Judges 6:25–32

²⁵That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.^b Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole^cx beside it. ²⁶Then build a proper kind of^d altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second^e bull as a burnt offering.^y”

²⁷So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

²⁸In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar,^z demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

²⁹They asked each other, “Who did this?”

When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash^a did it.”

³⁰The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar^b and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

³¹But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause?^c Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” ³²So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal^fd that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”