Judges 6:11-34

New American Standard Bible

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 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, 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 the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But ^(D)now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” ¹⁴ And the Lord ^[b]looked at him and said, “^(E)Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” ^15 (F)But he said to Him, “O Lord, ^[c]how am I to save Israel? Behold, my family is the least in ^(G)Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” ^16 (H)Yet the Lord said to him, “I will certainly be with you, and you will ^[d]defeat Midian as one man.” ¹⁷ So ^[e]Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then perform for me ^(I)a sign that it is You speaking 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 And 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 came 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 perceived that he was the angel of the Lord, ^[j]he said, “Oh, Lord ^[k]God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” ²³ But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not be afraid; you shall not die.” ²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it ^[l]The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still ^(M)in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵ Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull ^[m]and a second bull seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the ^[n](N)Asherah that is beside it; ²⁶ and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly way, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” ²⁷ Then Gideon took ten men from his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.

The Altar of Baal Destroyed

²⁸ When the people of the city got up early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal had been torn down, and the Asherah which had been beside it had been cut down, and the second bull had been offered on the altar which had been built. ²⁹ So they said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” ³⁰ Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” ³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you save him? Whoever will contend for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, since someone has torn down his altar!” ³² Therefore on that day he named ^[o]Gideon ^(O)Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar.

³³ Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the ^[p]people of the east assembled together; and they crossed over and camped in ^(P)the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ So ^(Q)the Spirit of the Lord ^[q]covered Gideon like clothing; and he ^(R)blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him.