Judges 7

Gideons Valiant Three Hundred

1 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp 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 Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, My own hand has saved me.3 Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead. And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.4 But the Lord said to Gideon, The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, This one shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, This one shall not go with you, the same shall not go.5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.7 Then 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 go, every man to his place.8 So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.9 It happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant,11 and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp.12 Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.13 And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.14 Then his companion answered and said, This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.15 And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every mans hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers.17 And he said to them, Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do:18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchersthey held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowingand they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!21 And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.22 When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every mans sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.23 And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.24 Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the mountains of Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and seized the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.25 And they captured two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.

JUDGES 7

1 Early the next morning, Gideon and his army got up and moved their camp to Fear Spring.t The Midianite camp was to the north, in the valley at the foot of Moreh Hill.t
2 The [Lord] said, “Gideon, your army is too big. I can't let you win with this many soldiers. The Israelites would think that they had won the battle all by themselves and that I didn't have anything to do with it.

3 t So call your troops together and tell them that anyone who is really afraid can leave Mount Gileadt and go home.”
Twenty-two thousand men returned home, leaving Gideon with only 10,000 soldiers.

4 “Gideon,” the [Lord] said, “you still have too many soldiers. Take them down to the spring and I'll test them. I'll tell you which ones can go along with you and which ones must go back home.”

5 When Gideon led his army down to the spring, the [Lord] told him, “Watch how each man gets a drink of water. Then divide them into two groups—those who lap the water like a dog and those who kneel down to drink.”
6 Three hundred men scooped up water in their hands and lapped it, and the rest knelt to get a drink.

7 The [Lord] said, “Gideon, your army will be made up of everyone who lapped the water from their hands. Send the others home. I'm going to rescue Israel by helping you and your army of 300 defeat the Midianites.”

8 Then Gideon gave these orders, “You 300 men stay here. The rest of you may go home, but leave your food and trumpets with us.”
Gideon's army camp was on top of a hill overlooking the Midianite camp in the valley.
9 That night, the [Lord] said to Gideon. “Get up! Attack the Midianite camp. I am going to let you defeat them, 10 but if you're still afraid, you and your servant Purah should sneak down to their camp.

11 When you hear what the Midianites are saying, you'll be brave enough to attack.”
Gideon and Purah worked their way to the edge of the enemy camp, where soldiers were on guard duty. 12 The camp was huge. The Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern nations covered the valley like a swarm of locusts.t And it would be easier to count the grains of sand on a beach than to count their camels.

13 Gideon overheard one enemy guard telling another, “I had a dream about a flatt loaf of barley bread that came tumbling into our camp. It hit the headquarters tent, t and the tent flipped over and fell to the ground.”

14 The other soldier answered, “Your dream must have been about Gideon, the Israelite commander. It means God will let him and his army defeat the Midianite army and everyone else in our camp.”

15 As soon as Gideon heard about the dream and what it meant, he bowed down to praise God. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and shouted, “Let's go! The [Lord] is going to let us defeat the Midianite army.”
16 Gideon divided his little army into three groups of 100 men, and he gave each soldier a trumpet and a large clay jar with a burning torch inside.

17-18 Gideon said, “When we get to the enemy camp, spread out and surround it. Then wait for me to blow a signal on my trumpet. As soon as you hear it, blow your trumpets and shout, ‘Fight for the [Lord]! Fight for Gideon!’ ”
19 Gideon and his group reached the edge of the enemy camp a few hours after dark, just after the new guards had come on duty.t Gideon and his soldiers blew their trumpets and smashed the clay jars that were hiding the torches.

20 The rest of Gideon's soldiers blew the trumpets they were holding in their right hands. Then they smashed the jars and held the burning torches in their left hands. Everyone shouted, “Fight with your swords for the [Lord] and for Gideon!”
21 The enemy soldiers started yelling and tried to run away. Gideon's troops stayed in their positions surrounding the camp

22 and blew their trumpets again. As they did, the [Lord] made the enemy soldiers pull out their swords and start fighting each other.
The enemy army tried to escape from the camp. They ran to Acacia Tree Town, toward Zeredah, t and as far as the edge of the land that belonged to the town of Abel-Meholah near Tabbath.t
23 Gideon sent word for more Israelite soldiers to come from the tribes of Naphtali, Asher, and both halves of Manasseht to help fight the Midianites.

24 He also sent messengers to tell all the men who lived in the hill country of Ephraim, “Come and help us fight the Midianites! Put guards at every spring, stream, and well, as far as Beth-Barah before the Midianites can get to them. And guard the Jordan River.”
Troops from Ephraim did exactly what Gideon had asked,

25 and they even helped chase the Midianites on the east side of the Jordan River. These troops captured Raven and Wolf, t the two Midianite leaders. They killed Raven at a large rock that has come to be known as Raven Rock, and they killed Wolf near a wine-pit that has come to be called Wolf Wine-Pit.t
The men of Ephraim brought the heads of the two Midianite leaders to Gideon.