Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me.
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.
- KJV And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.
- NKJV Then he said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me.
- NASB So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then perform for me a sign that it is You speaking with me.
- NLT Gideon replied, “If you are truly going to help me, show me a sign to prove that it is really the Lord speaking to me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Gideon asks for a sign to confirm that it is truly the Lord speaking with him.
Overview
Seeking assurance, Gideon requests a sign to verify the identity of his divine visitor. His request reflects a mixture of caution and weak faith, yet God graciously condescends to strengthen him. The Lord often accommodates the weakness of His servants, providing confirmation to bolster trust in His word.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 86:17Show me a sign of Your goodness, that my enemies may see and be ashamed; for You, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
- Exod 33:13Now if indeed I have found favor in Your sight, please let me know Your ways, that I may know You and find favor in Your sight. Remember that this nation is Your people.”
- Isa 7:11“Ask for a sign from the LORD your God, whether from the depths of Sheol or the heights of heaven.”
- Exod 33:16For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight, unless You go with us? How else will we be distinguished from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
- Gen 15:8–17But Abram replied, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?”
- Isa 38:7–8This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised:
- Judg 6:36–40Then Gideon said to God, “If You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said,
- Exod 4:1–9Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”
- 2 Kgs 20:8–11Now Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?”
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Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 6:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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