First ReadingJudges 6:11-24a
From the Book of Judges
11The Lord’s angel cameand sat under the oak which was in Ophrah,that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite.His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press,to hide it from the Midianites.12The Lord’s angel appeared to him,and said to him, “The Lord is with you,you mighty man of valor!”
13Gideon 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 workswhich 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.”
14The Lord looked at him,and said, “Go in this your might,and save Israel from the hand of Midian.Haven’t I sent you?”
15He said to him, “O Lord, how shall I save Israel?Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh,and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16The Lord said to him,“Surely I will be with you,and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
17He 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.18Please don’t 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.”
19Gideon went in and prepared a young goatand unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal.He put the meat in a basket and he put the broth in a pot,and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.
20The angel of God said to him,“Take the meat and the unleavened cakes,and lay them on this rock,and pour out the broth.”
He did so.21Then the Lord’s angel stretched out the end of the staffthat was in his hand,and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes;and fire went up out of the rockand consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes.Then the Lord’s angel departed out of his sight.
22Gideon saw that he was the Lord’s angel;and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord GOD!Because I have seen the Lord’s angel face to face!”
23The Lord said to him, “Peace be to you!Don’t be afraid.You shall not die.”
24Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord,and called it “The Lord is Peace.”To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.