Yahweh Reduces Gideon’s Army
1Jerubbaal — that is, Gideon — and all the troops with him rose early and camped beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian lay north of them, near the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2Yahweh said to Gideon, “The troops with you are too many for me to give Midian into their hand; Israel might boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ 3So now, announce to the troops: ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” Twenty-two thousand of the people turned back, and ten thousand remained. 4Yahweh said to Gideon, “There are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, ‘This one will go with you,’ he will go; if I say, ‘This one will not go with you,’ he will not go.” 5So he brought the troops down to the water. Yahweh said to Gideon, “Separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, from everyone who kneels down to drink.” 6The number of those who lapped, bringing their hands to their mouths, was three hundred; all the rest knelt down to drink water. 7Yahweh said to Gideon, “With the three hundred who lapped, I will save you and give Midian into your hand. Let all the others go, each to his home.” 8So the troops took provisions and their trumpets, and Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites away, each to his own tent, keeping only the three hundred. The camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.
Gideon Spies on the Camp
9That night Yahweh said to him, “Get up, 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 your servant Purah, 11and listen to what they are saying; after that you will have the courage to go down against the camp.” So he went down with his servant Purah to the outposts of the armed men in the camp. 12Midian, Amalek, and all the people of the east were lying in the valley as thick as locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore. 13When Gideon arrived, a man was telling his companion a dream. He said, “Listen, I had a dream: a round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the camp of Midian, struck a tent, and the tent collapsed, turning upside down and falling flat.” 14His companion answered, “This can only be the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and the whole camp into his hand.” 15When Gideon heard the dream told and its meaning explained, he bowed in worship. Then he went back to the camp of Israel and said, “Get up! Yahweh has given the camp of Midian into your hand.”
The Rout of Midian
16He divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a trumpet and an empty jar with a torch inside it. 17He said to them, “Watch me, and do as I do. When I reach the edge of the camp, do exactly what I do. 18When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, you also blow your trumpets all around the camp, and shout, ‘For Yahweh and for Gideon!’” 19Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the sentries had been changed. They blew the trumpets and smashed the jars in their hands. 20The three companies blew their trumpets and shattered their jars; they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands, ready to blow, and they shouted, “A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!” 21Each man stood in his place around the camp, and the whole camp broke into a panic, crying out and fleeing. 22When the three hundred blew their trumpets, Yahweh set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the camp. The army fled toward Beth-shittah, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, near Tabbath. 23Men 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 fords of the Jordan ahead of them, as far as Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they seized the fords of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah. 25They captured two commanders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb, and they kept pursuing Midian. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.
