2. And they were greatly oppressed by them. And they made for themselves hollows and caves in the mountains, and very fortified places for defense.
3. And when Israel had planted, Midian and Amalek, and the rest of the eastern nations ascended,
4. and pitching their tents among them, they laid waste to all that was planted, as far as the entrance to Gaza. And they left behind nothing at all to sustain life in Israel, neither sheep, nor oxen, nor donkeys.
5. For they and all their flocks arrived with their tents, and they filled all places like locusts, an innumerable multitude of men and camels, devastating whatever they touched.
6. And Israel was humbled greatly in the sight of Midian.
7. And he cried out to the Lord, requesting assistance against the Midianites.
8. And he sent to them a man who was a prophet, and he said: "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 'I caused you to ascend from Egypt, and I led you away from the house of servitude.
9. And I freed you from the hand of the Egyptians and from all of the enemies who were afflicting you. And I cast them out at your arrival, and I delivered their land to you.
10. And I said: I am the Lord your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live. But you were not willing to listen to my voice.' "
11. Then an Angel of the Lord arrived, and he sat under an oak tree, which was at Ophrah, and which belonged to Joash, the father of the family of Ezri. And while his son Gideon was threshing and cleaning the grain at the winepress, so that he might flee from Midian,
12. the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and he said: "The Lord is with you, most valiant of men."
13. And Gideon said to him: "I beg you, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why have these things happened to us? Where are his miracles, which our fathers described when they said, 'The Lord led us away from Egypt.' But now the Lord has forsaken us, and he has delivered us into the hand of Midian."
14. And the Lord looked down upon him, and he said: "Go forth with this, your strength, and you shall free Israel from the hand of Midian. Know that I have sent you."
15. And responding, he said: "I beg you, my lord, with what shall I free Israel? Behold, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in the house of my father."