Judges 6:11-24

Modern English Version

¹¹ Now the angel^[a] of the Lord came and sat under the oak tree in Ophrah belonging to Joash the Abiezrite. Gideon his son was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² The angel of the Lord appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

¹³ Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all this happened to us? Where are all His miracles that our fathers told us about? They said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt?’ Yet now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours. Save Israel from the control of Midian. Have I not sent you?”

¹⁵ And he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you will strike the Midianites as one man.”

¹⁷ And he said to Him, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You who are speaking with me. ¹⁸ Please do not depart from here until I come to You and bring out my gift and set it before You.”

And He said, “I will stay until you return.”

¹⁹ So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought them out and offered them to Him under the oak.

²⁰ And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And so he did. ²¹ The angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in His hand and touched the meat and unleavened flatbread. Fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord departed from his sight. ²² Then Gideon perceived that it was indeed the angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.”

²³ Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid. You will not die.”

²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar for the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. Even to this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.