11 Then an Angel of the Lord arrived, and he sat under an oak tree, which was at Ophrah, and which belonged to Joash, the father of the family of Ezri. And while his son Gideon was threshing and cleaning the grain at the winepress, so that he might flee from Midian,
12 the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and he said: "The Lord is with you, most valiant of men."
13 And Gideon said to him: "I beg you, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why have these things happened to us? Where are his miracles, which our fathers described when they said, 'The Lord led us away from Egypt.' But now the Lord has forsaken us, and he has delivered us into the hand of Midian."
14 And the Lord looked down upon him, and he said: "Go forth with this, your strength, and you shall free Israel from the hand of Midian. Know that I have sent you."
15 And responding, he said: "I beg you, my lord, with what shall I free Israel? Behold, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in the house of my father."
16 And the Lord said to him: "I will be with you. And so, you shall cut down Midian as if one man."
17 And he said: "If I have found grace before you, give me a sign that it is you who is speaking to me.