6:1 以色列的子民又行了上主视为恶的事，上主把他们交于米德杨人手中七年之久。
The Israelites offended the LORD, who therefore delivered them into the power of Midian for seven years, 6:2 米德杨人的势力胜过了以色列，以色列子民为了防御米德杨人，修筑了山洞、地洞和山寨。
so that Midian held Israel subject. For fear of Midian the Israelites established the fire signals on the mountains, the caves for refuge, and the strongholds. 6:3 每逢以色列人撒种之后，米德杨人、阿玛肋克人和东方子民就上来攻打他们；
And it used to be that when the Israelites had completed their sowing, Midian, Amalek and the Kedemites would come up, 6:4 对着他们扎营，毁坏地产直到迦萨一带，没有给以色列留下一点食粮，连羊、牛、驴也没有留下；
encamp opposite them, and destroy the produce of the land as far as the outskirts of Gaza, leaving no sustenance in Israel, nor sheep, oxen or asses. 6:5 因为他们总是带着家畜和帐棚上来，多如蝗虫；他们来的人和骆驼多得无数，踏入境内，毁坏田地。
For they would come up with their livestock, and their tents would become as numerous as locusts; and neither they nor their camels could be numbered, when they came into the land to lay it waste. 6:6 以色列为了米德杨人的原故，很是穷困，因此以色列子民呼吁了上主。
Thus was Israel reduced to misery by Midian, and so the Israelites cried out to the LORD. 6:7 当以色列子民为了米德杨的原故，呼吁上主时，
When Israel cried out to the LORD because of Midian, 6:8 上主就派了一位先知到以色列子民那里，对他们说：「上主以色列的天主这样说：是我使你们由埃及上来，领你们离开了为奴之家；
he sent a prophet to the Israelites who said to them, "The LORD, the God of Israel, says: I led you up from Egypt; I brought you out of the place of slavery. 6:9 是我从埃及人的手中，从一切压迫你们的人手中救出你们来；是我从你们面前把他们赶走，把他们的地赐给你们。
I rescued you from the power of Egypt and of all your other oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 6:10 我曾对你们说过：我是上主你们的天主，你们在阿摩黎地方，切不可敬畏他们的神!但是你们没有听从我的话。」
And I said to you: I, the LORD, am your God; you shall not venerate the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are dwelling. But you did not obey me." 6:11 上主的使者来到，坐在敖弗辣的一棵属于阿彼厄则尔人约阿士的笃耨树下，当时他的儿子基德红正在酿酒池里打麦子，躲避米德杨人。
Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. While his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press to save it from the Midianites, 6:12 上主的使者显现给他，对他说：「英勇的壮士，愿上主与你同在!」
the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, "The LORD is with you, O champion!" 6:13 基德红回答他说：「我主，请原谅!如果上主与我们同在，我们怎会遭遇这些困难﹖我祖先给我们所讲过的那一切奇事，如今在那里?他们曾向我们说过：看，是上主领我们出离埃及，但是现在上主拋弃了我们，将我们交在米德杨人的掌握中。」
"My Lord," Gideon said to him, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are his wondrous deeds of which our fathers told us when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' For now the LORD has abandoned us and has delivered us into the power of Midian." 6:14 上主注视他说：「凭你这种力量，你去拯救以色列脱离米德杨人的掌握。看，是我派遣你。」
The LORD turned to him and said, "Go with the strength you have and save Israel from the power of Midian. It is I who send you." 6:15 他回答说：「我主，请原谅!我凭什么拯救以色列﹖看，我家在默纳协支派中是最卑微的，我在我父亲家中又是最小的一个。」
But he answered him, "Please, my lord, how can I save Israel? My family is the meanest in Manasseh, and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house." 6:16 上主对他说：「有我与你同在，你必击败米德杨人，如击一个人一样。」
"I shall be with you," the LORD said to him, "and you will cut down Midian to the last man." 6:17 基德红又向他说：「我若在你面前蒙恩，请你给我一个记号，证明与我说话的是你。
He answered him, "If I find favor with you, give me a sign that you are speaking with me. 6:18 请你不要离开此地，等我回到你这里，带来礼物，摆在你前。」他答应说：「我等你回来。」
Do not depart from here, I pray you, until I come back to you and bring out my offering and set it before you." He answered, "I will await your return." 6:19 基德红就去预备了一只小公山羊，又用一「厄法」麦粉作了无酵饼，把肉放在筐里，把汤盛在罐里，带到笃耨树下献给他。
So Gideon went off and prepared a kid and an ephah of flour in the form of unleavened cakes. Putting the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, he brought them out to him under the terebinth and presented them. 6:20 天主的使者对他说：「拿出肉和无酵饼来，放在这盘石上，把汤倒出来!」他就照样作了。
The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and unleavened cakes and lay them on this rock; then pour out the broth." When he had done so, 6:21 上主的使者遂伸出手中的棍杖，杖头一触及肉和无酵饼，盘石便起火，把肉和无酵饼吞噬了；上主的使者便从他眼前隐没了。
the angel of the LORD stretched out the tip of the staff he held, and touched the meat and unleavened cakes. Thereupon a fire came up from the rock which consumed the meat and unleavened cakes, and the angel of the LORD disappeared from sight. 6:22 基德红遂知道他是上主的使者说：「哎呀！我主上主，我竟然面对面地看见上主的使者！」
Gideon, now aware that it had been the angel of the LORD, said, "Alas, Lord GOD, that I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!" 6:23 但上主对他说：「你放心!不必害怕，你不会死!
The LORD answered him, "Be calm, do not fear. You shall not die." 6:24 基德红就在那里给上主立了一座祭坛，称为雅威沙隆；至今还在阿彼厄则耳人的敖弗辣那里。
So Gideon built there an altar to the LORD and called it Yahweh-shalom. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 6:25 当夜上主对他说：「取你父亲的一只牛，即那只七岁的肥牛，以后拆毁你父亲的巴耳祭坛，打碎旁边的阿舍辣；
That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the seven-year-old spare bullock and destroy your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the sacred pole that is by it. 6:26 给上主你的天主在这盘石顶上建一座祭坛，准备妥当，将那只肥牛献为全燔祭，用打碎的阿舍辣作木柴。」
You shall build, instead, the proper kind of altar to the LORD, your God, on top of this stronghold. Then take the spare bullock and offer it as a holocaust on the wood from the sacred pole you have cut down." 6:27 基德红就从仆人中选出十个人，照上主吩咐他的作了；但因为害怕父亲的家人和城里的人，不敢在白天行事，就在黑夜作了。
So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD had commanded him. But through fear of his family and of the townspeople, he would not do it by day, but did it at night. 6:28 城里的人早晨起来，看见巴耳的祭坛已毁，旁边所有的阿舍辣也被打碎，那只肥牛也献于新筑的祭坛上，
Early the next morning the townspeople found that the altar of Baal had been destroyed, the sacred pole near it cut down, and the spare bullock offered on the altar that was built. 6:29 就彼此询问说：「谁作了这事﹖」经过考察追问之后，断定说：「必是约阿士的儿子基德红作了这事。」
They asked one another, "Who did this?" Their inquiry led them to the conclusion that Gideon, son of Joash, had done it. 6:30 因此本城的人对约阿士说：「将你的儿子交出来，将他处死!因为他拆毁了巴耳的祭坛，打碎了旁边的阿舍辣。」
So the townspeople said to Joash, "Bring out your son that he may die, for he has destroyed the altar of Baal and has cut down the sacred pole that was near it." 6:31 约阿士回答所有反对他的人说：「你们要为巴耳辩护么﹖或者你们要救助他吗﹖谁为他辩护，明天早晨便该处以死刑!他如果是神，让他为自己辩护罢!因为有人拆毁了他的祭坛。」
But Joash replied to all who were standing around him, "Do you intend to act in Baal’s stead, or be his champion? If anyone acts for him, he shall be put to death by morning. If he whose altar has been destroyed is a god, let him act for himself!" 6:32 因此当天人就称基德红为「耶鲁巴耳，」好象说：「让巴耳与他争辩，因为基德红拆毁了他的祭坛。」
So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, because of the words, "Let Baal take action against him, since he destroyed his altar." 6:33 那时，米德杨、阿玛肋克和东方子民都聚集起来，过了河，在依次勒耳平原安了营。
Then all Midian and Amalek and the Kedemites mustered and crossed over into the valley of Jezreel, where they encamped. 6:34 上主的神充满了基德红，他一吹号角，阿彼厄则尔人便应召前来跟随他；
The spirit of the LORD enveloped Gideon; he blew the horn that summoned Abiezer to follow him. 6:35 他又打发使者走遍默纳协，默纳协人也应召前来跟随他；他又打发使者往阿协尔、则步隆和纳斐塔里去，他们也都上来与他们会合。
He sent messengers, too, throughout Manasseh, which also obeyed his summons; through Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, likewise, he sent messengers and these tribes advanced to meet the others. 6:36 基德红就对天主说：「如果你按你所说的，真要借着我的手拯救以色列，
Gideon said to God, "If indeed you are going to save Israel through me, as you promised, 6:37 看我将剪下的一把羊毛放在禾场上，若露水单单落在羊毛上，而遍地都是干的，那么我便晓得，如你所说的，你真要藉我的手拯救以色列。」
I am putting this woolen fleece on the threshing floor. If dew comes on the fleece alone, while all the ground is dry, I shall know that you will save Israel through me, as you promised." 6:38 次日清早起来，果然如此，基德红把羊毛一拧，从羊毛里拧出一碗露水。
That is what took place. Early the next morning he wrung the dew from the fleece, squeezing out of it a bowlful of water. 6:39 基德红又向天主说：「如果我再说一次，求你别对我发怒!请让我用这羊毛再试一次：单单羊毛是干的，而遍地都是露水。」
Gideon then said to God, "Do not be angry with me if I speak once more. Let me make just one more test with the fleece. Let the fleece alone be dry, but let there be dew on all the ground." 6:40 那一夜天主果然这样作了，单单羊毛是干的，而遍地都是露水。
That night God did so; the fleece alone was dry, but there was dew on all the ground.