士师记 6:25

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

基甸毀巴力祭壇當夜，耶和華對基甸說：“取你父親的牛和另一頭七歲大的牛來，拆毀你父親的巴力祭壇，砍下壇旁的亞舍拉。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
当 那 夜 ， 耶 和 华 吩 咐 基 甸 说 ： 你 取 你 父 亲 的 牛 来 ， 就 是 （ 或 译 ： 和 ） 那 七 岁 的 第 二 只 牛 ， 并 拆 毁 你 父 亲 为 巴 力 所 筑 的 坛 ， 砍 下 坛 旁 的 木 偶 ，

Contextual Overview

²⁵ That same night the Lord said to Gideon, "Take the bull that belongs to your father and a second bull seven years old. Pull down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah idol beside it. ²⁶ Then build an altar to the Lord your God with its stones in the right order on this high ground. Kill and burn a second bull on this altar, using the wood from the Asherah idol." ²⁷ So Gideon got ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him to do. But Gideon was afraid that his family and the men of the city might see him, so he did it at night, not in the daytime. ²⁸ When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw that the altar for Baal had been destroyed and that the Asherah idol beside it had been cut down! They also saw the altar Gideon had built and the second bull that had been sacrificed on it. ²⁹ The men of the city asked each other, "Who did this?" After they asked many questions, someone told them, "Gideon son of Joash did this." ³⁰ So they said to Joash, "Bring your son out. He has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah idol beside it. He must die!" ³¹ But Joash said to the angry crowd around him, "Are you going to take Baal's side? Are you going to defend him? Anyone who takes Baal's side will be killed by morning! If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself. It's his altar that has been pulled down." ³² So on that day Gideon got the name Jerub-Baal, which means "let Baal fight against him," because Gideon pulled down Baal's altar.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Take thy father's: Genesis 35:2, Job 22:23, Psalms 101:2

even: or, and, throw, 1 Kings 18:21, Matthew 6:24, 2 Corinthians 6:15-17

thy father: Matthew 10:37, Acts 4:19, Acts 5:29

cut down: Judges 3:7, Exodus 34:13, Deuteronomy 7:5

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 18:4 - brake 2 Chronicles 14:3 - cut down

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it came to pass the same night,.... The night which followed the day in which the angel appeared to Gideon as he was threshing:

that the Lord said unto him; perhaps in a dream, since it was in the night: take thy father's young bullock: or "the bullock, the ox" p; a bullock which was a large grown ox, and was not only his father's property, but what his father designed and set apart for the service of Baal; and though it was his father's, yet having a divine warrant for it, it was sufficient for him to take it without his leave, and especially as it was designed for such an ill use:

even the second bullock of seven years old; which, according to Hesiod q is in its prime and full strength at nine years old, and lives much longer. In Homer r, one of five years old is said to be sacrificed: this further describes what he was to take, the second that stood in the stall of the bullocks, or that drew in the second row at plough, or the second in age and value, or the second that was set apart for the service of Baal; though the words may be rendered, "and the second bullock" s; besides that of his father's, he was to take another, which perhaps belonged to the people, and was the second in birth or age with respect to the former, being seven years old; or, as the Targum is, that had been fatted seven years, and had been so long preparing for the sacrifice of Baal; which was as long as the tyranny of the Midianites over them, and was occasioned by the idolatry of the people of Israel; and such a bullock was ordered to be taken with respect to that, and to show that it would end with the sacrifice of this creature:

and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath; upon his ground, in some part of his possessions, and perhaps built at his own expense, though for public use:

and cut down the grove that is by it; or "about it", as the Vulgate Latin version; it being usual with the Heathens to plant groves near or around their altars and temples where religious worship was performed; partly to make them more pleasant and venerable, and partly for the commission of deeds which would not bear the light; or "over it", for they were commonly tall trees which grew over the altar they erected. Some render it, "upon it" t, and understand by it an idol placed on it: so the Arabic version is,

"cut down the female idol Asira (perhaps the same with Astarte), which is upon the same altar;''

and so the Syriac version to the same purpose, which calls it the idol Estere, set upon the altar.

p פר חשור "juvencum bovem", Drusius; "juvencum adultiorem", Junius Tremellius. q Opera & dies, l. 2. ver. 54. 55. r Iliad. 2. ver. 403. & Iliad. 7. ver. 35. s ופר "et juvencum alium", Tigurine version "et alterum taurum", V. L. "et juvencum secundum", Pagninus, Montanus. t עליו επ' αντο, Sept. "super illud", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Even - Rather, as in the margin, and. Two bullocks are spoken of. The labor of both would be required for pulling down and removing the altar of Baal, and for bringing the materials for building the altar of Yahweh.

The grove by it - Rather, “the idol upon it,” the Asherah, the wooden image of Astarte Judges 3:7.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 25. Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock — There is some difficulty in this verse, for, according to the Hebrew text, two bullocks are mentioned here; but there is only one mentioned in Judges 6:26; Judges 6:28. But what was this second bullock? Some think that it was a bullock that was fattened in order to be offered in sacrifice to Baal. This is very probable, as the second bullock is so particularly distinguished from another which belonged to Gideon's father. As the altar was built upon the ground of Joash, yet appears to have been public property, (see Judges 6:29-30), so this second ox was probably reared and fattened at the expense of the men of that village, else why should they so particularly resent its being offered to Jehovah?