Judges 6:1–7

Midianites Oppress Israel

6Then the children of Israel did ^aevil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of ^bMidian for seven years, ²and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, ^cthe caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. ³So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the ^dpeople of the East would come up against them. ⁴Then they would encamp against them and ^edestroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor ^fdonkey. ⁵For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were ¹without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. ⁶So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel ^gcried out to the Lord.

⁷And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites,