Judges 7

Translated from the Hebrew of the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Tap a verse to see why it reads as it does. Tap a small letter to read its footnote.

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Too many troops

¹Early in the morning Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, and all the troops with him set up camp beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian lay to the north of them, by the hill of Moreh in the valley. ²The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many troops with you for me to hand Midian over to them. Israel would only boast against me and say, ‘Our own strength has saved us.’ ³Now announce to the troops, ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So 22,000 of the troops turned back, and 10,000 were left.

⁴But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many troops. Take them down to the water. I will sift them there for you. When I tell you, ‘This one is to go with you,’ he will go with you. But when I tell you, ‘This one is not to go with you,’ he will not go.” ⁵So Gideon took the troops down to the water, and the LORD said to him, “Put everyone who laps up the water with his tongue, the way a dog laps, in one group. Put everyone who kneels down to drink in another.” ⁶The number of those who lapped, bringing the water to their mouths with their hands, was 300 men. All the rest of the troops knelt down to drink.

⁷Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you all, and I will hand Midian over to you. Let all the others go home.” ⁸The men who stayed took provisions in their hands, along with their rams’ horns. Gideon sent all the other men of Israel back to their tents, but he kept the 300 men. The camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

A dream in the camp of Midian

⁹That same night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up and go down to attack the camp, because I have handed it over to you. ¹⁰But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, ¹¹and listen to what they are saying. After that you will have the courage to attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to the outer edge of the armed men in the camp. ¹²The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the peoples of the east were spread across the valley as thick as locusts. Their camels were past counting, as many as the grains of sand by the sea. ¹³Just as Gideon arrived, one man was describing a dream to his friend. “Listen,” he said, “I had a dream. A round loaf of barley bread came rolling into the camp of Midian. It came to the tent and hit it so hard that it fell. It turned the tent upside down, and the tent collapsed.” ¹⁴His friend replied, “This can be nothing but the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite! God has handed Midian and the whole army over to him.”

¹⁵When Gideon heard the dream and what it meant, he bowed down in worship. Then he went back to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The LORD has handed the camp of Midian over to you.” ¹⁶He divided the 300 men into three companies and gave each of them a ram’s horn and an empty jar, with a torch inside the jar. ¹⁷“Watch me,” he told them, “and do what I do. When I reach the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. ¹⁸When I blow my horn, along with everyone who is with me, you are to blow your horns too, on every side of the camp, and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’”

Trumpets, jars and torches

¹⁹Gideon and the 100 men with him reached the edge of the camp at the start of the middle watch of the night, just after the new guards had been posted. They blew their horns and smashed the jars they were holding. ²⁰All three companies blew their horns and broke their jars. With the torches in their left hands and the horns for blowing in their right, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” ²¹Each man stood in his place around the camp, while the whole Midianite army ran about, shouting, and fled. ²²When the 300 blew their horns, the LORD turned every man’s sword against his comrade throughout the whole army. The army fled toward Zererah as far as Beth-shittah, and as far as the edge of Abel-meholah near Tabbath. ²³Then the men of Israel from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called to arms, and they chased the Midianites. ²⁴Gideon sent messengers all through the hill country of Ephraim with this message: “Come down against the Midianites and take the waters ahead of them as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan as well.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they took the waters as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan. ²⁵They also captured the two commanders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. Oreb they killed at the Rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the Winepress of Zeeb. They kept up the pursuit of the Midianites, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.