4. and encamp against them and destroy the fruits of the earth as far as Gaza, and they would leave nothing to eat in Israel neither sheep nor ox nor ass.
5. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents in a great multitude like locusts, for there was no number in them nor in their camels, and they would enter into the land destroying it.
6. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the sons of Israel cried unto the Lord.
7. And when the sons of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites,
8. the Lord sent a prophet unto the sons of Israel who said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the house of slavery;
9. I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all that oppressed you and drove them out from before you and gave you their land;
10. and I said unto you, I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell, but ye have not heard my voice.
11. And the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah that pertained unto Joash, the Abiezrite, and his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
12. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
13. And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this befallen us? And where are all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
14. And the Lord looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Do I not send thee?
15. Then he replied unto him, Oh my Lord, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.
16. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
17. And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou hast spoken with me.
18. Do not depart from here, I pray thee, until I come unto thee and bring forth my present and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.
19. And Gideon went in and made ready a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour; the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot and brought it out unto him under the oak and presented it.
20. And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon this rock and pour out the broth. 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 flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.