Judges 6:12-22

12 an angel of the Lord appeared to him (the angel of the Lord appeared to him), and said, The Lord be with thee, thou strongest of men.

13 And Gideon said to him, My lord, I beseech, if the Lord is with us, why then have all these evils taken us? Where be the marvels of him, which our fathers told, and said, The Lord hath led us out of Egypt? For now he hath forsaken us, and hath betaken us into the hand of Midian. (And Gideon said to him, My lord, I beseech thee, if the Lord is with us, then why have all these evils overtaken us? Where be his miracles, which our fathers told us about? Yea, they said, The Lord led us out of Egypt. But now, he hath deserted us, and hath delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.)

14 And the Lord beheld to him, and said, Go thou in this strength of thee, and thou shalt deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; (and) know thou, that I have sent thee.

15 And Gideon answered (to the angel), and said, My lord, I beseech, in what thing shall I deliver Israel? (My lord, I beseech thee, how can I save Israel?) Lo! my family is the lowest in Manasseh, and I am the least in the house of my father.

16 And the Lord said to him, I shall be with thee, and thou shalt smite Midian as one man. (And the Lord said to him, I shall be with thee, and thou shalt strike down all of the Midianites like one man.)

17 And Gideon said, If I have found grace before thee, give to me a sign, that thou, that speakest to me, art sent of God's part; (And Gideon said to the angel, If I have found grace before thee, give me a sign, that thou, who speakest to me, art sent from God;)

18 go thou not away from hence, till I turn again to thee, and bring (a) sacrifice, and offer (it) to thee. Which answered, I shall abide thy coming (And he answered, I shall wait for thee).

19 And so Gideon went in, and seethed a kid, and took therf loaves of a bushel of meal, and (he put) the flesh in a pannier; and he put the broth of the flesh in a pot, and he bare all these things (to) under the oak, and offered those to him.

20 To whom the angel of the Lord said, Take thou the flesh, and the therf loaves, and put them on that stone, and pour the broth above. And when he had done so, (To whom the angel of the Lord said, Take thou the flesh, and the unleavened bread, and put them on that stone, and pour the broth upon it. And when he had done so,)

21 the angel of the Lord held forth the end of the staff, which he held in the hand (which he held in his hand), and he touched the fleshes, and the therf loaves; and fire ascended from the stone, and wasted the fleshes, and [the] therf loaves. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his eyes.

22 And Gideon saw that he was an angel of the Lord, and he said, Lord God, alas to me, for I saw the angel of the Lord face to face. (And Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, and he said, Lord God, alas for me, for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.)

Judges 6:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 6

In this chapter we have an account of the distressed condition Israel was in through the Midianites, Jud 6:1-6, of a prophet being sent unto them to reprieve them for their sins, Jud 6:7-10 of an angel appearing to Gideon, with an order to him to go and save Israel out of the hands of the Midianites, Jud 6:11-16 and of a sign given him by the angel, whereby he knew this order was of God, Jud 6:17-24, and of the reformation from idolatry in his father's family he made upon this, throwing down the altar of Baal, and building one for the Lord, Jud 6:25-32, and of the preparation he made to fight the Midianites and others, Jud 6:33-35, but first desired a sign of the Lord, that Israel would be saved by his hand, which was granted and repeated, Jud 6:36-40.