Gideon

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

² And there was a lot for ^(A)the rest of the children of Manasseh according to their families: ^(B)for the children of ^[a]Abiezer, the children of Helek, ^(C)the children of Asriel, the children of Shechem, ^(D)the children of Hepher, and the children of Shemida; these were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families.

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

³ And the ^(A)Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.

² So he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the ^[a]gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than ^[b]the vintage of ^(A)Abiezer?

¹⁸ And the Angel of the Lord said to him, ^(A)“Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?”

¹⁹ So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, ^(B)and offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on— ²⁰ it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they ^(C)fell on their faces to the ground.

¹⁴ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ^(A)“Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. ^(B)Have I not sent you?”

¹⁵ So he said to Him, “O ^[a]my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed ^(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)“Surely I will be with you, and you shall ^[b]defeat the Midianites as one man.”

Israel’s Disobedience

2 Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: ^(A)“I led you up from Egypt and ^(B)brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and ^(C)I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. ² And ^(D)you shall make no ^[a]covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ^(E)you shall tear down their altars.’ ^(F)But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? ³ Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be ^(G)thorns^[b] in your side, and ^(H)their gods shall ^[c]be a ^(I)snare to you.’ ” ⁴ So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.

⁵ Then they called the name of that place ^[d]Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the Lord.