6. Israel became very poor because of the Midianites. So the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.
7. The Israelites cried out to the Lord for help against the Midianites.
8. So the Lord sent a prophet to them. The prophet said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you out of Egypt, the land of slavery.
9. I saved you from the people of Egypt. And I saved you from all the people of Canaan. I forced them out of their land. And I gave it to you.
10. Then I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. You will live in the land of the Amorites, but you must not worship their gods.’ But you did not obey me.”
11. The angel of the Lord came and sat down under an oak tree at Ophrah. The oak tree belonged to Joash, who was one of the Abiezrite people. Joash was the father of Gideon. Gideon was separating some wheat from the chaff in a winepress. Gideon did this to keep the wheat from the Midianites.