THE BOOK OF JUDGES

 

Judges Chapter 7

1 ¶ Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose up early, and pitched camp beside the well of Harod: so that the army of the Midianites was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

2 And the LORD said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel exalt themselves against me, saying, My own hand has saved me.

3 Therefore now make this announcement for all to hear, saying, Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart from mount Gilead. And twenty-two thousand of the people returned; and ten thousand remained.

4 And the LORD said to Gideon, There are still too many people; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there: and he of whom I say to you, This man shall go with you, will go with you; and any of whom I say to you, This man shall not go with you, shall not go.

5 So he brought the people down to the water: and the LORD said to Gideon, Set everyone who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, by himself; likewise every one who bows down on his knees to drink.

6 And the number of those who lapped, holding their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

7 And the LORD said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand: let all the other people return every man to his home.

8 So the people took provisions in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his home, and retained those three hundred men: and the army of Midian was below him in the valley.

9 ¶ That same night, the LORD said to him, Arise, get down to their camp; for I have delivered it into your hand.

10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to their camp with Phurah your servant:

11 And you will hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened to go down against the camp. Then he went down with Phurah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp.

12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east were camping along in the valley as thick as locusts; and their camels could not be numbered, they were as numerous as the sand by the side of the sea.

13 And when Gideon arrived, there was a man who was telling a dream to his companion, and he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came to a tent, and struck it causing it to fall, and turned it over, so that the tent lay flat.

14 And his companion answered, That is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for God has delivered Midian, and the entire army into his hand.

15 And when Gideon heard the dream being told, and its interpretation, he worshipped, and returned into the camp of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD has delivered the host of Midian into your hand.

16 ¶ And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers.

17 And he said to them, Look at me, and do what I do: when I come to the edge of their camp, do as I do.

18 When I blow with a trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you blow the trumpets also on every side of the camp, and yell, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

19 So Gideon, and the hundred men who were with him, came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch; when they had just changed the guards: and they blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.

20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow: and they shouted, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

21 And every man stood in his place around the camp: and the entire army ran, and cried out, and fled.

22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, throughout the entire army: and the army fled as far as Bethshittah toward Zererath, and as far as the border of Abelmeholah, by Tabbath.

23 ¶ And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali, and from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.

24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and seize the fords before them as far as Bethbarah and the Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and captured the fords as far as Bethbarah and the Jordan.

25 And they captured the two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they slew Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.