{
 "id": "john-newton/gideons-fleece",
 "title": "Gideon’s Fleece",
 "ordinal": "23",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 23,
 "container": "Book I On Select Texts of Scripture",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1779,
  "venue": "Olney Hymns (1779)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_olney-hymns-in-three-bo_newton-john_1779",
   "https://cowperandnewtonmuseum.org.uk/bulletin/computerised-index-to-the-olney-hymns/",
   "https://archive.org/details/olneyhymnsinthre00cowpuoft"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-newton_william-cowper_olney-hymns",
  "file": "book-1.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Olney_Hymns_%281840%29",
   "https://archive.org/details/olneyhymnsinthre00cowpuoft"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-15"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 32,
  "n_stanzas": 8,
  "n_parts": 8,
  "longest_line_chars": 42,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [
  {
   "ordinal": "I",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    0,
    1
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "II",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    1,
    2
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "III",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    2,
    3
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "IV",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    3,
    4
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "V",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    4,
    5
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VI",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    5,
    6
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VII",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    6,
    7
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VIII",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    7,
    8
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "The signs which God to Gideon gave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His holy sovereignty made known,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That he alone has power to save,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And claims the glory as his own.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The dew which first the fleece had fill’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When all the earth was dry around,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was from it afterwards withheld,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And only fell upon the ground.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To Isr’el thus the heav’nly dew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of saving truth was long restrain’d;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of which the Gentiles nothing knew,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But dry and desolate remained.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But now the Gentiles have received",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The balmy dew of gospel peace;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Isr’el, who his Spirit grieved,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is left a dry and empty fleece.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "This dew still falls at his command,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To keep his chosen plants alive;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They shall, though in a thirsty land,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like willows by the waters thrive.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But chiefly when his people meet,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To hear his word and seek his face,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The gentle dew, with influence sweet,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Descends and nourishes their grace.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But ah! what numbers still are dead,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though under means of grace they lie⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The dew still falling round their head,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And yet their heart untouch’d and dry.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Dear Saviour, hear us when we call;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To wrestling prayer an answer give;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pour down thy dew upon us all,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That all may feel and all may live.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}