Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.
The angel of the LORD came and sat down where Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. He said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”
The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
“But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”
Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
And the LORD said, “I will wait until you return.” Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!”
But the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands.
H E B R E W S
CHAPTER 11 GIDEON…who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
New International Version ©1984, Abrdgd, EMPHASES Added
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