CHAPTER 7
Early in the morning
Jerubbaal
(that is,
Gideon)
and all
the men
with him
camped
beside
the spring of Harod.
And the camp
of Midian
was
north
of them
in the valley
near the hill
of Moreh.
The LORD
said
to
Gideon,
“You have
too many
people
for Me to deliver
Midian
into their hands,
lest
Israel
glorify themselves
over Me,
saying,
‘My own hand
has delivered
me.’
Now, therefore,
proclaim
in the hearing
of the people:
‘Whoever
is fearful
and trembling
may turn back
and leave
Mount
Gilead.’”
So twenty-two
thousand
of them
turned back,
but ten
thousand
remained.
Then
the LORD
said
to
Gideon,
“There are still
too many
people.
Take them down
to
the water,
and I will sift them
for you
there.
If
I say
to you,
‘This one
shall go
with you,’
he shall go.
But if
I say,
‘This one
shall not
go
with you,’
he
shall not
go."
So Gideon brought the people
down
to
the water,
and the LORD
said
to
him,
“Separate
those
who
lap
the water
with their tongues
like
a dog
from those
who
kneel
to drink.”
And the number
of those who lapped the water
with their hands
to
their mouths
was
three
hundred
men;
all
the others
knelt
to drink.
Then the LORD
said
to
Gideon,
“With the three
hundred
men
who lapped the water
I will save
you
and deliver
the Midianites
into your hands.
But all the others
are to go
home.”
So Gideon sent
the rest of
the Israelites
to their tents
but kept
the three
hundred
men,
who took
charge of
the provisions
and trumpets
of the others.
And
the camp
of Midian
lay
below
him
in the valley.
That
night
the LORD
said
to Gideon,
“Get up
and go down
against the camp,
for
I have given
it into your hands.
and listen
to what
they are saying.
Then
your hands
will be strengthened
to attack
the camp.”
So he
went
with Purah
his servant
to
the outposts
where armed men
were guarding
the camp.
Now the Midianites,
Amalekites,
and all
the other people
of the East
had settled
in the valley
like a swarm of
locusts,
and their camels
were as innumerable
as the sand
on
the seashore.
And as Gideon
arrived,
a man
was telling
his friend
about a dream.
“Behold,
I had a dream,”
he said,
“and I saw
a loaf
of barley
bread
come
tumbling
into the Midianite
camp.
It struck
the tent
so hard that
the tent
overturned
and collapsed.”
His friend
replied:
“This
is nothing
less than
the sword
of Gideon
son
of Joash,
the Israelite.
God
has delivered
Midian
and
the whole
camp
into his hands.”
When Gideon
heard
the dream
and its interpretation,
he bowed in worship.
He returned
to
the camp
of Israel
and said,
“Get up,
for
the LORD
has delivered
the camp
of Midian
into your hands.”
And he divided
the three
hundred
men
into three
companies
and gave
each man
a trumpet
in one hand
and a large jar in the other,
containing
a torch.
“Watch me
and do
as I do,”
Gideon said.
“When I
come
to the outskirts
of the camp,
do
exactly as
I do.
When I
and all
who are
with me
blow
our trumpets,
then you
are also
to blow
your trumpets
from all
around
the camp
and shout,
‘For the LORD
and for Gideon!’”
Gideon
and the hundred
men
with him
reached
the outskirts
of the camp
at the beginning
of the middle
watch,
just after
the changing
of the guard.
They blew
their trumpets
and broke
the jars
that were
in their hands.
The three
companies
blew
their trumpets
and shattered
their jars.
Holding
the torches
in their left
hands
and the trumpets
in their right
hands,
they shouted,
“A sword
for the LORD
and for Gideon!”
Each Israelite
took
his position
around
the camp,
and the entire
Midianite army
fled,
crying out
as they ran.
And when the three
hundred
trumpets
sounded,
the LORD
set
the swords
of every man
in the camp
against each other.
The army
fled
to
Beth-shittah
toward Zererah
as
far as the border
of Abel-meholah
near
Tabbath.
Then the men
of Israel
were called out
from
Naphtali,
Asher,
and
all
Manasseh,
and they pursued
the Midianites.
Gideon
sent
messengers
throughout
the hill country
of Ephraim
to say,
“Come down
against
the Midianites
and seize
the waters
of the Jordan
ahead of them
as far as
Beth-barah.”
So all
the men
of Ephraim
were called out,
and they captured
the waters
of the Jordan
as
far as Beth-barah.
They also captured
Oreb
and Zeeb,
the two
princes
of Midian;
and they killed
Oreb
at the rock
of Oreb
and Zeeb
at the winepress of Zeeb.
So they pursued
the Midianites
and brought
the heads
of Oreb
and Zeeb
to
Gideon
on the other side
of the Jordan.