Judges 7
7
1And Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, arose early, and all the people that were with him, and they encamped beside the spring Harod; and he had the camp of Midian on the north by the hill of Moreh in the valley. 2And Jehovah said to Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give Midian into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 3And now proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is timid and afraid, let him go back and turn from mount Gilead. And there went back of the people twenty-two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. 4And Jehovah said to Gideon, Still the people are many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for thee there, and it shall be, that of whom I shall say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I shall say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 5And he brought down the people to the water; and Jehovah said to Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down on his knees to drink. 6And the number of them that lapped, with their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men; and all the rest of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water. 7And Jehovah said to Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and give Midian into thy hand; and let all the people go every man to his place. 8And they took the victuals of the people in their hand, and their trumpets; and all the men of Israel he sent away, every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
9And it came to pass in that night, that Jehovah said to him, Arise, go down to the camp; for I have given it into thy hand. 10And if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the camp; 11and thou shalt hear what they say; and afterwards shall thy hand be strengthened, and thou shalt go down unto the camp. And he went down with Phurah his servant to the outside of the armed men that were in the camp. 12And Midian and Amalek and all the children of the east lay along in the valley as locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand upon the sea-shore for multitude. 13And Gideon came, and behold, a man was telling a dream to his fellow; and he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley-bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it; and the tent lay along. 14And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, the man of Israel: God#GodHebrew: Elohim hath given into his hand Midian and all the host. 15And it came to pass when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshipped. And he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, Arise; for Jehovah hath given into your hand the camp of Midian.
16And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, and empty pitchers, and torches within the pitchers. 17And he said to them, Look on me, and do likewise; behold, when I come to the extremity of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. 18And when I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, ye also shall blow the trumpets around the whole camp, and shall say, For Jehovah and for Gideon! 19And Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came to the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch; and they blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. 20And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hand, and the trumpets in their right hand for blowing, and cried, The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon! 21And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran, and cried out, and fled. 22And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and Jehovah set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout the camp. And the host fled to Beth-shittah towards Zererah, to the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
23And the men of Israel were called together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after Midian. 24And Gideon sent messengers throughout mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against Midian, and take before them the waters unto Beth-barah, and the Jordan. And all the men of Ephraim were called together, and took the waters unto Beth-barah, and the Jordan. 25And they took two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb; and they pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.
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Judges 7: DARBY
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Judges 7
7
1Early the next morning, Gideon and his army got up and moved their camp to Fear Spring.#7.1 Fear Spring: Or “Harod Spring.” The Midianite camp was to the north, in the valley at the foot of Moreh Hill.#7.1 Moreh Hill: About eight kilometers north of Fear Spring.
2The 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#Dt 20.8. So call your troops together and tell them that anyone who is really afraid can leave Mount Gilead#7.3 Mount Gilead: Usually “Gilead” refers to an area east of the Jordan River, but in this verse it refers to a place near Jezreel Valley west of the Jordan. 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.”
5When 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.”
6Three hundred men scooped up water in their hands and lapped it, and the rest knelt to get a drink. 7The 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.”
8Then 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.
9That night, the Lord said to Gideon. “Get up! Attack the Midianite camp. I am going to let you defeat them, 10but if you're still afraid, you and your servant Purah should sneak down to their camp. 11When 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. 12The camp was huge. The Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern nations covered the valley like a swarm of locusts.#7.12 locusts: See the note at 6.4,5. And it would be easier to count the grains of sand on a beach than to count their camels. 13Gideon overheard one enemy guard telling another, “I had a dream about a flat#7.13 flat: Or “moldy.” loaf of barley bread that came tumbling into our camp. It hit the headquarters tent,#7.13 the headquarters tent: Or “a tent.” and the tent flipped over and fell to the ground.”
14The 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.”
15As 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.”
16Gideon 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. 17-18Gideon 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!’ ”
19Gideon and his group reached the edge of the enemy camp a few hours after dark, just after the new guards had come on duty.#7.19 a few hours after dark, just … duty: The Hebrew text has “at the beginning of the second watch, just … duty.” The night was divided into three periods called “watches,” each about four hours long, and different guards would come on duty at the beginning of each watch. The first watch began at sunset, so the beginning of the second watch would have been shortly after 10:00 p.m. Gideon and his soldiers blew their trumpets and smashed the clay jars that were hiding the torches. 20The 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!”
21The enemy soldiers started yelling and tried to run away. Gideon's troops stayed in their positions surrounding the camp 22and 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,#7.22 Zeredah: Some Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts “Zererah”; these may be different names for the town of Zarethan in the Jordan River valley. and as far as the edge of the land that belonged to the town of Abel-Meholah near Tabbath.#7.22 Acacia Tree Town … Zeredah … Abel-Meholah near Tabbath: These were places east of the Jordan River.
23Gideon sent word for more Israelite soldiers to come from the tribes of Naphtali, Asher, and both halves of Manasseh#7.23 both halves of Manasseh: Half of Manasseh lived east of the Jordan River, and the other half lived on the west. to help fight the Midianites. 24He 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, 25and they even helped chase the Midianites on the east side of the Jordan River. These troops captured Raven and Wolf,#7.25 Raven and Wolf: Or “Oreb and Zeeb.” 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.#7.25 Raven Rock … Wolf Wine-Pit: Or “Oreb Rock … Zeeb Wine-Pit.”
The men of Ephraim brought the heads of the two Midianite leaders to Gideon.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.