Judges
Chapter 7
1 Jerubbaal, also known as Gideon, and all his companions got up early and set up camp near Harod’s well. The Midianite army was to the north of them, near Moreh hill in the valley.
2 God told Gideon, “You have too many people for me to let you defeat the Midianites. Otherwise, Israel will boast and say, ‘We saved ourselves.’”
3 Now, go and tell the people, “Anyone who is scared or afraid can leave Mount Gilead and go home early.” So twenty-two thousand people went back, and ten thousand stayed.
4 God told Gideon, “There are still too many people; take them to the water and I will test them for you there. Whoever I choose for you to take, they will go with you; and whoever I choose not to go, they will not go with you.”
5 He led the people to the water, and God told Gideon, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.”
6 Three hundred men scooped water with their hands to drink, but all the others knelt down to drink water directly.
7 God told Gideon, “I will save you by the 300 men who lapped water. I will give you victory over the Midianites. Let all the other people go home.”
8 The people took food and their trumpets in their hands. He sent the rest of Israel to their tents, but kept the 300 men. The Midian army was down in the valley below him.
9 That night, God told him, “Get up and go down to the army camp, because I have given it to you.”
10 If you’re afraid to go, take your servant Phurah with you to the camp.
11 You will listen to what they say, and then you will feel stronger to go to the army. Then he went with Phurah, his servant, to the edge of where the soldiers in the army were.
12 The Midianites, Amalekites, and all the people from the east were spread out in the valley, very numerous like grasshoppers; and there were so many camels, they were as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13 When Gideon arrived, he saw a man who was telling his friend about a dream. He said, “I had a dream where a barley bread loaf rolled into the Midianite camp, hit a tent, knocked it down, and turned it upside down so the tent was flat on the ground.”
14 His friend replied, “This is certainly the sword of Gideon, Joash’s son, an Israelite man. God has given Midian and their whole army into his hand.”
15 When Gideon heard the dream and its meaning, he worshipped, went back to Israel’s army, and said, “Get up; for God has given you the army of Midian.”
16 He split the three hundred men into three groups and gave each man a trumpet, with empty jars, and torches inside the jars.
17 He told them, “Watch me and do the same. When I get to the camp’s edge, do as I do.”
18 When I sound the trumpet, me and everyone with me, then you also blow the trumpets around the whole camp and shout, “The sword for God and for Gideon!”
19 Gideon and his 100 men reached the edge of the camp at the start of the middle watch, just after the guards started their shift. They blew their trumpets and smashed the jars in their hands.
20 The three groups sounded the trumpets, broke the jars, held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow them: and they shouted, “The sword of God and of Gideon.”
21 They stood, each in their spot, around the camp; and the whole army ran, shouted, and ran away.
22 The three hundred blew their trumpets, and God made every man fight against his comrade, and they all fled to Bethshittah in Zererath and near Abelmeholah, as far as Tabbath.
23 The men of Israel came together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and chased the Midianites.
24 Gideon sent messengers all over the hills of Ephraim saying, “Come fight the Midianites and control the water areas near Bethbarah and the Jordan River.” So all the Ephraim men joined together and took control of the water areas near Bethbarah and the Jordan River.
25 They captured two Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they chased the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan River.