The Call of Gideon

¹¹ Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash ^(A)the Abiezrite, while his son ^(B)Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

² And allotments were made ^(A)to the rest of the people of Manasseh by their clans, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These were the male descendants of Manasseh the son of Joseph, by their clans.

³² And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of ^(A)Gideon, ^(B)Barak, ^(C)Samson, ^(D)Jephthah, of ^(E)David and ^(F)Samuel and the prophets—

^3 (A)And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.

² And he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not ^(A)the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?

¹⁸ And the angel of the Lord said to him, ^(A)“Why do you ask my name, seeing ^(B)it is wonderful?” ¹⁹ So ^(C)Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works^[a] wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. ²⁰ And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, ^(D)and they fell on their faces to the ground.

¹⁴ And the Lord^[a] turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; ^(A)do not I send you?” ¹⁵ And he said to him, ^(B)“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, ^(C)my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” ¹⁶ And the Lord said to him, ^(D)“But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

Israel's Disobedience

2 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to ^(A)Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ^(B)‘I will never break my covenant with you, ^2 (C)and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ^(D)you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? ³ So now I say, ^(E)I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become ^(F)thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” ⁴ As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵ And they called the name of that place Bochim.^[a] And they sacrificed there to the Lord.