14. Then the Lord turned to him and said, "You have strength, so go and rescue Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not personally sending you?"
15. But again Gideon said to him, "With all due respect, my Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I’m the youngest in my household."
16. The Lord replied, "Because I’m with you, you’ll defeat the Midianites as if they were just one person."
17. Then Gideon said to him, "If I’ve gained your approval, please show me a sign that it’s really you speaking with me.
18. Don’t leave here until I return, bring out my offering, and set it in front of you."The Lord replied, "I’ll stay until you return."
19. So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and used an ephah of flour for unleavened bread. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them.
20. Then God’s messenger said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and set them on this rock, then pour out the broth." And he did so.
21. The Lord’s messenger reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and devoured the meat and the unleavened bread; and the Lord’s messenger vanished before his eyes.
22. Then Gideon realized that it had been the Lord’s messenger. Gideon exclaimed, "Oh no, Lord God! I have seen the Lord’s messenger face-to-face!"
23. But the Lord said to him, "Peace! Don’t be afraid! You won’t die."
24. So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it "The Lord makes peace." It still stands today in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.