Gideon is Visited by the Angel of the Lord

¹¹ After this, the angel of the Lord arrived and sat down in the shade of^[a] the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash, a descendant of Abiezer, while his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press in order to safeguard it^[b] from the Midianites. ¹² The angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him, “The Lord is with you, you valiant warrior!”

¹³ But Gideon replied, “Right… Sir, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? And where are all of his miraculous works that our ancestors recounted to us when they said, ‘The Lord brought us up from Egypt, didn’t he?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us over to Midian!”

¹⁴ The Lord looked straight at him and replied, “Go with this determination^[c] of yours and deliver Israel from Midian’s domination. I’ve directed^[d] you, haven’t I?”

¹⁵ “Right…,” Gideon^[e] responded. “Sir, how will I deliver Israel? Look—my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I’m the youngest in my father’s household.”

¹⁶ The Lord told him, “Because I’ll be with you, and you’ll defeat Midian—every single one of them!”

¹⁷ So Gideon asked him, “Please, if I have received favor from you, then do a miracle for me that shows that you’re making this^[f] promise to me. ¹⁸ And please don’t leave here until I’ve come back to you, brought my offering, and set it down in front of you.”

The Lord^[g] replied, “I’ll stay until you return.”

¹⁹ Then Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and poured the broth into a pot, and brought them to the angel^[h] right under the oak tree. Then he made his offering. ²⁰ The angel, who was God,^[i] replied, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this boulder. Then pour out the broth.” So he did that. ²¹ The angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and unleavened bread. Fire broke out from inside the boulder, consuming the meat and unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished in front of him.^[j]

God Reassures Gideon

²² When Gideon realized that he had seen the angel of the Lord himself, he cried out, “Oh no! Lord God! I’ve been looking right at the angel of the Lord—and face-to-face at that!”

²³ “Calm down!^[k] Don’t be afraid.” the Lord replied. “You’re not going to die!” ²⁴ So Gideon built an altar right there to the Lord and called it “The Lord is peace.” (To this very day it still stands in Ophrah, which belongs to the descendants of Abiezer.)