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The Book of Judges 7

7 So that morning Gideon (whom people were calling Jerubbaal) got up right away and led all of his soldiers as far as the spring that people would soon call Harod. The army of Midian had camped north of there, in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2 Yahweh said to Gideon, “You have too many soldiers with you. Suppose I allow all of you to fight the army of Midian and your army defeats them. Then the Israelites will boast that they defeated their enemies by themselves, without my help. 3 So I want you to make an announcement to the soldiers. Tell them, ‘Any one of you who is too afraid to fight may leave this army camp and go home by way of Mount Gilead.’ ” When Gideon made that announcement, 22, 000 of the soldiers went home. Only 10, 000 of them stayed in the camp.

4 But Yahweh told Gideon, “You still have too many soldiers! Take them down to the spring, and there I will show you which ones to bring. I will tell you which ones to take with you and which ones not to take with you.”

5 When Gideon took the men down to the spring, Yahweh told him, “Watch how the men drink. Put in one group the men who scoop up the water with their hands and lick it with their tongues the way dogs do. Put in another group the men who kneel down and put their faces in the water to drink.” 6 Now when the soldiers drank, only 300 of them used their hands to bring water to their mouths. All the others drank by kneeling down and putting their faces in the water.

7 Then Yahweh told Gideon, “I will use the 300 men who lapped the water from their hands to rescue Israel! I will enable them to defeat the Midianites. All the others may return to their homes.” 8 So the 300 soldiers who were staying with Gideon collected the food that the other men had brought. They also collected the ram’s horns they had brought. Then Gideon sent those other men home, but he kept the 300 soldiers with him.

The army of Midian was camping in the valley below Gideon and his army. 9 The night after all the other soldiers left, Yahweh said to Gideon, “Now is the time for you to attack the Midianites in the valley! You can be confident that I will enable you and your men to defeat them. 10 But if you are afraid to attack the Midiantes, then go secretly to their camp with Purah, your armor-bearer. 11 Listen to what some of the Midianite soldiers are saying. Then you will be very encouraged, and you will be ready to attack their army.” So Gideon took Purah with him and they went secretly to where sentries were guarding the enemy camp. 12 The armies of the people of Midian and Amalek and the desert tribes that were their allies had set up their tents in the valley. They seemed to have as many soldiers as there are locusts in a swarm. It seemed that their camels were too many to count, like the number of grains of sand on the seashore.

13 But Gideon and Purah crept close to the edge of the camp. There they heard one man telling a friend about a dream. The man said, “I just had a dream, and in it I saw a round loaf of barley bread rolling down into our Midianite camp. When it reached a tent, it hit it so hard that the tent turned upside down and collapsed!”

14 His friend replied, “Your dream can mean only one thing. It means that God is going to enable Gideon son of Joash, that Israelite man, to lead his soldiers to defeat our combined armies from Midian and its allies.”

15 When Gideon heard the man tell about his dream and his friend say what it meant, he thanked God for the victory that the Israelites were going to win. Then he and Purah returned to the Israelite camp. Gideon shouted to the men, “Now is the time to attack! Yahweh is going to enable us to defeat the Midianite army!” 16 Gideon then divided his 300 soldiers into three groups. He gave each soldier a ram’s horn to blow as a trumpet. He also gave each one a torch and an empty clay jar to cover the torch and hide its light.

17 Then he said to them, “Watch me! When we come close to the enemy camp, spread out to surround the camp. Then do exactly what I do. 18 I will be leading one group of soldiers. As soon as we blow our ram’s horns, you men in the other two groups surrounding the camp must blow your horns too. Then shout, ‘We are Yahweh’s army! We are Gideon’s army!’ ”

19 A new group of guards was just replacing the guards who had been watching the camp since the start of the night. That was when Gideon and the 100 men with him arrived at the edge of the Midianite camp. They suddenly blew their horns and broke the jars they were carrying. The torches that had been inside the jars shone brightly. 20 Then the men in all three groups blew their horns and smashed their jars. They held the torches high with their left hands so that the light would awaken and frighten the Midianites. They held up the horns with their right hands and alternately blew them and shouted, “We are Yahweh’s army! We are Gideon’s army!” 21 Each of Gideon’s men stayed in position all around the enemy camp. All of the enemy soldiers started running around and sounding the alarm and trying to escape.

22 While the 300 Israelite men kept blowing their horns, Yahweh caused the Midianites to start fighting each other with their swords. Some of them killed each other. The others ran away. Some fled south to the town of Beth Shittah. Some fled to the town of Zererah. Others ran away as far as the outskirts of the town of Abel Meholah, near the town of Tabbath. 23 Then Gideon sent messengers to the Israelite men who lived in the territories of the tribes of Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh. The messengers got them to come and help finish defeating the army of Midian. 24 Gideon sent messengers throughout the hilly area where the tribe of Ephraim lived. The messengers told the men there, “Go down and attack the fleeing Midianite soldiers. So that those soldiers do not escape, put guards at the shallow places where people can wade across rivers and streams. Put guards at the crossings of the streams in the area of Beth Barah and the crossings of the Jordan River.” So the men of Ephraim came and put guards in those places.

25 They also captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two rulers who were commanding the Midianite army. They found Oreb hiding in a cave in a big rock. They killed him there, and that is why people now call it the Rock of Oreb. They found Zeeb hiding in a pit where people press grapes to make wine. They killed him there, and that is why people now call it the Winepress of Zeeb. The Israelites cut off the heads of Oreb and Zeeb so they could bring them to Gideon. They pursued the Midianites across the Jordan River, and they met Gideon there.

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