Judges 7
1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the army of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
The next morning, Gideon and his men got up early and went as far as Harod Spring. The army of Midian was camped north of them, in the valley near Moreh Hill.
2 And Yhwh said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
Yahweh said to Gideon, “You have too many soldiers with you. If I allow all of you to fight the army of Midian, [if your army defeats them], they will boast to me that they defeated their enemies by themselves, [without my help].
3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
So tell the men, ‘Whoever among you is timid or afraid may leave us and go home.’” So [after Gideon told that to them], 22,000 of them went home. Only 10,000 men were left there.
4 And Yhwh said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
But Yahweh told Gideon, “There are still too many men! Take them down to the spring, and there I will choose from among them, which ones will go with you and which ones will not go.”.
5 So he brought down the people unto the water: And Yhwh said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.
When Gideon took the men down to the spring, Yahweh told him, “When they drink, put into one group the ones who scoop the water into their hands, and then lap it up like dogs do. Put into another group the ones who kneel down [and bend over] and drink with their mouths in the water.”
6 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
So when they drank, only 300 men drank from their hands. All the others drank with their mouths down in the water.
7 And Yhwh said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.
Then Yahweh told Gideon, “The 300 men who lapped the water from their hands will be your army! I will enable them to defeat the Midian army. Let all the others go home!”
8 So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the army of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
So Gideon’s 300 men collected the food and rams’ horns from all the other men, and then he sent them home. The men of Midian were camping in the valley below Gideon.
9 And it came to pass the same night, that Yhwh said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the army; for I have delivered it into thine hand.
That night, Yahweh said to Gideon, “Get up and go down to their camp, [and you will hear something that will convince you that] I will enable your men to defeat them.
10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the army:
But if you are afraid to attack them by yourself, take your servant Purah with you.
11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the army. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the army.
Go down and listen to what some of the Midian soldiers are saying. Then you will be very encouraged, and you will be ready to attack their camp.” So Gideon took Purah with him, and they went down to the edge of the enemy camp.
12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.
The armies of the people of Midian and Amalek and from the east had set up their tents and looked like a swarm of locusts. It seemed that their camels were as impossible to count as the grains of sand on the seashore.
13 And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the army of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.
Gideon crept closer and heard one man telling a friend about a dream. He said, “I just had a dream, and in the dream I saw a round loaf of barley bread tumble down into our Midian camp. It struck a tent so hard that the tent turned upside down and collapsed!”
14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the army.
His friend said, “Your dream can mean only one thing. It means that God will enable Gideon, the man of Israel, to defeat all of the armies that are here with us men from Midian.”
15 And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the army of Israel, and said, Arise; for Yhwh hath delivered into your hand the army of Midian.
When Gideon heard the [man tell about his] dream and the meaning of that dream, he thanked God. Then he [and Purah] returned to the Israeli camp, and he shouted to the men, “Get up! Because God is enabling you to defeat the men from Midian!”
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 lamps within the pitchers.
He divided his men into three groups. He gave each man a ram’s horn and an empty clay jar. He also gave each of them a torch [that they lit].
17 And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.
Then he said to them, “Watch me. When we come close to the enemy camp, [spread out to surround the camp]. Then do exactly what I do.
18 When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of Yhwh, and of Gideon.
As soon as I and the men with me blow our ram’s horns, you men in the other two groups surrounding the camp blow your horns and shout, ‘[We are doing this] for Yahweh and for Gideon!’”
19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.
A while before midnight, just after a new group of Israeli guards took the places of the previous group, Gideon and the 100 men with him arrived at the edge of the Midian camp. Suddenly they all blew their horns, and broke their jars.
20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of Yhwh, and of Gideon.
Then the men in all three groups blew their horns and smashed their jars. They held the torches high with their left hands, and held up the horns with their right hands and alternatively blew them and shouted, “[We have] swords [to fight] for Yahweh and for Gideon!”
21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the army ran, and cried, and fled.
Each of Gideon’s men stood in his position around the enemy camp. As they watched, all the Midian men started running around and shouting in a panic.
22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, And Yhwh set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the army: and the army fled to Beth–shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel–meholah, unto Tabbath.
While the 300 Israeli men kept blowing their horns, Yahweh caused their enemies to start fighting each other with their swords/daggers. Some of them killed each other. The rest fled. Some fled south to Beth-Shittah. Some fled to Zerarah [village], near Tabbath.
23 And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.
Then Gideon sent messages to the soldiers in the areas where the descendants of Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh lived, to tell them to come and pursue the army of Midian.
24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Beth–barah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Beth–barah and Jordan.
He also sent messengers throughout the hilly area where the descendants of Ephraim lived, saying, “Come down to attack the army of Midian. Come down to the Jordan River, to the place where people can wade across, to prevent enemy troops from crossing it! Station men as far south as Beth-Barah.” So the men of Ephraim did what Gideon told them to do.
25 And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.
They also captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two generals of the Midian army. They killed Oreb at [the big rock which is now called] the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at [the place where people crush grapes that is now called] the winepress of Zeeb. Afterwards, the Israelis cut off the heads of Oreb and Zeeb and brought them to Gideon, while he was near the Jordan River.
