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.
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking 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 those who hate me may see it, and be shamed, because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me.
- Exod 33:13Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your way, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight: and consider that this nation is your people.”
- Isa 7:11“Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.”
- Exod 33:16For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?”
- Gen 15:8–17He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?”
- Isa 38:7–8This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken.
- Judg 6:36–40Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,
- Exod 4:1–9Moses answered, “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, ‘Yahweh has not appeared to you.’”
- 2 Kgs 20:8–11Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I will go up to Yahweh’s house the third day?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.