Judges 6:16

6:16 The Lord said to him, “Ah, but 1  I will be with you! You will strike down the whole Midianite army.” 2 

Judges 6:21-24

6:21 The Lord’s messenger touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of his staff. 3  Fire flared up from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened bread. The Lord’s messenger then disappeared. 4 

6:22 When Gideon realized 5  that it was the Lord’s messenger, he 6  said, “Oh no! 7  Master, Lord! 8  I have seen the Lord’s messenger face to face!” 6:23 The Lord said to him, “You are safe! 9  Do not be afraid! You are not going to die!” 6:24 Gideon built an altar for the Lord there, and named it “The Lord is on friendly terms with me.” 10  To this day it is still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

1 tn Or “certainly.”

2 tn Heb “You will strike down Midian as one man.” The idiom “as one man” emphasizes the collective unity of a group (see Judg 20:8, 11). Here it may carry the force, “as if they were just one man.”

3 tn Heb “extended the tip of the staff which was in his hand and touched the meat and unleavened bread.”

4 tn Heb “went from his eyes.”

5 tn Heb “saw.”

6 tn Heb “Gideon.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

7 tn Or “Ah!”

8 tn The Hebrew text reads אֲדֹנַי יְהוִה (’adonay yÿhvih, “Lord [the same title used in v. 15], Lord”).

9 tn Heb “Peace to you.” For a similar use of this idiom to introduce a reassuring word, see Gen 43:23.

10 tn Heb “The Lord is peace.” Gideon’s name for the altar plays on the Lord’s reassuring words to him, “Peace to you.”