it.”
31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, “Are you arguing for Baal? Are you defending him? Anyone who argues for him will be killed before morning. If Baal is a god, let him defend himself. It is his altar that was torn down.” 32 From then on Gideon was known as Jerubbaal, because Joash said, “Let Baal defend himself; it is his altar that was torn down.”
33 Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the desert tribes assembled, crossed the Jordan River, and camped in Jezreel Valley. 34 The spirit of the Lord took control of Gideon, and he blew a trumpet to call the men of the clan of Abiezer to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout the territory of both parts of Manasseh to call them to follow him. He sent messengers to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they also came to join him.
36 Then Gideon said to God, “You say that you have decided to use me to rescue Israel. 37 Well, I am putting some wool on the ground where we thresh the wheat. If in the morning there is dew only on the wool but not on the ground, then I will know that you are going to use me to rescue Israel.” 38 That is exactly what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the wool and wrung enough dew out of it to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Don't be angry with me; let me speak just once more. Please let me make one more test with the wool. This time let the wool be dry, and the ground be wet.” 40 That night God did that very thing. The next morning the wool was dry, but the ground was wet with dew.
