Judges 6:31 (DRB)

Passage

He answered them: Are you the avengers of Baal, that you fight for him? he that is his adversary, let him die before to morrow light appear: if he be a god, let him revenge himself on him that hath cast down his altar.

Nearby Context

Judges 6:29 And they said one to another: Who hath done this? And when they inquired for the author of the fact, it was said: Gedeon, the son of Joas, did all this.

Judges 6:30 And they said to Joas: Bring out thy son hither, that he may die: because he hath destroyed the altar of Baal, and hath cut down his grove.

Judges 6:31 He answered them: Are you the avengers of Baal, that you fight for him? he that is his adversary, let him die before to morrow light appear: if he be a god, let him revenge himself on him that hath cast down his altar.

Judges 6:32 From that day Gedeon was called Jerobaal, because Joas had said: Let Baal revenge himself on him that hath cast down his altar.

Judges 6:33 Now all Madian, and Amalec, and the eastern people, were gathered together, and passing over the Jordan, camped in the valley of Jezrael.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "light", "answered", "avengers", "baal", "fight", "adversary", "before", and "morrow". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "light" and "answered", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 30's "And they said to Joas Bring out..." into verse 32's "From that day Gedeon was called Jerobaal...", so "light" and "answered" belong inside that flow. In Judges context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "light" and "answered" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.