Judges 6:1-22 ▼

1 Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; and Yahweh gave them into the hands of Midian seven years.

2 And the power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.

3 And it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would go up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go up against them.

4 So they would camp against them and ruin the produce of the earth as far as Gaza and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey.

5 For they would go up with their livestock and their tents; they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to make it a ruin.

6 So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh.

7 Now it happened when the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh on account of Midian,

8 that Yahweh sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery.

9 I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors and drove them out before you and gave you their land,

10 and I said to you, “I am Yahweh your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not listened to My voice.”’”

11 Then the angel of Yahweh came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to 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 now Yahweh has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14 Then Yahweh turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?”

15 But he said to Him, “O Lord, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

16 But Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike down Midian as one man.”

17 So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your eyes, then do 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 prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to him under the 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 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 And Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh, so he said, “Alas, O Lord Yahweh! For now I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face.”