Judges 6:11-23

New American Standard Bible 1995

Gideon Is Visited

¹¹ Then ^(A)the angel of the Lord came and sat under the ^[a]oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the ^(B)Abiezrite as his son ^(C)Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. ¹² The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” ¹³ Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But ^(D)now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴ The Lord ^[b]looked at him and said, “^(E)Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” ^15 (F)He said to Him, “O Lord, ^[c]how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in ^(G)Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” ^16 (H)But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall ^[d]defeat Midian as one man.” ¹⁷ So ^[e]Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me ^(I)a sign that it is You who speak with me. ¹⁸ Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”

¹⁹ Then Gideon went in and ^(J)prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ^[f]ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket ^[g]and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the ^[h]oak and presented them. ²⁰ 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. ²¹ Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and ^(K)fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord ^[i]vanished from his sight. ^22 (L)When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, ^[j]he said, “Alas, O Lord ^[k]God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” ²³ The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.”