Judges 7

1Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and camped by the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of him, by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

2And Yahweh said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for me to give Midian into their hand, lest Israel boast against me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’”

3Please proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’ Then twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.

4Then the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and there I will test them for you. And this is what will happen: anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

5So he brought the people down to the water, and Yahweh said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who kneels on his knees to drink.”

6And the number of those lapping with their hand to their mouth was three hundred men, but all the rest of the people knelt on their knees to drink water.

7And Yahweh said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped, I will save you and give Midian into your hand. And let all the people go, each man to his place.”

8So they took the provisions of the people in their hands, along with their trumpets. And he sent every man of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the three hundred men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

9And it happened that night that Yahweh said to him, “Arise, go down into the camp, for I have given it into your hand.”

10But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant.

11and you will hear what they are saying, and afterward your hands will be strengthened, and you will go down into the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to the edge of the armed men who were in the camp.

12Midian and Amalek and all the people of the East were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts, and their camels were without number, as the sand on the seashore in abundance.

13When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his companion. He said, “Look, I dreamed a dream: behold, a round loaf of barley bread was rolling around in the camp of Midian, and it came up to the tent and struck it so that it fell, He turned it upside down, and the tent collapsed.”

14His companion answered and said, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and the whole camp into his hand.”

15And when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Get up, for the LORD has given the camp of Midian into your hand.”

16Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets into the hands of all of them, and empty jars, with torches inside the jars.

17And he said to them, “Watch me, and do likewise. Behold, when I come to the edge of the camp, then as I do, so you shall do.”

18When I and all who are with me blow the ram’s horn, then you also must blow the horns all around the whole camp, and say, ‘For Yahweh and for Gideon!’

19So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watchmen; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.

20Then the three companies blew the trumpets and shattered the jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands to blow, and they cried out, “A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!”

21And each man stood in his place around the camp, and the whole camp ran, and they shouted and fled.

22When the three hundred trumpets were blown, Yahweh set every man's sword against his companion and against the whole camp, and the camp fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.

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

24And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian, and seize the waters as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.” So every man of Ephraim was called out, and they seized the waters as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.

25And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.