Judges 6:15 (DRB)

Passage

He answered, and said: I beseech thee, my lord wherewith shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the meanest in Manasses, and I am the least in my father's house.

Nearby Context

Judges 6:13 And Gedeon said to him: I beseech thee, my lord, if the Lord be with us, why have these evils fallen upon us? Where are his miracles, which our fathers have told us of, saying: The Lord brought us out of Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hand of Madian.

Judges 6:14 And the Lord looked upon him, and said: Go, in this thy strength, and thou shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of Madian: know that I have sent thee.

Judges 6:15 He answered, and said: I beseech thee, my lord wherewith shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the meanest in Manasses, and I am the least in my father's house.

Judges 6:16 And the Lord said to him: I will be with thee: and thou shalt cut off Madian as one man.

Judges 6:17 And he said: If I have found grace before thee, give me a sign that it is thou that speakest to me:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "answered", "said", "beseech", "thee", "lord", "wherewith", "shall", and "deliver". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "answered" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "And the Lord looked upon him and..." into verse 16's "And the Lord said to him I...", so "answered" and "said" belong inside that flow. In Judges context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "answered" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.