11And there came an Angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash, the Abi-ezrite: and his son, Gideon, threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. 12And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor”. 13And Gideon said to Him, “Oh my Lord, if the LORD is with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, “Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?” But now the LORD has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites”. 14And the LORD looked upon him, and said, “Go in this your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: Have I not sent you?” 15And he said to Him, “Oh my Lord, How can I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house”. 16And the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall smite the Midianites as one man.” 17And he said to Him, “If now I have found grace in Thy sight, then show me a sign that You talk with me. 18Depart not hence, I pray You, until I come unto You, and bring forth my present, and set it before You.” And He said, “I will wait until you come back.”

19And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour. The flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to Him under the oak, and presented it. 20And the Angel of God said to him, “Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth”. And he did so. 21Then the Angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and fire rose out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight. 22And when Gideon perceived that He was an Angel of the LORD, Gideon said, “Alas, O LORD God! For I have seen an Angel of the LORD face to face”. 23And the LORD said to him, “Peace be unto you; fear not: you shall not die”. 24Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it “Jehovah-shalom”: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.

25And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said to him, “Take your father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the grove that is by it; 26And build an altar unto the LORD your God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which you shall cut down”. 27Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said to him: and so it was, because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. 28And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. 29And they said one to another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they enquired and asked, they said, “Gideon, the son of Joash, has done this thing”. 30Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die; because he has cast down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the grove that was by it”. 31And Joash said to all that stood against him, “Will you plead for Baal? Will you save him? He who will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning. If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because one has cast down his altar”. 32Therefore on that day he called him “Jerubbaal”, saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has thrown down his altar”.

33Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel. 34But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him. 35And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also were gathered after him; and he sent messengers to Asher, to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them. 36And Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said, 37Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew is on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside it, then shall I know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said”. 38And it was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and thrust the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39And Gideon said to God, “Let not Your anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me make a trial, I pray You, but this once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew”. 40And God did so that night; for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.