I will be with you, says the Lord

11Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

12And the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

13“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

14The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

15“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

16“Surely I will be with you,” the LORD replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.”

17Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me.

18Please do not depart from this place until I return to You. Let me bring my offering and set it before You.”