Judges 6:18
in Judges 6Please do not depart from this place until I return to You. Let me bring my offering and set it before You.” And the LORD said, “I will stay until you return.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and lay it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.
KJV
Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.
⋯
This verse in Judges 6
Commentary
8 notes on this verseAnd bring forth my present - My minchah; generally an offering of bread, wine, oil, flour, and such like. It seems from this that Gideon supposed the person to whom he spoke to be a Divine person. Nevertheless, what he prepared and brought out appears to be intended simply as an entertainment to refresh a respectable stranger.
This site's exposition
give me a sign that it is You
on Judges 6:17-19
He asks for a sign well before the fleece of verses 36 to 40, and it is given without comment. His gift, "an ephah of flour" and a young goat, costs real food when verse 4 says no sustenance was left. Abraham sets a meal before three men at Genesis 18:6, and the Hebrew word for the offering is the one used of the grain offering.
This site's exposition
Let me bring my offering
Adam Clarke thinks Gideon already took the stranger for a divine person, yet the meal he prepares looks like hospitality for a respected guest. The LORD agrees to wait until he returns.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Intending to go to his own, or his father's house, to fetch some food to entertain him with, and therefore entreats he would not quit the place where he was until he returned: and bring forth my present, and set it before thee; to treat him with, as a stranger and a messenger of God; and perhaps he thought, by this means, the better to discover who he was, whether an angel or a man: the word for the "present" is "minchah", often used for a meat offering, therefore some have thought of a sacrifice; but it appears by what follows that it was not of the nature of a sacrifice; and, besides, Gideon was no priest, nor was this a place for sacrifice, nor was there here any altar; and, besides, as Gideon did not yet know that it was the Lord himself, he could never think of offering a sacrifice to him: and he said, I will tarry until thou come again; which was a wonderful instance of divine condescension, it being some time he waited ere Gideon could prepare what he brought, as follows.
Upon the angel's promise to stay to dinner with him, he hastened to bring out a kid, which, it is likely, was ready boiled for his own dinner, so that in making it ready he had nothing to do but to put it in the basket (for here was no sauce to serve it up in, nor the dish garnished) and the broth in a vessel, and so he presented it,
(7.) The angel gives him a sign in and by that which he had kindly prepared for his entertainment. For what we offer to God for his glory, and in token of our gratitude to him, will be made by the grace of God to turn to our own comfort and satisfaction.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I . . . bring forth my present--Hebrew, my mincha, or "meat offering"; and his idea probably was to prove, by his visitor's partaking of the entertainment, whether or not he was more than man.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
My present - My Minchah: the word used regularly, though not exclusively, for the meat and drink offering (Lev 2:1 note). Its double sense of an offering to God, and of a gift to man, suits the doubt in Gideon’s mind as to who his visitor might be.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| נָ֨א | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| תָמֻ֤שׁ | tamush | you depart | H4185 → | |
| מִזֶּה֙ | mizeh | from here | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| בֹּאִ֣י | boi | come I | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֵלֶ֔יךָ | ʾeleikha | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| וְהֹֽצֵאתִי֙ | vehotzeti | and I will bring out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִנְחָתִ֔י | minchati | gift my | H4503 → | 211 times |
| וְהִנַּחְתִּ֖י | vehinachti | and I will set [it] | H5117 → | 142 times |
| לְפָנֶ֑יךָ | lefaneikha | <to> before you | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| וַיֹּאמַ֕ר | vaiyomar | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אָנֹכִ֥י | ʾanokhi | I | H595 → | 359 times |
| אֵשֵׁ֖ב | ʾeshev | I will remain | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| עַ֥ד | ʾad | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| שׁוּבֶֽךָ׃ | shuvekha | returning you | H7725 → | 1056 times |
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
נָ֨אplease
na'H4994 →404 times
תָמֻ֤שׁyou depart
tamushH4185 →
מִזֶּה֙from here
mizehH2088 →1180 times
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
בֹּאִ֣יcome I
boiH935 →2568 times
אֵלֶ֔יךָto you
ʾeleikhaH413 →5510 times
וְהֹֽצֵאתִי֙and I will bring out
vehotzetiH3318 →1067 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מִנְחָתִ֔יgift my
minchatiH4503 →211 times
וְהִנַּחְתִּ֖יand I will set [it]
vehinachtiH5117 →142 times
לְפָנֶ֑יךָ<to> before you
lefaneikhaH6440 →2123 times
וַיֹּאמַ֕רand he said
vaiyomarH559 →5305 times
אָנֹכִ֥יI
ʾanokhiH595 →359 times
אֵשֵׁ֖בI will remain
ʾeshevH3427 →1079 times
עַ֥דuntil
ʾadH5704 →1261 times
שׁוּבֶֽךָ׃returning you
shuvekhaH7725 →1056 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 19:3But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
it leads to
- Genesis 18:6–8
So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”
- 1 Samuel 28:24
The woman had a fattened calf at her house, and she quickly slaughtered it. She also took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread.
- Judges 6:19
So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out…
- Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
- 1 Corinthians 5:8
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.
- Genesis 18:6–8
Through
Genesis 18:5And I will bring a bit of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. After that, you may continue on your way.” “Yes,” they replied,…
it leads to
- Psalms 104:15
wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.
- Judges 13:15
“Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”
- Genesis 19:8
Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these…
- Psalms 104:15
Where this verse is studied
About Judges
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.