1. The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, who therefore delivered them into the power of Midian for seven years,
2. so that Midian held Israel subject. From fear of Midian the Israelites made dens in the mountains, the caves, and the strongholds.
3. For it used to be that whenever the Israelites had completed sowing their crops, Midian, Amalek, and the Kedemites would come up,
4. encamp against them, and lay waste the produce of the land as far as the outskirts of Gaza, leaving no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep, ox, or donkey.
5. For they would come up with their livestock, and their tents would appear as thick as locusts. They would be too many to count when they came into the land to lay it waste.