Judges 7

1 And Jerubbaal — that is, Gideon — got up early, and all the people with him, and they camped at the spring of Arad; and the camp of Midian was north of him, reaching from Gibeath-amorah, in the valley. [a] 2 And the Lord said to Gideon, “There are too many people with you for me to give Midian into their hand; Israel would boast against me and say, ‘My hand has saved me.’ 3 So now speak in the ears of the people and say, ‘Who is afraid and fearful? Let him turn back and go away from Mount Gilead.’” And twenty-two thousand of the people turned back, and ten thousand were left.

4 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. And whoever I say to you, ‘This one is to go with you,’ he will go with you; and everyone I say to you, ‘This one is not to go with you,’ he will not go with you.” 5 And he took the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps the water with his tongue, the way a dog laps, you are to set apart by himself — and everyone who kneels down on his knees to drink.” 6 And the number of those who lapped from their hand to their mouth was three hundred men; and all the rest of the people knelt down on their knees to drink water.

7 And the Lord said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and I will give Midian into your hand; and all the rest of the people are to go, each man to his own place.” 8 And they took the people's provisions in their hand, and their horns; and he sent away every man of Israel, each to his own tent, and he strengthened the three hundred men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

9 And that night the Lord said to him, “Get up, go down into the camp, because I have given it into your hand. 10 And if you are afraid to go down, go down, you and Purah your servant, into the camp, 11 and you will hear what they say; and after that your hands will be strong, and you will go down into the camp.” And he went down, he and Purah his servant, to the edge of the companies of fifty that were in the camp. [b]

12 And Midian and Amalek and all the children of the east lay spread through the valley, like locusts for number; and their camels were without number — they were like the sand on the seashore for number. 13 And Gideon came, and there was a man telling his neighbor a dream. And he said, “A dream — listen, I have dreamed a dream. There was a loaf of barley bread rolling into the camp of Midian, and it came as far as a tent and struck it, and it fell; and it turned it upside down, and the tent fell.” 14 And his neighbor answered and said, “This is nothing but the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and the whole camp into his hand.” 15 And when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation of it, he bowed down to the Lord, and he went back to the camp of Israel and said, “Get up, because the Lord has given the camp of Midian into our hand.”

16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put horns in the hands of all of them, and empty jars, with torches inside the jars; 17 and he said to them, “Watch me, and do the same. Look — I am going in at the edge of the camp, and whatever I do, you are to do. 18 And I will blow the horn, and everyone with me will blow the horns all around the whole camp, and you are to say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

19 And Gideon and the hundred men with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch; and they roused the guards wide awake, and they blew the horns and shook out the jars that were in their hands. 20 And the three companies blew the horns and smashed the jars, and they held the torches in their left hands and in their right hands the horns to blow, and they shouted out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.” 21 And every man stood in his own place around the camp; and the whole camp ran, and they sounded the alarm and fled. 22 And they blew the three hundred horns, and the Lord set every man's sword against his neighbor throughout the whole camp; and the camp fled as far as Beth-shittah and Zererah, to the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. [c]

23 And the men of Israel from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh shouted out, and they chased after Midian. 24 And Gideon sent messengers into all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down to meet Midian, and take the water for yourselves as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” And every man of Ephraim shouted out, and they took the water ahead of them as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. [d] 25 And they captured the rulers of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they killed Oreb at Sur, and they killed Zeeb at Jakephzeph. And they chased Midian down, and they brought the head of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan. [e]