Suddenly the LORD sent a fire, and it consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar. When the people saw it, they all shouted and bowed down with their faces to the ground.

While the flames were going up from the altar, Manoah and his wife saw the LORD's angel go up toward heaven in the flames. Manoah realized then that the man had been the LORD's angel, and he and his wife threw themselves face downward on the ground. They never saw the angel again.

Manoah said to his wife, "We are sure to die, because we have seen God!"

David saw the angel standing in midair, holding his sword in his hand, ready to destroy Jerusalem. Then David and the leaders of the people---all of whom were wearing sackcloth---bowed low, with their faces touching the ground.

So I went out into the valley, and there I saw the glory of the LORD, just as I had seen it beside the Chebar River. I fell face downward on the ground,

This vision was like the one I had seen when God came to destroy Jerusalem, and the one I saw by the Chebar River. Then I threw myself face downward on the ground.

Gabriel came and stood beside me, and I was so terrified that I fell to the ground. He said to me, "Mortal man, understand the meaning. The vision has to do with the end of the world."

I was the only one who saw the vision. Those who were with me did not see anything, but they were terrified and ran and hid.

When I heard his voice, I fell to the ground unconscious and lay there face downward.

Then the angel, who looked like a human being, reached out and touched my lips. I said to him, "Sir, this vision makes me so weak that I can't stop trembling.

I am like a slave standing before his master. How can I talk to you? I have no strength or breath left in me."

I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?'

All of us fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, 'Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by hitting back, like an ox kicking against its owner's stick.'

We ourselves heard this voice coming from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain.