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Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,
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and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.
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So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.
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Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.
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For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.
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So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.
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And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites,
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that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: 'I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage;