Iudicum 7
1 igitur Hierobbaal qui est et Gedeon de nocte consurgens et omnis populus cum eo venit ad fontem qui vocatur Arad erant autem castra Madian in valle ad septentrionalem plagam collis Excelsi
And so Jerubbaal, who is also Gideon, rising in the night, and all the people with him, went to the fountain which is called Harod. Now the camp of Midian was in the valley, to the northern region of the high hill.
2 dixitque Dominus ad Gedeon multus tecum est populus nec tradetur Madian in manus eius ne glorietur contra me Israhel et dicat meis viribus liberatus sum
And the Lord said to Gideon: “The people with you are many, but Midian shall not be delivered into their hands, for then Israel might glory against me, and say, ‘I was freed by my own power.’
3 loquere ad populum et cunctis audientibus praedica qui formidolosus et timidus est revertatur recesseruntque de monte Galaad et reversa sunt ex populo viginti duo milia virorum et tantum decem milia remanserunt
Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all, ‘Whoever has dread or fear, let him return.’ And twenty-two thousand of the men from the people withdrew from Mount Gilead and returned, and only ten thousand remained.
4 dixitque Dominus ad Gedeon adhuc populus multus est duc eos ad aquas et ibi probabo illos et de quo dixero tibi ut tecum vadat ipse pergat quem ire prohibuero revertatur
And the Lord said to Gideon: “The people are still too many. Lead them to the waters, and there I will test them. And those about whom I tell you that he may go with you, let him go; he whom I shall forbid to go, let him return.”
5 cumque descendisset populus ad aquas dixit Dominus ad Gedeon qui lingua lambuerint aquas sicut solent canes lambere separabis eos seorsum qui autem curvatis genibus biberint in altera parte erunt
And when the people had descended to the waters, the Lord said to Gideon: “Whoever will lap the water with the tongue, as dogs usually lap, you shall separate them by themselves. Then those who will drink by bending their knees shall be on the other side.”
6 fuit itaque numerus eorum qui manu ad os proiciente aquas lambuerant trecenti viri omnis autem reliqua multitudo flexo poplite biberat
And so the number of those who had lapped the water, by bringing it with the hand to the mouth, was three hundred men. And all the remainder of the multitude drank by bending the knee.
7 et ait Dominus ad Gedeon in trecentis viris qui lambuerunt aquas liberabo vos et tradam Madian in manu tua omnis autem reliqua multitudo revertatur in locum suum
And the Lord said to Gideon: “By the three hundred men who lapped the water, I will free you, and I will deliver Midian into your hand. But let all the remainder of the multitude return to their place.”
8 sumptis itaque pro numero cibariis et tubis omnem reliquam multitudinem abire praecepit ad tabernacula sua et ipse cum trecentis viris se certamini dedit castra autem Madian erant subter in valle
And so, taking food and trumpets in accord with their number, he instructed all the rest of the multitude to go back to their tents. And with the three hundred men, he gave himself to the conflict. Now the camp of Midian was below, in the valley.
9 eadem nocte dixit Dominus ad eum surge et descende in castra quia tradidi eos in manu tua
In the same night, the Lord said to him: “Rise up, and descend into the camp. For I have delivered them into your hand.
10 sin autem solus ire formidas descendat tecum Phara puer tuus
But if you dread to go alone, let your servant Purah descend with you.
11 et cum audieris quid loquantur tunc confortabuntur manus tuae et securior ad hostium castra descendes descendit ergo ipse et Phara puer eius in partem castrorum ubi erant armatorum vigiliae
And when you will hear what they are saying, then your hands will be strengthened, and you will descend more confidently to the camp of the enemy.” Therefore, he descended with his servant Purah into a portion of the camp, where there was a watch of armed men.
12 Madian autem et Amalech et omnes orientales populi fusi iacebant in valle ut lucustarum multitudo cameli quoque innumerabiles erant sicut harena quae iacet in litoribus maris
But Midian, and Amalek, and all the eastern peoples lay spread out in the valley, like a multitude of locusts. Their camels, too, were innumerable, like the sand that lies on the shore of the sea.
13 cumque venisset Gedeon narrabat aliquis somnium proximo suo et in hunc modum referebat quod viderat vidi somnium et videbatur mihi quasi subcinericius panis ex hordeo volvi et in Madian castra descendere cumque pervenisset ad tabernaculum percussit illud atque subvertit et terrae funditus coaequavit
And when Gideon had arrived, someone told his neighbor a dream. And he related what he had seen, in this way: “I saw a dream, and it seemed to me as if bread, baked under ashes from rolled barley, descended into the camp of Midian. And whenever it arrived at a tent, it struck it, and overturned it, and utterly leveled it to the ground.”
14 respondit is cui loquebatur non est hoc aliud nisi gladius Gedeonis filii Ioas viri Israhelitae tradidit Deus in manu eius Madian et omnia castra eius
He to whom he spoke, responded: “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. For the Lord has delivered Midian into his hands, with their entire camp.”
15 cumque audisset Gedeon somnium et interpretationem eius adoravit et reversus ad castra Israhel ait surgite tradidit enim Dominus in manus nostras castra Madian
And when Gideon had heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped. And he returned to the camp of Israel, and he said: “Rise up! For the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into our hands.”
16 divisitque trecentos viros in tres partes et dedit tubas in manibus eorum lagoenasque vacuas ac lampadas in medio lagoenarum
And he divided the three hundred men into three parts. And he gave trumpets, and empty pitchers, and lamps for the middle of the pitchers, into their hands.
17 et dixit ad eos quod me facere videritis hoc facite ingrediar partem castrorum et quod fecero sectamini
And he said to them: “What you will see me do, do the same. I will enter a portion of the camp, and what I do, you shall follow.
18 quando personaverit tuba in manu mea vos quoque per castrorum circuitum clangite et conclamate Domino et Gedeoni
When the trumpet in my hand blares out, you also shall sound the trumpets, on every side of the camp, and shout together to the Lord and to Gideon.”
19 ingressusque est Gedeon et trecenti viri qui erant cum eo in parte castrorum incipientibus vigiliis noctis mediae et custodibus suscitatis coeperunt bucinis clangere et conplodere inter se lagoenas
And Gideon, and the three hundred men who were with him, entered a portion of the camp, at the beginning of the watch in the middle of the night. And when the guards were alerted, they began to sound the trumpets and to clap the pitchers against one another.
20 cumque per gyrum castrorum in tribus personarent locis et hydrias confregissent tenuerunt sinistris manibus lampadas et dextris sonantes tubas clamaveruntque gladius Domini et Gedeonis
And when they had sounded their trumpets in three places around the camp, and had broken their water pitchers, they held the lamps in their left hands, and sounded the trumpets in their right hands. And they cried out, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”
21 stantes singuli in loco suo per circuitum castrorum hostilium omnia itaque castra turbata sunt et vociferantes ululantesque fugerunt
And each one was standing in his place throughout the camp of the enemies. And so the entire camp was in confusion; and they fled away, wailing and crying out.
22 et nihilominus insistebant trecenti viri bucinis personantes inmisitque Dominus gladium in omnibus castris et mutua se caede truncabant
And the three hundred men nevertheless continued sounding the trumpets. And the Lord sent the sword into the entire camp, and they maimed and cut down one another,
23 fugientes usque Bethseta et crepidinem Abelmeula in Tebbath conclamantes autem viri Israhel de Nepthali et Aser et omni Manasse persequebantur Madian
fleeing as far as Bethshittah, and the base of Abelmeholah in Tabbath. But the men of Israel pursued Midian, shouting from Naphtali and Asher, and from all of Manasseh.
24 misitque Gedeon nuntios in omnem montem Ephraim dicens descendite in occursum Madian et occupate aquas usque Bethbera atque Iordanem clamavitque omnis Ephraim et praeoccupavit aquas atque Iordanem usque Bethbera
And Gideon sent messengers throughout all of Mount Ephraim, saying, “Descend to meet Midian, and occupy the waters ahead of them as far as Bethbarah and the Jordan.” And all of Ephraim cried out, and they occupied the waters ahead of them, from the Jordan even to Bethbarah.
25 adprehensosque duos viros Madian Oreb et Zeb interfecit Oreb in petra Oreb Zeb vero in torculari Zeb et persecuti sunt Madian capita Oreb et Zeb portantes ad Gedeon trans fluenta Iordanis
And having apprehended two men of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, they put Oreb to death at the Rock of Oreb, and truly, Zeeb, at the Winepress of Zeeb. And they pursued Midian, carrying the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, across the waters of the Jordan.
