Judges 6:11–23

Yahweh Sends Gideon to Save Israel

¹¹Then ^athe angel of Yahweh came and sat under the ¹oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the ^bAbiezrite as his son ^cGideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to ²preserve it from the Midianites.

¹²And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said to him, “Yahweh is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

¹³Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His wondrous deeds which our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But ^anow Yahweh has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁴Then Yahweh turned to him and said, “^aGo in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?”

^15aBut he said to Him, “O Lord, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the least in ^bManasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

^16aBut Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike down Midian as one man.”

¹⁷So ¹Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your eyes, then do ^aa sign for me that it is You who speak with me.

¹⁸“Please do not depart from here until I come back to You, and I bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”

¹⁹So Gideon went in and ^aprepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ¹ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket ²and the broth in a pot and brought them out to him under the ³oak and presented them.

²⁰And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth.” And he did so.

²¹Then the angel of Yahweh put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and ^afire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of Yahweh went away from before his eyes.

^22aAnd Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh, so ¹he said, “Alas, O Lord Yahweh! For now I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face.”

²³And Yahweh said to him, “Peace to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”