Judges 6:1-21 ▼

1 AND the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Midianites seven years.

2 And the hand of the Midianites prevailed against Israel, in that they fled from before the Midianites; and the children of Israel made for themselves dens in the mountains, and caves, and sheepfolds.

3 And whenever Israel had sown, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the Rakimites came up and encamped against them;

4 And they destroyed the produce of the whole land as far as the entrance of Gaza, and left no food for Israel to raise either oxen or sheep or asses.

5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came like locusts in multitude; for both they and their camels were without number; and they entered into the land to destroy it.

6 And Israel trembled exceedingly from before the Midianites;

7 And the children of Israel cried to the LORD because of the Midianites,

8 And the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel, and he said to them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all your oppressors, and destroyed them from before you and gave you their land;

10 And I said to you, I am the LORD your God; you shall not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but you have not obeyed my voice.

11 And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was at Ophrah, the town of Joash the father of Azri; and his son Gideon was beating out wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

12 And the angel of the LORD appeared and said to him, The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor.

13 And Gideon said to him, I beseech you, O my lord, if the LORD be with us, why then have all these misfortunes befallen us? And where are all his wonders of which our fathers have told us, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of the Midianites.

14 And the LORD turned to him, and said, Go with this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites; behold, I have sent you.

15 And he said to him, I beseech thee, O my LORD, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's family.

16 And the LORD said to him, I will be with you, and you shall smite the Midianites as one man.

17 And he said to him, If now I have found mercy in thy sight, then show me a sign that I may know that thou speakest with me.

18 Do not depart from here until I come to thee and bring out my meal and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until you come again.

19 So Gideon went in and prepared a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour; the meat 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.

20 And the angel of the LORD said to him, Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on the rock, and pour out the broth over it. And he did so.

21 Then the angel of the LORD .put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.