Judges 7

The LORD Reduces Gideon’s Army

1Jerubbaal—that is, Gideon—and all the people who were with him rose early and camped beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh in the valley. 2The LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for me to give Midian into their hand, lest Israel boast against me, saying, ‘My own hand saved me.’ 3So now proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him turn back and depart from Mount Gilead.’” Twenty-two thousand of the people turned back, and ten thousand remained. 4The LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Whoever I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you; and whoever I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” 5So he brought the people down to the water. The LORD said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, set by himself; likewise everyone who kneels down to drink.” 6The number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was three hundred men. All the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7The LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will save you and give Midian into your hand. Let all the other people go, each to his place.” 8So the three hundred took the provisions of the people in their hands and their ram’s horns. Gideon sent all the men of Israel away, each to his tent, but kept the three hundred men. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

A Dream in the Midianite Camp

9That night the LORD said to him, “Rise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. 10But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, 11and you will hear what they say. Afterward your hands will be strengthened to go down against the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to the edge of the armed men in the camp. 12Midian, Amalek, and all the people of the east were lying in the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, like the sand on the seashore in abundance. 13When Gideon came, look, a man was telling a dream to his companion. He said, “Look, I dreamed a dream. A loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, came to the tent, struck it so that it fell, overturned it, and the tent collapsed.” 14His companion answered, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand.” 15When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Rise, for the LORD has given the camp of Midian into your hand.”

Three Hundred Men, Horns, and Jars

16He divided the three hundred men into three companies and put ram’s horns into the hands of all of them, with empty jars and torches inside the jars. 17He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Look, when I come to the edge of the camp, as I do, so you shall do. 18When I and all who are with me blow the ram’s horns, then you also blow the ram’s horns all around the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’” 19Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the guards had been posted. They blew the ram’s horns and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 20The three companies blew the ram’s horns and broke the jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the ram’s horns in their right hands for blowing, and they cried, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” 21Each man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. 22When the three hundred blew the ram’s horns, the LORD set the sword of each man against his companion throughout the entire camp. The army fled as far as Beth-Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-Meholah by Tabbath.

Israel Pursues Midian

23The men of Israel were called out from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian. 24Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian and seize the waters before them as far as Beth-Barah, and also the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they seized the waters as far as Beth-Barah and the Jordan. 25They captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and killed Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.