Wikipedia's first sentence called it “character who appears in the bible 's book of judges”. Today it says “israelite shopeṭ”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
His story is treated in the chapters 6-8.1He is named in the Epistle to the Hebrews as an example of a man of faith.2Gideon demanded proof of God 's promise that he would be the saviour of Israel , which was given (Judges 6, 36-40): And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. After sacrificing to God, building an altar to him, and destroying an altar of Baal and an ashera pole beside it, he sent out messengers to gather together the tribes in order to meet an armed force of the people of Midian and the Amalekites that had crossed the Jordan River and were encamped in the Valley of Jezreel . He chose the soldiers who were not afraid and trembling. Of 32,000 men, only 10,000 were left. Then he told them to go down to the water and drink. And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. They fought against the Midianite army, consisting of 135,000 men. The stillness of the night, when the Midianites were sleeping, was broken by the blowing of 300 horns, the smashing of 300 jars, the resounding of 300 cries and the light from 300 torches. This confused the army, and the Midianites began to flee. Then men from Ephraim , Naphtali , Asher and Manasseh chased the army. At last the Israelites slew and subdued the Midianites. Gideon killed the Midianite kings Zebah and Zalmunnah, who were responsible for the death of his brothers. Gideon is the son of Joash, an Abi-ezrite of the tribe of Manasseh. Manasseh, son of Joseph with the Midianite Zipporah, was the forefather of this tribe. Gideon, therefore, is half-Midianite himself. He was offered to be the king of Israel, of which he declined. His son Abimelech succeeded him for a very short period of time as the king of Israel.3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 15965885.
The opening as it stood in 2010 24 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
His story is recorded in the Book of Judges and this account is compiled in the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament .His story is told in chapters 6 to 8 . He is also named in the Epistle to the Hebrews as an example of a man of faith.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 364115658.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
His story is recorded in chapters 6 to 8 of the Book of Judges .He is also named in chapter 11 of the Epistle to the Hebrews as an example of a man of faith.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 665069450.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Character in the biblical Book of Judges For other uses, see Gideon (disambiguation) .Phrases/events Angel of the Lord Astaroth Atargatis Baalim Battle of Gibeah Battle of Mount Tabor Belial Chemosh Concubine Ephod Eshmun Children of Israel Judge List of surviving and destroyed Canaanite cities Micah's Idol Nazirite Salting the earth Shibboleth Song of Deborah Sling Spirit of the YHWH Teraphim Textual analysis Textual variants Deuteronomist Sources Hebrew Bible • Septuagint • Wycliffe Bible • King James Version • American Standard Version • World English Version Gideon ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ d i ə n / ) or Gedeon , also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth , was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites are recounted in chapters 6 to 8 of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible .Gideon was the son of Joash , from the Abiezrite clan in the tribe of Manasseh and lived in Ephra (Ophrah) .As a leader of the Israelites , he won a decisive victory over a Midianite army despite a vast numerical disadvantage, leading a troop of 300 'valiant' men.There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political, and Religious History, the Archaeology, Geography, and Natural History of the Bible .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964979550.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Character in the biblical Book of Judges For other uses, see Gideon (disambiguation) . Gideon ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ d i ə n / ; Hebrew : גִּדְעוֹן , Modern : Gīdʿōn , Tiberian : Gīḏəʿōn ) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth , was a military leader , judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites are recounted in Judges 6–8 of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible . Gideon was the son of Joash , from the Abiezrite clan in the tribe of Manasseh and lived in Ephra (Ophrah) . As a leader of the Israelites , he won a decisive victory over a Midianite army despite a vast numerical disadvantage, leading a troop of 300 "valiant" men. Archaeologists in southern Israel have found a 3,100-year-old fragment of a jug with five letters written in ink that appear to represent the name Jerubbaal, or Yeruba'al. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1172448939.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Character in the biblical Book of Judges "Gideon (Bible)" redirects here. Gideon ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ d i ə n / ; Hebrew : גִּדְעוֹן , Modern : Gīdʿōn , Tiberian : Gīḏəʿōn ) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth , was a military leader , judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites is recounted in Judges 6–8 of the Book of Judges in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible . Gideon was the son of Joash , from the Abiezrite clan in the tribe of Manasseh and lived in Ephra (Ophrah) . As a leader of the Israelites , he won a decisive victory over a Midianite army despite a vast numerical disadvantage, leading a troop of 300 men. Archaeologists in southern Israel have found a 3,100-year-old fragment of a jug with five letters written in ink that appear to represent the name Jerubbaal, or Yeruba'al. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1295116462. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “character who appears in the bible 's book of judges”. Today it says “israelite shopeṭ”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
character who appears in the bible 's book of judges
Now
israelite shopeṭ
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
