1: Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the
people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod:
so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill
of Moreh, in the valley.
2: And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people
that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands,
lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
3: Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying,
Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount
Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there
remained ten thousand.
4: And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people
are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee
there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee,
the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not
go with thee, the same shall not go.
5: So he brought down the people
unto the water: and the LORD said unto 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 upon his knees to drink.
6: And the number
of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men:
but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
7: And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that
lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all
the other people go every man unto his place.
8: So the people took
victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel
every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of
Midian was beneath him in the valley.
9: And it came to pass the same
night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I
have delivered it into thine hand.
10: But if thou fear to go down,
go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host:
11: And thou shalt
hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down
unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the
armed men that were in the host.
12: And the Midianites and the
Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like
grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by
the sea side for multitude.
13: And when Gideon was come, behold,
there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a
dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came
unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay
along.
14: And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else
save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand
hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.
15: And it was so, when
Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he
worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD
hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.
16: And he divided
the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's
hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.
17: And he
said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the
outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.
18:
When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the
trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and
of Gideon.
19: So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him,
came unto 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 brake the pitchers
that were in their hands.
20: And the three companies blew the
trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and
the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of
the LORD, and of Gideon.
21: And they stood every man in his place
round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.
22:
And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword
against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to
Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath.
23: And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of
Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the
Midianites.
24: And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount
Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the
waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered
themselves together, and took the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan.
25: And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and
they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb,
and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the
other side Jordan.