Judges 7
1 And Jerobaal rose early, the same is
Gedeon, and all the people with him, and encamped at the fountain of Arad; and
the camp of Madiam was to the north of him,
reaching from Gabaathamorai, in the valley.
2 And the Lord said to Gedeon, The
people with thee are many, so that I may not deliver
Madiam into their hand, lest at any time Israel boast against me, saying, My
hand has saved me. 3 And now speak in
the ears of the people, saying, Who is afraid and
fearful? let him turn and depart from mount Galaad: and there returned of the
people twenty-two thousand, and ten thousand were left.
4 And the Lord said to Gedeon, The
people is yet numerous; bring them down to the water, and I will purge them
there for thee: and it shall come to pass that of whomsoever I shall say to
thee, This one shall go with thee, even he shall go
with thee; and of whomsoever I shall say to thee, This one shall not go with
thee, even he shall not go with thee.
5 And he brought the people down to
the water; and the Lord said to Gedeon, Whosoever shall lap of the water with
his tongue as if a dog should lap, thou shalt set him apart, and
also whosoever shall bow down upon his knees to
drink. 6 And the number of those that
lapped with their hand to their mouth was three hundred men; and all the rest
of the people bowed upon their knees to drink water.
7 And the Lord said to Gedeon, I will
save you by the three hundred men that lapped, and I will give Madiam into thy
hand; and all the rest of the people shall go every
one to his place. 8 And they took the
provision of the people in their hand, and their horns; and he sent away every
man of Israel each to his tent, and he
aOr, encouraged.strengthened the three hundred; and the army of Madiam were beneath him in
the valley.
9 And it came to pass in that night
that the Lord said to him, Arise, go down into the camp, for I have delivered
it into thy hand. 10 And if thou art
afraid to go down, go down thou and thy servant Phara into the camp.
11 And thou shalt hear what they
shall say, and afterwards thy hands shall be strong, and thou shalt go down
into the camp: and he went down and Phara his servant to the extremity of the
companies of fifty, which were in the camp.
12 And Madiam and Amalec and all the
children of the east were scattered in the valley, as
the locust for multitude; and there was no number to their camels, but they
were as the sand on the seashore for multitude.
13 And Gedeon came, and behold a man
was relating to his neighbour a dream, and he said,
Behold, I have dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread rolling
into the camp of Madiam, and it came as far as a tent, and smote it, and it
fell, and it turned it up, and the tent fell.
14 And his neighbour answered and
said, This is none other than the sword of Gedeon, son of Joas, a man of
Israel: God has delivered Madiam and all the host into his hand.
15 And it came to pass when Gedeon
heard the account of the dream and the interpretation of it, that he
worshipped the Lord, and returned to the camp of Israel, and said, Rise, for
the Lord has delivered the camp of Madiam into our hand.
16 And he divided the three hundred
men into three companies, and put horns in the
bGr. hand.hands of all, and empty pitchers, and torches in the pitchers:
17 and he said to them, Ye shall look
cGr. from. q. d. at the actions proceeding from me.at me, and so shall ye do; and behold, I will go into the
dOr, corner. See Acts 10. 11.beginning of the host, and it shall come to pass
that as I do, so shall ye do.
18 And I will sound with the horn,
and all ye with me shall sound with the horn round about the whole camp, and
ye shall say, For the Lord and Gedeon.
19 And Gedeon and the hundred men
that were with him came to the extremity of the army in the beginning of the
middle watch; and they completely roused the guards, and sounded with the
horns, and they
eGr. shook off.broke the pitchers that were in their hands,
20 and the three companies sounded
with the horns, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left
hands, and in their right hands their horns to sound with; and they cried out,
A sword for the Lord and for Gedeon.
21 And
every man stood in his place round about the host;
and all the host ran, and sounded an alarm, and fled.
22 And they sounded with the three
hundred horns; and the Lord set every man's sword in
all the host against his neighbour.
23 And the host fled as far as
Bethseed Tagaragatha Abel-meula to Tabath; and the men of Israel from
Nephthali, and from Aser, and from all Manasse, came to help, and followed
after Madiam.
24 And Gedeon sent messengers
fGr. in.into all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down to meet Madiam, and take to
yourselves the water as far as Bæthera and Jordan: and every man of Ephraim
cried out, and they took the water before hand unto Bæthera and Jordan.
25 And they took the princes of
Madiam, even Oreb and Zeb; and they slew Oreb in Sur Oreb, and they slew Zeb
in Jakephzeph; and they pursued Madiam, and brought the
gGr. head.heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gedeon from beyond Jordan.