Judges 6:11-24 ▼

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.

22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O LORD God! for I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.

23 And the LORD said to him, Peace be unto you; fear not; you shall not die.

24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it Mariah-shalama; and to this day it still stands in Ophrah, the town of the father of Azri.