Judges 6:11-16

English Standard Version

The Call of Gideon

¹¹Now 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. ¹²And ^(C)the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ^(D)“The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” ¹³And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are ^(E)all his wonderful deeds ^(F)that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴And the Lord^[a] turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; ^(G)do not I send you?” ¹⁵And he said to him, ^(H)“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, ^(I)my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” ¹⁶And the Lord said to him, ^(J)“But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

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Footnotes

Judges 6:14 Septuagint the angel of the Lord; also verse 16

Judges 6:36-40

English Standard Version

The Sign of the Fleece

³⁶^(A)Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, ³⁷behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” ³⁸And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. ³⁹Then Gideon said to God, ^(B)“Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” ⁴⁰And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.