1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all
the people who were with him, rose up
early and encamped beside the spring of
Harod. Midian’s camp was on the north
side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the
valley.
2 The LORD said to Gideon, “The people
who are with you are too many for me to
give the Midianites into their hand, lest
Israel brag against me, saying, ‘My own
hand has saved me.’
3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of
the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and
trembling, let him return and depart from
Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand
of the people returned, and ten thousand
remained.
4 The LORD said to Gideon, “There are
still too many people. Bring them down
to the water, and I will test them for you
there. It shall be, that those whom I tell
you, ‘This shall go with you,’ shall go with
you; and whoever I tell you, ‘This shall not
go with you,’ shall not go.”
5 So he brought down the people to the
water; and the LORD said to Gideon, “Everyone
who laps of the water with his
tongue, like a dog laps, you shall set him
by himself; likewise everyone who bows
down on his knees to drink.”
6 The number of those who lapped,
putting their hand to their mouth, was
three hundred men; but all the rest of
the people bowed down on their knees to
drink water.
7 The LORD said to Gideon, “I will save
you by the three hundred men who lapped,
and deliver the Midianites into your hand.
Let all the other people go, each to his own
place.”
8 So the people took food in their hand,
and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest
of the men of Israel to their own tents, but
retained the three hundred men; and the
camp of Midian was beneath him in the
valley.
9 That same night, the LORD said to him,
“Arise, go down into the camp, for I have
delivered it into your hand.
10 But if you are afraid to go down,
go with Purah your servant down to the
camp.
11 You will hear what they say; and afterward
your hands will be strengthened
to go down into the camp.” Then went he
down with Purah his servant to the outermost
part of the armed men who were in
the camp.
12 The Midianites and the Amalekites
and all the children of the east lay along
in the valley like locusts for multitude; and
their camels were without number, as the
sand which is on the seashore for multitude.
13 When Gideon had come, behold, there
was a man telling a dream to his fellow.
He said, “Behold, I dreamt a dream; and
behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled
into the camp of Midian, came to the tent,
and struck it so that it fell, and turned it
upside down, so that the tent lay flat.”
14 His fellow answered, “This is nothing
other than the sword of Gideon the son of
Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered
Midian into his hand, with all the army.”
15 It was so, when Gideon heard the
telling of the dream and its interpretation,
that he worshipped. Then he returned into
the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the
LORD has delivered the army of Midian
into your hand!”
16 He divided the three hundred men
into three companies, and he put into the
hands of all of them trumpets and empty
pitchers, with torches within the pitchers.
17 He said to them, “Watch me, and do
likewise. Behold, when I come to the outermost
part of the camp, it shall be that, as
I do, so you shall do.
18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who
are with me, then blow the trumpets also
on every side of all the camp, and shout,
‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’ ”
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who
were with him came to the outermost part
of the camp in the beginning of the middle
watch, when they had but newly set the
watch. Then they blew the trumpets and
broke in pieces the pitchers that were in
their hands.
20 The three companies blew the trumpets,
broke the pitchers, and held the
torches in their left hands and the trumpets
in their right hands with which to
blow; and they shouted, “The sword of the
LORD and of Gideon!”
21 They each stood in his place around
the camp, and all the army ran; and they
shouted, and put them to flight.
22 They blew the three hundred trumpets,
and the LORD set every man’s sword
against his fellow and against all the army;
and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah
towards Zererah, as far as the border of
Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
23 The men of Israel were gathered together
out of Naphtali, out of Asher, and
out of all Manasseh, and pursued Midian.
24 Gideon sent messengers throughout
all the hill country of Ephraim, saying,
“Come down against Midian and take the
waters before them as far as Beth Barah,
even the Jordan!” So all the men of
Ephraim were gathered together and took
the waters as far as Beth Barah, even the
Jordan.
25 They took the two princes of Midian,
Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at Oreb’s
rock, and Zeeb they killed at Zeeb’s wine
press, as they pursued Midian. Then they
brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to
Gideon beyond the Jordan.
