Judges 6:1-21 ▼

1 And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made for themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.

3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that Midian, Amalek, and the Kedemites would come up against them.

4 And they camped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, as far as Gaza, and they left no sustenance in Israel, as well as sheep, or ox, or donkey.

5 For they came up with their livestock and their tents and their camels. They would come in like locusts in number, and they were innumerable. And they came into the land to ravage it.

6 Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to the LORD.

7 It happened, when the children of Israel cried to the LORD because of Midian,

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

9 and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land;

10 and I said to you, |I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.| But you have not listened to my voice.'|

11 The angel of the LORD came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

12 The angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, |The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.|

13 Gideon said to him, |Oh, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, 'Didn't the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.|

14 The LORD looked at him, and said, |Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Look, haven't I sent you?|

15 He said to him, |O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Look, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.|

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

17 He said to him, |If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.

18 Please do not go away, until I come to you, and bring out my present, and lay it before you.| He said, |I will wait until you come back.|

19 Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: 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 The angel of God said to him, |Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.| 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 flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.