Judges 6:17-32

17So 1Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me 2a sign that it is You who speak with me. 18Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”

19Then Gideon went in and 3prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an 4ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket 5and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the 6oak and presented them. 20The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. 21Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and 7fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord 8vanished from his sight. 229When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, 10he said, “Alas, O Lord 11God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” 24Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it 12The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still 13in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull 14and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the 1516Asherah that is beside it; 26and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” 27Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.

28When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. 29They said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” 30Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” 31But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him? Whoever will 17plead for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.” 32Therefore on that day he named him 18Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar.