Juges 7

¹ And Jerubbaal (he [is] Gideon) riseth early, and all the people who [are] with him, and they encamp by the well of Harod, and the camp of Midian hath been on the south of him, on the height of Moreh, in the valley.

² And Jehovah saith unto Gideon, 'Too many [are] the people who [are] with thee for My giving Midian into their hand, lest Israel beautify itself against Me, saying, My hand hath given salvation to me ;

³ and now, call, I pray thee, in the ears of the people, saying, Whoso [is] afraid and trembling, let him turn back and go early from mount Gilead ;' and there turn back of the people twenty and two thousand, and ten thousand have been left.

⁴ And Jehovah saith unto Gideon, 'Yet [are] the people too many ; bring them down unto the water, and I refine it for thee there ; and it hath been, he of whom I say unto thee, This doth go with thee — he doth go with thee ; and any of whom I say unto thee, This doth not go with thee — he doth not go.'

⁵ And he bringeth down the people unto the water, and Jehovah saith unto Gideon, 'Every one who lappeth with his tongue of the water as the dog lappeth — thou dost set him apart ; also every one who boweth on his knees to drink.'

⁶ And the number of those lapping with their hand unto their mouth is three hundred men, and all the rest of the people have bowed down on their knees to drink water.

⁷ And Jehovah saith unto Gideon, 'By the three hundred men who are lapping I save you, and have given Midian into thy hand, and all the people go, each to his place.'

⁸ And the people take the provision in their hand, and their trumpets, and every man of Israel he hath sent away, each to his tents ; and on the three hundred men he hath kept hold, and the camp of Midian hath been by him at the lower part of the valley.

⁹ And it cometh to pass, on that night, that Jehovah saith unto him, 'Rise, go down into the camp, for I have given it into thy hand ;

¹⁰ and if thou art afraid to go down — go down, thou and Phurah thy young man, unto the camp,

¹¹ and thou hast heard what they speak, and afterwards are thy hands strengthened, and thou hast gone down against the camp.' And he goeth down, he and Phurah his young man, unto the extremity of the fifties who [are] in the camp ;

¹² and Midian and Amalek, and all the sons of the east are lying in the valley, as the locust for multitude, and of their camels there is no number, as sand which [is] on the sea-shore for multitude.

¹³ And Gideon cometh in, and lo, a man is recounting to his companion a dream, and saith, 'Lo, a dream I have dreamed, and lo, a cake of barley-bread is turning itself over into the camp of Midian, and it cometh in unto the tent, and smiteth it, and it falleth, and turneth it upwards, and the tent hath fallen.'

¹⁴ And his companion answereth and saith, 'This is nothing save the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel ; God hath given into his hand Midian and all the camp.'

¹⁵ And it cometh to pass, when Gideon heareth the narration of the dream and its interpretation, that he boweth himself, and turneth back unto the camp of Israel, and saith, 'Rise ye, for Jehovah hath given into your hand the camp of Midian.'

¹⁶ And he divideth the three hundred men [into] three detachments, and putteth trumpets into the hand of all of them, and empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.

¹⁷ And he saith unto them, 'Look at me, and thus do ; and lo, I am coming into the extremity of the camp — and it hath been — as I do so ye do ;

¹⁸ and I have blown with a trumpet — I and all who [are] with me, and ye have blown with trumpets, even ye, round about all the camp, and have said, For Jehovah and for Gideon.'

¹⁹ And Gideon cometh — and the hundred men who [are] with him — into the extremity of the camp, [at] the beginning of the middle watch (it hath only just confirmed the watchmen), and they blow with trumpets — dashing in pieces also the pitchers which [are] in their hand ;

²⁰ and the three detachments blow with trumpets, and break the pitchers, and keep hold with their left hand on the lamps, and with their right hand on the trumpets to blow, and they cry, 'The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon.'

²¹ And they stand each in his place, round about the camp, and all the camp runneth, and they shout, and flee ;

²² and the three hundred blow the trumpets, and Jehovah setteth the sword of each against his companion, even through all the camp ; and the camp fleeth unto Beth-Shittah, at Zererath, unto the border of Abel-Meholah, by Tabbath.

²³ And the men of Israel are called from Naphtali, and from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and pursue after Midian.

²⁴ And messengers hath sent Gideon into all the hill-country of Ephraim, saying, 'Come down to meet Midian, and capture before them the waters unto Beth-Barah, and the Jordan ;' and every man of Ephraim is called, and they capture the waters unto Beth-Barah, and the Jordan,

²⁵ and they capture two of the heads of Midian, Oreb, and Zeeb, and slay Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they have slain at the wine-vat of Zeeb, and they pursue unto Midian ; and the heads of Oreb and Zeeb they have brought in unto Gideon beyond the Jordan.