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
3
Therefore now make this announcement for all to hear, saying, Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and
depart from
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
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
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
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