Yahweh Sends Gideon to Save Israel

¹¹ Then ^(A)the angel of Yahweh 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 ^[b]preserve it from the Midianites. ¹² And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said to him, “Yahweh is with you, O mighty man of valor.” ¹³ Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His wondrous deeds which our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But ^(D)now Yahweh has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴ Then Yahweh turned to 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, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the least in ^(G)Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” ^16 (H)But Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike down Midian as one man.” ¹⁷ So ^[c]Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your eyes, then do ^(I)a sign for me that it is You who speak with me. ¹⁸ Please do not depart from here until I come back to You, and I bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”

¹⁹ So Gideon went in and ^(J)prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ^[d]ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket ^[e]and the broth in a pot and brought them out to him under the ^[f]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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh went away from before his eyes. ^22 (L)And Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh, so ^[g]he said, “Alas, O Lord Yahweh! For now I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face.” ²³ And Yahweh said to him, “Peace to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴ So Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh and named it ^[h]Yahweh is Peace. To this day it is still ^(M)in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.