Discovery BoxJudges 6:25-26 
Context6:25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take the bull from your father’s herd, as well as a second bull, one that is seven years old. 1 Pull down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole. 6:26 Then build an altar for the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold according to the proper pattern. 2 Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.”
Judges 6:31
Context6:31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, 3 “Must you fight Baal’s battles? 4 Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause 5 will die by morning! 6 If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! 7 After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” 8
1 tn Or “Take a bull from your father’s herd, the second one, the one seven years old.” Apparently Gideon would need the bulls to pull down the altar.
2 tn Possibly “in a row” or “in a layer,” perhaps referring to the arrangement of the stones used in the altar’s construction.
3 tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”
4 tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”
5 tn Heb “fights for him.”
6 sn Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning. This may be a warning to the crowd that Joash intends to defend his son and to kill anyone who tries to execute Gideon. Then again, it may be a sarcastic statement about Baal’s apparent inability to defend his own honor. Anyone who takes up Baal’s cause may end up dead, perhaps by the same hand that pulled down the pagan god’s altar.
7 tn Heb “fight for himself.”
8 tn Heb “for he pulled down his altar.” The subject of the verb, if not Gideon, is indefinite (in which case a passive translation is permissible).
