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Rh thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian; have not I sent thee?' And he said unto him: 'Oh, my lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.' And the said unto him: 'Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.' And he said unto him: 'If now I have found favour in thy sight, then show me a sign that it is thou that talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and lay it before thee.' And he said: 'I will tarry until thou come back.' And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal; the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the terebinth, and presented it. 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. Then the angel of the put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the  departed out of his sight. And Gideon saw that he was the angel of the ; and Gideon said: 'Alas, O Lord ! forasmuch as I have seen the angel of the face to face.' And the  said unto him: 'Peace be unto thee; fear not; thou shalt not die.' Then Gideon built an altar there unto the, and called it 'Adonai-shalom'; unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

And it came to pass the same night, that the said unto him: 'Take thy father's bullock, and the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah that is by it; and build an altar unto the  thy God upon the top of this stronghold, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah which thou shalt cut down.' Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the  had spoken unto him; and it came to pass, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. And they said one to another: 'Who hath done this thing?' And when they inquired and asked, they said: 'Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.' Then the men of the city said unto Joash: 'Bring out thy son, that he may die; because he hath broken down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the Asherah that was by it.' And Joash said unto all that stood against him: 'Will ye contend for Baal? or will ye save him? he that will contend for him, shall be put to death before morning; if he be a god, let him contend for himself, because one hath broken down his altar.' Therefore on that day he was called Jerubbaal, saying: 'Let Baal contend against him, because he hath broken down his altar.'

Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. But the spirit