Judges 6:13 · Bible study
Judges 6:13 Commentary: Gideon's Lament
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Gideon's anguished question in Judges 6:13 captures the tension between God's promised presence and the reality of suffering.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Gideon’s lament exposes the tension between God’s covenant promise of presence and the harsh experience of suffering, opening a dialogue that God answers with a call.
- Key words: נְטָשׁ (“forsaken/cast off,” H5203) highlights the sense of abandonment; יֵשׁ (“there is,” H3426) in “Yahweh is with us” stresses existence and presence.
- Main debate: Whether Gideon’s question reflects genuine faith seeking understanding or doubt that must be corrected, most commentators see it as honest lament, not rebellion.
- Theological theme: Theodicy, how God’s people hold together covenant promises, past deliverance, present suffering, and future hope.
- Best use: A model for lament in corporate and personal prayer, and a reminder that God receives our hardest questions without rejection.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
WEB World English Bible 2000
Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Didn’t Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But now Yahweh has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
KJV King James Version 1769
And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And Gideon said unto him, Oh, my lord, if Jehovah is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt? but now Jehovah hath cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And Gideon saith unto him, `O, my lord--and Jehovah is with us! --and why hath all this found us? and where are all His wonders which our fathers recounted to us, saying, Hath not Jehovah brought us up out of Egypt? and now Jehovah hath left us, and doth give us into the hand of Midian.'
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And Gideon said to him, Ah my Lord, if Jehovah be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his miracles that our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt? And now Jehovah hath cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And Gedeon said to him: I beseech thee, my lord, if the Lord be with us, why have these evils fallen upon us? Where are his miracles, which our fathers have told us of, saying: The Lord brought us out of Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hand of Madian.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y Gedeón le respondió: Ah, Señor mío, si Jehová es con nosotros, ¿ por qué nos ha sobrevenido todo esto? ¿ Y dónde están todas sus maravillas, que nuestros padres nos han contado, diciendo: ¿ No nos sacó Jehová de Egipto? Y ahora Jehová nos ha desamparado, y nos ha entregado en mano de los Madianitas.
E Gideão lhe respondeu: Ah, Senhor meu, se o SENHOR é conosco, por que nos sobreveio tudo isto? E onde estão todas suas maravilhas, que nossos pais nos contaram, dizendo: Não nos tirou o SENHOR do Egito? E agora o SENHOR nos desamparou, e nos entregou nas mãos dos midianitas.
Gédéon lui dit: Ah! Mon seigneur, si l’ Éternel est avec nous, pourquoi toutes ces choses nous sont-elles arrivées? Et où sont tous ces prodiges que nos pères nous racontent, quand ils disent: L’ Éternel ne nous a-t-il pas fait monter hors d’ Égypte? Maintenant l’ Éternel nous abandonne, et il nous livre entre les mains de Madian!
Gideon aber sprach zu ihm: Mein Herr, ist der HERR mit uns, warum ist uns denn solches alles widerfahren? Und wo sind alle die Wunder, die uns unsre Väter erzählten und sprachen: Der HERR hat uns aus Ägypten geführt? Nun aber hat uns der HERR verlassen und unter der Midianiter Hände gegeben.
Maar Gideon zeide tot Hem: Och, mijn Heer! zo de HEERE met ons is, waarom is ons dan dit alles wedervaren? en waar zijn al Zijn wonderen, die onze vaders ons verteld hebben, zeggende: Heeft ons de HEERE niet uit Egypte opgevoerd? Doch nu heeft ons de HEERE verlaten, en heeft ons in der Midianieten hand gegeven.
E Gedeone gli rispose: “Ahimè, signor mio, se l’Eterno è con noi, perché ci è avvenuto tutto questo? e dove sono tutte quelle sue maraviglie che i nostri padri ci hanno narrate dicendo: L’Eterno non ci trasse egli dall’Egitto? Ma ora l’Eterno ci ha abbandonato e ci ha dato nelle mani di Madian”.
I odpowiedział mu Giedeon: Proszę Panie mój, jeźli Pan jest z nami, a czemuż na nas przyszło to wszystko? gdzież teraz są wszystkie cuda jego, które nam opowiadali ojcowie nasi, mówiąc: Izali z Egiptu nie wywiódł nas Pan? a teraz opuścił nas Pan, i podał nas w ręce Madyjanitów.
Гедеон сказал ему: господин мой! если Господь с нами, то отчего постигло нас все это [бедствие]? и где все чудеса Его, о которых рассказывали нам отцы наши, говоря: "из Египта вывел нас Господь"? Ныне оставил нас Господь и предал нас в руки Мадианитян.
基甸 說：「 主啊，耶和華 若與我們同在，我們何致 遭遇 這 一切事呢？我們的列祖 不是 向我們 說『耶和華 領我們 從埃及上來』嗎？他那樣 奇妙的作為 在哪裡呢？現在 他 卻丟棄我們，將我們交 在米甸人 手裡。」
Then Gideon said to him, O my lord, if the Lord is with us why has all this come on us? And where are all his works of power, of which our fathers have given us word, saying, Did not the Lord take us out of Egypt? But now he has given us up, handing us over to the power of Midian.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Judges 6:13
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that Gideon’s speech captures the raw collision between God’s promise and a people’s pain. Adam Clarke calls it “remarkable for its energy and simplicity,” showing a measure of despondency justified by the crisis. Barnes notes the “extreme bitterness” of national suffering breaking out in Gideon’s language, the angel’s greeting felt like mockery when God seemed absent. Gill observes that Gideon cannot reconcile the Lord’s being with them and the crushing Midianite oppression. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown says his words “betray want of reflection,” yet the consensus holds that this lament is not unbelief but the honest cry of a man taking God at His word while life contradicts it. The shared verdict: Gideon’s question is the opening of a dialogue, not its conclusion.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: Gideon's complaint is an honest expression of faith struggling to reconcile God's promised presence with present suffering.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of Gideon's question | Gideon is genuinely distressed and his question reflects the national crisis. | Some see his words as a lack of faith (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown: 'betrays want of reflection'), while others view them as the natural response of a faithful man in suffering (Clarke, Barnes). |
| The angel's greeting and Gideon's response | The greeting 'Yahweh is with you' is a statement of divine presence that Gideon cannot reconcile with his experience. | Some traditions emphasize that God's presence does not prevent hardship but accompanies through it; others stress that Israel's sin had broken covenant fellowship, making the greeting a call to repentance. |
| Application for today | This verse encourages honest prayer and lament as part of Christian faith. | Christians disagree on whether lament should lead to rebuke of doubt or to patient waiting; some see it as a model for protest, others as a step toward trust that must mature. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Judges 6 opens Israel’s seventh cycle of apostasy and oppression. For seven years the Midianites raided the land, destroying crops and livestock until the Israelites hid in caves and mountain strongholds (Judges 6:2, 6). Gideon is threshing wheat in a winepress, an enclosed pit, not an open threshing floor, because the Midianites seized grain in the open. This single image sums up the national humiliation: God’s people reduced to secret labour in a place meant for joy.
The angel’s greeting (“Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor!”) directly echoes the covenant language of Exodus 33:14, 16 and Numbers 14:14, where God’s presence defines Israel’s distinct identity. Gideon’s reply in v13 confronts that claim with the lived reality of Deuteronomy 29:24, the nations mock: “Why has Yahweh done this to this land?” He knows the old stories: the Exodus miracles handed down by the fathers (Psalm 44:1; 78:3). But those stories clash with the present silence. The verb “cast off” (נטש, natash) carries the full weight of abandonment (cf. Deuteronomy 30:17, 18). Gideon does not dispute the tradition; he suffers from its felt absence.
This is not abstract theology. The Midianite crisis had pushed Israel to the breaking point. Gideon’s complaint is the cry of a whole people, spoken in the presence of a messenger he does not yet fully recognize.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Judges 6:13. The Hebrew text is consistent across manuscripts. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges suggests that the phrase “his wondrous works … from Egypt” may have the appearance of a later insertion, but this is a literary observation, not a text-critical finding. The verse as transmitted is stable.
Reception History
In the Jewish tradition, Gideon’s complaint is read within the cycle of sin and deliverance, highlighting the covenant curses of Deuteronomy. Early Christian interpreters such as Augustine saw Gideon’s doubt as a foil for the angel’s patient correction, teaching that God meets us where we are. During the Reformation, commentators like Matthew Henry emphasized that God does not break the bruised reed, He answers Gideon’s question with a commission, not a rebuke. In modern pastoral care, this verse is frequently used to validate honest lament, showing that the biblical God invites rather than silences our hardest questions. The hymn tradition has often paired this scene with cries for revival, longing for God to act as He did in the Exodus.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The Pain of Unfulfilled Promises. Gideon takes the angel’s “Yahweh is with you” and presses it against experience. He doesn’t reject the promise, he feels its absence. The congregation learns that honest lament is not rebellion; it is the language of covenant relationship.
- Selective Memory and Its Danger. Gideon remembers the Exodus but forgets the warning in Deuteronomy 30:17, 18. He rehearses past deliverance without recalling the covenant conditions of obedience. Pastoral point: memory serves faith only when it tells the whole story.
- Presence Hidden, Not Absent. The angel who hears Gideon’s complaint is the very presence he doubts. The question leads to a commission. God does not rebuke the question; He answers with a call.
Five-point outline
- Scenario: God’s people in crisis (vv1, 6)
- Greeting that seems out of touch (v12)
- Gideon’s honest rebuttal (v13)
- God’s patient response: not a lecture but a mission (v14)
- The first step of faith: from lament to obedience
Illustration hooks
- A farmer whose crops have failed for three seasons hears a neighbor say “God is with you.” The words land as mockery unless the neighbor sits in the loss first.
- A parent praying for a sick child, reading promises of healing in Scripture, but the hospital room says otherwise. How do you hold both?
- An old photograph of a former blessing, the exodus generation, set beside today’s empty fields. The gap between memory and present can feel like abandonment.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why does God seem silent when I need Him most?
- Is it okay to question God like Gideon did?
- How do I know whether my suffering is discipline or just the brokenness of the world?
Leading a Discussion
Gideon’s question in Judges 6:13 is the same one many of us have asked: if God is with us, why is this happening? This passage invites the group to sit with honest doubt without rushing to a tidy answer. Notice that God does not scold Gideon, He redirects him.
Discussion questions
- Read Judges 6:11, 13 aloud. What details in the setting tell you how desperate the situation was?
- Gideon answers the angel’s greeting with a series of questions. What do his questions reveal about what he expected from God?
- Compare Gideon’s complaint with the covenant language in Deuteronomy 29:24 and 30:17, 18. Is Gideon forgetting something, or is his pain justified?
- How do you reconcile God’s promise of presence (Exodus 33:14) with real experiences of suffering and abandonment?
- Why do you think God does not directly answer Gideon’s question but instead gives him a mission (v14)?
- When have you felt like Gideon, unable to see God’s presence in a hard season? What helped you move forward?
- What would it look like for your group to create space for honest questions without rushing to fix them?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Genesis 25:22 | The children struggled together within her. She said, “If it is like this, why do I live?” She went to inquire of Yahweh. |
| Exodus 33:14 | He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” |
| Exodus 33:16 | For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?” |
| Numbers 14:14 | They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are among this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. |
| Numbers 14:15 | Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying, |
| Deuteronomy 29:24 | Even all the nations will say, “Why has Yahweh done this to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?” |
| Deuteronomy 30:17 | But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them, |
| Deuteronomy 30:18 | I declare to you today that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke highlights the energy and simplicity of Gideon's reply, noting that its tone of despondency arises naturally from the desperate situation. The despair is not excessive but fully warranted by the circumstances Gideon faces.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes highlights the jarring mismatch between the Angel’s encouraging words and the brutal reality of Midianite oppression. Gideon’s bitter reply shows that promises of God’s presence feel like mockery when national suffering makes it obvious that God has withdrawn.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator notes that the deliverance from Egypt and God's works in the wilderness became the foundational evidence of God's special relationship with Israel, passed down through oral tradition. But he observes that these particular words read like a later insertion into the psalm, not part of the original text.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
Gideon's question reveals how quickly human faith wavers when present suffering seems to contradict past promises. The Geneva Notes highlight that he measures God's presence by visible success rather than by God's word, forgetting that testing and deliverance often go together.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill emphasizes that Gideon's question is national, not personal: he cannot reconcile God's promised presence with Israel's suffering under Midian. The lack of Exodus-style miracles confirms for Gideon that God has withdrawn. Gill notes this despair was warranted, since Israel had indeed abandoned the Lord.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB argues that Gideon's complaint about Israel's suffering actually proves the opposite of what he thinks. The very hardships God allowed showed He was still present and concerned with His people. Gideon failed to see that divine discipline itself is evidence of a relationship.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange highlights that Gideon's request for a sign arises not from unbelief but from genuine humility and a sense of personal inadequacy. Unlike those who demand miracles to believe in God, Gideon already believes in miracles; he asks for assurance that he himself is the chosen instrument. His modesty, not doubt, qualifies him to deliver Israel.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry observes that the angel calls Gideon a mighty man of valour while he is threshing wheat in a winepress to hide from the enemy, showing that God addresses Gideon not by his present fear but by the strength He intends to give him. Gideon's complaint about God's absence is answered with a direct commission: the Lord's presence itself is the only strength he needs.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley rejects Matthew Henry's claim that the goodness of God's promised land will intensify the punishment of those who perish. He argues that this reasoning fails under predestination: if some are not elected, they never had a genuine offer, and if all the elect are saved, the grant was never free to the others.